__UCAB secures Gym Class Heroes to perform April 2, Ying Yang Twins concert rescheduled__

p. Alternative hip-hop band Gym Class Heroes will headline UCAB’s annual spring concert April 2 at 7 p.m. at Matoaka Amphitheatre.

p. UCAB also announced that the Ying Yang Twins show, which had originally been scheduled for March, has been moved to April 19 at 8 p.m. at Matoaka.

p. Gym Class Heroes is best known for its hits “Cupid’s Chokehold” and “Clothes Off!” from the band’s 2006 album “As Cruel As School Children.” Their success earned them the award for Best New Artist at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.

p. UCAB Executive Director Margo Collerd ’08 said that UCAB is hoping for a positive student response to the Gym Class Heroes.
“It’s the first concert on a weeknight, so hopefully more people can come out because it won’t conflict with other campus events,” Collerd said.

p. According to Collerd, UCAB is very pleased to have the funding and availability to have two concerts this spring.

p. “UCAB is really striving to bring diversity so it’s really great to bring two groups,” Collerd said. “It’s something William and Mary will do in the future since we hope to maximize both the number of concerts and quality and types of acts we bring.”

p. Because the band will already be in the area, UCAB was able to negotiate a discounted rate for Gym Class Heroes.

p. “We’ve been trying to book our second concert for a long time, we had a long list of ideas and had made many offers that were turned down by the artists, which is normal,” UCAB Music Chair Jeanna Occhiogrosso ’08 said. “The Gym Class Heroes … were playing at Virginia Tech and looking to add on an extra night. They offered a very competitive price, a better offer than what they would give most schools because they really wanted to add that extra night.”

p. Collerd also put to rest rumors that the Ying Yang Twins would be performing for free. “The website [Eventful.com] was just a way for their management to see who was interested in seeing them, Collerd said. “It was more of an opportunity for them to come here.”

p. Funding for the spring concerts has recently increased. The Student Assembly was able to allocate UCAB’s entire requested budget, $124,550, for the first time in recent history.

p. “We’ve allocated certain money from student activity fees and ticket sales, and we have increasingly more money from the Student Assembly, so we were able to budget for two bands,” Collerd said.

p. Advance tickets for Gym Class Heroes, with openers Tyga, I Am the Avalanche and KiDz In The Hall are $10 for students. Tickets purchased the day of the concert will be $12.

p. The prices for tickets to the Ying Yang Twins concert, with opener The Syndicate, are $8 for students in advance, and $10 the day of the performance. Special discount combined tickets for the two concerts will be offered at a price of $15. “It’s a really great opportunity for students to attend two great concerts at a low price,” Collerd said.

p. Tickets can be purchased at the College box office at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall or at www.wm.edu/boxoffice.

“Juno,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Napoleon Dynamite” — all independent films that stand apart from the mainstream Hollywood romantic comedies and action movies. Today, College students will get their own time to shine in the WM Film Club’s sixth annual W&M CANS Film Festival.

p. From 7 to 10 p.m. in Tucker theater, the film club will have its own version of the famous Cannes Film Festival, a prestigious screening of international independent films.

p. “Its main purpose is to liven up interest in independent films on campus and across the state,” film club’s president Charles Hixon ’11 said “The films have to be under 30 minutes, and they’re completely open.”

p. Within this time limitation, filmmakers are free to find their own inspiration. This year’s entries come from the College, University of Virginia, James Madison University and Washington and Lee University.

p. “We judge the films on character development, camera work and the story line, which is pretty key,” Hixon said. This year’s panel of judges comprises Troy Davis, director of Swem’s Library’s Media Center, Film Studies Professor Sharon Zuber and Terry Lindvall. “We’re pretty excited to have Terry Lindvall as a judge,” Hixon said. “He’s a former president of Regent University and was a professor of film. He’s written six books and has made four independent films.” Hixon invited Lindvall based on his father’s friendship with him.

p. The club will also award cash prizes: First place is awarded $200, second place $100 and third place $50. There is also a $50 award to the audience-selected favorite. The club plans to donate the submission fees for the contest, but has yet to choose a recipient organization. The club will most likely choose a film-related group.

p. Most of the films submitted revolve around the typical life of a student. “Most films center around some aspect of college because we’re here so it’s the easiest to make,” said Hixon, who had his own production company in high school. “One movie I’m looking forward to is about college life: partying, going out with a girlfriend.”

