Thursday, April 20, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section B • Page 3
I want my MTV, but my MTV doesn't want me
By Brandon Krisztal writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
I wanted to be a VJ.
The only problem was, I guess MTV didn't necessarily want me. I found that out after last week's MTV Wanna Be a VJ 3 contest in St. Louis. I waited all night in the freezing cold with about 500 other hopefuls for a shot at a spot on MTV.
Two finalists would have a chance to compete in New York. The winner would receive a video jockey shift for a year, $25,000 and a new KIA Sportage. I could have cared less about the latter two, but the chance to be on TV and to entertain and inform millions of people was what attracted me.
We did come prepared, however, with warm clothes and sleeping bags, just in case we had to stay outside all night. It did not take long to become friends with the people around us, because we knew we'd be together for a long time.
Tuesday April 11: High school friend Melanie Rashbaum, Dallas junior, and I packed our bags and headed down I-70. When we arrived at Union Station in downtown St. Louis, we were a bit surprised by the number of people already in line. The thought of staying in a hotel was definitely out of the question.
We became closest with a group of guys from Saint Louis University: Mike, Brent and Dave. Mike watches more MTV than
Brandon Krisztal
jayplay@kansan.com
just about anyone I know, except maybe Melanie. His friends, who were just looking for something to do, came with snacks and a cooler of beer, which got them ejected from the line temporarily.
Meeting all the people there who thought they honestly had a chance to be the next Carson Daly or Dave Holmes was undoubtedly the best part of the experience. Conversely, the worst part of the process was the line cutting.
Now I know that this is not elementary school and I'm not tattling, but when people who come after the sun rises are leaving the audition trailer in the first group of 100, there is something seriously wrong
The line cutting was so bad that several of us worried that we had been pushed too far back and weren't even going to have an audition. The rules, posted on the MTV Web site, stated that the contest would end after the first 1,000 people, or at 3 p.m., whichever came first.
As we waited to get our packets, which
ensured we would be among the first 1,000,
I saw a friend and MTV producer, Chris Martello. He was compiling a 30-minute show about the nationwide contest. He assured me that I would get in, but it would be awhile. At about 8 a.m., I received my packet. No. 638.
After filling out the paperwork, which included questions ranging from favorite video to artist whose career you hope will end this year and entertainer you would like to have one night of unbridled passion with, I finally made my way to the front of the line a little before noon. I tried unsuccessfully to shake off the lethargy consuming me. As I walked onto the train, I was briefly introduced to the two interviewers. To be honest, they sucked. Their lack of enthusiasm and poor questioning techniques threw me off a bit.
She was equally disenchanted with the interview process and said she didn't think they could have gotten to know someone after only five minutes.
"I understand that they have to interview 1,000 people in a short period of time," she said, "but I wish it could be a bit more thorough."
After about five minutes, my shot at being a VJ ended. They did not like me and sent me to the second interview. Melanie faced the same fate.
However, our new friend Mike did get a call-back and a real shot at making it.
In the second train car, he was greeted by
three MTV people and escorted to the back of the train. They sat him in a chair next to Tara Reid, star of American Pie and Carson Daly's girlfriend. Mike said he didn't get to really interact with her much, but was thinking, "Nice to meet you, hot American Pie chick."
By noon we were exhausted, but to win you had to stick around until 4 that afternoon for the taping of Total Request Live and the announcement of the winner.
Mike said they asked him several questions about music and to name the best thing that ever happened to him. His response, that it was when he lost his virginity, had Tara Reid rolling on the floor.
Although Melanie and I both thought we had lost, we decided we'd stay to see the winner and to watch the group Blaque perform.
At 6 p.m. they announced that the winners were a girl from St. Louis and a guy from Colorado, who was crying on stage. The competition goals through Monday on
So even though I did not win, the experience was worth it, and, yes, I would probably do it again. The one positive thing I take from this experience is that I can keep writing for the Kansan, instead of spending my last few weeks of college stuck in New York at MTV.
Kirstal is an Plano, Texas, senior in broadcast journalism.
Buy it
One of the hottest female MCs on the scene is Rah Digga, the only female in Busta Rhymes' Flip Mode Squad, and her debut album *Dirty Harriet* as is hard as they come. She has the raw force necessary to rhyme with the best of the best, and to her advantage, she sets herself apart from sexually exploitive, thuggish content. Instead, she fills time with estrogen-filled empowerment. Busta Rhymes joins her on the track "Imperial," celebrating the Flip Mode Squad. But it is "Lessons of Today," that is the highlight of the album. It is in this song that Rah Digga expresses some of her personal feelings regarding the state of Black men in 'society today, using her brothers as examples. The realism in the end is uplifting and optimistic
with a message of strength before the album ends itself with two bumping bonus tracks.
