•peninsula•fine• •arts•center•

turf field brings in fans
+
AE
SPORTS, page B3
music
campus
reviews
Freshman Drew
Jenkinson has published his music to
the iTunes Store.
Students learned to
salsa dance in the
David Student Union
Ballroom on Friday.
Is the “Harold and Kumar” sequel worth the
trip? Read our Redbox
Review inside.
STOMP
A R T S A N D E N T E R T A I N M E N T | w ednesda y, o c t o b er 8 , 2 0 0 8
explore
the
peninsula fine
•
• •
•arts•center•
By lindsay tilton
lindsay.tilton.08 @ cn u.edu
photo illustration by adam baker / the captain’s log
When people think of museums, a mix of
words like “boring” and “interesting” come
to mind. Fortunately for the Peninsula
Fine Arts Center (Pfac), this stereotype has
changed. A lot of students on campus don’t
know that there’s an art museum only three
minutes away from campus.
Pfac is located next to the Mariners’
Museum and presents dozens of pieces of
artwork to be looked over and studied by its
guests.
The museum holds dozens of pieces such
as paintings, sculptures, photographs and
pottery, which offers a little something for
every one of different tastes.
Although the Pfac is quite small compared
to something like the Metropolitan Museum,
it has big ideas to spread across every size
of canvas. It has three main rooms and
a variety of hallways covered in art that
appeal to all the senses. Some pictures were
your usual floral and forestry scenes, but
what interested me was the many pictures of
things that were totally bizarre and would
never imagine it being in a museum. One of
my personal favorites was a typical cartoon
lumberjack hiking through the woods with
his ax.
Newport News residents created all works
of art on display.
Pfac also houses a studio art school for
aspiring artists of all ages. Art classes are
offered for everyone, from children to adults,
with quite the assortment of art classes for
whatever interests you. It doesn’t matter if
you’re just a beginner or wanting to improve
on your technique, there are many levels
that can help you. Depending on whichever
art class you’d like to take a swing at, they
average about $100 for a month of classes,
which is pretty reasonable since you’re
getting taught by artists whose own work is
hanging on the museum walls.
But of course, what is an art museum without a gift shop? The store contains some art
pieces that you can buy for a hefty price, as
well as an abundance of Picasso and Monet
paraphernalia that are pretty cheap.
In addition to art classes, the Pfac has
Kids’ Paint Day. The program is part of
Hands on for Kids and is hosted in a big
colorful room where children of all ages can
make arts and crafts and display it proudly
on the walls.
If you’re interested in the art museum,
not necessarily as being an artist, they’re
always looking for volunteers and interns to
help out. Tasks such as organizing events,
helping out for Hands on for Kids, and tour
guides are always in demand.
If you ever do want to stop by the Pfac,
student tickets are discounted to $6, which
can be taken advantage of once per week. I
guarantee you’ll pick out a piece of artwork
and call it your favorite. n
A band to take hold of the scene
Fans of rock band Okkervil River crowded
The National in Richmond on Saturday for their second
performance in the city this year.
concerts |
photos by mark newton / the captain’s log
Black Joe Lewis & The Honey Bears (Top Left) and Crooked Fingers (Top Right) opened for
indie rock band Okkervil River (Bottom) at The National in Richmond last Saturday.
By mark newton
mark.newton.0 6 @ cn u.edu
Saturday night, Okkervil River
again proved how powerful they
are as a live band while still
maintaining the strength of their
records. A large crowd packed into
the lower level of The National
in Richmond as the show began
to start at 8:30 p.m., though the
balcony was sparsely filled by those
who didn’t want to meddle with
those underage fans marked with
black X’s on their hands.
Black Joe Lewis & The Honey
Bears took the stage first with
strong, catchy blues rhythms while
Lewis belted out lyrics underneath
them. Further adding to the classic
rhythm and blues band experience
was the fact that his backup band
were all-white, nerdy guys with
simple white-and-black attire and
thin, black ties.
The Honey Bears, a three-horn
section, added a nice kick to the
songs, which focused on creating
hypnotizing blues grooves. While
the Honey Bears toe-tapped along
with the song, the backup band got
downright groovy, playing on their
backs and jumping across the stage.
