Friday, October 7, 2011 - 7
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
CONCERT PREVIEW
Cole talks new LP
A balancing act for Teng
With 'Cole World'
released, rapper to
hit Royal Oak
By DAVID RIVA
DailyArts Writer
Talking to J. Cole the day after
his debut album Cole World: The
Sideline Story dropped, two feel-
ings could be
immediately i Co
detected: relief
and exhaustion. Tonight at
"We're run- 7 p.m.
ning a mara- RoyalQakMusic
thon, and we Theatre
finally reached
the finish line," From$35
Cole said in an
interview with The Michigan
Daily.
Four mixtapes into his career,
J. Cole - who will perform
tonight at the Royal Oak Music
Theatre - has caught the atten-
tion of industry vets and rap fans
alike. He's a product of a unique
phenomenon that has seen artists
like Drake, Wiz Khalifa and Odd
Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All
gain intense popularity before a
formal album release.
"It's my first album, but it feels
like my third," Cole said. "I've
been touring so much and I've
been putting out projects."
Having passed his forma-
tive years in North Carolina,
Cole reminisced about spending
time with one of his cousins who
encouraged him to start rapping.
"He was older than me and I
looked up to him," he said. "And
he had girls."
Although the ladies might have
been an initial inspiration, Cole
knew he wanted to do more than
simply serenade some neighbor-
hood honeys from time to time.
"(My cousin) was just free-
styling and fooling around,
but I thought it was dope," he
explained. "Poetry wasn't hard
for me... and once I started, I took
it seriously."
After fully committing him-
J. Cole went to St. John's University in New York to be close to the music industry.
self to pursuing his passion, Cole
made a mature decision many in
his position would never think
of doing: He went to college. But
though he valued his education,
his main motivation in going
away to school was to relocate to
a place closer to the music indus-
try he so desperately wanted to
make an impact on. So he attend-
ed St. John's University in New
York.
"It's the best decision I ever
made," he said. "It's the reason I
am where I am now. Being close to
the industry allowed me to learn
so much."
During that time, Jay-Z was
impressed by Cole's song "Lights
Please," and soon after offered
him a record deal on his label Roc
Nation.
Now, Cole considers the hip-
hop mogul a major influence on
his life and career.
"My relationship with Jay-Z is
a great one," he said. "He came to
my release party last night for a
celebration. It's like a mentorship,
and it's really just him knowing
everything and me not knowing
everything."
A specific aspect of Jay-Z's
career that J. Cole has emulated is
crafting an engaging live show -
a rare feat for a rapper. He takes
an aggressive approach, bringing
unbridled energy into every song,
and stresses the importance of
making eye contact with as many
audience members as possible.
His live show isn't his only rap
irregularity. Cole also shows a
sensitive side from time to time,
and his work can deal with issues
not often touched on by hip-hop
artists. In his song "Lost Ones,"
which addresses abortion, Cole
puts himself in the shoes of both
men and women to exhaust all
perspectives, displayinghis knack
for storytelling in a clear and emo-
tionally stirring manner.
"It's a real-life situation, not
even with me," he explained. "(It's
something) I've seen a friend go
through. And I kept on question-
ing it inside my head, like, 'Man,
I wonder what he's feeling right
now?' and, 'I wonder what she's
feeling right now? I wonder what
it would sound like if I wrote
about that?"'
When the final numbers came
in after Cole World's first week
of sales, it had grabbed the num-
ber one spot on the Billboard top
albums chart. And even though
this is evidence that his hard
work has paid off, with over 40
international tour dates sched-
uled this fall and a new mixtape
in the works, he doesn't plan on
slowing down anytime soon.
By LUCY PERKINS
DailyArts Writer
In class she introduces herself
as Cynthia Yih Shih, but onstage
she's known as Vienna Teng. A
graduate stu-
dent at the V
University's
Erb Institute Tonight at
for Global Sus- 8gp.m.
tainable Enter-
prises, Shih Power Center
might be the From $30
only enrolled
student at the University who has
eight years of national tours under
her belt and songs boasting up to
500,000 YouTube hits. Tonight,
Shih will transform from student
to singer at the Power Center
in one of her few performances
scheduled this semester.
Shih dreamed up the stage
name Vienna Teng when she was
an avid piano-playing12-year-old,
only for it to become her musical
alias years later. Teng's amateur
career as a musician began in the
smoky shadows of bars and coffee
shop corners of California while
she was working as a computer
programmer in Silicon Valley.
After a few years of mostly local
gigs, she hired an agent who was
able to book her as an opener for
Joan Baez and similar artists.
Before long, Teng was headlining
her own gigs nationwide.
"My voice is on the soothing
side, but I really love music that
pushes me a bit," Shih said. "You
could describe it as mellow but
adventurous pop music."
Music has kept the 32-year-old
busy - she has released four stu-
dio albums in the last decade. But
now that she's a student, Shih has
chosen to temporarily cut back on
musical involvement.
Last winter, Shih tried to bal-
ance a full courseload and a tour
schedule that required her to
travel throughout the country.
