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PAGE 4 ENTERTAINMENT / APRIL 12, 2012 April Fools of Comedy C.A.B. brings the laughs ALLENhOYE reporter How did the comediennes get to Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi? By crossing the bridge. Okay, so that might not have been funny, but last Thursday the Campus Activities Board (C.A.B.) brought some comedic relief to the Island with the help of two up-andcoming comediennes. They didn’t short change ALLEN hOYE - ISLAND WAVES Melissa Villasenor April 21: Independents Day Record Store Day celebrates independent record stores Stages Stereos AND by MIkE hENNEbERgER The Internet has quickly changed many of the ways we do things in life. We’ve seen video rental stores disappear, and there are now even cities with hundreds of thousands of people and zero bookstores. The record store could’ve easily surrendered and been a casualty of that war, but they weren’t going without a fight. So on the third Saturday of April (April 21, this year), we celebrate Record Store Day—the 4th of July for mu- anyone with the acts they booked for the their third annual April Fools of Comedy event. With semi-finalist Tracey Ashley of NBC’s Last Comic Standing and Melissa Villasenor from America’s Got Talent, students were treated to some elaborate forms of stand-up from both comedians. Tracey Ashley kicked the shenanigans off by taking the audience of about 70 A&M- Corpus Christi students and getting them out of their comfort zones. Laugh after laugh erupted from the University Center Ballrooms as Ashley didn’t hold back any of her original material that someone would normally hear at a comedy club. “Typically I’m able to be free with my material when it comes to college shows,” Ashley said. “Sometimes I may be asked to turn it down a bit if I’m performing at a parents weekend kind of thing.” Though her material is far from a basic attempt at standup, the Indiana-based comedian has an arsenal of jokes for every type of crowd. She’s performed at multiple conferences including the National Association for Campus Activities, which landed her the gig at A&M- Corpus Christi. Apart from her semi-finalist placing on Last Comic Standing, Tracey has seen a fruitful career as a comedian since leaving her sales career behind in 2005 thanks to the show and the conferences. “Last Comic Standing really helped launch my career in a lot of ways,” Ashley said. “Not sic—to remind us of the importance of the independents. Record Store Day was created five years ago by an employee at an independent record store named Chris Brown. Its purpose is to celebrate the art of music. More than 700 independent record stores around the country participate in the event, as well as hundreds of independent record stores across the world. And it’s not only the stores and employees who take part in the worldwide celebration of the brick-and-mortar shops, but record labels and artists commemorate the pushers of my favorite drug with in-store performances, meet and greets, and special, exclusive releases. Acts like Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton, Metallica, Ozzy Os- a lot of comedians have even been on television so I’ve been blessed with that opportunity.” With her humble appreciation for her television stint, the comedienne brings another side of opinionated lashings of society and politics. She also used the crowd to her advantage last Thursday by using jokes that centered on the diverse ethnicities of her audience. “I love performing at Texas schools like this where everyone comes from a different background,” Ashley said. “They especially liked the Mexican jokes, but it’s sets like this one that I want to perform everywhere and have people respond like they did here.” Melissa Villasenor kept that response going when she took the stage with an arsenal filled with impressions that will take anyone back to the 90s. This quirky comedian from California served up a little of everything from Christina Aguilera, to Mickey Mouse and even some Hannah Montana. Her incorporation of these impressions with a variety of pop culture jokes made for a different style of comedy with the same abundance of laughs. Since starting her career of getting laughs out of people at the age of 12, Villasenor has developed her talents into a full-on set with a variety of comedic forms from dancing and sketches, to those undeniably funny impressions of celebrities. “I kind of just got obsessed with doing impressions and making people laugh,” Villasenor said. Her obsession led her to join the Laugh Factory Comedy Club at 18 years old and has taken off from there. Apart from her time on America’s Got Talent, she also had some work on TBS’s FrankTV and Family Guy. When she took over for Ashley, students responded well to the different style as Villasenor put on what would be considered a clean act. Though she threw in a few bits with “sexy voice,” the impressionist kept everyone’s attention with her awkward life experiences and Juno like presence on stage. That type of individuality is what got her into the Top 48 contestants in season six of America’s Got Talent. Like Tracey Ashley, Villasenor also got put on the map thanks to a televised competition styled show. “It’s kind of funny that I went into the audition with no expectations,” Villasenor said. “But it turned out to be life changing for me with the amount of exposure I’ve gotten since then.” With that exposure Villasenor has capitalized her talents and already has plans to keep that momentum going in different artistic fields. After another month of performances at various colleges, Villasenor will continue work on her short story book as well as a comedy soundtrack. Those are but just a few things coming from this talented young lady who aspires to one day be apart of Saturday Night Live. The young entertainer goes beyond just the laughs and bourne, and Red Hot Chili Peppers will all have special Record Store Day releases. The Black Keys will drop a deluxe vinyl version of