feature
Students show
support for troops
Melody Wilson, a senior resident advisor in Hobby Hall,
made yellow ribbons for the residents of the dorm. She has
several friends serving in Saudi Arabia.
Phelan M. Ebenhack
By Terri
Red, white and blue ribbon, a
spirit sign, the American flag, yellow
bows, a door covering.
What do these things have in com
mon? All are symbols of the support
Texas A&M students have for the
troops who are now part of Operation
Desert Storm.
David Wallace, a senior political
science major from Houston and a
member .of the Aggie Band’s B Com
pany, created what he has named “O-
peration Desert Support.”
A small piece of red, white and blue
ribbon worn on Corps of Cadets’ uni
forms or civilian clothing is what Wal
lace calls “...a simple ribbon to sup
port our troops.”
Wallace said he and his father, Joe
C. Wallace, Class of '53 and head of
development for the College of Geos
ciences, came up with the idea last
Thursday morning after the allied at
tack on Iraq.
Freshmen cadets in B Company
went door to door telling others about
the ribbon and Wallace's roommate
helped him cut pieces to distribute,
Wallace said.
"It caught on like wildfire," he said.
“I went to classes and returned peri
odically noticing that lots of people
Welch
had them on and were asking where
to get them. At evening formation, my
entire outfit had them on.”
The ribbon is not just for those who
agree with the war, Wallace said.
"It is for everyone, even protestors,”
he said. “If you have any sympathy for
the sacrifices the troops are making,
you should wear the ribbon.”
With a similar idea in mind, Melody
Wilson, a senior political science ma
jor from Blue Ridge and a resident ad
viser in Hobby Hall, decided to make
yellow bows fqr the doors of residents
on her floor.
"The girls were out in the hall talking
about the deadline,” Wilson said.
“They were worried about whether we
would go to war, so I decided to make
the bows to show our support for the
troops.”
She said the bows were passed out
Wednesday night at their floor meeF-
ing and everyone was happy to re
ceive them.
“I’ve always been a patriot,” Wilson
said. “I stand behind our troops and I
think it’s important for people to do
that.”
In another residence hall, a simple
and meaningful message is sent out
to the troops on a door covering.
Tricia Sakowitz, a junior anthropol
ogy major from Houston, and Niki
Kruckenberg, a freshman marketing
major from Alice, are residents of Un
derwood Hall and made the covering
last August when the troops first ar
rived in Saudi Arabia.
The idea for the door covering
came to them while they were on a trip
to Houston.
"We heard the song ‘God Bless the
USA’ on the radio with taped mes
sages from families to soldiers in the
Middle East," Kruckenberg said. "It
made us cry.”
Red and blue letters spell out
“Come Home Soon” on a white back
ground decorated with yellow bows
and American flag stickers.
They added the names of service
men later, Kruckenberg said.
“At first we wrote the name of one
friend of mine on the covering,”
Kruckenberg said. “Then we added
more names as people asked us to."
Two navy servicemen whose
names are written on the covering
have returned to the United States
safely, Sakowitz said, and the girls
have written the word “home” in red
over the names.
"We hope we will be writing ‘home’
through all of the names,” Krucken
berg said.
Both of the girls urge others to sup
port the troops.
“Not believing in the war is OK, but
don’t protest it," Kruckenberg said.
The girls do not plan to take down
the covering until the war is over, all of
the servicemen have returned, or at
the end of the semester when they
must move out.
“If we leave, it will be the last thing
we take down,” Kruckenberg said.
Not far from Underwood Hall is the
Quadrangle where Company C-2 has
hung a “spirit sign” in support of the
troops.
Julian Schwartz, a senior political
science major from San Antonio and
company commander of C-2, said the
sign and the meaning behind it is en
dorsed by the entire outfit.
"The sign is to show our solidarity,
our support for the men and women
who are over there,” he said. “It’s not a
matter of right or wrong. ”
The sign displays bold letters that
spell out "Company C-2 Supports De
sert Storm. Beat the hell outta Iraq.”
They have received positive feedback
on the sign, Schwartz said.
Freshmen cadets in Company C-2
page 12
January 24,1991
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3
9 ways to Sunday offers promise
By Rob Ne wberry
Sting
The Soul Cages
A&M Records
I must admit I was sort of excited
when I heard that Sting would have a
new album out this year. ...Nothing
Like the Sun has aged well since its
release in 1987, and the first single off
the new release is as catchy a pop
tune as Sting has done in a while.
But I suppose great expectations
just make the disappointment of The
Soul Cages more bitter. Sure “All This
Time” is catchy, but the rest of the al
bum is a heavy, sluggish mix of the
jazz and soul that the former Police-
frontman can perform so much better.
