With the summer sessions coming to a rapid end and fall fast approaching, now is the perfect time to catch up on the big hits, blockbusters and bestsellers that made the summer days sizzle.
The soundtrack to the summer, whether filtering through the radio airwaves or playing on mix CDs, has been marked with the ever increasing popularity of independent (indie) rock music.
Radio station WFNX, a local rock station, has seen an increase in requests for indie rock artists like Modest Mouse.
“We’ve been playing ‘Float On’ [by Modest Mouse] since the winter,” said Paul Driscoll, music director and host of WFNX’s show “Alter Ego.” “Right off the get-go, it was one of the most requested songs.”
Another group that has received heavy airplay on WFNX is The Killers, who are known for their catchy melodies, danceable rhythms and their latest single “Somebody Told Me.”
“[‘Somebody Told Me’] is just one of those things that really took off,” Driscoll said. “People heard that song on our station, picked up the album and started to request other songs off the album.”
At WRBB, Northeastern’s radio station, it’s the Fiery Furnaces that sit on top of the charts, said Drew Wright, the director of loud rock at the station.
The Furnaces, however, are far from loud. This brother/sister team, comprised of Matt (guitar, keyboards) and Eleanor (guitar, vocals) Friedberger, put out consistently creative, while at times unsuccessful records sweet as Mates of State, but almost as rocking as The Who.
Music during the summer spans farther than the radio stations, and makes its way to outdoor venues such as the Hatchshell by the Charles River.
“Three Dog Night played a free show at the Hatchshell a few weeks ago,” said Nate Goyette, a senior marketing and sociology double major. “Shows there make such a huge difference [during the summer].”
Music wasn’t the only thing needed for a hit summer. With titles such as “The Bourne Supremacy,” “The Chronicles of Riddick” and “I, Robot” flooding theaters, this season’s cinematic line-up was nothing short of men without shirts blowing things up. However, this summer’s real box office heroes are a masked man, an ogre with a Scottish brogue and a director of documentaries with a lot to say.
“I was pretty disappointed [in[ the movies released this summer,” said Dave Cee, a middler business major. “‘I, Robot’ wasn’t that bad, and ‘Kill Bill Vol. 2′ was pretty good.”
According to AMC Fenway Theater manager Ted Mahoney, “Spider Man 2” was the largest success for the theater and Mike Meyers’ fairy tale sequel “Shrek 2” was also “right up there.” Mahoney also called director Michael Moore’s latest documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/ 11,” “the surprise hit of the summer.”
Moore’s film also resonated with students at Northeastern, many of whom will be voting for the first time in the presidential election this fall.
“It’s very provocative in the election year,” said Bill Durkin, vice president for academic affairs in the Student Government Association. Durkin also attributed some of the film’s success to its popular director.
“Michael Moore is kind of the spokesman for the left, it attracts a lot of people,” Durkin said.
While “Spiderman 2” and “Shrek 2” sat atop the list of box office moneymakers, Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code” graced the top of the New York Times’ hardcover best-seller list. Brown’s “Angels and Demons,” the prequel to “The DaVinci Code,” appears on the New York Times’ paperback best-seller list.
On campus, both “Angels and Demons” and “The DaVinci Code” are among the most popular fiction checkouts at Snell Library, according to Maria Carpenter, librarian and advancement program manager at Snell Library.
Besides works by Dan Brown, other popular fiction at Snell Library this summer were “Mystic River” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azk-aban,” but the most popular title was “The Guardian,” by Nicholas Sparks, Carpenter said.
— staff writer Lauren Rouleau contributed to this report.
