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Features

FEATURES

Napster forced to block thousands of songs from service this week

Dan Julian
March 12, 2001

In another bold move against Napster, the Recording Industry Association of America sent a list of 135,000 copywritten songs currently available on Napster to the free online music trading service Friday night. Napster has until Wednesday to block its file-swapping service of those songs. The list was compiled of music owned by the five biggest record labels - Sony, Warner, BMG, EMI and Universal - which all believe Napster is robbing them of billions in profits. Shortly after the announcement, Napster issued a statement that assured its more than 60 million users they will still be able to use the system - with some limitations. “You will still be able to share music that we haven’t been asked to block,” the statement read.

FEATURES

DeNiro, Sisqo revisit popular TV shows for new film plots

Vince Estes
March 12, 2001

When television shows get made into movies, the sources are usually obvious, like “Charlie’s Angels” or “Cast Away.” But sometimes, producers can be sneakier. This weekend’s new releases, “15 Minutes” and “Get Over It,” are just that: Snippets of popular television formula crafted to look like coherent film.

FEATURES

Local theater features childrens production

Juliana Keeping
March 12, 2001

All-of-Us Express Children’s Theatre presented “Gareth, the Gentle Gargoyle” at The Riverwalk Theatre for the musical’s opening run this weekend, and attracted scores of families to the near-sold out production. They could be seen in the lobby of the theater, 228 Museum Drive in Lansing, bearing post-performance bounty of flowers and mini-gargoyles, adding to the “family show” feel.

FEATURES

Theater students prepare for upcoming shows

Juliana Keeping
March 2, 2001

At 10 p.m., most MSU students would be kicking back, maybe studying or vegging out to endless banter on “SportsCenter.” But in the basement of the MSU Auditorium this week, the casts and technical crews of “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Sylvia” were hard at work. “I think 99 percent of people have no idea that plays were ever rehearsed,” said theater Professor Frank Rutledge, director of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Tuesday night, the cast and crew rehearsed using a mix of mattresses, desks and chairs as a set. Rutledge estimated that actors and technical crew members each spend between five to five and a half hours a day working on the show, which is in its second week of rehearsal. Marcus Olson, theater professor and director of “Sylvia,” agreed. “Of course when we get close to opening the show, that number goes way, way up,” Olson said. The actors spend their hours rehearsing, memorizing lines or researching.

FEATURES

Weekend Guide

Friday: Ramon’s Restaurant and Lounge South, 1146 S. Washington Square in Lansing will host First World Fridays: International Dance Party.

FEATURES

Musician alumnus comes back to U

Dan Julian
March 2, 2001

Joel Mabus admits he was born to be a musician. The MSU alumnus folk musician has released 13 albums during the course of 25 years and will debut his 14th, “Six Of One” tonight at the Erickson Hall Kiva as part of the Ten Pound Fiddle Coffeehouse music series. “The current (album) has been on the burner for quite a while,” he said.

FEATURES

Monster Madness

Juliana Keeping
March 2, 2001

Back in the mid-1980s, monster trucks were clunky, heavy contraptions. Now, they’re lighter, high-tech racing machines that can be kicked into reverse with the toggle of a switch, and their fiberglass beds withstand thousands of pounds of rollover pressure. Mike Nitzke, the laid-back, somewhat shy driver of Rambo - and a 2000 Thunder Nationals Champion - spent last weekend at MSU’s Breslin Student Events Center.

FEATURES

To sleep, perchance to dream

Aaron M. Miller
March 1, 2001

“I have just closed my eyes again/Climbed aboard the Dream Weaver train/Driver take away my worries of today/and leave tomorrow behind.” Every night, like in Gary Wright’s pop hit, people all over the world climb aboard the “Dream Weaver” train for a free ride on railways of fantasy - destination unknown. Through astral planes, starry skies and to the bright side of the moon, the train may travel, but whether the train actually takes away the worries of today is doubtful. Many doctors say dreams are actually a way of dealing with reality. “We’re really grounded in the concrete,” said Charles McPhee, author of “Stop Sleeping Through Your Dreams: A Guide to Awakening Consciousness During Dream Sleep.” “Dreams are a reflection of things going on in our lives.

FEATURES

Band brings acoustic rock to U

Dan Julian
March 1, 2001

Matthew Alfano doesn’t like performing in coffee shops too much with his band “Mason’s Case.” “We can’t bring the drums in there and the songs just don’t have the same ‘oomph’ as they would in a bar,” the theater junior said.

FEATURES

Disney and US team up

NEW YORK - Jann Wenner, the publishing maverick who launched Rolling Stone in 1967, has finally found a partner in his effort to make US Weekly a mainstay in the celebrity journalism business: The Walt Disney Co. Under a deal announced Tuesday, US Weekly is being spun off from Wenner’s media group, which also includes Men’s Journal and Rolling Stone, into a new company of which Disney will own half.

