Features Editor:
LisaToth
lisatoth@dailyemerald.com
Friday, October 26,2001
Free tickets to Rocky Horror!
A pair of tickets will be awarded to each
winner of the Pulse Costume Contest.
EMU Amphitheater, 4-6 p.m., Oct. 31
Battle of
the Bands
■ High school students will get
the most playing time on the
field this weekend
By Aaron Shakra
for the Emerald
The Oregon Marching Band has
long provided the soundtrack and
entertainment for Ducks football
games, but each year the band gets
its chance to shine in the spotlight.
On Saturday, the University will
host the 23rd annual Festival of
Bands, a high school marching
band competition, with the Ore
gon Marching Band punctuating
the performances. The Oregon
band will perform Louis Arm
strong’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” and
Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian
Spring” after the preliminary and
final qualifying events.
The festival, at Autzen Stadium
is run by band members and volun
teers from the Oregon Wind Ensem
ble and Fighting Duck Alumni
Band Association. It operates under
the umbrella of the Northwest
Marching Band Circuit and is the
largest competition of the circuit,
dwarfing the high-stakes champi
onship event at Oregon State Uni
versity. As many as 4,000 people
are expected.
Carolyn Stock, festival coordina
tor and graduate teaching fellow at
the School of Music, said she views
the festival and band as a showcase
for the musicians involved.
“They’re the ambassadors of this
University,” she said.
The 32 marching bands in com
petition represent high schools
from Oregon, Washington and Ida
ho. They will compete in four class
es: A, AA, AAA and open. The
eight judges are specialists in spe
cific marching band aspects and
hail from around the country. The
judges will choose the top 15 bands
for the finals.
Music vendors on hand will in
clude Yamaha and locally owned
Lights for Music, which will pro
vide on-site instrument repair and
maintenance. While there is a clear
emphasis on the competition,
Courtesy photo
Northwest high school marching band students come to Eugene this weekend to take part in
the Festival of the Bands at Autzen Stadium. Up to 4,000 people are expected to attend.
Stock said the event should have
more educational implications
than competitive.
“I don’t want to put all the
weight on who’s No. 1,” she said.
“It’s a competition — but it’s about
the kids.”
Considering the volume of both
high school juniors and seniors,
the festival also serves as a recruit
ing tool for both new band mem
bers and University students in
the music school. Katie Moss,
band council member in the
OMB, said many high school stu
dents at the event will be placing
themselves in a university envi
ronment for the first time.
“There’s a high level of excitement
and energy for them,” she said.
Lee Wood, a fourth year veteran of
the OMB, mentioned that because
it’s the only fund-raising event of the
year, it’s the single largest source of
revenue for the band.
“I think of it mostly as a fundrais
er, and secondly as a recruitment
tool,” she said.
Organizers expect $30,000 to be
raised. The only other source of
revenue for the band are yellow
duck “lips,” sold at football games
and other locations.
Gates open for the event at 7:30
a.m., with preliminary rounds be
ginning at 8:30 a.m. Tickets are $12
for adults and $8 for students (ad
mission is free for children under 5)
and will be available at the south
gate of Autzen Stadium.
For residents of Salem, the
competition will be televised on
the public access station, CCTV.
Stock is trying to get TV coverage
for Eugene.
Aaron Shakra is a freelancer for the Oregon
Daily Emerald. He can be reached at
aaron@startled.com.
By Andy Guess
Cornell Daily Sun (Cornell U.)
(U-WIRE) ITHACA, N.Y. — The
opening of “From Hell” finds John
ny Depp doing what he does best:
lying semi-catatonic while smoking
opium through a pipe. The initial
reaction might alarm that this is a
colonial version of “Blow,” or per
haps a rehash of “Sleepy Hollow,”
both recent Depp films that bear
similarities to the Hughes Brothers’
take on Jack the Ripper.
But viewers can breathe easy. Al
though Depp’s character is a drug
addict, as in “Blow,” and although
he plays an ostracized 19th century
London investigator, as in “Sleepy
Hollow,” “From Hell” is neither a
hackneyed rise-and-fall saga nor a
cartoonish treatment of a living leg
end. It is, however, an intelligent
and stylish look at the gothic un
derworld of sin in turn-of-the-cen
tury London.
The story involves the baffling
and grisly murders of several
prostitutes, which Inspector Fred
erick Abberline (Depp) is called
upon to investigate. Instead of us
ing scientific methods as in
“Sleepy Hollow,” Depp relies on
drug-induced visions to draw
conclusions about the case. Even
tually his findings lead him to
prostitute Mary Kelly (Heather
Graham), whom he believes will
be the next victim.
Based on the comic book series
by Alan Moore and Eddie Camp
bell, the film is not an exploration
of good and evil. The so-called pro
tagonists and antagonists are all
sinners to differing degrees,
whether the transgressions involve
infidelity, murder, addiction or ob
session. Depp needs his drugs to
stay afloat in the investigation, Gra
ham needs to sell herself to survive,
and maybe, in some sick way, Jack
the Ripper needs to kill to fulfill
himself. And like any moral tale,
characters must suffer the conse
quences of their deeds.
Most striking in “From Hell” are
its unforgiving depictions of explic
it gore and sex. They’re striking be
cause they just don’t seem right in
a movie taking place in 19th centu
ry England. This is, of course, the
exact reaction the Hughes brothers
Turn to Thriller, page8A
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