This weekend, International Performance Arts eXchange will present “Twilight” at the Little Theatre in the Campus Center.
The play deals with the Los Angeles riots of 1992 from the perspectives of those who experienced them. The play is based on Anna Deavere Smith’s “Twilight, Los Angeles 1992,” a groundbreaking play inspired by hundreds of interviews Smith conducted and then developed into monologues.

p. The play explores the civil unrest of the violent riots in L.A. that followed Rodney King’s videotaped beating in 1991. Led by Director Amanda Andrei ’10 and a cast of nine other students, the play explores the different perspectives of the riots and the impacts they had on those living in the area, including blacks, Koreans, Latinos and whites.

p. Actor and Producing Director of IPAX Eddy Hong ’09 emphasized the significance of the play’s monologues and absence of lead parts. “The riots question how we, as an incredibly diverse nation, can come to understand each other without any prejudice and misconceptions,” Hong said. The play has no lead actors, only an ensemble where each actor has more than one role.

p. “Racial boundaries are broken as the actors play ethnicities that are outside of them in order to achieve the goal of being in another person’s shoes and understanding a world outside of their own,” he said.

p. “Twilight” explores the blurring lines of race and how communities around the globe are affected by it. “Race is simply the first thing we notice,” Andrei said. “We must go beyond color and challenge the way we choose to structure and isolate communities.”

p. The selection of the cast involved choosing among students from a range of ethnicities. Ultimately, Andrei cast students who could portray multiple characters and races.

p. Ironically, the play will open in the wake of another upheaval — the resignation of former College President Gene Nichol. Professor Francis Tanglao-Aguas, the artistic director of IPAX, finds uncanny parallels between the play and Nichol’s resignation. “While we didn’t have physical violence and affliction in the past three weeks, many of us feel that a psychological rioting happened as a result of President Nichol’s dismissal,” he said.

p. “‘Twilight’ gives us insight on dealing with such a catastrophe, providing a glimmer of hope in a painful situation. I hope it inspires the Tribe to think and act about WM and its direction in the same way.”

What writer/director Michael Gondry may lack in writing flair, he always makes up for in imagination. That’s why everything he gets his hands on, from “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” to those kooky White Stripes videos, is just so darn fun to watch.

p. You can only imagine how thoroughly entertaining a story about two hapless video store clerks who have to reshoot every movie in their store might be when shot through Gondry’s lens. Such is the simple, clever premise of the director’s “Be Kind Rewind,” which takes its title from the film’s dog-eared store in the not-so-good-but-not-so-bad-either part of town. The store is manned by Jack Black (“School of Rock”) and Mos Def (“The Italian Job”) as Jerry and Mike. Jerry is the lumpy, loveable oddball — the Jack Black special — while Mike is just the type of guy you’d meet in a lunch line, only slightly more charming — someone Mr. Def has developed something of a knack for playing.

p. The real plot begins when Jerry, in a hilarious act of industrial sabotage, accidentally transforms his entire body into a magnet, discovering the transformation only after he ruins every last videotape in the store. The pair’s 20-minute masterpieces made to replace the lost films set up what are by far the best moments of the movie and breathe new life into the lead performances.
Like the village of Brigadoon, every 100 years or so Jack Black gives a performance that is so histrionic, so goofy, yet at the same time so realistic and loveable that you can’t help but remember why you liked him as an actor in the first place. While this may not be exactly that performance, it does come tantalizingly close.

