Volume 124 Issue 134
kansan.com
Friday, April 13, 2012
Study says an aspect of business overlooked in classes
ENTERTAINMENT
--writing, but I always thought it was just something I did for myself. I love great music and I really hate mediocre music. If I wasn't any good or if the songs weren't worth it, then I wasn't going to try and do anything with them. It took me 10 years of songwriting to get to a place where I thought 'Maybe this is worth sharing.'
Q&A: EXITMUSIC'S ALEKSA PALLADINO
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Husband and wife Devon Church and Aleksa Palladino are Exmusic. The band plays at the Riot Room in Kansas City on April 15 with local band Cowboy Indian Bear.
Exitmusic's Aleksa Palladino and Devon Church are entering a new stage of their musical careers. The married, 31-year-old Brooklyn based indie rockers recently embarked on their first tour and are getting ready to release their second full-length album in May. Palladino, the husky voice behind the band's angsty, rich and often haunting music, is also an accomplished actress who most recently starred in HBO's Emmy winning drama, "Boardwalk Empire," produced by Martin Scorcee. The duo will stop at Kansas City's Riot Room on Sunday, April 15.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN MUSIC?
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN MUSIC?
I started playing guitar when I was nine and I started writing songs right away. I spent pretty much every day playing and
Especially working with Devon, once it's not just yours, I think you can kind of see it a little bit better and maybe get a little more courage to put it out there.
HOW DID YOU AND DEVON MEET?
We met on a train in Canada when we were 18. I was traveling with my best friend after high school and we grew up in New York. Devon grew up in Canada. It was a totally serendipitous meeting. I wasn't suppose to be on that train, he wasn't suppose to be on that train, but we saw each other and talked for two days and just sort of had this undeniable connection that I think we were both too young to really know how to pursue, so it took a couple of years for us to get together after that.
WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THAT TIME? DID YOU GO TO COLLEGE?
I didn't go to school. I was acting and writing music. I was young still. I was still just trying to assert myself into the world,
Top Album:
THE MEN— OPEN YOUR HEART // ALEX TRETBAR
Brooklyn punks The Men topped KJHK's charts last week with their new album, released in March on Sacred Bones. The record has received generally glowing
praise for its seamless fusing of many different styles, sounds and genres. It is the group's third full-length release, and second on Sacred Bones (Leave Home,the second album, was released just last year).
The influences at play here range from country and blues, to punk, noise and metal, Sonic Youth.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
soon. They have a 7-inch coming out in May on Matador, a prolific indie label that has put out seminal records from successful acts such as Pavement, The New
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Open Your Heart is The Men's
third full-length album.
Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath are mentioned as points of comparison in the BBC's review.
The band's latest blog entry matter-of-factly explains that The Men are back from tour, but hitting the road again
Pornographers, Yo La Tengo, Liz Phair, Belle and Sebastian, Jay Reatard, Interpol and Cat Power. The 7-inch is the third release in a limited edition subscription series of six singles throughout 2012. Other acts with singles in the series include Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement) & The Jicks, OBN III's and L.A. Guns. The Men also plan to begin work on a new full-
Local two-brother act JabberJosh opened for The Men when the group stopped in Lawrence last August to play the Replay Lounge.
length before the Matador single drops.
// KELSEY CIPOLLA
figure out how I wanted to do things. I was one of the only people who didn't go to college from my high school. I didn't even apply. You already feel like you have the odds stacked against you when you make decisions that aren't popular.
HOW HAS TOURING FOR THE FIRST TIME BEEN?
I had a lot of stage fright. I remember trying to convince Devon that we never had to play live and he was like 'Yeah'. It
can be really exhausting, but it took me 14 years to build a career in acting and I'm hoping that working everyday for a month, it won't take that long this time.
WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT FROM YOUR SHOW? I think the strength of our music is that it's not trying to be cool or fashionable. It's really about the experience of being a human being. That's what I want it to feel like, a human interaction.
XANSAN
GREEK
Student's memory honored among Greeks
RACHEL SALYER
rsalyer@kansan.com
The Third Annual Jason Wren Initiative reminded the Greek community of the importance of moderation and understanding the effects of alcoholism yesterday evening in Budig Hall.
The initiative, hosted by University chapters of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity and Delta Gamma Sorority, is designed to honor Jason Wren's memory. Wren was a freshman SAE pledge who died of alcohol poisoning March 8, 2009.
Toren Volkmann, a recovering alcoholic and author of "From Binge to Blackout," shared with the audience his own story of alcoholism and the idea that it can happen to anyone. He showed pictures of his own party experiences. Wren's name, and the names of the event sponsors, were displayed on a banner hanning behind him.
The event was open to everyone free of charge, but event chair and SAE member Austin Wagner said that, of the about 700 people in attendance, the majority were sorority members. In the past, SAE asked 20 percent of all members from University sororites and fraternities to attend. Wagner said SAE did not do so this year because of a miscommunication.
Volkmann, who started drinking at age 14, said he never would have expected himself to become an alcoholic.
"I was from a normal family with a decent recipe for a very good outcome," Volkmann said, "but once I put myself in the category and started exhibiting that behavior, I was just as likely to become an alcoholic as anyone."
Wren talked about having repeated blackouts even though he thought he was drinking socially. Eventually, those blackouts led to his alcohol dependency.
Before dismissing the audience, Chapin McLane, SAE president, reminded those in attendance that the point of the conference was not to tell students to be sober, but to ask them to drink responsibly.
Angela Guist, a freshman from Ottawa, said she and her friends attended the event to support
"I have unfortunately blacked out a few times, and it's not a good feeling when you have no idea what happened," Guist said. "People say it's a part of the experience, but listening to him makes you think of how dangerous it can be."
The initiative started in 2010 and continued after Wren's father, Jay Wren, filed a wrongful death suit against the fraternity.
Wagner said he hopes to see the organization's efforts continue.
"Even after we're all gone, the message will still need to be said," he said.
their sorority, Sigma Kappa, which donated to the event.
Jason would have been a senior
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN
Toren Volkmann, author of "From Binge to Blackout" speaks to students in the Greek community about alcoholism Thursday night at Budig Hall. Volkmann was the guest speaker for the annual Jason Wren Initiative which was created to spread awareness about drinking and alcoholism after the death of Jason Wren in 2009.
CLASSIFIEDS 11 CRYPTOQUIPS 4 SPORTS 12
CROSSWORD 4 DPINION 5 SUDDUKU 4
SEE WREN PAGE 6
All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
Don't forget
Today is National Scrabble Day. So if you've got a seven-letter word and don't mind upsetting a chum, thrown it down and don't apologize.
Today's Weather
Slight chance of showers and thunderstorms, some possibly severe.
Avoid golf courses for now.