• Adviser's Blog - Lookout staff rakes in journalism awards

• Online A & E Profile - Mid-Michigan band Incarta featured

Avenue Q

Broadway’s smash-hit musical, Avenue Q comes to the Wharton Center’s Cobb Great Hall April 15 – 20. Avenue Q features a cast of people and puppets who tell a story of making it big in NYC with a small bank account in a smart, risqué and downright entertaining way.

Tickets range from $25-58
Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
 

LANSING — The LCC Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) nabbed a second-place award at a national AMA conference in New Orleans April 3-5.

 The club received the award as part of a competition that involved the “implementation of a business plan and annual report, including departments of membership, communication (and) professional development,” among other things, according to an LCC-disbursed press release.

 “It is an honor to have such prestigious recognition for our accomplishments as a team,” Club President Erika Morgan said in the release. “We are proud to represent LCC. We thank Bill Motz for being our dedicated advisor.”

 The release also reveals that LCC is one of only three community colleges that participate in the collegiate level of the national AMA, whereas nearly 300 four-year universities take part.

 The Lookout will publish more information about this award in the April 21 issue. For more information on the LCC chapter of the American Marketing Association, contact Erika Morgan at (517) 483-1924, or Adrienne Jenkins at (517) 483-1921.

  Adviser's Blog

 For What It's Worth
  By Larry Hook

Lookout staff rakes in journalism awards

Congratulations are in order for several members of The Lookout newspaper staff.

At the Michigan Community College Press Association’s Press Day Luncheon, held Saturday, April 5 at Monroe County Community College, The Lookout brought home 13 awards for newspaper excellence.

To put this in perspective, The Lookout only earned six awards at the 2007 MCCPA Press Day. This is definitely a marked improvement and, as adviser of the staff, I am certainly proud of their accomplishments.

The Lookout earned three first-place awards.

News Editor David Barker took top honors in the “Column/Commentary” category for his article titled: “Surviving the evisceration.”

The judge in this category (who did not offer his name) stated: “Without a doubt, Barker was one of the best writers in this category, and it showed in his column. He clearly explained to his readers his thought process, used good transition to weave his readers through the piece, and had a solid and interesting ending. I enjoyed the maturity in his writing style.”

Associate Editor Rich Tupica earned first place in the “Sports Feature” category for his story about LCC Coach Bob Every’s friendship with boxing great Muhammad Ali. The title was “Friendship with ‘the greatest’ spans decades.”

Judge JoAnn Barnas of the Detroit Free Press commented on Tupica’s winning piece: “A pleasure to read because the story was well-organized and it wasn’t over written. Good use of quotes. … You have a concise and clear writing style. Nice job!”

The Lookout’s other first-place award went to Sports Editor Heather Burton in the “News Photo” category. The award was for her picture of fireworks over the Capitol during Lansing’s Silver Bells in the City celebration last December.

The judge in the category (name not given) said of Burton’s entry: “Amazing photo! Good vantage point. Shows creativity.”

These three first-place awards show the great versatility of The Lookout staff this year. Our news editor won for an opinion piece, our sports editor won for a news photo and our associate editor won for a sports story.

The fact that everyone pitches in with all phases of the newspaper’s production is a big reason our staff has been so successful during this academic year.

The Lookout also earned six third-place awards. They were: Burton for “Sports Coverage,” Editor Zane McMillin for “Staff Editorial,” Photo Editor Rachel Harper for “Sports Photo,” Harper for “Photo Essay,” Webmaster Rachel Bogle and staff for “Online Publication” and McMillin and staff for “Turkey Award” (for a mistake in a caption; the lone fun award given by the MCCPA judges).

The Lookout also earned four honorable mention awards: McMillin for “Hard News Story,” Tupica for “Column/Personal,” Burton for “Sports Column” and Advertising Manager Kara Swanson for “Illustration Information.”

I offer my sincere congratulations to these fine student-journalists. I am happy to report that many of them will be returning to the staff in the fall for another year of “excellence in journalism.”

 
     A&E Editor Jaclyn Masterson and Editor in
     Chief Zane McMillin are shown after McMillin
     accepted an award at the MCCPA Press Day
     Luncheon April 5.

Larry Hook is a graduate of Lansing Community College and Michigan State University, with a degree in journalism. He has been adviser of The Lookout since the summer of 2004.