p. Mos Def, on the other hand, proves as satisfyingly multi-talented as always. But in the short time that these two gentlemen have to honor some of the greatest films of all time with downright terrible remakes, both are 100 percent spot on. Be it “Robocop” or “Driving Miss Daisy,” the duo’s homages are witty, human and have enough respect for the originals to avoid being blasphemous.

p. In celebrating these few gems, however, notice has to be taken of the third genius at work here: the writer/director from whose brain these delightfully respectful knockoffs hatched. The movie is infused with Gondry’s imaginative touch, creativity and, moreover, his absolute belief in true love. It’s a theme that threads through most of the Gondry canon — most of the stuff you probably know him for, such as ‘Eternal Sunshine’ and “The Science of Sleep.”
It’s the same story here, except this time you have to look a little harder. It’s not romantic, fraternal or even parental. In fact, the weak romantic subplot felt like a last-minute addition. The love here is for the community, for the sense of belonging and propriety the characters have for their own little slice of Earth, no matter how crummy or run down.

p. It’s a little more abstract and subtle than we might be used to, but it’s undeniably there in Mike and Jerry’s homemade flicks. When all is said and done, they made ’em for home and the people they share it with, from the bottom of their big fuzzy hearts.

West Coast banger and seasoned hip-hop veteran Snoop Dogg is still kickin’ it.

p. Flashing his credentials of fatherhood to 15 years of being in the game, his laid back, crip-walkin’ gangsta persona has kept him moving Cali-style into stardom.

p. On his ninth studio album, “Ego Trippin’,” Snoop flexes his fingers (moving them toward a large blunt), his vocals and his music for fresh, appealing songs, while still toasting his pimp status. He still keeps it cool — that’s what he’s known for — but the fluidity of his rhymes fused with the salty, retro vibes may be a little startling for Snoop’s diehard fans.

p. “Ego Trippin’” starts off well, using ’80s R&B artist and new jack swing creator/producer Teddy Riley to jumpstart the album. Riley aids Snoop in breaking out of his shell, mixing an ’80s revival feel with some funk befitting to Snoop’s charm. One of the beginning tracks, “SD is Out,” is a club-synth song, definitely for parties aged 30 and up, featuring Gap Band vocalist Charlie Wilson. Rhyming about iced-out parties and beautiful women over misty piano riffs and peppered, buoyant beats gives Snoop a splash of glory.

p. Other Riley-produced tracks, “Gangsta Like Me” and a cover of the early ’80s funk crew, The Time’s “Cool,” has Snoop finding new ways to use the word “motherfucker,” allowing him to jump back to intense, thug street-talking.

p. The D-O-double-G, surprises on his first released single, “Sexual Eruption,” (censored version: “Sensual Seduction”) with sweet, sensual strings and repetitive bell chirps. It’s a nice slow jam with a priceless music video, one to which you can still move your feet, and producer Shawty Redd gives some sleek sounds to heighten Snoop’s vocoder-assisted voice as he sings: “I’m gonna take my time / she gon’ get hers before I / I’m going to take it slow / I’m not going to rush the stroke / So she can get a sexual eruption.”

p. Pharrell Williams with The Neptunes makes a guest appearance, showcasing their typically hot, percussive sounds with Latin-inspired melodies on “Sets Up.” Snoop and Pharrell can always manage a fire track (“Drop It Like It’s Hot,” “Beautiful,” “Let’s Get Blown”), and this one sounds like “Beautiful — Part 2.” It begins with a quick line in Spanish followed by a bold Pharrell, breaking the chorus in with choppy rhythms: “ Sets up / Chest out / In and out, In and out / Lift your heart / Lift your arm / In a circle, in a circle / Swaying out, Hanging out / Bang out / Show these motherfuckers right where you’re from.”

p. Although the track is halfway through the album, it’s the culmination of the album’s title. Snoop delivers menacing lyrics, testifying to his street life and boasting raps about his rise to the good life. “Coolest of the cool, I’m the goddamn man / Heat is so hot, need a goddamn fan / Everybody want gangsta, suckas don’t live it … / That’s not the Big Boss Dogg / I’ve been in it since a youngin’ / I’m an East Side Hog.”

