April 25, 2003 . VOLUME 96 . NUMBER 11 . BACK TO HEADLINES . ARCHIVES


Spotlight
Where has all the music gone? Ask Rob VanAlstyne '03

By JAMES HAMILTON
Features Editor




Where have all of the full-page music articles featuring obscure indie rock bands in The Mac Weekly gone? Where have all of the music concerts featuring obscure indie rock bands gone? Where has the WMCN radio show featuring obscure indie rock bands gone?

I graduated last fall.
 

I know Rob.

Ok.
 

So what's it like on the other side of graduation?

You have a lot to look forward to. There are a lot of incredibly limited and dehumanizing temp jobs out there that are waiting to be filled by college grads. The leap from post-colonialism to data entry is surprisingly small.
 

What are you up to now?

I live in my beautiful two-bedroom apartment in Melrose with an upstairs tenant that likes The Dead and I purposely quit my temp job so I could go on the booze cruise during senior week.
 

Beautiful.

I'd like to continue publishing music articles in The Pulse. Let that be a lesson, The Mac Weekly can catapult you into stardom and a healthy stipend of $50 checks.
 

Let's talk about your involvement with The Mac Weekly.

I've seen the rise and fall and the subsequent rise of The Mac Weekly. One of my favorite memories was during my spring semester of my sophomore year. We threw a semi-formal Weekly party and about a dozen people showed up. I think the cops arrived at about 12:30. They burst in and thought it was a high school prom party. One cop told us to turn up the Limp Bizkit. The other cop shut the party down. It was crazy.
 

As a music aficionado, what's the official word on this year's Springfest?

I look forward to finally being on the other side of the beer garden's fence. Last year I watched as 18 year olds taunted me from inside the beer garden.
 

What about the bands?

If there is a big enough and crazy enough crowd, I will crowd surf to Superdrag's "Who Sucked Out the Feeling." That's a promise.

Pat Leo is also the sexiest pop star since Justin Timberlake.
 

You were an English major, right?

Yeah, it's really exhilarating to know that I had a longer tenure at Mac than 85% of the English faculty.
 

As an English major that decided not to go abroad, what advice would you give students?

I feel that there are a lot of cool people at Mac and I didn't need a semester abroad to meet new people and "find myself." Plus, I got a lot of solid Dreamcast time in. It's a pretty easy choice: going to London versus playing a fierce game of NBA 2k2 with Jimmy H. For new students: live on Dupre 4. Two years in a row in a double on Dupre 4 is guaranteed the best two years ever.
 

I know you're a sports fan, Rob. What's the status of Minnesota sports?

This will be the first year that Minnesota will win the Stanley Cup, NBA Finals, and the World Series all in the same year.

Rasho Nesterovich will get the MVP award for the NBA Finals. The Rasho revolution has begun and it can't be stopped.

Speaking of, I shot a three-point on Monday sitting down to beat Brian Schenk in a game of horse. He asked me to do it again. I told him "they didn't ask Jesus to rise twice." You should print that.
 

No. Anything else?

I should have been spotlighted three years ago.



I tried something new and let Rob make all of the sarcastic comments. Let him know what you think: rvanalstyne@macalester.edu.



Rob VanAlstyne '03 outside his old stomping ground. Photo: James Hamilton.


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