Find yourself wanting more from Mumford & Sons? Miss those quirky singles from “Juno”? Are you interested in banjo-tinged folk music?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you’re in for a treat.

Southeast Engine, an Ohio-based Appalachian folk group, is performing tonight at the Billiken Club. The band is comprised of Adam Remnant (lead vocals, guitar), Leo DeLuca (drum kit, percussion), Billy Methany (keyboards) and Jesse Remnant (bass). Their song “Adeline of the Appalachian Mountains” sounds like something Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera’s “Juno” character) could pluck out on a guitar at any moment. Hopefully Southeast Engine won’t be wearing those shorts though.

But don’t just take my word for it. Go check them out yourself. The show starts at 8 p.m., and it’s free. So really, you have no excuse not to go. Don’t waste your time coming up with one. I wouldn’t believe you anyway.

Meet Saint Louis University—it has 8,000 undergraduate students, Division I sports and, best of all, it’s located less than 15 minutes away.

Situated on the other side of Forest Park, SLU is nestled in an urban setting with tons of restaurants, coffee shops and, you guessed it—bars. Last Saturday, we decided to drop by SLU and give its scene a chance at their favorite bar, Library Annex.

Located in the center of Midtown, Library Annex provides the perfect destination for any kind of night—literally. Inside the entrance, there are rows and rows of bookshelves—stacked with real books—leading the way to an expansive bar with well-priced drinks ($4 for a vodka soda). On one end of the bar is a club-like room featuring a strobe light that shines with the beat of the music and a well-sized dance floor. The music is loud, and the DJ is prominently positioned, paying close attention to how the crowd is feeling. When we were there, the DJ alternated between pop throwbacks like Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave for You,” and Hanson’s “Mmm Bop,” to newer hits like Yolanda Be Cool’s “We No Speak Americano.”

If the dancing gets overwhelming, the other side of Library Annex is divided into two separate sections. One area features a more low-key sports bar, fitted with more than 12 plasma screens and ample seating, especially for those girls strutting around in their high-heeled pumps. The other space resembles an arcade game room, equipped with darts, foosball, shuffleboard and, of course, beer-pong tournaments. Surprisingly, every room was packed last Saturday, and the constant change in environment was extremely exciting.

We had one problem with the club, however. The speakers blew out at about 1:15 a.m., just when the night was reaching its peak. Hopefully Library Annex fixes this problem by the next time we venture down there, because we definitely wanted to stay longer!

So next time you’re thinking of venturing out of the Wash. U. nightlife scene, take a chance and go party with our neighbors, the SLU Billikens!

“We tried to do a little bonding to get to know each other first, but I was a little nervous,” junior Natalie Tingir said. “We didn’t really know each other, and I wasn’t really sure how well the team was going to work, but we did really well, so I was really happy about that.”

With six new players on the team, including freshmen Terezia Petraskova, Betsy Edershile, Evelyn Qin, and Corinne Rauck, and transfer students Katie Helfgott and Brittany Trimble, the Bears have many new singles alignments and doubles combinations to toy with.

Petraskova, one of the newcomers, burst onto the scene, compiling three straight-set singles victories (6-3, 6-3; 3-0 ret.; 7-5, 6-2) and a 2-1 doubles record.

“I didn’t really know any of the girls we were going to play, so I just went in with an open mind, and just played my best, and it worked out,” Petraskova said.

Edershile also had a strong start, going 2-1 in both singles and doubles.

Tingir went 2-1 in doubles and 1-2 in singles, and she expressed that it took her a little while to get back into “match mode” after being away from competition for the whole summer.

“I had to get into that mode of competitive match play,” Tingir said. “It took me a few matches, but once I got into it I started playing a little bit better, more consistently, and I knew when to go for what shots.”

Over the past few years, the team has been looking to recruit strong doubles players, as doubles counts for half the team’s overall points. According to some of the players, this year’s incoming class will definitely help achieve that goal.

The team has also been working on fitness over the summer so that they can play competitively deeper into matches. Players have always said that fitness is an integral part of the game, even though it does not have to with the specific tennis skill set.

