by Autumn Kushner

Rowdy and Redass

Leave You Traveling

Manifest Destiny started it all: the idea that each individual in the country had the right and the free will to simply pick up their lives and relocate, traveling thousands of miles to find a better version of life. Through this, every American is born with a sense of identity only matched by Napoleon, Caesar, and Ghangis Kahn. Inspired by them and all that they accomplished, as this summer approaches,  let the ghost of Jack Kerouac inhabit your mind: take off in search of the America and the dream that every young adult trapped in a small town longs for. Even if you do not have much money or time to hit the road, there are many places even in short driving distance from here that can enhance your life in ways you couldn’t even imagine. Below is a list of some of the most enchanting places within a few hours to go with friends, lovers, or even family.

Jefferson, Tx/ Caddo Lake- The perfect place for a weekend getaway for you and your special someone. About 4 hours away lies Caddo Lake, the only natural lake in Texas. It’s a Bayou. The town of Jefferson is a really interesting old timey town, riddled with Civil War stories, and it’s home to the Jefferson Hotel, one of the most haunted buildings in the country. Caddo Lake itself is beautiful and there are cottages everywhere that are rentable for a pretty decent price.

Guadelupe River- About two to three hours away is the Guadelupe. Spending a day floating in the river and drinking beer in the heat of the summer is perfect for a large group of friends. Often times they have concerts at night in the river as well. They even had Blue October go through last summer. If you take the scenic way down 77, you can easily make a detour by the Spoetzl Brewery, home of Shiner beer, for a tour. Check the website for tour times. It would be a good way to get your buzz going before hitting the water.

Moody Gardens, Galveston, Tx- It looks like the pyramids from the outside. Each pyramid encases a really interesting display. One is an aquarium where you can see amazing animals, including penguins, which you can actually meet this summer. Who doesn’t want to meet a penguin? One is a rainforest where monkeys and birds can be heard cackling through the trees. The last is a museum type setting where you can explore the rich port of Galveston’s history as the first real immigrant port in America, perfect for a family trip.

Cypress Valley Canopy Tours- In the heart of the Texas wine country lays this terrific gem. About 30 minutes outside of Austin you can go zip lining through the tree tops. While the individual prices are a little high, they are willing to negotiate group rates. This is perfect for clubs and teams of all sorts. Stop by the wineries afterward to take the stress away from hanging precariously high above a forest floor.

We live in an amazing state. There are quite a few other things to do, too. Living here, we are able to explore many things that most people in the rest of the country do not have at their disposal. There are many concerts in Austin, clubs in Houston, amusement parks and the Alamo in San Antonio. There are mountains to the west and beaches to the south. And before spending another minute of your free time lazing around on the couch, remember that if you don’t live your life, no one is going to live it for you. These small trips add value to life and doing them with the people you love can bring you closer together than ever.

It’s next to impossible to find a word that effectively defines an artist as undeniably ubiquitous as Phil Pritchett. Over the past twenty years, Pritchett has been making Texas music and doing it his own way from day one. It’s no coincidence that he is known as “The World’s Most Fiercely Independent Artist.” He has earned every syllable of the title since he hit the scene twenty years ago. It is truly an honor to cover such a raw and unbridled musician that does things his own way no matter who says otherwise.

In the early days of what is now referred to as “modern Texas music,” Phil Pritchett found himself blazing an unknown path through the 90’s that would eventually lead to the Texas Music explosion that we have witnessed in the new millennium. Without artists like Phil Pritchett there is no Cross Canadian Ragweed or Randy Rogers Band. Pritchett made Texas music “cool” and played an integral part in getting this rock ‘n’ roll and country music combination we call “Texas music” to be heard and accepted, not only here but nationwide. Songs like “Maria”, “Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones”, “Tougher than the Rest”, and “God Save the King” defined Pritchett’s early career and caught fire when what has since been dubbed “Phans” caught wind of Phil Pritchett’s music.

At the dawn of his second decade in Texas Music, Pritchett continues to redefine himself with the changing times. He has seen the ups and downs of the music industry first hand and over the past year he has put his wealth of knowledge in motion with the birth of the “P2 Podcast” in 2009. Today, one year after its debut, the P2 Podcast has been fully embraced by music fans across the globe. It can now be heard over the radio air waves across Texas and world-wide via the internet and sites such as www.RadioFreeTexas.org. Through this weekly Podcast, Pritchett has once again found himself building a new fan base of “Phollowers,” if you will, that return each week in search of guidance from a man that knows the ins and outs of the music industry from years of personal experience.