The following opening act,
Crooked Fingers, was less exciting.
The indie-rock band ending up
sounding a lot like The Walkmen,
except without their sky-scraping
vocals. Lead singer Eric Bachmann’s acoustic guitar work was
interesting, but the overall sound
was more droning than anything.
Their newest album, “Forfeit / Fortune,” was released on Tuesday, but
not in time for the show. The lone
song that Bachmann announced,
a duet by the bassist and violinist,
was simply boring; their vocals
aren’t strong enough to lead.
After some messing around
onstage, Will Sheff of Okkervil
River walked to center stage and
performed an acoustic version of
“Title Track” from last year’s “The
Stage Names” before the indie-rock
band launched into “Plus Ones”
from the same album. The material from the recently-released
“The Stand Ins” fared well live,
but hadn’t received the polish that
older songs like the intentionallymelodramatic “For Real” and “Our
Life Is Not a Movie Or Maybe”
have. The latter’s “noise” section
was stupendous, to say the least,
as guitars blared, drums rumbled,
and keyboards screamed.
“The President’s Dead” was
reworked into a new version
during the encore that focused on
President Bush instead of people’s
reaction to news that the president
is dead. The band also urged the
crowd to vote and raffled off a song
that they recorded backstage before
the show. All profits from the sale
of the raffle went towards carbon
offsets.
The only low point of the night
was the quiet acoustic ballad of
“Maine Island Lovers” from the
band’s second album. For me, the
hooks aren’t strong enough to keep
my interest, but Sheff definitely
improved upon the original recording.
What has made Okkervil River
shows so great to me is not just
Sheff’s stage presence, but drummer Travis Nelson’s, too. When not
belting out the lyrics to the audience or pounding sleigh bells with
his fist, his drumming thundered
across The National. That’s what
makes Okkervil River such a great
band – not only do they sound good,
but they’re constantly improving
themselves and their music. n
the list
campus
October 9
Song and Dance Ensemble of
West Africa, 7:30 p.m., Ferguson
Center for the Arts
October 10
Musician Chris Cauley, TBD, Studio
Theatre
Movie: Wall-E, 8 p.m., Anderson 105
October 11
TheaterCNU: Summer and Smoke,
8 p.m., Ferguson Center for the
Arts
Movie: Wall-E, 8 p.m., Anderson 105
October 12
TheaterCNU: Summer and Smoke,
2 p.m., Ferguson Center for the
Arts
local
October 8
Norfolk History Museum Series:
Historic Photos of Norfolk, 7 p.m.,
Chrysler Museum
The Art of Portraiture, 12:30 p.m.,
Chrysler Museum
October 9
Nobel Laureate John L. Hall,
12:30 p.m., L. Douglas Wilder
Performing Arts Center
October 11
Bark Park Barktoberfest, 1 p.m.,
Ballentine Bark Park
Great Pumpkin Fall Fling, 11 a.m.,
Carousel Park
October 12
Front Porch Art Walk, 12 p.m.,
Colonial Place Riverview
“Walk for Enlightenment”, 2 p.m.,
Chesapeake City Park
Moonlight Kayak Paddle, 7 p.m.,
False Cape State Park
“Colonial Greyhound Adoption”
3rd Annual Fund Raising
Birthday Party, 12 p.m., Kingsmill
Plantation
Gallery Talk: The Old Order and
the New: P.H. Emerson and
Photography, 2 p.m., Chrysler
Museum
concerts
October 8
The Art of Jazz with Brian Jones,
6:15 p.m., Chrysler Museum
Senses Fail, 6 p.m., Canal Club
October 9
All Time Low, 6:30 p.m., The NorVa
October 10
Movado, 10:30 p.m., The NorVa
October 11
Eartha Kitt, 8 p.m., Chrysler
Museum
Eric Lindell, 9 p.m., The Jewish
Mother
The Original Wailers with Sam
Bush and his Band, 8 p.m., The
NorVa
October 13
Buckethead, 8 p.m., The NorVa
movie releases
“Body of Lies” CIA operatives
Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio)
and Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe)
discover that trust is both a
dangerous commodity and the
only one that will keep them
alive. Rated R.