“I really want to improve on fitness. If I can improve on that, I can play at a high level for a longer period of time,” Tingir said.

These improvements, as well as the newfound team bonding, should be in full effect by next weekend, when the Bears host the first Imergoot Invitational at the Tao Tennis Center from Friday, Sept. 17 to Sunday, Sept. 19.

“I really don’t know anything about them other than they are one of the few other private universities in St. Louis,” sophomore Samantha Alford said. “There aren’t any easy interactions between the two schools.”

Bishop Louis William Dubourg founded SLU in 1818 under the name Saint Louis Academy. Dubourg had fled the Dominican Republic in 1793 and lived in Baltimore, Md. He served as the president of Georgetown University from Oct. 1, 1796 until early 1799. He eventually arrived in St. Louis, where he established a church in the city and an academy for future priests, in 1817.

SLU is not only the second oldest Jesuit university in the nation after Georgetown, but it is also the oldest university west of the Mississippi River.

According to SLU’s mission statement, its main goal is “the pursuit of truth for the greater glory of God and for the service of humanity.”

“It is dedicated to leadership in the continuing quest for understanding of God’s creation and for the discovery, dissemination and integration of the values, knowledge and skills required to transform society in the spirit of the Gospels,” the statement says.

There are currently 8,119 undergraduate students enrolled in SLU as well as 3,502 graduate students and 1,692 professional students. This year’s enrollment of 13,313 marks the first year that SLU’s enrollment passed 13,000. The student-faculty ratio is 12:1 and the average class size is 23. Of all the students, 57 percent are from out of state. Students come from all 50 states and 75 countries.

Eighty-seven percent of students receive financial aid, but that number has increased in recent years, with 97 percent of freshmen for the 2008-09 academic year receiving financial aid. The university’s endowment is currently $750 million, while $288,890,925 is given in scholarships and financial aid.

SLU has six undergraduate and nine graduate colleges and programs. The youngest of these colleges is the undergraduate College of Education and Public Service, established in 1998, while the oldest, the College of Arts and Sciences, was established with the university in 1818. The SLU Graduate School was established in 1832, while the SLU School of Law and School of Medicine were established in 1843 and 1891 respectively.

SLU, the only university in the city to compete at the Division 1 level, competes in 16 D1 sports in the Atlantic-10 Conference. Its mascot is the Billiken, which is an elf-like doll created in 1908 by St. Louis art teacher Florence Pretz. According to SLU’s 2010 profile, the Billiken became the mascot of SLU after various media outlets and cartoonists noted the resemblance between the toy and then-football coach John Bender. The Billiken doll became a fad for the next few years before fading into obscurity, but the name stuck. There is currently a miniature statue of the Billiken on campus; the inscription on the accompanying plaque says that students who rub its belly will receive good luck.

The Billikens have won ten Division I national championships, all in men’s soccer, most recently in 1973. Rick Majerus, who won the John Wooden Award for Coach of the Year when he led University of Utah to the national championship game of the 1998 NCAA Tournament, has been the coach of SLU’s men’s basketball team since 2007. The team finished fourth in the A-10 conference for the 2009-10 season with a record of 23-13.

Graduating SLU student Kat Patke has noticed an increase in school spirit in her time at the university. She attributes this increase to improved athletic teams.

“There has been a lot of school spirit here, especially since SLU made an effort to rejuvenate the basketball program by bringing in Rick Majerus,” Patke said. “Our men’s soccer and volleyball teams have also been doing really well the past few years, so school spirit has been increasing as the teams have been getting better.”

The Billikens play in the 10,600-seat Chaifetz Arena, which opened in 2008, which has improved school spirit as a result of its opening.

“The university previously had to use shuttle systems to take students to the games downtown,” Patke said. “It’s much easier with everything on campus.”

SLU is located in Midtown, near the Grand Metrolink stop. It is situated blocks away from the Fox Theatre, a popular destination for plays and musicals, and Powell Hall, home of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the second-oldest symphony orchestra in the nation.

