Sidelines Online - 9/5/2012

State fair sparks southern controversy

CONTENTNEWS3

RANTS AND RAVES

FEATURES

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

OPINIONS

SPORTS

Sidelines Lens

Sidelines Staff

MTSU community assists with constuction of 9/11 memorial By Michael Wilson

6 The Center for Popular Music: ‘A Gem in MTSU’s Crown’ By Emily Kubis

COVER STORY4 Politics heat up as state fair opens gates:

Legislation sparks confusion, backlash By Alex Hubbard

10 Copper Into Steel is pure gold By Jane Horne

11 ‘Hit and Run’ crashes and burns By Josh YoungCountry music’s princess prepares for pop world reign By Jane Horne

8 Check out local happenings By Jessica Kryza

14 Intellectual property laws stifle innovation, restrict choices By Alex Harris

Becca [email protected]

Richel AlbrightManaging [email protected]

Asher HudsonOnline [email protected]

Abena Ka-DumasaneOnline [email protected]

Alex HubbardCampus news [email protected]

Emily WestCommunity news [email protected]

Emily KubisFeatures [email protected]

Jane Horne Arts & Entertainment [email protected]

Mark MizeSports [email protected]

Alex Harris Opinions [email protected]

Kelsey KlingenmeyerDesign [email protected]

Nhu Duong Photo editor [email protected]

Matt MastersAssociate photo [email protected]

Justin ThrelkeldAd [email protected]

Leon [email protected]

MTSU Students and Murfreesboro businesses gather at the “Meet Murfreesboro” tents on August 29, 2012. “Meet Murfreesboro” is an event held to familiarize freshman and transfer students new to “the ‘boro” with life in the centermost part of Tennessee. Games, coupons and freebies were under the tent for students to get out of the heat while they perused.Photo by Matt Masters.

Former MT stars on the fast track to the show: Brentz and company take minor league by storm By Mark Mize

15

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2 Sidelines |Sept. 5, 2012 | www.mtsusidelines.com

Guild produces juicy surprise By Ashleigh Taylor

12 Main St. Live!: A new venue with a familiar location By Jay PowellHealth and flavor cohabitate at Pita Pit on Rutherford By Jay Powell

Theft of intellectual property hurts all consumers By Christopher Merchant

NEWS

A Sept. 11 memorial is slated to open during the 10th annual commu-nity fair Tuesday at the Sheriff’s Department. MTSU students and alumni took the oppor-tunity to help with the project throughout the past year. “The concrete was donated. We donated the forms, two days labor, a couple of my guys and things like that,” said Josh Cornwall of Dusty & Sons, and a former graduate of Concrete Management at MTSU. Cornwall added that his team did all the forming and placing of the concrete for the memorial. Students of the Con-crete Industry Manage-ment program contrib-uted to the project. “I got to help with the placing of the ‘ground zero’ debris between the columns, handling pieces of broken glass, coffee cups, a busted VHS tape, twisted rebar, concrete block chunks, broken picture frames and a damaged clock set to 8:46 [when the first plane hit the north tow-er], as well as smashing concrete blocks into coarse, fine and dust size pieces to add to the debris,” said Chad Rut-ledge, a senior majoring in concrete industry management. “While working, I thought about all of those people in the building who didn’t make it out, and

their friends and family who would never see them again.” The focus of the memorial is the 3,000-pound I-beam, recovered from the ruins of Tower One. In addition to the beam, four flagpoles will also be placed, each to honor the passengers in the four planes from Sept. 11. Three poles will hold the American flag, the Tennessee state flag and a 9/11 memo-rial flag. The fourth pole will hold a rotation of flags representing the four branches of the U.S. military. “The Fire Department will have the honor of raising the flags,” Deputy Greg Dotson said. “They lost more people than any other department.” An honor guard con-sisting of officers from the Rutherford County Fire Department, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department and officers from the LaVergne, Smyrna and Murfreesboro Police

Departments will per-form a three volley rifle salute the day of the unveiling. Every aspect of the memorial has its own specific significance. The shortest column of the memorial repre-sents the Emergency Medical System, the second column rep-resents the New York Police Department and law-enforcement of-ficers, while the tallest column represents the New York Fire Depart-ment personnel who entered the towers while trying to evacuate. Fundraising for the project is ongoing, with commemorative coins and inscribed bricks still available for purchase to help with upkeep expenses. Bricks can be purchased the day of the fair. “No tax dollars went into the monument’s construction,” Dotson said. “I’m proud to say that almost everything was done through dona-tions of money, time and resources.”

MTSU community assists with construction of 9/11 memorialBy: Michael WilsonContributing Writer

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After a year of writ-ing and a summer of filming, the students of MTSU Film Guild aim to release their first feature film to audiences next summer. “Juicy Mooshu” is an action-comedy film about two sanitation workers who discover an ancient Chinese chest during one of their cleaning assignments. In the midst of their assignment, a prostitute approaches and attacks the men, and they soon find themselves running from the Chinese mob. The feature film is based on events familiar to senior film students Chris Ranker, Ross Wells and recent gradu-ate Warren Smythe, the film’s director. “It’s inspired by things that we know, that we’re familiar with, family members we’re familiar with and things that have happened to us before,” Smythe said. “That’s how a film is successful. It’s relat-able.” Ranker took lead as the producer for “Juicy Mooshu,” having experience produc-ing multiple series on MT10HD. Wells took the role of writing the screenplay after two years of screenwriting. Once the crew reached a main idea for their film, Wells began to write. “I came out to school here originally for music. I was just trying new things and getting as much out of college

as I could, because what I originally came out to college for is nowhere near what I’m doing now,” Wells said. “I had a class with Chris Rank-er, and he enjoyed me, so I guess he wanted to get me involved. This is my debut.” Beginning July 15, the crew filmed for a month, planning to have images cut together by December 1 and begin cutting the audio in after. Although “Juicy Mooshu” is now in post-production phase, the film faced complica-tions with funding as all of the guild’s previous films were done in a shorter amount of time. The crew spent ap-proximately $25,000 on the film, $5,000 under their initial goal. They used fundraising website Kickstarter to help with funding and conserved money when it came to feeding the crew. “A lot of people were very doubtful of my cre-ative decisions because sometimes it was ab-normal, like the things that I did. A lot of times I was even question-ing myself or second

guessing myself, but I think the only way to make art, to be innova-tive, is to try something different, try something that feels right,” Smythe said. “That’s what we tried to do with this film- try things that are unconventional, but still keep it classy with conventional film tech-niques.” Once the film is com-plete, the crew plans to submit it to appropriate festivals, in addition to renting theaters locally, in Nashville and Hen-dersonville to promote their work. The MTSU Film Guild is an organization for students with career desires in filmmaking or video production. “I’ve always said that if you want to be a film-maker, you should just make films. That sounds really simple, but people don’t do that,” said Evan Caddell, cinema-tographer and a junior majoring in electronic media communication. “They say, ‘Oh, I want to be a filmmaker,’ and they don’t do anything or they wait around. You have to devote yourself completely to film.”