Her heavy, gruff voice has been questioned in the past as being cut and pasted in the studio. However, Rah Digga verifies in the end, with her own power and talent, that her words and voice are her own. It does not appear that the first lady of the Flip Mode Squad will be silenced anytime soon.
Melinah Kurdian
Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor
O'Connor
Appalachian Journey
Buy it
Cello, bass and violin instruments played by Yo- Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor, respectively, blend together to create luscious tones on a new release by Sony Classical, Appalachian Journey. The artists undeniable talents to execute
every note with precision display a true connection and understanding of the music they perform. This is the trio's second departure from standard classical repertoire that they have produced together. Their last album, Appalachia
More information
For audio clips from Dirty Harriet, Appalachian Journey and Comatised
See www.kansan.com
Waltz, was a success, and the results are once again very promising for the classical music world. James Taylor joins them, performing
"Hard Times Come Again No More," accompanied by a steady bass and sweet harmonies added by O'Connor's sensitive playing style. This is one of the two songs written by American composer Stephen Foster. The second is sung by Alison Kraus, whose vocals are more than appropriate for "Slumber My Darling," and the musical combination brings the compositions of the Civil War era to life once again.
Their arrangements of traditional works are just as fresh and exciting as their original compositions, making Appalachian Journey as accessible to classical music lovers as it would be to bluegrass and folk connoisseurs.
Melinah Kurdian
Leona Naess
Buy it used
"Wide-eyed and stupid [she's] waiting for the arrows of Cupid," and with her album Comatised, Leona Naess may have found her tool for chatting audiences. From a Calvin Klein model and
daughter of one of Diana Ross' ex-husbands, you might expect a fair share of pretension. However, any traces of a spoiled-little-rich-girl attitude is not to be found on this collection of foul relationships and sensitive infatuations. Her lazy, airy voice goes where it needs to, delivering simple anecdotes and honest self-examinations, and while Naees seems to go in and out of focus, she never gets sucked in to tedious song-writing. Comatised, in fact, does offer a variety of folk-rock rhythms and horizontal melodies, giving evidence of originality and style, even if it is subtle and unassuming.
The foundations appear to be solid on this debut album, so the possibilities for Leona Naess to grow as an artist are without boundary and quite promising.
— Melinah Kurdian
Farmer's Ball with Persons,
Co'op, Esoteric and Antifade,
9 p.m. at the Bottleneck, 737 New
Hampshire St. $6, $12, 18-20
Trucker and Smiley the Graffiti, 10 p.m. at The Jazzhaus. $24-1/2 in Jacksonville St. $3, 21 and older.
5 Cent Cotton, 10 p.m. per the Brown Bear Brewing Co., 729 Massachusetts St. $2, 21 and older.
Get Downtown to Planet 420 with PSO, Life on Earth and Random Happenings, 8 p.m. at Liberty Hall,
642 Massachusetts St. $7, 18 and older
Tomorrow:
Tofu Teddy and Coyote
Project, 10 p.m. at the
Bottleneck, 737
Hampstead St. $ 1,820; $5
Hampshire St. $ 6,120
Preferred Villain, Sturgeon Mill and Current, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Bottleneck, 737 New Mill St., $4; 18-20, $3; 6-8, $4.
The Nades, 10 p.m. at the
Jazzhaus,
926/1-8
Massachusetts St, $4, 21 and
older.
Static X, Revelle and Pitchschirf, 7 p.m. at liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St. advance, 818.50 dollar advance
Saturday:
**Finals of the Farmer's Ball,**
9 p.m. at the Bottleneck, 737
New Hampshire St. $6, 18-20.
$5, 21 and older.
The Band that Saved the World, 10 p.m. at the Jazzhaus, 926/1-2 Massachusetts St. $4; 21 and older.
As One, 10 p.m. at the Brown Bear Brewing Co., 729 Massachusetts St. $2, 21 and older.
Monday: *
Jan 4 Humanity, 9 p.m. at The Jazhou, 9261-1/2 Massachusetts St. $2, 21 and older.
Dub Narcotic, Sound
System and The Sub Debts, 9 p.m. at the Bottleneck, 737 New York Ave., $8, $18-$20, $7, 21 and older.
Tuesday:
Ultraspark, Killwitch, Truth and Relative Ash, 6 p.m. at the Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St. $6, all ages.
Celia, 10 p.m. at the Brown Bear Brewing Co., 729 Massachusetts St. $2, 21 and older.
Wednesday:
■ The Arsonists, Mac Lethal,
DJ Jest and Sevenfold
Symphony in p.m. at the
737 Theatre, 737 Hamilton
Hampshire, $10, 18 and 28
The Incredibles and Sharkey's Little Glove Box, 10 p.m. at The Jazzahaus, 926-1/2 Massachusetts St. $3, 21 and older.