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The Battalion
Tuesday
February 27, 1 996
Aggielife
Page 3
Professing their talent
Sneaky Pete lives double life as musician, biology professor
Gwendolyn Struve, The Battalion
Biology professor Peter Rizzo, also known as Sneaky Pete, performs Wednesday nights at Northgate Cafe.
By John LeBas
The Bati align
N icknames can be eternal.
Whether endearing or condescend
ing, appropriate or unwarranted,
nicknames almost invariably withstand
the test of time.
When Dr. “Sneaky” Pete Rizzo, an as
sociate professor of cell biology, was in
high school, he became known for regard
ing others with narrowed, shifty eyes.
So his friends dubbed this the “sneak
look,” and the name stuck.
“It’s not really a very complimenta
ry name,” Rizzo said. “I mean, am I re
ally sneaky?”
“Sneaky” or not, Rizzo has found a
place in the hearts of local students on
Wednesday nights.
Rizzo has entertained College Station
audiences since he began teaching at
Texas A&M over 20 years ago. “Wednes
day Night Live,” his weekly solo perfor
mance, has become somewhat of an A&M
tradition since its inception at the Sunset
Grill (now Freebird’s) in 1984.
With a repertoire of over 1,000
songs, Rizzo now performs on Wednes
day nights at the Northgate Cafe. The
shows have been popularized by Riz
zo’s informal blend of impromptu hu
mor, classic sing-along cover tunes and
oddball original songs.
Audience participation is a defining
feature of “Wednesday Night Live.”
Rizzo encourages his fans to sing his
beloved songs with him, but he said it
became distracting to his playing at
one point.
“I had people coming up on my side
and in back of me and singing into my
mike,” he said.
So Rizzo added a separate microphone
for these revelers. The “Sneakettes mike”
allows fans to sing their hearts out with
out getting in Rizzo’s way.
Rizzo became involved with music af
ter high school, when he bought his first
guitar and taught himself to play.
After working for a few years at
various labor-oriented jobs, Rizzo de
cided to put himself through Indiana
State University, where he pursued
his interest in science.
He formed a band called Sneaky Pete
and the Sequents, which played classic
rock and performed throughout Indiana
on the weekends.
Although he loved music, Rizzo found
it difficult to pursue both a music career
and his education.
“I knew in the music business you ei
ther have to get lucky or do the grueling
road work, which to me was just as dis
tasteful as working in the mills,” he said.
Therefore, music was put on the back
burner while he finished the second half
of his schooling.
After Rizzo completed his doctorate
work at the University of Michigan and
joined the A&M faculty in 1975, he dis
covered how much he missed music and
decided to give solo performing a shot.
“Solo work saves a lot of time because
you don’t have to worry about finding a
band and having them like the same mu
sic as you, and you don’t have to worry
about the same amount of rehearsal
time,” he said. “I figured that I could get
back into music by just doing solo work.”
This led to gigs at Mr. Gatti’s in 1975
and 1976.
In 1984, Rizzo started a band
named Sneaky Pete and the Neon
Madmen, which eventually died out
when his second daughter was born.
But Rizzo was by no means through
with entertainment.
In 1984, Rizzo began to perform solo
gigs at the Sunset Grill for the A&M rug
by team, which would gather there after
scrimmages on Wednesday nights.
“Other people began coming who
weren’t on the rugby team, and they (the
team) eventually stopped coming — I
guess when it became a popular thing,”
Rizzo joked.
Before long, he had built an impres
sive local following, and “Wednesday
Night Live” matured into a 10-year lo
cal tradition.
But in Fall 1994, Sneaky Pete was
gone when Rizzo went on sabbatical to
Harvard University. There, he performed
microorganism research with Harvard’s
Dr. J. Woodland Hastings.
True to tradition and his love for mu
sic, Sneaky Pete brought back “Wednes
day Night Live” upon his return to A&M
in Spring 1995, and the rest, as they say,
is history.
Rizzo draws inspiration for his off-the-
wall, novelty songs from whatever pro
vokes a new thought or idea.
“Vampire Frogs” was bom from insom
nia. A springtime walk through a crowded
park with one of his daughters gave rise
to “Most Balls are Round,” and “My Kar
ma Ran Over My Dogma” was inspired by
graffiti that Rizzo noticed on the wall of a
Duddley’s Draw restroom.
Rizzo maintains a home studio, and he
records his songs when he finds the time.
Several of his originals have been fea
tured on the Dr. Demento radio show on
104.7 KKYS-FM, and “Rotten Banana
Song” climbed to the No.l spot on the
show a few years ago.
