The Falcon Volume 2. Issue 14

A Keen Eye For News

The FalconMonday, April 29th, 2013

Volume 2. Issue 14.

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News Arts & Culture

page 2

What will happento CISPA?

Birds of a Feather,Album reviews andthe defense of Snoop

CROSS CAMPUS

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thefalconmontevallo

Finals Stress Buster Hands and Paw

April 30, 11am – 12pm

Montevallo ChoraleApril 30, 7:30pm – 8:30pm

LeBaron Recital Hall

Good luck on Finals UM!

IN THIS ISSUE

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Obama wavers on Syrian threat

UM CommencementMay 4, 9am – 11am

Flower Hill

Board of Trustees Mtg.May 3, 1:45pm – 1:45pm

Merrill Rm.

CSM Honors RecitalMay 2, 7pm – 8pm


Trumpet Studio RecitalMay 1, 7:30pm – 8:30pm


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The Syrian civil war rages on

ANDREW MECHUMAssociate Editor | @amechum

A brutal civil war rages between Assad and Syrian rebels.

Sectarian vio-lence in the Syrian Civil War, now raging for almost two years, is now threatening not only Syria but also its neighboring nation of Lebanon. The Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah is becoming more involved in Syr-ia’s war as it has openly begun to fund the na-tion’s armed forces and declared outward sup-port for Syrian presi-dent Bashar al-Assad. Their active military support has also become even more accentuated in the past week according to an inside source as well as the Syrian rebels fight-ing them off. The im-mediate effect on Syria has, thus far, been an in-crease in the number of firefights as well as an in-crease in their intensity. However, the

JAKE SMITHStaff Writer|

primary concern in the region is with the na-tion of Lebanon itself. The nation officially de-clared neutrality in the conflict when it broke out in 2011, but sec-tarian alliances across the nation, as well as a near fifty-percent split between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the nation, threaten to de-stroy that neutrality and send the nation into a

civil war of its own. This is already starting to begin as He-zbollah’s Sunni oppo-nents in Lebanon have begun to declare their opposition to al-Assad’s Syria. Additionally, the Sunnis have been mov-ing their own troops into Syria little by little to support the predomi-nantly Sunni Syrian rebels. The Sunnis have referred to this move-

ment as a call to jihad as hundreds have al-ready joined the war. Lebanese ana-lyst and Shiite Muslim, Mohammed Obeid has now referred to the of-ficial neutrality of Leba-non as being null and void. Speaking of said neutrality, he said “Ev-eryone has violated it, so it’s not only Hezbollah. Everyone is now acting on a sectarian basis to-

ward the Syrian crisis.” Whether the Sunni and Shiite vio-lence leaves Syria and pours into Lebanon re-mains to be seen, but Obeid’s statement does point out the notice-able increase in foreign involvement in the na-tion’s civil war. The Fal-con will continue to fol-low the Syrian Civil War as it develops further.

Yet again we see a shining exam-ple of how politics does more to harm this world than help it. Last week Presi-dent Obama was faced with the challenge of making good on his promise to intervene in Syria should President Bashar Assad’s regime use chemical weapons. What have been labeled as unconfirmed reports of small-scale chemical weapons used against rebel forces by the Syr-ian government threat-

en to draw the United States into another con-flict in the Middle East. Obama had pre-viously said the use of chemical weapons was a “red-line” that, if crossed, would lead to some form of mili-tary involvement, at the moment U.S. lawmak-ers and administration officials are divided on how to best proceed. Many on the right are urging immedi-ate and swift reaction on our part while those on the left, especially with-in the president’s admin-istration, are backing away from strong rheto-ric and advising we get all the facts before we jump headlong into the two year old civil war. There exist nu-merous obstacles and challenges to attack-

ing Syria following the news of their use of chemical weapons thought to be sarin gas. All of the obstacles are political however. Some fear an-gering the Russians who support Assad and his regime, others worry about getting involved in another country’s civil war and reports of rebel ties with Al Qaeda lead many to believe there isn’t a “good guy” in the fight to get behind. The answer is simple, but because it is politically incorrect it will never be given serious consideration. A promise was made to act following the use of chemical weapons. Failure to act only di-minishes the esteem of the United States in the eyes of the inter-

national community. This, and no other rea-son, should be enough to act quickly on this. Moreover, civil-ians are dying. Our na-tions reluctance to once again get bogged down in that part of the world is understandable, but what message does it send if the U.S. were to stand by while innocents suffer unnecessarily.

The United States hands out billions of dollars in aid to na-tions around the world annually. We supply economic, humanitarian and military support to nations that openly defy our ideals (Egypt un-der Mohammed Morsi comes to mind). And all of this is done out of the goodness of our hearts. Yet, when it

comes time to bring the hammer down on those that would defy us, we show how weak we tru-ly are by suggesting we turn to outside sources like NATO or the UN. If we are to in-deed act as the world’s police force, impart-ing western justice to the far-flung cor-

Should the U.S. intervene to stop this?

The Falcon Page Two

news “We never had to play by the rules, because we made them up as we went”

-Kyle Jones

Established 2012An Independant Student Newspaper

Continued

Luis Suarez Liverpool FC

Follow me at @amechum

ANDREW MECHUMAssociate Editor | @amechum

CONTACT US AT:

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFKyle Jones

ASSOCIATE EDITORAndrew Mechum

ARTS&CULTURE EDITORReed Strength

STAFF WRITERSNeal Embry

Mandy SteadmanJake Smith

Teddie TaylorMatthew Lord

Clarke StackhouseConnor Bucy

[email protected]

Suarez’ teeth offsides yet again

MEGAN ROBERTSContributing Writer |

Good Evening, First World!