“The Express” Based on a true
story, “The Express” follows the
life of college football player
Ernie Davis (Rob Brown), the first
African-American to win the
Heisman Trophy. Rated PG-13.
“Quarantine”Television reporter
Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter)
and her cameraman (Steve
Harris) are assigned to spend the
night shift with a Los Angeles
Fire Station. After a few citizens
are viciously attacked, they try
to escape with the news crew
in tow, only to find that the CDC
has quarantined the building.
Rated R.
cd releases
“Dig Out Your Soul” - Oasis
“Certifiable” - The Police
“Appeal to Reason” - Rise Against
“My Kindof Holiday” - Elliott Yamin
dvd releases
“The Happening”
“You Don’t Mess with the Zohan”
w edne S D A Y, OC T OB E R 8 , 2 0 0 8
PAGE B2 | T H E C A P T A I N ’ S LO G
CNU freshman on iTunes
By joelle jones
joelle.jones.08 @ cn u.edu
joe fitzpatrick/the captain’s log
Freshman Drew Jenkinson has released two albums on the
iTunes Music Store. His new EP, “Don’t Know Where,” was
released in August.
In addition to the popular
Christopher Newport Universitybased band, Chasing Arrows,
CNU has inherited another
singing sensation in its freshman class. Singer-songwriter
Drew Jenkinson has accomplished plenty as a musician in
his eighteen years. Jenkinson
began singing in the seventh
grade, when he landed the role of
Woodstock in his middle school’s
production of “Charlie Brown”.
During his freshman year of
high school, Jenkinson tested
his vocals with his friends in
their band, Rosslyn. Although
the band is no longer active, they
were able to produce their first
album, “Gone,” which became
available on iTunes in 2006.
Now acting as a solo artist,
Jenkinson recently released
his new EP, titled “Don’t Know
Where” to iTunes in August
2008. “iTunes is actually pretty
easy to get onto,” said Jenkinson.
For a decent fee, several Web
sites, such as TuneCore or CD
Baby, will send it to Apple for
online posting.
On his new EP, “Don’t Know
Where,” he sings and plays every
instrument. “The ideas for my
lyrics come from everywhere.
Anything that impacts me, in
any way, has the potential to be a
song,” said Jenkinson.
“Songwriting, recording and
producing music are all passions
of mine, but songwriting can be
painful,” Jenkinson explains.
“When I am able to perform the
songs and I see that people are
responding to them positively,
it’s the best feeling in the world.
Music can bridge people’s emotions and create unprecedented
electricity that no other art form
can truly grasp,” he added.
Jenkinson then reflected on
his good friend, Freddy Hall,
who inspired him to be a musician. “I saw him and his band
play a show when I was 13 and
immediately wanted to be able to
write songs, perform them and
have people connect with them.”
However, he sometimes views
his love for songwriting as more
of a way of life instead of merely
a hobby.
“It’s what gets me through the
day. I believe for a lot of people,
listening to music gets them
through the day,” he concludes.
Although he is not enrolled in
any music classes this semester,
Jenkinson intends to continue
his singing and is currently
working on his next project. n
TheaterCNU performs
“Summer and Smoke”
free for students
what TheaterCNU’s performance of “Summer and Smoke”
where Ferguson Center for the Arts Music and Theatre Hall
when Fri. Oct. 10 at 8 p.m.; Sat. Oct. 11 at 8 p.m.; Sun. Oct. 12 at
2 p.m.; Fri. Oct. 17 at 8 p.m.; Sat. Oct. 18 at 8 p.m.; Sun. Oct. 19
at 2 p.m.
how much? FREE for students, $8 CNU Faculty and Seniors,
$12 adults
Phish reunite for three
shows in Hampton
By joe fitzpatrick
joseph.fitzpatrick.0 6 @ cn u.edu
Phish will reunite for three shows at the Hampton Coliseum on March 6, 7 and 8. However, there is
a catch.
A limited number of tickets for the upcoming
shows are being offered through a secure online
ticketing system via a ticket request period. If you
have not yet requested a ticket, you can find it on
the band’s official Web site, http://www.phish.com.
Unfortunately, you can only request two tickets, and
the request time ends today, Oct. 8, at 11:59 a.m.
