INTERVIEW: Guns N’ Roses guitarist Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal
BY ANDREW SCOTT
It’s official, Guns N’ Roses are lined up to play their first ever Belfast gig. Formed in 1985, Guns N’ Roses became one of the defining rock acts of the late 20th Century, selling over 100 million albums worldwide. However, tensions within the band would see the original line-up slowly crumble away, and by 1997 vocalist Axl Rose was the sole remaining original member. Despite this, Guns N’ Roses soldiered on with a new line-up and in 2008 made their comeback with the highly anticipated album Chinese Democracy. Speaking with The Gown, Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal, who joined the band in 2006, talks about Guns N’ Roses coming to Belfast, playing Chinese Democracy material live, how he got started on guitar and more.
July 16th, 2010 | Comments (4)
COLUMN: The Auld Wan – When she walks she moves so fine…like a flamingo
The Manfred Mann song came to mind as I went down past the Lanyon Building one day last week at lunchtime on an errand. The hundreds of graduands, and wives and girlfriends thereof, stalking across the lawns and pavements in their 10 centimetre heels (I’m a bit of SI unit man myself) in their multicoloured best – while the men marched around awkwardly in the suits they hope will impress at those first interviews. BY THE AULD WAN
July 13th, 2010 | No Comments
NEWS: Heaney opens McClay Library
BY BEN FINCH
Seamus Heaney officially opened the McClay Library on Tuesday 6th July during a black tie ceremony attended by various dignitaries associated with Queen’s University. The new library has been named after late benefactor Sir Allen McClay, and has been described by Lady McClay as an appropriate way to remember Sir Allen. In December 2009, The Gown reported on QUB’s failure to notify Heaney that the library in his name was no longer open.
July 10th, 2010 | Comment (1)
NEWS: Vice Chancellor reports to Senate on Russell Group submission
BY KERRI-ANNE CAMPBELL
On 22nd June, QUB Vice Chancellor Peter Gregson provided a brief summary to Senate on the Russell Group submission to the Browne Review. However, Shane Brogan, Students’ Union President at the time, believes that the summary failed to adequately describe what their proposals would mean for students.
July 10th, 2010 | Comments (2)
REVIEW: Whatever works
The latest comedy from movie making machine Woody Allen has been quite well anticipated. Those of you familiar with the early Allen masterpieces will have mixed feelings about Whatever Works and needless to say, expectations are equally as uneasy. Set in New York, none other than Allen’s favourite filmic city, this typically dark and off-beat comedy centres on misanthrope Boris Yellnikoff. It is difficult to see how Allen’s claims that he no longer casts himself in his films are true, because in Boris there are all the elements of characters that Allen has previously played. BY LAURA SHEARER
July 9th, 2010 | No Comments
NEWS: Graduation ceremonies overshadowed by bleak new employment statistics
As students graduate from QUB this week, a dark cloud has emerged above them as The Guardian reported today that graduates will be up against an average of 70 other applicants for any job they go for. Not only will they be up against the class of 2010, but they will also face opposition from graduates of 2009 who are still seeking to land that dream job. This is all made even worse by the fact that vacancies are set to fall by 7%, with 78% of employers are insisting on a 2.1 degree. BY EMMA GALLEN
July 6th, 2010 | Comments (11)
REVIEW: Ozzy Osbourne – Scream
Thirty years ago, Ozzy Osbourne made his debut on the world stage as a solo artist, having already achieved huge success as the vocalist of Black Sabbath. Most predicted he would fail, or die young due to his infamous lifestyle. Yet his 1980 effort, ‘Blizzard of Oz’, became widely regarded as one of the finest metal albums ever released. This sums up the path that Ozzy’s career has taken. Time after time, he has denied both musical critics and medical science, and now, at the age of 61, he releases ‘Scream’, his tenth studio album. BY ANDREW SCOTT
July 1st, 2010 | No Comments
NEWS: Students must pay in order to graduate
BY KERRI-ANNE CAMPBELL
As final year students at Queen’s prepare to graduate this summer, many are displeased with the expensive graduation fees. Students must pay £55 in order to graduate. This sum covers the cost of the student’s ticket, gown and hood. A diploma in nursing costs £60 due to the inclusion of the official nursing badge. Students who wish to graduate in absentia must pay £10. Graduates are also expected to pay a further £5 for their degree transcript.
June 30th, 2010 | Comments (9)
NEWS: Ulster Museum wins Arts Fund Prize
The Ulster Museum was named today as the winner of the £100,000 Art Fund Prize, despite coming second in the public vote to the Ashmolean Museum. Announcing the results on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Front Row’ programme, Kirsty Young, broadcaster and chair of the judging panel, said, “We were moved and invigorated by our visit to the Ulster Museum. Here is a museum that shows how much can be achieved, and one that is building a lasting legacy.” She also commented on how the museum was “embedded in the community… [but] is incredibly impressive in its own right.” BY BEN FINCH
June 30th, 2010 | No Comments
COMMENT: The Public Assemblies Bill: The quiet drift into witless authoritarianism
The draft Public Assemblies Bill is, at best, an unforgivably clumsy piece of legislative drafting, implicating all public assemblies, no matter how innocuous, spontaneous or legitimate, in a constrictive and disproportionate new regime ostensibly aimed only at curing recurrent problems involving “contentious parades”. At worst, it is an inexplicably insidious intrusion into the fundamental right of free assembly. BY LORCAN MULLEN
June 30th, 2010 | Comments (7)
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