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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 1997)
^a/tbe/u Your § Engagement Ring Custom JezueCry Headquarters 2205 Longmire Suite F • 695-1328 Financing Available Tlie Texas A&M Univepsitcj Ootleqe of Li be pal Arts in cooperaiion wi th the Universitq of Houston Moores School of Music presents the CHAMBER CCMCERTS COMCERT TOMIGHT 7:30 P.M. RUDDER THEATRE 'piedeil JicuA. violin, /fntOvfej tyteilUec. violin. (yucUtf. (^ndnutnoUelottin, violin TCmnen T&UoUei. viola, Cpunnan 'Kvanan, cello JlcLfrflo / V<xn^o. cello T^oSin 'ZlonqA, oSoe "limotluf “Tleolen. piano In a proqpam of music bq Zoltan Kodalq, Benjamin Britten and Pobert Schumann S>*pt*%tuL iff Arts Couttcil ol |Ih? BtXUOl Vlllc»| Bonlc Ti.'xa^i Commlssk>i> o»» Hje Hirsl AtnariccMt Bai»k T^ntversiftj Honors Pwx|rom A.G. EJwjkIs & vSon$ Unfvcrsih| Tilk O). tmil aid Clemenflne Oqckn Compass Boot Fexas Ai&Nrl BooUloi^> I radii? M(»ga*$ne Cofumbfai Medical Cealer I ke Axlin Irusi« (E s, Wwe<l Bank T«*sbe) The Eagle Flying higher every day 7«4(»r Avnilnlit ot'tl* Ttcse Vos onus AJulls - $10.00 - $5.00 ^ierOWO IX,U,,, hcvuiloUe (n itre U„n ^»Tlnc| Cenler Gum.-,c ($.6< Tlieulcv Is IwnJioctppsd A 1 For Internmllon MSC Barber Shop Serving All Aggies! Cuts and Styles All Corp Cuts $7. Regular cuts start at Jj 846-0629 Open: Mon. - Fri. 8-5 Located in the basement of the Memorial Student Center HOWDY, AGGIES! Get Away for A Taste of Summer! ART IN THE “REAL WORLD” A Road Trip to Houston Thursday, June 26. Leave campus at 1 pm. Return to campus by 10pm. Free transportation and museum admission for A&M students. $20 for non-students. Please make checks payable to “MSC Visual Arts Committee.” On exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science: SILVER GALLEONS Mexico: The Heart of the Hispanic-Oceanic World We’ll have dinner at one of Houston’s many fine restaurants. Bring money for dinner! (We’ll keep it around $10 ea.) Sign up by 5pm Ibesday, June 24 at the MSC Forsyth Center Galleries (across from the Aggieland Post Office). For more information please call 845-9251. Memorial Student Center http://wwwmsc.tamu.edu Visual Arts Committee http://vac.tamu.edu If you have special needs please call in advance at (409) 845-9251 The Battalion AMPUS Monday *June 23, Blockbuster CrockFest Rock concert fails to deliver entertainment goods James Francis Opinion Editor Junior English major T fhe day is Friday, June 20, 1997 — it is 8:30 p.m. Here is your mission should you de cide to accept it: Drive to Block buster RockFest at the Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas, surpass a crowd of almost 400,000 people, enjoy alternative rock’s most cele brated artists, survive the drive back home to College Station and live to tell about it. This is definite ly a “mission impossible.” Special Agent James Francis and his supervisor, Special Agent M Helen Clancy, departed Aggieland Epm at exactly 8:30 p.m. The wheels of our '85 metallic-gold Toyota Cam- ry spun in the direction of the con cert arena with Agents Erica Roy and Raven Dusek trailing us in their white ’95 Mazda MX-6 (we were cloaked in disguise). We arrived in Dallas a little after midnight and were joined by other field workers (Battalion crew and friends) for a pre-show itinerary meeting (college party). Sometime past 2:30 a.m., we headed to a secret, underground location (a gracious friend’s house) and planned out the next day’s strategy (we feasted on snacks and passed out). The morning sun rose and we had sched uled an 8:30 a.m. wake-up call (set the alarm clock) with one of the on-duty agents. Being the dedicated task-force agents (tired college students) that we are, we departed from our hideout at noon. Arriving at the main office (house where the party was held), we consol idated our field equipment (lots of water, lots of beer and ... I guess that’s it) and gath ered into an unmarked government trans port (a huge econo-van) with Agents Roy and Dusek still following. We took Interstate 35 to blend in with the rest of the crowd until Agent Shane Freeman (driver of the van) received an encrypted message from one of his cufflinks (a radio disc jockey said 1-35 was backed up for miles). We reversed our travel to take a re- served-for-special agents roadway (1-377, because it was a shortcut). Then we encoun tered a disastrous onslaught of government conspirators (a traffic jam, filled with thou sands of RockFest ticket holders). We were trapped. Luckily, Agent Freeman saw an open path for us to take (the shoulder was empty and we were on it in two seconds flat, bypassing everyone who was too afraid to move). Agents Roy and Dusek stayed behind to manage crowd control (they didn’t have the gumption to follow us). Before we knew it, we had overtaken the ri vals (we continuously yelled “Media pass!” from the van windows and pushed our way to the front line of cars, trucks, motorcycles and people on foot). It was nearing 1:30 p.m., the venue was almost in our sights and we were cool as ice cubes (Matchbox 20 was playing and the tribe was becoming restless). Since there was so much time remaining before any of the better-known acts were preparing to go on (the Wallflowers were gearing up to go and some of us were kicking ourselves), Special Agent Tim Moog, Director of Field Assign ments (Battalion Photo Editor), separated from the group several times to scout the landscape (he took pictures of the traffic and got a nice shot of a guy dressed as Boba Fett). Needless to say, we arrived at a plain-look ing building for an agent debriefing (we stopped at the Port-o-Potties, picked up media passes and parked only a few rows back from Gate 4 — it was time for the fun to begin). Agents Roy and Dusek were scheduled to meet us at 4 p.m. near the headquarters’ cool ing tanks (we planned to find a nice patch of grass to plant ourselves, then look for our friends near the ice-blocks which people were cooling and impaling themselves onto, but what we got was a corner of cement inter mixed with grass blades covered in fruit juice from a smashed watermelon). All the agents camped on the ground to oversee various operations (we collapsed to our respective blankets and lawn chairs to take in some sun and hear the bands play, be cause there was no way in hell we were ever going to make it to the stage seating). Within a time span of 10 minutes, three momentous events were documented in our notebooks: 4:34 p.m. —A drunk music fanatic hocked-a- lugie in front of Agents Roy, Dusek and Clan cy; 4:36 p.m. —Agents Roy and Dusek were squirted by another alternative-rock nut with a water gun.; and 4:44 p.m.—A guy in a g- string bikini (we suppose it belonged to the girl he was with) flashed a nipple to Agent Roy in a crass manner. But our mission was not over yet. After prolonged exposure to heat rays, humidity and people, all agents retired to a shaded area for surveillance operations (we ran to the bleachers before they became too full in order to watch Counting Crows, No Doubt and Bush). The atmosphere was clear, conspirators had been captured and it seemed our mission was almost a success. Suddenly, an unseen sniper began hurling unidentifiable objects at 'a iOC Photo Illustration: Brad Graeber a range of agents and before long, a small- scale brawl ensued (people were throwing toilet paper and half-filled water bottles into the air). Agent Clancy was injured by one of the torpedoes (a bottle of Evian) and was quoted, “That sh— hurts.” No Doubt continued to perform as Agent Clancy and I took cover away from the battle (we sat under a pillar outside the bleachers af ter a group of bikers threatened to kill a man they suspected of throwing a bottle at them). Everyone returned to the bleachers andlis- )l tened to Bush perform, but the rest is a blurof time notations. 12:30 a.m. — All agents gathered into our transportation and headed toward the night time horizon. 3:30 a.m. — We finally escaped the crowd ed parking lot. 4:30 a. m. — Agents arrive at the secret win meeting location (we picked our car up fromlin] our friend’s house and headed back to the V fj house where we slept the night before). L 6:00 a.m. — All is quiet as everyone sleeps away the night, but the wake-up call forthe | $| drive home is 10 a.m. Noon — Agent Clancy and I head backto College Station (although there was a 10 o’- jj-j clock alarm, we puttered around the house, 1 played Nintendo 64, ate cookies, drank coffee and complained about how none of us want ed to go to work). 6:00 p.m. — Arrive at The Battalion news room and began typing this column. 