Guild produces juicy surpriseBy: Ashleigh TaylorContributing Writer

The Mafia Boss threatens Weston in a torture bus to reveal the chest’s location. Photo by Nhu Duong

The 9/11 Memorial is located at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department. Photo by Drew Gardonia

COVER STORYPolitics heat up as state fair opens gates: Legislation sparks confusion, backlash

The Tennessee State Fair will kick off this week as questions sur-round legislation that handed control of the fair to the state for the first time in nearly 90 years. The fair will be held Sept. 7-16 at the Tennessee State Fair-grounds in Nashville and will feature several new events- including live music, a green-collar exhibit focusing on sustainable farming, an equestrian arena and an agricultural museum, said Katie Radel, the marketing specialist for the Tennessee State Fair Association, a not-for-profit group that is operating the fair. “The quality of the fair is better than ever,” Radel said. While the festivities ramp up, uncertainty about the future of the historic event is also on the rise. The Tennessee Gen-eral Assembly passed legislation authorizing a state commission to oversee the state fair. It marks the first time the state of Tennessee could run the fair since 1923, according to a history published by the Friends of Metro Archives, a chapter of the Friends of the Public Library of Nashville and Davidson County. What that means for the fair as it exists is

unclear to many outside observers- although leg-islators have said the fair should stay in Nashville. “I don’t know a whole lot about it because everyone is trying to figure out exactly what that legislation does,” said Buck Dozier, the ex-ecutive director of the fairgrounds. “There is legislation that seems to say they appointed a board of people from across the state that tries to keep the Tennessee State Fair alive. They say they want to keep the fair in Nashville, but we’ll have to see if that’s true.” The state commission effectively removed all authority from the Metropolitan Board of Fair Commissioners, which oversaw the fair for decades and most recently contracted the fair to private groups. The metropolitan board now oversees just the flea market, races and other events held at the fairgrounds, Dozier said. But some have ques-tions about who sup-ported the legislation and for what reason.Sen. Joe Haynes, a Democrat from Nash-ville, sponsored the bill to create the state com-mission. Haynes also sits on the board of the Tennessee State Fair As-sociation, which is in its second year of operating the event. Under the terms of

the legislation, the new state commission would have the power to name an organization to oper-ate the fair. Duane Dominy, a metro councilman who emerged as one of the earliest voices for pre-serving the fairgrounds, said he supports state involvement in promot-ing the state fair, but also said the legislation and the commission it created raised some curious questions. “The current makeup of this nine-member commission includes four current TSFA board members,” Dominy said. “This is not to suggest collusion, conflict-of-interest or conspiracy. It is simply stating fact.” The legislation

requires that the state agriculture and tour-ism commissioners, the president of the Ten-nessee Farm Bureau Federation, and the dean of the University of Tennessee Extension all must sit on the state commission. All four people currently are on both the commission and the Tennessee State Fair Association’s board of directors. Dominy also raised questions about a provi-sion granting the state the rights to the names “Tennessee State Fair” and “Tennessee State Exposition.” “The minor catch is that the term and its associated logo are copyrighted and trade-marked property of the Metropolitan Board

of Fair Commission-ers,” Dominy said. “The copyright was granted by the Tennes-see Department of State, Secretary of State Tre Hargett. “This taking of intellectual property was done without consulta-tion or compensation of the owner. I cannot speak to the reasons why these individuals and corporations are behind making these changes. That may only be determined by their own statements and ac-tions.” Haynes, who is retiring after his term expires in January, did not respond to an email or phone call seeking comment. The latest round of controversy is not the first for the fair or fair-

grounds. Nashville Mayor Karl Dean announced plans to close the fairgrounds and end the state fair it-self in late 2009. Dean’s plan was to sell the land for a private develop-ment, but the idea fell through when the metro council opposed the action. Nashville vot-ers stamped the denial last year with a vote to keep the fairgrounds in operation. Dominy said the push to keep the grounds in operation came from large numbers of people who signed petitions, volunteered and cam-paigned on behalf of what was considered to be an economic and historic marker. “The overwhelming response was to keep

By Alex HubbardCampus News editor

4 Sidelines |Sept. 5, 2012 | www.mtsusidelines.com

The fair has rides for kids and thrill-seekers alike. You can purchase advance unlimited ride wristbands for $20 at tnstatefair.org. Photo courtesy of Katie Radel.


the property and its various events open,” Dominy said. “Some claimed sentimental and others financial rea-sons.” Despite the vote to save the fairgrounds, ticket sales for the 2011 state fair were estimated down 10 to 20 percent, according to numbers reported by the Nash-ville City Paper. In March, Dozier asked metro government for a $245,000 subsidy for the fairgrounds. “Our reserves have been dwindling for years, so our estimate is our reserves will come to an end next year,” the City Paper reported Dozier telling a metro budget hearing. “The only way to keep it open is to do like other departments do– the

Municipal Auditorium, the Farmers’ Market– and ask for something that we work hard to draw down to where hopefully we don’t have to have one. But right now, we do.” Dozier’s request was not included in the final budget. Dominy blames the financial struggles of the fairgrounds on political connections and mis-management. He said as many as 250 events have been lost to the facility due to uncer-tainty surrounding the property. Dominy also faulted the contract that was awarded to the Tennes-see State Fair Associa-tion in 2011. “For example, $400,000 was given up when the Metro

Fair Board, under the previous chair, voided an agreement for a $250,000 contract for two years for the opera-tion and promotion of the state fair in order to award the contract to the politically-connect-ed Tennessee State Fair Association for a sum of $50,000 per year,” Dominy said. “This, coincidentally or not, is about the same amount the fairgrounds opera-tion is short this year.” Radel, the fair’s marketing specialist, acknowledged budget difficulties, but said the fair would not be held back because of them. “Due to the footprint of the fair and some budget cuts, we have stretched our budget,” Radel said, “but have managed to keep our

fair focused on agri-culture, livestock and education while provid-ing the traditional fair experiences.” The state fair may now be in the hands of the state of Tennessee, but the fairgrounds are still under the control of the Metropolitan gov-ernment. The decision on the precise future of the grounds will come next year after a master plan is developed and sent to the metro coun-cil and Mayor Dean, Dozier said. Until then, it is a waiting game.“It’s kind of in flux right now,” Dozier said. “It’s going to be prob-ably eight or 10 months before we kind of know exactly what’s going to happen.”

