Category Archives: Stories

Ryan Eilbeck and Friends at the Black River Café

By Alice Beecher

[youtube=http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZmMXPcxiRA]

On Wednesday night at Black River, three talented and unpretentious human beings came to share their art and stories. Ryan Eilbeck, Richard Wehrenberg Jr. and Matt Scheuermann are down to earth punks writing poetry in their basements, finding beauty in falling in love and toilet seats. Although the opening band was a bit discordant and the real show didn’t start until around 11, the event showcased some of the most moving poetry I’ve heard at Oberlin.

Arriving late because of a broken down van, Ryan Eilbeck, a poet from Columbus and a Lorain County native, immediately warmed up the crowd with funny banter and an easy stage presence. With poems that began as relatable, small town stories and later delved into deeper philosophical ideas, Eilbeck impressed the small but captivated audience.

Poems about dog shit and gold bonding became vehicles for finding meaning in the mundane, showcasing the perspective of someone seeing their childhood through clearer, older eyes.  “Bite,” a poem about Eilbeck’s sister getting a hickey, turned into a meditation on love and families, ending with the line “only get married if you can stand it.” Another family poem, “Bellybutton,” related Eilbeck’s relationship with his mother (and her political opinions) in anecdotes like “capitalism isn’t an umbilical cord, it’s a straw/where we were tied, but no longer are”. The last poem in the set, “Twelves,” was a vivid, bittersweet piece about how it feels to be a twelve-year old boy, obsessed with boobs and overwhelmed by loneliness. “Listen up twelves, go get struck by lightning” declared Eilbeck, to a crowd of nodding heads and knowing smiles.

The next poet in the group, Richard Wehrenberg Jr., unearthed beauty in the loss and growth that are integral to becoming a full human being. Interspersing his works with funny, intimate stage banter and stories that could almost classify as poetry, Wehrenberg invited the audience to see their own lives in his art. “If anything in this bear trap of a world should be considered truth, it is things that grow”, said Wehrenberg in his first poem, “subjective truths spitten in punk kitchens”. His next poem, from the collection “Think Tank,” posed rhetorical questions for his dog, such as “Do your organs have intrinsic value? Do you know you have been bought?” Other poems focused on the confusion of being young and restless in Midwestern college towns, with a piece about Kent State that ended with the killer line, “Whoever would have thought the afterlife would look so much like Ohio…there must be a backcountry for the beyond”.

The late night ended with a gritty yet lyrical performance by the folk musician Matt Scheuermann, who performs in the band “American War.” His songs begin with stretches of satisfying melody that propel into beautiful harshness, the sort of music you have to hear live to experience completely. “I’m assigning all these symbols to my feelings,” he sang, implying that words are often incapable of containing all we need to express. Nevertheless, it was satisfying to bring home a copy of the poets’ chapbook and know I could look back on their moments of wisdom.

Lyrical Turn-Ons: Erotic Expressions at the Cat

By Alice Beecher

Photo by Danielle Shiv.

Kicking off Safer Sex Week with equal parts beauty and humor, the Sexual Information Center’s “Erotic Expressions” presented a night of intimate poetry and risqué storytelling. Although the show started late and dragged occasionally, it was nevertheless an entertaining insight into the sexual lives of Oberlin students (and more famous literary figures…).

The night began with an Oberlin appropriate piece of erotica about introverted entomologists who theorize about praying mantises while having sex. Up next was a James Joyce poem read in hilarious imitation of the old Irishman’s brogue, with lines like “the upturned dress of your white girlish drawers…your hot lips sucking at my cock….” Apparently, Joyce actually got that dirty.

The poems written by actual Oberlin students tended to be a bit more serious. One student performed a beautiful piece called “Pledge of Allegiance” about the first gay couple to make the world’s longest kiss record (33 hours!).  Rich imagery and intense emotional delivery were met with awes and gasps from the audience. In a similar vein, the poem “I Like to Masturbate” presented a refreshingly honest perspective on sexuality, with killer lines like “touch yourself till the devil on your shoulder comes”.