“Our neighborhood has come a long way since I was a freshman,” Patke said. “There is a lot to do around the neighborhood, such as the theater district, and there are a lot of great restaurants that students are able to go to on all sides of campus.”

Although part of Midtown has a reputation for being dangerous, Patke praised the university’s efforts to make sure that students are safe.

“I recognize that it is in Midtown and that if it’s dark, I shouldn’t be walking around alone,” Patke said. “There have been times when I had to return to campus at 4 in the morning, but I was able to call the Department of Public Safety and ask for an escort service to take me back to the university.”

Despite SLU’s Jesuit tradition and religious origins, it is open to students of all backgrounds and encourages such diversity.

“[SLU] welcomes students, faculty and staff from all racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds and beliefs and creates a sense of community that facilitates their development as men and women for others,” its mission statement says.

Despite SLU’s proximity, many Wash. U. students know very little about the university. 

“I know it has a nice arch,” sophomore Sarah Michaels said, referring to the arch at the entrance of SLU’s main campus. 

While Patke does not know how it could be achieved, she hopes to see more connections made between Wash. U. and SLU.

“I don’t know why there isn’t more interaction between the two universities,” Patke said. “Geographically speaking, it makes sense.”

Sophomore Tara Seely didn’t really know a lot about SLU either but recently went to the NASA Missouri Space Grant Consortium, which Wash. U. and SLU both participated in.

“The research being conducted by students at Wash. U. and students at SLU didn’t have a significant caliber difference,” Seely said.

Patke has enjoyed her four years at SLU and says that other students at the university seem similarly happy.

“If I had to do it over, I would definitely still come here. I have really enjoyed my time here,” Patke said.

The various works are usually titled “Cosmic Tears” followed by a number, and were painted between 2003 and 2004. There are two exceptions: a triptych, called “Cosmic Tears [A, B and C],” which was created in 2009, and an individual artwork painted in 2003, possibly the first piece in the series. Fairly large, the piece stands alone on a wall in the middle of the room. The background is very dark and there are yellow-outlined indentations on the surface. There are also several slightly raised reliefs scattered across the work, giving the painting the appearance of reaching into the third dimension. All of this contributes to the illusion that one is looking at a surface covered in drops of rainwater.

The triptych, fashioned five years after the rest of the series, was developed after Byron learned that MoCRA was going to showcase his work. The pieces are labeled “A,” “B” and “C” but are placed out of order. They hang on the wall behind “Cosmic Tears” and, like the other paintings, are the sole elements on their wall. The two works on the ends of the triptych are darker, reminiscent of the original Cosmic Tears. The piece between them is only dark in the middle, with multicolored edges. The two artworks on the outside flank the inner piece, giving it a sense of frame. They lack a defined mounting, so this effect is easily observable.

On Sunday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m., Byron gave a lecture regarding his work and the inspiration and theory behind it. He talked about several topics, including Kandinsky and Rothko, two significant 19th-20th century painters. One of his main points was his relationship to and motivation behind the Cosmic Tears series. When he finished the first cycle of the work, he felt that it was completed. However, when he learned it was to be exhibited at MoCRA, Byron began to feel that he could perhaps create more in the sequence, depending on the nature of the exhibition gallery.

The abstractness of Byron’s work is certainly spiritual. By its very nature, one must strive to find a deeper meaning or motivation within work that has no obvious concrete significance or message. The numerous Cosmic Tears paintings throughout MoCRA force the viewer to confront his or her own psychological and spiritual feelings. While not overtly religious, the paintings do evoke a sense of tranquility.

A short statement is painted on the wall of the exhibit, a sort of subtitle. It reads, in part, “Each tear contained all the joy, pain, and sorrow each person’s life would hold…Our task is to shape that tear into Meaning.” Byron’s art allows the viewer to attempt to create meaning out of the abstractness of his Cosmic Tears. At least for me, it serves as a metaphor for the tumultuous nature of spirituality.