Titans drop opener to Purdue 10-4.

Associated Students Inc. Productions brought Cal State Fullerton students another edition of Wednesday concert at the Becker Amphitheatre featuring the band Nico Vega.

Playing seven of their original songs, Nico Vega had a wholehearted performance in front of the CSUF crowd of about 100. Despite the heat and technical difficulties, the band managed to put on an engaging and peculiar show.

“The sound was really good. The band is good,” said 29-year-old Michael Caffell.

Much of the show consisted of a passionate and uncanny Aja Volkmann, lead singer, as she strutted, jumped and climbed around the amphitheatre.

This indie band is a culmination of rock and soul with an energetic vibe. They play the kind of music that makes you want to get up and dance.

Musically they are reminiscent of The White Stripes, and are just as instrumentally simple with brisk and catchy songs. Nico Vega tunes feature a mixture of slow and fast tempos with tempestuous beats. The vocals resonated like a nostalgic ’60s performance by Janis Joplin.

Despite having the deceptive name of a solo act, Nico Vega is a lively trio coming out of Los Angeles.

“Nico Vega came from the original drummers mother’s maiden name,” said Koehler. “She lived a cool legacy and we thought we can continue that because she is not with us anymore.”

Comprising the band is Volkman performing vocals, Dan Epand on drums and Rich Koehler on guitar. With a little over four years playing together the band has released several EP’s and a full length self-titled album in 2009.

A lot of their songs feature a psychedelic and experimental sounds generated from their influences of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. They also credit funkadelic as a source of inspiration.

As for writing their songs, Koehler develops a riffs with other parts of the song, and together they “jam it out.”

“Aja is really great with the lyrics and Melody,” said Epand. “It happens pretty spontaneously and fast.”

The band opened with the song “Medicine Man.” The lyrical content expressed a woman’s want in a man.

Among the other songs, Nico Vega performed the crowd favorite “Gravity” an indelible tune about teasing. One the more memorable lyrics of the song, mimicked by the guitar, was “Nananananana,” a play on the classic schoolyard taunt.

Nico Vega plans to release a new album some time early next year.

The band takes off on tour along the Pacific Coast in collaboration with Metric.

The winner of Sunday's Best, Charmaine Crutchfield, juior dance major. Photo by Ashley Luu/Daily Titan Staff Writer

Video by Marlene Perez/For the Daily Titan

Sunday’s Best, a gospel talent show hosted by the Divine Servants, was filled with singing, praise dancing, poetry and spoken word at the Titan Student Union Thursday, March 11.

“BET had a talent show called ‘Sunday’s Best’ that was looking for the next big gospel singer. So we thought that would be a great title to put on,” said Chauntel Riser, president of the Divine Servants, a Christian-based club.

The event focused on celebrating God and gospel music, Riser said.

“There’s a lot of Christian students on campus that really haven’t had an opportunity to express themselves in an artistic way and a way where we can come together and appreciate God,” Riser added.

Riser and her co-host, Max Barnes, liberal studies major, kicked off the night with Bible trivia that included questions like:

“How many books of the Bible are named after women?”

“In the Bible, who did the sun and the moon stand for?”

Sociology major Charity White, a crowd pleaser, performed a spoken word with conviction, without having to use a microphone.

“I discovered that champions are not birthed or made. They are born again. I may not get the ribbon but I wear the crown. I may not be on the number one team but he says I’m chosen. I may fall down a million times but I know how to get back up over and over again because I was born again to win,” White said.

First place went to Charmaine Crutchfield, dance major, who performed a unique praise dance to display her technical skills and versatility.

The performers consisted of friends and students.

“They (Christian performers and supporters) heard their friends of friends were in the club and wanted to come out and support,” Communications Officer Jessica Norwood said.

To end the festivities, performers and audience members held hands, closed their eyes and prayed for ailing friends and family members to get better and for God to allow them to work on their time management.

Kristiana Hardy, junior, said that she came to show support because it is important that people have a voice by performing on stage.

“It’s a good encouragement for other cultures and religions to have events like this,” Hardy, 21, said.

Sunday’s Best is the first gospel talent show hosted by the Divine Servants.

“We just wanted to try something more spiritual and see how well that works for kids here,” Norwood said.

The Divine Servants hold Bible study every Wednesday from 6 – 7 p.m. and a church service is held at Cal State Fullerton every Sunday.

Normandie played the Becker Amphitheatre March 10. Photo by Christa Connelly/Daily Titan Photo Editor

Video by Oscar Romero/Daily Titan Staff Writer

ASI Productions’ concerts presented Normandie as they enthusiastically performed at the Becker Amphitheater at Cal State Fullerton Wednesday.

More than 60 students watched as the band put on a zealous performance on the concrete stage.

“The music, the energy, awesome voice, awesome vibe. I love this band,” said Betsy Cruz, a CSUF alumna and elementary teacher who attended the show.

Normandie is based out of Los Angeles and have been together for a little over a year and a half. Trio is composed of lead singer Aimee Echo alongside guitarist Jamie Miller and drummer Chelsea Davis. Echo and Miller previously played in a band known as The Start. Eventually, they both left and teamed up with fellow bandmate Davis to create Normandie.

