Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1996)
ly » January 26, m he Battalion Aggielife hip pageant ‘d for Saturdi Miss Black and0 igcant, presented by fraternity, will Ire ' in Rudder Theatre, it will feature ten wi the Miss Black and Cl as scholarships ranj 1,000. hie h can be purchase 4 SC Box Office, inciui n after-party. W Symposiui ?te today AW Symposium Com- impete in a case-corn from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m, B uilding. present evidence for cas- been preparing since lie competition, in its ,M, has grown from to !o 24 this year. mplex University would on,” Schaffer said, •estraining order aring will have to to do an environ- y geologists thattk very small, fragile the water aquifer.’ officials met with| i order to modify ss their concerns. ! Texas State Soil j Board will estab- complex’s surface ns and maintaia le largest animal, ment in the coun- id, it is important nimal production j the new kind of e are seeing more e complex will al- Indents with the itional experience ’ and livestock. >mplex wHl be an ,ional showplace./ ’acuity and man ,- we have an m | cility.” Northgate’s image (Kristina Buffin i Battalion If you build it, they will come. That was the philosophy of the Oates mily, owners of The Cue, when they >cided to build the new dance club, ertigo, on Northgate. “We have had The Cue now for four tars, but A&M is drawing a new type crowd that doesn’t play pool,” David lates said. “These are the Doc Marten, i# wave people who go to Austin and lallas on the weekends s dance. ‘We polled the stu nts and found out what iiactly they wanted and re said, ‘if you want it, rell build it.’ I feel we hit right on the spot and ave given them what iley want.” What A&M students got was a new iance club, unique from any other in the Bryan-College Station area, that plays lie type of music that people want to lis- and dance to. It doesn’t require a two lothree hour drive to get to. “We would go to Dallas just to go to 3 clubs on the weekends,” junior in- amational studies and economics ma- or Karen Lucci said. “The music they >lay is completely different from the ra- iio. Now, some of the stuff is being played on the radio because it is just starting to go mainstream. It is a really different experience.” Vertigo is not only for these “Doc Marten, new wave” types. In fact. Verti go has drawn a cross-section of the A&M population. “Our philosophy was to create a neu tral place for all types of students to come in and to enjoy themselves,” John ny Oates said. “Whether you’re a biker, in the Corps, a cowboy or of any persua sion, no matter who you are as long as you’re legal and decent (dress code), "It (A&M) is not just a little conservative school anymore." — Brian Blackman senior English major, deejay at Vertigo •, doubt 1 adjusted to and covered with pace program sites, ly good memories ole trip and the id how much fui 8-year-old said." stuff more than itudying to be an el- teacher. He said it not an attempt to ffe’s footsteps, e has followed him lid talk among his n turns to famous r hometowns, eague pitcher Bob -ovencal usually liffe, and “all of a ie stops and they nber little about others recall it ;y agree they did long-term emo- ie had predicted. , Night News Editor -ife Editor Sports Editor j Editor :h, Graphics Editor ’higs Editor i Benson, Linn Bowden, Michelle Lyons, Heallief Walker ■I Barry, Kristina Buffin i, Thomas Doughedy- in LeBas, Amy Pro® nee, Stephanie Chrislo- ?ob Clark, Erin Fitzge'- ia, Chris Miller, jetwo an iwan, Amy Browning/ a Zimmerman ak, Michele Chancel* aodwin, |ohn Lemons, aezada Mandy Cater, Ami)* vl University in theO 1- sm. 113; Fax: 845-2647 rsement by The Ball/" i-2696. For classic McDonald and offi ce lent to pick up a sing^ school year and $50 p* call 845-2611. t during the fall and sessions (except o n econd class postag 6 you’re welcome.” Vertigo looks small from the outside. However, it boasts the biggest dance floor in town. The inside totals about 3,000 square feet. The decor of the club will al ways be changing because the Oates are looking for the student’s input. “We have a demented fireplace from Beetlejuice, and we named the club Vertigo because everything is crooked,” David Oates said. “We started half-speed because we wanted people’s input. We still want to put in 3,000 watts of power, more neon paintings, and last weekend, the crowd wore out the floor and the sides, so we have"'t'o repaint. The music will draw the crowd, but the building will keep them.” The Oates, who have owned many businesses in the area, have not had much experience with this type of Amy Browning, TheBattauon music and atmos- Photo illustration by Tim Vtoog and Amy