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The Dartmouth
December 1, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth
Arts
Arts

Ledyard Bridge construction falls behind schedule

By Erik Tanouye | October 23, 1996

Construction work on the new Ledyard Bridge has fallen slightly behind schedule, and the looming winter weather is causing increased traffic delays on the bridge. "They are working long hours right now, trying to get as much of the utility work done as possible before the winter weather sets in," Hanover Town Manager Julia Griffin said.

Arts

'Heart' looks at making of Francis Coppola film

By Tom Jawetz | October 23, 1996

This film is, perhaps, the greatest "making-of" film ever made. Such a claim is warranted when one considers what the directors of "Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" had available to them when creating this film. In exploring the making of "Apocalypse Now," directed by Francis Ford Coppola, directors Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper had at their disposal scenes edited out of the final version, as well as shots aborted while the cameras continued filming. They had interviews with cast and crew taken during filming, as well as several years later to provide a revealing juxtaposition.

Arts

Phish shifts gears with album

By Sebastian Barreveld | October 23, 1996

"Billy Breathes," and I sigh. The Phish bandwagon steered into a new direction with their latest album, "Billy Breathes," dragging their whole image with them. The Burlington Boys also managed to do this with their last studio release, "Hoist," and are subsequently weaving an indecisive track across the musical prairie. This shift of image is apparent in both the packaging and content of the album.

Arts

Freshmen debut in 'Take Five'

By Arvid Nelson | October 22, 1996

Folk is once again finding a niche in popular culture. With the rise of new folk singers such as Dar Williams and the rediscovery of older artists such as Joan Baez, this musical form is making a comeback. Yesterday's Top of the Hopkins Center performance, a concert of a dozen or so folk tunes by student musicians, served as a pleasant denouement to the chaotic festivities of Homecoming. Kirstin Weeks '00 and Louisa Gilder '00 played a selection of folk tunes from the '60s, a time when folk music saw its greatest popularity and most talented composers and performers. Both women performed on acoustic instruments without the aid of microphones or amplifiers.

Arts

Fall Fling hosts Yale Duke's Men

By Jack Vaitayanonta | October 21, 1996

Three student a cappella groups delivered three unique yet rich styles of performance at this Homecoming Weekend's Fall Fling, an annual tradition that allows students to take center stage on the biggest, most exciting weekend at the College. The marquee featured two of Dartmouth's premier a cappella groups -- the Aires, who are celebrating their 50th year in existence, and the Rockapellas, a female group who intertwine messages of social awareness in their music -- and the Duke's Men, a male group from Yale University. The Duke's Men took stage second after the Aires and sang a line-up of more barbershop-quartet tunes.

Arts

Rothko piece belies simplicity

By Kelly Sidley | October 17, 1996

Mark Rothko's impressive color-block painting titled "Orange and Lilac Over Ivory" (1953) (298.5 x 232.4 cm) dominates the second floor foyer of the Hood Museum of Art.

Arts

Rockapellas kick off term with super tunes

By Sebastian Barreveld | October 17, 1996

In case you missed the commotion last week when the Rockapellas were selling CDs in the lobby of the Hopkins Center, you should know that the album marks a great achievement for campus a cappella. The new Rockapellas album, "Think on These Things," is packed with familiar songs that have been excellently adapted to the a cappella style. These 20 songs represent a rich and diverse array of musical styles embedded with a social consciousness. In this, their eighth year as one of the campus' premier female singing groups, (and third CD), the "Rocks," as the girls have dubbed themselves, have maintained their pledge to "combine music with messages of social awareness" as their liner-note credo states. At the beginning of every term, the Rockapellas come together, each with suggestions for songs to add to their repertoire. Afterwards, they vote to decide which tunes will be featured in their musical line-up for the term. The tunes can be divided into two distinct groups -- "freedom songs" and "oldies," the latter of which defines the overall tone of the CD. The "oldies" section is comprised of a diverse selection of fun songs ranging from The Bangles' "Walk like an Egyptian," Dusty Springfield's "Preacherman" and Alanis Morissette's "Hand In my Pocket." All are certified sing-alongable. Ordinarily packed with energy, these songs are amplified by crisp, clear voices, brilliant adaptation and a superb quality of recording. The "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack hit "Preacherman" by Dusty Springfield is a good example of how the group managed to preserve, even amplify, the emotion in these songs.

Arts

Local stores suffer from light fingers

By Roy Lee | October 16, 1996

Between 25 and 50 incidents of shoplifting are reported in Hanover each year, which constitutes a "serious problem," according to Hanover Police Captain Chris O'Connor. About half the reported cases involve Dartmouth students, O'Connor said. Although O'Connor said over the years there has been a gradual rise in shoplifting cases, not because the 'five-fingered discount' is growing more common but because store owners are getting smarter about fighting it. "Merchants are becoming more aware of different detection capabilities and actually catching more people," O'Connor said. Store owners are also growing less tolerant about shoplifting, he said. Though Hanover police deals with shoplifters only at the request of store owners.

