Week in Review

By Scott Kolp, Andrew Marantz, Cristi Laquer, and Vanessa Huang

Sometimes Head Gives

Jock Rock was dealt a decisive blow when Korn guitarist Head announced his intention to quit the band after he discovered his newly acquired Christian beliefs were not in line with the Korn ethos. Head spoke recently with Rolling Stone regarding his departure. He gushed details about his charity works and his attempt to resurrect himself as the "Christian Eminem," a coup which could potentially fill the power vacuum left in the wake of Creed's untimely demise.

While the remainder of Korn has continued to manufacture pop tunes for the kids, Head has been hard at work building "Head Homes" for orphaned children in the developing world, most recently in India. His can-do attitude has even found him eschewing cannabis for cannibals in Orrisa: "There's a tribe . the Lodha tribe, just a few miles from where we opened the orphanage. They're a cannibal tribe . and they asked us to take their kids, too. We went out there . and there were, like, 1,500 cannibals. I just looked right up to the sky and said, 'What am I doing here?' But we sent them $7,000 worth of food and started making plans to build them an orphanage."

The former Korn guitarist has also been hard at work on his first solo effort tentatively titled Invitations Have Been Sent to All. Head was quick to dismiss speculation that his reformed lifestyle will lead to a softening of his image. The forthcoming effort will be "melodic and intense and euphoric" he told Rolling Stone, but he was quick to warn, "a lot of Christians might think I'm straight from the devil with this music." Some joints already in the bank include "Loyalty" and "Time to See Religion Die" as well as Head's contribution to the ongoing national debate over abortion: "I've got a song about a baby getting aborted, and my voice is the baby's voice, singing to the mommy and asking why she doesn't want to be his mom no more. The chorus is, 'Jesus said my soul isn't dead/I'm waiting for you up in heaven.'" Christian Rock enthusiasts will have to wait until next spring to hear the album. In the meantime they must continue to nurse hope that Creed can once again walk the path of the righteous. Amen.

—SK

Cindy Sheehan's Symbol Clash

At 1:05 pm, after an hour of buildup, the protesters in downtown's Memorial Park got what they were waiting for: Cindy Sheehan, the new spokeswoman for the anti-war cause, finally took the mike. In August, Sheehan founded Camp Casey—named for her son who died fighting in Iraq—outside President Bush's vacation villa (or ranch) in Crawford, Texas. Now that Bush has left Crawford, Cindy is taking Camp Casey on the road, through 51 cities in 25 days. The tour (bringthemhomenowtour.org) will converge on Washington on September 24, for a rally that Sheehan promises will be "the biggest peace activity in history" and "really fabulous."

Camp Casey was a brilliant PR ploy, injecting a human interest story into an otherwise diffuse and aimless movement. But why does the peace struggle need a human face? One could argue that the doves have to dumb down their story to get press—news networks don't know how to handle the nuanced debate over Iraqi sovereignty, or the confusing Downing Street memo, but they should know how to report on a grieving mother. And this may be the case: Sheehan now gets about as much news coverage as one can without winning an election or killing someone.

But the peaceniks could be dumbing it down for themselves as well. The urge to essentialize seems to be universal. (Remember Osama?) The crowd at the downtown rally was full of Socialists, Greens, even Quakers—activists who are, ostensibly, in it for the long haul. So why did they disperse the moment the headliner was finished talking?

Humans are a simple species; whether or not we have the intellectual tools to handle a complex geopolitical discourse, it's much easier (and more fun) to invest in a bare-knuckle fight between Cindy and George. Even Sheehan's warm-up announcer (wait a minute, do activists have opening acts?) played into the beef. "This is the mother," he intoned, "who promised she would make George Bush sorry he killed her son!" Sheehan agreed—sort of. "I told George Bush he would be sorry he ever sent my son over there to get killed." Perhaps Sheehan is learning, sooner than the rest of us, that truth can speak louder than rhetoric.

—AM

But I Want To Launch A Satellite

Overachievers from European universities are one week from the launch of the first student-built satellite, the Student Space Exploration Technology Initiative (SSETI) Express. Too bad they stole the name from Contact. Over 18 months, 400 students from 23 universities in 12 countries have designed and built a satellite the size of a small washing machine. Apparently it's not the size that counts. Once in orbit, the satellite will launch three picosatellites designed by teams of students from Germany, Japan, and Norway.

According to SPACE.com, the SSETI Express will be launched in Russia on September 30. While most Americans were already launching satellites from the Plestesk Cosmodrome in high school, Europeans had to wait for the European Space Agency (ESA) to create the student program so they could "benefit from real experience."

This satellite will orbit the Earth, send back photos (like we don't have enough of those), and act as a radio transponder. Too bad they stole that word from Star Trek. The ESA is sponsoring a competition for amateur radio broadcasters; the first to decode SSETI's transmissions will receive a t-shirt. I received a t-shirt for going to a Brown basketball game.

SSETI express is the first of three shoddily-student-made satellites. Plans for the European Student Earith Orbiter (ESEO) and the European Student Moon Orbiter (ESMO) are already in the works. The latter will be launched between 2010 and 2012. Whatever.

Marcin Jagoda, a former student of Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland told SPACE.com, "It was a great opportunity to learn a lot about high space technology. I'm really looking forward to launch." Brown University students, meanwhile, are really looking forward to getting high and pretending they're in space.

—CL

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