They may be young, but they still know how to rock.

Local standout, The Valley Ghosts, formerly known as Dead Beat Soup, will play one show at Rubble’s Bar, 112 W. Michigan St. on Thursday night.

“In Michigan, there is no other band that sounds like them,” said Diamond in the Rough Promotions founder Corey Densmore. “They stand out.”

The Ghosts are a two-piece indie rock band made up of guitar and vocalist Stephen Schreffler, 19, and drummer Trevor Hull, 16.

Schreffler and Hull started their rock career playing as Dead Beat Soup at West Branch High School.

The duo played their first concert as The Valley Ghosts last October as an opening band at Rubble’s. Since then, they have played regular gigs in Mount Pleasant and have been branching out around the state and the Midwest.

“We don’t necessarily have to be the most famous band in America, but if I can get to the point where I’m making music for a living, it would be perfect,” Schreffler said.

They have been working with the local promoter, Diamond in the Rough Productions, to arrange a regional tour. They will be playing in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota between now and April.

They have been writing songs for a planned album and plan to lay down some tracks soon, said Schreffler.

“Our music consists of mellow and high energy,” said Schreffler.

Influences include My Bloody Valentine, Modest Mouse, The Black Keys and other two-piece rock acts like The White Stripes.

“As a drummer, I would say my influence is John Bonham of Led Zeppelin,” said Hull.

For a band with Michigan roots, the West Coast has played a part in the band’s development. Schreffler had moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 2006, and returned to Michigan in April 2008, rejoining with Hull to start the Ghosts.

“It was kind of a reunion when he came back – we just started kicking out new songs,” said Hull. “We did six or seven songs within the first month he was back.”

They plan to head back to California this summer to find a bass player and play some gigs.

“We just really hope to kick off out there,” said Hull. “We will have a home base (in Michigan) and when we move to California, we will always have people here.”

The show at Rubble’s takes place on Thursday night, Feb. 19, at 10 p.m. They will return to Mount Pleasant and play at Rubble’s again on March 5 at 10 p.m.

Check out the band at www.myspace.com/thevalleyghosts.

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Ann Arbor-based Great Lakes Myth Society will make a homecoming to Central Michigan University this Saturday.

The folk-rock band is composed of former CMU students; singer-guitarists Timothy and James Monger, and CMU alumnus and bassist J. Scott McClintock. The band will be featured along with Mason Proper, Javelins, Frontier Focus and headliners The Hard Lessons.

The group was formed from the ashes of The Original Brothers and Sisters of Love in January 2004. Other members include Gregory McIntosh on guitar and vocals and Fido Kennington on drums and vocals.

“I started playing shows in Mount Pleasant before I even graduated high school,” Tim Monger said. “I would come and play coffee shop shows at places like The University Cup.”

The band’s debut record was released by the Stop, Pop, and Roll label in 2005. They signed to Ann Arbor-based Quack!Media in 2007 and recorded their second album Compass Rose Bouquet.

The brothers find performing in Mount Pleasant a bit of a homecoming. Before the birth of Great Lakes Myth Society, the Mongers and McClintock both spent time studying at CMU.

“Scott is the only one of us who actually graduated from Central, but we have all spent a lot of time in Mount Pleasant,” said Tim Monger. “My brother was at Central for three years, he was the reason I came for freshman year.”

As a band from Michigan, Great Lakes Myth Society brings a Midwest vibe to their music. They write songs and “myths” about Michigan as well as other contemporary work.

“Each band has a specific vibe, I think, connecting them to where they are from,” said Monger. “I feel our songs on a whole connect with the Michigan scene,”

He said the university has played a role in the development of the Great Lakes Myth Society sound.

“I wrote a lot of songs at Central,” said Tim Monger. “And spent a lot of time in the dorms just writing music.”

The historic downtown atmosphere of Mount Pleasant gives a level of excitement to the former student.

“I’m excited to play at the Broadway because I used to see movies there,” said Tim Monger. “It will be fun to be able to go hang out at The Bird afterwards.”

Typically, the end of a tour brings Great Lakes Myth Society back to Mount Pleasant.

“We try to make it up here once or twice a year,” said Tim Monger.

The performance takes place Jan. 24, at the Broadway Theatre, 216 E. Broadway St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.

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Musical acts Deastro, Ultramark, The Valley Ghosts and five others will headline Round Robin Night No. 1 at the Wesley Foundation of Central Michigan University, 1400 S. Washington St. at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17.

Diamonds in the Rough Promotions has put the night together, and producers say that Round Robin shows give hours of audience-centered non-stop music.

