Today, we’re celebrating the end of July with a hello-August-please-don’t-be-s****y edition of
Darts & Laurels
It’s been a tumultuous week for UF student Daniel Helfrich: First he bartered some Powerade in exchange for the Archer Chili’s giant chili statue, only to have it stolen from his neighbor’s balcony the night he took it home. His touching story of love and loss caught the attention of corporate Chili’s, which doubled Helfrich’s original offered reward for finding the pepper (a $20 Chili’s gift card). Chili’s representatives then presented Helfrich with a new pepper at a gathering on Tuesday, so we’re giving him a you-made-our-week LAUREL to Helfrich, Chili’s and this classic story of lovers reunited.
This week, Pasquale Rotella, the founder and CEO of the company that hosts EDC, Insomniac Entertainment threw some serious shade at Gainesville native and Platinum-selling artist Tom Petty. The rocker recently made some disparaging comments about EDM, spinning the same critiques of the genre that many older folks make: DJing isn’t art, it’s stupid that people would pay to watch someone press “Play” on a laptop, etc. Rotella reacted, Spin reported, calling Petty a “classic rocker in search of contemporary social relevancy as he starts promoting new music,” among other subtle digs. The response itself was measured, as Spin put it, but it’s pretty audacious that a new guy would insult someone as established and respected as Petty. This is not to say that older artists don’t make mistakes or that EDM doesn’t have its creative faults, but in this case, we’re siding with Petty.
Time will only tell if EDM becomes as influential and culturally significant as Tom Petty, but for now, we’re giving a sit-down-and-pay-your-dues DART to EDM industry man Pasquale Rotella.
Now we have a shoutout to PolitiFact Florida, the bipartisan fact-checking organization responsible for verifying all claims made by Florida politicians. As we noted this week, Rick Scott and Charlie Crist are on their way to becoming the least popular Florida gubernatorial candidates ever, and we’re eternally grateful for PolitiFact Florida’s tireless work in checking claims made by both factions. We’re giving a I-want-to-shine-a-light-on-the-things-you-do LAUREL to PolitiFact Florida for doing great work.
Finally, this last DART to bad-behavior fraternity Beta Theta Pi writes itself. Over the weekend, Beta’s toga party came to a halt when police answered a noise complaint and discovered underage drinkers at the party site. Bad behavior is nothing new for Beta; last year, they drew negative attention when one of its members was arrested in connection to an undercover online sex sting. The member solicited sex from what he thought was an underage girl and was subsequently booked on felony charges. In addition, Beta caught serious heat in 2012 when two white members were photographed in blackface makeup at a fraternity party, demonstrating a level of ignorance not often found on college campuses in today’s age. We know that, on the whole, Greek life is an enriching, time-honored experience, but incidences like these defend the negative stereotypes.
[A version of this editorial ran on page 6 on 7/31/2014 under the headline "Darts & Laurels"]
