Sing-sational fat guys capture Grammy notice
Lindsey Rich | Editor-in-Chief

"And the Grammy goes to…the fat guys from Texas?" Well, not exactly…yet. Wichita Falls’ natives Bowling For Soup have been served with their first-ever Grammy nomination for their punky song "Girl All the Bad Guys Want." They are nominated against some of the best, too, including Dave Matthews Band, Bon Jovi, N*Sync and No Doubt. The nomination was a surprise to the band members, who claim they originally thought the nomination was for a mini-Grammy not a real one. "It was quite unbelievable when we found out we were nominated," singer Jaret Von Erich told The Wichitan. "If we win, we will start a riot of 13-year-old N*Sync fans wearing Bon Jovi T-shirts, chanting, ‘Dave got robbed, Gwen is hot, kill the fat guys!’" Jaret and bandmate Chris Burney both earned degrees from MSU before they hit the road with other area natives Erik Rodham Clinton and Gary Wiseass. If you are wondering about the names, the explanation is that they just decided to come up with them one day. They aren’t trying to hide from anyone, they are just having fun. Jaret said the band just happened by accident. "Our original bands (Coolfork and The Folkadots) dissolved around the same time," he said. "So, we got together and started drinking beers, and a month later, we were playing at Memorial Stadium for the Fourth of July." After performing in Wichita Falls and other smaller towns such as Lubbock, San Angelo and Abilene, they began sidelining with groups like Hagfish and Beef Jerky in the Dallas area. Soon after, they took the mainstage on their own. They released their first album in 1997, but had a difficult time gaining widespread recognition until they released "The Bitch Song" on their second album in 1998. Their latest album, Drunk Enough to Dance, is the most popular release yet, with "Girls All the Bad Guys Want" becoming an instant hit. "That song originated from our producer, Butch Walker, and myself talking about how pissed off so many bands are these days and how most of them are suburban kids who are actually mad at nothing," Jaret said. "He brought in the skeleton song and let me have my way with it, and the rest is history." The band has been on tour overseas for the past few months, but Jaret says the guys are hoping to be back in Texas sometime in early spring. "We just did a small Texas run with some friends called Simple Plan," he said. "The catch 22 is, now that we are doing well in other states, and especially overseas, we only play Texas twice a year, and it is easy to miss all of the friends we have made over the last eight and a half years." The band is known for not taking things too seriously, and Jaret says they are happy the way things are. In fact, he says they are serious about not being serious. "Among our peers, we are the band known for constant touring, grueling drives and a little beer thrown in for good measure," he said. "So, the thing is, we don’t fill your head with politics or how crappy our childhoods were. Instead, we talk about chicks, beer, pizza and rock." As for the Grammy nomination, the guys hope the show will be a commercial for their music. "I don’t expect it to change the way a slew of critics perceive us, that being the juvenile fat guys without a care," Jaret said. "But it will get our name out there and possibly get a few people to actually listen to our songs and think before they try to write us off as a flash in the pan." The band does actually care about what people think about their music, although they’re hesitant to admit it. "I am not in this to break new ground or change the world," Jaret said. "I want to play and sing, and I want people to like it. There it is…we want people to like our band! I feel better." Although the band hasn’t been asked to play or present at the Grammy’s, Jaret has dreams of giving rapper Eminem an award or two. "He’s a genius, and I think he should get every award this year, even the ones he isn’t up for," he said. "Just give them all to Eminem, and call it a day. Where is the buffet?" Jaret and the rest of the guys say they are indebted to plenty of folks in Wichita Falls, including radio stations, music stores and their families and friends. "We owe thanks to a lot of people, and want them to know we appreciate the support," Jaret said. "We are having the time of our lives and are proof positive that if you stick with it, your dreams can come true, you can still be broke, but you can get a lot of free stuff!"

Out-of-this-world art exhibit lands at Fain Fine Art Gallery
Richard Carter | For the Wichitan