Not only is Pritchett putting out his own new music at a rate unrivaled by any other act on the road today but he is also producing many up and coming artists in his undying attempts to fuel the Texas music industry—even through these trying economic times. Pritchett aims to give all bands an opportunity to record in a professional setting at a price that even a college student could afford. Just ask local fan favorite, The Mason Timmons Band, who just wrapped up production on their first EP in the studio with  Pritchett back in January. If you are interested in recording with Phil Pritchett, or know someone who might be, you can get more information at his website www.philpritchett.com.  Check it out and give him a call. Pritchett is very hands-on in everything he does and the man himself answers the phone, every time it rings.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, staying relevant in the music business is what separates the fads from the legends. Through thick and thin, Phil Pritchett has never lost the vision or the passion that he came into this business with.  That is what sets him apart from those who let the industry get the best of them. You can catch “The World’s Most Fiercely Independent Artist,” Phil Pritchett, live at Zapato’s Cantina on March 17 for St. Patrick’s Day in Northgate. No one puts on a live show like Phil Pritchett.  Come a fan; leave a “Phan.”

by Autumn Kushner

Around this time of year, when the sun is itching to break out of their hideous gray entrapment, the flowers are starting to sprout, and all around, there are hints of green. This season though, the green isn’t sprouting from the ground or growing on trees. Everyone would be a lot happier if that were the case. But unfortunately, the green of this year’s season is protected by robots, tellers, and locked drawers. With the slaughterhouse that the job market has become in recent years with the decline of the economy, those little slips of green have become much more prevalent.

Since the downturn in the economy, pressure seems to be steadily mounting. Many students are dropping out of school because many businesses are no longer hiring part time employees. With tuition hikes and food prices at a premium, even those with parental financial help need jobs. In the College Station market, this prospect, frankly, sucks. Everyone needs a job more than ever and even the best job hunter in the entire world would be hard pressed to find anything here. Those who are working are feeling the pressure as well. With businesses cutting back on their employment, the job loads seem to be doubling and tripling.

With all the added pressure from monetary concerns, it is easy to overlook the things that make people the happiest. Relationships with friends seem to dwindle as the pressure of the cost of a night out falls heavy on the shoulders of those hit hardest. Dating seems to go out the window as well. In the words of a friend, “I don’t have the time or the money to date. I don’t have time to work either but that one has to happen.” In the struggle with every day life, these things which become so hard to pursue and so easy to throw away, these friendships and potential relationships, are undeniably the only glimmer of light in all the pressure.

Counter to what may be believed, hanging out or even a night out does not have to cost much. Hanging out after work, just watching a movie can be a good way to keep people at least knowing that you want to see them, even if you are tired. If drinking needs to be involved, try going on a week night when drink prices are low. In regards to dating, try a picnic on a nice day. Picnics can be some of the most memorable dates and all you need is a loaf of bread, some cold cuts, lettuce and tomato.

So what if the days of Red Lobster and impressively shiny shoes over? Luckily, most girls these days are tired of the fancy food and would rather hit the trail in tennies than the dance floor in stilettos and friends like to talk more than to go to a show. The relationships will help you get through the money mess if you only let it. Putting off sleep or an oil change for an extra day in exchange for some quality time for some person to person contact will ultimately make you more relaxed and feel less like the world is completely against you.

1. Candidate answered cell phone and asked the interviewer to leave her own office because it was a “private” conversation.

2. Applicant told the interviewer he wouldn’t be able to stay with the job long because he thought he might get an inheritance if his uncle died – and his uncle wasn’t “looking too good.”

3. The job seeker asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.

4. The applicant smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.

5. Candidate said she could not provide a writing sample because all of her writing had been for the CIA and it was “classified.”

6. Candidate told the interviewer he was fired for beating up his last boss.

7. When the applicant was offered food before the interview, he declined saying he didn’t want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking.

8. An applicant said she was a “people person” not a “numbers person” — in her interview for an accounting position.

9. During a phone interview the candidate flushed the toilet while talking to hiring manager.

10. The applicant took out a hair brush and brushed her hair.

Photo by Mark Lancaster

We’ll be performing our last big show of the year on December 4^th at Revolution and this will be my last article writing for Maroon Weekly as I prepare to move to Austin after graduation. I thought it appropriate to finally write about the organization that has made my college experience.