10:20 p.m. — Final touches added, my eye lids ready to close. This weekend was a true ad venture — one I’m sure to never forget. But Rockfest ’97 wasn’t what I, or anyone else, expected. To title the event appropriate ly, let’s give this concert a real name: “The Summer ’97 Blockbuster-Moiow-Infested- Trashbin-Collecting-No-Toilet-Paper-In-Tfif Port-O-Potties-I-Can’t-See-The-Band-For Ten-Miles Fest.” Mission complete—this column will self-th ^ struct in five seconds. s 0 . Degree Continued from Page 1 Parrish said the music degree curriculum must be approved by many departments in the Uni versity, including the music and liberal arts faculty, the University Curriculum Committee, the Board of Regents, Faculty Senate and Administration. The Texas Higher Education Continuing Board must also approve the cur riculum before a music degree can be offered. “We’re at the beginning of the process,” Parrish said. The dean of the College of Liber al Arts, Woodrow Jones, Jr., named Parrish the college’s arts develop ment coordinator in the spring. One of Parrish’s duties is to assist in the raising of funds for a music degree. He said the program will get some funding from the Universi ty, but is trying to get as much “external funding” as possible from corporations, foundations, individuals and former students. Parrish said acquiring these funds is possible, because of the interest in the program. Parrish’s other duties include facilitating discussions to bring the music and theater arts pro grams into one department. Presently, music is part of the philosophy and humanities de partment and theater arts is a talce MkStpIcfen and set into the risht business school Personalized, computerized study plans, tailored to your individual needs. Highly trained, expert teachers who know the tests inside and out. Proven methods, guaranteed to raise your score. the leader in test prep and admissions counseling KAPLAN 1 - 800-KAP-TEST www-Kaplan, com part of the speech communica tions department. Werner Rose, coordinator of the music program and a profes sor in the Department of Philoso phy and Humanities, said music and theater arts together it will bring focus to the arts on campus. He said many people think A&M does not have arts pro grams because they are spread out into different departments. “It makes sense within the College of Liberal Arts to bring music and theater arts together,” Rose said. When Rose became the coor dinator of music in 1988, the University had only three cours es in music. A&M now has 18 music cours es listed in its catalog, and sever al more classes are available un der the course listing “Topics in Music.” Students can now choose to minor in music also. Rose said even though A&M does not have a music major, the music program is still very active. “The number and diversity of music courses Texas A&M offers for non-music majors is much broader than for any other school in the state,” Rose said. Rose said the degree will be different than what most people think of when they think of a music degree. Rose said there are two types of music degrees. One is a profes sional degree geared toward per formance or music education,^ the other is a liberal arts degree Rose said A&M’s degree pli will be mucli more of a true lil al arts music degree and will quire more work in the hist( and literature of music andhi music relates to other fields. “This degree will give studei an understanding of howmit is an important part of everyd life,” Rose said. Some students believe tl adding a music major will oi help A&M. Arran Spoede, a senior spee communications major, said wanted to major in music wh' he first came to the Universe but had to settle for a minor. He said even though the<>l portunity to major in music come too late for him, he is M 1 11 py that others have the oppod 1 ill nity and thinks that creating ^ music degree is an import step for the University. “If A&M wants to be a woi- class University, their liberal^ (program) will have to be as go as their engineering (program Spoede said. |Sj Nicole Zirkelback, a gradu* student in mechanical engin £t |r ing, said she also thinks amt degree at A&M can onlym 1 the school better. 6 ^ “It’s been pointed out tlw ^ school with a liberal arts pi# is incomplete without a degr ft music,” Zirkelback said.