High above in the glittering night sky, we imaginatively connect the dots of shining stars to create a host of familiar images called constellations. Tyler sculptor Philana Oliphant’s newest series of mixed media sculptures titled “Constellations” imaginatively reflects her lifelong fascination with the art of astronomy. “I have always been interested in the sky, always,” she said. “I study a little bit as I go and try and learn more and try and incorporate that in my work.” Oliphant’s “Constellations” will open at the Fain Fine Arts Center at MSU on Friday and will run through February 28. The artist will attend a reception Friday night at the gallery at 8 p.m. Her art works, which the artist calls constellations, consist of her abstract drawings glued onto sculptures. Oliphant works with materials such as charcoal, graphite, paint, paper, wood and wire. She tries to keep her art works light so that she can easily work with the objects. Oliphant teaches art at the University of Texas at Tyler, where she received her BFA. Her studies focused on drawing, sculpture and printmaking. She has shown extensively in Texas and in 10 national and international exhibitions. “I’ve always done drawings, and I’ve always done sculpture,” Oliphant said. “I finally was able to put them both together.” She recalls watching a visiting artist gluing his drawings onto canvas. She did the same with her own work and working with the resulting bumps and shapes, lead her to gluing drawings onto what had been wall mounted shapes and then hanging them free. “It’s kind of scary to glue a drawing down if you really love it because of all sorts of bad things that could happen to it. I’m getting better at it,” she said. Oliphant’s sculpture titled “Parallel Universes” is made up of eight tall, cylindrical pipes suspended from the ceiling parallel to one another. Each pipe is covered with her graphite and charcoal drawings. A constellation in itself, the sculpture reflects the enharmonic visual equivalents between these objects. “In my mind, my art reaches beyond time and space,” according to Oliphant. “I search for something parallel, and I look for parallels, whether it’s people, things in nature or objects in space,” she said. Art is a way for Oliphant to constellate herself. “I don’t know about other people, but it certainly is for me. My process is about mapping out my way through this life and to other parallel lives or universes,” she said. She bases most of her drawings on meditations where she concentrates on one thing at a time. “It really helps me find an answer to the problem or whatever it is I am trying to work on,” she said. She also does some of her drawings about dreams. She frequently dreams about things in the sky such as tornadoes, wind shears, constellations and birds. Viewers of her work will spot this dream matter in the titles and forms of her artworks such as “Aquila,” “Windshear,” “Lyra” and “Constellation.” “When I’m drawing, I see these drawings as outer space. If I were in one of the drawings, I would be microscopic making my way through all of the lines and spaces. “So when I look out at the sky, it’s the same sort of thing. It makes me realize that I am a part of the whole. I am not lost. I do have a purpose and I want to fulfill it, for the sake of the whole,” she said. Oliphant hopes that people don’t just walk in and walk out of her exhibition. She wants them to have some sort of honest reaction. If her drawings are often personal, the finished result of gluing paper to an object can often result in surprises to the artist. She doesn’t plan her constellations too far ahead and is often working on five or six drawings at a time, as well as a number of objects and shapes. “Sometimes there is a shape I want to do and as I am drawing I’ll figure out what drawing will go on that shape. Or it will work in reverse where the drawings need a certain shape,” she said. She credits the birth of her daughter 10 years ago with helping improve her artwork. As a teacher working with a wide range of students, she’s noticed little children are naturally relaxed up until the third or fourth grade. "That’s where I want to be and to help them stay. It’s helped me feel the joy of doing art," she said.

Liar, liar, this band’s on fire
Richard Carter | For the Wichitan

If you still haven’t discovered the brilliant tune-age of Brooklyn’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Le Tigre, Oneida and the Liars, it’s about time to gracelessly flock to the gritty side of New York city’s post-punk scene. For a maelstrom of exceedingly dance-able jams, the Liars suggests the sounds of an early Gang of Four and Stranglers with a dose of sick underground hip-hop. Mute records has just re-released the band’s full-length album titled “They Threw Us All into a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top,” with a new EP just out and more to come. The quartet destroyed stages, instruments and fans across the United States and Europe last year playing with Jon Spencer and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Liars includes Angus Andrew (lead vocals), Aaron Hemphill (guitar), Pate Nature (bass and synthbox) and Ron Albertson (drums). I spoke with Nature via phone in New York recently during a short break between touring and recording material for the band’s second CD. “Playing is a constant unpredictable mess of fun, chaos and destruction,” he said. Liars performances are intense, short musical barrages, smack filled with stage dives, instrument carnage and enough energy to keep up with the insane Yeah Yeah Yeahs. “I usually only have a half-hour attention span to watch bands anyways, and if we were to play any longer than that, I would get bored myself,” Nature said. “It’s like expending as much energy in a short a time as you possibly can.” But for all of the members’ destructive chaos on stage, the Liars’ full-length and its recent EP are remarkably tight and well-constructed. “The stage is about imperfections, clumsiness, awkwardness and having a good time and doing it for ourselves and allowing the audience to come in that way,” he said. “The studio we take advantage of fully for what it is. If we tried to replicate the live thing in the studio it would be impossible, and you don’t like going to see bands who sound like their albums anyways.” The band completed its first CD in July 2001 in two days and promptly quit their jobs to go on tour. On the last show in a small club in Brooklyn, Mute signed the Liars to re-release its CD and record a new album for spring of 2003. The energetic driving sound of the Liars begins with the drums and bass. “We take a lot of influence from bands who base their songs starting with the rhythm section. The bass and the drums are really what our lead instruments are. And the guitar and vocals act like the dressing they should be,” he said. “The bass has a really strong presence in this band because we’re birthing the songs out of the rhythms. You can make a drum out of the bass, and that’s pretty much the way everyone in this band approaches their instruments, always trying to break it apart so it turns into something else.” What’s going on in the underground musical scene in Brooklyn right now is drop dead amazing. “The nit, grit, dirt and grime happens in Brooklyn, and that’s really what gives the bands their character,” Nature said. “I cannot wait for the hype to end, so people can hear our music for real and that it does stand up on its own,” Nature said. The band’s new three-song EP is called “Fins to Make Us More Fish-like.”