V o l u m e I I I , N u m b e r X X V C e l e b r a t i n g t h e P r e C i o u s h u m a n t a P e s t r y a P r i l 2 4 , 2 0 0 9

Biggest: Carmina Burana has about 200 performers, including the Brandeis and Wellesley choruses, the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra, professional solists, and a chil-dren's chorus. Saturday, 8:30 pm. Levin Ballroom (It's also just an hour long.) (Also the most controversial origins: Was composer Carl Orff a Nazi, a sympathizer, or just an opportunist? See article in State of the Arts, spring issue).

Cutest: Little Hands, BIG Creations: Opening Celebration. New work by Brandeis’ youngest artists, age 2 through 5, from the Lemberg Children’s Center. Opening celebration includes a joyous singalong led by Lemberg teacher Al Hoberman ‘08. Friday, 4:00 p.m. Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.

Oldest Text: Lysistrata. Aristophanes’ pre-feminist, anti-war comedy is per-formed with post-modern minimal-ism by three actors. Amy Klesert ’09, producer; Lily Nagy-Deak ’11, direc-tor; Elana Friedland ’11, stage manag-er; Elizabeth Pascale ’09, set designer. Featuring Klesert, Geehae Moon ’12, and Eli Tukachinsky ’11. Co-sponsored by the Peace, Conflict, and Coexistence Studies program with support from the Karpf-Hahn Peace Awards. (Also on Thursday at 8:00 p.m.) Wednesday, 8:00 p.m. Merrick Theater. Spingold Theater Center.

...or is it...All Springs. Jump into an original dance-theater event inspired by Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” directed and choreo-graphed by Catherine Wagner ’09 with Daniel Newman ’09, Molly Haas-Hooven ’09, and Allison Vanouse ’09. (Also Sunday at 6:30 p.m.) Saturday, 6:30 p.m. Rose Art Museum.

Newest Text: Journey for a Better Future/Un viaje hace un mejor futuro. An origi-

nal play based on the stories of Latino custodians working at Brandeis that dra-matizes the complex realities of immi-grants encountering a new country and culture. Written by Tim Pracher-Dix ’09 and the cast; directed by Tim Pracher-Dix. Featuring Ana V. Hernández, Ashley Cabrera, Domingo Cabrera, Jennifer Cabrera, Ashley Cabrera, Orlando Castellanos, Mayvorly Ramirez, and Paraska Tolan '11. Performed in Spanish with English supertitles. (Also on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.) Saturday, 8:00 p.m., Women’s Studies Research Center (Epstein Building)

Most Space-Age: Moon Zoo: The Trilogy. Travel to an outrageous comic galaxy in three short satirical plays, launched from improvisations by Alex Fleming ’09 and the cast, including Samuel Zelitch ’09 and Sam Roos '09. Enjoy the moon’s view of the lunacy of earthlings. Sunday, 9:00 p.m.Chum’s.

Most Avant Garde: New Music and Dance. “Three Drops on My Hand” is contemporary ballet with music by Florie Namir PhD ’12 and choreography by Mira Muraoka PhD ’12. Featuring Courtney E. Choate '11 and Elana Klinger-Rogers '09. Sunday, 2:00 p.m., Slosberg Music Center.

You don’t even have to sit down or show up on time for this one: Big Nazo. Brandeis is invaded by creatures from Big Nazo, the international group of visual artists and puppet performers. Their hilari-ous larger-than-life characters include ren-egade circus family contortionists, a giant three-eyed robot percussionist, break-dancing police officers, blob-like go-go dancers, and a charismatic lab rat and his giant man-eating chia pet. Sunday, 1 pm. Lower Campus.

Most Fusion-Y: Guy Mendilow Band. Israeli composer/performer Guy

Art is...more fun than studyingThe Hoot breaks down the Bernstein Festival for overwhelmed Brandeisians

It's that time of the year, folks, and the Leonard Bernstein Festival

of the Arts has invaded campus, whether you're ready or not. If you peeked up from your textbook for long enough to see the clowns, musicians, or the dude walking on stilts in Shapiro, you're prob-ably as psyched as we are for the phe-nomenon known as "Art is Happening." Enfolding over the course of the next several days (Wednesday to Sunday), the Festival of the Arts will encompass dozens of artistic events, including the-atrical performances, visual art exhibits, music, and...puppets. But let's face it, between exams, papers, and all of your extracurricular commitments, you don't have time to read the festival's tome of a guidebook to figure out what events you want to attend. That's why the Hoot has done you the handy favor of offering a list of highlights by category. Now you have no excuse, so get out there and dig the happening!

