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MATTI SCANNELL

ae@technewsiit.com

Born Ruffians rough up Chicago

Robin Babb
TECHNEWS WRITER

On January 16, Lincoln Hall, I got to see
one of my favorite contemporary bands, Born
Ruffians.

If you haven’t heard their music before I
suggest you change that immediately; pick up
their first album Red, Yellow & Blue and listen
to it a dozen times, because it is fantastic and
gives me hope for the future of songwriting.
With all its screechy choruses and beautifully
upbeat guitar riffs, it’s also a sure remedy for
the winter doldrums.

Since I’ve followed the Ruffians for quite
a while and seen them perform once before, I
certainly had high expectations for this show.
The energy and optimism in all their music
promises a great concert experience, and
thankfully they made good on that promise.
They did play a select few songs from Red,
Yellow & Blue last night, but they focused mostly
on material from their second album, Say It,
with a few new tunes for good measure. While
these new songs were received well, it was quite
apparent that the appeal for the audience was
shouting along to every song they knew the

words to; I’m not complaining about that, I was
doing the same thing. They just make the kind
of songs that are such a powerful combination
of weird, catchy, and meaningful that they get
hardwired into your brain.

Future Monarchs and Night Moves, the
opening bands, clearly had a similar character.
Though I had never heard either of them before,
it was easy to see the appeal. Night Moves
especially had a good set, with a sound like a
less obnoxious MGMT with a better guitarist.
Though they perhaps were a little too generous
with the vocal reverb at points, the singer has a
strong enough voice to assure you that it’s not
done out of desire to compensate.

Perhaps a bit less energetic than the last
time I saw them perform, Born Ruffians were
otherwise on the top of their game last night.
Even the new songs were polished, and the
singer Luke Lalonde hit all the high notes that
make their wordless choruses ohisoiadorable.
The audience, which was generally younger
than I expected, responded in turn with
enthusiasm and lots of offikey singing along and
clapping, which I’m beginning to think are just
trademarks of their shows. Though these things
could be annoying to some, it’s hard not to get on
the same level when Born Ruffians are playing.

TechNews | TuesdayJanuary29, 2013

 

Pho to courtesy ofm usicsriitch.com

Mag Mile's Parade of Lights radiates tradition

August Lysy
TECHNEWS WRITER

A few weeks ago I went to see the
Magnificent Mile Lights Parade. For those
of you unfamiliar with the tradition, the city
closes down Mag Mile and the parade heads
south from Oak Street, down the southbound
lane; and as the lead float bearing Minney
and Mickey Mouse passes each block, a brief
ceremony is conducted by the two Grand Mice,
culminating in a countdown from five and the
lighting of all the trees on the block. It’s magical.
And I’m not even being sarcastic.

At twentyithreeiyears old I found

 

Movie Review:

the whole spectacle to be nothing short of
wonderful, in the mostliteral sense of the word:
wonderifull. But the wonder had nothing to do
with the trees suddenly lighting up.

The wonder for me lied in the complete
experience: to walk across the shut, down main
street amidst thousands of people; to look up
at the apartments and restaurants and clothing
stores and to see people doing nothing but
eagerly watching the procession; to be there and
feel that energy and excitementithe marching
bands, the gymnastsithat was the true magic,
the true mystique of the evening.

So often, community events come across
to me as trite and contrived: contemporary

speeches are watered down rhetoric meant
to incite some lost communal passion, and
festivals revolve around overpriced food and
petty amusements. What is there that truly
brings a community together for the sake of
community? All the examples I can think of
center around some aspect of personal gain,
either of food or entertainment.

Perhaps I’m overlooking some factor
of entertainment (there are, I think, other
attractions coinciding with the Parade), but
I see the Parade of Lights as a wonderful
exception to this (admittedly cynical) thesis.

There, I felt a true community spirit
moving among thousands of strangers. There,

thousands of families stood in the cold for no
practical reason, for no personal gain. And the
mystical part of this isn’t that they attended for
the community, necessarily, but that such an
occasion as a paradeiand this one, of lightsi
even exists, would even attract a crowd.

The significance of the Parade of Lights is,
today, the tradition of it, and tradition bespeaks
community: our tradition. And while, say, the
Food Festival or the countless neighborhood
festivals will all draw crowds for fancy hot
dogs, craft beers, and live music, none achieve
the mystical quality of the Parade of Lights,
that gathers a community of people together
around light.

 

Images courtesy ofarcchicago.blogspo t.com, chicagotriburie.com, Kc partyearthcom

Action flick isn't Schwarzenegger's ‘Last Sta nd'

Melanie Decelles
TECHNEWS WRITER

I absolutely love Arnold
Schwarzenegger and had been eagerly
anticipating his return to the big screen.
Unfortunately, “The Last Stand” was not quite
the thrilling return I’d hoped for.

The movie takes place in a small town
in southern California where Schwarzenegger’s
character has moved to be the town Sheriff
following a dark event causing him to leave the
narcotics division of the LAPD.

If this seems like an excessive amount
of detail, I assure you it’s only par for the course.
Every character involved seems to have years of
back story. Don’t worry about trying to catch up
though; every time anyone opens their mouth
they helpfully tell you what everyone’s been up
to for the last ten years.

The true star of the movie, however,
isn’t Arnold or even the cartel drug lord trying

to escape America and a death sentence by
crossing the border in the sleepy little town
under Schwarzenegger’s protection; the real star
is a “super car” stolen by the drug lord, Cortez.

If you can’t guess from the fawning
done by the characters that you’re supposed
to be impressed by this car, it should become
clearer during the many slow motion scenes of
its amazing ability to go very fast. Cortez and the
“super car” spend most of the movie outrunning
a FBI Agent. The special effects are spentlargely
on the cars, leaving the fight scenes gloriously
filled with plastic limbs and red paint.

The movie ends in the typical show,
down between the slick foreigner and the
[inexplicably Austrian] hometown boy. Cortez
makes a point to address Schwarzenegger’s age
repeatedly, as if that negates the fact that he’s
still the size of a Buick. Despite the slapstick and
townspeople who act as if they’re waiting on a
laugh track, Schwarzenegger still has an ability
to make you root for him in the end.

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Image courtesy offiImofiIia.com