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Page 6 • Thursday, September 23, 1999
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GGIELIFE
tali*
Cornin' Horn
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AUS“
It-1 -X ?
Find out if you've been selected
for membership in
Golden Key National
Honor Society
Stop t>y the information tables:
st _ 24 th
Sept. 21
@ Rudder Fountain
• Networking
• Positive Attitudes
• Academic Recognition
• Opportunity to work with
campus and community
leaders
• Scholarships
Robert Earl Keen returns to Texas A&M for live performs
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It. Gov
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riissioi
BY SCOTT HARRIS
The Battalion
FREE
BILLIARDS EXHIBITION
JACK WHITE
Brought to you by the
'HfC MSC Recreation Committee
Monday, September 27, 1999
11:00-1:00 Exhibition in the MSC Flagroom
2:00-4:00 Free Clinic in file basement
(by Hullabaloo)
For more information, or to inform us of your needs,
please call 845-7625
F riday night Robert Earl Keen will be re
turning to the one place that might love
him the most — the place he once called
home, and gave him his college degree. Friday
night he will be returning to Texas A&M.
Keen said that although he did graduate from
A&M, the whole ordeal was quite confusing.
“I’m the Class of ’78; 1 graduated in 1980,
but I stopped taking classes in 1979,” Keen
said. “I needed one point higher on my GPA to
graduate, so I enrolled in classes for the spring
of 1980. But then I talked to one of my [pro
fessors], and he boosted my grade to give me
the extra point, so I dropped all of my classes
and just hung out. 1 goofed for the semester,
played in a bluegrass band and graduated in
the spring.”
Although Keen finally got his degree in Eng
lish, he said concentrating on school was not
the easiest thing for him.
“We lived in this house, that’s a parking lot
now, right behind the Chicken,” he said. “It was
like a bus station. First off, it was so close to
school that people would just let themselves in.
I would come home, and there would be four or
five people there I didn’t know. I couldn’t get
anything done there.”
Keen said the nature of A&M has changed
since he was in school. When he was here, A&M
was predominantly composed of men and the
Corps of Cadets, and there was no Greek sys
tem. Although things have changed, Keen said
he always enjoys returning to College Station.
“I always like coming back; it’s like a trip
down memory lane,” Keen said. “I have some
friends that still live here, but it’s weird because
after a few years, I’ll come back and 1 think I’ll
see a bunch of my old friends, but I won’t be
cause they are all gone.”
Keen said when he first started playing music,
he never envisioned the success he would attain.
“I just wanted to write songs and play,”
l^een said. “Personally, I never felt like I was
cut out for it. Don’t get me wrong, I put a lot
of effort into playing, but I never had the goal
to be onstage. ”
Keen’s success is not limited to College Sta
tion, or even Texas, for that matter. He said his
popularity has extended out of Texas and across
the entire nation.
“We have a huge demographic,” Keen said.
“In the southeast, we have a giant following
with the college students — 1 mean all the way
to Florida. In the west, it’s mostly older people,
it’s astounding. We’ll go to places we haven’t
played in five years, and the show will be
packed. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m
glad it did.”
Keen is a musician first and foremost, but
he said storytelling plays a major part in all his
live shows.
“I started playing in coffee houses, alone,
so I talked about the songs,” Keen said. "Peo
ple would listen, now it is getting harder and
harder to tell stories because the audiences are
so big. There is finesse and nuance in telling
a story. If 1 pause in a story for emphasis and
someone yells out, ‘Five Pound Bass,’ it kind
of ruins the story. ”
Keen said lie lias certain songs he only
plays during his shows which are not on any
of his records* which he uses as rewards for
his devoted fans.
“I don’t feel like I have to record everything I
write,” Keen said. “I like to throw some songs
out during my shows for people who have seen
me play a number of times.”
Keen said that even though he enjoys his suc
cess outside of the state, he saves something spe
cial for his fans in Texas.
“We play longer shows in Texas,” Keen said.
“That way we can touch on every album, so we
can play something for everybody because some
people come to the shows just to hear one or two
songs. The longer shows let us open it up a bit. ”
PHOTO COURTESY OF/W
Keen said he understands that sow
just want to hear certain songs, buitta
certain rules about playing them.
“I understand people wanttofetfG
Honeymoon,’ The Road Goes outer
some others, but I refuse to playl
mas from the Family’ if you carrtlwiffli
ally, n you come to a shwibwi
Easter and Labor Day and you wan
song, it ain’t gonna happen.”
Even though he has certain song's
almost all of his shows, Keen sakUe
change his set list for each performan
"I perform like I would like to hear
perform," he said. “1 like to try somette
and new each time.
“1 like to play new stuff and chaif
lists because people will get bored
shows if I keep playing the same this
same way.
Robert Earl Keen will be playingali
Pen Creek Amphitheater Friday nightin
Station. Jack Ingram will be opening
doors open at 8 p.m.
2001
BACK TO SCHOOL
BL0W00T
T- SHIRTS $ 5
SWEATSHIRTS $ 10
MUGS , $ 5
LISCENSE PLATES ... $ 8
SEPT. 20 - 24 at MSC
A Night in Rocketown
The Acoustic Tour
Featuring Watermark, Chris Rice, Ginny Owens, and Cindy Morgan
October 14, 8:00 p.m.
Rudder Auditorium
TICKETS ON SALE TODAY!
MSC Box Office 845-1234
$10 General Admission
Sponsored by Compass College Ministries