The willingness of students to read such complex and intimate pieces to an audience of friends and strangers reflects the SIC’s efforts to make sex an open and positive topic for discussion. Nonetheless, students were equally willing to be completely raunchy and irreverent. The poem “Yeah Fuck…Fuck, Yeah” was easily the funniest poem of the night, made all the better by a creepy, deadpan delivery and lines like “she unzipped my costume until I was naked as a Ken Doll” or “her butt… didn’t make me think of poop…”.

Photo by Danielle Shiv.

In addition to poetry, some students read excerpts from the casual encounters section on craigslist, with gems like “I’d love to lick you, so please sit on my face.” Others read rap lyrics or performed songs, such as “Erotic Banjo Joe,” who proved that “Birthday Sex” really benefits from a little bluegrass. One student read a hilarious piece from Cosmo, which peaked at the line “his anger, combined with his touch, was turning her on…plus he had saved a life!” but did include an SIC-approved moment to put on a condom.   A “sex rap” by a kid that went by “Crunkin’ White” included both offensive rhymes and very Oberlin literary references.

Beautiful readings of poems by Yeats and E.E. Cummings, as well a captivating short story by Anais Nin, reminded us that sexuality is not unique to our generation and that every era of erotica should be celebrated. After 8:45 the crowd dwindled, but the warm and open atmosphere led some students to sign up and perform at the last minute.

Some readings expressed the complexity of love within sex, reflecting the human struggle to understand the language of their bodies. Sophie of the SIC read a beautiful piece about “shedding thousands of skin cells on the subway each day” and another girl performed a touching a cappella version of a song about losing her connection with the boy whose virginity she took.

On a less somber note, another SIC member read from a book of “Cream Dreams,” a compilation of wet dreams by Oberlin students ranging from sweet and simple to “I had an orgy with the cast of Whose Line Is It Anyway.” Ironic Hipster Erotica and Erotic Harry Potter Fan Fiction kept the audience laughing as the night went on.

Ending with the Shel Silverstein poem “I’d Rather Play at Hug of War” and a few stragglers staying to read found bits of erotica, the night was a beautiful, funny celebration of the joys and frustrations of sex and an inspiring reason to start writing poetry you don’t share with your mom.

Sharp Wit and Silliness—The OSTA Showcase at the Cat

By Alice Beecher

The key to enjoying the Oberlin Student Theater Association showcase is to dig for humor in the details—an incredulous hand gesture, a witty turn of phrase, or a pretentious writer talking to birds and tearing up poetry in the woods of Massachusetts.  Taking routine comedy situations and twisting them with just enough original material to enliven the performances, the OSTA Showcase kept the audience buzzing and represented an impressive variety of talent among Oberlin thespians.

The first act of the showcase, “The Dickening,” began with two incompetent soldiers bickering over how they should deal with an ambiguous bomb-like object. After playing out the awkward, odd-couple routine, the first soldier (played with excellent physicality and perfect timing by Ali Bianchi ‘14) suggested the two “take off their shirts and kiss” to disassemble the bomb. The hugely funny sexual comedy managed to parody male relationships, the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy and Microsoft MP3 players with wit and flair, despite a somewhat shaky script and lighting difficulties.

The second show, “Analog,” centered on similar themes of sexual tension but was less successful, more because of the clichés of the script than the talent of the actors. A first date for an awkward couple grows contentious when the woman learns her man can’t read an analog clock. Furious, she uses his incompetence to critique his tech-dependent personality/sex obsession. Despite a somewhat formulaic setup, first-year Maya Sharma’s snappy delivery and a few clever lines brought a chorus of laughter from the audience.

