Mount Hood

John Vanderslice visits the Space Concert Club on tour for new album “The Cedars”

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

John Vanderslice could be described many ways, but the label “influential” is one that everyone can objectively agree on. According to johnvanderslice.com, Vanderslice has produced and collaborated with bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, St. Vincent, The Mountain Goats, Grandaddy, Teen Daze, Sleater-Kinney and many others.

Vanderslice came to Salem on a tour promoting his new album, “The Cedars.” Released April 4, this album has broken the musician’s five-year-long solo career hiatus. In November 2013, while on tour in Ohio for his album “Dagger Beach,” Vanderslice was in a high-speed car accident.

“After that happened, maybe a second later, I was like, I’m done. I don’t want to die in a van. It wasn’t sad, it wasn’t celebratory. It was just like, eh, I had a good run,” Vanderslice was quoted in a New Yorker article written by Jason Fagone. Afterwards, Vanderslice’s hiatus commenced.

“The Cedars” album was inspired by a piece of land in West Sonoma, California. The Cedars is an 11 by 11 square mile canyon near a piece of land owned by Vanderslice.

“It’s only 6 miles away but it takes up a mythic space in my mind, like the perfect sound, the perfect lyric. It is unreachable. A lot of this record was written on this land, under the heavy influence of this place,” Vanderslice wrote in the album notes on his website.

Vanderslice has been writing music since he was a young teen. Flash forward to 1989, and Vanderslice moved to San Francisco and made three records with the band MK Ultra. In 1997, the musician opened Tiny Telephone Recording, providing a recording space to the indie rock community of the Bay Area. Since the beginning of his career, Vanderslice has released 11 albums, a handful of singles and is credited on 186 albums on allmusic.com.

“The songwriting process of this record was so radically different … we kind of entered into this irrational machine world,” said Vanderslice in a mini-documentary directed by Cooper Kenward about the making of “The Cedars.” Vanderslice favors analog, which is strongly apparent, especially in this new album. This is a style Vanderslice labels “sloppy hi-fi” in the same New Yorker interview.

On April 24, in the basement of the Space Concert Club, Vanderslice played a show with opening band Meerna, who also hail from Southern California. The 51-year-old musician’s eccentric purple hair matched the cool-hued show lights. After a handful of solo-songs by Vanderslice, he was joined by Meerna and they played a selection of songs, most from “The Cedars,” including “Will Call” and “I’ll Wait for You.”

Vanderslice has a passionate and captivating stage presence, and although his dancing skills aren’t the best, they definitely enhanced the performance. The venue was full of dedicated fans, and the kitchen even named a pie after the headlining musician. The love for Vanderslice in Salem was easily observable and made the performance that much more enjoyable.

 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo by Chrys Weedon

Graphic Novel Review: “The Nameless City” Trilogy

Cora McClain | Copy Editor

“All called the City their home. And who could say that any of them were wrong?” This text ends the introductory panels of “The Stone Heart,” the second of the “Nameless City” graphic novel trilogy. Those two panels illustrate the core theme author Faith Erin Hicks explores — identity.

The story follows Kaidu, a young boy from the warrior nation occupying the Nameless City. Along the way he makes an unlikely friend in a girl named Rat who was born in the city and orphaned by the occupying forces as a young child. With the city as their backdrop, our two protagonists explore what it means to identify with a people while stumbling onto a nefarious plot to overthrow and destroy the city.

While the plot and villains introduced in the second and third books might fall a bit flat for me, the cultural tension which sparks the plot is far more interesting. It’s a bit uncanny to see a city filled with all sorts of different people from many different nations look at an individual and judge them solely on the nation they belong to. Kaidu’s nation even has a word for people who are not of the nation, literally meaning they are not a person. Let’s just say Hicks is pretty heavy-handed with getting her message across.

Regardless of the thick metaphors, exploring identity on the basis of nationality and where a person is born allows for a juxtaposition with the world outside of the pages of the books. Meant for young teens, the trilogy does its job of trying to show the reader inconsistencies in that sort of judgement. However, I think the first book “The Nameless City” does that better alone, whereas the two others just complicate the message with the introduction of “dangerous knowledge plot device” and villains whose motives are not clearly set from the beginning. The one saving grace would be the satisfactory ending that leaves no loose ends.

Besides my obvious contempt for the overarching plot, the artstyle and fluid action scenes are glorious. Invoking an artstyle similar to “Avatar the Last Airbender,” with thick expressive lines and facial expressions, there was never a moment when I wasn’t absorbed in the colorful world of “The Nameless City.”