Sting’s folky storytelling on "Island
of Souls” is stale and bland; he would
have used as much originality if he
had just recited Shakespeare for us
(and he might have given a more
emotional recitation). “Mad About
You" is one more of Sting's love songs
set against Biblical imagery, but it
doesn’t live up to standards set by
earlier songs like "The Secret Marria
ge.”
The album is not an entire mess,
however. “Saint Agnes And The Burn
ing Train” is a beautiful classical guitar
piece, but it’s purely instrumental. The
poetry and music in "Jeremiah Blues
(Part 1)” is more like what I expect
from Sting — a disenchanted vision of
the world combined with an upbeat,
jazzy melody to exaggerate the incon
sistencies Sting sings about.
Lyrically, Sting still plays off lots of
religious and historical allusions. His
storytelling gets monotonous more
than a few times on the disc, mostly
Life Style magazine
because he lays it against a boring
musical backdrop. When he sticks his
lyrics in a more rock-oriented tune like
the title track, he reassures me that he
is capable of far more than this album
offers.
Roger McGuinn
Back From Rio
Arista Records
Former Byrd Roger McGuinn re
turns to AOR radio just in time for his
induction to the Rock ’n' Roll Hall of
Fame. Good thing he waited ’til he
was already in; this record might have
made people take a second thought.
Not that it’s bad; there just isn’t any
thing classic about it, nothing to re
mind me it’s from one of rock music’s
greats.
McGuinn certainly is heavy on the
love songs. Granted, I usually like
songs that deal with relationships and
problems and such. But McGuinn de
votes nearly half the album to “Baby, I
Love You” or “Baby, You Left Me”
songs that, frankly, all sound the
same. Lyrics that kinda grab you right
here...and try to bring your lunch right
backup.
McGuinn has some pretty impres
sive helpers on the record: Tom Petty,
Elvis Costello, David Crosby, Petty’s
guitarist Mike Campbell and acoustic
uitar greats Michael Penn and David
ole all show up on several songs.
But their help isn’t usually enough to
make the songs stand out.
Some of McGuinn’s ideas are well-
intentioned, but fall short of the prize.
“The Trees Are All Gone” laments en
vironmental problems, but it makes
you think about as much as some pre
achy sermon. “Car Phone” is a clever
idea — associate society’s incredible
problems to this one technoligical toy
— but unfortunately, the lyrics don’t
really carry the cleverness all the way
through the song (I do dig that line
from the Beatles' “A Day in the Life,”
though).
Occasionally, the songs are worthy
of McGuinn’s reputation. Elvis Costel
lo’s "You Bowed Down" is done intelli
gently, and the collaboration with Tom
Petty on “King of the Hill” is pretty
good. McGuinn even improves “If We
Never Meet Again,” a song recorded
in 1988 by Tommy Conwell.
McGuinn may just need a little more
time to get back into the groove. He’s
hanging out with the right musicians;
when he performs one of their songs,
the results are convincing. But his
own songwriting leaves something to
be desired and that affects the entire
disc.
9 Ways To Sunday
9 Ways To Sunday
Giant Records
New on the American alternative-
pop scene is 9 Ways To Sunday and
their self-titled release. This six-man
band shows promise in several as
pects, even though they could stand
to focus their musical style a little.
The release opens with "Midnight
Train,” using some electronic percus
sion that quickly feels like a dance
track. Then frontman William Rob
ertson and Kenny Boyd kick in acous
tic guitar and bass that rescues the
track from techno-crap and'puts it in
that rare category of danceable rock.
A lot of 9 Ways' songs have this feel;
dancy with electronic percussion, but
still using traditional acoustic guitars
and drums. “Restless” even opens
with a banjo solo.
Robertson’s voice is often charac
teristic of British pop bands like the
Soup Dragons or the Charlatans U.K.
But sometimes he brings out a darker,
deeper sound, recalling Peter Mur
phy’s style, on songs like "Get Back
Home” and “Only the Innocent.”
9 Ways’ lyrics, mostly Robertson’s
own, are refreshing, too. “Only the In
nocent” and "Fire & Rain” show that
some songwriters can still be intelli-
ent when they make words rhyme,
ongs like “I Survive” and “The Means
Becomes The End” may not be in
credible, but they are near enough to
cause excitement about a young
band.
The American pop world is getting
so crowded; everything seems to spill
over into everything else. 9 Ways To
Sunday shows the many influences
they’ve had by covering a lot of
ground, making danceable rock-pop
tunes and retaining musical integrity. I
hope their style will become more fo
cused, but as long as these guys
keep coming up with music as good
as this, I won’t be disappointed.
Note: Copies of Sting’s The Soul
Cages and 9 Ways To Sunday’s 9
Ways To Sunday were loaned for re
view courtesy of Marooned Records.
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