Senate Refuses to Vote on CISPA, Leaves Controversial Cyber Bill Dead for Now

Monday, April 29th, 2013

Hello America! I sincerely hope you’re enjoying that micro-wave dinner from the comfort of your office chair in front of your computer screen. I just have a few things that I need to tell you be-fore you go back to spying on the social lives of your neighbors. The entire na-tion of Syria is in a ferocious civil war. Women and children are being taken out of their homes, raped and exe-cuted while their former neighbors burn down their homes. Share that photo some time. A significant portion of the African continent is dying of AIDS, and they’ve been condemned by much of the Western world leaving the likes of ag-ing Irish rock star Bono and George Clooney

An editorial

to speak up for them. Tell your friends in 160 characters or less. There’s a coun-try called North Korea that’s living a deluded and psycho-sheltered existence at the hands of a single insane dictator and his oppressive par-ty. Oh yeah, and they’re also making ill-formed but dangerous plans against pretty much the entire world even as we speak. Can you “like” a nuclear holocaust? Your own na-tion’s soldiers have been away from their friends and families sleeping in cramped barracks and defending you against those who would seek to blow you away for years on end in a nation called Af-ghanistan. That nation has been under Soviet and then Taliban rule for the last four decades.

Their culture has been stamped out, and their cities have burned to the ground under martial law for years. Last year, the worst thing that hap-pened to you was an ill timed auto repair. You did not get stoned to death. Is that hashtag trending? #IDidNot-GetExecutedLastYearThe Israeli and Pal-estinian people have been killing each other over a piece of desert for over half a centu-ry. The Western world is more interested in visiting that desert’s pretty buildings than bringing about peace. Why don’t you “fol-low” that movement?And that’s about it! Enjoy that coca-cola! Also, don’t forget to set your TiVo for “The Bachelor”. I think it’s coming on soon. Good evening, first world.

Luis Suarez may have a little vam-pire in him. He’s bit-ten yet another player. The Liverpool striker bit Chelsea de-fender Branislav Iva-novic during the second half of the two clubs’ match Sunday, April 21. The two play-ers were in the pen-alty area when the incident occurred. Suarez has since called and apol-ogized to Ivanovic. “I’ve spoken to Ivanovic on the phone and I could apologize directly to him. Thanks for accepting,” Suarez said during an interview. However, the Professional Football Association wasn’t satisfied with an apol-ogy. In addition to a

NEAL EMBRYStaff Writer|

fine by Liverpool, the PFA has suspended Su-arez, widely considered one of the best soccer players in the world, for 10 games. Suarez will not appeal the ban, and will seek anger management instead. While Su-arez’s foot may win him awards, his teeth have now cost him 15 games total in his ca-reer. When he played with Ajax in the Neth-erlands, he served a seven-game suspen-sion for biting a player. Mike Tyson, perpetrator of the most infamous biting inci-dent in sports history, followed Suarez on Twitter after the inci-

dent. Tyson was dis-qualified from his box-ing match with Evander Holyfield after he bit off part of Holyfield’s ear. Fans and for-mer players around the world have condemned Suarez’s actions. His manager, Brendan Rodgers, called the bite “unacceptable.” While no one is calling for Liver-pool to dump Suarez, it’s clear that he needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. Literally. What did you think of the bite? Was the 10--game suspension enough? Let us know on Facebook or on Twit-ter @TheUMFalcon.

When CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, was passed by the House of Representa-tives earlier this month, privacy and civil rights activists grew quite vo-cal about the concerns with the bill, and for good reason. While CISPA's purpose is to allow the U.S. govern-ment and private com-panies to share infor-mation regarding cyber attacks, the scope of information that is shar-able and the limits on whom that information can be shared with are a bit sketchy, sketchy meaning entirely unde-fined. Fortunately, the Senate has decided not to vote on the bill at all, leaving it dead in the water. At least for now. The Senate's po-

CONNOR BUCYStaff Writer|

sition on the bill echos that of the Obama ad-ministration, who al-ready threatened to veto the bill after it was passed by the House. While CISPA's authors, Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Rup-persberger (D-Md.) made several changes to the bill to sooth pri-vacy and civil liberty concerns, it wasn't enough. Both the Senate and the Obama admin-istration cited “insuf-ficient” privacy protec-tions, an argument that mirrors the one made by digital activists who believe the bill violated civil liberties. Although the Senate is refusing to consider CISPA, the Senate Intelligence Committee is working on a new information-

sharing bill. These de-velopments closely mimic last year's, when the House passed CIS-PA despite White House concerns. The Senate failed to pass a cyber bill of its own due to Republican opposition. While CISPA may not be a desirable answer to the problem of cybersecurity, many experts have warned Congress about the in-creasing vulnerability of the nation's most vital computer systems. Con-cerns have only intensi-fied after multiple high-profile attacks linked to China and various hack-ing groups. Top intelli-gence officials now say that cyber attacks pose a greater threat to national security than terrorists.

ners of mankind, we should not be so cow-ardly as to say some-thing and not mean it. Obama said the use of chemical weap-ons was a line that should not be crossed or military action would be taken. The first news we received should have been the success-ful bombing of all mili-tary facilities associated with the manufacture, storage and distribu-tion of those weapons. In 1986 Presi-dent Reagan ordered the bombing of Libyan leader Colonel Muam-mar Gaddafi’s house after his country was

linked to an attack in a Berlin nightclub. Gaddafi was quiet for over 20 years after that. We should make Assad equally as quiet. Before anyone gets up in arms about us interfering in another nation’s civil war, you must look to our own history. We too had to fight against an oppres-sive government in the hopes of securing our independence, and we too sought help from other nations to reach that goal. In fact, had it not been for the aid provided by the French (better late than never), our victory over the Brit-

ish may not have come when it did, or at all. Our choice to be involved in Syria shouldn’t center around maintaining relation-ships with foreign pow-ers like Russia and Iran but should instead be focused on bringing a nation, a people, out of the quagmire of civil war and into a bright future of democracy. The United States may never get directly involved in the Syrian civil war out of fear of hurting its im-age. Chances are his-tory will judge us in that same harsh light if we don’t act, and quickly.