COVER STORY

Wear your Blue Raider attire Friday to re-ceive an additional $3 off of ticket prices.

‘Like’ the Tennessee State Fair Facebook page and sign up to win free tickets.

Purchase tickets in advance at participating local Kroger stores to receive up to $8 in

savings.

www.tnstatefair.org

Next Wednesday, kids under 18 gets in free with a parent or guardian for youth night.Photo courtesy of Katie Radel.

FEATURESThe Center for Popular Music: ‘A Gem in MTSU’s Crown’

Music lovers across campus and beyond would likely be delight-ed to spend a measly half hour picking through Dale Cockrell’s office collection of antique songbooks and sheet music. Given the opportu-nity to tour the greater expanse of material his center houses, such a person may experience a (rather pleasant) panic attack. Cockrell is the direc-tor of MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, which is known almost exclusively to mass communication students who pass by its glass walls regularly as they go about their business. It is also used in his-tory and music courses, which occasionally hold classes in the center. The Center for Popu-lar Music is the largest, oldest research center and archive of its sort in the world. “It’s an enormous gem in MTSU’s crown,” Cockrell said. While other univer-sity centers may host larger jazz collections or blues archives, Cockrell says there’s no center that tries to cover the whole range of pop music from the 18th century to the pres-ent—and all the various dimensions—like this center does. And the dimensions are indeed various. In the warehouse-like storage facility exists

200,000 LPs arranged by label and issue number and a sprawl of other recordings—45s, 75s, CDs and cassettes. “We trace the music business by the media that is used to represent the music of the time,” Cockrell said. Some of the cen-ter’s oldest materials are not recordings at all—though the center certainly houses some Edisonian phonographic cylinders—but sheet music, broadsides and songsters. “Handwritten music manuscripts date from 1775 up to 1960 or so,

and that’s an example of one person taking the time and trouble to write, by hand, the music that mattered to them. So that’s one form of a medium that’s sort of direct and up close,” Cockrell said. Cockrell added that broadsides are similar to today’s 99-cent down-load; for a penny, some-one could purchase the text to a popular song. Middle-class people may have purchased expensive sheet mu-sic to speak of status, but common citizens consumed their music through broadsides.

The Center for Popular Music is home to the largest collection of American broadsides in the world. The collec-tion is digitized, and can be accessed through the center’s website. The Center for Popular Music exists as a unique mirror of American culture. The center’s website cites the multicultural and international origins of American society, as in-fluencing the materials that have been collected there. “Everybody knows that the nation is a salad bowl of ethnicities,

and music is always representative of that,” Cockrell said. “So we have a good collec-tion of Scottish songs, Irish songs—we have a major collection of African-American mu-sic, and…anyone who is interested in follow-ing that strain through how it becomes part of what’s American music can, in fact, do that.” The center has much to discover about American society, but it also shines a light on individuals—who they were, what they did and what music they loved. “I often say that we

have 350,000 stories here,” Cockrell added. “A song is a story, and if someone is interested in finding the stories that mattered to people at the time—just as today, you look on their iPod to find what their values are, what their consciousness is. And you look at the music to find out what the society was believing, and the stories they were telling about themselves.” The center organizes much of its material into collections—the rock-and-roll collection, the gospel collection and most recently, the

By Emily KubisFeatures editor

The Center for Popular Music houses wall-to-wall vinyl in the genre of everything from pop to rock n’ roll to classical music. The Tennessee Historical Records Advisory Board issued a $6700 grant for the center to curate Tennessee-related songs last summer. John Fabke, project archivist, will head the project. Photo by Nhu Duong

6 Sidelines | Sept. 5, 2012 | www.mtsusidelines.com

center received a grant to collect songs about Tennessee. The Tennessee His-torical Records Adviso-ry Board issued a grant to the center to curate the Tennessee songs collection, called “My Homeland: A Research Guide to Songs About Tennessee.” Certainly citizens of the Volunteer State can rattle off a handful of songs meriting place-ment in the collection, and Cockrell hypoth-esizes that there is a reason so many tunes exist about Tennessee. “I have this weird kind of theory that one

of the reasons there are lots of songs about Tennessee is that it’s a pretty word. It’s got a nice rhythm to it—it’s got a melody. Song-writers are sensitive to that,” he said. “When Stephen Fos-ter was writing ‘Way Down on the Sewanee River, it was first of all ‘Way Down on the Pee Dee River,’ which is in South Carolina, and that just didn’t sound right. He had never been to the Sewanee River,’ hardly knew where it was, so a song that has become part of culture was changed simply be-cause it sounded good,”

Cockrell said.That collection will be digitized, and Cockrell said when copyrights permit, it will include audio and interview clips and other digital content that supports and enlivens the site. The Center for Popular Music is not available for general appreciation, as usage is limited to research. Individuals writing mu-sic, recording industry or history papers and essays would certainly be granted access to the center’s great expanse of musical history.

FEATURES


Dale Cockrell uses his musical expertise to enhance the center’s collection and aid researchers that visit. Photo by Nhu Duong

RANTS AND RAVES


September 5-7The Hunger Games9 p.m., Union Video

TheaterStudent Union Build-

ing, Room 208MTSU Campus

Admission: FREE

Almost everyone and their mother has seen this movie at least once. Enjoy it once more at the fabulous new Student Union Building. Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcher-son and Liam Hemsworth star in this film that takes place in a futuristic-dystopian America where

young representatives from 12 districts — one boy and one girl — are forced to battle each oth-er to the death until one district stands alone. Go enjoy this free movie and popcorn with friends. To all of the college couples on campus, this screams “cheap date night.” While

the action and emotion in this movie captivate you, you might also think to yourself one of the fol-lowing questions: “Why is Liam Hemsworth with Miley Cyrus?” “Why am I crying right now?” or “Is that the creepy little girl from ‘Orphan’ fight-ing Katniss?”

