Hip hop artist Baby Bash and country music star Danielle Peck headline this year’s Ferris Fest to end a long and hard semester.

Next Saturday, April 26, from 12 to 6 p.m., the stage will be set and the celebration will begin. The main stage will be opened by new band, The Frantic. Danielle Peck will take the stage next with the night being finished off by headliner Baby Bash. Coinciding with the main stage will be a slew of local acts heading up Second Stage. The winner of MIMA’s Wednesday rap battle will open up second Stage. Local acts Saraph, The ET’s, and The Happy Accidents will also be featured on this year’s Second Stage.

Interim Director of Student Activities Matt Eickhoff has just confirmed that DJ Breaksk8 from MTV’s show, “American’s Best Dance Crew,” will be emceeing and performing throughout the festival.

“I am pumped for this and I’m sure the students will be too,” Eickhoff said.

The Frantic is an up and coming band out of Chicago. According to Alternative Press, it is one of the “100 bands you need to know in 2008.” Chicago’s Q101, named the band “Best New Artist of 2007,” beating out well-known bands Chevelle and Atreyu. It is a “show not to miss,” according to Ferris’ Entertainment Unlimited.

Danielle Peck is a country music artist known for her hits, “Findin’ a Good Man,” and “I Don’t.” She sings under the same label, Big Machine Records, as hit artists Taylor Swift and Trisha Yearwood. She has been writing music since she was 10 years old.

Baby Bash is a Latin American hip-hop/rap artist that carries heavy influences by rap, R&B, reggae, and rock. He likes to call his music a “fusion of everything.” His hit single “Suga Suga,” reached gold status. He also is known for his singles, “Cyclone,” and “What Is It.”

On Second Stage, Ferris students will be able to watch some of their colleagues perform for them. Saraph, who has members at Ferris State University, has created quite a following with the students on campus. The band released an album called, “Stick to your Guns” just last year. The band is described on the Web site as having “unbridled potential fueled by leagues of talent.” The members state on their Web site that their mission is to restore the genre of rock. “In a world overwhelmed with ‘dime-a-dozen’ hardcore bands, Saraph aims to bring the true roots of rock back.”

The Happy Accidents are a punk/ska band from Jackson, Mich. They describe their performances as always fast paced with “high energy music that makes you want to either skank or karate kick your friend in the face!”

“As a band we’re looking to spread our passion for music to whomever enjoys our sound,” they said on their Web site.

The Happy Accidents have played shows at numerous venues all over Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Indiana. They are currently unsigned, but have selfreleased three records.

The ET’s are a local act right from Big Rapids, Mich. They play alternative/punk/rock music, and are comprised of four members.

“We create music just for the fun of it,” the band stated on its Myspace page. “Our mission is to create something many can enjoy and appreciate; evoking feelings and emotions while keeping local music alive and real.”

All of Second Stage’s bands are featured on Myspace and have samples of their music online. Saraph can be found at Myspace. com/saraphmusic. The ET’s page is Myspace.com/theetsmusic. The Happy Accidents can be found at Myspace.com/ thehappyaccidents.

The curtains opened, the disco ball came down, and the spotlight centered on the stage where women were lined to the left and right, hooting and hollering for what appeared to be a reserved businessman.

But, the audience knew better. They had come to see “The Full Monty!” The music started and the dancing followed in sync. First came the shirt, and then came the pants.

The women in the audience were laughing and cheering along with the women on stage while some of the men turned and cringed in their seats, hiding their eyes in their girlfriends’ sleeves.

A few turns here and several hip thrusts there started off the night and brought the audience to life.

But after the strip show, things turned serious as the play focused on the lives of Jerry and Dave, played by Chay Jenkins and Bernt Ryggs, respectively.

The two friends, along with a handful of other men, were laid off from work. And to top things off, Jerry, a recent divorcee, was threatened by his ex-wife with child support.

After the two friends locked themselves in a stall at the local strip club on a "girls only" night, Jerry devised a plan on how he and Dave could earn some cash as strippers.