SYRIAcontinued

The Falcon Page Three

Joe Wesolowski as Charles Guitaeu

MANDY STEADMANStaff Writer |

The Assassins Ensemble

UM Theatre brings ASSASSINS to the Chi-Box

It’s an explo-sive night of gunfire in the black and bloody walls of the Chiches-ter Black Box Theatre (Chi-Box). On April 26-28th the University of Montevallo Theatre Dept. presented a Ste-phen Sondheim musi-cal called, “Assassins.” Through the di-rection of Dr. David Cal-laghan, this creative cast of characters were able to tell their stories and engross their audience in the confining space of the Chi-Box Theatre. Students were so excited to see this

musical it sold out with-in the first four hours of the reservation list being out on Monday. “Assassins” is about telling the story of the people in history who have attempted and succeeded to assas-sinate the presidents of the United States. These assas-sins include Charles Guiteau, John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinck-ley, Guiseppe Zangara, Samuel Bick, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and Sara Jane Moore. . The music of this show was extremely catchy and helped with the transition of each scene and each assas-sin’s story. There were rows of lights around each door of the Chi-Box which lit up and a bell rang each time a presi-

dent was assassinated. The script is structured, though, with every assassin interact-ing with each other with a Proprietor, played by Brandon Caruthers, who sells the weapons to the assassins and a Balladeer, played by Taylor Lamm, who tells each story through song and does not encour-age the assassins’ to kill for what they want. Caruthers re-ally brought an inter-esting character to life in the Chi-Box. They way he carried him-self and interacted with the other actors was astounding. He truly became the Proprietor for these assassins who believed in their cause. The most as-tounding perfor-mance, however, was given by Joseph We-

solowski, who played Charles Guiteau. Guiteau felt respon-sible for getting Presi-dent Garfield elected and felt he deserved to be rewarded by be-coming Ambassador to France. Garfield, how-ever, never gave him this honor. Guiteau as-sassinates him and re-cites his poem, “I am going to the Lordy,” as he walks to the gallows. Wesolowski re-ally did well portraying this “terrifying and op-posing figure.” It was hard not to stare at him as he fondled his gun and spoke of staying positive in tough situ-ations. Guiteau was a truly insane character and Wesolowski por-trayed him perfectly. The most en-tertaining scene, how-ever, was when Ly-

nette Fromme and Sara Jane Moore, played by Sydney fant and Katie Raulerson, were prac-ticing using their guns with a KFC box as their target. Both giggled and jumped around as they hit Colonel Sand-ers’ head and talked of their love for their men. And how were the most famous assas-sins Oswald and Booth portrayed? Hunter Brown, who played Oswald, was the assas-sin who would bring new light to each past and future assassin. Oswald changed the world with just one gun. Brendan Young, who played Booth, served almost as the ring-leader for the assassins. He spoke with confidence and believed in his cause for a “bet-ter” America. His voice,

however, sounded very hoarse on Saturday night and he cracked a few times during the middle of the show. The glue of his mustache could also be seen by the audience and it took away from the illusion of Young as Booth. Overall, “As-sassins” was one of the best musicals ever performed at the Uni-versity of Montevallo. It was thrilling, en-gaging and entertain-ing, to say the least. Congrats to Callaghan on an amazing show. From the third to last scene of the show: “I didn’t come here to kill the Presi-dent,” said Oswald. “He didn’t come here to get shot,” said BoothThe Falcon gives this musical a 9.5/10.


Page FourThe Falcon

Birds of a Feather:

Hangout Music Fesitival in Gulf Shores, AL

by Mandy SteadmanStaff Writer

Stuck in the garage, and loving every minute

New this week

The Airborne Toxic Event

Such Hot BloodIndie rock

Island Records

Kenny ChesneyLife on a Rock

CountryColumbia

The StoogesReady to DieGarage rockFat Possum

RittzThe Life and Times of Johnny Valiant

Hip HopStrange Music

Streetlight ManifestoThe Hands That Thieve

Ska punkVictory


MANDY STEADMANStaff Writer |

REED STRENGTHArts&Culture Editor | @ReedStrength


In the late ‘60’s, as rock n’ roll was still morphing away from its blues roots, a vari-ety of “nastier” bands were emerging that greatly differed from the still charming and clean sound of acts like the Byrds and the mega-star Beatles. Brit-ish invasion staples The Kinks were perhaps the most recognizable of this brood, frying the blues that inspired them in a special type of amp sound dubbed distortion. The band achieved this by guitar-ist Dave Davies “cut-ting the speaker of his amp with a razor blade and poking pins into it.” This effect made their songs nastier and dirti-er, the swagger of tracks like “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night” com-ing through the crunch of Davies’ guitar. However, per-haps best documented through Rhino Records’ influential “Nuggets” compilations, other obscure acts extended this roughed up rock n’ roll in a psychedel-lic underground scene. From the one hit won-ders of The Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Kingsmen to the more obscure Amboy Dukes, the songs featured on the compilations were major influences on the 70’s proto punk acts like Iggy & the Stooges and the MC5. Tracing this his-tory further would in-clude the birth of punk and its many sub genres, and an obvious influ-ence on the ‘90s Alter-

native rock movement. However, a new col-lective of acts have emerged the past few years that directly ref-erence the simple yet fierce attack of those early ‘60s acts. Instead of recording with a big budget in notable stu-dios, these bands favor the crunch of lo-fi re-cording equipment. Be-cause of their favoritism toward cheap recording techniques, acts are of-ten seen releasing an al-bum or two every year. While the ear-ly 2000’s saw a “ga-rage rock revival” with the emergence of The Strokes and The White Stripes as the freshly un-nu face of rock, their commercially suc-cessful careers don’t quite mirror the blos-soming but quintes-sentially underground careers of these bands. The small San Francisco label Caste-Face, and its Detroit umbrella label Drag City, host perhaps the biggest players in this direct revival.Perhaps the longest run-ning band in this genre, Atlanta’s The Black Lips, have made their name on their sloppy yet meticulous record-ing techniques and vulgar stage antics. Moving from San Fran-cisco's “In The Red” records, the band has released its last three record on the music label of controversial news publication Vice. From the mur-derous musings of early songs like “I’ve Got A Knife” and Germs in-debted “Crazy Girl”, the Lips have stuck to their guns while exploring the corners of the globe