“Round Robin shows provide a different experience because there is no opener,” said DITR founder Corey Densmore. “There is no waiting for bands to set up and take down equipment. In a Round Robin show, all bands play at the same time.”

“Sometimes people show up late to shows because they don’t want to see the opener,” said Densmore. “With a Round Robin show, everyone wants to show up on time.”

Densmore said that the Round Robin Night No. 1 will have four bands at each end of the room. One band will start by playing one song and then the next band will play a song, until all bands have played their first song and it will start again.

Each band will play a total of five songs, providing about four hours of non-stop music.

Detroit will be represented by rock group Deastro and alternative acts Benny Stoofy and Friendly Foes.

Joining them will be Chicago electronic musician Ultramark, West Branch rock twosome The Valley Ghosts, Flint duo Stereoluxxx, Hudsonville singer-songwriter Jes Kramer, and Mount Pleasant group Crash Sunday.

Influenced by Dan Deacon and the Baltimore Round Robin Tour, genres ranging from electronic dance to hard rock will be presented, Densmore said.

DITR will be presenting Round Robin shows a few times during the semester including Valentine’s Day and April 18.

Tickets will be $5 at the door, all ages are welcome, and doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

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Brian Manzullo

Geography professor Michael Libbee was surprised when he heard he received the Distinguished Mentor Award.

“Normally, this award is given to faculty mentoring in graduate and Ph.D programs,” Libbee said. “I mentor teacher consultants within the Michigan Geographic Alliance.”

The National Council for Geographic Education this year awarded Mark Francek and Libbee from Central Michigan University’s geography department for their innovative teaching and mentoring methods.

Libbee was recognized for his mentoring techniques in geographical education.

As co-coordinator of the Michigan Geographic Alliance, a network of teachers and geographers who aim to improve education by providing resources and in-service workshops, Libbee has received various awards, but this is his first mentoring award.

Libbee said he splits his time between one to two undergraduate social studies and geography courses a semester and teaches workshops with the Michigan Geographical Alliance.

“I teach education students throughout the university with a concentration in either social studies or geography on both content and how to teach it,” Libbee said. “I teach students how to teach.”

Teacher consultant mentors provide teacher consultants with training and resources.

Michigan Geographic Alliance runs like a small business, Libbee said.

“I give support to teacher consultants by giving them resources to work with other teachers, provide money to do a range of things,” Libbee said. “It has been some of the business ethics that have providing the opportunity to the teacher consultants to go to national meetings and international trips.”

Francek, a geology professor and member of the Michigan Geographic Alliance, received the Distinguished Teacher Award.

“I have been a physical geography educator for 20 years, and it has been my endeavor to provide a warm collaborative atmosphere,” he said.

Podcasts have been provided as additional study material in Francek’s class.

“Knowing how students are influenced these days is important,” he said. “As well as keeping up with technology as a way of reaching across and making learning the material relevant to students’ lives is important.”

Learning does not keep his class contained, often leading outside the regular classroom environment, he said.

“The things I have to teach aren’t in the classroom,” Francek said. “I make it a point to go outside visiting places like Mission Creek Woodland Park, Meridian County Park and the cemetery.”

Learning outside the classroom caters to different students’ learning needs, he said.

“Not all students learn the same way – some are visual, group- or music-learners,” Francek said. “I frequently switch methods throughout a class period.”

Classroom participation and knowing each student is important in Francek’s teaching.

Inside the classroom Francek, uses various methods to keep lessons interactive.

“I use demonstrations, music, video clips and even edible science,” Francek said. “Students design demonstrations on earth science concepts as well as looking at Hollywood films for signs of misconception.”

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By Amanda Friedt

Staff Reporter

While rising through the ranks of the independent rock scene, The Status have proven that having good connections is just as important as musical talent.

The Status have been a part of the Involuntary Movement Tour this fall, featuring Valencia, The Matches and Bayside.

The Atlanta-based band, including Ben Grant (vocals, guitar), Andy Thompson (guitar, vocals), Danny Grant (bass) and Mike Felker (drums), released its debut album, “So This Is Progress,” on Oct. 7.

The album features guest vocals from both Adam Lazzarra of Taking Back Sunday and Anthony Raneri of Bayside.

“Since we’re touring with Bayside on some of the shows, (Raneri) is going to come out and sing,” Grant said.

Touring is a new experience for the young Atlanta band.

“We’ve been The Status for two years,” Grant said. “For the first year that we were The Status we just did local and regional, but this is the first year we’ve been touring.”

