Thumbs up to…Dillo Day is here at last
Did Mayfest withhold the daytime headliner extra long to make up for the super early leakage of the nighttime headliner? Who knows, but props to Mayfest for their last-minute scavenger hunt. The letter-by-letter reveal made for an exciting morning. All that matters now is that Dillo Day 2011 is tomorrow ,and there will be music.
He may be a little dated but B.o.B has the potential to be a phenomenal end to a long Dillo Day. For all of you who have been whining that he only has two good songs or that all his songs are collaborations, maybe you should turn off KISS FM and listen to one of his albums. They’re not half bad.
It’s okay if you haven’t heard of Chiddy Bang because you’ve definitely heard of the songs that they mash-up and sample in their tracks. From Radiohead to Sufjan Stevens, they use indie tunes as a unique backdrop to their rapping and catchy beats. With this mishmash of genres, everyone is bound to be satisfied.
The New Pornographers and Peter Bjorn & John: both legitimate artists. You’ve probably heard their names. If you haven’t heard their music, however … queue up your Pandora playlists – you have 24 hours to become their biggest fans.
Thumbs down to…NU attracts media attention
Protess and Bailey are two very different professors involved in two very different scandals. What they both have in common is their lasting success in keeping Northwestern a part of headline news. The two of them combined have kept NU in the pages of the New York Times, the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune.
While the bulk of the action for both professors occurred Winter Quarter, the drama seems to have spilled over into the spring. On May 9, the University finally announced that Bailey’s ultra-popular course would not be offered the following year. This was a foreseeable ramification, but that didn’t make the news any less upsetting for those students who had hoped to take the renowned class some time before receiving their diploma.
Protess, Medill professor and former director of Northwestern’s famed Innocence Project, got himself into some legal issues of his own this quarter. After years of praise, Protess was accused of using unethical methods to achieve his success with the program. This evoked mixed reactions, including dismay from past students who cherished their Innocence Project experience.
While some claim that no publicity is bad publicity, almost five months of headline-making is enough. Here’s to hoping Northwestern stays out of the headlines at least until the fall.
Thumbs down to…It says it’s May…
The fact that it is late May and in the 40’s outside says it all. Everyone knows Chicago is famous for cold and merciless weather, but really? Sure, there’s a been a couple of 80-plus days thrown in here and there, but that just makes it all the more abnormal. Way back in mid-April, when we would’ve been pleased with a perfectly springy, 60-degree Sunday to frolic on the Lakefill, the mercury climbed up to 90 degrees. This freak phenomenon was followed by a week of pure 50’s. Thanks Chicago. Thanks for being as weird as possible.
Thumbs down to…Mayor denies Tilted Kilt liquor license
At a tense liquor control board meeting to determine if the Tilted Kilt would be granted a license, opponents described the restaurant as a gentleman’s club masked as a sports bar, while supporters argued that these complaints were unfounded and dramatized. Six days after this liquor board meeting, Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl, who heads the liquor board commission, announced that Tilted Kilt would not be receiving a liquor license. Tisdahl made the decision to deny the liquor license only a few hours after the hearing. By making such a quick decision, she insulted liquor board members, seeing as she essentially turned a blind eye to the arguments from liquor board members. Instead of weighing both sides of the issue and mulling over the controversy, Tisdahl struck down the prospect of a Tilted Kilt branch in Evanston with a hasty decision.
Thumbs up to…Spring sports hold their own
It’s not football season, and it’s not basketball season. But Northwestern sports kept things going strong: Between extending Pat Fitzgerald from 93 til infinity, announcing a bunch of interesting future football opponents such as Notre Dame – and, oh yeah, having a women’s lacrosse team on the verge of winning another national championship – things generally worked in NU’s favor. Women’s Tennis nearly knocked off the No. 1 Stanford team in the round of 16 and was ranked in the top 20 all season long, and men’s golf has a chance to win the NCAA Championships next week. We had a little bit of a scare with John Shurna nearly abandoning us, but we’re all right. The softball team, generally a decent national competitor, fell by the wayside, joining sports like baseball and men’s tennis in the “meh” category, but that shouldn’t detract from the success some teams had – and, in lax’s case, are still having. Combine that with moves to make NU football stronger in the future, and it wasn’t a bad quarter for the Wildcats. Even if you didn’t go to a single game.