where most bands fear to tread. 2011’s “Ara-bia Mountain” might’ve had top tier produc-tion from Mark Ron-son (Christina Aguilera & Amy Winehouse), but the Ramones styl-ings of “Raw Meat” and Cramps’ worthy “Family Tree” still ring true to their roots. Veteran guitar wrangler John Dwyer has played in a variety of bands since 1997, the Coachwhips and Pink & Brown providing the largest of his early followings. He now co-owns Castle-Face and fronts garage punk band Thee Oh Sees. Fa-voring the guitar styl-ings of influential duck walker Chuck Berry, Dwyer’s band grew from a solo project to a poly-rhythmic, soft har-monized cartoon band of destruction. While backup singer Brigid Dawson’s soft keys and softer voice alleviates the band’s ferociously noisy sound, their im-pressively consistent string of releases and wild live shows (some-one once fell out of a

window to their death during a performance) have cultivated a strong following and gra-cious critical opinion. L a b e l m a t e White Fence crafts a more psychedelic sound from his 60’s referenc-ing work. The project is fronted by one Tim Presley, a shaggy haired and wide eyed San Fran-ciscan that looks like he’d be the “sketchy” fellow at the local pawn with a cigarette between his fingers. His first album, while moder-ately lo-fi, utilizes its grimy production to craft a sense of druggy buzz throughout its 16 tracks. His latest re-lease, “Cyclops Reap”, might feature more am-bitious songwriting, but sticks to its low budget guns. Listen to the gui-tar on lead single “Pink Gorilla” for evidence. White Fence ar-guably broke into the greater musical con-scious because of an act he was associated with last year. Presley collab-orated with the fellow garager for his record “Hair”, a baked collec-

tion of 70’s rock songs that ebbed and flowed between breezy mus-ings and screwed power chords. This solo hero, mind you, released three albums in 2012. All were prime examples of garage rock flavorings. This blonde haired, newsworthy “Nuggets” provacateur is none other than Ty Segall. Like contem-porary and best bud John Dwyer, Segall has played band merry go round in his scene, most notably as a part of Sic Alps. His solo career beginnings in 2008 showcased what was to come. The snarl of “Pretty Baby (You’re So Ugly)” and “Don’t Do It” would crash to a greater extent with 2012’s band assissted LP “Slaughterhouse”. Segall has a softer side, perhaps best shown longform on 2009’s “Goodbye Bread” and “Gold on the Shore” from his latest album “Twins”.Segall’s spirit has made him the poster child of this scene. His work-horse ethic last year

allowed him a spot on “Conan”, and perhaps even more famous-ly, on this local Chi-cago news broadcast. In 2012, Castle Face Records released a commemorative tribute album for the 45th anni-versary of “The Velvet Underground & Nico”. While that record’s reach influenced a great deal of music, the ga-rage scene had outlasted its biggest claim to fame by the time the Factory band was formed. To hear Segall, Thee Oh Sees and White Fence cover these songs al-most seems as though a reverse history has happened, where War-hol becomes a denim jacket wearing record store clerk on a steady diet of warm soda and cheeseburgers.

What do you get when you have Eric Foreman from “That 70s Show,” Janette from “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Jack Byrnes from “Meet the Par-ents” all in one movie? The answer is a chaotic mesh of lies, love and family. The new romantic-comedy, “The Big Wedding,”

The Big Wedding is NOT Worth itonly topped box offic-es at number four this past weekend on movi-etickets.com, selling $7.5 million in tickets. You would think that a movie with so many celebrities would be more popular with audiences, but this is just another Sunday-after-noon movie that people would rather watch out of boredom rather than getting chores done. The thing is this movie has so many plot twists it is hard to sum-marize it in just one or two sentences. It is basi-cally about a family sur-viving the weekend with

each other as the adopt-ed son gets ready to mar-ry the love of his life. The acting is not the issue for this film because it is filled with a lot of amazing actors. This includes Katherine Heigl, Amanda Sey-fried, Diane Keaton, Topher Grace, Ben Barnes, Robin Wil-liams, Robert De Niro and Susan Sarandon. The main is-sue with this movie it is not exactly a unique plot line. It basically adopted the same prem-ise of the movie, “The Birdcage,” and molded it into a more modern

and bigger platform. Boy introduces his bio-logical mother to his adopted family and next thing you know lies are told, someone comes out of the closet, and three affairs within the parents of the groom and bride are revealed. It is a decent movie and it serves its purpose as enter-tainment, but it is not worth the $10 it costs for a ticket. Do not waste your time and money on a film you can see via Redbox or T.V. in a few months. The Falcon gives this film a 6/10.


