The Avenue - The Independent Florida Alligator

THE AVENUE | FASHION

A Gainesville clubbing clothes critique

By REGINA STUZIN | Oct. 22, 2008

The Gainesville club scene is not my favorite crowd. I'm much more of a small, pretentious boutique club girl myself, but my loving friends and roommates have dragged me out to my share of Gainesville clubs, and I have not been impressed by what I've seen. Maybe it's because my taste in going-out attire is just different than most, but some of the outfits I've seen out on Friday and Saturday nights in Gainesville are beyond wretched. In my tradition of trying to better the taste of the Gainesville population, I'll describe some outfits I don't think you should wear out.

THE AVENUE | SEX

Halloween treats adults to more than just candy

By STEPHANIE DUNN | Oct. 22, 2008

I'm convinced Halloween was created for the sole purpose of getting boned. No other holiday compares. When mischief and moonlight abound, someone is going to get laid. Throw in a chintzy costume, garish makeup and orange beer, and you're done for.

THE AVENUE | NIGHTLIFE

Mind your bar manners

By GABRIELLE FALCONEIRI | Oct. 22, 2008

This difficult midterms week that recently passed wore on my patience because of the day-to-day annoyances bartenders face. It inspired me to share my thoughts on bar etiquette from start to finish.

THE AVENUE | MUSIC

Q&A with Brett Dennen

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008

Brett Dennen said his desert island food of choice is sushi. After all, raw fish is already on the menu. This clever California folkie, who releases his third album "Hope for the Hopeless" on Oct. 21, is a man of sound judgment. Supports Barack Obama? Check. Keeps his childhood friends? Check. Huge Ween fan? Obviously.

THE AVENUE | MUSIC

Album review: Oasis – "Dig Out Your Soul"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008

If the Cubs ever won a World Series, the universe would collapse on itself. Likewise if Oasis ever made another classic album -some things just aren't meant to happen. But Noel Gallagher has a go at greatness anyway, and on "Dig Out Your Soul," he comes very close before little brother Liam and friends set him back another hundred years. The first four songs, penned by the older, more talented sibling, make up a bristling suite channeling the sounds of London, circa 1969. "Bag It Up" and "The Shock of the Lightning" strut to quintessential Oasis - swaggering guitar rock, pissed off and brash. And too good to be true. Liam and the rotating cast of sidemen promptly pull a Steve Bartman: distracting the professional from accomplishing something special.

THE AVENUE | MUSIC

Album review: Mercury Rev – "Snowflake Midnight"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008

There's a place in the market for white noise, and nobody knows this better than Mercury Rev. With "Snowflake Midnight," the veteran space-rockers piece together an orthopedic pillow of an album that's not only as serenely unexciting as its name suggests but could likely accompany "trickling stream" and "rainforest animals" as the third setting on a Sleep Mate sound machine. Each of the few engaging moments scattered throughout - the soft-loud dynamic in "People Are So Unpredictable (There's No Bliss Like Home)," the Little-Drummer-Boy-learns-techno choral passage of "Dream of a Young Girl as a Flower" - is promptly smothered to death by an extended ambient interlude. This is the sonic equivalent of turkey: it's pretty bland by itself, and after consumption, all you want to do is take a nap.

THE AVENUE | MOVIES AND TV

'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People' wins audience

By DAVID STUZIN | Oct. 15, 2008

"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" is a strikingly clever movie title; not only because of its length but also because it manages to be somewhat ironic. The funny and friendly movie certainly doesn't alienate the audience but draws them into a big, warm bear hug of romantic humor.

THE AVENUE | ART AND THEATER

Beauty is in the eye of the artist

By MEGAN HERON | Oct. 15, 2008

"Beauty" is a word that often refers to something that gives pleasure to the senses, mind and spirit. But not according to local artist Erik Jones.

THE AVENUE | FASHION

Fake fashion faux pas

By REGINA STUZIN | Oct. 15, 2008

Last week I wrote about the fashion rules that you can (and probably should) break, especially in Florida. This week, I'm writing about the rules that you can bend. I emphasize the word bend because if you break them, you could end up looking like a hot fashion mess, but if you bend them the right way, you could break new fashion ground.

THE AVENUE | LIFESTYLE

Imitation not really the sincerest form of flattery

By ERIK VOSS | Oct. 15, 2008

I never realized how generic my taste in fashion is until I spent more time on campus. It seems like every other day that I spot some dope in Turlington wearing a shirt I have somewhere in my closet, or worse, one I'm currently wearing.

THE AVENUE | LIFESTYLE

Heavy metal bands team up to raise money for breast cancer

By CASEY BROOKE LAWSON | Oct. 15, 2008

With a microphone in his hand, Validus vocalist Justin Kalvin will sing Friday for Save Second Base - a breast cancer benefit concert at Gainesville's Backstage Lounge, 1315 S. Main St.

THE AVENUE | NIGHTLIFE

So you think you can pass for 21?

By GABRIELLE FALCONEIRI | Oct. 15, 2008

Much to Bernie Machen's dismay, Gainesville is a town that loves to party. Most people who grew up here or go to UF get into the party atmosphere early and try to figure out ways to get around that pesky drinking age.