All requests, regardless of when they are placed,
are treated equally in the system. You can request
tickets to one or more shows, but your entire ticket
request for all shows must be placed at one time. n
LACA and CAB spice up the dancefloor with some salsa
campus | LACA and CAB brought a dance instructor to campus so
students could learn the art of salsa dancing on Friday.
By Victoria Lineberry and Nathen Illidge
victoria.lineberry.08 @ cn u.edu
nathen.illidge.07 @ cn u.edu
This past Friday, the Latin American Culture Association (LACA), Campus Activities
Board, and the Ballroom Dance Society put
together an evening of Latin music, Mexican
food and salsa dancing, named “Ay Caliente,”
or “That’s Hot.”
“The salsa event seems to be turning into
an annual function. It was first put on last
year and it was such a success we decided to
have it again,” said Junior Lyza Poulin, vice
president of operations of the Ballroom Dance
Society.
“Several different organizations on campus
came together to put the event on. It involved
a lot of pre-planning and meetings between
the two groups as well as about a thousand
e-mails. Each group had a specific part of the
event to organize and plan, and I think it all
came together great,” said Poulin.
The event started out with some salsa
lessons in segments. The instructor made
sure the steps were easy and understandable.
Once the majority of students understood the
moves, the instructor asked for a volunteer
to help demonstrate exactly how it should
look. Then the students were told to partner
up to try the moves for themselves, which
allowed people to dance with friends, as well
as stangers, bringing a more relaxed environment to the event.
This event was a good way to meet new
people and be social amongst students who
want to learn to dance. “I’ve always wanted to
learn how to salsa. This event is just amazing
and it’s just straight up fun,” said a student
who wished to remain anonymous.
After the lessons, the live band filled the
room with Latin music and the students
grabbed partners and began to put their newly
learned moves on the dance floor. The live
band was extremely entertaining and brought
a great amount of energy to everyone present,
making tthem want to dance it all out in this
passionate style of dance.
“I found the event to be very successful, the
instructor and the live band were both excellent as well as the food prepared by LACA,”
Poulin added. The drinks were non-alcoholic
mojitos and Mexican food was laid out on the
tables, all of which tasted good.
The event overall was absolutely entertaining and hopefully “Ay Caliente” will return
again next year for anther fun-filled night of
Mexican culture. n
Still hair-raising after 10 years
events | Busch Gardens unleashed its Howl-O-Scream festival for the
10th year in a row, which featured rides, haunted houses, and more.
By angela zoumplis
angela.zou mplis.07@ cn u.edu
Busch Gardens Williamsburg, a park
recognized for its beauty in landscaping and
European-themed scenery, takes on a different objective in October as the whole park
transforms into a haunted scare zone for the
park’s 10th annual Howl-O-Scream fest.
On Sept. 28, I took the half-hour trip up
to Williamsburg to experience the “spooktacular” events for myself. I entered the park
at 11:00 a.m. and encountered hardly any
crowds, except for the small numbers of families with their easily frightened children.
Looking at the events schedule, I found that
the Haunted houses and some other Halloween themed attractions did not begin until
6:00 p.m.; however there were plenty of shows
during the daytime that kept me entertained
and were actually some of the highlights of
my day.
Monster Stomp Revamped is one of Busch
Gardens’ highly advertised shows and with
good reason as it was one of the most creative
and innovative Halloween stage produc-
“Harold and Kumar” sequel worth the trip
redbox reviews | Redbox kiosks allow customers to rent recent
movies for one night for $1 per movie. We rent one and ask the
obvious question: Is this movie worth your hard-earned dollar?
By debbie russell
debra.russell.0 6 @ cn u.edu
There are some movie sequels that surpass
the original, like “The Godfather Part II”;
some are just okay, but could still stand alone
as good movies, like “Meet the Fockers.” And
then, there are movies that don’t really necessitate a sequel, like the stoner comedy classic
“Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.” It
wasn’t necessarily a bad movie; in fact, it was
kind of good. One of the main reasons why,
was that it was different from the American
Pie movies which defined teenage shock and
gross-out humor of the 2000s. “Harold and
Kumar” was still gross at times, but it was
the fresh faces of John Cho and Kal Penn, and
their strong bond of “bromance” that made
the movie.