The Falcon Page Five

MATT SANDERLINContributing Former a&C Editor|

Album Reviews

The third time is most definitely a charm. I will even ad-mit that I initially did not want to like this al-bum. While I did enjoy Volumes 1 and 2, I am not a New Girl fan, and I have gradually fallen out of love with She

Every artist has one album that de-fines their career. For Christian rapper Andy Mineo, formerly known as C-Lite, the recently released “Heroes for Sale” may be that album. The album, which marks Mineo’s

& Him's female com-ponent, actress Zooey Deschanel. However, Volume 3 is simply too well-crafted and satia-ble to ignore, and I was instantly re-converted after only the first track. M. Ward and Zooey start this album off a little differently than their two previous

Volumes - Instead of a mid-tempo, melancholy introductory track like "Thieves" or "Senti-mental Heart," the two burst into an upbeat charge with swirling Brian Wilson-esque har-monies and racing per-cussion ("I've Got Your Number, Son"). "What's a man without all the attention? / Well, he's just a man," Deschanel teases, her newfound depth in voice and over-all confidence almost overwhelming on first contact. She sounds older, more mature, and her polished vocal con-trol is noticeable imme-diately. She later com-pletes the surprisingly aggressive anthem with the stunning refrain - "You can tell everyone that I've got your num-ber, son / 'Cause I can

shine my light on / I can shine my light on, too." It becomes clear very quickly that the lyrical material in Vol-ume 3 probably stems from Zooey's recent divorce from Ben Gib-bard of Death Cab for Cutie. Little glimpses into dissolved roman-tic relationships like the bittersweet "Never Wanted Your Love" and the wistful "I Could've Been Your Girl" depict a rocky relationship, and its eventual demise - hinting at Zooey's per-sonal experiences. In the latter, she recounts, "It doesn't matter / If I were willing / It doesn't matter that the lights are turned down low / I know you have to go / It doesn't matter about my heart / It's broke and shattered into a million

and one." Too see this slightly more cynical side of Zooey is actu-ally really relatable, and drives her voice to new levels of passion and heartfelt delivery. The most per-sonal moment of the al-bum arrives near its end - With the gorgeously heartbreaking "Shadow of Love." Zooey lays out her story, with a shockingly open sense of nonfiction. "You and I / We told a story of love from our hearts / But it never came true," she sings with an al-most numbing level of sadness. "There's no tomorrow for me and you," she adds ruefully. The music itself is by far the duo's best and most complex work to date. Arrangements are big and warm - Bold

brass and sweet strings play off of each other beautifully in the swing-folk rocker "Together," and again in the win-try trot "Snow Queen." Even the three covers on the album are well-exe-cuted (save for Zooey's kind of horrible attempt at singing in French in the last half of Blondie's "Sunday Girl"), and fit well within the context of the whole album. Overall, She & Him are no longer a superduo - They are simply two very es-tablished musicians who have continued to build a solid musical catalogue through their love of classic influ-ences. I'm going to go ahead and put Volume 3 in the "Best of 2013" category, because it's really that good. Vi-nyl is recommended.

NEAL EMBRYStaff Writer|

Atlanta psych-band Deerhunter have paved the way toward greater commercial ac-ceptance with each re-lease. The strange, fe-ver induced shoegaze soundscapes of 2007’s “Cryptograms” were mediated a year later with 2008’s double album “Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.” The psych-pop of “Micro-castle” was balanced with the distinctly dis-jointed song sketches of “Weird Era..” in a perfect halving of the band’s sounds.

REED STRENGTHArts&Culture Editor | @ReedStrength

Finally in 2010, the group released its breakthrough album “Halcyon Digest”. The beautiful and desper-ate ruminations of lead single “Helicopter” showcased a new sense of frailty in mastermind frontman Bradford Cox. With late night television appearances and a brief showing on the Billboard charts, it was expected that Deer-hunter’s new album would place the band at the success of con-temporaries like Griz-zly Bear and Animal Collective. However, around the 2011 release

of Bradford Cox’s “Par-allax”, the frontman seemed to buck against his growing success. A performance in Minne-apolis ended with Cox conducting his solo band in an impromptu freak cover perfor-mance of The Knack’s “My Sharona” per the request of a dimwit-ted audience member.Cox stuck by his rash actions fiercely, re-marking that Deer-hunter shows were known for delving into the same “controlled” chaos. In an interview with Pitchfork, Cox at one point remarked: “I hate indie culture. I am not an indie rock musician-- I don't even know what the f*** that means.” Cox asserted that he plays rock n’ roll”, not an exclusive and elitist subgenre. All of these events boil down to the music contained within the soon to be released “Monomania”, the newest album by Deerhunter. A lineup change within the band coupled with Cox’s new stage persona as

the black wigged and bloody “Connie Lung-pin” indicate a grittier and nastier reinvention. Where “Halcyon Digest” had the band’s highest production de-tail to date, “Mono-mania” coats the new songs in a thick layer of fuzz and distortion.While their hyper me-lodic sensibilities have not been sacrificed, songs like “Leather Jacket II” and the title track screech with a sonic force that “Weird Era..” hinted at with-out ever expanding on. He’s not all bite though. Songs like the loopy “Pensacola” and delta blues referenc-ing “Dream Captain” showcase a sillier, fun-nier side of Deerhunter than anyone could’ve predicted Cox to show on a proper album. This can make the effort seem a bit tossed off and goofy, the once ridiculously tight locked grooves of drum-mer Moses Archuleta and former bassist Josh Fauver (see: “Nothing Ever Happened”) re-placed for looser jams

that fit the less serious mood of the album. What holds these songs together is Cox’s talent for melody. While the frontman’s voice isn’t extraordinary, his penchant for fitting just enough of a hummable hook into a tune saves the sometimes lack-luster instrumentation found here. Songs like “Sleepwalking” and the closer “Punk (La Vie Antérieure) ” are kept afloat and interesting by Cox’s enticing croon. When both ele-ments click, however, the band are at their most powerful. The ti-tle track packs surging psych guitar with snarl-ing vocals to create a song that dares to be as threatening as that now infamous “My Sharo-na” performance was. “Come on God/you’re my savior!/If you can/send me an an-gel/if you can’t send me an angel/send me some-thing else instead” Cox half pleads, half mocks in a verse. Its when the songs blistering and chaotic ending forms that Cox’s revision of

his band produces the same impressive and astounding results he hinted at on the more wide eyed ruminations of “Halcyon Digest”. Those fans that paid close attention to the lyrics of “Paral-lax” know that Cox is a lonely and sad fellow at heart, a man so haunted by his obsession with his musical identity that he titles his latest ef-fort by that obsession’s medical name. Its when the toothy grins and clouds of distortion are blocked out briefly in the quieter passages of acoustic ballad “Nite-bike” that Cox partially lets the mask slip. The frontman takes a deep breath to both ask and admit what drives him to cover his pain with a tough rock n’ roll record:“Have you ever been here/or someplace else you could re-late to/out of fear/out of trials and help?/I was no longer mine/I had pantomimed/I had fell for lines/I crawled to find/I had no place in mind/when I began to drive/no destination.” 8/10

first full album under his birth name, cov-ers a wide range of topics, from struggles with sin to the mission field to relationships. The first track, “Superhuman,” begins with an eerie sound-ing female choir sing-ing an old hymn that draws the listener in.