Since returning from Harvard, Rizzo
has been concentrating on teaching, writ
ing new material and raising his family.
He intends to keep teaching cell biology
and hopes to one day produce a children’s
album with his wife, who co-writes many
of his songs.
Of course, Rizzo has no plans to stop
doing “Wednesday Night Live.”
“Someone asked me when I am going
to quit and I said. When it becomes work.’
When it’s no longer enjoyable. Ill stop do
ing live performances,” he said.
“They (performances) are essential to
the writing, just like research is essential
to teaching,” Rizzo said. “Going out once a
week in front of people really helps, be
cause without that, you won’t even write
(new material),” he said.
“But I really don’t see this becoming
work, so I guess a more honest answer
would be, “When I drop.’”
Professors, assistants combine musical talents to form the Haydukes
By Amy Protas
The Battalion
I t ipay be a stretch to imagine your
professor or teaching assistant don
ning an instrument and jamming
at the places you like to go outside of
class. But that is exactly what the
Haydukes, a group of professors and
teaching assistants from various de
partments on campus, do.
Bob Crow, drummer for the Hay
dukes and a graduate chemistry stu
dent, said he was excited to get in
volved with a band again after not
playing for a few years.
“I’ve been playing off and on for 15
years,” Crow said. “After a music drought
in graduate school, I got an itching to
play again. When I moved out here, I ful
filled my mom’s dream to get the drums
out of the house. I met Gary Varner, the
vocalist and rhythm guitar player, and
got involved.”
The band members describe their
sound as eclectic. Everyone has a differ
ent influence. Styles that have impacted
the band include Eastern European mu
sic, mountain music from a century ago,
blues and jazz.
Chris Holcomb, banjo player for the
band and an assistant professor of Eng-:.
lish, said everyone has different influ
ences which come out in the music.
“The music we play is really eclectic,”
Holcomb said. “There are lots of diver
gent influences, and everybody gets to ex
press those influences. We play music in
many genres. It stretches you as a musi
cian. Playing rock ’n’ roll on a banjo is a
bit of a challenge.”
Holcomb said his guitar teacher inter
ested him in the banjo.
“When I was in Austin, my guitar
teacher just happened to be a banjo play
er,” Holcomb said. “I went to see him play
banjo in a bar. I heard him, and my chin
hit the floor. I went out the next day and
bought one.”
The origin of the band’s name can be
found in Edward Abby’s book “The Mon
key Wrench Gang.”
Jim Frost, the band’s bassist and a
graduate English student, said there
are two reasons the Haydukes chose
their name.
“In the novel, the character George
Hayduke is an eco-terrorist,” Frost said.
“He has a vision of blowing up the Glen
Canyon Dam to free the Colorado River.
With three members of the band interest
ed in environmental studies, we thought
it was an appropriate name. We found
hillbilly in our sound and thought the
name also sounded hillbilly.”
Besides the hillbilly style of the band’s
music, folk music is also a heavy influence.
Shalini Vallabhan, vocalist and
rhythm guitar player and a graduate po
litical science student, said her main in
fluences are folk.
“We have folk, bluegrass and the
blues,” she said. “Mainly, we play folk
and bluegrass. Our style is very eclectic.”
When the pressures of academic life
become too much, everyone looks for
some sort of outlet.
Vallabhan said her outlet is the band.
“We’re all professors and graduate
students,” Vallabhan said. “It’s a chal
lenge balancing school and the band.
It’s a good break from academics, but all
of us have commitments outside of the
band. But we feel lucky to have an
outlet. It keeps me sane.”
The Haydukes have played at
Stafford Opera House, Dead Lazio’s
and The Brazos Brewing Compa
ny.
Crow said there are many
viable music venues in town.
The problem is the lack of
bands to play at those
places, he said.
“The music
scene is definitely
lacking,” he said.
“We are lacking
in bands. Every
college I went to,
people would just
show up at the
student unions
and start playing.
We have a lot of
places here for live
music. I know the
talent is out there. It’s
a shame not more is
happening.”
Jimmie KiHingsworth.
mandolin, guitar and
banjo player and an
English professor,
and Varner write
K ,spme of the band’s
songs. Others are
songs, Holcolmb
said, that cannot
be considered cov
ers because they
are not well known.
The band has
created a follow
ing, especially
within the Eng
lish department.
“Some of the
other English
professors and
graduate stu
dents come out
and hear us play,”
Holcomb said.
“Music is part of
the humanities, and
maybe that’s the rea
son they are interest
ed in it.”