September 6Framing Hanley

8 p.m., Main Street Live!

527 West Main StreetAdmission: $10

Ages 18+

Nashville-based band Framing Hanley is com-ing to melt your face off. OK, maybe not literally. The band is categorized in the genre of alterna-tive/rock. Some of you may be wondering, “Where have I heard of them before?” This band received much of atten-

tion when they recorded their own version of Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop.” This version allowed rockers to listen to the catchy-hype song without being labeled posers. Check out the video on YouTube if you haven’t seen it, or add to the over 350,000 number of “likes” on

their Facebook. Coin-cidentally, lead singer Kenneth Nixon will be celebrating his birthday the same night. This could make the night a really good one, or a really bad one. Don your favorite skinny jeans and straighten your hair for this one.

September 6Live on the Green Con-cert Series: Jon Cleary,

Moon Taxi and Dr. John & the Lower 911 featuring Jon Cleary5 p.m., Public Square

Park1 Public Square, Nash-

villeAdmission: FREE

It’s that special time of year, boys and girls. Live on the Green, courtesy of everyone’s favorite Nashville indie station, Lightning 100, is back with an awesome line-up that is sure to satisfy your live music craving. Festivities begin at 5 p.m., but everyone is wel-

come to show up as early as they would like. This Thursday, enjoy perfor-mances by Jon Cleary, Moon Taxi and Dr. John & the Lower 911. Bring friends and family and sit on some blankets or portable chairs while you enjoy live music at the park. This event will oc-

cur every Thursday night till October 11, featuring different acts each week for your entertainment. If you haven’t experienced Live on the Green before, then you should definitely go check it out and sup-port local artists in Music City.

September 7Get Down Friday fea-turing DJ Rick Ross12-2 p.m., Student Union Food Court

MTSU’s Student Union building

Admission: FREE

If you have a break from class anytime between 12-2 p.m. on Friday, or if you live on campus and are tired of awkwardly staring at your question-able roommate, then go check out what Student Programming has in store for you. DJ Rick Ross will be spinning on the

ones and twos at the Stu-dent Union food court. This disk jockey will make you bust a move to all kinds of music: hip-hop, dance, old school, classic rock and more. So go grab a bite from one of the new vendors on campus, which we are all excited about, then

dance off those extra calories. Don’t forget to take a break at one of the lounge areas and print off your notes in a new computer lab before you dash off to class. Real college students schedule in partying among their studying.

September 7Japanese Cowboys, Flint Forehead, and

The Langoliers9 p.m., Wall Street

121 North Maple St.Admission: $5

Ages 21+

These three Middle Ten-nessee rock bands are putting on a great show for you Friday night at Wall Street. Each band has unique style of rock music that sets them apart from the rest. The Lango-liers, Flint Forehead and Japanese Cowboys are guaranteed to keep you

moving all night long. Some of the band mem-bers are current MTSU students and alumni. This is not the first rodeo for any of these bands, so if you have not seen them already or if you need a Friday night, live music fix, then grab a few bud-dies and have a fun night

out in Murfreesboro. Not to mention, the show is 21+, so there will not be any of those annoy-ing freshman from your biology lab that insist on following you around. Regardless, go support local music, people.

RANTS AND RAVES


September 7G.E.D. Soul All-stars’

Tribute to James Brown with Ruby

Velle and The Soul-phonics

8 p.m., The High Watt stage at Mercy Lounge

One Cannery Road, Nashville

Admission: $10Ages 18+

Nashville’s own G.E.D. Soul Records presents this dynamite tribute to the late God-father of Soul, James Brown. Brown was one of, if not the, biggest artists in soul and funk history — hence the title “Godfather.” Some of Brown’s biggest hits

were “Super Bad,” “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.” The music will be performed by G.E.D. Soul All-Stars with a little help from special guests, Atlanta’s soul band Ruby Velle and The Soulphon-ics, who released their full-length album this

September 8BLACKOUT featur-ing Wick-it the Insti-

gator9 p.m., Main Street

Live!527 West Main Street

Admission: $10Ages 18+

Get your glowsticks out and put on your dancing shoes, ravers. Nashville native Wick-It the Insti-gator is coming back to Murfreesboro on Satur-day night and performing at Main Street Live! This disc jockey/producer has the skills to make you jump and dance all night.

You may know Wick-It the Instigator from his famed mash-up of The Black Keys’ “Everlast-ing Light” and Big Boi’s “Shine Blockas” (feat. Gucci Mane). The Instigator will be accom-panied by six other DJs spinning different genres of dance music– includ-

ing dubstep, electronica, hip-hop and more. If you go to this gigantic dance party, be prepared to not only sweat like never before among a sea of strangers, but also leave the event asking yourself, “What just happened?”

September 85th Annual Tennessee Walk Now For Autism

SpeaksRegistration: 8:30 a.m.,

Walk: 10 a.m.Bicentennial Capitol

Mall State Park600 James Robertson

Parkway,Nashville

Admission: Donations accepted

Autism Speaks is back with its signature fund-raising event, bringing hundreds of thousands of participants annually across the country for a common goal — to raise awareness about the prevalence of autism and to donate and raise money for research. The

event includes a one-mile (optional) walk and a community resources fair that includes local educa-tion sources, therapists, schools, recreational organizations and cre-ative activities dedicated to families affected by autism. This event has grown more and more

each year thanks to the generous community support and volunteers. If you or anyone you know is affected by this com-plex disease, this would be a great opportunity to learn, donate and create more awareness.

September 8fEASTival Nashville12-11 p.m., East Park

South 7th St. and Woodland

St., NashvilleAdmission: FREE

fEASTival Nashville is an event that showcases the expanding talents — music, art, fashion and food — that make up East Nashville. This event happens once a year and unites enter-tainment, restaurants, art and fun activities for everyone to enjoy. East

Nashville is a growing community of music, arts and individuals who sup-port it. Enjoy the never-ending visual entertain-ment as you venture your way around the “villages” that focus on a specific talent. General admis-sion is free. And yes, there will be free food

samples. This would be a great event for you and a group of friends to add to your weekend plans. Go to fEASTival Nashville’s website to learn more about the music line-up, food venues, artists, local designers and vendors that will be at this event that has so much to offer.