In the summer of 2008 I got a call from James Bobal telling me about a jam-band he had been playing with in College Station. Bobal, an avid, no, obsessive Phish fan, had done his fair share playing guitar in the College Station country circuit and I was happy to know he had finally found a band to satisfy his unflagging love for jamming.

Shortly thereafter I was invited to join them on stage for a Sunday session at Revolution Café & Bar in downtown Bryan. I had performed a few times a Revolution but never with a band that fit the ambiance, so I was excited to give the stage by the train tracks another shot with a different sound.

At that time no name had officially been adopted to the group and the stage was pretty open to anyone who wanted to add an instrument. In early days there were 13 people associated with the ensemble and the chaos that ensued created a unique energy of free-funk improvisation.

There were no rules, no structure, and songs could last 30 minutes.

I had spent the previous year in Barcelona, Spain singing at open-mic nights and playing with an improvisational blues band. My first two years at A&M had been pretty lack-luster artistically, so getting this invitation from Bobal couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time as I prepared to re-assimilate into Aggie life.

I remember being in the car with Bobal as he told JAM keyboard and saxophone player Zack Morgan that I was going to come to that Sunday’s jam session.

“What do you mean, he’s just going to make words up” I heard Morgan ask on the other line.

My initial role as a vocalist was not to be a front man or lyricist, but just like another instrument, to add a new texture to the soundscape. That Sunday night I watched them start the concert, getting a feel for the sound, and then Bobal called me on stage and my strawberryJAM journey began.

From the summer of 2008 we would continue to play fully improvisational concerts and Sunday and Thursday jam sessions soon turned into Friday night headlining shows. People we didn’t know or recognize were showing up at our performances and we were even making a little money. Not only had I finally found an Aggie organization where I fit in, but some of my musical dreams were also becoming realities.

For a year we stuck with the improvisational format. We got a kick out telling people that we were just bullshitin’ up there and it fit in with our academic work load to never have to practice. After a while, however, we began to realize that maybe we had worn out the bullshit format.

In the summer of 2009 most of the strawberryJAMers would travel around to summer festivals like Bonaroo and Wakarusa and from seeing such an array of serious bands that fit into the jam genre we began to realize that maybe it was time to reconsider our approach on shows. I got a call from Morgan over the summer expressing this sentiment.

“You know, our audience takes us a lot more serious than we take ourselves,” he said.

He was right. We had stuck to a custom of not lifting a finger for performances. Showing up with no idea of what we would do and just seeing where it would take us. In the summer of 2009 we began to see that although this approach was artistically adventurous we were not actually reaching our full creative potential by just jamming.

As I wrote in a previous article, improvisation is the cradle of creativity. It’s where you search your mind for new ideas and bring them out of the unconscious, but if you pull them out and just leave them in their raw form then all you really have is an immature idea. Improvisation is crucial and pure, but it’s not the end of growth, simply the seed.

Over this last summer we had our first practices and they felt as natural as our first jam sessions. We had spent a full year getting to know each other and learning how to handle our chemistry as musicians, so by the time we started structuring it came easy and we all saw how we would individually make the arranged material work while not negating our improvisational roots.

Over a four-day weekend in September we went to Austin for our first recording session that produced The Recession EP.  It was an exciting and poignant time to spend with Matt Bongirno, Logan Dance, Derik Kendal, James Bobal and Zack Morgan. We had been through a lot over the last year and we were finally producing our first musical product.

Just as naturally as the other phases had taken place we were proud to bring songs, some of which had originated in jam sessions, into the studio and record them live during four days of hard work. As a musician, it felt a bit like growing up, but in a good way.

Personally, and on behalf of the band, I would like to thank everyone that has come out to see us perform over the last year and half. I would also like to thank you all for supporting the whole artistic scene in the Brazos Valley, for I have seen it grow immensely since my freshman year here. I would also like to thank all former members of strawberryJAM: Grant Pittman, Miles Armstrong, Evan Tate, Mitch Curtis, and Scott Kunkle. You guys were essential to this musical progression.