THE AVENUE | MUSIC

Q&A with David Banner

By ZACH SEYMOUR | Oct. 15, 2008

As he hung out on his tour bus with rapper Talib Kweli, David Banner talked to the Avenue about his Friday show at The Venue, hip-hop, politics and life in general. Since the success of his song "Play," Banner said he has been "working hard on the music, enjoying life - trying to get through."

THE AVENUE | MUSIC

Album review: Rise Against – "Appeal To Reason"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008

The boys in Rise Against could probably take out David Blaine in a breath-holding contest. How do I know? Because "Appeal To Reason" is a 47-minute, make-your-cheeks-turn red scream-a-thon, somehow peppered with enough actual words to resemble something of a concept album bemoaning the collapse of Western civilization. Exhale. "Kotov Syndrome" pegs the formula - hey! hey! backing vocals, mosh-inducing chord progressions and anger. Lots of anger. Not a great deal of range here, unless the scale runs from "'roid rage" to "where's the baseball bat?" "Collapse (Post-Amerika)" tactfully depicts a doomsday scenario. Spoiler alert - we spell America with a K. It all tries to sound grave and important, but through it all, your mind will wonder: Can these guys belch the alphabet?

THE AVENUE | MUSIC

Album review: The Streets – "Everything Is Borrowed"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008

Intellectualism isn't completely dead in America, but it's plugged to a ventilator. If The Streets are any indication, the academic inquisition hasn't yet crossed the pond. "Everything Is Borrowed," everything except the ideas, sounds like a particularly intelligent Black Eyed Peas spin-off, genre-hopping from English R&B to pop-laden beat poetry. Be this as it may, "Heaven for the Weather" jumps and jives on a piano-tambourine combo dolled up for mass consumption. No elitist claims here: this is freaking catchy, mate. "The Way of the Dodo," though, is problematic Al Gore hip-hop - smart, smug, warning human extinction. And it's kind of hard to dance to music about the end of the world.

THE AVENUE | MUSIC

Album review: Pussycat Dolls - "Doll Domination"

By ROBERT HILSON Avenue Writer | Oct. 8, 2008

Catwoman, Hello Kitty, Yusuf Islam - whether through black spandex, lunch boxes or folk music, each of these feline enthusiasts have made meaningful contributions to the rich landscape of American pop culture. But not the Pussycat Dolls, who, with "Doll Domination," continue to claw their way through the ranks of tightly clothed MTV inventions with high-cut skirts and lowbrow R&B. "Bottle Pop" features some typically smooth lines from Snoop Dogg, and there's also a song called "I Hate This Part" - the girls showcase their command of irony. A little piece of my soul withered away when I heard this album. Still, this kind of music can't kill the Pussycats - they have nine lives.

THE AVENUE | MUSIC

MTV teams voter registration groups and bands to encourage voting

By CARLY FAIN Avenue Writer | Oct. 8, 2008

College students' participation is crucial in deciding which way the presidential elections will swing in November, according to voter registration groups such as Why Tuesday? and indie-rock band Death Cab for Cutie. To encourage students to vote, the band partnered with voter registration groups to organize the Ultimate College Bowl.

THE AVENUE | MUSIC

Album review: Jenny Lewis - "Acid Tongue"

By ROBERT HILSON Avenue Writer | Oct. 8, 2008

Innocence is like a dollar bill in a busted vending machine: Once it's gone, you aren't getting it back. So Jenny Lewis, whose up-until-now enduring image was that of a blue polka-dotted Southern belle, might as well kiss her Dorothy-esque appeal goodbye. "Acid Tongue" gets its title from the line, "I've been down to Dixie and dropped acid on my tongue." A thousand clean-cut boys in Middle America have just lost their princess. Freed from the burden of virtue, the prodigal daughter blossoms in this den of foot-tapping hell-fire. In "The Next Messiah," her sultry voice slithers atop bluesy guitars when a male voice chimes in: "I'm gonna give my love to you on a day you gotta bring it back." Our little girl is a full-grown tramp.

THE AVENUE | MUSIC

Album review: Ben Folds - "Way To Normal"

By ROBERT HILSON Avenue Writer | Oct. 8, 2008

"Oh, that stupid bitch is mine." Now before you make any snap judgments, know that this line comes from a song called "Errant Dog." Get it? It's funny - or at least Ben Folds thinks so. On "Way To Normal," Nashville's longest-running jokester walks the fine line between kitschy fun and tasteless humor with twelve politically incorrect songs designed to challenge the gag reflex. "The Frown Song" and "Dr. Yang" play like dumbed-down, cheesed-up New Pornographers outtakes - frenetic, hyper-pop of the most hummable order. "Bitch Went Nuts" uses the phrase in a more conventional sense and adds a shot of gratuitous profanity for good measure. Call it a guilty pleasure if you'd like - the track has more hooks than a fishing charter. Get it? Hooks? Fishing charter? Ben would think it's funny.

THE AVENUE | LIFESTYLE

Why you should love the '90s

By DEVIN CULCLASURE | Oct. 8, 2008

Whether it's another commercial-free '70s rock block on the radio or '80s night at XS, people love to celebrate decades past, and I can dig that.