Mineo drops in and begins to spit rhymes: “Why is it ev-ery time I step up on a train/I see a pretty dame and I wonder what her name is/Fore I even get there, the question on my brain is/Do you love the Lord? Do you love to make Him famous?” Personally, “Su-perhuman” is my fa-vorite song from the album. It’s Mineo’s brutally honest portrait of his struggles with sin as he continues to follow Jesus. Perhaps the most complete sum-mation of the track is the line, “I’m just a product of grace that’s still in the process, and I don’t gotta be great, because my God is.” The album con-tinues with “Ex Nihilo,” a picture of God’s cre-

ation, which He created out of nothing, hence “ex nihilo.” Mineo ties in God’s identity as Cre-ator to his role in trans-forming Christian’s lives from death to life. The single re-leased before the album debut, “Ayo!”, is a fun song that, while not my favorite, showcases Mineo’s rapping skills. Songs in the middle of the release include “Bitter,” “Shal-low” and the part-rock-part-rap hit “Wild Things.” The first two reveal Mineo’s struggle and stance on bitter-ness and shallowness in relationships with family and friends. In “Wild Things,” Mineo shares his desire to live among the “wild things,” un-reached parts of the

world, so as to share the gospel and bring people to Christ. He calls out Christians that support him when he talks like Jesus but are quick to desert him when he be-gins to walk like him: “I talk like Jesus, all the Christians love me/I walk like Jesus now they wanna judge me/Ain’t it funny?” Other features of the album include a track with Lecrae, the most popular and well-known Christian rap-per. The track, “Uno Uno Seis,” is a Span-ish twist on the group formed by Lecrae, 116 Clique, in reference to Romans 1:16, which states that the gospel is the power of God for salvation, to any-one who will believe. Mineo boasts

in Christ, even as he struggles in his walk, and reveals this in songs like “Superhu-man,” “Caught Dream-ing” and “Tug of War,” connecting him with scores of Christians. The album ends with “Death has Died,” written after Mineo’s aunt died in 2012. The song focuses on Christ’s victory over death, and subsequently, the Christian’s victory in Him. He reminds ev-ery believer that even amidst the struggle, the price has been paid and the victory has been won, encourag-ing Christians to take heart and keep the faith. Check out Andy Mineo’s new album, “Heroes for Sale,” on Spotify or buy it on iTunes.


The Falcon Page Five

Our two cents

DISCLAIMERS:1. Despite what the cover might convey, there is no guaranteed vitamin enrichment from listening to this album.2. Our writers are fairly certain that the band is not in fact, “bankrupt” to an excited degree, like the sneaky addition of the exclamation point would imply.3. The Falcon has an especially staunch equal and balanced opinion contract when reviewing music: under no circumstances was this album favored or panned based on its artists’ avian originated name.

1. If you’ve never listened to a White Zombie or Rob Zombie album before you are less fortunate for it. Get out there and listen to some Rob Zom-bie before your ear drums atrophy from the abuse you pour into them with all the autotuned drivel dominating the airwaves these days. 2. If you’ve heard any or all of Rob Zombie’s pre-vious work, you’re in for more of the same with this one. It’s nothing special, unless of course you consider someone who writes their own music and doesn’t rely on computers to make them sound good as special.

Temperamental, controversial and brutally honest Christian songsmith Derek Webb has now managed to piss off ?uestlove so much that said Roots drummer has blocked Webb’s Twitter ac-count. This is Webb’s enormously catchy idea of an olive branch.

PHOENIXBankrupt!

ROB ZOMBIEVenomous Rat Regeneration Vendor

DEREK WEBB#Unblokme

THE FALCON STAFF“Music Journalist”

French house duo Daft Punk have cultivated a sense of mystery on their musi-cal project since its late ‘90’s inception. While the identities of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalterb have been revealed as Daft Punk, they prefer to nonethe-less disguise themselves in the style of futuristic robots. To further the illusion of the duo’s importance and other-worldly sense of crafts-manship, two of their al-bums have had fictional backstories to coin-cide with their release.New album “Ran-dom Access Memo-ries” has so far instead had an extensive me-dia campaign pend-ing its May 17 release. It all started in the early months of 2012 when ‘70’s funk guitarist Nile Rodgers announced collabora-tion with “the robots”. Italian disco producer Giorgio Moroder was the next to announce work with the duo on new material. The vet-eran detailed the record-ing of a spoken word “rap” in which he de-tailed the events of his musical life. Within the recording booth was a myriad of dif-ferent mics from vari-ous decades, their use dependent on what era of life he spoke about. Details of the album went dormant after Mo-roder’s announcement. Rodgers again surfaced to say that a new album would arrive in 2013. The band signed with Columbia records in February of this year. Upon the settlement of the announcement, the group released a photo

Daft Punks' strategy at capturing our Random Access MemoriesREED STRENGTHArts&Culture Editor | @ReedStrength