September 9Karaoke Night10 p.m.-12 a.m.,

Student Union Food Court

Student Union Building

Admission: FREE

Live on campus? Don’t have a test Monday morning? Need to make some new friends? Want to get away from the roommate? How about have some laughs and cheer on those new friends as they either showcase their angelic, pitch-perfect voice or

lack thereof? Look no further. Student Program-ming is hosting Karaoke Night on Sunday for your entertainment. However, be extremely cautious if you are taking a sip of your drink during perfor-mances; you don’t want to spray your new friends or crush while someone

is dared to sing “Thong Song.” Bring along your iPhones and blow up YouTube with the most hilarious moments of the night. Opportunites like this are too good to miss out on. Sharing is caring, everybody.

year, It’s About Time. Go enjoy an evening of great hits from the No. 1 Godfather of Soul and more. This sultry soul will make you leave Nashville singing, “I feel good,” at the top off your lungs and probably off-key.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENTCopper Into Steel is pure gold

Four MTSU record-ing industry seniors bring their individual knowledge, musical tastes and a whole lot of ambition to create bluegrass-rock band Copper Into Steel. In just over a year, frontman and guitar player Daniel Harry, mandolin player Cody Chelius, bassist Chris Conrad and drummer Eric Lesser have figured out that they have the passion and musical know-how to make quality music. As a re-sult, they have begun to make their mark in the industry. Like many local bands, Copper Into Steel was created by a couple of guys who love making music. Harry and Conrad met in a MTSU art class, where Conrad learned that Harry was a singer/songwriter. “I was just like, oh, there’s a lot of singer/songwriters; acous-tic guitar players are just people who write songs commercially in Middle Tennessee. So, of course, I’m going to think that everyone’s just a run-of-the-mill, but when I saw him play I was sadly mistak-en,” Conrad said. “No mill was to be found.” Conrad knew Chelius after the two played in a jazz band together. Naturally, they knew something good would come out of Chelius’s mandolin-playing skills and knowledge of jazz and bluegrass.

The night before they were signed up to play their first show at The Hangar, previously run by Conrad, the band de-cided that being a three-piece wasn’t enough. Enter Eric Lesser, the drummer Chelius used to jam with in his dorm room freshmen year. The set went so well that night they played a four and a half hour long set the following night. “It was our second show, we barely knew any material,” Chelius said. “But we figured out all these covers we could play and put on a party show that night.”For Harry, the musical chemistry was undeni-able. “That’s when I think we knew we had some-thing,” Harry said. After going home for the summer, Copper Into Steel came back full of excitement and ideas and played a show together just two days after returning to Mur-freesboro. As the writ-ing process began, they found that each member had something to bring to the table musically. Conrad brings the jazz, fusion and rock influences; Chelius brings bluegrass and added jazz knowledge; while Harry and Lesser keep things mainstream. These different genres, tastes and talented set of ears come together to create a fun, upbeat form of bluegrass that makes you get up from your seat and groove along. Copper Into Steel’s Facebook page boasts

six recorded songs, one of their more popular songs being, “Door #1.” The sound of upbeat mandolin solos and sweet lines like, “door number one, door num-ber two, why can’t one just lead to you?” attract their faithful fans who have deemed them-selves “Copperheads.” Having a drummer also sets Copper Into Steel apart from most other bluegrass bands. At some of the blue-grass festivals they played this past sum-mer, the full drum set was something that had to be approved by the festivals. Fortunately for Lesser, his presence was welcomed and ap-preciated. While some bluegrass artists have maybe a snare and kick, the full set allows Cop-per to create a more of a “let-loose bluegrass,” as Harry describes it. These band members don’t just rely on their unique sound. All four members come from different sections of the recording industry department. As each member brings differ-ent influences to the writing process, they each have a role in the business side of running the band. Chelius and Lesser are audio production majors, while Harry and Conrad are in music business and Conrad takes over a lot of the booking. They have taken advantage of bringing what they have learned in classes to the real world. This led them to

determine a business strategy. They found a manager, Seth Me-ganck, whose father designed Copper’s mockingbird logo, which can be found on the hundreds of posters around campus before every local show. After playing mul-tiple times in the Middle Tennessee area, Copper started touring, including an East Coast tour this past summer. Offering gig swaps, aiming to play with the most popular bands of their genre and sending out email after email, they played in Atlanta, Charlotte, Richmond and Reading, Pa. (Che-lius’s hometown), just to name a few. The biggest reward

from traveling up and down the east coast? Being categorized as a Nashville band. “To travel around and have people say that we have a Nashville sound, or how one guy com-mented on how he was refreshed at the Nash-ville presence,” Harry said. “It’s cool to hear that because I know how I look at Nashville and its sound, and to travel around and have someone put us with that is a big deal.”It is that desire to keep the fans happy that has contributed to the rising success of Copper Into Steel. They do their best to play in Murfreesboro at least once a month, and to make the most of their shows 18 and up.

On top of recording their first album in Oc-tober, Copper is playing their next show for MT fraternity Alpha Gamma Rho on Friday. The next day, they will be at 12th and Porter in Nashville playing the Bluegrass Ball, featuring a lineup full of Copper’s influ-ences like The Travelin’ McCourys, Emmitt-Nershi Band and the Michael Kang Band. They will also be at Wall Street on Septem-ber 15. Just keep an eye out on campus and around Murfreesboro. If you see the bird, then come a-flocking. “Oh, we’re going places,” laughed Lesser.

