page 6 • variety • april 3, 2008
THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS RECAP
Hokahey! wins battle of bands
By Doug Trumm
dmtrumm@csbsju.edu
They came. They performed. They conquered.
The band Hokahey! prevailed in the Battle of the Bands Friday, fending off six other bands on the stage of Br. Willie’s Pub.
The JEC also made it of.cial that Jack’s Mannequin will headline Pinestock at the battle.
Senior Ashlee Dilley, the JEC Concert Committee chair, estimated that 400 to 500 students attended the concert.
Dilley said the turnout was more than last year, but concert-goers were less crowded because they opened up half of the Sexton dining center.
The battling bands
Dilley said that the Concert Committee adjusted its selection process this year.
The Concert Committee listened to the demos on the same day as the submissions deadline March 10, but received complaints from students who didn’t get a demo in.
Senior Tyler Tholl and sophomore Mike Soukup turned in demos, but the demos were lost. Others complained that they intended to turn in a demo but failed to do so because the JEC was unclear about the deadline.
Dilley said the JEC had multiple drop-off points for demos and lost track of some of the demos.
“We did receive the demos, but there was miscommunication with Student Activities,” Dilley said.
Dilley said the miscommunication stems in part from Student Activities Director Gwen Schimek being on a vacation at the time.
“In order to be the most fair and ethical, we extended the deadline to Friday,” Dilley said. “And we listened to the whole group of demos again.”
Dilley said that the committee listened to 12-15 demos on March 14 and decided to go with seven bands instead of the traditional six because of the high quality of the demos.
The seven groups selected were Mike Soukup, The Run, Left to Write, Dylan Ronan’s band, Hokahey!, Justin Moehle’s band and The Fates.
Determining a champion
The Concert Committee also devised a different method of determining the winner of the contest.
Last year, the JEC invited three judges from KCLD radio station in St. Cloud to judge the competition.
By Amy Stubble.eld
alstubble.@csbsju.edu
Tortillas, fruit roll-ups and icing may not sound like the makings of a gourmet meal. But if you ask English professor Cindy Malone, they are ideal materials for crafting a handmade — and hypothetically edible — book.
Malone used those ingredients, in addition to licorice binding, to put together her entry for the campus’ .rst annual Edible Book Contest, held on April 1.
People around the world celebrate edible books. Inspired by an exhibit she saw and Internet photos of edible books, librarian LeAnn Suchy undertook the task of bringing the contest to campus.
“It was more successful than I ever could have imagined,” Suchy said.
Suchy said she enjoyed watching visitors smile and laugh as they looked at each of the 31 entries.
Seniors Steve Lemke, Jill Derouin, Molly Roske and junior Andy Julo worked with book arts professor Rachel Melis to craft eight entries for the contest.
They began by coming up with some literary, food-related puns.
The five eventually endeavored to create eight humorous, pun-inspired works of art — including “Ketchup in the Rye,” “Of Rice and Pen-ne,” and “Burger King Lear.” Their witticisms earned them the title of judge’s favorite. Other awards up for grabs included “most looks like a book” and “most inspired by a book.”
While Lemke admitted they spent four long hours putting together their entries, the artists de.nitely had a sense of humor about their creations. Julo referred to the contest as “book arts at its zenith,” while Lemke insisted that “on a hierarchy of assorted starches, potato really is Lord of the Fries.”
In addition to the Edible Books Contest, students can partake at many book arts related endeavors at CSB/SJU. The contest, which Suchy called an “interdisciplinary event,” worked in relationship with the CSB/SJU book arts program.
“While the book arts studio is at St. Ben’s, it complements projects at St. John’s like the St. John’s Bible,” Malone said. “Both demonstrate the rich history of the book.”
The studio is utilized in various English and art classes, including Malone’s editing and publishing class and Melis’ book arts class. The CSB book arts studio allows students to set type, work with the letter
“This year, we wanted to put the decision in the students’ hands,” Dilley said.
So, before the event, they randomly selected two male and three female students in the audience to judge the bands and gave them judging criteria, Dilley said. Each class had at least one representative.
At the end of the show the student judges met, deliberated and crowned Hokahey! the winner. The Fates came in second place, Dilley said.
