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Entertainment

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Pushing 33 to hold CD release party, concert

Ben Landes
September 26, 2002

A CD-release party for local band Pushing 33 will be held at 9 p.m. today at Rick’s American Café, 224 Abbott Road.This acoustic-driven rock band, formerly known as Under Construction because of a lack of a permanent name, will hold the party to promote the group’s second album, “The View From Here.”The band used its Web site to enlist the help of fans to find a new name and offered to pay the winner $50.“The name of our record came from a fan suggestion,” advertising senior and lead singer Jesse Young said.

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Hyperbole makes familiar punk music

Ben Landes
September 26, 2002

The Lansing locals of Hyperbole never leave you guessing who their musical influences are. This five-piece band has produced a decent album filled with tunes closely resembling its idols Blink-182, A New Found Glory and Saves The Day.

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Theater gets a breath of fresh Oxygen

play that combines chemistry and character will spontaneously combust at Wharton Center’s Pasant Theatre this weekend to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Lyman Briggs School.Written by Carl Djerassi, developer of the birth control pill, and Roald Hoffmann, winner of 1981 Nobel Prize in chemistry, “Oxygen” explores scientists’ emotional investment in invention by describing a committee’s search for the first scientist to discover oxygen.“It’s the first time three departments have gotten together to collaborate on a production, and it’s been wonderful,” director Mary Job said.The experiment of combining Lyman Briggs, the College of Natural Science and the Department of Theatre into one production began in the spring.Natural Science Dean George Leroi approached Frank Rutledge, interim chair of the Theatre Department, and asked if he would be willing to produce “Oxygen” on the Pasant stage.“I thought it was a very interesting idea,” Rutledge said.

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Youngest student in U history gives school credit for success

Antonio Planas
September 26, 2002

The MSU archives did not forget who the youngest person ever to attend MSU is - and it says it is not 14-year-old Taraz Buck as The State News reported in August.Instead, Southfield resident Michael Grost, 48, was the youngest student to attend the university at age 10 in 1964.But Taraz said he is not bitter - instead he said he’s focused on studying and doesn’t want the recognition.“It really doesn’t matter to me,” he said.

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Local theaters some of the best in the Midwest

I can say without a moment’s hesitation that I have the best beat at this whole paper. For months I feared that everyone else knew this too, that every person would want to see three to four shows a week, that the secret was out.

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E.L. locals please with Dave Matthews-like sound

East Lansing’s Pushing 33 has been playing its heart out in the local scene the last four years. Formerly called Under Construction, the band has changed its lineup a few times, altered its name and revamped its tunes into catchy acoustic rock that reminds listeners of the soul of Dave Matthews Band and the appealing image of John Mayer. Its sophomore album, “The View From Here,” never ceases to amaze as it overflows with memorable tunes that don’t just sound good, but also sound really, really good.

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Quench your thirst?

Your chest flares out from the healthy pump of an intense pec workout and your biceps look like they’re twice the size they were when you woke up this morning.

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Stanley Climbfall gives Lifehouse new direction

Ben Landes
September 25, 2002

On Lifehouse’s sophomore album, “Stanley Climbfall,” the band has opted to throw aside the somber acoustic ambiance of its 2000 debut album and smash single “Hanging By a Moment” and spur forward with harder guitar-driven tracks, which thrust the band into a new direction. Lifehouse’s double-platinum debut album “No Name Face” was about self-discovery.

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Williams impressive, psychotic in One Hour Photo

Casey Mcnenly
September 24, 2002

For anybody who has held a job in the service industry or worked with a customer, there has always been a distinction between what is appropriate treatment and what isn’t. Seymour “Sy” Parrish (Robin Williams) blurs the distinction, then spits on it in “One Hour Photo” as a seemingly customer-friendly film developer. When a relationship with his favorite customer Nina Yorkin (Connie Nielsen) turns obsessively unhealthy, Sy starts to lose it.

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Blues musician to play E.L. after 19-year tour

Ben Landes
September 24, 2002

The new Classic Americana Music series kicks off its first concert at 7:30 p.m. today at the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road. The series presents blues musician Jerry Ricks, a historian and storyteller who plays various blues styles on the guitar and mandolin.

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Lightfoot cancels upcoming Wharton show

Gordon Lightfoot’s scheduled concert for Oct. 17 at Wharton Center has been canceled due to the singer’s recent hospitalization. The Canadian singer is currently recovering from surgery for a stomach ailment at the McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton, Ontario. Lightfoot is best known to Michiganians for the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” The song is a tribute to the November 1975 sinking of the S.S.

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Taylor to play Breslin Center in November

“Sweet Baby James” Taylor will perform at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at Breslin Center. The concert is part of a tour promoting Taylor’s 14th album, “October Road,” which was released in August. The 54-year-old singer and songwriter is best known for songs such as “Steamroller,” “Walking Man,” “How Sweet It Is” and “Sweet Baby James.” Taylor’s latest album features a variety of music borrowed from his own life experiences and integrates several musical styles.

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Fools lighthearted, simple tale of town full of stupidity

Lindsay Frederickson
September 23, 2002

Bath - True to its title, Neil Simon’s “Fools” gives audiences a stage full of lovable idiots. The Bath Community Theatre Guild opened its season with the Simon comedy Friday at the James Couzens Auditorium in Bath Middle School, 13675 Webster Road. “We were looking for a good, clean comedy, a family comedy without being a children’s show,” director David Brooks said. “Fools” is set in Kulyenchikov, Ukraine (a parallel of the mythical Jewish town of Chelm), a town cursed by a love-struck couple 200 years before the start of the play. When new schoolmaster Leon Tolchinsky (Michael Kostel) arrives in town, he enthusiastically describes the thrill he gets from teaching classical literature and gloats over his new post.

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Move Over Mrs. Markham gives mediocre performance

Lindsay Frederickson
September 23, 2002

In opening their 74th season, the Lansing Civic Players attempt hilarity, but achieve only mild amusement with the British sex farce “Move Over Mrs. Markham.” “Mrs. Markham,” written by Ray Cooney and John Chapman, is a typical farce with miscommunications and pre-coital shenanigans intending to confuse everyone but the audience. Unfortunately, the utter butchering of British pronunciations and the nasal whining of several of the main performers destroy any chance this show has at rising above mediocrity. The play is supposedly set in London, but the only way one can tell is by looking in the program, as “Covent Garden” becomes plural and many performers forget their accents all together. “Move Over Mrs. Markham” takes place in the Markhams’ flat, a garishly decorated place.

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Messages of respect given in Barbershop

Casey Mcnenly
September 23, 2002

In the ’80s, “Cheers” told us that sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. Actually, how about Monk’s Restaurant portrayed in “Seinfeld”? Or perhaps a mall to portray the decline of America’s youth in “Mallrats”? Then again, why not an inner-city barbershop to illustrate the difference in culture?