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    16 The Pioneer Log april 20, 2012arts

    BY TIFFANY WANG

    Staff Writer

    By the time Young the Giant took thestage at the Roseland Teater on April 6,guitarist Jacob illey and his bandmates hadalready played 32 shows in just under twomonths, spread across 21 states and a hand-ul o Canadian provinces.

    For the ve-piece indie rock band romIrvine, Cali., headlining a North Ameri-can tour has been a new experience. Formedin 2004, Young the Giant initially went byTe Jakes beore their name change in 2009.Tey toured with Minus the Bear in 2010and digitally released their eponymous de-

    but album later that year. In 2011, the bandperormed at the Sasquatch Music Festival,South by Southwest and the MV VideoMusic Awards, ater which they immediatelydeparted on a two-month tour with Incubus.Tese increasingly high-prole appearancesled Young the Giant to where they are today,and according to illey, the current tour hasrenewed the bands ambitions or the uture.Tis wasnt until this tour that we realizedthere were so many people coming out to seeus, said illey. Were seeing that we havethe potential to make a real career out o this,and thats what we all want. Hopeully peo-ple will respond to that.

    So ar, response to the tour has been over-

    whelmingly encouraging. Young the Gianthas sold out shows in more than a dozen ma-jor cities, including a pair o perormancesat the Roseland. However, its the oppor-tunity to connect with ans that truly reso-nates with the band members. illey doesntthink twice when asked to recall his avor-ite moment on the tour so ar: the night othe ampa, Fla. show, when the band met ayoung wheelchair-bound concertgoer whosuered rom a painul orm o arthritis. Tean shared that he drew inspiration rom theYoung the Giant tune My Body, and usedthe song to help him overcome the physicalchallenges in his lie.

    illey has embraced other opportuni-ties or the band to stand behind a positive

    message. Cough Syrup, another Young theGiant song, was recently covered on an anti-bullying-themed episode o the hit televisionseries Glee. In a urther show o support orthe cause, the band gave a bullying preven-tion talk at a school in Canada and publisheda blog post and video addressing the issue ontheir website. With a push rom Glee, Youngthe Giants original version o Cough Syr-up even charted on the Billboard Hot 100,the rst time any o the groups songs haddone so.

    Despite their growing ame, the quintethas remained the same group o humble guysbrought together by a desire to make music.Teir modesty is due in large part to their

    upbringings. Te band members all comerom middle class amilies and have parentswho emphasized the importance o goodvalues. As illey put it, My parents wouldnever let me be a shithead. Ive met a lot opeople like that in the industry, and it justleaves a bad taste in my mouth.

    For many rising bands, newound pub-lic prominence is a gateway to inated egosand reworked priorities. Luckily or ans oYoung the Giant, it doesnt appear that theband will be so easily inuenced by their ce-lebrity status. When Young the Giant playedthe second o their two Portland shows, at-tendees were treated to a concert by ve un-assuming musicians seemingly destined or

    continued success, each willing to do rightalong way.

    Young the Giant

    connects with ans,

    achieving ame on

    rst solo tour

    BY DREW LENIHAN

    Arts Editor

    Te time or my post-structural columnhas come to an end. For those o you whohave read and become more curious into therealm o critical, social and art theory, youare the vanguard that warms my heart andI hope you continue the pursuit or these

    radical words over summer and beyond. Ithas truly been a pleasure and I would like tothank my comrades at the Te Pioneer Logor allowing such a silly concept, as in noconcept, to slide into print.

    As I leave academia and head or the hin-terlands, the avant-garde nonsense o thetheory will continue to haunt me, in thesense that I will be perpetually looking tond ways to illustrate them in my own lieand bring them into some sort o praxis. It isdifcult to bring such revolutionary ideas toa praxis, and the positivist critics will tell youits a waste o time, to stop thinking and dosomething! Go get a job, go get married, gouck and have kids, rot in a retirement home,

    yes, this is the measure o our success!Well, I have tried to tell you what theywill not, that its okay to dream, its okay toreimagine and theorize how the human con-dition could be rather than subscribing andconsuming what is already given to us.

