Thursday, March 11th, 2010Sebastian Fryer (Arts Editor)Every once in awhile (especially on a sunny day), while I’m driving my car, I’ll become bored of the CD I’m listening to or the radio station I’m tuned to. Without hesitation, I’ll turn to old reliable – the oldies station. Be it The Beatles, Donovan, or Simon & Garfunkel, the oldies station [...]

Thursday, March 11th, 2010Kelsey Joachim (Western Herald)Every year, WIDR, the Western Michigan University student-run non-commercial radio station, holds a series of events to raise funds and awareness of the station. This year’s WIDR Week just started, and many events will be taking place throughout March, all benefitting WIDR (89.1 FM).  “WIDR is a non-profit, student-run station on Western [Michigan Univeristy]’s [...]

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Garret Schuelke (Western Herald)Western Michigan University alum and Hollywood comedian Skyler Stone will be performing at the State Theatre tonight. Along with attending school, developing his performing skills, and DJing for local radio stations WRKR and WIDR, Kalamazoo native Stone, known for his stand-up and his short-lived Comedy Central show “Con,” worked at the Kalamazoo State [...]

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Jonathan Chong (Western Herald)Another week begins, and I hope everyone had a great spring break (hopefully at warmer places). This week, a group of friends and I visited a little casual Italian eatery on West Main Street.  Many might miss this little locally owned restaurant that sits at the corner of Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College.  The [...]

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Analiese Grohalski (Western Herald)For many students, spring break is a time for relaxing, going on trips with friends, visiting parents, or just enjoying the absence of class. Western Michigan University students found many different ways to have fun over the break. One student who didn’t travel too far, junior Junki Ogawa, said he had a good [...]

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Brian Diefenbach (Western Herald)I’m a fan of the old axiom “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It seems the video game industry prefers “If it ain’t broke, make more of it.” In previous columns, I’ve discussed the pros and cons of downloadable content (DLC) for games post-release. At best, you get an excuse to go back to [...]

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Katie White (Western Herald)The Kalamazoo Film Society’s March movie is a noir-style foreign film about a tragic love story. “Broken Embraces” is directed by Pedro Almodovar and was on critics’ top 10 lists for 2009. At the Cannes Film Festival it received critical acclaim and top honors. At this past Golden Globes award ceremony it was nominated [...]

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Garret Schuelke (Western Herald)The Second Sunday Series, a series of concerts that began in October and take place at Kalamazoo’s 411 Club, will be holding its final three concerts over the next three months. The concerts, which are being held to raise funds for the 2010 Kalamazoo Blues Festival, will take place on March 14, April [...]

Thursday, February 25th, 2010Katie White (Western Herald)The end of February brings on a sense of agitation, restlessness, and fatigue.  Roommates are getting irritated from being together all the time.  Professors pile on the homework, projects and exams. This can only mean one thing for college students – spring break is finally here. Spring break, the week that makes the [...]

Thursday, February 25th, 2010Alyssa Herter (Western Herald)  Monday night, Norwegian indie-pop-rocker Sondre Lerche made a stop by Mac’s Bar in East Lansing. Lerche began studying guitar at age eight, and wrote his first song at 14. In 2000, he released his first album titled “Faces Down,” and has recorded five more in the 10 years since, including scoring the soundtrack for [...]

Thursday, February 25th, 2010Western Herald (Every Sunday night at 7 p) By Emilie E. Tole .m., The Corner Record Shop of Kalamazoo hosts a concert. This week, the Shop will say farewell to February with an eclectic showcase. “This is a pretty funny show, actually,” Corner Record Shop employee Sean Hartman said. With performances ranging from ukulele to metal, the Sunday night show [...]

Thursday, February 25th, 2010Garret Schuelke (Western Herald)For slam duo Kirk Latimer and Gabriel Giron of Kinetic Affect, 2009 was a busy year, and there is no change in sight. In April, Kinetic Affect, a local spoken-word duo, appeared on the reality television show “America’s Got Talent.” Then, in June, they founded Speak It Forward Inc., a nonprofit educational organization [...]

Thursday, February 25th, 2010Brian Diefenbach (Western Herald)Some games are best enjoyed alone. Others give you the thrill of teamwork and the public humiliation of defeat in front of strangers. Single player and multiplayer game modes have co-existed for decades. There’s no reason why a game can’t have an excellent single player experience AND include competitive multiplayer. Plenty of titles have [...]

Thursday, February 25th, 2010Kelsey Joachim (Western Herald)This Sunday, the Union will present Alycia Duprey-Vince, a jazz singer, vocal artist, and Western alum, for the special CD release of her first jazz album, “If It Wasn’t For You.” Originally from Sheridan, Wyo., Duprey-Vince attended the Western Michigan University’s School of Music on a jazz scholarship. “I did get full rides to [...]

