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Page 3
Thursday • February 27, 1997
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Decisions, decisions...
February 27
Thursday
^^■Sreedlove, a blues/rock band
from Austin, is playing at 3rd Floor
is'
anti-
'dsis:;'
Cantina at 8 p.m.
■Fysher, a rock band from
Iryan-College Station, is playing
with Jazztop, a rock band from
iryan-College Station, at Dixie
ieatre at 8 p.m.
to
Latin Cheese Quartet, a cover
band from Bryan-College Station, is
V ila, g at Club Ozone at 9 p.m.
nJMSC Cepheid Variable is pre-
n s V senting Ninja Scroll in 201 MSC
at 7 p.m.
iCofl
jr^Picdemonte, a Latino band from
i blr Venezuela, is playing at Sweet Eu-
’ M ie’s House of Java at 9 p.m.
[abo.'J' , „ , . . ^
I Sneaky Pete, a smg-a-long artist
from Bryan-College Station, is play
ing at the Cow Hop at 9 p.m.
Ljg f]g; K
David Trout, a rock ‘n’ roll co-
ICfiUCS s
. jipedian, is performing at Chelsea
peet Pub and Grill at 9 p.m.
| The Woodies, a rock band from
Iryan-College Station, is playing at
zwilly’s at 10 p.m.
February 28
Friday
| Lor
Ruthie Foster, a blues musician
|ctt from Bryan-College Station, is play
ing at Dixie Theatre at 8 p.m.
Bryan-College Station, is playing at
Double Dave’s at 8 p.m.
MSC Film Society is showing The
Princess Bride at Rudder Theater at
7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Don Overby, a classic rock mu
sician from Bryan-College Station,
is playing at Fitzwilly’s at 10 p.m.
Matt Rosin, an ethereal goth
ic musician from Bryan-College
Station, is playing at Sweet Eu
gene’s House of Java at 9 p.m.
Chubby Terrier and the Bayou
Swamp Band, a cajun zydeco
band, is playing at 3rd Floor Can
tina at 8 p.m.
David Trout, a rock ‘n’ roll co
median, is performing at Chelsea
Street Pub and Grill at 9 p.m.
March 1
7 Southern Backtones, a rock
band from Houston, is playing at the
Cow Hop at 10 p.m.
Lost Prophets, a rock band from
Saturday
Ruthie Foster, a blues musician
from Bryan-College Station, is play
ing at Sweet Eugene’s House of
Java at 9 p.m.
Magic Rockers, a classic rock
band from Bryan-College Station,
is playing at Fitzwilly’s at 10 p.m.
Ronny Spears, a country and
western musician, is playing at Dix
ie Theatre at 8 p.m.
David Trout, a rock ‘n’ roll co
median, is performing at Chelsea
Street Pub and Grill at 9 p.m.
Throwaway People, a blues
band from Bryan-College Station, is
having a CD release show at the
Cow Hop at 10 p.m.
Local alternative rock band Fysher
thrives on instrumentation, acoustics
By Michael Schaub
The Battalion
|.
T he members of Fysher have
been together for only three
^ months, but drummer Brian
eadle already knows the band’s
|)ngs forward and...
"I hum the songs before I go to
|ed,” Beadle said, “I can play these
ngs backward.”
“We’re going to do that next
show,” guitarist and singer Sean
mith said.
Fysher will bring its acoustic rock
) Bryan’s Dixie Theatre tonight.
Guitarist and singer Chris
lontes said Fysher formed in mid-
lovember of last year, from the
shes of two now-defunct bands.
“I just called Brian up, look-
ig for a drummer for a new
and," Montes said. “He said he
new a guitarist and I told him to
ring him over. It turned out we
ere all interested in the same
pes of music.”
With Montes’ former band-
hate Cliff Buckley on bass, the
band was playing original songs
nd covers within weeks.
“We’ve mixed so well together,
fskind of scary,” Beadle said. “We
ill just clicked.”