- Maxwell Price

Mendilow leads this spirited quintet in breaking down musical boundaries with an inventive blend of Israeli, Middle-Eastern, Sephardi and Blues. “Mendilow is no dil-ettante,” writes the Boston Phoenix. “He learned the music of these countries by living and working there… he knows what he’s talking about.” In Hebrew, Arabic, Ladino, Portuguese and English, the band skillfully fuses tradition with a contempo-rary sound. through instrumentation that features berimbau, jaw harp that would make beat-boxer's jaw drop, lush vocals, and award-winning overtone singing. Sunday, 3 pm. Shapiro Campus Center Theater.

Biggest Watercolor You’ll Ever See: An Excellent View for a Study Break, by Coretta Garlow ’10. Step inside the cir-cle for a meditative, peaceful experience. Goldfarb Library.

Artwork By the Least Likely Artists on Campus. Art and Science: One, by the Brandeis Physics Club. A motion mural created by light and powered by a theremin, the electronic instrument you can play without touching. Slosberg Music Center Lobby.

PHOTO BY Max Shay /The Hoot

ART IS HAPPENING: (Clockwise) Although not part of the Bernstein Festival itself, these Earth Day performances, featuring Paul Gale’12 (above) seemed to capture its spirit of artistic expression; Boston spoken word poetry ensemble hits Brandeis Sunday; Big Nazo, international visual artists and puppet performers invades campus Sunday; Thursday’s avant garde, experimental “happening” blurred the boundaries between performance and everyday life.

PHOTO BY Max Shay /The Hoot

PHOTOS COURTESY of the Office of the Arts

April 24, 2009 Diverse City 9

VOICES

Once upon a time, musical theater used to be about three things. The first was the elusive quality alternately called glam-our, stardom, or just pure fame in an era when actors, directors, writers, and producers were stars. The next major focus of musical theater of the day was spectacle – sets were lush, costumes were grand and gorgeous like gilded lilies – with art held in highest honor. And the last, and perhaps most important, thing that musi-cal theater was about was fun. This was an era when people understood why these things are called plays – they are meant to be played with.

Cole Porter wrote the follow-ing lyrics for his 1934 musical “Anything Goes”. “In olden days, a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking, but now, G-d knows, anything goes.” And three weeks ago, at the Shapiro Campus Center, Hillel Theater Group put up a produc-tion of “Anything Goes” which can only be described as shock-ing (in the most delightful of ways) in its commitment to the original intent of the show, and to musical theater as a whole. The show’s shock value came not as a result of its content but in its quality – for an open cast musical, where anyone who auditions is accepted and is guaranteed a role in the show, this show was bril-liant. Even without taking open casting into consideration, this is still among the best shows I’ve

seen at Brandeis.“Anything Goes” tells a story

of star crossed lovers, gangsters, bookies, and bankers aboard the S.S. American (in an stunning set design by Mike Martin), which is bound for England. Through a series of disguises, tricks, a few plot twists, and some of the great-est songs from a bygone era of musical theater writing, including “You’re the Top,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “Friendship,” and the title song, love prevails and all ends well. Yes, the plot is full of schmaltz throughout, but its charm and wit are strong and win over the audience from the start.

Starring as Reno Sweeney, a cabaret singer on the S.S. American who is in love with Wall Street broker Billy Crocker, Abigail Clarke '12 was a delight. She has a natural talent so strong that I don’t know where to begin in describing her performance. Her presence on stage is so strong that she truly belongs on a Broadway stage, not in college theater. When she walks on stage, she commands your attention to such an extent that you almost forget there are other actors in the same space interacting with her. When she opened her mouth to speak, or to simply react to the circumstances around her, you forget you are watching an actress instead of a deity. And then there were the moments when she graced us with song with a voice that could charm the white off rice. Hers is certainly among the best single performances in memory in a UTC production, and with it we have discovered

Delightful, Delicious, De-Lovely:HTG presents a top production of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes”

“Let’s not make a Greek tragedy out of this.”