The Status has been moving up in the music world, working with manager Raneri and signing with Doghouse Records last spring.

“Basically, through Anthony we just started to network with people he was already familiar with,” Grant said.

The band finds signing with an indie label to be an advantage for the growing band.

“I think indie labels kind of have an advantage, especially in this scene,” Grant said. “I guess you’d say I feel a lot safer with an indie label because they usually have a smaller amount of bands … They have their attention on all of their bands, rather than a huge label that has hundreds of bands, where if you’re not selling a certain number of records they aren’t going to pay attention to you.

Touring, traveling and establishing their band has been a continuing journey for The Status.

“With being a young band as we are it’s really important in building a home base,” Grant said. “Start local, then nationally.”

Up to now, all the band’s touring has been in North America.

“I’d love to go overseas, but as of now we haven’t done Warped Tour yet. Once we get that opportunity, it’ll be pretty important to us,” Grant said.

Grant considers acoustic guitar to be crucial to the band’s music.

“I wrote all of our songs and I usually write them on acoustic guitar,” Grant said. “We usually do a song called ‘Perfect Day’ and then ‘So This is Progress’ at every acoustic show.”

Grant has contributed to most of the music writing and organization for the band.

“Andy (Thompson) and I usually come up with the melodies and stuff, but then I’ll go home and write lyrics, so I’m the main lyricist but we all contribute,” Grant said.

Grant finds many different inspirations for their lyrics and is constantly looking for the new.

“All of our songs I feel have somewhat of a positive message, but it’s not necessarily about me,” Grant said. “I try to listen to as much (music) as I can. Being a musician, you want different inspirations.”

The reviews of the debut album have provided feedback for The Status.

“Our record just came out, so we’ve been reading some of that stuff,” Grant said. “It’s cool when you get a good review, you get way more excited, but when you get a bad one you try to brush it off.”

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John Brumbaugh

Family-owned and operated Dragon Express is a spot many students go to satisfy their Chinese food cravings.

Dine in or takeout Dragon Express, 314 W. Broomfield Road, located next to the Towers residence halls, offers a variety of authentic Chinese food, including the items readily available on the steam table and also a fresh-to-order menu.

“Most people don’t know we offer a menu other than what is available on the steam table that is always fresh to order,” said Dragon Express employee and Rochester Hills senior Mike Giudici.

The menu offers an array of Chinese cuisine, including Shanghai noodles, chow mein, chop suey, sweet and sour chicken, fried rice and more.

“Our most popular items are located on the steam table. Most people come for our orange chicken and egg rolls; for those who order off the menu, the most popular item is our general chicken, which is a spicy, crunchier version of our orange chicken,” Giudici said.

Although customers can choose from the steam table or the fresh-to-order menu, most customers order from the steam table.

“Customers just don’t want to wait. We provide a quick service providing quality food that could be compared with the quickness of a drive-thru. Most people come and go,” said Dragon Express owner Kelvin Sun.

The location of Dragon Express was not always considered a good spot, Sun said.

“We love this location compared to when we purchased Dragon Express in 1999. Most people doubted the choice of location because so many businesses have proved unsuccessful in this same spot,” he said.

Students find Dragon Express a great place to stop and eat.

“Around 60 percent of our customers are CMU students, but we also get professors, locals and Mount Pleasant high school students,” said Dragon Express employee and Muroran sophomore Taro Takizawa.

A number of its customers come from the Towers, Giudici said.

“It is really a benefit for us that we are located so close to the dorms and 7-Eleven; it brings in a lot of customers,” Takizawa said.

The football season brings many tailgaters and visitors into Dragon Express.

“Football season brings in a lot of old faces. Many graduates come in that miss my place and food,” Sun said.

Advertising has really never been an issue for the small, convenient restaurant, he said.

“Being in a small town, people know my place,” Sun said. “I have a lot of regular customers, including a lot of locals; the location reaches to the student consumers.”

Sun owned a restaurant in Saginaw for 15 years and decided to come to Mount Pleasant for a different experience.

“We were looking for something simpler, and our business has been better here,” Sun said.

Employees find working at Dragon Express to be rewarding though difficult at times.

“Working with the customers can be my favorite part of the job, but that can also be the hardest part of the job,” Takizawa said.

Giudici said during busy times it can get difficult keeping up with customer satisfaction, and the customer volume can become overwhelming.

“During some of their busiest days, the cooks spend the entire day continuously cooking.” Takizawa said

“I have been working at Dragon Express for almost two years, and it is a very good job,” Giudici said.

Dragon Express is open 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Saturday and noon to 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

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