LCC Online Profile

Incarta
 
  Occupation:Mid-Michigan Band

  Genre: Post-hardcore/melodic-hardcore
 
  Interviewed by:Rachel Harper

Incarta, a success-driven band from mid-Michigan, is taking the Tri-County area by storm. Playing shows all over Lansing and Jackson, the five-member band is doing its best to spread its music and build a fan base. Defined as a post-hardcore/melodic-hardcore band, the guys are focusing their time, energy, talent and, in some cases, pocket change to keep faithful fans happy.

The band consists of lead guitarist Tim Harmon, 22, who played an integral part in starting the band. Playing alongside him are guitarist Ray Kinney, 22, lead vocalist Joey Vernon, 22, drummer Zach Darwin, 23 and bassist Matt DeRose, 20, all local community college students.

The following is an exclusive Lookout interview with all five members of Incarta.

When did you guys start playing together?

Ray: Me and Tim have been playing in a band together for almost four years now, and I joined Tim’s band, Faces of Valor, right when I was getting out of high school. We went through one drummer, three bass players and a couple singers … Darwin joined the band, as the drummer, went to being a bass player, then Joey joined, and then Matt joined.

Anything to say about your full-length album?

Tim: Buy it. It’s on iTunes. I know all you f****** people spend all of your time on iTunes and Myspace, so buy it.

Zach: We had it re-mastered by John Naclerio, who also does My Chemical Romance, Senses Fail, The Ataris … We had it recorded at Downbeat Studios with Mike Govaere.

What bands influence your band?

Ray: I associate what I play and what I write a lot more with the metal music that came out in the 1980s as opposed to what I actually listened to when I was younger. I f****** love Paul Gilbert. If you don’t know who he is, check him out.

Matt: Billy Idol — love Billy Idol — and Bon Jovi. I’d have to say early Every Time I Die.

Zach: I’ve always loved Blood Brothers. More recently, it would have to be Say Anything and Every Time I Die. Oh, and Aaron Gillespie, the drummer I’m learning from right now … and Justin Timberlake, I own the live DVD.

Joey: I’d say the thing that first sparked me into music and stuff when I was younger would be listening to oldies in the car with my mom. The first band I really got into by myself was Blink 182. Over time, I started listening to The Used, they were a giant influence and continue to be. Most recently, the band that I’ve been totally in love with is Saosin.

Tim: I’d like to put it down to two basic heroes. My first hero is Kurt Hammett, because growing up I was pretty much obsessed with Metallica. My second hero, Joe Satriani because he’s awesome and he’s still so underrated.

Do you see yourselves playing together in the future?

Ray: This is what I want to do with my life … I feel confident that everybody else in the band wants to do this for their job, for the rest of their life. This is what we want to do, we’re going to be together forever.

Tim: We’re going to beat The Stones for longest touring band.

Besides music, what do you do for fun?

Tim: I party.

Matt: I’d rather not disclose that information.

Joey: Honestly, this is my fun, I don’t do anything else, really. I work and go to school so much, that this is the only time when I’m having a ton of fun.

Ray: This is the only group of friends that I really hang out with. I talk to friends at school, but I don’t really hang out with anybody but these guys.

Tim: I am a giant movie buff, as is Matt. I’m also addicted to video games.

Matt: I’m like Blockbuster to Tim.

Ray: Everyone borrows s*** from Matt. He’s got like 400 DVDs.

Matt: Dude, I’m up to 550.

Tim: Zach’s newest passion is building custom drums and he’s going to start making them.

Ray: He’ll make you a f****** amazing snare for like half the cost.

Zach: Yeah, I plan to take over Orange County, as long as they don’t sue me … umm, other than that, I paint now.

Any final words for the fans?

Ray: Please check out our CD!

Joey: We definitely need more people to come out to our shows. Not just us, go to any show in general.

Tim: The more people that go to local shows, the better bands we can get into our city.

Ray: And if you can’t afford a CD, come to a show and just talk to us.

Joey: We need as many people to rock out with us as possible.

Ray: If you come and you’re ready to party, we’re going to put on a show for you. Every time we play a show, we try to put 110 percent into the crowd to get you guys moving.

For more information on the band, visit:

www.myspace.com/incarta or www.purevolume.com/incartaspurevolume