Frontman and guitar player Daniel Harry and bassist Chris Conrad play a live show at The Honest Pint in Chattanooga. Photo by Jaron Guy

By Jane HorneArts & Entertainment

Editor


ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT‘Hit and Run’ crashes and burns The tagline on the promotional poster for “Hit and Run” declares the film to be the “com-edy that never takes its foot off the gas.” While this may be true, it feels as though writer-director-actor Dax Shepard (“Without a Paddle,” “Parent-hood”) would have been better served by actually allowing the film to slow down a bit, and plot itself a clearer course in one genre. Over the course of 100 minutes, a 400-mile chase across Southern California involving a group of revenge-seek-ing bank robbers, an obsessive ex-boyfriend and a few bumbling law enforcement agents, the movie never finds its true identity. Shepard and company appear to make some sort of attempt at an “action-comedy-romance.” This leaves viewers feeling like they should have focused on one genre, versus a mediocre-at-best combination of the three. However, it admittedly boasts some engaging chase scenes– made all the more impressive by Shepard doing his own stunt driving– and moder-ately-funny character interactions. In the driver’s seat of the film is Shepard, who plays an ex-getaway car driver for a crew of bank robbers. After being placed in the small town of Milton, Calif., by the Witness Protection Program and taking the name Charlie Bronson, he falls for a sociology professor

named Annie, played by Kristen Bell (“When In Rome,” “Veronica Mars”), who teaches at a local community college. Annie receives the chance to interview for her dream job head-ing up a department at UCLA, but turns it down knowing that Charlie can’t safely return to Los Angeles. Charlie decides that he won’t let Annie give up on her dream, and at the last minute picks her up in his souped-up Lincoln Continental to get her to the interview in time. Along the way, of course, the two face off against a crew of antagonists, most of who fail to add much of a laugh factor. Real-life couple Bell and Shepard actually play their roles together fairly well, and from the film’s first scene they clearly have nice cinematic chemistry. However, after the introduction of Char-lie’s assigned federal marshal, played by the almost un-watchable Tom Arnold, (“True Lies,” “Happy End-ings,”) as a sort-of sidekick to Charlie, the film becomes steadily plagued by a slew of

confusing characters in increasingly perplexing roles. Bradley Cooper’s (“The Hangover,” “All About Steve”) role in the film is perhaps the most baffling. Despite flexing legitimate comedic muscle on both of the “Hangover” films, Cooper features here in a completely unnatural role as some sort of dreadlocked-gangster/hippy, and former partner-in-crime to Charlie. Whether it was the writing or his perfor-mance, the role just seems awkward for Cooper, and it makes it difficult for the viewer to enjoy his one-liners interspersed liberally throughout the script.Even after the end cred-its begin to roll, “Hit and Run” mercilessly refuses to “take its foot off the gas,” forcing the viewer to sit through a bewilderingly anti-climactic final scene in which Annie is haphaz-ardly interviewed for the job by a pot-smok-ing member of UCLA’s faculty. It serves as an ap-propriately awkward and un-funny ending to a film that never seems to find the right cruising speed.

For the past two weeks, Taylor Swift’s new single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” has stayed at number one on the charts. The lyrics are in typical Taylor-fashion, singing an upbeat chorus about how she’s never getting back with a jerk who keeps telling her he still loves her. Yet, there’s no deny-ing that this new single sounds less and less like a country song, which makes it surprising that this pop sound with its simple lyrics is arguably her biggest hit. Even the music video is a quirk-ier project from what she’s done before. From the time Taylor

Swift hit the scene, she’s been described as “country crossover.” Her upcoming album, Red, which is being released October 22, has fans questioning if her evolution will be genre-bending. Can T-Swift fans expect more of the new pop-based sound, or will she remain country-centered? Apparently, they can expect the country songstress to make a full transition into pop princess. According to cmt.com, Taylor’s new album is made up of songs she co-wrote with writers like Ed Sheer-an, Max Martin who worked on Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” and Dan Wilson from Adele’s “Someone Like You”– compared to her last album, Speak Now,

which she wrote by her-self. And although these co-writers have helped with different sounds, the lyrics on Red will remain completely Taylor. There has been a mixed review of Taylor’s new sound on “Never Ever” from the social media world. Some like that it sounds less country and are now paying more attention to the star, while others feel she is straying too far from her roots. The thing to consider is that Swift is first and foremost a songwriter. She has come to the point in her career where she has likely reached as much suc-cess possible. If there was ever a time when an artist can afford to experiment and explore, it’s now for Swift. The sound from her first three albums have given her unthinkable fame and fortune, so logi-cally, she is not experi-menting with her sound to make more money. If any risk is being taken, it is the one that her current fans will be unhappy. I believe that Swift is still in the early stages in her career as a musi-cian and is enjoying taking chances. She may be taking a slight detour and trying her hand at other genres, but ultimately, Swift will come back to her country music roots and the sound that started her career. Until then, I’ll wait for Red with excitement and slight nerves.

Taylor Swift shows off her new style, in her tunes and her fash-ion sense, with the new single. Photo courtesy of Facebook

By Josh YoungContributing Writer


Real-life couple Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell prove to have on the screen and off. Photo courtesy of Facebook

Country music’s princess prepares for pop world reign

By Jane HorneArts & Entertainment

editor

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENTMain St. Live!: A new venue with a familiar location The location of 527 Main St. has held a number of different titles over the years, but one thing has always re-mained the same— live music for students.Main St. Live! opened its doors last Wednes-day after weeks of renovation and a much-needed overhaul in new equipment and staging. For over four decades, the venue has seen big-name acts includ-ing Blue Oyster Cult, Green Day and Dolly Parton. Other high-profile acts coming soon are Seven Mary Three, DJ Kidsmeal and David Allan Coe. “This is where the rock bands from Nash-ville would come to have a good time,” said manager Rob Hinnen-thal. “Because when you play in Nashville you have a bunch of guys with their arms crossed that are critiqu-ing more than anything. You come to Murfrees-boro and it’s a party, you know, we’re here to have a good time and that’s the vibe we’re re-ally trying to push.” The venue doesn’t only host live bands. On any given night you could see a local rock band, and the next you could find anything from dubstep to funk to electronica. Every Wednesday is “college night,” which includes free admission and beer

with a student ID until 11 p.m. One aspect that made the venue such a staple is its efforts to offer shows at a more afford-able price. The owner, Josh Qualls, who is also the main promoter, makes this possible. “Usually you have a promoter who is trying to pay his whole team and an owner that’s trying to pay his whole team, so we have a kind of advantage where he only has to pay one team so we can kind of come down on price and get some really quality stuff in here for reason-able prices,” Hinnenthal said. Several upgrades set Main St. Live! apart from the older versions of itself. Renovation and remodeling has been done to the stages, the lighting and the bars. The lower main stage also has a new sound system installed that has seen its share of music history. With a new PA sys-tem that was once on tour with groups like KISS, Aerosmith and was in the film “This Is Spinal Tap,” the venue

is sure to bring a new level of loud. “You’ll be in the back of the room and think someone is punching you in the chest,” Hin-nenthal said. “This PA blows the PA that was there back then out of the water.” The old PA system has since been trans-ported to the room located upstairs where bands can play on a newly-built stage. “Before the stage it was a step. And now you have a legit, load-out stage. You could have a band that would be happy playing down there be as happy play-ing up here,” he said.Other additions to the venue include a beer bar downstairs, newly-painted walls and LED lights for the main bar to add to the club’s dance atmosphere. “We’re putting a lot of emphasis on booking really great acts and not focusing just on one genre,” Hinnenthal said. “Really trying to be that event venue where people want to go and see what’s happening at Main St.”

