^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
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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.