Album art for The Greatest Generation

By Ethan Walshe
Editor-in-Chief 

“I ended up as food for wolves for trying to take the world on” proclaims Dan “Soupy” Campbell, vocalist for the Pennsylvania based pop punk outfit The Wonder Years, who dropped their fourth full length album The Greatest Generation via Hopeless Records on May 14.

The Greatest Generation concludes the trilogy of albums chronicling the band members’ lives as they deal with teenage angst, growing up, and the whole new slew of problems that come with becoming a more well-known group. The latter is the focus of this latest album.

Led by the single “Passing Through a Screen Door,” this album does not disappoint. Biting guitars cut through firm bass riffs as Campbell’s vocals scream with raw emotion about the struggles he has faced since the 2010 release of Suburbia, I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing.

This band took the time to put together an album, not just 10 or so songs to make their label happy, and it shows. There is a cohesiveness between songs as the album progresses, including references to other songs on the album and even to older, popular songs on their previous two albums.

Known for addressing his own internal conflicts in his music, Campbell continues to expose himself with a brutal honesty that has become typical of The Wonder Years. Songs like “Devil In My Bloodstream” offer an insight to the emotional state of the vocalist with lyrics like “I bet I’d be a [expletive] coward / I bet I’d never have the guts for war,” while “Dismantling Summer” continues to explore the internally held downtrodden beliefs of Campbell as he sings “I’ve been acting like I’m strong but the truth is I’ve been losing ground.”

The Wonder Years have reestablished what it means to be pop-punk on this latest record. It would not be at all surprising if this propelled them from working class band to headliners at larger music festivals in the coming years.

Many on the internet are quick to criticize the band for continually producing songs about the difficulties they face in life. Some would point out that growing up in suburbia and having a middle class life is not that hard compared the conditions felt by some in less fortunate situations globally. But that is not the point. Everyone has their battles that they think are important. This album is not about the fight to stay alive; it’s about the fight to feel alive.

4.5/5

Go listen to: “Passing Through a Screen Door,” “There There,” and “Devil In My Bloodstream”

On Monday May 13th, the WA boys tennis team played a long match against the Acton Boxboro team. WA finished off the day with 4 wins and only one loss, crushing their rivals. The Ghostwriter was there to chronicle the event.

Last Thursday,May 9th, the Westford Academy Music Department came together for their last concert of the 2012-12013 school year. Previously called Wacapella night, the annual concert featured the unaccompanied voices of the many singing groups alongside with the new addition of the string ensemble called the Troubadours.

The Troubadours kicked off the night of music with an exciting piece from the soundtrack of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. The group is composed of middle schoolers and WA students who all had to try out to join. The talented troupe continued on to more classical pieces, performing “Eine Leine Nauchtusic” in Allegro and Menuetto. They finished up with a captivating work called “American Landscape” by Soon Hee Newbold, which concluded the instrumental portion of the evening.

Next up, the entire choral department took the stage with a throwback to the 70′s. Singing Earth Wind and Fire’s hit song “September”, the ensemble filled the auditorium with a groove that kept the audience’s feet tapping to the beat.

Then, with the first duet of the night, freshmen Jasmine Gutbrod and Claire Shea took center stage with a delicate and adorable rendition of the traditional piece “I’ll Fly Away”. The two girls joined in unison and used their voices together to complement each other’s producing the perfect harmony.

Finally came the portion of the night when the WA seniors would take their final entrance to the stage in their high school chorale careers as the Honors Choir began. To begin the set, they started with the timeless classic “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” with a solo by Leah Detolla. Detolla hit some meaty lower notes and riffed her way up into the higher pitches, adding to the overall class of the performance. They then continued on to sing the popular “Somebody That I Used To Know” and brought the audience back to the modern era.

To spice things up, the choir brought out a Visayan folk song called ”Rosas Pandas”. It was a festive tune that brought a sense of culture to the night.

To finish off the Honors Choir portion of the night, Senior Alaina Baker and Juniors Katie Hughes and Michele Serino brought out their cups and a table for their popular performance of “Call Your Girlfriend”. This piece snagged them first place at WA’s Got Talent a few weeks back.