The two friends set out to find other willing men to take it all off and stumble upon Malcolm, a former co-worker in the process of killing himself, played by Jordan Cyr.

Malcolm agrees to help the two put on the show they call, “Hot Metal.” The trio then runs into another former co-worker, Harold, played by Joe Vance, at a dance class.

The three men blackmail Harold into helping choreograph and be a part of the show. Harold agrees if the men promise not to tell his wife about him being unemployed.

With the help of Jerry’s son Nathan and a mysterious pianist by the name of Jeanette, the men hold an audition for “Hot Metal” and rile up two more former co-workers. Noah “Horse” Simmons and the wellendowed Ethan Girard, played by Marieko Griffin and Joey Robillard, respectively, completed the sextet.

As the night went on, more clothes came off. But, despite the half nakedness that audience members were expecting, the show focused much more on friendship.

Dave’s body image almost had him cancel his performance and the death of Malcolm’s mother almost put a halt to the show.

But, the show must go on, and it did indeed! The men’s scheme to earn money eventually paid off as they took it off.

The final number had audience members almost off of their seats as the six men sang “Let it Go” and stripped down from their uniforms to scantily silk red G-strings.

When the moment in the show’s finale approached, where the guys were expected to whip off their G-strings, a sensation of rising panic and excitement filled the crowd.

The men lined up on the stage, posed and ready to bare all. But, the countdown to a flash of genitalia was just that: Much more flash than genitalia.

The blinding lights left everything to the viewers’ imaginations and had everyone on their feet applauding the men’s gutsy performances.

Mark Iverson, a freshman in the music industry management program, said about the play, “It was entertaining and full of witty humor.”

Joshua Key, an audience member who came all the way from Cedar Springs, said, “I can’t believe those guys had the guts to get up there and do what they did. Wow.”

He added, “And thank God for those lights at the end, I’m not sure my eyes would have forgiven me.”

“Although we know that Andean music has been played in South America for thousands of years, its beginnings have been lost in the mists of time. Just as the true origins of the native peoples of the Americas continue to elude us, the first players of this wonderful musical tradition remain an enigma.”

This quote, from Andes Manta's official Web site, andesmanta. com, embodies the ideas and spirits of the music brought to life by the Andes Manta group, a band of four musicians (and brothers), who play over 35 classic Andean musical instruments in a colorful array of unique South American music.

As part of the Live! At Williams series, the Andes Manta performers will be playing at the Williams Auditorium on Saturday, April 19, at 8 p.m. for the whole Big Rapids community.

The four Lopez brothers, Fernando, Luis, Bolivar, and Jorge, are natives of the Ecuadorian Andes who divulge into the native, traditional, and “vibrant and powerful” music of their culture, the art having been passed down through generations for thousands of years from “father to son, and brother to brother.”

This genre of music represents more than just entertainment; it’s played and enjoyed on almost every occasion, from the birth of a child, the change of seasons and harvests, to blessing houses and religious festivals.

It “preserves the heart and soul of the ancient ones…far from melancholy, the music of Andes Manta is a joyous celebration of daily life.”

Acclaimed by their official Web site as “one of the few authentic prehistoric culture forms to survive the five hundred years of European occupation of South America,” this music is a long-standing, well-appreciated tradition, and “unlike gold and jewels, it could neither be melted nor stolen.”

Not only does Andes Manta represent its music in the “purest and most authentic form,” singing in Spanish and “Quechan” (the first language of many Andean peoples), they also represent the instruments in a strictly authentic fashion.

They play long and short pan pipes, the longest reaching 6 feet, flutes, or “quenas,” “bandolins,” “guitarras,” and percussive instruments as well. Most of the instruments are made of bamboo, and bundled llama or goat toenails fill their shaker-like instruments.

Williams Auditorium Manager Michael Terry commented on a time he had seen the group perform in Kansas City, Mo., “Their music is vibrant, authentic, resonating with ancient civilizations yet conveys the emotions common to all times…celebration of birth, of harvest, and passing from this world to the next.”