Browing, The Battauon Vertigo, the new dance club on Northgate, officially opens tonight. phere, but said the presence of Vertigo will give Northgate a new edge. “We are starting to draw people to Northgate who have never come before,” David Oates said. “I was talking to Don Ganter (owner of the Dixie Chicken) and we anticipate that Northgate will soon be like 6th Street when they fix the parking problem. There is something here for everyone.” Disc jockey Brian Blackman used to throw raves for students who did not want to drive out of town to go dancing, but said he that now they have the op portunity to stay in town and have a good time listening and dancing to the music they enjoy. “It is both the music and the atmos phere that is drawing people here,” Blackman, a senior English major said. “Some of the music we play is not un heard of. A lot of it is from England, and you hear it in some of the big cities’ clubs. We’re about 10 years behind in Bryan-College Station. The atmosphere is very much party-oriented.” Although the grand opening of Verti go is not until tonight, the Oates opened the club last weekend to see what kind of response they would get. The result was long lines at the door. The club was so crowded, the industrial-strength paint that forms the. spirals on the dance floor was rubf)l£f off. “Every day, a friend comes up to me and tells me how cool it is,” Blackman said. “I have overheard people in my classes talking about it. People have al ways assumed that this type of club would not go over in College Station be cause it is not mainstream. “But now A&M is a real college town because A&M is turning the tide; it is not just a little conservative school anymore.” Image Injustice Yesterday's heroes' lives, ideas cheapened by cash culture Alex Walters Columnist America, we have Id our soul to the ivil. It takes a prac- :ed observer to find ie evidence of our blasphemy, but it’s iere, lurking in the turners and in the Pools of infidelity are to be enjoyed by the hippest of the These places, these dens of mediocrity, ire the sucking wounds that are draining life tom American culture. Merchandising Nostalgia The Gap tells us James Dean, Jack Ker- ttac, Ernest Hemingway and Jimmy Stewart wore khakis. I tell you that I don’t give a flaming rat’s behind for what kind of pants hey wore, but I do care about what was going on in their minds. These people are staples of American cul- hre because of their raw and powerful cre- J tive individuality. Kerouac and Hemingway lived their own fives. Kerouac wrote his masterpiece, “On The «d,” while he was — on the road. Heming way wrote “The Old Man and The Sea” after iiving the story in Cuba. When people smear posters of Jack Kerouac over their dormitory walls without at least fusing his tales, they bastardize Kerouac’s en- iire existence with their banal following of a heap trend. The Tainted Spirits The fountain of youth, where creative ener- oozes from its source, has run dry. The problem may be that, in the 63 years Jitice alcohol again became legal, the spirits e lost their wicked and sultry flavor. Be aming intoxicated once called for a reaction far beyond lifting a paper cup and bellow- ■ng, “wooooo!” When Dorothy Parker, saucy bard of the lazz age, indulged, her purpose was to tap 4e essence of her soul and put it into reali ty. Parker and her fellow revolutionaries at he Algonquin Round Table had no inten tions of using alcohol to make one another appear sexually appealing. They drank to soak out the misery of their Souls. The methods they chose may not have been admirable or pure, but the end some times justifies the means. The poetry and musings that came from the Algonquins, and groups like theirs, was the kind of creative output that could change the world. Today, we have groups and gatherings like the ones found at the club Vertigo in College Station. At Vertigo, you would be hard-pressed to find poetry or originality, but you just might get to see a man dance with his jockstrap on the outside of his stretch pants. Cure for Pain For some of us it may already be too late. The generation before, the post-war baby boomers, used drugs to dull the ache of the Vietnam war. Up until the age of Aquarius, people lived their lives without creating a fan tasy realm where nothing is real and nothing is your fault. Now, we pay for the sins of the father. Sucked into an endless mire of mindless games of follow-the-leader, today’s culture is settling for the easy cure. Whatever happened to the elixir of the man who perfected the blues, Robert Johnson? Where have you gone, Charlie Parker? WTiy have you stopped singing, Louis Armstrong? The howling sounds these musicians coaxed from the well