When it comes to or-dering a good sandwich, we shouldn’t have to sacrifice taste in order to eat healthy. Newly opened on Rutherford Blvd. across the street from Wal-Mart, Pita Pit is a quick and affordable spot for students to grab a bite that doesn’t inflict too much damage on your wallet and your waist-line. Like the name sug-gests, it specializes in pita pocket sandwiches, but this restaurant offers its customers more than the average Greek café. With many sand-wiches priced under $7 and with fewer than 400 calories, the restaurant’s aim is to promote good food that is also good for you. The menu has the calorie count posted next to each option. “We’re good, we’re fresh,” said manager

Donovan Bettise. “We try to cater to the health conscious, as well as people who just want to be fed.” Pita Pit has a sand-wich for any number of tastes. For meat eaters there is the Dogwood, which consists of turkey, ham and prime rib. Other top sellers are the Chicken Souv-laki (Greek-seasoned chicken) and The Raider (Philly steak, chicken, bacon and melted pro-volone), which is also the “local” special. For non-meat eaters, there are a number of veggie pitas to choose from. Options include falafel, hummus, spicy black bean, cheese or just plain veggies. Breakfast is served all day as well. When you place an order, you go through a process similar to Sub-way. There are a variety of toppings and sauces

to choose from, and the staff is more than happy to suggest traditional combos for each sand-wich. A recommended option is to have the veggies grilled along with the meat. If you’re like most students, the day will come when you find yourself overwhelmed with work and no way of getting out. Pita Pit stays open late and also delivers. Its hours are from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. Thurs-day through Saturday. “You can have food delivered within 15-20 minutes. We’re open all night,” Bettise said. If you are in the mood for something good, healthy or some-thing new, Pita Pit is a tasty and affordable choice for students not far from campus.

By Jay PowellStaff Writer


Main St. Live! is an old venue with a new name and new ideas.Photo by Jay Powell

Health and flavor cohabitate at new Pita Pit on Rutherford

By Jay PowellStaff Writer

Pita Pit recently opened a Murfreesboro location on Rutherford Blvd. across from Wal-Mart and will make deliveries. Photo courtesy of Facebook


OPINIONSIntellectual property laws stifle innovation, restrict choices

The recent court decision favoring Apple in their lawsuit against Samsung indicates a growing problem with intellectual property laws. The infringements claimed against Sam-sung by Apple for things such as rounded icon corners and tap-to-zoom seem a little obvious and universal to touch screen and smartphone technology, and frivo-lous to claim as unique to your brand. But that’s the state of IP these days. Although I am a believer in private property rights, I do not believe IP is private property, because ideas cannot truly be owned. Even if you do be-lieve that IP protection is a necessary part of innovation and artistic expression, surely you can agree that we’re at a point of ridiculousness when IP lawsuits deal with things like ‘tap-to-zoom.’ Judge Richard Pos-ner, a Reagan-appointee to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, has made it known that he believes the prolifera-

tion of IP is a growing problem and earlier this year threw out an IP lawsuit Apple brought against Motorola, due to the economic harm claims being too specu-lative. Additionally, John Tehranian, a Southwest-ern Law School profes-sor, published a paper dealing with IP in 2007 titled “Infringement Nation.” In it, he points out that, through everyday actions on the internet, an individual not engag-ing in file sharing can incur as much as $4.5 billion a year in poten-tial copyright infringe-ment liability. One argument for IP protection is that it protects the producer from having their ideas stolen, as well as pro-tecting the consumer from being fooled into purchasing inferior goods. However, this is not always the case. Take counterfeit luxury goods, such as fake designer purses. If you buy a Louis Vitton bag on a side-walk or out of some-one’s car for about $50 (considering that a Google Shopping search for Louis Vitton bags indicates a price range of $500 to $3,500), chances are you know that it’s a fake. Also, the producers of designer goods aren’t losing business, as most people buying coun-terfeit goods wouldn’t purchase the real deal anyway. Another argument

says IP laws promote innovation and more choice, which was the original intention of patents in the U.S. The Founders wanted an economic incentive to foster innovation and production, so they offered patents as a temporary monopoly on the use of that idea, so that individuals would be encouraged to share new ideas. But this argument seems to ignore one thing: human nature. Consider those involved in science. Do you think they are mostly swayed by eco-nomic incentive, or does the thrill of discovery drive them more? Those who want to cure cancer and other diseases, do they crave economic reward or the notoriety and knowl-edge they made a differ-ence? Also, technological advancements are labor and cost saving in na-ture. Won’t people and industries still look for the most efficient way to produce goods with the lowest cost? Innovation and growth are best pro-moted by the sharing of ideas, because all ideas build upon earlier ideas. When overbearing IP laws unnaturally restrict ideas, we have less choice and growth in ideas. When ideas are shared freely, they com-bine with other ideas, and new ideas are born. As Sir Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoul-ders of giants.”

As a writer, it’s not a pleasant thought that someone may steal the words I’ve written or the ideas I’ve expressed. Whether through theft of the publication it was presented in or pla-giarism, I wouldn’t be happy about the theft. So I’m pleased theft is illegal, including that of intellectual property. Think about the field you’re studying at MTSU. Perhaps you’re studying music, writing or computer program-ming – fields often subject to IP theft. Or perhaps you’re studying business, psychology or biology – fields with strict con-trols in place to protect IP. Now ask yourself: would you steal trade secrets? Patient in-formation? Medical patents? I wouldn’t, and I don’t think most people would either. Most don’t believe it’s right to steal. Yet media and technology IP is stolen every day throughout the world. The prac-tice is so universal that once-stable industries have had to rethink their