Saying goodbye to the senior class, came with many tears and memories as the awards ceremony came forward. Seniors such as Isabel Ment, Alaina Baker, and Leah Detolla received awards for their time in the WA Music Department along with many others.

To finish off the night, Wacapella, WA’s one and only a capella group, filled the stage and began the second to last song of the night, “Renegade” with solos by junior Ryan Cole, senior Will Beatty, and freshman Sai Balabahadrapatruni.

Last but not least, the ensemble finished up with their rendition of “Kiss Him Goodbye”, continuing on the longtime tradition of literally saying “Goodbye” to the family members, friends, and seniors who had come along this journey.

Today, May 14, indie rock sensations Vampire Weekend release their latest album, Modern Vampires of the City. The New York City natives have become forerunners of the city’s indie scene since their formation in 2006. Both their 2008 self-titled album and 2010 follow-up Contra have achieved both chart and critical success, and Vampires is set to continue that streak.

Style-wise, the album picks up where Contra left off. The band has expanded upon its original straight guitar/bass/drums formula to include more electronic elements such as additional layers of synthesizers and artificial beats that only add to their already unique sound.

Lyrically the album shows a maturation of the band – while previous efforts often dealt with frivolous affairs, Vampires deals with more serious subjects such as death, questioning the world, and even borderline religious undertones.

The album’s opener, “Obvious Bicycle,” begins with an ominous ticking sound as vocalist Ezra Koenig croons, “Oh you outta spare your face the razor / ‘Cause no one’s gonna spare the time for you.” It’s certainly a mellow way to start off a Vampire Weekend album, but sets the scene for how the listener will spend the next 45 minutes.

Standout track “Unbelievers” follows, and steers the album in yet another direction. Here, the band returns to its “classic” sound filled with piano flourishes, fast-paced vocals, and a simple yet catchy synth line. Double-A side singles “Step” and “Diane Young” follow, the latter being especially noteworthy. Upbeat and catchy, “Diane Young” grabs the listener if they haven’t been captured by the album already and makes it hard to resist the classic “baby, baby, baby” refrain.

Vampires features a fairly even amount of slower songs and memorable dance numbers. A couple of highlights include “Hannah Hunt,” which details a cutesy tale of two lovers moving cross-country and the delightfully raucous and jarring “Finger Back.”

Interestingly, the album ends on a much bleaker note than ever before. Penultimate track “Hudson” is brooding and grim, with lyrics that paint a picture of a city in shambles. However, the final track, “Young Lion,” is a glimmer of hope. The single repeated line of “You take your time, young lion” accompanies a simple piano line and bass track, letting the listener know that in the end, all is not lost.

The album’s biggest flaw is its use of exaggerated vocal effects, especially on lead singles “Diane Yong,” “Step,” and “Ya Hey.” In the two former songs, it is still discreet enough to be considered bearable, but by “Ya Hey,” the backing vocals are nearly ‘chipmunked,’ taking away from what is otherwise a strong single.

Aside from this, the album is a true accomplishment and is already a strong contender for one of the top indie albums of 2013. It is extremely well-crafted and thought out, and is filled with catchy earworms and future classics that make the listener want to press the repeat button over and over.

4.5/5

A poster for “the Great Gatsby”

By Jenny Watts
Staff Writer

Eager movie-buffs and literature enthusiasts alike awaited the release of the long-anticipated remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby. Movie theaters sold out as fans flooded the theaters on Friday, May 10 in order to be the first to experience the modern flare given to this literary giant.

The Great Gatsby tells the story of Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and his forbidden love with Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan). The plot is told and narrated by Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), who in this version of the story is portrayed as the socially awkward and mentally unstable third wheel to the affair.

Director Baz Luhrmann brought this novel set in the 1920’s and gave it a makeover, complete with CGI special effects and out of this world costume and set design only possible with today’s incredible movie industry. The costumes were unbelievable, putting a bright, intricate, and slightly modern spin on the styles of the time period.