The ensuing balancing act proved
chaotic but insightful - she
learned her limits living as both a
student and as an artist.
"I figured out I can't tour (while
a student)," Shih said. "I missed "I was in a science class and
out on a lot of things. I'd leave the professor was talking with
on Thursday after my last class me and asked what I hoped to
and get back late Sunday night do after graduating," Shih said.
or Monday morning. It ended up "When I told him I was a musi-
working out, but I'd rather just cian, he just didn't get why I was
focus and really be here (at the taking his class."
University)." According to Shih, fellow
Shihbecame familiar with Ann students don't recognize her as
Arbor through the musical sup- Vienna Teng, but when they hear
port she received from The Ark she's a singer, some remember
as a performer. But even while discovering her on websites like
she was touring elsewhere, other Pandora.
things kept bringing her back - "I like the level of fame-slash-
chiefly the Erb Institute where obscurity that I have," she said.
she studies, a graduate program "I'm not that famous, but I do
that blends the sustainable dis- have a Wikipedia page, so it's an
ciplines of the School of Natural interesting middle ground."
Resourceswith the entrepreneur- Since enrolling at the Universi-
ial concepts of the Ross School of ty in August 2010, Shih has found
Business. the Erb Institute to be a nice com-
plement to her musical prowess.
"It spoke to every-
From stage to thing I want to do
in my life that
school again. music can't ful-
fill," she said.
"It's very con-
crete and has
Shih began look- results you can
ing for something measure, while
like the Erb Insti- music is much
tute after hear- more abstract
ing a talk about and mysteri-
the intersection of T ous."
capitalism and envi- Because her
ronmentalism while passions for
working as a com- sustainable
puter programmer enterprise and
in Silicon Valley. music require
"I'd never heard her attention in
of anything like that two contrasting
before," she said. "I'd areas, a future
always felt aligned involving both
with environmental- will require a
ism, but I'm not good deftly orches-
at getting angry and trated balance.
protesting things. The "I love that
idea of actually working with z kind of life where I
businesses who are trying to , can do very differ-
be more sustainable was really ent things in paral-
interesting to me." lel identities," Shih
Shih's transition from the said. "It sounds
stage to campus has roused a really difficult to
bemused comment or two from pull off. But for-
several faculty members when tunately, there
they discover Shih is a well- are no wrong
known musician and a grad answers."
student. COURTESY OF VIENNA TENG
COMPETING THROUGH DANCE
* Bring on the Bollywood
By JACOB AXELRAD
Daily Community Culture Editor
The songs and dances from one
of the world's largest film indus-
tries are nowembodiedin Manzil,
the University's first co-ed Bolly-
wood dance team. Manzil means
"dream" or "goal" in Hindi, and
according to Ross School of Busi-
ness junior Nikhil Kulkarni, who
serves as a co-captain of the team,
the name was chosen because it
simply flows well with the word
"Michigan."
Bollywood dance origi-
nates with the films produced
in Mumbai, India. While in the
United States the music and film
industries are mostly separate,
Bollywood movies are more
reminiscent of classic Broadway
shows: the standard components
of character, plot and resolution
combined with an element of song
and dance.
"The film and music industry
in India is basically intertwined,"
said LSA junior and team co-cap-
tain Dhwani Joshi. "Instead of a
Kanye West song, there's the lat-
est Bollywood song."
What began last semester as an
idea among nine students with a
passion for Bollywood dance has
nearly doubled in size. Manzil
now takes its place amongnumer-
ous similar teams at schools rang-
ing from UCLA and California
- Berkeley on the West Coast to
NYU on the East Coast. And with
Manzil's emergence, the number
of teams around the state has only
increased. Soon after the group's
inception last March, Michi-
gan State University and Wayne
State University started their
own teams, marking Manzil as
the trendsetter for schools in the
region.
As Joshi explains it, Bollywood
dance encompasses two distinct
categories: traditional and Fusion.
Traditional Bollywood dance is
Manzil's category of choice.
Whereas the influential Indian
American Student Association "A lot of us learned from danc-
(IASA) stands as an on-campus ing at weddings and gatherings,"
performing arts organization Shah said. "It's really common to
committed to promoting social do Bollywood dance at weddings
causes on campus, Manzil has since (the songs) are usually love
a distinct mission as a competi- stories."
tive performance group. Though Yet neither prior dance expe-
cultural awareness plays a role rience nor affiliation with Bol-
in Manzil's philosophy, it enters lywood is a prerequisite for
the campus landscape exclu- joining. Like the Indian dance
sively through performances and style itself, there are no set stan-
dance workshops. In addition, dards for how people go about
unlike IASA's annual culture practicing Bollywood dance.
show, which typically features According to Kulkarni, right now
a variation of Bollywood dance Manzil's style has a "jazzy feel."
and allows anyone to participate, But that's simply one approach. It
Manzil holds auditions. It has all depends on the dancers' pref-
to - it represents the University erences.
throughout the state and, ulti- From a competition stand-
mately, the country. point, what really matters are the
stories told through the dances -
after all, this is an art form that
- -is h stems from film. While Manzil
has yet to finalize their themes,
first team of its Shah emphasized that they will
T be love stories, following in the
kind at the 'j' footsteps of customary Bolly-
wood choreography. The specif-
ics, however, remain secret.
