Got some something to say about State Patty's Day? Think the drinking age should be 18 instead of 21? Concerned about alcohol abuse on and off campus? You should check out the CDT's ongoing series on drinking culture entitled Focus on Excessive Drinking. The series contains many interesting viewpoints on a variety of drinking issues.
One column that caught my eye proposed new ways to control the mayhem that is State Patty's Day. Another concerned itself less with describing the problems of drinking abuse and focused on finding appropriate solutions.
Check out some of the columns and let me know what you think; especially with drinking, everybody has an opinion.
You've all heard about "Climategate" (in fact, we blogged about it earlier this week!). Penn State professor Michael Mann has been linked to emails that suggest research was falsified to support the claim for man-made global warming. In response, Penn State began an inquiry committee to look into the matter. After a few weeks of inquiring, the committee has decided to begin investigating instead.
But what is the difference between an Inquiry and an Investigation? Both are outlined in University policy RA10, "Handling Inquiries/Investigations Into Questions of Ethics in Research and in Other Scholarly Activities". This lengthy, yet accurately-titled, policy sets out the procedure to looking into situations such as Mann's.
Find out more after the jump.
Those in attendance last night at the UPUA meeting may not have been expecting anything interesting to happen, but they were in for quite a treat.
Drama ensued partway through the marathon session when DJ Ryan, CCSG Liaison to UPUA, resigned his position, effective immediately. The resignation was not a personal decision of Mr. Ryan, but of CCSG as an organization. CCSG, after attempting to collaborate with UPUA on many issues of importance, decided that they were not interested in continuing a formal relationship with a group that did not want to work with them.
No, they didn't literally maul the crowd. But they sure did play some solid tunes! Last night, Minus The Bear played to a sold out crowd in State Theatre, offering shelter to people who wanted to go to a concert last night but didn't like Puddle of Mudd for whatever reason.
Want to hear about Minus The Bear? Or maybe you're more interested in their openers, Phantogram and Maps and Atlases. Perhaps you're just curious about the picture to the left. In any event, read on for the full story.
I'll be frank - I hate State Patty's Day. I feel as though it's an unnecessary excuse to partake in destructive decisions. That does not, however, mean that I am opposed to the actual Saint Patrick's Day, which as a person of Irish decent, I am required to celebrate.
State Patty's Day was created four years ago when Saint Patrick's Day fell during spring break, which, I will admit, created an issue. However, since 2007, the holiday has safely fallen after Spring Break, allowing for us to dress in green, line up at bars for poor quality alcohol with green food dye in it, and pretend to actually like gingers. Personally, I think that one of those days is enough, and the Town of State College will agree with me.
Read on to find out more.
David Sanborn and crew played their version of jazz at the State Theatre last night to a packed house of older folks. Sanborn, on alto saxophone, was backed by keyboards, a drummer, and the famous Joey DeFrancesco on the B-3 organ. The whole evening he had the crowd, the median age of which was easily 55, clapping their hands and snapping their fingers in time with the music. Personally however, while I am an avid fan of jazz music, I am not a fan of his type of jazz music. Sanborn's music is usually categorized as smooth jazz. I don't think that's a very fair classification. For those unfamiliar, smooth jazz is a genre dominated by the infamous Kenny G. Having taken MUSIC 007, the Evolution of Jazz, with the great Dan Yoder, I learned that this is the lowest genre of jazz. Sanborn, on the other hand, I would describe as a funkier version of the aforementioned Kenny G. So, a little better, but not much.
Sanborn is touring for his latest album, his 24th, titled "On Everything", the title track of which is about his first grandchild, Genevieve. In addition to songs from that album, he played many others including the popular standard "Let the Good Times Roll". That was probably the group's best song of the evening. Sanborn filled the breaks between songs with stories about his new granddaughter. He complimented the State Theatre, noting that he had never been to State College before, unless he was here in the 70s, because, he joked, no one remembers the 70s. Humor aside, musically, the night was dominated musically by Joey DeFrancesco. The organist Sanborn called the "Philosopher of Funk" soloed throughout the night and was immensely more creative and entertaining than Sanborn himself. There was a reason the show was billed as "Featuring Joey DeFrancesco". Sanborn's solos were short and predictable, and he had a habit of continuing playing after the band had stopped, almost as if he needed to have the last word. That being said, Sanborn has clearly been doing something right throughout his career, having garnered six Grammy Awards. But, if Taylor Swift can win over Gaga, then maybe that's not such a big deal either.
Sanborn's next stop is the Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel tomorrow if you want to see how your impressions match up to my review. Additionally, if you are interested in jazz music, WPSU has a jazz show Fridays from 9-11 pm. One of the hosts of the show attended the Sanborn concert and is interested in local feedback about her jazz programming and any requests you may have. She goes by the name of Rain and will be broadcasting next on February 12th. Her email address can be found here.
http://www.onwardstate.com/images/stefan_choquette/sanborn/soundslider.swf?size=1&format=xml&embed_width=500&embed_height=430
Photographer: Stefan Choquette, Onward State Editor of Photography || [email protected]