their latest album El Camino, which will include a bonus CD, limited edition poster, and a twosong 7” featuring two previously unreleased live tracks. Flogging Molly will release a special 7” with the original version of “Drunken Lullabies” and an acoustic version of “A Prayer For Me In Silence.” Electro-dance-rock duo Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. will have made a very special vinyl EP for the occasion with three remixes and three covers including Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.” The ladies throw their hats in with special releases from Feist, Regina Spektor, Tegan and Sara, and this Record Store Day Tracey Ashley meeting career goals though when she’s performing. “The more I do college shows, the more I realize that I want to be doing something other than just getting laughs,” Villasenor said. “I hope what I’m doing is an inspiration for these students to go out and do whatever marks the return of Garbage. Disturbed will has put together The Collection, a vinyl album box set that includes The Sickness (2000), Believe (2002), Ten Thousand Fists (2005), Indestructible (2008) and Asylum (2010). The Flaming lips definitely have one of the most interesting RSD special releases. The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends have included collaborations with Yoko Ono, Nick Cave, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Bon Iver, Ke$ha, Biz Markie, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Neon Indian, and Erykah Badu. And don’t let “the Man” confuse you. Record Store Day is not simply to get you to leave your house and go buy a CD at Best Buy. The holiday is about supporting the culture of record stores. It’s about ALLEN hOYE - ISLAND WAVES they want in life.” Be on the look out for both of these comediennes as they continue down their roads of funny. If you were unable to make this show sponsored by C.A.B., you can stay up-to-date with their latest events at cab.tamucc.edu. raising awareness of the treasured institution that actually treasures the institution of music, rather than shrink-wrapping it and putting it in an aisle between big-screen TVs and washers and dryers. Plenty of those indie record stores still exist—even here in Corpus Christi. According to the official Record Store Day website, two local independent record stores are participating in the event: Surf Club Records downtown and Corpus Christi’s record mecca, Disc Go Round at 5734 McArdle Rd. To celebrate the event this year, metal bands Mastodon and Opeth will be in the store signing autographs. For more information about Record Store Day and a longer list of special RSD releases, check out www.StagesAndStereoType.com.
The Used – Vulnerable (March 27) It’s rare that a band can stick around for a decade and still sound like the band that inspired you as a kid. Ten years ago, I bought The Used’s first record and I remember thinking that it had been a really long time since I heard a record that I loved from beginning to end. Ten years later, that feeling applies to the band’s entire catalogue. Their latest release, Vulnerable, is 12 songs that sound just like that band that nineteen-year-old me played for anyone who would listen, but with the right relevant moves of a chart-topping band with a decade-long life filled with platinum and gold records. This record reunites the band with John Feldmann, who produced their first three records. “He’s family,” says vocalist Bert Mc- Cracken. “He’s really a mentor to us. His work ethic pushes the band to new levels.” This is also the band’s first release on their independent label Anger Music Group, which will be distributed by Hopeless Records. “It’s so nice to be able to do whatever we want to do,” says guitarist Quinn Allman. “No one telling us what to do or what to write, or what to say, or what to put out, or who to work with. When there’s pressure to make every song a hit song, it turns it in to a piece of sh*t. “ Vulnerable opens with the album’s first single “I Come Alive.” The track is textbook Used with driving guitars through the verse with a hard rock chorus that slams you in the face, all underneath Bert’s perfect mix of singing and screaming right when you need a scream. And then, out of nowhere, there’s an electronic breakdown that seems like Skrillex had a hand in its crafting. “It’s got more influences that we really like,” says Allman. “There’s some electronic influence, stuff like that. The approach was different. We’d start messing with something, and it would be something we’d never done before.” Those experimental layers continue into track two, “This Fire,” which starts and ends with strings and xylophones, but of course drops the rock in between. “Hands and Faces” starts off sounding like a poppy dance tune, but if you know The Used, you know it doesn’t stay that way for long. But the sound stays consistent with the positive feeling of the record. “I tried to use the last record for therapy for me and embrace the darker side in my life,” says McCracken. “But it kind of just involved me in the negative things. So I thought that this record, everyone is in such a good place in life, and we’ve never been a tighter band, we’ve never been tighter with ourselves and our lives, our families, so that’s really what needed to shine through.” That leads us up perfectly to “Shine,” which also drops an electronic beat that will have you dancing more than moshing, until you’re bouncing along with the chorus and singing along, “It’s my time to shine, do it my way cuz it’s my time, baby.” If those lyrics don’t encompass the band’s feelings about indie label freedom, “Now That You’re Dead” definitely does. McCracken describes the collaboration with William Francis of Aiden as a brutal song about the death of record labels. “Say the record label is a beautiful girl laid out in her casket, and you’re kissing her dead body and then pushing over the casket.” Six tracks later Vulnerable closes with “Together Burning Bright,” a piano-driven ballad in true