entire model. Unfortunately, most of the new models seem excessive or harsh. Cinema ticket prices have gone up to combat movie piracy. Video game developers have contrived numerous validation policies to ensure players are using a valid copy of software. Music pirates have faced enormous lawsuits for stealing a couple of tunes. I’ve heard the argu-ment that big music companies keep most of the profit, leaving musi-cians with a compara-tively small gain. While this is true, it still baffles me that this somehow justifies piracy. This type of business model has been around in a variety of indus-tries for a long time, and there’s a reason for it beyond sinister corporate greed – big distributors like Sony Music Entertainment or Universal Music Group assume a huge amount of risk when they put millions of dollars into an album’s production, advertisement and dis-tribution. Many of these albums sell poorly. Therefore, to make a profit, albums are sold at a price higher than the cost of production. Meanwhile, the musicians who risked very little monetarily to see their creative en-deavor come to fruition receive compensation corresponding to their investment – an invest-ment much smaller than that of their label. Yet people continue

to steal IP, which can only make things worse for both lawful and unlawful consumers. Already there are rumors that the video game industry’s big three hardware develop-ers – Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo – will adopt a constant DRM recognition policy simi-lar to that of World of Warcraft and StarCraft II– every time you want to play a game, your console will have to connect to the Internet to make sure you’re us-ing a valid copy. If you don’t have a connection or it’s temporarily down, you don’t get to play the game. Because of the fre-quency of piracy, every-one could be punished. However, a silver lining is that artists are realizing the value of their product is easier to capitalize on if they give some of it away. Radiohead famously offered their 2007 album In Rainbows, digitally allowing con-sumers to pay whatever they wished to, includ-ing nothing. Game developers have started offering free-to-play software, with access to a major-ity of the game without paying, but charging for bonus content. In some cases, this has actually increased the value of the IP. However, the prin-ciple is the same regard-less of distribution: theft is wrong, and it hurts all customers. I don’t want anyone to steal my work, and I don’t intend to steal yours.

Alex Harris

By Alex HarrisOpinions Editor

Theft of intellectual property hurts all consumers


By Christopher Merchant

Columnist

Christopher Merchant

SPORTS Former MT stars on the fast track to the show: Brentz and com-pany take minor league by storm

Over a dozen plaques adorn the halls of Middle Tennessee’s Ste-phen B. Smith baseball clubhouse on the north end of campus. These accolades document the success of former Blue Raider stars on the diamond whose college success earned them an opportunity to compete in the profes-sional ranks. However, one plaque stands apart from the rest. Etched on its surface are a laundry list of ac-complishments and hon-ors alluding to a career that stands out among some of the greatest in program history. The plaque is that of former Consensus First Team All-American Bryce Brentz, one of the most feared hitters in Sun Belt Conference history. As a sophomore, the Knoxville native set single-season school records in six cat-egories, including: hits (107), batting average (.485), home runs (28), runs scored (79), total bases (214) and slug-ging percentage (.930), while helping the Blue Raiders win a record 44 games in 2009. After an injury his junior year, Brentz was drafted in the supple-mental-first round by the Boston Red Sox with the 36th overall pick of the 2010 first-year player draft. His first full season in the minor leagues saw the right-handed slugger lead Boston’s farm

system with a .306 bat-ting average and finish second with 30 home runs en route to being named the Red Sox Co-Offensive Player of the Year. This season, the former Blue Raider star continues to impress in the outfield with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. In 122 games, prior being promoted to Pawtucket of the International League, Brentz sported a batting average of .296 with 17 home runs, 76 RBIs, 62 runs scored and a slug-ging percentage of .478. He had arguably his best performance of the sea-son on May 31 when he recorded a career-high five hits at the plate, including three doubles, an RBI and four runs scored. He credits a selective-ly-aggressive approach at the plate for his success against minor league pitching, but says facing more advanced pitching has been an adjustment. “Gaining strike zone awareness has been the key for me,” Brentz said. “Pitchers are able to locate more pitches more consistently, so, for me, I have to stick to my approach and not help the pitcher out by swinging at bad pitches.” Brentz has his mind set on one thing– suc-cess. “My goals are simple, get to the big leagues and stay in the big leagues,” he said. While Brentz is one step closer to achieving that goal, he is not the

only former Blue Raider tearing through the minors with that goal in mind. MT currently boasts 11 players in the minor league ranks, includ-ing four of Brentz’s former teammates who are playing particularly well for their respective teams. Former MT closer Coty Woods is making quick work of Double-A hitters as the ninth-inning man for the Tulsa Drillers before being promoted to Triple-A Colorado Springs. The right hander racked up 16 saves with Tulsa in 35.2 innings of play and has a miniscule ERA of 0.76 to go along with a 3-2 record and 34 strikeouts this season. Woods played only one season with the Blue Raiders but holds the single-season record for saves with 15. Kenneth Roberts has made the transi-tion from college ace to minor league setup man with the Asheville Tourists and has used his pin-point control to quiet the opposing bats of the South Atlantic League in 2012. The Murfreesboro native has allowed only nine walks this season with a 4-1 record, an ERA of 1.88 and 55 strikeouts in 67 innings pitched. Rawley Bishop of the Erie Seawolves has bat-ted .246 with 51 RBIs, 46 runs scored and 31 extra-base hits in 117 games, playing primar-ily at first base. The former Blue Raider infielder is the school’s all-time leader in total

bases with 483 and RBI with 201. Finally, outfielder Will Skinner, MT’s most recent draftee, is holding his own in his first full season of professional ball after being selected by the Atlanta Braves last June. Skinner, another native of Murfreesboro, is batting .246 with 46 RBIs, 42 runs scored and 34 extra-base hits in 101 games for the Rome Braves of the South Atlantic League. This crop of home-grown talent is part of what has made former

MT Head Coach Steve Peterson’s program a powerful contender in conference play in recent years. Over the past decade, Blue Raider baseball has been able to trans-late ability to send play-ers to the next level into wins on the diamond. Peterson’s squads have averaged over 32-wins per season in that time, including four Sun Belt titles (two regular sea-son, two tournament). Former all-confer-ence catcher Michael McKenry is the only MT alumnus currently

in the majors, serving as the starting backstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates who are looking for their first playoff berth since 1992. If Brentz and com-pany have it their way, though, they will be joining their former Blue Raider brethren in the pros sooner rather than later. “All those players were picked because they have tools that they can use to be successful. We all just have to make the most of our chance,” Brentz said.

By Mark MizeSports Editor

Former Blue Raider star Bryce Brentz is among the top Red Sox minor league prospects after a all-star year for the Portland Sea Dogs. Photo courtesy of goblueraiders.com


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