Non-Muse event #2

I attended the play "The Colored Museum" here on the SJSU campus. Prior to attending this play, I was unaware that we even had a public theater on campus. My friend Ryan , a theater major, invited me and a few other friends to attend. He was not in the play, but he really wanted to see it.

I thought the play was very entertaining and it had a lot of comedy in it. One of my favorite parts was the cross dressing man. He had some very funny lyrics, as this play was a musical, and his crowd interaction was very entertaining. There were also a few confusing parts to the play that maybe someone who had a better knowledge of the era when this play was made might understand, or someone who had more artsy, creative viewpoint may understand. One of these such parts was a part of the play where a 15 or so year old girl had an egg. This egg seemed to be her baby and her mother wanted to get rid of it. She cared for this egg very much. Overall it was a good play and I am happy that I attended it.

Lyrics Analysis

Sweet Home Alabama- Lynyrd Skynyrd

The song starts off with "big wheels keep on turning', carry me home to see my kin, singing songs about the south land, I miss Alabama once again and I think its a sin."

I believe to relates to Ronnie Van Zant's ( primary songwriter and vocalist) father, Lacy, who was a semi-truck driver. This talks about a man heading home on "big wheels," probably a semi-truck, to see his kin, his family. he is listening to country and southern rock songs as he heads home, and he really misses his home.

The song continues to say "Well I heard Mr. Young sang about her, Well I heard old Neil put her down, well I hope Niel Young will remember, Southern Man don't need him around anyhow." and then the chorus about coming home to Alabama.

This relates to Niel Young's soung "Southern Man" where he seems to attack the Southern Man for all his wrongdoing, where as Sweet Home Alabama is basically saying "We don't care."

Later, the lyrics are "In Birmingham they love the governor, (Boo, boo, boo) now we all did what we could do, now watergate does not bother me, does your conscience bother you, now tell the truth" and onto the chorus.

This talks about the governor at the time, saying boo boo boo after his name to suggest that they dont support his racist policies. It also mentions that there were people who tried to fight it by doing what they could do. Watergate is an issue that the band did not care about.

The song continues
"Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they've been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I'm feeling blue
Now how about you?"

I do not know if this has any significant historical value. It may just be a rememberance of old times that were a lot of fun, hanging out with the swamp workers listening to music.

Talking About Drugs

I think that there are many drugs that are easily available to college freshmen. The most prominent by far is alcohol. Most of the people I know at least drink it occasionally, and a few people I know might be considered alcoholics. It is very easy to get a hold of since just about everyone in college knows someone over twenty one that will buy them some alcohol. I do not think this is a big problem though, since most people do not get hurt while doing this, only the few people that take it to far on a consistent basis.
Another drug is caffeinated drinks. These are probably not as popular as alcohol, but they are very easily to get. One only needs to go into a store and buy it. These are popular mainly because they are so easy to acquire.
Marijuana is a relatively easy drug to come by as a freshman in college. I know a number of people that sell this drug even though I have never seeked them out and I don't use it. It is very easy to acquire even though it is illegal. I do not think that the illegality of the drug deters anyone who wants to use it from using it.
I have never actually met anyone who sells it, but ecstasy seems to be relatively popular too. I know a few people who use it on occasion.