The Bowdoin Orient

No more hard hat concerts, sneak previews, or fine-tuning. The Studzinski Recital Hall and Kanbar Auditorium will finally see real action this weekend with a series of inaugural concerts.

Attention, shoppers: Please do not take pictures of the zombies. Patrons at the Maine Mall on Sunday did not hear this broadcasted over the loudspeaker, but it was the message a Maine Mall security officer named Googin conveyed when he asked Sam Tung '09 and his friends, who were dressed as zombies for Tung's art project, to leave the mall.

This year's Spring Dance Concert offers a taste of everything: martial arts-inspired capoeira, onstage improvised choreography, and a tap solo to Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack."

On Saturday, five seniors?Susie Martin, Maya Jaafar, Ivy Blackmore, Erin Furey, and Livy Lewis?will cap their art careers at Bowdoin. Their show, "Where Am I?" will open at 8 p.m. in the Visual Arts Center.

Taylor Arnold '07 and John Hall '08 have fond memories of attending hockey games as children with their fathers. What they remember most, though, is not the athletes. They remember the mascots.

Sophomore Sammie Francis's acoustic guitar performance may have earned her a recording session on Martha's Vineyard, in the same studio where Carly Simon and James Taylor recorded, but she believes her voice is her first prize.

Because of their strong friendship, Anthony DiNicola '07 and Willi Yusah '09 refer to each other as brothers. This weekend, they get to act the part as brothers torn apart by corruption in Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People."

On Monday night, Hari Kondabolu '04 performed his stand-up comedy for a national television audience on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." He claims, however, that he is still missing a major accomplishment: During his Bowdoin years as a WBOR 91.1 FM DJ and station manager, Kondabolu was never DJ of the Week.

After months of letter writing, legal counsel, and lots of patience, Bowdoin's radio station WBOR kept its rights to broadcast over the Brunswick airwaves. As of January 22, the station has been re-licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

On October 12, 1944, Andrew Haldane '41 was killed by a sniper's bullet during the World War II battle on Peleliu, one of the Palau islands east of the Philippines. His story doesn't end there.

During their winter break tour, members of Miscellania returned to a place both familiar and foreign: high school.

Tim Kantor '07 is a performer at heart. "It's kind of what I've always done," he said. "I'm a violinist, not a composer. I know the intricacies of the instrument."

It's nerve-wracking enough to open the door at a party and find a security officer on the other side. Imagine opening that door naked. That's what happened at the first annual naked party in the spring of 2004, when Anna Troyansky '06 answered the door for a female security officer. Consistent with the theme of the party, Troyansky was completely naked.

In his independent study for theater, Bari Robinson '07 explores William Shakespeare's juiciest characters: the bad guys.

The first time many people hear the alma mater, "Raise Songs to Bowdoin," it's usually at an awkward orientation event. For a few, it's in a bar with a crowd of men's lacrosse alums who know the "songs" as "sons." At this year's capital campaign launch, Assistant Professor of Music Vineet Shende will give the Bowdoin community new memories of the alma mater.

When Michael Merenda '98 gets married tomorrow, the Bowdoin late '90s musical scene will be there in full force. José Ayerve '96, frontman of Bowdoin-born indie-rock band Spouse, is one of Merenda's groomsmen and will sing his original "Siempre Capaz" as the first song for Merenda and bride Ruth Ungar. Other alumni in attendance will be Dan Pollard '98, another Spouse member, Kent Lanigan '98, and Carter Little '98, a music producer in Nashville.

With the launch of Bowdoin's iTunes U, students can unearth episodes of the now defunct Bowdoin Cable Network (BCN) soap opera "Coles Tower," see episodes of Hari Kondabolu's '04 variety show, and watch live feeds of the football games.

Kelly Kerney '02 can't wait to come back to Maine. "I didn't see the ocean until I was 17," Kerney, an Ohio native and resident of Richmond, Virginia, said in an interview with the Orient. "I had never been to New England before visiting Bowdoin, and the rocks and the coast were surreal. When you're feeling like you're living somewhere beautiful, it helps when you're trying to make some kind of art."

