Pulse Editor
Jacquelyn Lewis
jacquelynlewis@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, June 5,2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
Read the year's
last issue of Pulse
on Monday
Media take
FCC, ensure
continuation
ofnonsense
Whoopee! In a decision split down
party lines, the Federal Communications
Commission opted on Monday to relax
even more of its media ownership re
strictions. Single television companies
can now reach almost half of the national
audience. They can also own newspa
pers, and I’m look
ing for hard-work
ing people to help
me dig an under
ground city so we
can get away from
this madness.
What does this
mean for our cul
ture, our souls and
the way we identify
ourselves in this in
creasingly confus
ing mess?
It means a whole
hell of a lot for
those who don’t wield a blind faith in
the free-market system and its promis
es to protect some of our most funda
mental societal values.
It means that, instead of provocative
and intelligent programming, we’ll get
more reality television such as “Extreme
Makeover,” more mindless morning
news programs like “The Early Show”
and the other one-dimensional, “univer
sally-appealing” garbage we’ve all come
to know and love.
Some argue that the media can’t be
protected like they were in the past be
cause there are so many new methods to
disseminate information. But this ap
proach fails to recognize the importance
of the media to our culture.
We identify ourselves through culture.
We understand the world with what we
glean from the media. They help us de
cide who we are.
So why do they need to acquire more?
According to Columbia Journalism
Review’s “Who Owns What” Web guide,
Viacom already owns CBS, MTV and
UPN stations, Simon & Schuster Publish
ing, Paramount Theaters, about 170 ra
dio stations and CBS online news —just
to name a few.
News Corporation, FOX Television’s
parent company, already has a newspa
per and television stations in the same
market. On top of worldwide holdings, it
also owns many cable channels, includ
ing TV Guide, Twentieth Century FOX,
The New York Post and FOX Sports Ra
dio Network. The company also has
shares in five major sports teams.
These corporations lobby long and
hard for industry deregulation, and
they get what they want. Maybe we, the
people, ought to hump the commis
sion’s metaphorical leg as hard as the
industry has.
In a recent investigation by the Center
for Public Integrity, key FCC officials
were found to have taken over 2,500 in
dustry-funded travel junkets in the past
eight years at an expense of $2.8 million.
In its report of these findings, the non
partisan Washington, D.C., organization
cites FCC Chairman Michael Powell as
saying the FCC is the most frequently
Turn to Bechard, page 11
Joseph
Bechard
Cultural
Obstetrician
Meet the Neighbors
Neighbors, the only local gay bar,
provides a welcome break from
regular sports bar fare with cheap
beer and entertaining drag shows
Reporter’s notebook
Ryan Bornheimer
Senior Pulse Reporter
Before they even take the stage, these
women have undeniable star presence. It’s
difficult not to notice four 6-foot-3-inch
bombshells in stiletto
heels strutting
through
room — and
these are no
ordinary
women.
They are
the gender
bending stars of Neighbors’ Friday night drag
show, and their two-hour interactive per
formance delivers enough energy and laughs
to fill a hall twice its size.
Anyone who has been pinned between
vomiting fraternity brothers knows bars are
not always the best places to relax on a Fri
day night. But Neighbors, located at 1417 Vil
lard St., has a unique flavor — a welcoming
collection of personalities from every comer
of the cultural map. Its non-threatening at
mosphere is the antithesis of the stereotypi
cal sports bar experience — and that’s even
before the drag show begins.
I arrived close to 10 p.m. and found the
crowd sparse. As showtime drew near, trips
to the bar for drinks became more
^challenging
l amidst the
P grow
fi n g
chaos. Still, the comfortable energy re
mained. When the stage lights came up, four
performers emerged, gyrating and lip-synch
ing to Ricky Martin’s club anthem, “She
Bangs.” The song provided the carefree
theme of the evening, and the crowd seemed
to love every minute of it.
After an equally energized performance of
“Free Your Mind,” Francesca, the evening’s
host, welcomed everyone, alternating be
tween stand-up comedy and improvised in
teraction with the crowd — including every
thing from cracks about Lane Community
College to a bit of spanking. The sound sys
tem left a little something to be desired
Turn to Neighbors, page 11
Eleven Eyes amplifies typical jazz tunes
The Corvallis and Eugene-based
band will perform songs from
its debut jazz/fusion album
in Eugene next Friday at Luna
Aaron Shakra
Pulse Reporter
There are times when you’ve got to look out
side your own eyes — and add nine more. Enter
Eleven Eyes, an instrumental jazz/fusion band
based in both Corvallis and Eugene.
The group will perform next Friday at Luna, lo
cated at 30 E. Broadway, celebrating “Depth Per
ception,” its debut album release. The band’s histo
ry extends back to May of last year, when trumpet
player Tim McLaughlin — then a student at the
University — assembled members to play for his
senior recital at the University’s School of Music.
Rather than give a cut-and-dried classical per
formance, McLaughlin brought together Mike
Pardew on guitar, Matt Calkins on saxophone, Dave
Trenkel on bass and Steve Weems on drums. He
also added a turntable player— JD Monroe, known
to the stage as the “Turntable Enabler. ”
If a turntable seems out of place for a jazz band, lis
teners might have to change their expectations —
Eleven Eyes is no typical jazz group. Hip-hop, funk,
and electronic music influences are discernible on
“Depth Perception” — lending a hip, edgy result to
the sound. However, each of the six tracks remain
grounded in classical composition methods, prevent
Courtesy
Local band Eleven Eyes combines hip-hop, jazz and funk with electronic sounds on its newest album.
ing the songs from becoming a redundant collection
of loops and instrumentals soloing off a few chords.
“We fuse a lot of different styles of music togeth
er,” drummer Weems said. “We have a lot of differ
ent kinds of instrumentation.”
Describing instrumental music with written
words is often a difficult task, but the sensibility of
“Depth Perception” is that the musicians are tal
ented, and the sound—well, it doesn’t sound like it
came from this world. It’s ethereal, almost border
ing on acid jazz. It’s decidedly upbeat and dance
able — and knowing this will perhaps deter as
many new listeners as it will gain.
Tim McLaughlin, who called the band “a
combination of a lot of stuff,” said he is happy
Turn to Eleven Eyes, page 12