Altogether, I don’t hate the trilogy, but I appreciate “The Nameless City” as a standalone novel far more than the addition of the other two books and their shaky plotline. It just kind of feels like there’s a disconnect from the first novel and the other two, and I enjoyed the complexities, characters and plot of the former over the latter.

 

Overall Rating: I would recommend “The Nameless City” for anyone, especially as an introduction to graphic novels or comics. I would suggest only reading the rest of the trilogy if you want to learn more about the City Builders.

 

Contact the author at howlcopyeditor@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of us.macmillan.com

“The Silence” anaylsis

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

There seems to have been an uptick in pieces of media that feature characters with disabilities, and storylines that depend on them, in post-apocalypse worlds. “A Quiet Place” was immensely popular — popular enough to warrant a sequel, according to vanityfair.com. Recent Netflix release “Black Summer” features a Deaf character who is challenged by his “disability” in a world infested with zombies. “Bird Box” is based on the premise that being “blind” is the biggest asset one can have when looking at a monster can kill you. Netflix’s newest release, “The Silence,” follows this trend.

Released April 10, “The Silence” follows a family, who happens to have a deaf daughter, through the onset of an apocalypse wherein ancient bat-like beasts escape from caves deep within the Earth and viciously attack anything that makes noise. Sound familiar?

Similarities between “The Silence” and “A Quiet Place” seem to end there, however. The main character of “The Silence,” Ally, is recently deaf after a severe car accident that led to her deafness. Ally still speaks clearly, has some residual hearing, favors speaking with her voice to her family and even narrates bits of the movie. Ally’s rudimentary signing skills and her preference for speaking aloud fit in well enough with the storyline, since it is mentioned that only three years have passed since she became deaf, but it’s more apparently related to the fact that her actress, Kiernan Shipka, is hearing.

Other than the disappointing fact that a Deaf actress wasn’t hired — of which there are many — there were other inconsistencies and unfortunate stereotypes that “The Silence” seemed to play into. Whenever the perspective switched to Ally’s point of view, sounds were muffled — because apparently there’s no other way to show that she is deaf — and there was always a sharp ringing noise that overpowered everything else. The ringing noise had no obvious or necessary reason to exist, as it didn’t tie into the storyline or character development. Although “The Silence” was technically a book before “A Quiet Place” even came out, the film used a lot of the same storytelling techniques that “A Quiet Place” used, with more of the “can you only believe if having a disability wasn’t the end of the world?” sentiment.

Other than the tired tropes about disability, “The Silence” used very quick and convenient plotlines to move the story, which is understandable since the movie only runs an hour and 30 minutes. Stanley Tucci did a great job, but the film overall left much to be desired.

 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Netflix.com

Northwest Wrestling Alliance wages the War of Independence

Caity Healy | Editor-in-Chief

It was a battle like Independence had never seen before. In the middle of the Elk’s Lodge, a wrestling ring had been staged — the eventual setting for six unforgettable Northwest Wrestling Alliance Professional Wrestling matches. On April 27, a crowd of all ages filled the seats and waited in anticipation of what was to come with the “War of Independence.”

As the fast-paced rock music grew louder, so did the eagerness. Finally, the curtains swung open and rushing to the ring was the NWAA’s new ring announcer, Richie Stratton. The crowd welcomed Stratton with cheers and applause, as he prepared the viewers for the fight they were about to see: Eddie Pearl versus Eric Right.

Smoke seeping from the cracks of the curtain, Eddie came rushing out in glory, rock music playing to complement the mullet he was donning. Engaging with the crowd, he made his way to the ring and awaited his opponent. Right behind him, Eric Right made his appearance known. Despite the boos of the crowd, he was ready for a fight. After an extravagant show of elbows, pins and punches, Eddie took the title.

In Eddie’s next battle against Johnny Paradise, Eddie sustained injuries early on that forced the match to utilize the “Freebird Rule.” By using this, Eddie’s backup Billy stepped in as substitute. This, however, turned out to be a squash, as Johnny Paradise took Billy down in two seconds.

Up next was Joseph Bennett versus Troy Dagger. A mix of cheers and boos for each opponent could be heard from the crowd, as nobody was sure who’d come out on top. But after a huge suplex in the hands of Dagger, Bennett went down hard; Troy Dagger took the win.