Arts

Advance Transit revamps bus services

By Reg Williams | October 16, 1996

The Upper Valley's Advance Transit system has started a major project to enhance its service, including the replacement of most of its buses. Advance Transit's improvement plan, started this spring, incorporates the use of new equipment and facilities to strengthen its customer base and satisfy commuter demand. Under the plan, Advance Transit has replaced the majority of buses in its 14-bus fleet, according to Operations Manager Phil Poirier. Provided by a variety of mass transit equipment manufacturers, the new $350,000 fleet features air conditioning and more comfortable seating, he said. The new fleet is also wheelchair lift-equipped and features "turbo-charged" and "more fuel efficient" engine systems which "burn cleaner," he said. In a project unrelated to Advance Transit's revampment program but associated with its continued success in meeting mass transit demand, a new service run between Hartland, Vt., and Hanover has been created. Designed to meet an ever-increasing demand from commuters to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center as well as provide bus service for school children in southern Vermont, the new run has also served to alleviate parking pressures currently plaguing the Hanover area, said Advance Transit Executive Director Van Chestnut As a result of its various improvements, Advance Transit has realized substantial gains in passengers. The private, non-profit organization has experienced a 21 percent increase in passenger volume for the fiscal year ended September 30 while increasing service hours by 3 percent. Given such an increase in productivity, revenues have subsequently risen to $900,000 for the recently completed fiscal year, Chestnut said. To pay for its capital improvements, Advance Transit relied on a variety of federal, state and local sources, including Dartmouth College itself. Federal funds allocated under clean air promotion grants combined with various state clean air allocations provided a large part of the resources needed to replace Advance Transit's bus fleet. The $50,000 annual cost of providing the Hartland, Vt., service line is covered by funds allocated under CMAQ, a Vermont state program designed to encourage mass transit usage.

Arts

'Ghost and the Darkness' dramatizes true events

By Arvid Nelson | October 15, 1996

The skeletal remains of the man-eating lions which inspired the movie "The Ghost and the Darkness" can be seen today in the Smithsonian Institute. "The Ghost and the Darkness" is a rousing adventure tale of man-versus-nature in the grand tradition, at times a bit formulaic, but overall an appealing and diverting movie. The superb special effects and atmospheric set designs make it an entertaining film. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the movie, and incidentally a major selling point, is the fact that most of the events dramatized therein actually transpired. In the late nineteenth century, a pair of unusually vicious lions attacked an English railway camp in Africa, killing more than a hundred men in a period of several months. Val Kilmer plays John Patterson, the Irish engineer sent to northern Africa to build a railway bridge across a river. However, Patterson's work is brought to a halt when the camp is plagued by several unusually pernicious man-eating lions. Patterson is under considerable pressure from his employers in London to complete the bridge on time.

Arts

Redman eschews bar for jazz

By Aditya Dutt | October 15, 1996

When tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University in 1991, he was presented with two choices -- he could either go on to Yale Law School or he could try his luck on the notoriously competitive New York jazz club scene. He chose the latter. And, in 1991, when he took the first prize at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz saxophone competition, there was little doubt among critics and fans alike that he had made the right choice. Five years later, Redman has racked up almost every major jazz award, played with the young lions as well as the standard-bearers of jazz, and recorded five extremely successful albums. Redman will appear at the Hopkins Center tonight, riding on the wave of his latest release, "Freedom in the Groove," a Warner Brothers production. Featuring Peter Bernstein (guitar) and a rhythm section of Peter Martin (piano), Christopher Thomas (bass) and Brian Blade (drums), "Freedom in the Groove" is a reflection of Redman's eclectic taste and diverse musical education. In the liner notes to the album, Redman wrote, "These days, I listen to, love, and am inspired by all forms of music.

Arts

Kreamer lecture marks new Hood exhibitions

By Kelly Sidley | October 14, 1996

The Hood Museum of Art celebrated the opening of two new exhibitions on African Art with a lecture and gallery reception this weekend. Christine Mullen Kreamer, the exhibit developer at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., delivered a lecture titled "The Head Carries the Body: Head and Hair in African Systems of Thought" to a nearly full audience in the Loew Auditorium on Saturday afternoon. Kreamer is the co-curator of the exhibit "Crowning Achievements: African Arts of Dressing the Head" currently on display in the Jaffe-Hall Galleries. The exhibit travels to Hanover from its home gallery at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History at the University of California at Los Angeles. Her lecture emphasized the social, religious and intellectual significance that the head holds in African cultures. "The head carries the body" is an Afro-Cuban metaphor that refers to the body as the "body politic" or the people of a community who are ruled under a figurehead. She said that in African culture, the head is the seat of intelligence and strong emotion.

Arts

Webster show delivers dose of many cultures

By Mary F. Brown | October 14, 1996

Through art, music, dance, food and fashion, this weekend's "Culture Shock" show gave students the chance to experience a broad range of cultures. The large throng of students, faculty and community members who came to Webster Hall for the event Saturday afternoon between 3 and 7 p.m.

Arts

Company delights with irreverent jokes

By Jess McCarter | October 9, 1996

I am still in pain as I write this. The Reduced Shakespeare Company's performance last night of "The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged)" was humor at its finest, deftly combining physical with more traditional comedy. I literally threw my back out laughing along with the rest of the audience. This is the same group who wrote the amazingly funny "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)." The name, though, is a leftover from the group's origins at Renaissance Fairs where they performed during the early 1980's.

Arts

Film looks at gay porn

By Michael Borden | October 9, 1996

"Super 8 1/2" is the tale of a washed-up porno star (Bruce La Bruce) "rediscovered" by an underground avant-garde lesbian filmmaker, Googie (Liza LaMonica) who wants to make a documentary about him titled "Bruce." He thinks that this is his big comeback, but she is only using him to finance her pet project, "Submit to My Finger," a tribute to underground film auteur, Richard Kern. Bruce, a former director, spends his time on his "alcholidays" in bed with his hustler boyfriend Pierce (Klaus Von Brucker), who supports the two of them by his "profession," (the oldest one). The film doesn't hide the fact that it's a gay porn flick, but with off-the-wall humor.

Arts

Tool defies music categorization

By Arvid Nelson | October 9, 1996

Tool utterly defies classification. Is the band alternative? Clearly not. "Alternative music is jocks with punk rock haircuts," Tool's vocalist Maynard James Keenan said. Heavy metal perhaps?

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