We’ve all heard that weary plea so many times that when an opportunity arises to actu-ally experience a classic dramatic work from that heralded genre, most of us tend to flinch involun-tarily. Why would we force our-selves to sit through agonizing hours of pathetic heroes lament-ing their fate and cursing the gods? Don’t we all have enough misfortune in our own lives that we don’t need to see painfully demonstrative expressions of grief portrayed on the stage?

By the time Euripides’ “Hecuba,” the final production of the 2008-09 Brandeis Theater Company season, reached its bloody, piercing conclusion, I couldn’t help but rethink my assumptions about this particu-lar theatrical form. While I had assumed the actors would display the kind of histrionics audiences today might find unendurable, the heightened emotional turmoil of the personae struck a very real chord in me. I was drawn under

one of the greatest performers in our community.

Providing much of the comic relief that kept the show flow-ing, watchable, and entertaining were Marti Dembowitz '10 and Alex Davidson '10 as a stowaway gangster and his girl. These two were in top form the night I saw the show. Davidson seems born to play comedy due to his sharp, fast wit and perfect comic timing. As for Ms. Dembowitz, her total willingness and commitment to

the peculiar spell of Eric Hill’s production within minutes, and as I tried to jerk myself back into reality after leaving the Spingold Theater, I found that the world of the stage had left its mark on this foolish mortal.

“Hecuba” tells the story of the titular former Queen of Troy (played by Brandeis faculty mem-ber Liz Terry) reduced to a state of “wretchedness” after the Greek conquest of her land. Surrounded by other enslaved Trojan women, Hecuba faces a constant stream of personal calamities, from the Greeks’ sacrifice of her daugh-ter, Polyxena (Tanya Dougherty GRAD) to the murder of her son, Polydorous (Jesse Hinson GRAD) by his traitorous guard-ian, Polymestor, King of Thrace (Equiano Mosieri GRAD).

Euripides is frequently said to have been ahead of his time when he wrote his great dramatic mas-terpieces, and “Hecuba” is cer-tainly proof that the boldness of his ability to challenge govern-ment authority and his willing-ness to bring out the human-ity of marginalized peoples was groundbreaking. But to this crit-ic’s mind, the most extraordinary

aspect of Euripides play is that even within the idealized world of Greek drama, he manages to craft characters that have the power to transfix modern audiences. The actors invigorated the roles with raw energy tempered by formal beauty.

Terry as the title character was certainly the most experienced actor of the group, but she was clearly more interested in crafting a three-dimensional portrait of a suffering woman than satiating her own ego. Though I wouldn’t call her performance understated, she displayed such deft control of her body, voice and expressive power that she blended perfectly into the overall cast.

Dougherty as Polyxena brought her own charisma and emotive malleability to a role that could have easily been overdone.

And in a show that empha-sized the plight of tortured women, Mosieri as the villainous Polymestor explored the dark side of the male tyrant with wonderful depth.

Eric Hill’s production, while never shying away from contem-porary implications, thankfully refrained from “hitting the mule

over the head with the two by four of consciousness…” as his program notes hinted. The stag-ing, which featured deft and cre-ative blocking of the chorus, gave the show an almost ensemble feel despite highly individualized performances. The production values were high, and the con-trast between the eye-popping splendor of “Siddhartha’s” design scheme and the relatively low-key but symbolically rich cos-

Ancient tale of woe stirs modern souls: “Hecuba” retranslated and revived

tuming seemed appropriate. The emphasis was on the human bod-ies themselves in “Hecuba,” which were stunning.

So the next time someone com-plains about making life into a Greek tragedy, remember that while you’d never want to live in the world Euripides creates, there’s nothing like a dose of “Hecuba” to make you appreciate what the ancient dramatic arts still have to offer.

taking risks pays off in spades. Her madcap performance as a woman of questionable morals and even more questionable pro-fession was the most inspired she’s done yet in her three years of per-forming on Brandeis stages. And, of course, it was nice to finally see her perform as a female character for the first time.