As a long time fan of not only reggae music but all the vari-ous genres of Jamaican music and culture, when I first heard that Snoop Dogg was to be mak-ing a reggae album and it would be produced by none other than the man who compromises half of Major Lazer, the super producer Diplo, I was beyond ecstatic. So excited in fact, that every friend I encountered would be subjected to listening to “La, La, La”, which was the first taste of Snoop Lion we were blessed with. As soon as the track started my ears perked up, what I heard surprised and excited me, Snoop D O double G was sing-ing over a Ken Boothe sample. For those of you not in the know, Ken Boothe is a legend-ary reggae artist, why this is exciting is at that moment I knew Diplo and Snoop were going to get this project right. My friends, and the world in gen-eral were still not con-vinced. It didn’t help that Snoop gave us this

of their distinctive hel-mets halved together above the the logo of Columbia. The im-age later aired during an episode of SNL. A glittering “Daft Punk” logo was swallowed by the masks as a snippet of new music played in the background. Sony Music, which owns Columbia, than registered twelve new Daft Punk songs, view-able through music licensing organiza-tion PPL. While only the track lengths were shown, fansite The Daft Club thought it clear evidence that a new al-bum was on the way. Their suspicions were confirmed when another ad appeared on SNL. The phrase “Ran-dom Access Memories” was swallowed by the masks with a new pas-sage of the same music played during the last ad. The album, titled “Random Access Mem-ories”, then appeared on iTunes for pre-order. A video series produced by The Cre-ators Project and Vice debuted with Moroder discussing his role in the album’s creation. Rodgers, singer Phar-rell, and Animal Col-lective member Panda Bear have also had vid-eos detailing their con-tributions to “The Ro-bots’” new songs. The album’s prducer, Todd Phillips, also speaks on his work in the album. Pharrell and Rodgers’ contribution has been revealed as the album’s first single “Get Lucky”. The song fea-tures Rodgers on guitar with Pharrell singing. The song was revealed via a video clip played during California music and arts festival Coach-ella. A glitter clad band

made up of the collabo-rators and the Robots played a fraction of “Get Lucky”. A full list of collaborators followed the taped performance, which includes Strokes frontman Julian Casa-blancas and frequent Daft Punk collaborator DJ Falcon. A similar ad appeared on SNL. Just as the track-list of the album was re-vealed through Twitter app Vine, a leaked, user spliced version of “Get Lucky” hit the internet. The leak was created by fusing together the 90 seconds of the song fea-tured on the ads released. To combat the leaks’ poor quality, Daft Punk released the official ver-sion of “Get Lucky” for download on iTunes and Spotify on April 18. As May 17 ap-proaches, the Robots will inevitably release more material and in-formation about their new project via the continuation of the Cre-ator’s Project videos and their penchant for random mystery ads. Those attending the Annual Wee Waa show in the “cotton cap-ital” of Wee Waa, Aus-trailia, will have the per-haps unexpected chance to attend the duo’s offi-cial album launch party. An outfitted stage will allow listeners to dance as the full album is played out of speakers. According to the show’s official Facebook page (as its too small to have its own website) there will also be “fireworks, a pet show, woodchop and cross-cut saw com-petition.” Daft Punk re-portedly chose the rural location not for its farm fest, as much as the gi-ant CSIRO Australia Telescope that matches their futuristic aesthetic.

In defense of Snoop LionKYLE JONESEditor-In-Chief | @TheUMFalcon

fantastic quotable, "I have always said I was Bob Marley reincar-nated.” What he meant to express was that he felt a close connec-tion with the artist and his rastafarian beliefs. For months, all I heard from friends was “I can’t believe he’s doing this...it doesn’t make sense...it’s gonna suck...why is he calling himself Snoop Lion.” Through all this I de-fended and defended the artist formerly known as Dogg, but eventu-ally had to succumb to those who would not stay open minded and simply say “Just wait...” At last, on April 23 Reincarnated dropped, though run-ning the risk of sound-ing pretentious, I had it a week before. The album is the twelfth studio al-bum for Calvin Broadus but the first under the moniker Snoop Lion. The deluxe edi-tion includes 16 tracks spanning many genres of Jamaican music, that could be classified as reggae, dancehall, rock-steady, fusion, as well as elements of dub. If you can find it the famous “sleng teng riddim” is

also used. The featur-ing artist range from stateside superstars such as Busta Rhymes and Miley Cyrus to dancehall bosses Ma-vado and Popcaan, who have monumentally been brought together on “Lighters Up” in an effort to end their beef. Though I am ex-tremely biased when it comes to this genre of music, I silently wor-ried the entire time that maybe, just maybe, this would be the most Jah awful travesty for not only Snoop as an artist but for Jamaican style music in general. After listening to the album an uncountable amount of times, I assure you this is farthest from the case. I understand that my excitement and as-surance is in no way going to convince you. I would propose let-ting Snoop Lion speak for himself. Along with the album a documen-tary bearing the same name of the album was released by VICE films. The sincerity of Snoop in this film will undoubtedly convert any and all naysayers.

“Here comes the King”, and hopeful-ly he is here to stay.


The Falcon

presents our goodbyes

Page Six

for now...

It’s been almost exactly a year since this idea crept into my head. Being able to look back and see how far we’ve come is amazing to me. When I look at the li-brary of issues it abso-lutely astounds me we managed to do it, but please do not look at the first few issues of our little independent pa-per though, it will make you shudder, and for me, its nightmare fuel. As I said in my letter before we took a break for the holidays, I rejoiced in the fact that so many said we