He prides the event as a rare chance to “introduce students and the community to music that is outside their everyday experience, explore the world a little, help us understand that there is much more out there than we might first realize.”

In addition to the concert, the morning of April 19 at 10 a.m., there will be a panpipe building workshop at Artworks in downtown Big Rapids, 106 N. Michigan Ave. Workshop participants will be able to build their own panpipes and learn how to play them. If you are interested in participating, you can register at Artworks by calling 796-2420.

The tickets for the show are each $12, and can be bought at the Williams Auditorium ticket office and through the Ferris Web site. If anyone needs any additional information about the event, or require any special accommodations, contact Michael Terry by phone, x5863, or through e-mail, terrym@ferris.edu

Thomas Keneally’s book “The Playmaker” was chosen to be the second book studied by the new Ferris State University Book Club.

The FSU Book Club will meet at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 29 in the Rankin Center Lounge to discuss the novel from the author of “Schindler’s List.”

The story of “Playmaker” surrounds what is required to put together a dramatic production in the midst of the chaos of Australia in the year 1789, when it was being used as the “ultimate” prison camp for the British Empire.

On the other side of the world, an officer with the British Royal Marines is assigned the task of casting and directing a play called “The Recruiting Officer: A Comedy” with a group of prisoners that make the cast of “Prison Break” look like Backstreet Boys.

After some clues of the book’s time and purpose with the inclusion of a copy of a fictional playbill, a caste of characters is placed in the book before the first chapter to help the reader keep track of who is who when the stage is set. Most of “The Players” only avoided capital punishment by a thread at a time when stealing 45 shillings could send them to the hangman’s noose.

By chapter nine, the plot gets murky when a female inmate gets involved in the drama of the book. Meanwhile, the unsure Lieutenant Ralph Clark’s wife is back home in England.

If students can find the time within the next couple of weeks, it is a book that is both educational and entertaining. Keneally’s eloquent language when describing characters is amazingly detailed and historically accurate to the type of prisoners who were sent to live out their sentences in the Outback. Some of the book was based on the actual journal of Lieutenant Clark.

Born in New South Wales in 1935, Keneally originally studied to become a priest in the Catholic Church, according to enotes.com, before becoming a teacher and author. He has written over 30 books and plays since. “The Playmaker” was originally published in 1987.

Anyone who needs help getting to the event because of disability or needing other accommodations can contact Deirdre Kolle, by calling 231-499-8071 or emailing kolled@stu.ferris. edu.

Copies of “The Playmaker” can still be ordered and shipped from under $10 from Web sites such as Amazon.com and EBay.

The group met on April 1 to discuss “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting”, the March book of the month. One copy of that book was available at FLITE, while additional copies could be bought from Great Lakes Books. “Laughter” is a collection of sometimes witty, sometimes sensitive observations.

It looked like a nice thought. The author of a book called “From the Stall” had sent the book to me so I could read it and spread good word about it. I wondered if it was something like “Found!” (pictures and notes that people find) or “Post Secret” (anonymous confessions in a postcard medium). Intrigued by the thought of seeing what kind of odd, wacky, and sometimes motivational statements were on bathroom walls, I read it.

Let me state that I was disappointed.

What I figured would be mildly dirty and risqué statements were actually really dirty and risqué. Drawings of naked women and lewd statements about bodily functions filled about 70 percent of the book.

But then you had unexpected writings on the wall. One statement from a men’s room at University of Michigan read, “I shall walk through the valley of the shadow of death and I shall fear no man.” Not what I expect to see chicken scratched in a college bathroom…

But the author’s comment (which I will not mention) is something I came to expect throughout the book.

Odd but clean moments and even some motivational statements were dirtied by bathroom humor and unnecessary sexual comments from the author. Even statements not publishable in this newspaper were made even worse by the author’s statements.

Is this completely necessary? How old are you, sir?

Locations for the book seem to mainly be in Michigan at four universities (not Ferris). What about some of the other universities of Michigan? Aren’t you supposed to explore all possible venues and get all the research you can when you’re making a book?