of their souls is the medi cine we all need. These people and their cre ation will serve as a better cure than buying a new T-shirt with Jack Kerouac and a quirky phrase printed on the front. Not Enough Foggy Days I remember hearing a rendition of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” per formed by a street musician on his tenor saxo phone in Dallas. It was well past midnight in the rain at Thanksgiving square. The sax was dented and rusty, but the tones poured out clear and dry. The song came out, raw and honest, from the soul. Thinking of that song keeps me sane when I am reminded of the demise of the American culture. That song is the sound of the devil dy ing as we buy back our soul. Alex Walters is a junior journalism and the ater arts major. Breedlove's sound inspired by blues, but defies categorization By Libe Goad The Battalion Down-on-the-bayou, Texas blues-rock comes easy in these parts. On any given weekend, blues im- provisational guitar wafts down from the windows of the 3rd Floor Cantina in Bryan or from the doors of its neighbor, the Dixie Theatre. This Friday night, Dixie The atre will make a fresh start with Breedlove, a bluesy, funky, Austin-based band that has a style of its own. The band’s style is born from grass-roots music. Dan Dyer, lead vocalist and songwriter for Breedlove, said the band looks to the blues for inspira tion, but avoids putting it into the blues category. “Blues are definitely one of our roots,” Dyer said, “but we can maintain that foundation without strictly being a blues band.” But roots run deeper than mu sical influences in this band. Guitarist Tyrone Vaughan- Fullerton, son of Jimmie Vaugh an, comes from the famous Vaughan family. Drummer Jason White also comes from a family of musicians. His brothers are Billy White of the Billy White Trio and Chris WTiite, the bassist for the Ian Moore Band. Dyer said the Vaughan blood line has had no influence on the band’s style of music. Stevie Won der, Al Green, Marvin Gaye and Bob Dylan have been the strongest musical influences on the band’s style. “All of our backgrounds are dif ferent,” he said. “We play whatev er comes out of us.” Breedlove’s story began a year ago when Dyer, Vaughan-Fuller- ton, bassist Josh Dawkins and drummer Jason White played to gether in their spare time and evolved from there. At the time, Dyer sang in a band called Rainshine, where he began to perform with Vaughan-Fullerton. White and Dawkins played together in a blues band called Third Power. After the two sets met and began writ ing songs together, they realized forming a new band was meant to be. They debuted in Dawkins’ living room, where friends and family served as musical guinea pigs. Then they launched into the Austin music scene, playing at An- tone’s and Steamboat, and open ing for the Ian Moore Band, Little Sister and Storyville. Three months later, keyboardist Ezra Reynolds joined them. Now, a year later, things are still going well. The music in Breedlove’s reper toire consists of some blues songs, but the style of music varies as the band members contribute ideas, Dyer said. The Austin Chronicle described the music as “part Doors, U2 and all things blues.” Dyer scoffed at the comparison to the band headed by Jim Morri son, and launched into a discus sion of musicians of the ’60s. “Our songwriting is better than the Doors,” he said. “The Doors were based on sex appeal.” Breedlove’s music comes from personal experience, and they of ten stray from the love topic, un like Lenny Kravitz, Dyer said. “It’s about being real,” he said. “All the music is from our heart and souls.” Their self-titled four-song demo Breedlove tape for sale at their shows fea tures “Peregrine,” a “what-if” song; “Garden,” an environmental song; and “Waste Away Boy,” a song about heartbreak. Dyer calls his lyrics “soulful” and “from the heart,” but the band’s name, Breedlove, has little to do with the songwriter’s passions. The band members, frustrated with arguing over an appropriate name, sat down with a phone book and let fate take its path. Dyer said the first thing they turned to was an advertisement for Breedlove Realty, so they decided on Breedlove as their band name. “It’s not the name that mat ters,” he said. “The music makes the band despite the name.” The band’s music has been making tracks in Texas. A typical week for Breedlove consists of sports, sports, sports, and going on the road Wednesday through Sun day. The band’s tour route has ex panded out of the Austin city lim its to Houston, Dallas and Bryan. None of the band members have outside jobs, Dyer said, so they are free to pursue their other interests. “Everyday is potentially a Sat urday,” he said.