KYLE JONESEditor-In-Chief | @TheUMFalcon

would fail and we were still chugging along 15 weeks later. Look-ing at it now, its a bit bittersweet. Week af-ter week my Monday nights were entirely dedicated to sitting at my desk scrambling to publish this online newspaper at a reason-able hour. Sometimes cursing my writers or the layout program but generally sitting smug with a feeling of overall satisfaction and pride. As I type this now, everything is set in place and ready to be ex-ported. For the last time,

for me atleast. My baby, no...my mistress, will be placed in the hands of my Associate Editor and right hand man, who none of this would have been possible without, Andrew Mechum, but lets not forget the stel-lar staff behind him as well. Though the feel-ing is bittersweet I am confident and proud to be handing off my proj-ect to more than capable hands, and trust me, they’ve got big things planned for the future. This mistress, took countless hours away from me and no

doubt had an effect on my personal relation-ships, but the sense of pride and accomplish-ment outweighs the negatives ten fold. All that I hope is that the sense of enjoyment and admiration mir-rors the amount of ef-fort we’ve put into this. I’ve always looked at this publica-tion not as some type of gift and I never viewed myself as some type of hero or someone deserv-ing of praise, for me it’s always just been an out-let, for myself and the others who’ve worked

on it. The greatest re-ward is that my idea has come to fruition and its legacy will be carried on. All I have left to say is thank you. Thank you to the read-ers for your loyalty and patience and most of all thank you to staff members past and present who made this dream a reality. I have full faith that you will leave The Falcon bet-ter than you found it. Here at the end I find myself struggling to say something mean-ingful, enduring or last-ing, which is infuriating

because it is very sel-dom that I find myself in this situation, so this is it, this the end, I’m go-ing now, and I leave you with a quote that has mo-tivated me throughout this process and my life. “That was al-ways the difference be-tween Muhammad Ali and the rest of us. He came, he saw, and if he didn't entirely conquer - he came as close as anybody we are likely to see in the lifetime of this doomed generation.”-Hunter S. Thompson

Kyle, Thanks for starting up The Falcon this year. It’s been such a great experience. I hadn’t been on an actual staff since high school, and being able to be on one again was fantastic. I’m grateful for your leadership and your talent that you pour into this paper. Thanks so much for letting me write about faith, sports and other ran-dom things this year. I’ve really enjoyed the whole process. Best of luck to you in the future, and we’ll be sure to get official next year, for you. Thanks again, -Neal Embry

Kyle, I want to thank you so much for the immense opportunity you gave me. When I stepped onto this campus, I knew I wanted to have a crack at journal-ism but had no prior experience with it. All I had was a small blog devoted to weird ramblings on shuffled songs and other strange but musically relevant things I could come up with. Somewhere in that mess, you saw something and decided to give me a chance. The way I see it, I owe my entire body of work from this year to your Facebook message inviting me to join this staff. It’s been awesome to watch you tweak this thing. It’s legacy is forever indebted to you, and I hope you flip through and smile big at the great work we’ll do in Vol. 3. Thank you for giving me a shot man, seriously. With it, I’ll run to achieve the best I can in this field. Here’s to hoping you don’t get swallowed in that tornado with your punk heroes and we one day work together on the essay that goes into the Hives’ “Veni Vidi Vicious” reissue. -Reed Strength, a rookie “Chart Toppin’ [expletives removed]

Kyle, What can be said here that hasn’t been said over cold beers? Probably a lot, just with fewer expletives. You had a vision that so many, including myself, latched onto in the hopes of being part of something new and special. Thanks to your vision the department is on the cusp of having another publica-tion to call its own. Thanks to you a handful of students have gained the experience they couldn’t have gotten elsewhere. And thanks to you I have a huge amount of work to do next semester. So yeah, thanks man. And to the rest of The Falcon staff and our devoted readers, all policies and procedures remain in effect following Mr. Jones’ departure, but be on the lookout for a bigger, better Falcon next year! -Andrew Mechum

Kyle, Thank you so much for starting The Falcon and for not letting it dissipate like other organizations have on campus. If it wasn’t for you I would probably be lost as to what to do for gaining experience with journalism. It has been a huge learning experience and I really look forward to seeing where The Falcon will go. It is all thanks to you for creating such a creative and unique outlook for students to collaborate and work together. Also, thank you and Andrew for making me a better writer. I really do appreciate the work and notes. We will miss you, Editor in Chief! Go do even more awesome things! -Mandy, a woman among men

Kyle, I can't tell you what an immense privilege it has been to work on this paper with you over the past year. Your passion and determination is contagious and limitless, and it inspires all of us on a daily basis. When you asked me to be a part of this project, I could very easily see that this was far more than just a side project for you. And to see the Falcon grow and evolve as a creative entity has been nothing short of a great honor for me. Keep us up to date on all of your future endeavors - We already know they'll be worth following. Best wishes, -Matt

Kyle, It’s been fantastic writing here at The Falcon for its very first year, and I’m happy to say that this is something I can look back on and be proud of when I remember my time at school. Thanks for being the “nice” editor and for even starting this thing in the first place. Best wishes as you go out and write out in the world! Oh, and don’t forget: If you see anything explode, remember me. -Jake Smith

Letters to the Chief

The Falcon Page Seven

next issueisTBA

See ya sometimein August 2013

is accepting articles and applications for staff positionscontact us at [email protected]

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Established 2012An Independant Student

Newspaper

It’s Finals Week!! That means lots of ramen, and for our fa-vorite freshmen staffer, Reed Strength, he likes ramen so much he keeps a spare box on his head.Mmm....chicken. After writing all of his Fal-con stories last minute, Reed loves to eat some chicken flavored ramen with a lukewarm Diet Coke, because that’s just the kind of guy he is. If I had more

Things on my Reed

money Reed, I’d buy you some more ra-men for when you stay up til 3 a.m. study-ing for those freshmen level finals that will pale in comparison to the horrors you’ll face as a junior and senior. Alas, I don’t have that money. But, for the second week in a row, the world gets to see the face of Reed Strength with a random item on his

head. I think that’s good enough, right? Check back with us next semester for more “Things on my Reed!”What should we put on Reed’s head over the summer? While we may not take pic-tures, we may or may not just throw stuff on him just to mess with him. Let us know via Facebook or on Twit-ter @TheUMFalcon.

NEAL EMBRYStaff Writer |


Documents

The Falcon Volume 2. Issue 14