This production of “Anything Goes” is certainly on my shortlist of the best undergraduate pro-ductions in memory at Brandeis

BY SAM NEGINStaff

BY MAXWELL PRICEEditor

– a true credit to the strong direc-tion of Lynda Bachman '10. With very few exceptions have I seen an undergraduate director put together such a strong, consistent production, and it would be a great credit to the world of theater for Ms. Bachman to continue her directorial endeavors. She man-aged here, at least, to put together a spectacular, glamorous show that looked like fun to be in and was surely a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF “Anything Goes”- cast

YOU’RE THE TOP: (Clockwise from bottom left): Billy (Gabe Marwell ) ponders romantic possibilities; Hope (Madison Lylerover ‘09) and Billy manage to marry with a little trickery; Reno (Abigail Clarke ‘12) reveals her wilder side.

PHOTO BY Mike Lovett/Brandeis University

DESPAIR OF THE VANQUISHED: Hecuba (Liz Terry) and chorus mourns the tragic death of her son, Polydorous (Jesse Hinson ‘10) after the fall of Troy.

10 Diverse City

CHORUSApril 24, 2009

Named after the Spanish word for backpack, featuring instru-ments from a wide variety of musical traditions, and combin-ing influences from traditional Arabic music as well as jazz, Mochila is a student music ensem-ble that truly boasts diversity. The group, founded in 2008 and hav-ing swelled to twelve members, is perfoming at Springfest, which starts at 12:00pm this Sunday, and again at Slosberg Music Hall this Sunday at 7:00pm to celebrate the release of their first CD, “Green Bullets.”

Mochila’s music features spo-ken word tracks backed by instru-mentation as well as instrumen-tal-only tracks, both featured on their debut album. Mohammed Kundos ’10 founded the group when he needed music for a stu-

dent film, but the group has cer-tainly expanded its ambitions. Their CD, a cohesive set of thir-teen tracks, displays unbelievable promise and a great deal of chops as well as intricate composition.

A strength of Mochila’s ensem-ble is without a doubt the percus-sion, the backbone of most tracks. The work is varied throughout the CD, but interesting, explor-ing rhythms beyond the basics of either jazz or Arabic music.

Album opener “Before Sunrise” is a lengthy track that serves to artfully explicate Mochila’s the-sis in seven minutes. Alternating between rhythmic lulls and fluid string melodies backed by full bass. Building to a climax over several minutes, the track dis-solves into almost a dirge-like melody before a crescendo of per-cussion, and a few notes trail off, revealing more of the group’s jazz influences. The piece is a stylistic

Mochila reveals extraordinarytalent in debut album

BY DANIELLE GEWURZEditor

During the course of the past year, no musical ensemble has managed to capture the imagi-nation and spirit of Brandeis’s mission to promote harmony among different cultures quite like Mochila. The group, which includes such instrumentation as the oud, tabla, flute, sitar, viola, cello, fuses Arabic music, jazz, reggae, reggaeton, and Indian classical music to craft a unique sound that transcends musical boundaries. Mochila, founded by Mohammad Kundos ’10, a Palestinian from Jaffa, holds as its central purpose the bringing together of people of different backgrounds through a vibrant melding of musical traditions. In anticipation of the release of their debut album, “Green Bullets,” I dropped by a rehearsal to get the inside scoop on these ambi-tious musical innovators. As the musicians were setting up, I had a few moments to chat with Mohammad about the band, its roots, and its message.

MP: Mochila is a rather large

ensemble (12 musicians) as far as student bands are concerned. How did you all meet and bring together such a wide array of musical tal-ents into a single cohesive group?

MK: Message. When you have a good message and you have a new experimental [idea] that got peo-ple’s interest you can get as much people as you want. Mochila’s message is to bring different peo-ple from different cultures, dif-ferent identities together on one stage to give their personal expe-rience through their music. So you have a person that plays sax who’s jazz-oriented, and some-one who’s classical-oriented, and someone who’s Arabic—Arabic music is where I’m coming from.

And I thought that I need to combine cultures together, I need to make a fusion between cul-tures, to be able to understand other cultures as well as [my] own. Because each of the twelve members of this group is com-ing from a totally different back-ground, different experience, dif-ferent identities. And that’s what makes it possible.

