6A
Friday, January 13, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Anything but the books
As a three-day weekend approaches, many students wonder what besides studying to do with all that time
By Jake Arnold Kansan staff writer
Long after students have forgotten their English, calculus or biology, they will remember nights at the Village Inn or keggers on Ohio Street.
Most students are back in town, but classes have not yet begun to demand their lifeblood.
That makes this weekend, the first of this semester, a very important one.
"Since it is the first free weekend, probably the only one, I will have fun," said Nesli Isgorean, Izmir, Turkey, junior. Her idea of fun is Casablanca Night at the Ramada Inn, 2222 W. Sixth St.
yet unweighed by studies
Lawrence bars again will resound with the merriment of young minds as yet unweighed by studie
"Ive already noticed a drastic change in business," said Jake Vanlandingham, manager of Mulligan's, 1016 Massachusetts St. "It has increased 10-fold."
Vanlandingham said he could judge the time of year by his customers. At this time of year, students were more upbeat, positive and excited. The mood will deteriorate until the end of finals rejuvenates people.
"This is our peak time," Vanladingham said. "People like
b a r s because it is nice to run into people you haven't seen for a month."
Of course, students have other interests than just bars.
"I miss vegetarian chili at the
Glass Onion," said Jennifer Kimball, Ulysses freshman. "And we'll probably have a fire alarm at McCollum, so we'll hit the Village
Inn in the middle of the night."
Village Inn
Pancake
House
Restaurant.
821 Iowa St., is expecting those McCollumists and many others.
"We already have seen more students," said Laura Knodel, hostess. "Graveyard gets affected the most, especially after the bars close for the night."
Knodel said that employees could expect to work more hours now that students were back.
A lot of students have work on their mind this weekend, too.
to work because his car was broken into, and he needs some money.
Sean Wiltse, Wichita senior, has to return to Wichita this weekend
Tony Pruitt,
Tulsa senior,
works at the University of Kansas Medical Center's emergency room on weekends. He said he saw his job as a way to prepare for the semester
"I will stress out a little bit at work to celebrate the start of school," Pruitt said.
Others will celebrate more traditionally.
Preparation for the long struggle seems to be the linking factor, whatever form it may take.
are intended destinations.
John Wilkerson,
Overland Park
senior, summed it
up for many
when he said
he planned to
"hang low,
save money."
It is 5 a.m., and you are listening ... to Los Angeles
Ever since five white, middle-class, clean-cut boys got together to form the Beach Boys, the sounds of Los Angeles rock'n roll have dominated the airwaves from coast to coast. The Beach Boys 'L.A. wasn't very realistic, but head Beach Boy Brian Wilson put up a good front. The man
SoCal树 has grown up — or,
nearhens, it has grown old and bitter.
STAFF COLUMNIST
perhaps, it has grown old and bitter.
Southern California rock, or SoCal rock, was born in the 1950s and started out like the rest of us in our infancy: fresh, innocent and ignorant of life's rough edges. But 40 years later, a new song about Los Angeles says to me that the SoCal small child of the '50s is for good. The song is "Screenwriter's Blues" from an LA. band called Soul Coughing. The LA. this foursome sings has about wised up, taken up drinking and smoking, gotten laid and discovered the world can be a cruel place.
who wrote "California Girls" and "Surfin' Safari" never surfed. He was too mixed up and wound up to interact socially. But in the studio he crafted seamless pop songs throughout the 1950s and '60s celebrating the California way of life. SoCal brought an idyllic vision of
innocence of the SoCal style of life.
As the title implies, the SoCal experience was a feeling of well-being as well as a lifestyle.
life in an American paradise; sand and beach, hot converties and cool summer nights, well-muscled surfers and bikini-clad teenage blondes.
Wilson's best SoCal was "Good Vibrations," as shimmering collage of music that borders on psychedelia but mainly tells of the sun, fun and
The music took a different flavor in the 1970s, but the "good vibrations" remained in the music of the Eagles, Jackson Browne, Fleetwood Mac, Joe Walsh and Linda Ronstadt. Their music went down sweetly and easily.