Dr. Krammer's life experience inspires ongoing study of
Dave House, The Battalion
History professor Arnold Krammer stands in front of his collection of
books dealing with Nazi-Germany.
By James Francis
The Battalion
H istory has a way of playing into the
lives of professors. Dr. Arnold Kram
mer, professor of modern German
history, is no exception.
Krammer’s special interest in Nazi-Ger
man history has become an integral part of his
life and teachings. One of the most fascinating
occurrences in Krammer’s life came through a
simple call he received in September 1984.
An unknown man called Krammer to
compliment him on one of his books dealing
with concentration camps and German pris
oners of war.
He later came to admit something only he
could tell Krammer.
“I’m the last fugitive German prisoner of
war,” he said.
The man’s name was George Gaertner.
After their first talk, Krammer and Gaert
ner had other conversations which lead to a
face-to-face meeting. Then, another memo
rable event took place.
“He surrendered to Bryant Gumble on The
Today Show,” Krammer said.
After the incident was over, Gaertner re
ceived his United States citizenship in 1989.
It was that phone call which led to Kram
mer’s publication of the book, “Hitler’s Last
Soldier in America.”
As interesting and unforgettable as this ex
perience was, Krammer does have other con
nections to Nazi-German history.
He said two things constantly bewilder him
about Nazi history.
“How sophisticated a country Germany was
and how so many people can be swayed to do
things that are so evil,” Krammer said. “I just
can’t figure out what made millions put them
selves through that.”
A lot of individuals would say Adolf Hitler
was the reason. At the time of Hitler’s reign, it
is true many people were under his command.
“Somehow Hitler, as a tuning fork, hit the
right sound and caused other tuning forks to
resonate,” Krammer said.
Hitler was mad, not like Van Gogh or Pi
casso, but in a criminal way, he said.
The essence of Hitler can be summed up in
one sentence.
“He was a madman with instincts for his
audience,” Krammer said.
Although Hitler is dead, it would appear
otherwise by the various articles of Weekly
World News posted on Krammer’s office door.
From headings of “Hitler’s brain is still
alive and plotting WWIII” to “Hitler’s secret
son found in America!” the list does not end.
Krammer said even though the period
has been over since 1945, memories of it
still linger.
“It’s like trying to kill a snake — it never
dies,” Krammer said.
Krammer also believes the realization of
Americans being the same as Germans never
fades away.
“It could happen here, and it has,” he
said. “There have been lots of terrible in
justices here.”
Krammer said people have to see where
they are coming from to see where they are
going.
“You can’t drive a car without a rearview
mirror,” Krammer said.
He alluded to a story of a broken stairstep
as important information to people who travel
up and down the stairway each day, so they
will not make the same mistake of walking on
that step every time.
“Historians tell what stairs are loose be
cause we’re all taking the same staircase
through life,” Krammer said.
When individuals actually takes the stairs
up to Krammer’s office, they will find a profes
sor who has had many valued experiences.
In 1974, Krammer came to A&M. He won a
Fulbright Scholarship in 1992 to study in Ger
many and has had three books published. Two
of the three have also been printed in German.
The European emphasis in his teachings
Nazi-Germany
stems directly from his own past. Both of
Krammer’s parents were immigrants from
Hungary, and he said he could not help be
coming interested in his field of study.
“I feel like a cancer specialist, as though I
am looking at things under a microscope,”
Krammer said.
Krammer said he teaches history because
he enjoys the experience but does not think he
loves all the past events he teaches.
“It’s as oppressive a topic as I imagine, but
the Nazi-Germany course is the most request
ed,” he said.
Krammer said students are drawn to the
course to find out what really happened.
Some students take it to see things from the
victim perspective and others from the mili
tary point of view.
Whatever the reason, Krammer said he
wants his students to take something with
them when the course is over.
“I try to teach them not only what’s hap
pened, but the meaning and value of what’s
happened,” he said.
To reach out to his students, Krammer said
he always tries to bring a visual aid to class,
such as German money or medals, and he said
he is infamous for his maps.
“When they feel it, they are closer to it,” he
said. “They realize that this craziness really
happened, and I make sure everyone sees
what I’m talking about.”
Another way Krammer’s students get to ac
tually feel history is by experience.
This second summer session, he and
Professor Shandley of the German depart
ment will take a group of students to the
beaches of Normandy.
The trip will ensure experiences the stu
dents will come to value, but traveling is an
important part of Krammer’s life.
“I was bom and raised in Chicago,” he said,
“and came to Texas A&M because I was tired
of winters and looking for an adventure.”
Throughout the many encompassing events
in his life, he has lived his dream.