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Show Your independent student source for music, film and the arts 3 Thursday, March 6,2008 A whole new world Dan Fletcher Trevor Hale ASST. REDUX EDITOR REDUX WRITER I Landing an interview with a band as huge as progressive-indie gods Coheed and Cambria can be a tricky thing to pull off. Countless publications fight to get a little one-on-one time with the band, so interviews are divided up among each member to secure as much press space as possible. Thing is, the clout of one's publication determines whom you get to interview. You want half an hour on the phone with singer Claudio Sanchez? You better write for Rolling Stone. Write for a lowly college newspaper? Be prepared for 20 minutes with the new guy. "I'm the new guy," said Coheed and Cambria's newest addition, drummer Chris Pennie, before a show with Linkin Park at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. If you're lucky, the newest member of a band as big as Coheed and Cambria can make for a most insightful conversation. My time with Pennie was one of these rare occasions—mainly because becoming a full-fledged member of one of the biggest bands in the world is a lot tougher than it might seem. In late 2006, long-time drummer Josh Eppard decided it was time to Coheed and Cambria move on from Coheed and Cambria. The band had just returned said. "2006. was kind of all over the from an extensive leg of touring in place for both Coheed and my old support of its third and most suc- band, Dillinger. When I was still cessful album, Good Apollo, I'm with DEP, we had played a few Burning Star IV, Volume One: Fromshows with Coheed, so I had met Fear Through the Eyes of Mad- them through those." ness: Although the role was briefly In late 2006, The Dillinger Esfilled by a rotating cast of fill-ins, cape Plan had run into problems Pennie, the former drummer of of its own, hinging mainly on the The Dillinger Escape Plan, was health of long-time guitarist Brian officially announced as Eppard's Benoit, who had to leave the band replacement in June 2007. , because of extensive nerve dam"A couple of things had to line age in his left hand. With setback up before that happened," Pennie after setback, the new Dillinger re- Since war broke out in 1998, more than 4 million people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Filmmaker Lisa E Jackson ventured into the country's war zones in 2006 to expose the day-to-day dangers facing Congo's women and girls. The product of her journey—"The Greatest Silence; Rape in the Congo"— became an Official Selection at the 2007 Amnesty International Film Festival and received a Special Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Before the screening, Louis Gokumba, a recently arrived Rwandan, will read from his poetry based upon experiences in the Rwandan genocide, and following, there will be a community discussion with panelists from YWCA, Utah Health and Human Rights Project, Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Inclusion Center and the Rape Recovery Center. cord was taking much longer than expected and no one was sure if it would be recorded. That's when Pennie decided it was time to leave. However, making a clean break from The Dillinger Escape Plan proved to be a lot more trouble than he bargained for. "There was a lot of bitterness that came with me leaving that band," Pennie said. "They were trying really hard to hold me back, threatening me and trying to back me into a corner." Pennie had been practicing and writing new songs with Coheed and Cambria for a few months, working out demos for their upcoming fourth album. When it came time to buckle down and get to work, Dillinger and their record label, Relapse Records, stepped in. "Without getting into a mudslinging match or anything, every- See COHEED Page 6 New take Literature as action on an old classic Christe Franke REDUX WRITER Everyone knows the story of Cinderella. Everyone, regardless of race, creed or culture. Look in any culture and you will inevitably find the fairy tale masquerading under that culture's norms, but Cinderella nonetheless. Cinderella is one of those wacky tales that can be as gory as a horror flick (see www.surlalune.com for some truly stunning versions of the tale) or as sweet as a romantic comedy. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your viewpoint), romantic comedy is the route being taken by the Utah Opera in this month's production of Gioacchino Rossini's "Cinderella." The story is one of many versions—there are more than 300—and features many elements easily recognizable to audiences. There's Cinderella beside her fire, the wicked stepsisters, the handsome prince (no singing mice, fortunately). And there is a slight twist: No wicked stepmother. Instead, it's a wicked stepfather—or at least a dramatically indifferent stepfather in need of money. Whatever the case, he's got two spoiled daughters and limited financial resources. There's another twist to the story, as well: the handsome prince is anything but the passive, monosyllabic bore we see in the Disney version. In Rossini's version, he's a feisty young man with no intention of waiting around for his father to throw a ball and find him a gorgeous bride. Instead, he and his valet trade clothes and go to find girls themselves. Naturally, the stepsisters fawn all over the "prince," while Cenerentola (Cinderella, in case you didn't know) and the real prince watch in interest, secretly admiring each other. Unfortunately, the stepfather, Magnifico, denies her chance at snagging the prince by sending Cenerentola away. In the secon,d act, Cenerentola manages to penetrate the castle defenses with the help of the prince's tutor. To make a long and somewhat confusing series of encounters short, Cenerentola still thinks that the prince is his valet and offers him a bracelet with which to come find her, if he still wants her. The prince is delighted See CINDERELLA Page 6 I* h Adam Fifield REDUX WRITER , Fradkin commented that Stegner's life was a "continuous search for the angle of repose." "(Stegner) only wanted to be a writer of novels," said Fradkin, but when he saw his once-rugged home in northern California deteriorate into what would become Silicon Valley, Stegner became what Fradkin called a "reluctant conservationist." Starting from a fictional perspective, Stegner eventually found himself writing from a nonfiction perspective, and by the time of his death in 1993, he became more known as a conservationist than as a writer. "Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed," wrote Stegner in a quote taken from the Wallace Stegner Center's newsletter. Now with the global conversation on climate .change; iii'full swing, writers have'added, their "works ofliterature to1 the discourse. King's Englisi and the StegnerCenter continue their showcase^* of important environmental authors with one of ~ me denying voices on the subject, Bill McKibben, \ who will speak this Saturday at The City Ubrary .McKibbin's lecture, titled "Writing as an environ-^S mental act," carries on in the same vein as Stegri-~~ er, accenting humanity's place among nature and the inherent responsibilities. •".