We are Bard College’s only student newspaper. We print once a month during the academic year, and our coverage includes – but is not limited to – community news, feature writing, campus culture & activities, art reviews, opinions & editorials, sports updates, and news from Bard’s satellites around the world. We include student photography and artwork, and are completely student-run. We hold open office hours every Tuesday 7:30 – 8:30 pm in our office, which is located in the basement of Tewksbury.
Next to the Hudson, N.Y. Amtrak station, on the banks of the same mighty river that touches both Blithewood and Manhattan, is a dilapidated, 19th century factory. In 2010, the building was repurposed as a music and arts venue known as the Basilica Hudson, home to last year’s glorious shows by Grimes and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. This weekend, the old factory is host to the Basilica SoundScape festival, which will bring an eclectic mix of musicians, writers, and visual artists to the Hudson Valley.
The Basilica teamed up for the weekend with Pitchfork, the “love it or hate it” website devoted to independent music news, reviews, and articles. Pitchfork editor Brandon Stosuy, who writes their excellent metal column “Show No Mercy,” curated Friday night, which features a variety of performers who appear to be disparate but are in fact connected in a web of influences.
Former member of Television, leader of the Voidoids, and one of the fathers of punk Richard Hell will appear in the flesh to read from his recent memoirs “I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp.”
Heavy-as-f**k grindcore titans Pig Destroyer, who added last year’s album “Book Burner” to their catalog of classics, will no doubt be shredding faces off and shaking the Basilica’s decrepit walls during their set.
Producer Evian Christ, who you know from his work on the Kanye West track “I’m In It,” which you probably rocked to all summer, will be performing his brand of innovative, minimalist electronic music.
Speaking of Kanye, a known influence to both Mr. West and Pig Destroyer is visual artist and filmmaker Matthew Barney. Known for his avant-garde film “The Cremaster Cycle,” Barney will be collaborating with Stosuy and composer Jonathan Bepler on a large-scale sound piece.
Also slated to perform is Julianna Barwick, a mistress of ethereal jams and recent tour buddy of Sigur Rós. Vibes will be very high.
Saturday will feature a set from the increasingly popular and always stylish DIIV (pronounced dive), who you may have seen play in New Kline on a very rainy night last September. Their debut album “Oshin” (pronounced ocean) was widely received as one of the best of 2012.
Cass McCombs, the American indie-folk nomad noted for his enigmatic persona and effortless sounding songs, will be on hand as will Gambian folk musician Malang Djobateh. Djobateh is a master of the kora, a 21 stringed West African instrument that dates back to the 16th century.
The Basilica will have food carts on the premises supplying necessary sustenance and there will be pre and post parties abound in Hudson.
Best of all, Bard students can get $10 off either a single-day or weekend passes (normally $35.00 and $60.00 respectively) by entering the code “YESBSS13!” when purchasing tickets. The venue will also provide a shuttle between Kline and the venue on both nights. Shuttles will leave at 6:30 (doors for the show open at 7:00) and will return after performances have concluded for the night.
Organizers designed the Basilica SoundScape to be a sort of “anti-festival.” Rather than a focus on overload and debauchery, the weekend will highlight artistic diversity, exposing attendees to new approaches to music and the arts. Friday and Saturday night will be unique nights of arts and culture, and it’s happening here in the Hudson Valley – not New York City.
For more info, full lineup, and tickets see http://basilicasoundscape.com
It’s never a good thing when important equipment breaks, but it’s particularly bad when it happens in the middle of “hell week.”
Bard Shipping and Receiving has fielded over 400 packages a day for the past week from FedEx alone. There are books for the beginning of the semester, room decor forgotten at home, care packages. And on Thursday, the scanner broke.
The scanner, which is used to check packages in and out, stopped being able to do both at the same time. It made the process lengthy.
This past week’s stream of packages is the largest Receiving Clerk Brian Moore has ever seen. The student body population has grown, he said. But not only had his student workers not started work yet, but the department lost a day of work for Labor Day.
In an attempt to make up for lost time, Shipping and Receiving closed from 2:30 to 5 p.m. on Friday, as a member of the Bard IT department worked to fix the equipment.
But that didn’t stop the mail-seekers from coming. A student came to the door requesting a package; the words “senior project” and “urgent” were mentioned.
“I just can’t give you what I don’t have,” Moore said. Still, he took the student’s ID card and looked for a box with his name on it. After minutes of searching through piles of boxes, he found one. But he warned that helping with this individual detective work slows down the work process as a whole.
The scanner wasn’t even a year old when it broke on Thursday. It was part of a January 2013 technology upgrade that replaced handwritten log books. Moore didn’t mind the old system. “It’s archaic, but nothing would ever stop working,” he said.
Packages, even ones with expedited shipping, may not arrive in the customer’s hands until several days after scheduled. Moore said that small packages are being forwarded to the Post Office, and that he hopes the department will be able to reopen on Monday.
“I can certainly sympathize with everybody’s frustration,” Moore said. “If it’s not fixed, I’ll be writing in the books like in the old days.”
My marijuana intake was pretty excessive throughout high school and during this summer it has reached new levels of indulgence. I am afraid that this trend may continue when I get to Bard this fall. What are some measures I can take when I get to Bard to ensure that I do my work and actually start taking my life seriously for the first time in a while?
Incoming Freshman: Have any burning questions about what your life is going to be like for the next four years? Ask the Free Press Editors anything--it's anonymous! Click Here.
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