Interestingly enough, the most chaotic scenes were the also the best and most captivating. Any scene where a party was going on promised to be memorable. For one who read the book these scenes were especially interesting, as the smallest details were included and noticeable despite all the events taking place.

This movie is exciting, fast-paced, intricately designed, and on the outside very aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately, that’s where the compliments stop. Despite being a visual masterpiece, the story and intricacies of the plot and characters were sadly lost.

The character development is of utmost importance to creating a realistic and captivating film. Although the film held true to the novel for almost the entire movie, where it strayed was in finding the reality in relationships. The ties between characters were not believable, and moments that should have been heart-breaking or moving were borderline awkward.

Furthermore, the casting was subpar. DiCaprio was not believable as the love-stricken, determined, and powerful Gatsby, and instead came across as a deranged, slightly creepy person who did not capture audience affection. Also, his excessive use of the phrase “old sport” was quite frankly annoying.

Tobey Maguire was also not a great fit for Carraway. It was an unfortunate surprise to find out the movie blatantly and deliberately labeled him as a mental health patient.

The only redeeming factor in the casting was in the characters of Daisy’s unfaithful husband Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) and his mistress Myrtle Wilson (Isla Fisher), who played their supporting roles both accurately and believably.

Overall, The Great Gatsby is worth seeing, if only for the spectacle of it all. Despite being a disappointment in the character and plot development, the special effects are captivating, and the modern spin and costumes are refreshing. Even if you read the book (or rather especially if you read the book), it’s worth the twelve bucks.

The Ghostwriter staff poses for a picture outside BU.

The New England Scholastic Press Association hosted its 65th annual conference on Friday, May 3 at Boston University. The WA Ghostwriter staff, along with high school newspapers from all across New England attended.

The day was comprised of three 50 minute workshops, a speech from Boston Globe editor Brian McGrory, and the presentation of the All-New England awards.

The three workshop sessions consisted of featured speakers presenting on a journalism topics, from feature writing, to press law, to careers in broadcast. Some speakers worked at BU in the journalism department, while others came from other high schools, or in some cases, out of retirement. There were plenty of sessions available to the attending students and advisers, however they all served the same purpose in attempting to improve on journalism skills.

“It was an educational experience and I learned a lot,” said junior Craig Brinkerhoff.

After two workshops, all attending the conference piled into to the Morse Auditorium to hear the keynote speech from Boston Globe editor Brian McGrory. McGrory spoke about himself first, and how he came to be in his position as the head of the Globe. He then talked about the future of newspapers themselves, and the future of the Globe specifically. He closed his speech and opened up questions from the audience.

The audience’s questions focused strongly on the recent tragedy at the Boston Marathon. McGrory talked about how the Globe dealt with misinformation and how the Globe had high expectations for how they covered the event, since it occurred in their city.

Students returned to BU for a final workshop. The last block of the conference was held in the auditorium. There, NESPA presented the All-New England awards to the most deserving news staffs. Though no All-New England awards were received, Westford came home with five other awards, including a special achievement award given to Ethan Walshe and Alex Gournaris for an article they wrote together about Westford Academy and their plans to introduce new security measures.

The next award presented to the Ghostwriter staff was another special achievement award given to Abby Cianciolo, who wrote about the celebration of life for Phyllis Seddon.

The Ghostwriter also wrote an award-winning feature on Student Resource Officer, Justin Agraz. “Agraz bridges the gap between school and safety“, written by Lauren Cullen, Kai Lou Yue, and Amy Keum, received a special achievement award.

The next award taken home was not for an article, but for the design of the web page. The special achievement award was granted to Ethan Walshe.

The final award was received by the entire Ghostwriter Staff. Westford received the highest achievement award for having a well-run online newspaper. It is the highest available award before the All-New England awards.

Journalism teacher and head of the Ghostwriter, Janet Fonden also gave praise to the conference.

“It was good for students to be able to choose workshops based on their own fields of interests,” said Fonden. “Also, I think it brought the staff together in a way that any other event doesn’t.”

The Ghostwriter will be attending another conference in the fall hosted by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. It is a four day event, and will be the first time that Westford attends.