MP: Could you describe the pro-cess of forming the band? Did you have a clear idea of a sound you

mix that flows seamlessly into the Arabic style opening of the sec-ond track, “Salwa.”

“Whale Call” is the first track with vocals on the album and opens quietly to a compelling voice asking, “Do you want to see me? / Or do you want to be me?” in even tones, quickly speeding up to reference Nietzsche, and reject the idea of the song as hip hop or spoken word, instead call-ing it “my pain.”

The track is backed by light instrumentation, providing the perfect counterpoint to the vocals. It’s a catchy track in a sub-tle way; Mochila eschews an obvi-ous hook for music that feels both new and organic, and the effect is compelling when the track ends with, “Do you really want to see me? / Just come in.”

Instrumental “Green Bullets” touches back on some of the themes of “Before Sunrise” while

were looking for before the band existed or did the musicians who joined you help forge the style?

MK: It started with me. I came here and I needed a soundtrack for my film that I made for last year’s Bernstein Festival [“Before Sunrise”]. I composed two pieces and I needed people to play with me. So I found the bass player and the sax player and we reached six members for that recording. And then while recording I thought, “Why we are not having a band?” So that inspired me to build a band.

We started bringing more peo-ple and our first performance was Culture X last year. We played “Arabic Coffee,” our first perfor-mance ever in front of an audi-ence, and people liked it. And from the support—and this is the most important thing—of the stu-dents, of the audience, gave us the energy we needed to continue.

In the beginning I thought of a fusion between Arabic music and jazz, but the more I met people and started playing the more I wanted to experiment with dif-ferent styles like Indian music, Latin American rhythms, reggae, and other music…Improvisation

is the common language between each musician. So with improvi-sation each one is bringing his or her own touch.

MP: You’ve managed to earn quite a substantial following at Brandeis and beyond even before the release of your first album. What do you think appeals to peo-ple about your music, even those who are unfamiliar with the genres from which you draw?

MK: I think people…want to hear different cultures. Not a lot of [bands] do that. People want to be exposed to different styles of music and see it in a frame where it makes a dialogue. Like jazz and Arabic music, you never expect to hear that. So it’s an experiment. Every piece that I write, it’s an experiment—either it works or it doesn’t. And so far it’s working.

MP: Can you describe the pro-cess of composing and arranging a piece for the whole band? Is there an element of improvisation or are most parts written formally before they are played?

MK: For example, one piece is by cello player Eric Alterman, but I write most of the music. The process of making this piece work is—so I write the body, and

it’s part of the band message to start experimenting with new stuff, like adding some classical harmonics here or jazz harmonics there. And in the improvisation each one has his ideas. So each one on the stage has something that he gave for the piece.

MP: Is there a particular song or musical moment from the album of which you are particularly excit-ed or proud? Did the sound of Mochila in the studio surprise you compared to the dynamics of a live performance?

MK: I’m surprised every time I’m onstage or in rehearsal. It’s hard to pick one song, because each song for me is a story, it’s a narrative. But for me the theme song for this album, it’s called “Green Bullets,” and “green bul-lets” is kind of the idea of Mochila itself. Green is a representative of peace, nature, coexistence, under-standing. And bullets is repre-sentative of war and realism, all the stuff that’s happening in the world. So it’s the piece that brings the question of, “Is it really pos-sible to be with each other and understand each other?” And this is the answer. The band is the answer to this question.

adding much more of a jazz fla-vor, and is followed by “Arabic Coffee” and its beautifully subtle string opening. “Ghaz’l (Intro)” is a suspenseful, subtle work of ten-sion between notes and silence, leading into “Ghaz’l.”

“Food for Thought” brings back the vocals, opening with percus-sion and a command to “Listen!” and move into “its innermost parts.” The track’s tension between music and words is turbulent and well used. The track moves into a climax of drums and vocals, shifting into a call and response of “We ain’t going nowhere” that, backed by a chorus of voices, is a powerful expression of diverse voices unifying; in essence, it’s a microcosm of the idea behind Mochila as a whole.

