Newspaper Page Text
Let there be Truckers
By WAITES LASETER
Tin- Hi,i> Ji Bluk
“Excuse me."
"Sorry?"
"Excuse me," says t.he slightly
balding middle-aged man with a
look of distress on his lace. "Do you
work here? Can you help me?"
Though I've never worked at the
40 Watt in my life, my curiosity gets
the best of me. I ask him what I can
do for him.
"There's a.young lady passed out
in the men's bathroom. Somebody
should call her friends."
Realizing that I'm in slightly over
my head. I direct the gentleman to
the nearest staff member. It's 10
o'clock, and the night is just getting
st arted. Already there have been
casualties. The crowd’s starting to
stret ch their drinking muscles, for
the hometown heroes have returned.
Drive By Truckers is playing
tonight. - I
The Drive-By Truckers represents
everything that is still good, and ha*
always been good, about the South/
The songs slide easily into your
mind, the way homemade ice cream
slides down your throat on a hot,
day.
This past weekend was no hot
summer day. Despite one of the
IV: Alumnae dishes about reality show experience
>- From Page 1
listening to the silence
because we had no elec
tricity or entertainment,
and it would get so bor
ing that you would actu
ally start to feel yourself
go crazy,” she said.
“When you add that to
the fact that we were
starving because we
weren’t being fed properly
and only got rice and
about a half-cup of peas
per person every day, and
canned tuna only when
people started to look
emaciated, you really do
start to lose it.
Hand-sewn pieces
debut on runway
Students exhibit historically
inspired clothes collection
By COURTNEY SMITH
The Red & Black
Project Runway met history class Saturday night as
dozens of student models hit the runway to display the
historically inspired clothing collection that made up
the Fashion Design Student Association’s “Era-
Descent” Fall/Winter Fashion Show.
Each collection in the show was designed and hand
sewn by one of the association’s members during a
period that began last August and ended just before
each model stepped onto the Memorial Hall runway.
“Each outfit took about two weeks to design and
about a day to sew together because my mom helped
me with that part, so it went a lot faster,” Teresa
Tamburello, a junior advertising major from
Cartersville, said. “But, it didn’t all get done on time,
and I just finished one of the outfits right before they
called for all of the models to line up.”
Lawrencia Blount, 23, who started the association in
Fall 2006 after studying fashion design at Parsons the
New School for Design, said Tamburello was not the
only designer who found hand sewing each garment to
be one of the most difficult parts of making the collec
tions.
“You can’t teach someone how to design because
they either can or can’t, but a lot of people needed
help with how to sew and properly finish the garments,
so this year was the first time I did a sewing workshop
to help everyone,” the senior business major from
Macon said. “The workshops really helped people clean
everything up and get it finished.”
But, unlike Project Runway, there was no cash prize.
All proceeds from the show benefited the Textile,
Merchandising & Interiors Historic Costume
coldest streaks thus far this winter,
all three shows were sold out,
packed to capacity: Though the cold
was merciless outside, with the 40
Watt’s wall-to-wall crowd, it was just
warm enough to defrost the icicles
that had been forming around the
marrow in your bones all day
Guitarist Mike Cooley radiates the
cool energy of an old-Western gun
slingin’ preacher: tragically wise,
comfortable in his skin and just as
willing to save your soul or send you
to hell, depending on how'you act.
He looks around the crowded club
as he lights a cigarette on stage,
almost daring somebody to stop
him. His voice, hardened by years of
drinking, smoking and living the
dream, sounds like gravel covered in
velvet, beautiful and rough at the
same time. .
Through their songs, Truckers
give names and faces to the horrors
our sociiil model creaft'S. the ecu- .
noinic inequities thauhave both
given rise to and, in many ways, held
back Southern culture. Through the
poetry'of their lyrics, issues such as
incest, suicide, drugs, social injustice
and economic disparity are more
than just words; these terrible
things are happening to our neigh
bors, our friends, our cbmmunities
and our families.