-. .^< McKibben wrote what would be the first m a i r ? ^ stream book on climate change, The End ofNa- j ture, in 1989, and as an authority on the subject,;- j he's organized inany grass-roots demonstrations r -1 and rallies in support of environmental activism.^ McKibben and Stegner both discovered that; -^ writing lent itself to activism, and that the de-r;.^) "Wallace Stegner made Henry David Thoreau look like a sissy sitting at the edge of a pond," said Philip Fradkin, author of Wallace Stegner and the American West, at the Moot Auditorium Monday night. The U's center for environmental law; aptly named The Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment, along with The ; King's English Bookstore invited Fradkin to lecture on his newly published biography of Stegner, who; died in 1993, leaving behind an enormous legacy of both literary and environmental achievement. Fradkin is an environmental histor riah and.journalist native to California who has focusedhis career on environmentalissues.... ,;,. Fradkin's comparison of Stegner with Thoreau is appropriate because of their influence on both natural and written worlds—Thoreau for the 19th century, and Stegner for the 20th. But Stegner's contribution was unique to the western United States, Fradkin said, and he helped pioneer a uniquely western school of literature while crusading for conservation. A student of English and creative writing, Stegner got his undergraduate at the University of Utah, his masters and Ph.D. at the University of Iowa, and taught at many universities around the country, the most notable of which was Stanford, where he helped form the now-legendary creative writing program that produced such writers as Ken Kesey, Edward Abbey, Robert Stone and Wendell Berry. Stegner won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, Angle of Repose, and See SPEAKER Page 4 - ' . : ;,: _:-/:y:M Not-so-in-your-face feminism Top Girls' relates to real-life women's social issues Alexandra Gregory "Top Girls," refers to Churchill as "innovative," with an "ability to approach social issues A story that revolves around through relationships, espewomen and puts out strong cially those found in families." messages without being These relationships are what preachy or overly feminist— the second half of "Top Girls" that's how Actor Training centers on. Program sophomore Gabri"As I approached (the play), elle Gaston, who is also an ad- the social implications were vice columnist for The Daily in my mind, but it was the stoUtah Chronicle, describes the ry of the people and how they play "Top Girls." related to one another that Opening tonight in Studio most interested me," Hanson 115, "Top Girls," written by said. "I will let the audience playwright Caryl Churchill, is pull out the social and politithe newest production by the cal aspects as they perceive them." U theater department. Hugh Hanson, director of Hanson defines thefirstsec- . REDUX WRITER Thurs., March 6 Salt Lake Film Center Presents: T h e Greatest Silence" Free 7 p.m. Rose Wagner Center for'the Performing Arts (138 W. 300 South) tion of the play as "somewhat fantastical...it involves a dinner where six women from vastly different time periods discuss their lives." This dream-like sequence is made up of both historical and literary female figures, all of whom have had distinctive lives and made some pretty big decisions, said Gaston, who plays two characters in the play. "Every story that each (female figure) has to tell is a pretty damn amazing story, whether or not they were ac- See GIRLS Page 6 Fri., March 7 and Sat, March 8 Tower Midnight Movie: Cheech & Chong'sT/plnSmoke" • $8 12 a.m. Tower Theatre {876 E. 900 South) Although Cheech & Cheng's film catalog has faded into the cult cloud of THC legend alongside elders "Reefer Madness" and youngsters "Dazed and Confused" and "Half Baked," the two still stand as prestigious role models to today's stoned youth. And even for the soberest, classics such as "Up In Smoke" will live forever as snapshots of good old sub-cultural, American comedy. Is this midnight movie worth braving the late night cold for? Well, does Howdy Doody got wooden balls man? at, March 8 Writing as an Environmental Act with Bill McKibben Free 7 p.m. The City Library Auditorium (210 E. 400 South) Bill McKibben's The End of Nature, published in 1989, is often lauded as the first book to document the impending threat of climate change. Since its publication, McKibben has established himself as one's of America's leading environmentalists, frequently writing about global warming, alternative energy and the risks associated with human genetic engineering. In 2007, he established stepitup07.org— an organization known for its nationwide protests and popular demand that Congress enact curbs on carbon emissions that would cut global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050. McKibben will speak on the power of writers to promote change. at., March 8 through Sat., March 15 A World of Water—photographs by Laurel Casjens ; Free 4 p.m. . -•• The City Library (210 E. 400 South) "I hope they will inspire us to protect our water sources, our wild rivers, our lakes, streams and oceans. Desert or seaside, we need to use our water wisely," said photographer Laurel Casjens of the intentions behind her latest project, "A World of Water." The exhibit provides a unique perspective on H2O employing digital infrared technology to literally shed new light on the importance of a substance so integral to life that its importance is all too often overlooked. d., March 12 Salt Lake Film Center Presents: "Cafe Transit" ("Border Cafe") Free 6 p.m. . Utah Museum of Fine Arts (410 Campus Center Drive) Over the last eight years, Kambuzia Partovi has become Iran's favorite son in the screenwriting game. His latest work, "Cafe Transit," follows an Iranian widow through the. struggles of reopening her late husband's business, a truck stop cafe on the Iran/Turkey border, in the face of strict cultural opposition from community and family. The screening will be followed by a discussion with professor Laurence Loeb of the U anthropology department. d,fletcher@ , chronicle.utah.edu r |