“What Don’t You Know,” the third show on the bill, presented another situational comedy focused around a mysterious object—this time, a dead animal that was either a stray raccoon or a “man cat.” Clever dialogue made this one of the most successful performances of the night, with lines like, “For all we know, Buttons was out here dealing drugs!” when the argument over the creature got feisty.

The next show, “Everything Seems So Plausible at 1 A.M.,” took the showcase for an absurdist turn, presenting the frustrations of a defense lawyer that receives calls from neurotic/sadistic clients at all hours of the night. Although the set up was a bit confusing and the show overly long, courageous physical comedy and a hilariously dry cameo by Brian Gale ’14 kept the show entertainingly surreal.

“Play Without Words,” the only serious drama of the night, introduced an abrupt shift in tone that felt out of place within the context of the showcase. The conversations of frustrated lovers, inhibited by their inability to communicate their emotions, seemed to be the theme of the show. Although a well-constructed tragedy might have been a nice contrast to the irreverent one acts, sentimental dialogue and unclear relationships between characters prevented the play from gaining momentum or conveying a clear idea to the audience.

“Productivity Is A Social Construct,” a play about the surreal time-bending absurdity of late night studying, got the most laughs of the entire evening, probably because it was the most relatable of all the comedic pieces. In a parody of academic crunch time, three humanities majors and a cantankerous econ major (who listens to Lord of the Rings music while doing his problem sets) get trapped in a ‘time freeze vortex’ where it is eternally three o’clock in the morning. This leads to some ‘Thriller’-style dancing to weird techno by the free-spirited humanities majors while the econ major despairs the possibility of getting stuck with such abstracted fools for all eternity. A germane critique of the academic self congratulation and procrastination habits of overburdened liberal arts students, the play struck a chord with anyone who has ever pondered the existence of time after too many hours of late night literary analysis.

The last piece, “A Parcel of Vain Strivings,” revolved around three philosophers on a spiritual quest in a ‘transcendentalist writing retreat.’ Ridiculing the pomposity of anyone who thinks they are the next Thoreau/Hunter S. Thompson, the play parodied bad poetry and new age pretension with originality and wit. In particular, first-year Austin Retzlaff’s performance as an insane druggie mystic who gets in trouble for ‘selling drugs to the students’ garnered well-deserved laughter from the audience.

All together, the plays provided an enjoyable evening and showcased some promising talent for future performances, where better-developed scripts might do justice to the comedic capabilities of Oberlin students.

A Charming Radical—Norman Finkelstein Lecture, “This Time We Went Too Far”

By Alice Beecher

Norman Finkelstein does not pretend to be unbiased. Nor should he try to be, according to some enthusiastic attendees of Wednesday night’s lecture “This Time We Went Too Far” (sponsored by Students for a Free Palestine, OPAL, the Politics Department, the Prison Justice Institute and Third World House). Centered on the human rights violations committed by Israel during the Gaza War and other middle-eastern conflicts, Finkelstein’s talk presented a convincing argument against the innocence of Israel and cast light on the suffering of Palestinians.

www.indypendant.com

Beginning his presentation with a variably cute and horrifying video montage of images of Palestinians/Israelis on the West Bank, Finkelstein presented himself as more of a charming old professor than a radical activist. But his even monotone and humorous analogies belied the intensity of his central message, which was to call Israel to task for what he viewed as a tyrannical defiance of international law. After analyzing Hezbollah’s defeat of Israel in May 2000, Finkelstein presented his central thesis that the basis of Israel’s international policy is to restore “fear of Israel” in the Arab world.

Israel’s economic and weapons blockade on Gaza after the election of Hamas incited little international response besides ignored UN warnings, even after the brutal “22 days of death” Israelites term the “war” against Gaza. Finkelstein condemns the use of the word ‘war’ for these this conflict, claiming the attacks were more of a bloodbath, with 400 Palestinians dying for every one Israeli. Using the testimony of Israeli soldiers to back up his argument, Finkelstein pointed out that the Israeli army met almost no resistance from Palestinians in Gaza and that Gaza had no anti-aircraft missiles to combat them. Explaining the humanitarian flotilla crisis, Finkelstein argued that Israel’s use of force was illegal because of international statutes restricting Israel’s use of weapons. “You can’t derive a right from a wrong,” he declared, decrying the war crimes committed by the Jewish nation-state.