Everything starts to
seem very real and you
are terrified.”
Despite these terrible
living conditions, con
stant disorientation and
crippling fear, Johnson
said she was determined
to finish the competition
and would not have
changed her decision to
take part given the
knowledge of what was to
come.
“I am just a very com
petitive person, and I
knew I could do anything
I put my mind to, and I
met a lot of great people
and got to see them at
their best and at their
worst, which is very rare
out in the real world,” she
said.
“Everyone in my home
town is very proud of me
and always calls me after
they watch the show so
we can talk about what
happened because I can’t
say anything about the
show until it shows on
television.”
According to her sister
and publicist Cassidy
Kassa, the fact that much
of what happened on the
show is kept secret is a
source of excitement for
her now and also helped
gl ~gg)*L mJm Kt
FW TANARUS;
*
COURTNEY SMITH | The Rep & Black
▲ A student models an outfit designed by
Andrea Merriman at the show on Saturday.
Collection.
“Although this is my first year in the design associa
tion, I definitely want to do it uhtil I graduate. It was
just a lot of fun and gave me the chance to design a
collection and show it on a runway,” Tamburello said.
r
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WAITES LASETER ; Tnv Ki.i, .< Hi a, i.
her get through the time
when her sister was gone.
“I really wasn’t worried
about her when she was
gone because we had no
idea what was happening
and the kind of condi
tions she was under,”
Kassa said.
“When she got back
and told me about the
cabin and the rats, I
couldn’t believe it but I
am glad she was so
strong and didn’t give up
because hopefully it will
open a lot of doors for her
in the future.”
“13: Fear is Real” airs
Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
The Red & Black | Tuesday, January 20, 2009
ON THE WEB
Check out www.redandblack.com to listen to a Dictatortots MP3
THE DICTATORTOTS
When: Today at 9 p.m.
Where: 40 Watt
Cost: $5 (21+), $7(18+)
More Information: www.dictatortots.com
Local band’s music
surpasses mainstream
By RUSTY BAILEY
The Red & Black
Just because people are in a band in Athens doesn’t
mean they have to do typical band things such as play
at fraternity houses, shill to record companies and even
tually go on tour.
At least that’s what The Dictatortots believe. With
members who have aliases such as Belle Buster, Hung
America and The Reverend M.C. Hatchet, it’s clear The
Dictatortots are serious about not being serious.
“We were sick of other bands,” said bassist The
Reaver. “I mean, think about it: 99.8 percent of music is
made up of crappy love songs.”
Starting out with three members 10 years ago, The
Dictatortots now play with anywhere from six to 13 peo
ple at their shows.
The band thrives on playing songs that are off-the
wall, absurd and downright ridiculous. Some songs,
such as “That’s a Lot of Blood” and “You’d Look
Better,” border on blatantly offensive.
When asked about their nicknames, guitarist Snake
(or Bear) said, “It’s best to keep our music completely
separate from real life.”
With shows guitarist Tru describes as a “cavalcade of
reasonably priced awesome,” The Dictatortots aims to
entertain. Often, the group’s live shows involve a partic
ular theme such as “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The group
also has a powerful cannon that it uses to shoot random
objects such as marshmallows, popcorn and Lucky
Charms into the crowd.
Sometimes, however, the band’s live show tricks can
go awry. When The Dictatortots debuted the song
“Hippies Don’t Care How They Smell,” for example, the
band found out the hard way that giving percussion
instruments to the audience is a bad idea.
“Never arm the audience, and never give them instru
ments,” The Reaver said. “We had people banging cow
bells on the wall; they were in the zone.”
The Dictatortots may do a lot silly things at their
shows and write playful songs, but it’s all in good fun.
“We’ve done a lot of stupid stuff,” Tru said. “A lot of it
we can’t remember, but all of it was funny to at least
one of us.”
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