As a musician I couldn’t be more blessed to have found such a great group a guys to play with in a town I once thought of as devoid of all creativity. Being in strawberryJAM gave me a place in Aggieland and a feeling of belonging. As I get ready to graduate in December and move to Austin shortly thereafter I can only look back on my time here with joy and satisfaction. We only have a few shows left this semester and though College Station performances will be more spread out in the spring you still be able to find us at Revolution playing shows every now and then by the train tracks

I don’t know what the future holds, but as our mantra goes “The world is toast, and we’re just spreadin’ the JAM.”

Thank you Aggieland.

strawberryJAM will be hosting its last big performance on December 4 at Revolution Café & Bar featuring jazz legends J. Wesley Haynes trio. You can find the event on facebook or look for the Strawberry Road posters around town.

www.myspace.com/strawberryjamsforyou

A special thank you to Mohammad Hashim for the cover photo of Andrew Bennett, of strawberryJAM. This photo was used on the 12/3/09 issue of Maroon Weekly, as well as the cover of this story on the website.

]]> http://maroonweekly.com/2009/12/thank-you-aggieland-from-strawberryjam/feed/ 0 http://maroonweekly.com/2009/12/preemptive-self-defense-is-valid/ http://maroonweekly.com/2009/12/preemptive-self-defense-is-valid/#comments Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:43:32 +0000 PaigeMelvin http://maroonweekly.com/?p=967 By Tony Listi

Preemptive war is valid because self-defense, including preemptive self-defense, is valid. If someone has both the ability and intention to harm you, you may justly act first and exercise force to prevent that harm from coming upon you and those you love. This moral prerogative applies to both individuals and nations, both personal and international conflicts. Thus a nation may justly preemptively attack another nation that has the ability and intention to attack it first.

Of course, easier said than done correctly and prudently. Because of the tragic fallen nature of human beings and the limits of human knowledge, the appropriate application of this precept to specific concrete situations is typically more complicated and difficult than mere moral theorizing removed from details and the pressure and anxiety of the moment. The real debate is not whether preemption in itself is valid or not but whether it is valid in a particular set of circumstances or not.

Determining the real motives of those exercising force is not always easy. Various interests and motives may exist simultaneously in a nation or even an individual. Not everyone engaged in a war may be acting in sincere self-defense. The right of preemptive self-defense can be and has been abused and perverted throughout history into an excuse for unjustified aggression and expansion.

However, such abuses have no bearing on the validity of preemption itself. The right to self-defense is not invalid merely because many aggressors themselves have appealed to it as a rationalization and excuse for their aggression. Until the parousia, unjust aggressors will always exist and attack whether we uphold the right of self-defense or not, so, as both a practical and moral matter, we must support the innocent in their attempts to protect themselves and their own. Merely outlawing aggression and war doesn’t work. We’ve tried that hippie delusion before (cf. Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928).

Additionally, determining with reasonable certainty whether an enemy has both the ability and intention to inflict harm is not easy. Many nations are understandably not very open and honest about the extent of their offensive capabilities. Finding out their true capabilities can be quite difficult. Intelligence gathering is not infallible.

The controversy over whether Saddam Hussein possessed “weapons of mass destruction” (WMDs) is a case in point. Currently, the truth about Iran’s nuclear program has also been clouded in some uncertainty with various inconsistent reports about its nuclear capabilities. And with regard to intentions, how is one to know when a nation’s leader is sincere in their hostile threats or not? Perhaps it is merely tough talk intended to intimidate or deter but with no real intention to use force. Or maybe they say what they mean and mean exactly what they say. Some nations intentionally and actively try to withhold and veil their real intentions from other nations through the use of secrecy or misdirection.

The unique and immense power wielded by not only modern nations but also transnational terrorist organizations potentially makes the exercise of correct and prudent moral judgment all the more difficult. The devastating effects of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons make the potential consequences of inaction, of submitting to the first blow of an attack to supposedly secure the moral high ground with certainty, more catastrophic and thus immoral than ever before in the history of humanity.

Moreover, the revolutionary power of communication and transportation technology (e.g. the internet, the cell phone, and the airplane) has enabled relatively small sub-national groups and even individuals to organize and execute massive attacks on innocent life that are not easily detected beforehand without concerted effort to uncover the conspiracies.

Before this recent technological revolution in weaponry, communication, and transportation, one could easily see the gathering forces of an enemy before their charge, and the impact of any guerilla attacks was relatively minor in scope. But warfare and the moral reflection that must accompany it have now fundamentally changed in the short span of a few decades.

