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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 1995)
Robyn Calloway, The Battalion Wolf Pen Creek's facilities make booking bands difficult ition 0 udents commit* ams 3W to et ontrace it popul id coord s can coi assistai irdinati jateassi- :ation, lucate possi' tive ch( your exf iU asi J posi ditor sEditc* IFE EDI® Editor idle Ly« ham, W th Canf 53 Erin Hill Tovvn>" Lydia Pe f j nists: ,c & Tiffany S,Dove Abbie Ad rsity i nes od , y The I For f la* 5 '' aid and °'' ,aril55» ■145-2011 ill and , (excepl J class exasA&M W olf Pen Creek Amphitheater has hosted performers ranging from Jackopierce to Barney and has served as a park for the residents of Bryan-College Station for years. The amphitheater, which has a creek that runs behind it and a large hill for audience seating, is the largest outdoor facility available for shows in Bryan-College Station. Steve Beachy, director of Parks and Recreations for College Station, said the amphitheater offers a unique setting for shows. “It has an informal setting that lends itself to a big, community yard party,” he said. Robert Earl Keen, who performed at the am phitheater on Friday, said he enjoys the laid-back atmosphere of Wolf Pen Creek. “It seems like a great venue for the audience,” he said. “You can sit on the hill and drink your beer and roll down the hill.” Other performers who have come to Wolf Pen Creek are Dahveed Garza, David Allan Coe and Jeff Foxworthy. But the venue has come across some problems in attracting musical acts to the area. Some promoters say the simple setting is a drawback for performers. Backstage facilities for the performers consist of a covered cement slab with picnic tables and a portable toilet. Charlie Jones, production and venue manager for Direct Events, said the lack of plumbing causes problems for all performers at Wolf Pen Creek “This is their home for the day,” he said. Beachy said because of the primitive atmos phere of the venue, performers usually stay in their buses until just before they go on stage. And there are other problems. Jones said because of the way the stage is situat ed, it is difficult to provide proper lighting for shows. “You can’t bring a full touring act because they can’t bring their lights,” he said. There is also a moat around the front of the stage which prevents mosh pits from forming dur ing rock shows. “The audience is used to being right up against the stage,” Jones said. To make the area more conducive to rock shows, Jones said the moat should be filled in or covered. In addition, the area where trucks unload a performer’s equipment is only large enough to bring in one truck at a time, making the un loading process twice as long as it would be at other venues. The sound curfew for the theater also poses a problem for performers. The curfew is 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11:30 p.m. on Fri day and Saturday. Mark Schaberg, CEO of Popular Talents, said performers have to start their show early in order to finish before the curfew. “At the David Allan Coe show, we had people coming in at 10:15, and we had to end the show at 10:50,” he said. Beachy said complaints of noise from as far away as South wood Valley have been reported. “Due to the nature of the facility,” he said, “sound carries a great distance.” Beachy said that in order to overcome the sound problem, a compromise between the neighborhoods surrounding the theater and the city is necessary. “What goes on there will affect the neighbor hood around it and even neighborhoods further away,” he said. The city has not remodeled the amphitheater because since it sits on a creek, it is almost im possible to expand the facilities to the back or to the side. Even though there are no plans to remodel Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater in the near future, Jones said he wants to discuss the changes that could be made with city officials. He said the theater would probably make the money the city spent remodeling in one year be cause of the additional shows it could book. “I would be willing to invest money into it if they were willing to make the changes,” he said. Robyn Calloway, The Battalion Overflow from Wolf Pen Lake has caused problems at the amphitheater. Work began in June to remove the excess silt and water and to restore the lake to its original depth and shape. Chili Peppers mature with One Hot Minute By Amy Uptmor The Battalion The Red Hot Chili Peppers released Blood Sugar Sex Magik in 1991, a revo lutionary funk album that, along with the advent of Pearl Jam, brought alter native music into the mainstream. The world sang “Under the Bridge” ad nauseum, and Flea became a house hold name. Rather than a dream come true, it seemed as though bringing al ternative into the mainstream turned into the Chili Peppers’ worst night- niare. Then, as quickly as the Chili Peppers had entered the alternative music scene, they disappeared. Four years and three guitarists lat er, the Chili Peppers are back. And in many ways, it has changed. For instance, the funk element in its music is fading away. It shows up every once in a while and is evident in Flea’s bass lines, but the new Chili Peppers are a heavier, more guitar- driven band on their new album, One Hot Minute. It is almost as if the Chili Peppers have grown up. A lot of the fun, risque songs that appeared on Blood Sugar Sex Magik, such as “Sir Psycho Sexy,” are missing on the new album. Their absence is definitely evident, but the flip side of the sacrifice is that One Hot Minute is the Chili Peppers’ most solid, melodic album yet. This is due to the Peppers’ new gui tarist Dave Navarro, former Jane’s Ad diction guitarist and current member of Porno for Pyros. Navarro’s influence is apparent, es pecially in the first single, “Warped.” At the end of the song, Anthony Keidis’ dis tinct voice is the only element that keeps it from sounding like a Jane’s song that got away. The Chili Peppers rock the hardest on “Deep Kick,” which begins with a two-minute long Jim Morrison-esque spiel about life. It includes such ram bling philosophy as “everything experi mental until death was upon us, and we faced mortality.” Once Keidis slips out of Lizard King mode, the Chili Peppers rock with six minutes of the best fusion of rock and funk on the album. Both Navarro’s in fluence and the Pepper’s roots are large on this track, which is why it Chad Smith, Dave Navarro, Flea and Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers return to the alternative music scene, blending rock and funk in One Hot Minute. works. It is the perfect fusion of rock and funk. In the tradition of “Under the Bridge,” the song that makes people want to sway with their lighters in the air on this album is “Tearjerker,” in which Keidis sings, “I love your wisdom and the dimples in your cheeks.” So they can’t win them all on this one. With background music vaguely re sembling The Cure’s, the Chili Peppers end this album with “Transcendency,” a song Flea wrote for the late River Phoenix. Flea calls it a “respectfully lov ing song,” and it is. With tributes such as “round and round inside your head / the smartest f—ker I ever met,” “all cre ation’s tortured soul” and a chorus of “like no other / I love you / you’re my brother,” this song is an apt tribute to a missed talent and friend. This is not the Chili Peppers of old. It is a new breed. Yes, the band has changed, but its attitude has stayed the same. Everyone has to grow up some time, and these guys are handling it well.