Later, Finkelstein argued that Israel was planning to attack Lebanon in a similar, bloodthirsty fashion, in a war that Hezbollah believes will “change the face of the region.” Speculating that Iran would not accept an attack on Hezbollah, Finkelstein predicted that the US might interfere on behalf of Israel if such a conflict were to occur.

Presenting these horrific facts in a gentle, measured tone, Finkelstein invited Oberlin students to question him and research his facts, but claimed we would only find accounts that supported his argument. “Referring to the Gaza massacre as a war makes us agents of Israeli occupation,” said Finkelstein, implicitly attacking all those who later critiqued his ideology in the question and answer session. Though many of the violations Finkelstein reported were indisputably deplorable, such as the deaths of innocent children in Gaza, his assumption that most of the audience would be sympathetic to the Palestinians was ill founded.

Although all political analysts must manipulate information slightly in order to prove their point–and Finkelstein clearly has evidence to support the cause he’s arguing for–at certain points in the lecture, he went too far in dismissing the other side. Explaining the dysfunctional peace process in Israel, Finkelstein proclaimed that anyone who disagreed with his analysis of the West Bank settlements was “irrational” and that the facts he presented “weren’t partisan.” While most would agree that the settlements are illegal under international law and that Israel should not demand to be recognized as a Jewish state before engaging in negotiations with Palestine, it is not fair to disregard the emotional and religious claim the Jewish people have to the land of Israel.

This emotional claim became a point of contention in the question and answer session, when an ex-Israeli soldier called Finkelstein an anti-Semite for disregarding the death of his Israeli relative in the Gaza war. In response, Finkelstein smartly pointed out that you can’t use an individual’s story to argue for the Israelites without considering the thousands of individual Palestinians with similarly wrenching tales. Poorly researched or incendiary questions inspired passionate responses from Finkelstein that contrasted with his somewhat dry speech, such as when a student misquoted one of his books or an audience member accused him of promoting violence.

In the end, Finkelstein made his purpose and bias obvious and had no trouble defending his somewhat radical viewpoints. He summed up his argument with three critical principles: that Palestinians shouldn’t have to give up their rights, that giving up rights shouldn’t be a precondition for conflict and that the Palestinians should be allowed to inhabit homes in settlement territory.  He urged the audience to turn public opinion of Palestine into a political force, combating US aid to Israeli violence. Whether Oberlin students were galvanized to fight for the Palestinian cause or offended by his anti-Zionist rhetoric remains uncertain. But his courageous stance inspired a debate that is sure to permeate the campus in the coming weeks.

Oberlin Participates in a Worldwide Campaign for Environmental Sustainability

By Julie Garber

Photos by David Roswell

On October 10, 2010, Oberlin college students and the surrounding community collaborated in a way never quite done before.  Similar to the traditional Day of Service event for freshmen, students came together in a joint volunteering effort. However, unlike the Day of Service, the “10/10/10” sites were all geared toward environmental sustainability.

The purpose of this event, which occurred worldwide, was to reduce carbon emissions in an innovative and more efficient manner.  Instead of having rallies or protests demanding emission cuts, this event aimed to involve people in their communities in a “Global Work Party”.   As explained by www.350.org, the brainchild of the event, such community involvement was meant to send the political message: “If we can get to work, so can you!”

Corey Harkins took the initiative to organize Oberlin’s 10/10/10 event. When asked what inspired him to bring this event to Oberlin, he enthusiastically explained, “I think service is so important in gauging our humanity.  Service is what makes us human.”