p. As the tracks pile up on the album, the songs get longer and less fulfilling. Whipping cars and sexing bitches are apparently not over for Snoop Dogg on the tracks like “Whateva You Do,” “Ridin’ in My Chevy” and “Those Gurlz.” With 21 tracks, he should have sliced off the dead weight and re-edited the dense, unimaginative songs. I give him credit, though, for branching out to the country/western genre with the help of producer/artist Everlast for a Johnny Cash-inspired track called “My Medicine.”

p. Snoop has created a cohesive, flavorful album that let’s him re-emerge as a rapper who hasn’t strayed too far from the game. Even without the help of his partner, Dr. Dre, he still takes his music to a new level, embracing the new and the old.

In the past year, Miami has become one of the hottest cities in the music industry.

p. Filled with nightlife, blazing heat and celebrity favoritism (Diddy, Fat Joe), Miami has churned out several hip-hop artists and producers from DJ Khaled to the cleverly named Flo Rida. It has also brought about the return of Miami’s finest, Rick Ross, and his latest album, “Trilla.”

p. Since his first album, “Port of Miami,” the heavy-set, bearded Ross has advertised and boasted about his hustling abilities (see “Hustlin’”). On his second LP, he creates a duplication of sorts, adding a few guest appearances to help polish his sound.

p. Musically, Ross sports a definitive, unique sound that strays from a typical Trina or Trick Daddy song. The heavy, rough beats throughout the album pair with drawn-out “Boss” and “Yayo” callings alongside a few orchestral tinges and blowing horns.

p. Lyrically, Ross shows off a few one-liners to show his charismatic side, but on the surface, his content is overused and predictable.

p. His first single, “Speedin’,” features R&B singer-turned-gangsta, R. Kelly. Kelly uses his alter ego, Kells, to fit the cocky, overblown illustration of living life in the fast lane. Ross uses this heavily synthesized track to showcase his posh lifestyle and to let listeners know about his coke-dealing days, while adding a sympathetic line to express his fear of losing his deserved wealth.

p. The album doesn’t stray too far from the “I’m So Hood” and “Get Money” complex; it’s a shared ethos for some artists. And to bring some authenticity to the Miami streets, Ross tries to cover every aspect of street life on this album, mentioning expensive cars, drugs and police brutality, as well as the problems of trying to be successful in a tough industry.

p. “Street Money,” a street-released track that, though single-worthy, did not make the album cut, portrays the drug trade with a glamourous streak. Flo Rida makes a guest appearance, singing the chorus over a roaring, bass-heavy track.

p. Channeling Fergie, Ross takes time to spell out his name and delivers his rhymes with a certain ferocity that makes him look less like a black Pillsbury dough boy and more like a scary Mr. T. Ross flows, “Started flat broke / Now I’m poppin’ rubber bands / I know I’m the shit, I done ate a ton of spam.”

p. In his second released single, “The Boss” featuring T-Pain, Ross claims, “I’m the biggest boss that you’ve seen thus far.” Ross rumbles over the track with organ-infused sounds and spookish back-vocals while T-Pain delivers a memorable, hit-making chorus.

p. The rest of the album takes a nose dive with more odes to bottle poppin’ and nice whips. Still, it benefits from a verse or two from mega-artist Jay-Z in “Maybach Music,” a sleek, laidback track that could have complemented to the “American Gangster” album.

p. More guest appearances from Lil’ Wayne, Young Jeezy, Mannie Fresh and Trey Songz give the album a much-needed lyrical boost to counter the thundering heavyweight.

p. Ross does get a little sentimental on the last track of the album, “I’m Only Human,” but it would make for a better track if he had just stopped trying.

p. “Trilla” is quick to fall into repetition and slow with creativity. Ross needs to tackle some other issues such as. Still, you can’t fault him for his street credibility or knock his hustle.