    Please remember that every theorist thathas appeared on this page was told to shut up,

    Shameless Refexivity: A Final Spark o Imaginationtold their ideas were bunk, that they wouldbe beat down or being dissidents, commu-nists, intellectual radicals, the purveyors othe death o society! Tey all knew that withnew knowledge we become dangerous andthat through the precise application o theseideas we become sel-empowered.

    By spreading these ideas through ourown voice, camera, paintbrush, ink, stone

    and printing press, we nd the weaponry tochange our world in a constructive way. Sothe next time the haters are at your throattelling you to shut up, that your words areno good and you need to do something inthis world to somehow get ahead, just re-mind them that a dialogue moves towardsstopping the blind, mindless progress thatplagues us. As Slavoj Zizek imagined:

    Te old saying dont just talk, do some-thing! is one of the stupidest things one can say,even measured by the low standards of com-mon sense. Perhaps, rather, the problem latelyhas been that we have been doing too much.Perhaps, it is time to step back, think and saythe right thing. rue, we often talk about some-

    thing instead of doing it; but sometimes we alsodo things in order to avoid talking and think-ing about them.

    -Zizek, First as ragedy, then as FarceArt leads us to talk, it is a phenomenon in

    which one conronts an issue that one couldormerly not correctly articulate to ones ownsatisaction. It is here in Zizeks words where

    we can see the power o art and why art mat-ters in essence. Art directly reverses doingthings in order to avoid talking and think-ing about them, and rather does somethingin order to start talking about it. Te mostbeautiul art, regardless o aesthetic and con-cept, is one which moves a multitude o peo-ple and causes change all around it.

    Tis change becomes perpetual when

    we respect the words o others and whatthey deduce rom the object. Te discussionneeds to live on and each individual possess-es the spark to be the catalyst towards thisnew discourse. By being brave and embrac-ing the uncertainty and the plurality o thesedebates, we continue to survive in the sensethat we took it upon ourselves to sustainthe idea we were passionate about. Troughthese passions, we can continue to surviveand not change but alter and reimagine theworld around us. In these new rontiers oimagination, we can nd our own space ocreation and critique. I we are successul inthis reconstitution o the human condition,the words, ideas, passion and art will outlive

    the individual who initially dreamed them.Survival in the conventional sense of

    the term means to continue to live, butalso to live after death. - Jacques Derrida

    Drew Lenihan has launched the blog pomo-cowboy.tumblr.com as a supplement to his lackof the Pioneer Log in the months to come.

    Matt Cogdill (14)

    Hometown: Northbridge, MAMotto: Common sense will not accomplish greatthings. Simply become insane and desperate-TheHagakurePerfect date: 6/28Preferred medium: Hydrostone casting/carving andoil paintArt fantasy: 4-story muralInfluential artist on your work: Neo Rauch, Cai Guo-Quiang, and CaravaggioSex position: MissionaryFavorite Brunch meal: Dope omelet (goat cheese

    and avocado are staples) with bottomless coffee,OJ, bacon, fresh fruit, an almond poppy seed muffinand hash browns.

    Em Young (14)

    Hometown: Corte Madera, CAMotto: PMAPerfect date: Pizza + scenic beautyPreferred medium: InkArt fantasy: Fatty warehouse studio space withbuddiesInfluential artist on your work: Henry DargerSex position: GayFavorite brunch meal: I hate brunch

    Flynn Casey (14)

    Hometown: Annapolis, MarylandMotto: Mad boldPerfect date: Twin Peaks and 40sPreferred medium: CamerasArt fantasy: Dead in a pool of blood andmillions of dollars of fine artInfluential artist on your work: KeanuReevesSex postion: UnderwaterFavorite brunch meal: Prospies

    Samantha Sarvet (14)

    Hometown: Northampton, MassachusettsMotto: Live your life... like you meant to mean itPerfect date: Yard sale-ingPreferred medium: Oil paintArt fantasy: Microscopic visionInfluential artist on your work: Bridget RileySex position: AbstractFavorite brunch meal: Eggs, sunny side up

    ART HOTTIESLook out for these up-and-coming babes in the years to come.

    Not only are they hot, if youre lucky maybe theyll make you something beautiful.

    BY DREW LENIHAN

    Arts Editor

    PHOTOS BY DREW LENIHAN