gscnews

Interhouse is being co-sponsored by the GSC using Term Party funding, so we encourage everyone to check it out. Pick up your wristband and drink tickets from the Office of Campus Life by 4pm on November 16th. The office is located in the Center for Student Services at 414 South Holliston, and is open from 8am-5pm, Monday through Friday.

"Interhovse is the biggest and most anticipated party of the year. It consists of four simultaneous parties taking place in the courtyards of the South Houses. It will be taking place this year on Saturday, November 17th from 9 pm-3 am.

Interhovse used to take place every year since the 50's until an incident caused it to be shut down in the 80's. Last year, the tradition was revived as the South House Reopening Party. The party's success has paved the way for Interhovse being reinstated as a Caltech tradition.

Each party is built by a pair of houses. This year's pairings include Fleming-Lloyd, Dabney-Ruddock, Blacker-Avery and Ricketts-Page. Party themes include Top Gun, Oktoberfest, Water, and Dante's Inferno."

Music Review

Faisal Almani

The Four Seasons, Genuine Imitation Life Gazette (1969)

If you listen to American oldies radio, you've certainly heard of the Four Seasons, and, like me, might even find their pretty male falsettos a little cloy. But their hits, among them "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Sherry" and "Walk Like a Man," remain iconic fixtures from the 60's, and their doo-wop sensibilities make them the only American group to have given the Beach Boys a run for chart-topping glory. (Or fourth place glory, considering the Beatles generally held the top two or three spots concurrently.)

But the Four Seasons of 1969 "threw it all away" and recorded their most bizarre, most absurd, most inventive, and most definitely-not-doo-wop album: Genuine Imitation Life Gazette. Their hitmaker and longtime collaborator Bob Crewe was replaced by a much younger twenty-something Jake Holmes, the original uncredited author of Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused" (as well as Gillette's "The Best a Man Can Get" jingle years later.) Holmes and group member Bob Gaudio penned most of the new material, and it was Gaudio that insisted on taking the group to a new direction. The resulting album sounds nothing like the rest of their catalogue. Nothing like it at all.

As the album and song titles suggest an Orson Welles' "living newspaper," the vinyl cover reinforces the notion that the ideas were ripped right out of the headlines one day in 1968. Indeed, Genuine Imitation Life is a concept album, an attempted satire of American life by a group that helped define it. Ironic, as it's the mark of a band perhaps trying to ride the bandwagon of American 60's pop, trying to capitalize on the success of an emerging psychedelic movement that they and their fan-base certainly aren't accustomed to. I'd have been surprised, too, if front-man and thirty-year old teen-idol Frankie Valli ever smoked a joint.

But that's the genius of it. It's no real surprise that the album was a critical and commercial failure. It's like an attempt at Sgt. Pepper three years too late from a band that by all measures shouldn't be attempting it at all. But the title suggests an acknowledgment of these imitations and subsequent limitations: there are no pretenses. You have to take it for what it is.

And for what it's worth, I think the album is unbelievably good. Yes, unbelievably. I didn't believe it and was definitely skeptical when I first came across my roommate's copy. But from a vocal pop band from Jersey trying the psychedelic sounds of Los Angeles, there is a remarkable surety of form and certainty of expression. The six-plus minute opener pays homage to the modular song structure pioneered by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. The lyrics are even reminiscent of Wilson's Smile collaborator Van Dyke Parks--in fact, one could argue that the album would have been more than a fitting replacement for Wilson's failed 'teenage symphony to God.' Everything from "Mrs. Stately's Garden" (an upbeat track about suicide in a park, a 'minor tragedy' as they call it) to "Wall Street Village Day" (a seemingly direct--but stronger--precursor to the Kinks' 1970 Village Green Preservation Society) are perfectly genuine imitations. The close harmonies, replete with strings and woodwinds, all manage to perfectly recreate the aesthetic of the late 60's psychedelic sounds. And they aim for nothing more. "Something's on Her Mind" sounds exactly like The Lovin' Spoonful. Even the title song, "Genuine Imitation Life," directly and without subtlety rips the chant of the Beatles' "Hey Jude," changing but one note and blurring the phrase 'Hey, Jude.'

All things considered, perhaps the album was indeed an exercise in self-indulgence. Perhaps it was just an attempt from a band trying to stay popular and trying to adapt the new formula of success. But whatever the case, it's a perfect pop album, with beautiful little melodies and harmonies. The lyrics are scathingly satirical and clever, elevating the album to perhaps more than its authors' original intent. The group may have worn all their influences on their respective sleeves, but they did it with a gusto and precision that stands up to their contemporaries even today. Had the album been released by any L.A. group earlier in the 60's (or a particular Liverpool group), it may well have been hailed a masterpiece. Maybe it should be still.

A Giant Step toward Infinitesimal Machinery

A systems approach to nanotechnology is required to ramp up the complexity of these systems-on-a-chip. But achieving this requires access to the kind of multibillion-dollar fabrication capabilities used to build today's microprocessor chips. In such environments, standardized processes are the rule without exception. Experimentation with unconventional materials and techniques is strenuously avoided, since cutting-edge processes are highly susceptible to contamination. Extremely high quality at these foundries must be preserved to maintain production yield. But innovation must occur somewhere. For three decades, LETI-MINATEC has been fulfilling a critical role, pioneering the introduction of novel processes into state-of-the-art protocols used to produce VLSI microelectronic systems en masse. Within this new alliance, LETI-MINATEC researchers are now turning their attention to new challenges at the nanoscale. "The Alliance for Nanosystems VLSI is a perfect illustration of the potential for innovation generated by the meeting of science and technology," says Dr. Laurent Malier, the director of LETI-MINATEC. "I am excited to see Caltech and LETI-MINATEC share this ambition."

Industry and Research Heavyweights Collaborate to Demonstrate Data Transport Capability

The Ombuds Office at Caltech

The mission of the Ombuds Office is to promote fair and equitable treatment for everyone at Caltech. It offers confidential, informal assistance to resolve campus complaints, disputes and grievances. When you visit my office, you will have the opportunity to discuss your issue in detail with someone who listens thoughtfully and objectively. It is a safe place to discuss concerns of a sensitive nature when you do not feel comfortable going through formal channels, or when you need expert help in analyzing your problem and identifying ways to address it.

My office is located on the 3rd floor of Millikan Library. You can make an appointment by calling x6990. More information, including a bit about my background, is available on the Ombuds website. I look forward to meeting you.