Thursday, February 25th, 2010Katie White (Western Herald)The Kalamazoo Film Society will host “Pirate Radio” at the Little Theatre next weekend, with proceeds of the screening benefiting WIDR. “We always try to do a fundraiser for the station during WIDR Week for the past seven years where the station gets all the profits,” Kalamazoo Film Society President Mike Marchak said. [...]

Thursday, February 25th, 2010Jonathan Chong (Western Herald)Great Lakes Shipping Co. is a restaurant located just down the road from Western Michigan University’s main campus. Just across the road from Oasis Hot Tubs, Great Lakes Shipping Co. provides a warm dining environment for those in search of a simple and quite evening. The dining room is a huge [...]

Thursday, February 18th, 2010Sebastian Fryer (Western Herald)Local improv troupe Crawlspace Eviction is setting its sights on a subject that may be all too familiar to students — texting. This weekend, Crawlspace Eviction will be performing at Studio 246 with a show titled “I Wanna Text You Up or Same Text Marriage.” Crawlspace Eviction is a product of Crawlspace Theatre Productions, [...]

Thursday, February 18th, 2010 Tole and Katie White (Western Herald)By Emilie E.The play that coined the phrase “All the world’s a stage” will be performed at the Shaw Theater in the Gilmore Theater Complex from Feb. 18-26. In 1910, Western Michigan University performed Shakespeare’s comedy “As You Like It” as a senior production piece. Now, after a century’s hiatus, director [...]

Thursday, February 18th, 2010Kelsey Joachim (Western Herald)Frayed is hosting a free spring break fashion show to promote their spring line this Friday, Feb. 19. The event will include free food catered by Subway and free drinks. The event begins at 7 p.m. and the fashion show portion of the evening will begin around 8 p.m. “The show [...]

Thursday, February 18th, 2010Sebastian Fryer (Western Herald)One of 2009’s most critically acclaimed animated films is coming to campus this weekend. The Western Film Society will be screening Wes Anderson’s “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” at the Little Theatre on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” is directed by Wes Anderson, who is known for the films “Rushmore,” “The Life [...]

Thursday, February 18th, 2010Garret Schuelke (Western Herald)Papa Pete’s will host two nights of performances by Kalamazoo bluegrass group Greensky Bluegrass on Friday, Feb. 19 and Saturday, Feb. 20. Winner of the 2006 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Contest, Greensky Bluegrass plays over 170 shows a year and has performed with musicians such as Tony Rice, Peter Rowan, Sam Bush, Yonder [...]

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010Jonathan Chong (Western Herald)Saffron is a simple restaurant located on West Main Street right next to Tiffany’s Wine and Spirit Shoppe. The warm deco and dark brown tables are inviting and somewhat relaxing, something you might want to go back to after a busy day. Even though I have been here many times for their famous [...]

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010Emilie Tole (Western Herald)The Kalamazoo Civic Theatre will premier Kristine Thatcher’s “Voice of Good Hope” this Friday. A Michigan native, Thatcher began acting at the age of 16 in her hometown of Lansing, Mich. She continued her theatrical career acting with regional and professional theatres across the nation. “Voice of Good Hope” was written during Thatcher’s time [...]

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Katie White (Western Herald)The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is upping the sweet factor for this year’s Valentine’s Day weekend. On Friday, Feb. 12, The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is hosting “An Evening of Chocolate.”  It will consist of a chocolate, no-bake demonstration with a Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites chef and a viewing of the 2000 romance movie, [...]

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Jonathan Chong (Western Herald)This week I took a spicy visit to Drake Road’s Thai Cuisine restaurant. Lined with ruby and gold wall paper, and decorated with numerous Thai photos and ornaments, the Thai Cuisine restaurant provides a casual fine-dining atmosphere with a simple touch of elegance. The menu at Thai Cuisine consists of a good number [...]

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Brian Diefenbach (Western Herald)For all the macho he-man space marine action of video games, there’s always been a tender side. Tender like the meaty insides of a human Colonial Marine. This isn’t your typical video game love story. There’s no gallant plumber rescuing a princess from a castle. No, it’s something a little more… cosmic. I speak [...]

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Garret Schuelke (Western Herald)Forget about the history of Valentine’s Day, or the ramblings of your hipster friends about how it’s allegedly a fake holiday created by the greeting card industry in order to make money — personal experience, for many of us, produces enough evidence that Valentine’s Day blows. Rather than wallow in hatred and self-pity, [...]

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Laura Citino (Western Herald)Most useless newsflash of the century: nobody our age, or any age, has money to spare. Unfortunately, that does not change the fact that we live in a commercialized culture and Valentine’s Day, one of the worst excuses to blow a ton of cash you don’t have, is coming up. Thankfully, with a [...]

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Garret Schuelke (Western Herald)Flowers, candy, Vermont Teddy Bears…these gifts are great and all for a person to give to their significant other(s) on Valentine’s Day, but they also happen to be cliché. There is one gift, though, that will never get old — and works for any type of holiday or occasion aside from Valentine’s Day: [...]