There are no easy answers. But we can demand that our leaders actually care about protecting American lives, pray for wisdom and guidance, and study each situation carefully so that they may act prudently to protect us and our loved ones. Our leaders should not sacrifice American lives in order to appease and avoid offense to foreign peoples or to certain ethnic or religious populations here at home.

Yet the great poet Robert Frost had a wonderful definition of a liberal: a person “too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.” Indeed, the American political left sees its own country of residence, the United States, both militarily and culturally as the ever-present global threat and aggressor. There can be no legitimate self-defense for America, which, in their mind, deserves every violent attack it receives, whether they be from the likes of Bill Ayers, Black Panthers, Osama bin Laden, or Nidal Malik Hasan. America is deemed collectively ever-guilty of racism and exploitation.

Thus the left has no interest in protecting innocent American lives, only in protecting ideologically favored groups of people. American Christianity and capitalism are the twin “oppressors” that must be subverted if not purged, and so leftists are happy when those with more “courage” than they employ violence on behalf of their warped worldview.

In Marxist fashion, leftists judge whether self-defense or force in general is appropriate in a certain situation not based on moral principle but on identity politics. Thus violence against perceived “oppressors” (i.e. whites, males, Christians, the rich, heterosexuals, Americans, etc.) is rationalized, if not explicitly declared legitimate. And people of the “oppressed” classes (i.e. blacks, Hispanics, females, non-Christians but especially Muslims, the poor, homosexuals, foreigners, etc.) can do no wrong.

When asked “who is at fault?” the leftist does not contemplate “what exactly did each party do?” but merely “who are the parties involved?” Is this not precisely what President Obama did when asked about Professor Gates’ arrest?

Everyone thinks preemptive self-defense is legitimate. It is just a matter of who and what should be defended.

By Ryan Stone

In 2002, America Online had over 25 million subscribers. Today, that number clocks in at closer to 5 million. In that same time period, AOL’s stock value dropped about $180 billion. So, it’s no surprise that America Online recently announced that it is buying out and laying off one-third of its jobs, cutting its workforce to about 4,500 very scared employees. And they should be scared. The writing isn’t just on the wall for America Online; it’s basically chiseled into the frame.

It would be in bad taste to call America Online a scam, a halfhearted endeavor built on bad software, dubious interface, epic slowness, and mafia-inspired customer retention policies. So, we won’t go there. What we will remember is that there was a time when it was on top, when other providers like Prodigy and Compuserve were household names, and kudos to anyone that remembers GEnie, General Electric’s online service which once cost anywhere from $5 to $18 an hour, depending on what time it was accessed. To put that in perspective, playing Gemstone II on GEnie for two hours on a Friday night in 1988 would have cost you the same as a month of high-speed broadband service does today.

And, that’s no surprise. The internet wasn’t a glimmer of what it is in 2009. It wasn’t necessary, and it really wasn’t necessary for people to use it for hours at a time. Sure, there were games like Dragon’s Gate (the text-based ancestor of today’s massively multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft), but they took so much money to play that they garnered only the most narrow, dedicated fan bases. The once infamous Steve Case, former CEO of America Online, helped to change all that by gearing his product toward the everyday user, making it less technical while also eliminating hourly fees in favor of a monthly $19.99 price tag. What resulted was a boom that left all the other internet providers in the dust.

Then, in 2000, AOL merged with Time Warner in a bold, visionary effort, but their timing couldn’t have been any worse. Estimates say that about $5 trillion worth of technology wealth disappeared over the course of the next two years when the dot-com bubble burst. At the same time, Cable, DSL, and other dedicated internet connections were becoming widely available, eliminating the need for America Online’s now snail-paced dial-up services. Then cell phone providers began offering mobile versions of the internet at the same time laptops began coming with wireless networking cards as a standard setup feature.

So, here we are. Reports say that AOL and Time Warner will split up sometime this December. The buyouts and layoffs will move forward, just like they have in so many other companies over the past year. The company will go through a costly restructuring, but, barring some genius idea or irresistible innovation, it’s safe to say that AOL is finished. As companies like HughesNet continue to scour the countryside for remote, inaccessible users and, as providers like Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint continue to throw high speed service out of thin air to anyone within range of a cell phone tower, AOL will mostly likely disappear to join its old friends Compuserve, GEnie, and Prodigy in the annals in internet history.