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Shameless Reflexivity: A Final Spark of Imagination

BY DREW LENIHAN
Arts Editor

The Pioneer Log arts

april 20, 2012

Young the Giant connects with fans, achieving fame on first solo tour
BY TIFFANY WANG
Staff Writer

The time for my post-structural column has come to an end. For those of you who have read and become more curious into the realm of critical, social and art theory, you are the vanguard that warms my heart and I hope you continue the pursuit for these radical words over summer and beyond. It has truly been a pleasure and I would like to thank my comrades at the The Pioneer Log for allowing such a silly concept, as in no concept, to slide into print. As I leave academia and head for the hinterlands, the avant-garde nonsense of the theory will continue to haunt me, in the sense that I will be perpetually looking to find ways to illustrate them in my own life and bring them into some sort of praxis. It is difficult to bring such revolutionary ideas to a praxis, and the positivist critics will tell you its a waste of time, to stop thinking and do something! Go get a job, go get married, go fuck and have kids, rot in a retirement home, yes, this is the measure of our success! Well, I have tried to tell you what they will not, that its okay to dream, its okay to reimagine and theorize how the human condition could be rather than subscribing and consuming what is already given to us. Please remember that every theorist that has appeared on this page was told to shut up,

Look 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

ART HOTTIES

told their ideas were bunk, that they would be beat down for being dissidents, communists, intellectual radicals, the purveyors of the death of society! They all knew that with new knowledge we become dangerous and that through the precise application of these ideas we become self-empowered. By spreading these ideas through our own voice, camera, paintbrush, ink, stone and printing press, we find the weaponry to change our world in a constructive way. So the next time the haters are at your throat telling you to shut up, that your words are no good and you need to do something in this world to somehow get ahead, just remind them that a dialogue moves towards stopping the blind, mindless progress that plagues us. As Slavoj Zizek imagined: The old saying dont just talk, do something! is one of the stupidest things one can say, even measured by the low standards of common sense. Perhaps, rather, the problem lately has been that we have been doing too much. Perhaps, it is time to step back, think and say the right thing. True, we often talk about something instead of doing it; but sometimes we also do things in order to avoid talking and thinking about them. -Zizek, First as Tragedy, then as Farce Art leads us to talk, it is a phenomenon in which one confronts an issue that one could formerly not correctly articulate to ones own satisfaction. It is here in Zizeks words where

we can see the power of art and why art matters in essence. Art directly reverses doing things in order to avoid talking and thinking about them, and rather does something in order to start talking about it. The most beautiful art, regardless of aesthetic and concept, is one which moves a multitude of people and causes change all around it. This change becomes perpetual when we respect the words of others and what they deduce from the object. The discussion needs to live on and each individual possesses the spark to be the catalyst towards this new discourse. By being brave and embracing the uncertainty and the plurality of these debates, we continue to survive in the sense that we took it upon ourselves to sustain the idea we were passionate about. Through these passions, we can continue to survive and not change but alter and reimagine the world around us. In these new frontiers of imagination, we can find our own space of creation and critique. If we are successful in this reconstitution of 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, but also to live after death. - Jacques Derrida Drew Lenihan has launched the blog pomocowboy.tumblr.com as a supplement to his lack of the Pioneer Log in the months to come.

Matt Cogdill (14)

Hometown: Northbridge, MA Motto: Common sense will not accomplish great things. Simply become insane and desperate-The Hagakure Perfect date: 6/28 Preferred medium: Hydrostone casting/carving and oil paint Art fantasy: 4-story mural Influential artist on your work: Neo Rauch, Cai GuoQuiang, and Caravaggio Sex position: Missionary Favorite Brunch meal: Dope omelet (goat cheese and avocado are staples) with bottomless coffee, OJ, bacon, fresh fruit, an almond poppy seed muffin and hash browns.

Samantha Sarvet (14)

Hometown: Northampton, Massachusetts Motto: Live your life... like you meant to mean it Perfect date: Yard sale-ing Preferred medium: Oil paint Art fantasy: Microscopic vision Influential artist on your work: Bridget Riley Sex position: Abstract Favorite brunch meal: Eggs, sunny side up

Em Young (14)
Hometown: Corte Madera, CA Motto: PMA Perfect date: Pizza + scenic beauty Preferred medium: Ink Art fantasy: Fatty warehouse studio space with buddies Influential artist on your work: Henry Darger Sex position: Gay Favorite brunch meal: I hate brunch

Flynn Casey (14)

Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland Motto: Mad bold Perfect date: Twin Peaks and 40s Preferred medium: Cameras Art fantasy: Dead in a pool of blood and millions of dollars of fine art Influential artist on your work: Keanu Reeves Sex postion: Underwater Favorite brunch meal: Prospies
PHOTOS BY DREW LENIHAN

By the time Young the Giant took the stage at the Roseland Theater on April 6, guitarist Jacob Tilley and his bandmates had already played 32 shows in just under two months, spread across 21 states and a handful of Canadian provinces. For the five-piece indie rock band from Irvine, Calif., headlining a North American tour has been a new experience. Formed in 2004, Young the Giant initially went by The Jakes before their name change in 2009. They toured with Minus the Bear in 2010 and digitally released their eponymous debut album later that year. In 2011, the band performed at the Sasquatch Music Festival, South by Southwest and the MTV Video Music Awards, after which they immediately departed on a two-month tour with Incubus. These increasingly high-profile appearances led Young the Giant to where they are today, and according to Tilley, the current tour has renewed the bands ambitions for the future. This wasnt until this tour that we realized there were so many people coming out to see us, said Tilley. Were seeing that we have the potential to make a real career out of this, and thats what we all want. Hopefully people will respond to that. So far, response to the tour has been overwhelmingly encouraging. Young the Giant has sold out shows in more than a dozen major cities, including a pair of performances at the Roseland. However, its the opportunity to connect with fans that truly resonates with the band members. Tilley doesnt think twice when asked to recall his favorite moment on the tour so far: the night of the Tampa, Fla. show, when the band met a young wheelchair-bound concertgoer who suffered from a painful form of arthritis. The fan shared that he drew inspiration from the Young the Giant tune My Body, and used the song to help him overcome the physical challenges in his life. Tilley has embraced other opportunities for the band to stand behind a positive message. Cough Syrup, another Young the Giant song, was recently covered on an antibullying-themed episode of the hit television series Glee. In a further show of support for the cause, the band gave a bullying prevention talk at a school in Canada and published a blog post and video addressing the issue on their website. With a push from Glee, Young the Giants original version of Cough Syrup even charted on the Billboard Hot 100, the first time any of the groups songs had done so. Despite their growing fame, the quintet has remained the same group of humble guys brought together by a desire to make music. Their modesty is due in large part to their upbringings. The band members all come from middle class families and have parents who emphasized the importance of good values. As Tilley put it, My parents would never let me be a shithead. Ive met a lot of people like that in the industry, and it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. For many rising bands, newfound public prominence is a gateway to inflated egos and reworked priorities. Luckily for fans of Young the Giant, it doesnt appear that the band will be so easily influenced by their celebrity status. When Young the Giant played the second of their two Portland shows, attendees were treated to a concert by five unassuming musicians seemingly destined for continued success, each willing to do right along way.