FEATURES

New paperback highlights lives of two young computer geeks

Leslie Escobar
March 1, 2001

With so much easy access to computers and technology, it’s hard not to get swept up in some aspect of the Internet.For some people, the Internet offers endless possibilities, whether just for entertainment, an entire online community or a career.Jon Katz’s “Geeks” is the true story of two computer-savvy “geeks” and their escape from a life of low-paying jobs and loneliness after their graduation from high school.Katz was on tour for a previous book, “Virtuous Reality,” in 1996 when he first became interested in what it meant to be a “geek.”And after an introduction to the world of geeks by some cameramen at a local television station, Katz became interested in computer technology and began writing for “Wired,” a magazine made especially for “geeks.”With his columns about the world of geeks for “Wired,” and the magazine’s Web site, “Hotwired,” Katz began receiving hundreds of e-mails from geeks across the country about their lives.This included 19-year-old Jesse Dailey and his closest friend Eric Twilegar.After communicating with Jesse through e-mail and convincing the two that with their skills, they could get a job anywhere, Katz flew to Caldwell, Idaho to meet them.For most of their lives and particularly in high school, Jesse and Eric were outcasts.Both were working dead-end jobs after graduating from high school.

FEATURES

Hi-Fi in for big muscial success

Dan Julian
February 28, 2001

American Hi-Fi (self-titled) (The Island Def Jam Music Group) Whoever said drummers don’t do anything in bands should take a look at Stacy Jones, the former master of the skins for Letters To Cleo, Aimee Mann and Veruca Salt. After a bitter breakup with Veruca Salt, he formed American Hi-Fi with some friends, and even wrote all 12 tracks on the band’s self-titled effort - the result speaks for itself. It’s bands like this that make me proud to be an American rock ’n’ roll fan.

FEATURES

Dave Matthews Band tries something new

Leslie Escobar
February 28, 2001

Dave Matthews Band Everyday (RCA Records) True fans of the Dave Matthews Band will ask themselves whether a song could get any better than “Lie in our Graves,” “Seek Up,” and of course, “Crush.” DMB is often categorized as one of those “jam bands,” with its eight and 10 minute songs which receive only minimal airplay but still manage to become some of the most successful songs of the album. In many ways, it’s right up there with Phish and the other jam bands, especially with its first few albums and the live compilations, especially 1995’s “Live at Red Rocks.” But with DMB’s new album, “Everyday,” things have turned around. What happened to the long songs with minutes of saxophone and violin solos that gave the band that undeniable sound? Many fans live for these solos, which have become a trademark of any good DMB song. The first single off the album, “I Did It,” doesn’t even start off with the sax or violin, but an electric guitar. It sounds strange.

FEATURES

Napster to blame for drop in sales

LOS ANGELES - Sales of CD singles plummeted last year, and recording industry officials say the figures prove that Napster, the Internet music-swapping service, has cut into their business.Shipments of CD singles sank by 39 percent last year, according to data released by the Recording Industry Association of America.“Napster hurt record sales,” RIAA president Hilary Rosen said.A federal court ruled this month that Napster, brain child of Shawn Fanning, helped users violate music copyright laws.

FEATURES

Alumna returns for benefit show

Dan Julian
February 27, 2001

Kirt Herronen said the Student Alumni Foundation likes to present a benefit event of some sort every year for a good cause, and this year it decided to do something different. “We had several people on the board who had turned 21 and received the B.R.A.D.

FEATURES

Local radio station wins award

Dan Julian
February 27, 2001

Katy Carolan wasn’t surprised when she found out the Michigan Association of Broadcasters named WDBM, 89 FM The Impact, College Station of the Year for the second year in a row.

FEATURES

Bono, MacPherson pay respects to French artist

ROSSINIERE, Switzerland - U2 singer Bono and Australian supermodel Elle MacPherson were among the celebrities who gathered in this mountain village for the funeral of French artist Balthus. Bono, a close family friend, sang a final farewell before the coffin, draped in Scottish tartan, was lowered into a grave on a piece of ground where a Balthus museum is to be built.

FEATURES

High school playwrights watch words come to life at festival

Juliana Keeping
February 26, 2001

Fresh ideas and young talent came to the Wharton Center’s Pasant Theatre stage Sunday afternoon, as six high school playwrights watched their works come alive in the 5th Annual Young Playwrights Festival.Oona O’Leary, an East Lansing High School senior, took first place in the competition for her play, “Gregorian Rants,” and received a $600 prize.“Most of my ideas come from little ideas, pieces of ideas, lines I could use,” she said.O’Leary wrote the play two years ago, revised the work last year and submitted it for the competition.Her play depicted God - who wore a tie-dyed T-shirt that read “God is Awesome” - in heaven, as all hell breaks loose around him.