Fysher takes its cue from such
Iternative rockers as Dave
fatthews Band, Jackopierce, Veni
al Horizon and the Grateful Dead.
“The music’s not folk; it’s fast,
upbeat rock,” Montes said. “It
nakes you want to hop around.”
As in Dave Matthews Band, at-
ention is paid to all instruments,
dontes said.
“The whole emphasis is on the
nstrumentation,” he said. “Each
song has a lot of different rhythms.”
The band’s instrumentation is
not entirely acoustic, Buckley said.
“The leads are more electric,
but the rhythm section is acousti
cally based,” he said. “We tend to
mix the songs up, have a different
twist each time.”
Fysher got its first break last
year, when club owner Willie Ben
nett heard Montes and Smith play
an acoustic set at an open-micro
phone “singer-songwriter’s night”
at the 3rd Floor Cantina.
“After that, he offered us the
opening act spot for Vertical Hori
zon,” Smith said. Fysher will open
for the Washington, D.C., folk
band again March 22.
“Then there was the time we
played Madison Square Garden,”
Beadle said. “Phish opened for us.”
Maybe not, but Fysher has
booked shows in downtown Bryan
well in advance — a far cry from its
roots of playing at Double Dave’s.
The band is trying to raise
enough money to produce an al
bum, Montes said, but for now it’s
concentrating on its live show.
“Without acting, we try to keep
the audience interested and in
volved,” Montes said. “When we’re
playing, it feels like we’re some
place different. We’re not up there;
it feels like we’re in it.”
Band members hope to help
revitalize Bryan-College Station’s
live music scene by working with
other bands, Buckley said.
“We all need to work together on
it,” he said. “If people saw what was
going on, the music scene would be
so much more happening.”
See Fysher, Page 4
Some students try several majors in search of perfect one
By Aaron Meier
The Battalion
I n the Pauly Shore movie
Son-in-Law, Shore plays a
professional student with
more majors behind him than
most colleges offer. While his
endless string of majors pro
vides comic fodder for the film,
some students at Texas A&M
can relate to “The Weasel’s”
quest to find a major.
Scott Phelan, an education ad
ministration graduate student,
tried five majors at two colleges,
amassing 200 credit hours before
finally graduating.
Phelan began college as an
aerospace engineering major in
1988. He switched to electrical
engineering, then to engineering
technology electronics, followed
by engineering technology
telecommunications. Finally, he
moved to the College of Business
and graduated with a degree in
management in 1995. .
“I wasn’t in the engineering
program for myself,” Phelan said.
“I was doing it because my par
ents wanted me to.”
Phelan said he realized his major
posed many scholastic obstacles
when he started school.
“A lot of people started off
aerospace [engineering], then re
ality quickly hit and we decided
we needed to find something
else,” he said.
John Kerrigan, a senior market
ing major, initially studied speech
communications at the University
of Texas at San Antonio, but decid
ed to take a different academic path
when he transferred to A&M.
“I wanted a high-paying job,
and there didn’t seem to be many
in speech communications,” Ker
rigan said.
He became a sociology major
before finally settled on a market
ing major.
Kerrigan said his other majors assist
him in more ways than he expected.
“My other majors have en
hanced my experiences as a mar
keting major,” Kerrigan said. “So
ciology helped me because
marketing deals with how people
interact with each other. Speech
communications helped because
I am now able to speak in front of
large crowds during classroom
presentations.”
Paul Santoya, a sophomore po
litical science major, agreed that
his experience as a mechanical
engineering major helped him to
prepare for his current studies. He
said the organizational skills he
learned have helped him budget
his time efficiently.
Phelan said that his numerous
major changes became more an
noying than beneficial after a while.
“It became really frustrating
when a lot of the courses I had tak
en wouldn’t apply to my new major,
extending the amount of time it
took me to graduate,” Phelan said.
Phelan’s family also became per
turbed with his chronic changing.
“After a while, my parents just
wanted me to get out of school,” Phe
lan said. “Not to mention my grandfa
ther, who was paying for everything.