In what looks like an attempt to venture to other locations, there’s one submission from MIT and one picture from Montana. How out of place are these? Get a lot of towns or just get one.

And I know it’s pretty hard for a man to walk into a girl’s bathroom (especially to take pictures), but only a good handful came from the ladies’ facilities.

Then let me talk about the production side of things. Sure, I’m sure there wasn’t a huge budget for this project. It’s just some guy who wanted to make a book. However, I really don’t think that’s an excuse to have pixilated pictures that look like someone took them with a camera phone.

There are also examples of poor camera skills.

The best thing I got out of it? I did laugh a couple times, but my eyes were opened even wider to the male psyche. Some of the things you guys write/draw are pretty ridiculous.

It had potential. But it kind of stinks.

Pun intended.

I’ve said it in this paper before and I’ll say it again. I’m a TV fan. It’s a virtual endless form of entertainment. But with all of my sports teams playing mostly in primetime combined with demanding social and educational schedules, I miss lots of my favorite shows. Alas, what am I to do?

Thankfully, the major TV networks (NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX) have come to my aid. All four networks now offer replays of most of their shows online. That’s right; you can watch your favorite shows online at your own leisure. No VCR needed anymore. And I was really taking a shine to the lower than average quality of VHS tapes.

This is a step in the right direction for the networks. They are tapping into a media that was previously dominated by YouTube and bootleg versions of their own shows. They can now put their shows online, with one-fourth the commercials, and have happy viewers. Here’s a quick breakdown of each of the networks.

NBC
NBC has the most shows available online at 24. Included in the list are some of its major players like “The Office” and “Scrubs.” But on that same note some of its staples are absent from the online selection. I’d like to see “Law and Order” in any of its flavors or “Deal or No Deal.”

Video quality is good but the viewing window can sometimes become uncentered when switching between sizes. I haven’t ruled this out as computer specific though. Commercials are only 30 seconds long and the video restarts automatically after commercials.

NBC is unique in that it will allow you to download and save some of its episodes.

ABC
ABC is next on the list with 23 shows available online which represents most of their primetime lineup. They have hit shows online like “Lost: Seasons 1-4,” “Eli Stone” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” And they have a game show called “Duel.” I love game shows.

ABC’s player is one of the better ones out there. It gives you the biggest viewing area of the four networks offerings. The downside is that the commercials are somewhat interactive in nature and requires you to click after each commercial to start the show back up. This could prove inconvenient unless you have a wireless mouse with some range.

What makes ABC’s player better is that it offers some of its shows in High Definition. But beware; watching the HD shows requires some significant hardware and a pretty good Internet connection.

FOX
FOX checks in third with 21 shows online. All of FOX’s major shows are online like “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy” and “Prison Break.” Its player is probably the fanciest of the four but boasts no better quality than the others. Its commercials can get somewhat repetitive. I’m not a huge fan of FOX’s shows besides Sunday night’s cartoons.

CBS
CBS is last in shows with 19 but it has the best shows online. The network has, among others, all three flavors of “CSI” and the forever-famous “Price is Right.” The player has no frills but it gets the job done. The only problems are that full screen mode isn’t truly full screen and when in full screen mode, I get a white box in the upper left hand corner of the background, which is distracting.

I have found a few cable networks, like TNT and Discovery Channel, that are starting to make the move to online episodes but aren’t quite at the same level as the major networks. TNT and Discovery Channel both have a very limited selection.

If we can step back and look at the big picture for a moment, this signifies to me that one day we’ll be watching all of our TV via the Internet. Imagine it now. You can get whatever shows you want, whenever you want on your TV.

But if you can’t wait that long, consider purchasing a TV tuner card for your computer. This will allow you to, well, watch TV on your computer. Higher end models will allow you to watch and record at the same time. Some even support over-the-air HD signals which means you can watch your local channels in HD, provided you have a good antenna.

The bottom line is this: The way we watch TV is changing and the change is happening right before our eyes.