The Bonner Center and the Resource Conservation Team, both of which provided equipment, advice, tools, and money necessary for the event, cosponsored 10/10/10.  These service organizations show the countless ways that we can get involved in our community.  The Resource Conservation Team, for example, gets students to volunteer in protecting the environment while taking their interests into consideration.

The event began at 1:00 p.m.  About forty volunteers signed up through a pre-registration form, but many people just showed up to desk in Wilder Bowl and were sent to various sites.  Although some site leaders came a little late, by 2:00 p.m., every site had people working.

Sites included Full Circle Fuels, George Jones Farm, and the Johnson House garden.  Several students removed invasive species behind Kahn, while others audited energy at various locations throughout campus.   One group, in particular, changed light bulbs in Wilder.  Corey explained that changing 25 light bulbs would save about $4,000, even taking the price of the light bulbs into consideration.

A total of 7,347 people in 188 different countries participated in 10/10/10, making a huge splash and hopefully encouraging political leaders to work on environmental legislation.

Corea Solid and McBride Outstanding at Finney

By Shane Hisner

Check your ticket stub and it’ll tell you that the Chick Corea Trio played this past Thursday at Finney Chapel, but if you went to the show you might have guessed you were watching the Christian McBride Trio.

Corea was brilliant, as one would expect. Center stage on the upright bass, though, was McBride.  He seemed to be the crowd favorite, drawing generous applause one funky solo after another.

new.oberlin.edu

All three members of the trio–Corea on the keys, McBride on the upright, and Brian Blade on the drums–exercised quite a bit of artistic freedom throughout the show. Solos were generally long, free form and high energy.

Blade’s high point certainly came in the middle of the show during Corea’s 1968 classic “Now He Sings, Now He Sobs.”  Much to the audience’s approval, the drummer broke from the periphery and made some serious noise in a solo that navigated something like Magellan’s trip around the world. The dude was feeling it.

The trio played just one song penned by Blade, the closer “Alpha and Omego,” but it was one of the highlights of the night. They left the stage with a bang.

On the Finney Steinway, Corea never missed a step. Early on, he soloed to open “Homage,” putting his skills on full display. All night, he was smooth. It was a clean run, a thing of beauty. Piano aficionados have really been spoiled here at Oberlin lately–in addition to Corea, 1990 Oberlin graduate and piano virtuoso Jeremy Denk played with the Oberlin College Orchestra this past Saturday.

But the night was owned by McBride. The bassist, who has played with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Sting to The Roots, showed why he’s considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of our time.  He worked the scales to their edges, and then took them places you wouldn’t have expected them to go.  Every moment you thought he was heading down the wrong road on a solo he’d convince you otherwise within seconds.

It wasn’t one of those synesthesia-inducing jazz gigs, the kind that lead your mind to somewhere in the asteroid belt; what was on display in Finney Thursday was an ocean of straight-up talent. It was a little clunky at times, as far as this jazz philistine could tell, but impressive and worth the ticket for sure.

Macbeth Reimagined: Thought Provoking?

By Alexander Bianchi and Austin Retzlaff

Tip Scarry ’11 as Macbeth. http://new.oberlin.edu/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater_dance/

Oberlin’s Department of Theatre and Dance opened their season of theatrical performances with Justin Emeka’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth last Thursday evening. The decision to set the play in the American South amidst the wrecked aftermath of the Civil War was thought-provoking; however, this vision was not executed well enough to save the play from weaknesses in its acting and technical departments.

Although Matthew Wright was endlessly watchable in his two roles (King Duncan and the comical Doctor), and Lauren Friedlander ’11 made Lady Macbeth’s downward spiral into insanity compelling, the rest of the cast did not exactly live up to expectations. Part of the problem here was that the actors often did not project their voices sufficiently in order for the audience to hear their dialogue; as a result, the audience was often confused as to where the action was headed.  Macbeth’s transformation from an ambitious yet loyal soldier to a cold-blooded murderer was not effectively conveyed by Tip Scarry ’11. There was a clear distinction between “conflicted Macbeth” and “evil Macbeth,” which reduced the audience’s compassion for him. Macbeth’s fate is intended to be tragic because we mourn for the loss of the good man he once was, but here, the transition felt too abrupt.

