The Bowdoin Orient

The first thing I noticed upon entering the Barn Door Café in Topsham was its conspicuous lack of decent beverages. As I pondered the soup and sandwich offerings, I wondered what food I could possibly order to accompany the selection of strawberry milk, chocolate milk, Gatorade, diet Snapple, Sierra Mist, and bottled water. Was a can of Coke, a bottle of Orangina, or something from Nantucket Nectars too much to ask? Apparently. I decided on a large bottle of ginger ale accompanied by the Crunchy Thai Vegi sandwich, while my friend stuck with water and the Sicilian sandwich?chicken, pesto, and tomatoes on French bread.

While options abound in downtown Brunswick for a daily latte or red-eye coffee jolt, until this past week, getting a cup of good quality loose-leaf tea was difficult. Having it alongside a piping bowl of soup or a crispy panini was next to impossible. Luckily for Bowdoin's tea drinkers, however, Brunswick's brand new Sweet Leaves Teahouse opened September 30, just in time for Parents Weekend.

Critics have lauded Cold Roses as a return to Adams's roots, with a more organic, lo-fi sound. It does not disappoint, measuring up quite well to all of his earlier work, but most notably to Whiskeytown's three stellar albums. More obviously than Adams's recent work, Cold Roses reflects the influences of musical greats like Bob Dylan, Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash as well as contemporary artists like Wilco, Neko Case, and Jesse Malin.

Looking for some good live music to spice up your weekend? Search no further than the Reel Big Fish concert this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. in Morrell Gym, with special guest emo/pop-punk band the Spotlight, which features Rob Reider '07 on bass.

Looking for a little southern comfort to keep you warm now that it's chilly out? Search no further than the Virginia Coalition concert this Friday in Morrell Lounge. Any Virginian worth their salt (and there are so many of them at Bowdoin, right?) listens to VACO, and all the cool kids from the D.C. area caught on after the release of its second album, Townburg. VACO is now promoting their recently released fourth album, OK to Go, but expect plenty of old favorites from its previous albums Townburg, Rock and Roll Party, and The Colors of the Sound.

Detective movies are fairly common, but existential detective movies? Those are harder to come by. Nevertheless, director David Russell brings us just such a movie in the form of I Heart Huckabees, out this week at Regal Cinemas in Brunswick.

The Motorcycle Diaries follows on the heels of another superb Spanish-language road trip movie, 2001's Y Tu Mamá También, which coincidentally also stars Garc¡a-Bernal. All similarities end there because the primary focus of The Motorcycle Diaries is Ché's evolution from upper-middle class pre-med student to future revolutionary, played out on the lush and spectacular backdrop of Argentinean pampas, Chilean desert highlands, and the verdant backwoods of the Peruvian and Venezuelan Amazon.

Maine's endangered flora and fauna are the unusual yet charming subject of "Threatened and Endangered," artist Rebecca Goodale's exhibit on display this month in the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library.

Virginia-based, Grammy-winning folk and country artist Mary Chapin Carpenter released her new album, Between Here and Gone, last week. The CD is the seasoned artist's tenth, and the first to showcase new work since Time*Sex*Love in 2001.

"I'm really excited about the Spring Dance Show," said Karen Fossum '07, a dancer in VAGUE. "It's so great to perform and show people what we've been working on." Her enthusiasm is catching, and you too will be able to partake in it at the 33rd annual Spring Dance Show this weekend.