The crowd was anxious for a real fight, and that’s exactly what they were given as Doctor Clever and Caden Cassidy took to the ring. Playing heavy metal and sporting a large mohawk, Doctor Clever was a model example of what the audience hated. However, two people in the audience had to disagree with the rest.

“Doctor Clever was definitely my favorite wrestler,” said audience member Alexa Boucher. Sitting next to her was audience member Mason Hinton, who chimed in as well.

“It was his mohawk that really set him apart from everyone else,” said Hinton.

The two outlier fans ended up getting the outcome they wanted, as Doctor Clever was able to take down the famous Caden Cassidy.

It was time to change it up a bit. Two teams took the ring: Konami Code, which was made up of wrestlers Julian Whyt and C.J. Edwards, versus High 5, which was made up of Patrick Large and Draven Vargas. The teams weren’t willing to go down easy, taking turns to take their opponents down — but only one could come out on top. After an outrageous show, Konami Code was deemed victorious.

Following a long intermission, the crowd was ready to see something new. That’s exactly what Stratton was ready to give them as he introduced the “power of femininity,” as he called it, by bringing Fire Rose and Mary Jane Pain to the ring. The two didn’t hold back — punches were thrown and a fight ensued until it was interrupted by the curtains being ripped open: Eddie van Glam was here, and he wanted it to be known. Wearing pants that were one-leg-spandex, one-leg-fishnets, and donning a shirt that simply said “Butt Stuff,” the audience knew he meant business. The fight quickly turned into two against one, as Rose and MJ took on Eddie; the women took the title.

At last, it was time for the Championship Match: the “Black Sheep” Dave Turner versus Johnny Paradise. Turner was hated by the crowd, but unlike the other antagonists, he wouldn’t easily accept the boos. Clearly unable to withhold his anger, he even went up to a crowd member, cursed at him, flipped him off, then threw his hat off of his head. Paradise, on the other hand, was loved. He fed off of the crowd’s energy until finally, he stole the title from Turner and became the champion.

Speaking once again with Boucher and Hinton, they had more to add about this match.

“We’re here because we’re wrestling fans … it was a great show. It was very energetic and there was a really good crowd,” said Boucher.

“More people need to go to wrestling shows — people will be pleasantly surprised,” added Hinton.

Wrestler Caden Cassidy described the crowd in one word — electric.

“This is one of the best crowds I’ve ever had in this area,” said Cassidy. “Big turnout. And I think we actually gave them a good show.”

The NWWA is holding its next match at the Milwaukie Elks Lodge on May 11, and will be returning to the Independence Elks Lodge on June 22.

 

Contact the author at howleditor@wou.edu

Photos by Paul F. Davis

Western Men’s Lacrosse playoff recap

Caity Healy | Editor-in-Chief

Seven wins and three losses — this was the record that Men’s Lacrosse had as it entered into the PNCLL playoffs. Their first opponent: Gonzaga University. In the 2016 playoffs, the Wolves went head to head against Gonzaga and lost, 21-10. For the first time in three years, the men were ready to face them again. Taking to the field on April 26, they weren’t willing to go down without a fight.

A battle was what Gonzaga was presented with. Neither side wanted to let up, but Western found itself with a comfortable lead going into the half. This lead left the Wolves feeling more relaxed, which gave the Bulldogs the opportunity to find their way to the back of the net. Western knew they had to find the momentum they began the game with. With lightning-fast offense and relentless defense, the Wolves proved to be too much for the Bulldogs. After a hard-fought competition, the Wolves came out on top, 16-13.

“It felt good to get a playoff win,” said junior midfielder Taylor Klus. “We haven’t even made the playoffs since I’ve been here so it was good to go from not making the playoffs to winning the first game. It meant a lot to the program after a rough couple years.”

During the game, senior Andrew Barnett reached his 100th career goal, and 100th assist. This made him the second player in Western Men’s Lacrosse history to reach that milestone.

Having eliminated Gonzaga from the tournament, Western was ready to move on to the semifinals versus the University of Montana the following day, April 27. The drop in temperature reflected the drop in energy that the Wolves were feeling.

“The odds were stacked against us going in,” Klus added. “We were on the second day of a back-to-back. They had home field and they have over 30 players on their roster.”

But the men weren’t ready to back down. They came in strong, and went head-first into the game feeling prepared for a win. However, the battle took a turn for the worse as the Wolves found themselves grounded on defense against the Grizzlies. After four quarters of struggling to make their way down the field, the Wolves fell to the University of Montana, 21-8. This closed their season.