Used-ballad fashion like “Poetic Tragedy” from the first record or “All That I’ve Got” off of In Love and Death. Vulnerable is simply the next step into The Used territory that has been more and more refined over the last decade. Loyal fans should love it, and a new generation should take this record and run it around to all their friends like I did ten years ago. And then we can all catch The Used on Warped Tour this summer. Super Prime - #FML (March 20) It’s perfectly normal for a one-year-old band to be bouncing around South by Southwest to get a little attention from whoever will give it to them. That wasn’t the case for Super Prime—a Boston pop punk trio made up of Austin Bond (vocals, bass), Adam Newall (vocals, guitar) Marcus James (drums). The band that formed a little over a year ago already had the attention of pop punk big guns Set Your Goals and Cartel, whom they were on tour with at the time. Keeping that momentum, after releasing their new record, the band will head out to the UK with Every Avenue and We Are the In Crowd. Not bad for the first and second tours for the band. Guitarist Adam Newall says #FML is “a PAGE 5 ENTERTAINMENT / ISSUE 13 South by Southwest: On the Record Two new records from South by Southwest bands MIkEhENNEbERgER entertainment editor throwback to late 90s pop punk. “Just Like You” sets the record up perfectly and nails that vintage standard of the good-old-days of pop punk, showing their influence from bands like Sum 41, Homegrown, or The Starting Line. Just try to resist singing along with the chorus. “Vow” has a bouncy rhythm that takes you back to those songs that were written to make crowds feel like part of the band, but with heartfelt lyrics that make the song not just personal but also personable. “Brickski” lands the band somewhere in the middle of Blink 182’s catalogue. The back and forth vocals show some obvious influence, but the band combines their education in pop punk with the schooling they picked up at Berklee College of Music to craft a record that puts them far ahead of the first albums of their forefathers. “Really, it just makes us perfectionists,” says guitarist/vocalist Adam Newall. “It’s the things that, like, most people wouldn’t notice,” says drummer Marcus James. “But we really beat ourselves up in practice. We’re like ‘ah that sucked,’ and maybe we missed one note out of five songs. But it makes us better as a band.” The title track is true to pop punk form: one-minute long, moshable drum-beat, angsty lyrics. “Ames” puts you back in the melodic early-blink territory. It’s impossible to avoid that comparison when listening to this record. But, hey, if Blink 182 isn’t going to sound like early Blink 182, I don’t see why Super Prime can’t. And at this pace, only one-year-old, I can’t wait to see where this band is in 10 years. gOOgLE.cOM - phOTOS cOuRTESY Six Days til’ Six Degrees LAURENguTIERREz reporter “Every person is a new door opening up into other worlds.” -Six Degrees of Separation. The cast of the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi theatre department continues to rehearse for the last main stage production of the semester. Six Degrees of Separation will debut April 17-22 in the Warren Theatre. The play, written by John Guare, was inspired by a true story of a New York couple who, after letting a stranger into their home, opens a door to a new world. But people aren’t always what they seem. Junior Kayla Gaar plays main character Ouisa Kitteredge and explains the overall message the show tries to send. “You need to be aware of who you come into contact with and who you let into your life,” Gaar said. “Do not underestimate your life; there are many surprises that come.” As her first lead in a main stage play, Gaar explains how her experience has allowed her to grow tremendously in her acting. “I love learning from my cast members and peers,” Gaar said. As an aspiring actress, Gaar said this play has been a growing experience in which she has taken so much out of. “The whole experience has been very experimental and organic.” Senior Derek Dubois who plays Ouisa’s husband Flan Kittredge feels closer than ever to his cast mates. “We did a lot of team building exercises; turning us into a family,” Dubois said. “This show really allowed me to dive deeply into the world of the play and carved out a completely 3D image of my character.” Gaar also expresses her experience with working with director Terry Lewis. “He is one of the reasons why I came to this school,” Gaar said. “He doesn’t spoon feed you, and he makes you experience the character for yourself.” Dubois agreed and explained how Lewis never hovered over the cast telling them exactly what to do. The cast describes Lewis as a spiritual experience. “He experiments with movement and energy,” Gaar said. Students said he allows his actors to draw upon their own experiences to make the character. As for surprises to expect from Six Degrees, Gaar simply said to “come and If you go: SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION April 17-21 at 8 pm, April 22 at 2 pm Tickets: $10 adult, $6.50 student, $5 with SandDollar ID Warren Theatre theatre.tamucc.edu 361-825-5800 find out.” The play will be the last “main stage” production, however the theatre and dance department will have upcoming shows. Student-directed “forty minutes” will be held May 2-6 in the Warren Theatre and the dance department’s semester demo will be held May 1st in the Performing Arts Center. “Come and join the experience and get what you will from the production,” Gaar said. “Everyone will be able to draw something from our show.” Tickets are available online at cla.tamucc.edu/theatre/ or in the ticket booth in the Center for the Arts.
Page 1 and 2: INSIDE April Fools of comedy Campus
Page 3: Show your Sandollar$ Card for a 10%
Page 7 and 8: Shoes only chRISTINA MARTINEz - phO
Page 9 and 10: A crowd of 654 people filled the st
Page 11 and 12: Editorial: Who is responsible for t

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