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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1998)
?sday • February 10, 1998 The Battalion r C|i Ca 8 P? L S* By James Francis WjMggielife editor not Cary Grant. There is no [ ra r serted landscape where a ineican come from nowhere :haSe him down the road, moireover, Alfred Hitchcock Dthing to do with this event. ST'e title, however, North By .C igate Music Festival, might 1 a bit related to the classic 'Jorth by Northwest, or even sst Austin music celebration, i By Southwest, t let it be known, the up- lucat ng music extravaganza ledjfor March 27 and 28 will • ie first of its kind for the iMar, a&M University and Col- 192^ itation population. e two-day music festival is ucat lules to host over 30 bands Id " across the United States, and psibi ompters expect it to attract I lot al thousand participants. iEdi r an event of this size, five igafe venues (Shadow on, Fitzwilly’s outside, I'Chir; 'illy,s upstairs, the Cow Hop he Crooked Path Ale House) dy have been selected and Jneeniations are in the works to Igioci ve two more. Kepter those individuals who plan |intake part in the festival, both night and two-night access bands will be made available, at behind all the planning, people would wonder how vent ever came to be in the stage that it is today. Nathan McFall, event coordina tor and a senior environmental science major, said the idea of North By Northgate came to him while attending the Austin festival. “It originated at South By Southwest,” he said. “I volun teered at their conference and thought we could do this [the fes tival] in College Station.” So plans started brewing, and soon enough, the music festival became a reality. “I put together a formal pro posal,” McFall said, “and then we ran with it.” As event coordinator, McFall said his job is to “cross the t’s and dot the i’s.” “A lot of people say I’m the man behind the train, the power behind it,” he said. “I’m there to make sure everything gets done to make sure its an organized festival.” Because the event will be held in Northgate venues, McFall said it should be especially beneficial to them. “I think it will be great for them,” he said. “All it can do, assuming it goes well, is help their businesses.” Sponsors of the event, such as the city of College Station, members from radio stations KHLR 103.9 FM and KTSR 92.1 FM and the Northgate Merchants Association, are making arrangements to have a Thursday- night preshow on the promenade being constr ucted behind Northgate. The purpose of the preshow would be to get people ready for the two main days of the festival; it would be a means to let people know there is more music to follow. “The plan is to have an outside- promenade free show to kick things off,” McFall said, “and get people excited about what’s about to happen.” McFall said another focus of the festival is to have bands that are not overexposed perform. “We’re trying to get a band that doesn’t come around here a lot, but [a band] everybody would be excited about,” he said. “I want people to come away and say, T saw such-and-such band and they rocked.’” Although some people might still consider North By Northgate to be a mirror of South By Southwest, McFall said the Austin festival is great, but there are differences. “It’s nothing like the Austin fes tival,” he said. “It’s nowhere near the size and doesn’t have the film aspect. I don’t have a problem when people compare them.” With plans still being finalized, the organizers of the festival said they are hoping everything goes without a hitch. Please see Northgate on Page 4. jieli'f* |on Et i Ed® |oP: bioP !; "HURI i fUem Fang led Entertainment fTWj TJalentine \s should6e spent with family, not significant others Towery staff writer I do not have psychic pow ers, but I already know that this week, I will see enough hearts and flowers to make me puke. No, I’m not one of those desperate, lonely and bitter girls who complains about Valentine’s Day because I don’t have a dozen roses on my kitchen table. I’ve had a dozen roses before, and I found that they were ab solutely useless. I mean, if someone wants to spend $50 on me, I’d prefer receiving something that performs some kind of function. Why don’t people buy each other books or CDs for Valen tine’s Day? In stead, they waste money on something that dies before the weekend is over. Instead of buy ing me jewelry, pay my rent. I’d rather be able to live comfort ably than have a gold necklace to wear on the many occasions that I attend the opera. It also does not makes sense that a day is set aside to celebrate love. And yet some people spend this day with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Forget that — I love my parents and my sister and would rather spend my time and money doing some thing for them than for some guy who will take me to dinner. Besides, I honestly don’t have time for a boyfriend. I don’t have time to do my laundry. I don’t have time to eat anything that can’t be mi crowaved. The ideal date for me is a good book and a cup of coffee. And I’ve found that a book doesn’t lie about calling me the next day. A book doesn’t care if it sees me with no makeup on and my hair in a ponytail. And I can make the first move with a book without being labeled a liber al, free-thinking stalker. In fact, books want me to make the first move. I think ifValentine’s Day is going to be about love, it should be centered on the family, be cause our family members usually love us no matter what. They don’t cheat on us with better looking families. They don’t go out of town with out calling. Families represent love much more than a “significant other.” Several years ago, my father gave me the charming nickname “Ape.” Hopefully, it wasn’t because I reminded him of a hairy gorilla. To re iterate his love for me, he gives me a stuffed ape for Valentine’s Day every year. Yes, it’s cheesy, but it means more to me than roses and choco late ever could. I think females are raised to believe that if they don’t have a date for Valentine’s Day, they are useless human beings who will grow up to be old maids and never get married be cause they have the dreaded curse — a good personality. Why is it that having a good personality con notates ugliness? A good personality should be something everyone wants to have, yet it’s embarrassing when someone says you have one. I think I’d rather make people laugh and be able to carry on a worthwhile conversation about re ligion or world hunger than be a size six, blonde-haired blue-eyed model, although it would be nice to get the attention those perfect model-types get. But just for a day or two. After that, I’d go back to the good personality. And why is it that guys will not be sitting around wearing all black and listening to Alanis Morrissette on Saturday night because they don’t have dates? Because they don’t care. It’s girls who feel the overwhelming need to get married. And they are so afraid that if they are 21-years-old and don’t have a Valentine, that must mean they never will. Okay, get over it. Big deal. Go out with your friends and the people who think you have a good personality. Please see Valentine’s on Page 4. Sergei Nakariakov, trumpet, age 19 ...with prodigy trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov and 35 of his closest musician friends. Join Mr. Nakariakov and the Prague Chamber Orchestra for an evening of dynamic music on February 11 in Rudder Auditorium. Performing the works of Bach, Mozart, Shostakovich and Stravinsky, Mr. Nakariakov and pianist Valentina Lisitsa will be featured as soloists during the musical evening. February 11 at 8 PM Rudder Auditorium Call 845-1234 •< W’WfmA llf'l ( sc •PAS Opera & Performing Arts Society The mew York Times called the Prague Chamber Orchestra, 3S A superlative ensemble."