The death of Macbeth’s fellow soldier and confidant Banquo is a pivotal moment in the play, and although it was the highlight of the night, it exemplified the problems with the production in general. Banquo’s murderers were dressed in the ghostly garb of the Ku Klux Klan; they overpowered him, slipped a noose around his neck and then lynched him. The stage was plunged into darkness, and the last thing the audience saw was Banquo spinning slowly ten feet above the stage–a terrible reminder of the generations of  hate our country struggled to overcome at the end of the Civil War. However, there were a lot of things compromising this stark vision. First of all, the wire supporting the actor as the noose lifted him was too plainly visible. We could all see the Klan member as he tried to attach it discreetly. This ruined the illusion that we were watching something visceral and spontaneous.

Also, although the play was set in the South, this change in setting was not emphasized enough. Although Friedlander and Wright spoke in Southern accents, none of the other major actors used period-appropriate voicing. The action was confined to the yard of an old colonial house, making the world of the play feel small and anonymous.  The Southern setting did not change the context of the play; it made us think about race relations, but not about how race affected the characters’ relationships with each other.  As a result, the evocation of the KKK felt jarring and too extreme.

Ultimately, the production was hurt most by its limited scale. Hall Auditorium’s size was insufficient to convey the scope that the director clearly intended. By keeping the action in an anonymous rural environment, and not connecting the issues of the play to the national political issues of the time, Emeka missed his opportunity to cause audiences to rethink Macbeth. His version had strong points, but they weren’t strong enough to make us overlook the dramatic and technical problems within the play.

Doctors of Poetry: The Night Kite Revival at the ‘Sco

By Alice Beecher

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr3mBOwj530]

When Buddy Wakefield set out to become a poet, he gave up his job with the intention to “Live for a Living,” by letting go of life’s banalities to discover what this ‘being human’ deal is really all about. At the ‘Sco on Wednesday night, Oberlin students got to sample a bit of that quixotic journey.

Anis Mojgani, Buddy Wakefield, and Mike McGee (replacing Derrick Brown for this section of the tour) comprise The Night Kite Revival, a group of spoken word artists performing some of the best slam poetry in the country. Beyond presenting artfully crafted metaphors, this band of romantics aims to entertain its audience in the fullest sense of the word, using both humor and conversation to warm up an often unapproachable art form. Opening up their performance by enthusiastically embracing the kid sitting next to me and threatening to “turn our urine solid” with poetic delight, the three presented a refreshingly down to earth departure from Oberlin’s formal academic poetry scene.

Two student poets welcomed a comfortably crowded venue with poems about relationships and brotherhood, delivered in an emphatic, slam-oriented style well received by the finger snapping audience. In particular, Taylor Johnson’s rhythmic, sensuous piece about the volatility of love used original imagery to enliven an overdone topic. The fact that many of the audience members were from Cleveland or surrounding colleges illustrates the fame and magnetic appeal of The Night Kite Revival, whose members have toured across the country and won international slam competitions.

Sauntering up to the stage wearing hospital robes and cave digging headlights, the three poets made their intent to get us “out of our everyday badness”  immediately apparent. Starting off the night with the poem “Come Into Me,” Anis Mojgani demanded our emotional engagement and gave us an open invitation to access both his and our own humanity. Of all the performers, Anis had the best stage presence, delivering  poems with transporting imagery and impeccably delicate gestures. At one point, he brought out a ukulele to strum under a poem, entrancing the audience with lines like “Time is supposed to be more than skin,” and “Some women’s legs are built like confessionals.” Yet for all his mystic elegance, Anis is as down to earth as he is cerebral—his poetry moves you in your gut, conjures a force beyond intellectual analysis.