“Overall, I think the season went well,” said Klus. “We gained a lot of experience on how to play those better teams.”

As for the state of Men’s Lacrosse in the upcoming years, Klus isn’t worried.

“I think WOU Lacrosse is on the rise. We have a very strong freshman class and another freshman class coming in that will help fill the gaps of the four seniors,” Klus said. “With a few more bodies, better rest … I fully expect to win the PNCLL next year.”

 

Contact the author at howleditor@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Sharon Eidler

Spring Intramural leaderboard: The top teams of each sport

Volleyball

 

Co-Rec Competitive

Killah Hawaiians 3-0

Bumpin’ 2-1

Meow Down 1-2

Wait for it…. 0-3

 

Co-Rec Recreational

Incomprehensibilities 3-0

Scott’s Tots 3-1

Work for sets 2-2

I’d hit that 0-3

 

Men’s/Women’s

Joey’s Men’s VB Team 3-1

Ball Busters 2-1

Mas Hits 1-2

Meet the Blockers 1-2

Bumping balls 1-2

 

Softball

 

Co-Rec Sunday Night League

Broke Bat Mountain 2-0

benchwarmers 3-0

Always Going Deep 2-1

Swingers 1-1

Masterbatterz 1-1

Misfits 1-1

Dunder Mifflin Inc. 0-3

Wait for it…. 0-3

 

Co-Rec Thursday Evening League

Soft balls 1-0

Basic Pitches 1-0

Bad Apples 1-1

Rolling Bunts 0-1

The One Hit Wonders 0-1


Men’s Monday Evening League

Dirty Ball Bags 1-0

Opihi Lickahz 1-0

Blue Ballers 0-1

Rippin Magoos 0-1

 

Soccer

 

Co-Rec

Los Linguistas 1-0

Look ma, no hands! 1-0

Your Goalie’s Nightmare 1-0

Grace & The Funky Bunch 1-1

Head Game Strong 0-1

Dunder Mifflin 0-1

Team World 0-1

 

Photo by Paul F. Davis

Denim Day event supports sexual assault survivors

Bailey Thompson | News Editor

While DIY denim coffee mugs and bookmarks might draw people’s attention for being cute, Abby’s House and Alpha Chi Omega had more in mind when they organized a Denim Day event on April 25 in the Werner University Center. Instead of celebrating an iconic fashion contributor, Denim Day is actually a time when people all over the world come together in support of sexual assault survivors.

“Denim Day was created after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court,” said Lisette Cervantes, Bilingual Advocate Outreach Coordinator at Abby’s House. “An 18-year-old girl was raped, but the conviction was overturned because the Justice felt that, since the victim was wearing tight jeans, that the perpetrator needed help to take them off… so that implied consent. So, the next day, women in the Italian government wore jeans to work in solidarity for the survivor.”

Even though this event happened back in 1992, it is just as important to remember today.

“Denim Day is important for people to recognize and be aware of because, while we would like to say that we as a society have progressed quite a bit in the past 17 years since this original incident, we haven’t come as far as we would like to think sometimes,” said Helen Goodyear, Vice President of Philanthropy for Alpha Chi Omega.

Goodyear also pointed out that, even though the numbers associated with sexual assault conviction can be discouraging, it is important to keep fighting to eradicate this problem in the world around us.

“The goal of Denim Day is to educate people on how they can help be a part of the solution to the issue and can help shut down the pervasive nature of rape culture in our society,” said Goodyear. “We want to recognize that the overturning of sexual assault convictions is something that still happens today and that we can be a part of changing the conversation around sexual assault.”

Cervantes similarly shared that her goal was for people to work towards “breaking down the victim-blaming and showing people how they can be active listeners and advocates as well in their personal life … Start by believing is a big thing in just showing support for people.”

Although not everyone has experienced sexual assault personally, Goodyear shared that there is another reason that people should care: it affects the people around you.

“People we love are afraid to pursue legal action, not because the crimes they are accusing their rapist of are horrendous, but because they don’t want those heinous crimes to reflect back on them negatively as a victim,” said Goodyear.

For anyone at Western who would like to learn more about resources available to survivors, a few of the notable ones include peer advocates and confidential advocates at Abby’s House in the Werner University Center, RAINN, The Sexual Assault Resource Center of Oregon and The Center for Hope and Safety in Salem.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo by Ashlynn Norton

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