Bred in Captivity is Rock 'n' Roll That Is Bred in College-tivity

If it doesn't sound like folk rock then it seems like some dudes/chicks just won't listen to it, right? While others think that anything electric just makes noise and the only good sound comes from an acoustic guitar, right? What about that good old American blues and country music that bands as Marilyn Manson refute in an anti-everything stance, looking like the anti-Christ, with electro-clash platform boots and extensions?

If corporate America takes anymore time dressing their icons of pop music in hip-ness, then perhaps in the future good music might disappear all together, and a beautiful shell of bad taste will exist in MTV 3-D.

Bred in Captivity somehow transcends all of this hype, all of this glamour and all of this show. With sew-on (possibly iron-on) patches covering the crotch, the knee and the thigh of his jeans, a black fedora on his head, and a peasant shirt with embroidered details, SMC's Twilight Tuesday Concert Series returned with an example of the folk rock explosion in American culture.

Jesus, can't you go anywhere anymore without hearing the sound of an acoustic guitar and covers of Beatle's songs? Bob Dylan isn't even dead, yet people are still trying to copy his sound, right? Hell, people are eating dinner in the SMC cafeteria, and on the far side with a microphone and a sound system Bred in Captivity (a.k.a. - Eman) is folk-ing the whole place up-and-down.

"He was abusing people," said Candice Davis, a SMC student. "With the cover that he did of the Pixies I wanted to scream and put a pencil though my ear or through his amp. I was offended!"

Yet not all of us love the beauty of punk/pop turned melodramatic with a twist of Dylan for flavor. When he took on the Verve's "The Drugs Don't Work," I reminisced back to the '90s and felt as if KCRW still meant college radio and not a corporate (possibly anglophile) identity. Oh Bruno Guez where, oh where, have you gone? Oh America bring back the simpler days of simple music and sayings such as "don't believe the hype," which Flavor Flav once said (did anyone else see him and his new girl on TV?).

The interesting thing about Bred in Captivity-when the band stopped, the spell in the cafeteria broke and fifteen minutes later the whole place stood empty. Only I persevered in an attempt at catching what Bred in Captivity is all about.

With his own original songs, such as "All Alone," "Pathetic Dreams for Sale" and "You Are the Reason," Eman, a six-year veteran in the game, finds himself playing for the college crowd.

"It was really cool man, I liked his style. I used to play for years and I feel nostalgic about my own playing. I liked his stuff," said A.T. Matob, a SMC student. With most people open to his music, except for the few bleeding hearts, Eman put on a solid performance getting more "good's," then "bad's." As for why Eman is invading college campuses with shows at Redlands College and Chapman University? He has played on the Sunset strip, commenting that people often pay money to play on stages as the Whiskey.

"I used to do a lot shows up in Hollywood and on the Strip, but a lot of times it is a real drag. It's either pay-to-play, or it just seems to be a waste of spirit," Eman said. "It's nice to play at colleges though, so I have been doing that for a couple of years." So don't think this is the last that you will see of Eman. Perhaps in the future when you're at a 4-year school, or later this spring, or next semester, Bred in Captivity will be back, jamming your PBJ lunch.