The entirety of “Green Bullets” flows exceptionally well, and the album presents solidly as a well-sequenced work, displaying consistency from track to track, while still progressing and vary-ing in different directions. The remarkable aspect of their debut is that none of the tracks ever feel crowded, despite the large number of participating musi-cians. Each track has quite a bit of breathing space, room left for minimal moments in between swells of music. There’s never any dissonance between the partici-pants.

From classical to jazz to reggae, the influences Mochila marshals are wide-ranging and fit together into songs without being tamed or watered down. Be sure to give Mochila’s debut a listen (or sev-eral) and see them perform live this Sunday. Mochila is a group founded on Brandeis ideals of diversity, peace, and coexistence, and Kundos and company make those ideals sound better than ever before.

Tales of Dalit Woes: Movie Screening

Monday, April 27th at 5:30 pmIntercultural Center

The documentary “Achhut” is a heart-touching saga of Terai Dalits, socio-economically oppressed people from the plains of Nepal. Join us in the Intercultural Center at Brandeis University and meet Bimal Gadal, Human Rights Activist, Documentary Maker, and NGO Organizer. Bimal will briefly talk about the Dalits in Nepal, and we will then view a screening of a documentary he wrote and helped make.

The ICC Senior ReceptionA special evening of recognition

Thursday, April 30, 20096:00pm-8:00pm

Brandeis UniversityIntercultural Center - Swig

Lounge

Please RSVP to mgnanaratnam@brandeis.edu by Monday,

April 27, 2009 for number confirmation

JSA - Spring Festival 2009May 2nd @ 2pm in the SCC

AtriumFeaturing: -JSA Soran Bushi Dance (as seen in Culture X)Demonstration by the Brandeis Karate Club-Eating contest! (sign up by e-mailing kyama@brandeis.edu)-Kyogen Performance (traditional Japanese comedy)-Performances by the Japanese Language Program-Japanese food for saleand more!

Chilling with Mochila on the eve of its album release

Intercultural CenterCALENDAR

BY MAXWELL PRICEEditor

PHOTO BY Max Shay /The Hoot

END-NOTEApril 24, 2009 Diverse City 11

Let's be honest. The past month hasn't been good for intercultural relations at Brandeis.

The challenge to the Racial Minority Union Senate position went to the Union Judiciary, and it's put the questions, "What consitutes discrimination?" and "Does racism exist at Brandeis?" on everyone's mind. The proposed elimination of the African and African-American Studies Department is making us reassess what the Ford Hall take-over 40 years ago really means and if we have forgotten the les-sons it taught us. Regardless of where you stand on these issues, it's obvious that diversi-ty issues are getting more attention than they have in a while. And while this isn't a bad thing by itself, too much of the dialogue has been destructive rather than constructive.

But I hope people don't forget the many success stories in light of these debates. The reason why we heard so little about intercultural interactions until the recent controversies is that so many different groups had been focusing more on creat-ing connections, and while positive dia-logue doesn't get people talking the way arguments do, it does create a healthier campus environment. In February, the Brandeis Orthodox Organization and

the Brandeis Black Student Organization held a very successful identity discussion. Several weeks ago, Brandeis Hillel and the Brandeis Muslim Student Association col-laborated on the interfaith JAM Session. And on April 4th, the entire Brandeis com-munity gathered for Intercultural Center's flagship event and one of the most popular shows at Brandeis: Culture X.

Make no mistake about it, Culture X was massively successful yet again. Not

only was the entire Levin Ballroom packed as tightly as it could be, but the organizers had to

announce that all tickets were gone a full three days before the event. As usual, almost all of the ICC clubs partici-pated, along with seemingly

unrelated groups like the Brandeis Swingers

that nonetheless add to the incred-

ible diversity of the show. Most impor-

tantly, Culture X was again an entertaining, enjoyable spectacle

infused with the obvious hard work and passion that every group brought to its performance.

People wouldn't put in this effort or turn out in these numbers if there wasn't a genuine desire for intercultural involve-ment on this campus. This is the energy we need to harness to build on the steps towards community building that have already been taken.