Are you a fan of 80s music? Do you rock out to Van Halen, KISS, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses, Lynryd Skynyrd, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, The Scorpions, Journey, or Styx?

If you do, like me, then you are an 80s hardcore rocker.

Do you give the “rock on” gesture and bob your head when you hear “Running with the Devil” by Van Halen, or “Detroit Rock City” by KISS?

Do you play air guitar when “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” by Guns N’ Roses comes on with Slash jamming on his guitar, or do you play air drums when “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard begins on the radio?

80s music has inspired many of the famous rock bands of today because of their classic rock style and wicked guitar solos.

The famous rock bands of the 80s not only inspired artists of today, but also inspired video game companies to create games. The most famous being “Guitar Hero,” with songs from the 80s. We not only rock out on the radio, MP3 players or computer systems, but also on video games nowadays.

These groups are all considered among the best rock n’ roll bands of all time. Songs like “Jump” by Van Halen, “Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC, “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin, “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Crazy Train” by Ozzy, and “Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd are all songs still played on the radio today.

Teens nowadays still listen to 80s music and wear 80s-type fashion. Music, movies, and fashion come and go from the past; however, this era of rock n’ roll never ended and will never end.

The 80s do equal rock n’ roll and that era will never change, nor will people living during that time change their feelings towards music like that.

How can anyone go without listening to these groups? It’s our past, who would want to forget that?

I sure haven’t, because my dad got me into two of his favorite bands: KISS and Styx. He is the classic guy still living in high school. He is a young one (39-years-old) but knows his rock n’ roll music.

I think that people born late, such as me, who like that music will also never change because the past sticks, and the songs are just so well written and sung. Who wouldn’t want to listen?

80s rock n’ roll music is legendary whether people believe it or not, so go out and listen to some classic rock n’ roll and rock on!

Think about it. With a video camera and some simple uploading, you have access to as large an audience as the biggest Hollywood star.

A few interesting ideas and a blog of your own could attract more readers than a best selling author. Who would have thought?

Sites like Myspace and YouTube are leveling the playing field and making it easy for "ordinary Joes" to become overnight celebrities.

How about Perez Hilton for example? This celebrity gossip blogger has a poison pen and wreaks havoc on Hollywood. The “Queen of Mean” has even made offline fame with appearances on several television shows.

Or how about Jessica Lee Rose? Wait--who? Forgive me, I mean Lonelygirl15. Ring a bell? This YouTube star has made millions of online fans as Bree, a home schooled 16-year-old who uses a webcam to post her private thoughts.

Another YouTube hit, and possibly my favorite, is Chris Crocker, the “leave Britney alone” guy.

An appearance on The Maury Show and several death threats later, the aggressive effeminate is still video blogging on YouTube and Myspace.

Then there’s Myspace’s Tila Tequila, YouTube’s “Chocolate Rain” guy and Noah, the guy who takes a picture of himself everyday for six years and streams the photos in a six minute long video.

The list is endless and as more people are added, more will fade off into the oblivion of Internet has-beens. I can actually see Vh1 spawning several shows from this Internet phenomenon: “Where Are They Now?” Or, “When They Were Internet Stars.”

In more recent news, Myspace and YouTube have been the blame for the eight Florida teens who were charged with beating another teen.

According to the Associated Press, the girls wanted to post an “animalistic” attack on YouTube so they could gain worldwide exposure.

In a press conference with the victim’s parents, this can be seen on YouTube, the girl’s father lashes out on Myspace, YouTube, and even MTV’s “Jackass”.

He claimed that the Web sites and show have driven children to compete in making the most violent videos they can.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Steve Jones, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said, “Those who blame YouTube or news organizations should blame themselves first.

“The public is culpable as well because they are paying attention,” he said. “There is no medium that forces them to pay attention.”

Perhaps Jones is right. Nothing can sit you down in front of your computer; force you to log on to Myspace or YouTube and hold your eyes open as you surf aimlessly through pointless videos… well, besides homework.