Alex Dimitri

I left Day of Dialogue early. Tired and emotionally drained after having attended each offered event, I couldn’t make it back into Old Cabell Hall to hear the closing remarks (which, after watching them via YouTube, I can say were quite profound). Perhaps it was the constant discussion about things that needed to be changed, or maybe it was the stress of talking to professors and deans about my own petty concerns, or maybe it was just the sun (it was really hot that day). Regardless, I couldn’t step inside and give myself some closure after such an exhausting day.Read more...

I usually take advantage of long, arduous car trips to introduce my family to music I’ve recently been obsessed with. I remember in 10th grade I played Radiohead’s The Bends for my parents on a voyage to Charleston, South Carolina, and after I finished shoving music down my their ears, my mom asked me, “Alex, why don’t you listen to more female artists? I would think that you’d be into that.” As innocent as her comment seemed, I was floored. How was it that I, a budding musician myself, could overlook the fact that over 85% of my music library was comprised of male musicians?Read more...

On Saturday, October 10th (after Lady Gaga gave a stunning performance of John Lennon’s “Imagine”), President Obama addressed the Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights advocacy group and America’s largest and wealthiest gay organization. No other president has addressed this organization in his first term, and though Obama has recently come under siege from the media regarding his handling of Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT) rights, his speech attempted to reenergize the gay community and reiterate promises he had made to them during his campaign. Read more...

Few artists posses a repertoire as diverse and eclectic as Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, who graced the stage of the Southern on October 12th. Her songs range from psudeo-klezmer dance jams, to Argentinean influenced ballads, to sparse noise experiments reflective of the Pacific Northwest and time-to-time collaborative partner Phil Elverum. All of these different interests and inspirations have led to some amazing songs, but also to some that simply fail to impress.Read more...

For Frightened Rabbit of Selkirk, Scotland, last Wednesday's show at IS was the last stop on their first US tour. Because their lyrics on their 2008 release, The Midnight Organ Fight make suicide seem like a viable solution to most everyday problems, it was only fitting that they arrived on stage visibly and proudly wasted on January 28th. Though recently propelled into the mainstream media by appearances on NBC's Chuck and ABC's Grey's Anatomy, Frightened Rabbit still maintains a raw, anthemic sound.Read more...