Rise Up! That was the theme of this year's show. As the organizers explained via Facebook, "By working together, while celebrating and embracing the diverse

identities that make-up the world, there is hope that we can rise above the odds and overcome any barriers that have been imposed on us. Through our talents and passions, we need to come together as one and rise up in an effort to create a new found hope!". And they made this call much more than just empty sloganeering. By partnering with Live Campus 2009, a nationwide poverty-reduction program led by the Millenium Campus Network, Culture X became a mechansim for fund-raising and positive social action as well as a show.

As for the show itself, I definitely had my favorite moments, but if I listed them, I'm sure I would forget something deserving. It never ceases to amaze me how many talented people we have at Brandeis in so many different performing arts. The orga-nization was great for such an involved event, and there were no major techni-cal difficulties. Yeah, the show was on the long side, and yeah, Levin was a few degrees warmer then everyone's comfort level, but to fix those problems, you'd have to limit participants and audience mem-bers. It would clash with the message of togetherness; it's better just to dismiss the temperature and the length as part of the show's charm.

Overall, Culture X is a pretty good model for the perfect campus event. It brings the Brandeis community together over important campus issues, it spreads aware-ness and calls for action in a greater social context, and it lets everyone have a damn fun time while doing it. If we can keep the Culture X, Rise Up spirit in all of our intercultural dialogue, our community will be better off for it.

"Student recital" is a term that carries an air of sloppiness and unprofessionalism. My immediate mental image of the word "recital" is a bunch of elementary school children dressed in matching outfits, leap-ing and falling all over a stage in a vain attempt at ballet. The audience is full of parents, each individual proud of his or her child but disdainful of the affair as a whole, checking their watches impatiently amidst muffled guffaws whenever a particularly glaring mistake is made. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this way; that's the popular conception of a recital.

But a student recital is a very different affair in college. For Music Performance majors, the senior recital is the ultimate test of their talents, their greatest chance in the solo spotlight, and the final required rite of passage to earn their degree. And these are no clumsy rookies -- they have devoted four years of education to reach-ing this point, and in many cases, they are prepared to make music their life's work. Still, until you have the opportunity to attend a senior recital, you can be forgiven for underestimating the talent that these graduating student possess.

On April 3rd, I had the opportunity to attend Eric Alterman's senior cello recital. I first met Eric through the Student Union. We served on both the Senate and the Executive Board together and had col-laborated on several projects, and it was in this capacity that I knew him best. I knew he played the cello as well, and I'd seen him many times performing as a member of Mochila. But Beethoven is a completely different musical world then Arabic-jazz fusion, so I was looking forward to seeing

a side of Eric's life that was still unfamiliar to me.

Accompanied only by pianist Joy Cline Phinney, Eric begin his performance with Igor Stravinsky's Suite Italienne, and from the sprightly opening bars, I know I was hearing something fantastic. This was a very complex piece by the greatest com-poser of the twentieth century, and it was being played flawlessly and emotionally. No, I hadn't actually expected a slapdash, messy performance, but it takes seeing a great musician in action to understand how talented he truly is.

The Suite Italienne is representative of Stravinsky's neoclassical style, a style which owes as much to Baroque formality as to Classical simplicity. Eric explains, "I have always had a love for Baroque music... There is an incredible juxtaposition of formal structure and intense expression, within a larger context of intricate polyph-ony." The third movement was particu-larly impressive, requiring Eric to execute a series of quick transitions between pluck-ing and bowing over the course of a very dynamic piece. The lively fourth move-ment was performed at a stunning tempo while Eric's hand flew over the whole neck of the cello to cover the wide tonal range.

When the piece was finished, Phinney left the stage, leaving Eric alone to perform Benjamin Britten's Suite No. 3 for Solo Cello. I found Britten's Suite to be some-what fragmented, and the cello is limited in use as a solo instrument; consequently, I found this to be the least musically compelling work of the recital. However, it was the most impressive in terms of the demands on the performer. As Eric told me later, "The Britten is a particularly dif-ficult performance to pull off. Because it is both a solo work and has no pause for the entire 22 minutes duration, it requires

an exhausting level of concentration. Memorizing the work was a challenge, yet it helped my concentration by enabling me be more spontaneous in the performance and channel a stronger communication with the audience."