In contrast to Mojgani’s gentle sincerity, Mike McGee’s tragicomic treatises on spurned love provided an amusingly crass element to the night. McGee loves his women like “muppets like fisting” and “lazy-boys like asses,” but he’s honest enough to admit (or loudly rant) that woman never actually fall in love with guys for their sense of humor. His ridiculous, sardonic exterior belies a heart that’s gone through its fair share of harm.

Lightening the mood for a quick interlude, the three poets strutted up on stage for a Short Poem series, during which Buddy Wakefield delivered what was possibly the funniest poem of the night: “When I went to houses as a little kid, the first thing I did was look for the toys. If they said they did not have any toys…(long, grumpy pause)…I’d be like WHAT THE FUCK??”

Of  all the performers, Buddy was the most openly eccentric and visually captivating. His body convulsed with the words his mind could barely contain, his presence commanding the reverence and gravitas of a prophet. Walking up on stage in a red military jacket and a distant gleam in his eyes, Buddy delivered poems that revealed a complex attitude toward love and God but cohered around the idea that “life is not a goddamn tragedy,” however often it hurts you. Thick with killer lines and dense imagery, Wakefield’s poems are cold therapy for anyone who’s ever felt “not entirely comfortable being human”.

Although some poems were a bit overdramatized by Timmy Straw’s brooding musical accompaniment, Buddy delivered his pieces with the control and enthusiasm of a master entertainer. Many of his pieces centered around his beliefs about human fulfillment or divinity (“Spare yourself the futility of making fun of God” and “If God created us in his image he smushed fire ants with his finger tips and avoided tough questions”), but he comes across as more of a nervous shmuck than an all knowing preacher. In his last piece of the night, “The Information Man,” Buddy admitted that his poems are “just things he tells himself” late at night, his performance more a presentation of his own vulnerability than any otherworldly wisdom.

The Night Kite Revival is not asking us to believe wholeheartedly in any of the advice they offer, nor do they expect us to cry more than we laugh at any of their performances. But as poets, they do remind us of connections we are all too often blind to, the deeper joys and anxieties we suppress in the dullness of our daily routines. They recognize poetry can be as unapologetically entertaining as it is revelatory and sorrowful, and they leave their audiences feeling like they’ve witnessed something beyond categorization, halfway between an artistic masterpiece and an intimate conversation with old friends.  Words on a page are poor approximation of their talent, and I would encourage everyone to check them out on youtube or check them out wherever they wander to next.

Das Racist: Silly and Poetic, or Just Plain Silly?

By Charlie Landsman

“I like the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell!” Profound commentary on corporate America, or something said after just about any lengthy toke session? Das Racist’s blend of electronic hip-hop beats and humorous lyrics made them a fun group to dance to at the ‘Sco, but a profound voice of the youth they are not.

Photo by Ben Rowland. www.benrowlandphotography.com

The group, composed of rappers Victor Vazquez, Hinanshu Suri and hypeman Ashok Kondabolu (Dap), stumbled on stage last Tuesday night to house-shaking bass and an energetic crowd. The three were extremely high energy, and they hinted at the reason why.

“When we went to Oberlin, we had mountains of cocaine this high!” said Dap, motioning to a location a foot over his head. Since the group’s members went to Wesleyan, I’m not entirely sure if Dap was knew where he was.

Das Racist performed for only an hour, playing hits like “Who’s That, Brown?”,a song that samples a track from A Tribe Called Quest. They were also quick with a joke. “Give it up, class of 2014,” they said at one point. “It’s a shame the world’s gonna end before you graduate!”

For an encore, the group played their most popular song, “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”, which, while being very catchy, has no intrinsic value whatsoever. “Man, you just have to understand it’s a metaphor for capitalism,” I overheard a fellow Obie explaining to his friend. No man, it’s not. Das Racist is funny and creative, but not poetic. They don’t take themselves seriously, and neither should you.