"We try to keep our themes and
But gaining acceptance to stories on the down-low," Shah
these competitions is no easy task said. "For competition, it's impor-
for the team. And per University tant to keep that 'wow' factor."
precedent, holding a competition Manzil's appearance comes
here on campus would involve at a time when Bollywood is
getting another student group to slowly gaining traction among
host the event on Manzil's behalf American audiences. TV series
- a difficult feat, but one Manzil like ABC's "Dancing With The
hopes to tackle soon enough. Stars" and FOX's "So You Think
"As a first-year team, it's pretty You Can Dance" have even begun
hard to get into a competition," to work Bollywood routines into
said LSA junior and co-captain their episodes.
Parin Shah. "Our biggestgoal this But at the end of the day, the
year is to make one competition team remains grounded as a
and see where it goes. The whole student group, doing its part to
application process is pretty represent the University and
nerve-wracking." educate its members about the
At this stage, the important joys of Bollywood.
thing is to hone the dances them- "The first thing we like to
selves so they're ready for perfor- emphasize is that you don't
mance and competition. Thus far, really need any experience to
teaching the steps and routines dance with us," Joshi said. "Even
has been easy, mostly due to the though we're a competitive team,
fact that many team members if you see our practices, we're
grew up with some form of Bolly- always just having fun ... dancing
wood dance in their lives, to Bollywood songs."
"Yes, that is my photo ... and don't call me Shirley."
Pan Am' a flight to the 1960s
By SAM CENZHANG
For the Daily
It's impossible to talk about
"Pan Am" without bringing
up AMC's "Mad Men," a show
to which the new ABC drama
owes both the-
matic and aes-
thetic debts.
"Pan Am," like Pan Am
its critically
acclaimed big Pilot
brother, offers Sundays at10 p.m.
a sweeping ABC
vision of the
1960s, this time
through the lens of steward-
esses for the eponymous airline.
The show blatantly lays its thesis
statement out - viewers looking
for the kind of subtext that makes
"Mad Men" what it is should stay
away. Not being "Mad Men" is no
crime, though, and while "Pan
Am" smells a bit like escapism, it
is sleek, well-done and fun escap-
ism.
Superficially, it's easy to dis-
miss "Pan Am" as "Mad Men" for
a network audience. There are
stylistic echoes of "Mad Men,"
but this show is brighter and more
expansive. (It does, after all, take
place in the sky.) Christina Ricci
("Monster") and Kelli Garner
("My Generation") fairly gleam as
they walk through airport termi-
nals. We get shots of Rome, Lon-
don and a helicopter flight across
New York. The visual trappings
of "Pan Am" are sumptuous and
provide as good a backdrop as one
can ask for.
But "Pan Am" is not as dense or
as deep as "Mad Men," preferring
breadth over depth with every
scene. There are a lot of different
plots flying around (as it were),
including some Cold War espio-
nage to go with the soapy stuff
you'dexpect. Tothe show's credit,
though, it never gets too confus-
ing. Here, too, "Pan Am" distanc-
es itself from "Mad Men." Don
Draper is shrouded in mystery for
most of that show's run. In this
pilot, we get flashback sequences
that lay out a lot of backstory.
Nothing is alluded to that doesn't
get shown - but there's still the
right amount of intrigue.
"Pan Am" traffics in character
archetypes, but it's not a prob-
lem here. The cast is a talented
one, and there's something to be
said for well-executed conven-
tion. Garner shines in the pilot,
even though her "good at my job
but everyone notices my sister
because she's gorgeous and now
we work together" material is
by no means original. Margot
Robbie (of the Australian show
"Neighbours"), who plays said
sister, is in fact gorgeous but can
also act, playing up with deft
touch her character's desire to
be something more than a tro-
phy wife. The male actors aren't
given very much to do except be
square-jawed, which they suc-
ceed at. Christina Ricci is much
too talented an actress to waste
on the broadly comedic support-
ing material she's given here, but
she is very likable.
Stewardesses
help pilot
take off.
Some parts of the pilot do fall
a little flat. The "oh my god we're
flying" takeoff scene, complete
with majestic string music, is
overwrought. The end of the epi-
sode, featuring a little girl looking
up in awe at the stewardesses, is
cute but predictable. A charac-
ter unsubtly says, "They don't
know that they're a new breed of
women. They just had an impulse
to take flight." Fourth grade writ-
ing lessons still apply here: Show,
don't tell.
None of the elements in the
pilot are slam dunks, but there are
no flops either. There's a little bit
of everything, and a lot of style.
"Pan Am" isn't "Mad Men," but
it's not trying to be. It's fun, styl-
ish and has just enough substance
to latch onto. For a network "Mad
Men" ripoff, that's excellent.