As for “Harold and Kumar Escape from
Guantanamo Bay,” the movie picks up almost
exactly where the first one left off. Harold and
Kumar are on their way to Amsterdam to surprise Maria, Harold’s love interest. As always,
hair-brained Kumar ends up getting himself
and the straight-laced Harold into trouble.
This time, they are suspected to be terrorists
on their flight, and are sent to Guantanamo
Bay.
While the actual escape was rather short
and highly unbelievable (because so many
things in this movie are realistic), they
manage to escape the prison. But it is their
trek across the southern U.S. that is the main
focus of the movie.
It would seem that the budget for this movie
was a little bigger than the first one because
the producers managed to rope in some fairly
famous B-list celebrities: Christopher Meloni,
of USA network’s Law & Order SVU, appears
in the movie once again, not as Freakshow,
but as the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan;
Beverly D’Angelo, Chevy Chase’s wife from
the “National Lampoon’s Family Vacation”
movies appears as Sally, the madame of a
certain establishment called Sally’s Fox Hole;
and, of course, Neil Patrick Harris makes an
appearance as himself – yes, Doogie Howser
in all his mushroom-eating, unicorn-riding
glory.
There is one new character, Vanessa, who
plays a rather important role as Kumar’s
love interest, or “the one who got away.” And
because all movies seem to need a love story,
this is the main one for “Guantanamo Bay.”
The moral of this movie (oddly enough, it
has one) is that you cannot simply take people
at face value. One has to look past stereotypes
because people will end up surprising you,
which is probably why there are so many different ethnicities popping up in this movie.
Honestly, “Harold and Kumar Escape from
Guantanamo Bay” was a decent movie – for a
dollar. It makes you laugh, and Kumar almost
makes you cry. It grosses you out in more
than a couple scenes, but it still has a valuable
lesson to teach. And for entertainment value,
it’s not too shabby. Plus, there is a scene of
Harold and Kumar in their college days…
before they were potheads. n
nick denson/the captain’s log
Freshman Gina Laguzza smiles to her dance partner, Sophomore Scott Racette while salsa dancing
in the David Student Union Ballroom on Friday, October 3, 2008.
tions I’ve seen in years. This program had
everything from break dancing vampires to
a skeleton blacklight number that combines
both the gruesome nature of Halloween with
the talents of the cast members.
Another great show was Festhaus Fright
Night located in Germany. The storyline is
centered on the Frights, a rock band composed of a werewolf, witch, evil queen and
frog, who were accidentally unleashed by the
Festhaus dancers.
It’s a humorous and well-performed show
that \ is well-worth seeing. For those who
enjoy big band music, the Starfright Orchestra performs throughout the day in the
Italian theater. Country music fans should
check out the Country Cross Country show
in New France, featuring world-class singers
and musicians.
Much of the Halloween excitement came
from the mazes and haunted houses. Around
7:00 p.m., I waited in a 20-minute line for
the three-part tour of the Grimm Hollows:
Deadtime Stories, which is made to tell the
“frightening secrets” behind the Brother’s
Grimm tales.
For the most part it was kind of creepy
with all the deformed animal costumes, but
overall I give it a thumbs-up, as it didn’t
follow the usual layout of a typical haunted
house and near the end became quite
demented.
My favorite of the mazes was Wicked
Woods, which was set to take place in an
old time English village with Jack the
Ripper, Sweeney Todd and other infamous
figures haunting the streets and scaring
the daylights out of guests, including me.
Masquerage and Curse of Pompeii, both in
the Italian section of the park, are also two
well-constructed mazes that captured the
startling atmosphere that all good haunted
houses should have.
Along with all of the seasonal Howl-OScream attractions, the regular park rides
are still in operation throughout the day. I
highly recommend fitting these into your
schedule as lines for rollercoasters and other
non-Halloween themed events are usually a
lot shorter during this time in the season.
My advice for those considering a trip to
Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream fest is to try
and go on Fridays or Sundays as they are
usually less crowded than Saturdays. Also,
pre-ordering tickets online saves a lot of waiting time. The park is open until Oct. 26. n