“It was a tough decision; some students felt very strongly about some of the bands,” Dilley said.
Hokahey!
In Hokahey!, junior Drew Madson sings, sophomore Dylan Ronan plays lead guitar, senior Dave Messer plays rhythm guitar, senior Peter Lund plays bass, senior Molly Roske plays trumpet and keyboards and junior Pat Kamman plays drums.
“Our philosophy is that music isn’t just expressing ourselves, it’s about community,” Messer said.
Messer said the band is excited to be a part of the community with the other performers and the concert-goers at Pinestock.
“We want lots of audience participation,”
Mouths, minds devour books
Clemens’ Edible Books Contest tried to show reading can be deliciously fun
press and see the creation of a book from start to .nish.
“I enjoy letterpress printing, and there’s a lot of satisfaction in printing something over and over again,” Julo said.
“There are really a small number of colleges with excellent book arts programs,” Malone said.
Malone and Melis agreed that the demand for book arts is increasing, even as the necessity for traditional books may be decreasing. Neither think of the printed book as a dying artform.
“A lot of places will want to have (a book arts studio) soon,” Melis said, stressing that the studio is a unique campus feature.
“Books have a tactile, aesthetic quality fueled by daily life,” Malone said. “It’s an interactive artform.”
Julo, an art major who takes special interest in book arts, would agree.
“Things that become art forms are things that society has pushed by the wayside. Computers are replacing letterpress, but then books become antiques, in a way,” Julo said.
Julo said book arts are a dynamic medium for artists.
“Artist’s books aren’t con.ned to paper and word,” he said.
Messer said.
Hokahey! is considering some special guest appearances and working on a new set for their opening slot at Pinestock.
Messer even said they will take song requests from students. Students can e-mail requests to admadson@csbsju.edu. Hokahey! will try to .t these requests into their 30-minute set, Messer said.
Pinestock will take place on April 26. The JEC will add one or two more professional acts to
mamiesen@csbsju.edu
Many Minnesotans look forward to the first days of spring when they can shed their sweaters and hit the outdoors.
At the St. John’s Arboretum, the beginning of spring is marked by the crowd of volunteers heading out to the Sugar Shack on the first “Tapping Day” of the season.
MJ Bach, a CSB sophomore and Arboretum employee, said the maple syruping season usually begins in early March, lasts about .ve weeks, ending when new buds appear on the trees — sometime in mid-April.
This year’s season began on March 1, when 80 volunteers tapped 600 to 700 trees.
While Arboretum volunteers and employees typically collect the sap every day to keep it fresh, the highlight of the tapping season is the Maple Syrup Festival.
Held on two consecutive weekends, the festival is an opportunity for parents, students and children to learn about maple syruping.
The 2008 Maple Syrup Festival runs 1 to 4 p.m., March 29 and April 5. Volunteers give communities members demonstrations on sap collecting and tours of the Sugar Shack.
Members of the monastic community started tapping the trees at St. John’s in 1942 due to the sugar shortage in World War II. Since then, has shifted from pro
duction to education,
and the Arboretum
has gotten involved
in the annual
ritual.
“I love
everything
about it,”
Bach said
about the
yearly festival. “I get
excited when other people
are excited about it.”
Biology students
visit the taps for lab,
“It’s something they’ve never done before,” Bach said. “This is a unique experience they couldn’t get anywhere else.”
Another new experience for this year’s festival-goers is the performance of an original song by Bach, unveiled on the Tapping Day and performed both days of the festival.
“My supervisor at the Arboretum, Sarah Gainey, asked me to create a model to explain the physiological mechanism for sap .ow,” Bach said via e-mail. “She wanted something we could use in our Environmental Education classes to help teach young students.”
Finding the right words wasn’t too hard.
“As a songwriter, I have found that I am not the author of my best songs — they tend to write themselves,” Bach said. “Naturally, words relating to maple sap just started to .ow, pun intended.”
Bach will perform the song again with Danny Vitali, Joey Buhta and Molly Roske on the final day of the festival, April 5.
Syruping lyrics
Better than your Aunt
Jemima
Though it takes a lot of
time-a
Won’t you join me in my
mission?
Come enjoy the old
tradition.
— MJ Bach