The piece owes a lot to Bach; the fourth movement, in particular, reminded me of the famous Prelude to Bach's first cello suite. Eric was stellar alone on stage, attack-ing the cello with fierce bowing in the fifth movement and delicately snaking through the linear melody of the eighth. The high-light, however, was the fugue in the sixth movement. The cello is not designed as a polyphonic instrument, but Eric skillfully wove multiple lines of melody together simultaneously to create a satisfying whole.

The final composition was Beethoven's Sonata Op. 102 no. 2 in D for Cello and Piano. The first movement compiled bril-liantly spry and complex melodies and great interplay between Eric and Joy Cline Phinney, who provided a very solid accom-paniment throughout the recital and made difficult passages sound effortless in their fluidity. The second movement was driven by Eric's emotional playing, which brought out both the moodiness and the beauty of the slow themes. Finally, the recital ended with yet another Baroque atavism in the lively fugue of the third movement, com-bining multiple piano lines with the cello.

I left the recital amazed at the perfor-mance I had just witnessed. Eric, too, was pleased: "I was very happy with how it went, especially considering that it was my first time performing this set of techni-cally and musically challenging works. It would be great to continue performing and polishing them." Please do continue, Eric. You may still be a student, but your recital proves you have a bright future, and I look forward to hearing you again.

BY ADAM HUGHESStaff

BY ADAM HUGHESStaff

I’ve seen numerous of films with my par-ents. Some of these movies I’ve viewed within the confines of my own home and others I have ventured out to the movie theaters to watch with them. This does not make me special (unfortunately I will have to unearth another way in which I’m unique). What I’ve found that separates me from many of my peers who attend the movies with their par-ents is the reason why. Whereas some indi-viduals have to be coaxed (with the promise of the candy and the movie selection of their choice) to leave the comfortable nook they call their bedroom, I, on the other hand, relish the chance to view movies with my parents. I especially enjoy watching movies with them while in the theater. The elation I receive from being afforded the opportu-nity to select a movie that my parents are required to watch comes from that fact that these occasions happen once in a blue moon (maybe not a blue moon, because I’ve never actually seen one of those, but you under-stand what I’m getting at). Thus, when I am given the chance to choose a movie, I have to ensure the pick is inspired. It is for this reason, that over break I chose to have my mother take me to “Adventureland.”

“Adventureland” was marketed as every-thing teenagers want to see and everything that adults would want to skip over. Greg Motolla is of course the man who brought the masses “Superbad” (not exactly a fam-ily favorite, which I for the life of me can’t understand). Once again, Motolla finds him-self in familiar territory with his newest film. Starring Jessie Eisenberg ("The Squid and the Whale") and Kristen Stewart ("Twilight" fans rejoice) “Adventureland” tells the story of a recent college graduate who must take a job at an amusement park after his father is demoted. What the commercials left out is that Mottola’s humorous and witty screenplay is also a heartfelt coming of age story that sometimes moves into the darker territories that are usually glossed over by comedies. But, “Adventureland” is not a straight com-edy. “Adventureland” is a dramedy, and a good one at that.

The movie excels as it masterfully mixes two genres that at times can be difficult to bring together. For those looking for comedy, it doesn’t get much better than Kristin Wiig and Bill Hader as the managers of the parks. Need drama? Stewart puts together a strong performance as the “other woman” caught up in a married man’s (strangely casted as Ryan Reynolds) affair. However, it is Jessie Eisenberg as the male protagonist, who like the movie he is starring in blends both com-edy and drama impeccably. It is a talent to be able to seamlessly switch from spouting humorous jokes about pot to conversing about issues that resonate today in the next scene. Eisenberg (in a role that could have been written for Michael Cera) has this talent and demonstrates it throughout the movie.

“Adventureland” could have very eas-ily been split up into two different kinds of movie. One about teens and the wacky experiences over the course of one summer or a movie about a teenager's struggle to earn money for school. Both of these hypotheti-cal movies have been made in one capacity or another (there are too many of them to provide an example). It is the joining of these two genres that make “Adventureland” a must-see movie. A must-see film for both adults and their children (especially those who feel the need to prove something to their parents with their choice of movie).

Culture X forum for intercultural artistic expressions The “Adventure” of adolesence

BY MATTHEW FOWLERStaff

Cello recital showcases many styles of Alterman