Local Bands, Politicians Helped Rock The Vote
Despite taking place on the first day of Fall Break, more than 300 people showed up at The Granada on Thursday, October 14 for Rock The Vote. The show began at 7:30 p.m. with a few words from local representatives of the Democratic party. Most of these representatives spoke briefly about the importance of voting and addressed issues surrounding this year's election. U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kansas), however, opted against the lecture and entertained the crowd with his one-man rendition of "This Land Is Your Land."
The show proceeded with performances from seven local bands three from Kansas City and four from Lawrence. Among the lineup was Fourth of July, Drakkar Sauna, Darling At Sea, The Girl Is A Ghost, Chemical Ali and Elevator Division. Also performing was local musician, Justin Ripley. Ripley hosts the weekly Acoustic Open Mic Night at The Jazzhaus and coordinated the Rock The Vote event with the help of Blake Swenson, ex-president of Delta Force. "It's nice to see local musicians getting together for a good cause and supporting each other's
music as well," Ripley said.
Most of the bands that chose to participate in the event are familiar to the local music scene, but some are new to it. The event allowed all of the bands and musicians to get their names out there, as well as their music. And when their time came to grace the stage, they let their voices be heard. One band member began his set by telling the crowd, "Vote if you want to. Don't let anyone tell you what to do." Most of the bands, however, stressed the importance of voting this November. They also encouraged attendees to visit the booths set up inside the venue by local politicians and to register with one of the many voter registration volunteers outside the building.
Overall, the tone of the event was very positive and supportive and the efforts of Ripley and Swenson were successful. "We hope to create a new series of events based off this show," Swenson says. "Combining local music and activism to bring about awareness really represents what Lawrence is all about, and what KU offers to the community."
Brandi Wills
Jimmy Eat World Futures
JimmyEatWorld is one of the bands that brought emo into the mainstream at the turn of the century. However, underground fanatics respected the Mesa, Ariz. band well before Bleed American/Jimmy Eat
World hit big in 2001. The band combines sweet melodies and hard, crunching rhythms better than most, and has been doing so for about 10 years.
Futures combines much of the radio-friendly (and predictable) songs similar to those on their last album with some of the more "artsy" songs from their first two albums. The first six songs, though, while catchy, seem to be manufactured for the sole purpose of appealing to the T.R.L./A.D.D. listeners, while the latter half sounds like it could have been slapped on the band's brilliant 1999 album Clarity. The album is dark—as
dark as the band has ever been — lyrically and musically. "Night Drive" really is a song I can only imagine people listening to driving down a lonely road at 4 a.m. "Work" is a guilty pleasure that epitomizes a sound that Jimmy Eat World has already claimed their own. Yes, my friends, MTV will eat this up, but a few hipsters will secretly listen.
Grade:B
If you like Jimmy Eat World, try the Juliana Theory or Jets to Brazil
Matt Beat