When I finally graduated, they were
more relieved than anything.”
Your degree is
going to be with
you the rest of your
life. If you don't
enjoy what you are
majoring in, you
might as well get
Russell Crones
Senior marketing major
Santoya said his parents support
ed him in his changes in majors.
“My parents just wanted me to
make sure I knew what I was doing
and not jump into it blindly,” San
toya said.
Kerrigan offers advice to students
considering changing their majors.
“I would suggest looking at the
college you want to major in,”
Kerrigan said. “Make sure the de
gree can take you where you want
to go in life. Talk to people that are
in the major and see what they
say about it.”
Phelan suggests not wasting
any time when thinking about
changing majors.
“If you are considering chang
ing majors, the first thing you
should do is go talk to an advis
er,” Phelan said. “Find out what
classes you are going to lose and
try and get back on schedule as
soon as possible.”
Russell Crones, a senior market
ing major, said other things besides
time should be considered before
changing majors.
“If you are uncertain about what
you want to do, taking time off from
school and trying to get a bearing
on what you want to do with your
life is a real possibility,” Crones said.
“Don’t waste time and a whole lot of
money before you realize what you
want to do.”
When considering a major, a
student should always consider
happiness above all things,
Crones said.
“Your degree is going to be with
you the rest of your life,” Crones
said. “If you don’t enjoy what you
are majoring in, you might as well
get out now.”
Theater Arts Program goes Ape
Students perform award-winning Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape
Fysher
By Michael Schaub
The Battalion
T he Theater Arts Program might be Texas
A&M’s best-kept secret, but actor Guiller
mo De Leon has known about it intimate
ly for three years.
“There are seniors in the dressing room for
this play saying, ‘Man, I should have been doing
this my whole time here!”’ De Leon said.
The Theater Arts Program will perform The
Hairy Ape today, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in
the Rudder Forum.
The play, written by Nobel Prize-winner Eu
gene O’Neill, deals with social interaction be
tween the rich and the poor in American society,
director Robert Wenck said.
“It deals with the feeling of despair the have-
nots have,” Wenck said. “The message is well-
taken today. The problem’s worse now.”
De Leon, a junior theater arts major, said
O’Neill’s message is still relevant.
“It has political undertones,” De Leon said. “I
think it is something students should see, espe
cially if they’ve been in the workforce.”
Although the daily rehearsals have been in
tense, De Leon said, the actors are having fun
with the play.
“We’ve been working since the beginning of
the semester,” he said. “We’ve had some really
good nights.”
Wenck, an associate professor of speech com
munication and theater arts, said he is having
fun watching the students.
“The play calls for a lot of understanding, and
the students have a really good grasp,” Wenck
said. “It’s a huge assignment for Billy De Leon,
and he’s doing an excellent job.”
The play will be De Leon’^ 12th production
at A&M. He has worked before in plays such
as Othello, The Crucible and The Madwoman
of Chaillot.
But his true calling is playwriting and direct
ing, he said. The Theater Arts Program will per
form his original play La Llorona later in the se
mester. De Leon will direct.
“It’s about a legend, a woman who drowns
her children and is cursed to walk the night,”
De Leon said. “The play deals with why this
woman would drown her two kids. I tried to
create my own mythology.”
De Leon said he is pleased with the work of di
rector Wenck.
“He’s very laid back,” he said. “He lets us work
on our own, and gives us good insight.”
Still, the Theater Arts program suffers from
lack of recognition, De Leon said.
“I wish the school would at least acknowledge
Theater Arts as a department,” he said. “We all
wish we had better facilities. We don’t do nearly
enough as we should be doing.”
The absence of a full-fledged fine arts pro
gram makes the university suffer, Wenck said.
“We’re the only major university without a
college of fine arts,” Wenck said. “We have no de
partments of music, theater, dance, or art. We
miss those things, and we’re certainly big enough
to have them.”
The program does the best with what it has,
De Leon said.
“The energy level tends to be a little low,”
he said. “I wish I could do more to get peo
ple’s attention.”