Few bands on campus can claim Zach, the Schwartz Outdoor Leadership Janitor, as their first fan. When the Spins first started playing, the band didn't have access to the music practice rooms in Gibson Hall. Guitarist Dave York '07 obtained permission for the group to practice in the OLC thanks to his status as a trip leader. So Zach witnessed the band's beginnings.

Here's what the public knows about Racer X: It features Bowdoin Assistant Professor of English Aaron Kitch on the keyboard and Assistant Professor of Music Vin Shende on vocals and guitar. Other members of the band are Dave "Big D" Morrell and Pat "the Snake" Cyr. The band plays '80s music. But beneath this premise, Kitch and Shende insist there lies a dark and sometimes twisted history full of intrigue and references to obsolete pop stars.

Kerry Burke '84 has moved well beyond smashing Hostess cupcakes with a hockey stick. The dessert destruction occurred during the talent section of the 1984 Mr. Bowdoin pageant, when Burke also remarked on Bowdoin sports and tuition. As a city reporter with the New York Daily News for the last four years, Burke now devotes his time and energy to the stories of New York.

"Home," the musical that began during a drive from New Jersey to Bowdoin almost three years ago, finally comes to Pickard Theater March 2 to 4 at 8 p.m. Davin Michaels '06, Michael LoBiondo '06, and James Nylund '06 spent a major part of their time at Bowdoin producing this musical about four friends struggling with the challenges that come with graduating. It also focuses on a couple who has to make a choice about where home is after graduation; one lives in New York and the other in New Jersey.

At this year's "The Vagina Monologues," 40 of Bowdoin's own women will bring humorous, traumatic, and silenced sexual experiences into the open.

Single men at Bowdoin College who are dreading a dateless Valentine's Day: Improvabilities has a solution. Julia Bond '09. All that's left is for these boys to show up to the Improvabilities show Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium. If they lose out on the date, at least they can see a night of great sketch comedy. To explain how Bond will be auctioned off on Saturday night, co-director Dan Brady '08 said, "On Saturday we'll play our own version of 'The Dating Game' in which a member of the audience will end up winning a date with our very own Julia Bond.

Rumors tend to fly around the last week of April every year: why do we call it Ivies? The real reason is probably that it is the weekend when they traditionally planted the ivy on the dorms (though not much grows in Maine in April?it might make more sense for planting season to be in mid-July), but the stories run the gamut. One of the myths is that Ivies Weekend commemorates when Bowdoin rejected becoming part of the Ivy League, or on the other hand, when the Ivy League rejected Bowdoin. Whatever the truth is, students milling around campus this weekend don't really care?for them, Ivies is a much-needed and crazy last hurrah before finals and graduation.

When 200 women respond to questions about their memories and experiences with sexuality, there are some pretty interesting answers. They talk about everything from bad gynecologist experiences to violence against women to orgasms and everything in between.

Try saying "ethnomusicology research." Then, try singing it. Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir, who will perform at Pickard Theater Friday night at 8:00 p.m., do that with their combination of slave songs, spirituals, work songs, and field hollers.

It was worth the wait. When Robert Randolph and the Family Band took the stage, an hour late, last Friday night in Morrell Gym, the audience forgot the wait. They forgot that Randolph and his band had been sitting in their hotel room eating lobster until 8:30. All they heard was the music and the incredible talent the band displayed. From the moment the band played their opening instrumental number until the finale where every band member switched instruments, everyone was dancing for the whole concert.

The music industry defines Corey Harris as a blues guitarist, but as the audience in Sargent Gym found out last Friday night, Harris's music goes beyond the traditional definition of the blues. With the help of drummer Johnny Gilmore, Harris infused his show with reggae, Cajun, and world music flavors to create his unique version of the blues.

They could have claimed it was the leisure suits, but the Jim Weeks Philharmonic won Bowdoin's Battle of the Bands without help from their wardrobe. Thanks to their funk style, great rock covers, and excellent musicianship, Jim Weeks won in the Pub last

Between the traditional costumes, the Bowdoin guys in drag, rapper Snacky Chan, and a Grease sequence, the annual ASA Fashion Show was more than any average fashion show.

Shakespeare inspires awe in many actors and students, and Henry V is no different. Aaron Hess '04 decided to tackle the play about kings and wars for his senior honors project in English and theater, calling Shakespeare "a demanding playwright [who] has to be taken seriously."