The scene changed in the early 1980s with the punk and funk revolutions. The post-punk band X sang "Los Angeles" with bile and bite. Later in the decade, Oingo Boingo, Fishbone and Jane's Addiction joined in on SoCal deconstruction.
Brian Wilson's view caught on quickly. In no time at all, countless other bands filled 1950s and '60s radio with the sounds of SoCal.
But the final jading of SoCal came with gangsta rage. In 1901, Ice-T declared L.A. "home of the body
bag," and the image stuck. Through the eyes of N.W.A., the Geto Bets, and now Snoop Dogg Dogg, we see the real L.A., behind Brian Wilson's vision: a place where the poor get poorer, where crack is the currency of the street and where gunfire provides the neighborhood's rhythm.
women are objects dealt from man to man and from movie studio to movie studio. Teen-age actors arrive by bus loads to star in movies, only to find disappointment. Over this all, a radio deejay sneers through his microphone at the dirty city around him, mocking those who are listening at 5 a.m. Soul Coughing's L.A. looks more like a Raymond Chandler novel than a Brian Wilson song.
And now we have Soul Coughing's "Screenwriter's Blues," a mockery of LA.'s star trappings. In their L.A.,
So why doesn't the L.A. music scene and the SoCal sound return to its sun-drenched roots? The answer lies with the Bloods and Crisps, with drugs and illiteracy, with Rodney King and O.J. Simpson, with the fears of the big earthquake and the xenophobia of Proposition 187.
Once a vehicle of escape, SoCal has found it can no longer run away from its problems. SoCal has grown up—and the days when it could ignore its worries are over.
With this issue, the Kansas begins a Friday features page devoted to area events and trends. If you have any ideas for stories or would like to write for this page, contact Nathan Olson at 864-4810.
Events
Tonight
Billy Goat with Grim Skunk, 10 p.m., cover charge, at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St.
Michael Paull, 8:30 p.m., no cover charge, at Full Moon Cafe, 803 Massachusetts St.
Ida McBeth, 10:30 p.m., $5, at The Jazzahaus of Lawrence, 926
1/2 Massachusetts St.
Chris Duarte, 9:30 p.m., $7, at
The Grand Emporium, 3832
Main St., Kansas City, Mo.
Tomorrow
Smoot Mahuti 9:30 p.m, $2, at Johnnie's Tavern, 401 N. Second St.
Ida McBeth, 10:30 p.m., $5, at The Jazzhaus.
Mango Jam with Blues Head Beggars, 10 p.m., cover charge, at The Bottleneck.
11:11, 8:30 p.m., no cover charge. at Full Moon Cafe.
Son Venezuela, 9:30 p.m., $5, at the Granada Theater, 1020 Massachusetts St.
Sunday
Smoot Mahuti, 9:30 p.m., $2, at
Johnnie's Tavern.
Soulard Blues Band, 9:30 p.m.
$4, at The Grand Emporium.
Walking on Einstein, 10:45 p.m.
$5, at The Cave, 3954 Central St.
Kansas City, Mo.
Lord Groovy and the Psychedelic Zombies with Brother Mayhem, 10 p.m., cover charge, at The Bottleneck.
Monday
John Paul and the Hellhounds, 9 p.m., $3, at The Grand Emporium.
Rebirth Brass Band with Chuck Berg Group, 10 p.m., cover charge, at The Bottleneck.
Wool, Guzzard and Dollface, 10 p.m., $5, at The Grand Emporium.
Tuesday
Open Mic Night, 9:30 p.m., no cover charge, at The Bottleneck.
Creek Bank Ghetto Boys, 8:30 p.m., no cover charge, at Full Moon Cafe.
Rebirth Brass Band, 8 p.m., $10,
at The Grand Emporium.
Wednesday
Melvin Litton, 8:30 p.m., no cover charge, at *Full Moon Cafe*
Medicine Show with Grumpy, 10 p.m., cover charge, at The Bottleneck.
Az One and Scotty Riddim Band,
9:30 p.m., $4, at The Grand Emporium.
Thursday
Cher UK with Grither, 10 p.m. cover charge, at The Bottleneck.
Tim Cross, 8:30 p.m., no cover charge, at Full Moon Cafe.
The Wannabes, 10:30 p.m., $3, at
The Jazzhaus.