The trio blends together a dark sound with melodic background vocals and and harmonious lyrical flow. Contrasting the harmonious flow, Echo will distort her voice in a rough and raspy element to the vocals. Much of their lyrical content involves dark themes and slow  tempos. Their sound bears some resemblance to the hard rock group Queens of the Stone Age – an experimental rock sound with guitar effects and crashing drums.

The band credits some their influences to musical acts like Blonde Redhead, My Bloody Valentine and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Many of the songs were driven by the drums and vocal with guitar and effects adding to the gloomy sound. The band also incorporated percussion instruments such as the tambourine and the cowbell.

“Art, rocky with eclectic splashes of other stuff,” Davis said.

The band’s name originates from a house located on Normandie Avenue where lead singer Echo lived with friends.

“Normandie represents all the best times in our lives,” Echo said.

The musical trio performed various original songs and introduced their new tune “Siamese.” Along with that song, the band also played “Thrill of Victory,” “Bomber” and their spacey sounding song “Future” and “White and Red.”

“White and Red has a really different sound to it and  no real course to it,” said 21-year-old Robert Gomez, an attendee at the performance.

They also covered “Dayglo,” a song written by ’90s band Plexi, as a tribute to one of their members who was injured in a car accident.

The band is currently writing songs for an album they plan to release sometime in the near future.

“I love this band, and I’ve seen them before live. They were coming to Cal State Fullerton and it was free. I had to be here,” Gomez said.

The English department is mixing it up with classes such as Harry Potter, Vampire Literature (not including Twighlight), and a Graphic Novel class is in the works for the Fall 2010 semester.

Video by Derek Opina

Cal State Fullerton will host the Los Angeles Galaxy March 10 at 7:30 p.m., as they take on Puntarenas FC of Costa Rica in an international friendly.

“We think it’s an important game, it’s our first game in public this year,” Head Coach and General Manager Bruce Arena said. “We’re playing against a good team that has done well in the Costa Rican league and it’s a good time of year to give us a good game.”

This is not Arena, or the Galaxy’s first time playing at Titan Stadium.

“It’s great to go into Orange County and be around an important fan base,” Arena said. “We’ve always liked to be at Cal State Fullerton, it’s always been a good venue.”

The Galaxy’s two most popular players, forward Landon Donovan and midfielder David Beckham will not be attending the friendly against Puntarenas tomorrow.

Donovan is on loan to English Premier League’s Everton and Beckham is on loan to AC Milan’s Serie A club.

Despite the absence of Donovan and Beckham, the Galaxy are still confident in the other players that will be in action, mid fielder Chris Klein, forward Edson Buddle, mid fielder Eddie Lewis, defender Omar Gonzalez and back up goal keeper Josh Saunders.

Saunders played for the Titans for two years.

“I learn a lot from the big names, watching them and how they do things,” Saunders said.

With only two international exhibitions left before the season starts, the Galaxy has been training hard to ensure success.

“We haven’t given away many goals in preseason so were going to play well and go forward and get chances and finish those chances that we want,” Saunders said. “I really feel that this year is going to be a good year for us, we have a lot of familiar faces and we feel confident with each other.”

Saunders split his college career between CSUF and the University of California, spending his first two years at Fullerton before transferring to Cal. He was a two-year starter at Cal, earning First Team All-Pac-10 honors in each of his seasons with the Bears. As a senior in 2002, Saunders was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year award, becoming the first goalkeeper ever to win the award.

In the 2009 MLS Championship game, goal keeper Donovan Ricketts sustained a hand injury in the second half and was unable to continue, which allowed Saunders to make his appearance.

“I had to come in and be prepared. That’s something I’ve been prepared for because that’s my job,” Saunders told Oregonlive.com. “I felt like I could come in and make a contribution to the team.”

Saunders made a couple amazing saves in the second half that kept the Galaxy in the game, as they moved on to penalty kicks and gave the Galaxy a chance. Saunders continued to make two outstanding saves in penalty kicks.

“Josh did great,” Galaxy midfielder David Beckham told Oregonlive.com. “That’s all you can ask of your goalkeeper.”

In the end, Saunders guessed wrong on Real Salt Lake Robbie Russell’s game winning penalty kick.

“I was one save away from a championship,” Saunders told Oregonlive.com.

The Galaxy’s 15th season begins March 27, as they take on the New England at the Home Depot Center in Carson, unless the New England Revolution strike.

The Revolution’s bargaining agreement under Major League Soccer has expired and a new agreement has not been reached yet.

“Last year was about, can we get a core group that can complete in this league because we hadn’t done that,” 12-year MLS veteran and Galaxy midfielder Chris Klein said.

Last year, the Galaxy proved that they could compete as they made it to the championship game.

“We’ve been going all preseason with guys playing 30 minutes, guys playing 45 minutes and guys playing 60 and now its starting to build to get that game fitness for the guys can go 90 minutes and be able to do it at a high level,” Klein said. “I think these last few exhibitions that we have will be a good test for us to see if we can get in full games.”

Pancakes, sausages and orange juice for all! The women of Alpha Chi Omega served their community Sunday Feb. 28 for a good cause.