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University Daily Kansan, June 26, 1980
Entertainment
'Folk art' puts band in national spotlight
Members of the Lawrence rock group "Thumbs," from left to right; Marty Olson, Steve Wilson, Dede Mosier, Karl Hoffmann and Kevin Smith.
By VANCE HINER Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Thousands of restless young Americans become musicians and struggle each year to get their hands on the great American rock "roll put."
Although many new bands tour and produce albums, few are able to attain a high following. They often sign contracts with unsupportive record companies from desperation,
BUT THE LAWRENCE rock band "Thumbs" is more concerned with working at daily jobs and cultivating the 'hipstick folk art form around since
The band's independently produced album was recently praised by Rolling Stone and New West magazines as one of the year's best releases.
"I'm a great believer in all different kinds of folk art as some of the most valid forms of expression of any people at any given time in history," said Steve Wilson. "I am so proud of 'Rock'n' roll as a folk tradition and I feel we are a part of it."
Wilson and Karl Hoffmann, 27, the group's bass player, were both born in Memphis. They played 28, guitarist and background vocalist, and Dede Mosei, 21, are from the Kansas City area. Marty Olsen, 28, plays keyboard, considers Lawrence his home.
THEUMBS' ALBUM, titled "Thumbs," has made only enough
money to pay for its $3,250 recording and production costs but is beginning to sell nationally, according to Wilson.
"We're working on setting up a tour on the East Coast and if the bank account looks good, and it probably will, we will start production on our second book or March. Wilson said "It will sound technically better than our last album."
Numerous reviewers have found the raw, no-frills sound that characterizes the group's album a refreshing change.
BOB DYLAN, the Beatles, Elvis Costello and the Sex Pistols were performers who have influenced the band's musical direction, Wilson said, but the band members were not imitators.
"I don't mind comparisons as long as they're not facile," he said of critics' attempts to categorize the group. "The rock 'n' roll music I like is that which you can intermittently dance your ass off to or think about.
Most of Thunbs' songs are love songs or social/political commentary. In Fourth of July" for example, Wilson wrote the memoir *patriotism he sees on national holidays*.
HOFFMANN SAID he probably was more interested in the musical side of playing in a rock band than the rest of the group.
Wilson said he doubted anyone in the band was playing with the ambition of "becoming a rock star."
"Hopefully, we're making music that people can think about or get choked up by," he said.
Photos reveal child's growth
By MONICA MARKIEWICZ
Staff Reporter
After countless hours and hundreds of rolls of film, intimate glimpses of a child's world from the mother's pregnancy to the child's third birthday are shown in "Visions of a Child."
Dan and Cheryl Younger are exhibiting a series of photographs of their daughter, Mercedes, at the 7 E Gallery through Saturday.
"In this kind of photography you are committed to the subject matter for a long time," Dan Younger said.
The Youngs live in Bemidji,
Minnesota, where they teach
photography as art and as journalism at Bemidji State University.
Dan Younger also teaches filmmaking. They are in Lawrence this summer to make a film on John Tallarue, a local printmaker.
"Face" is a blurred image of Mercedes face as she turns away
BOTH PARENTS are photographers, but with distinctly different styles.
Dan Younger works on a large format in gentle synecis tones. His piccasso prints are of movement and dimension. They are closeups of fragments of his daughters life, and because of the unevenness of a fairy tale atmosphere prevails.
All of their work shows a great deal of perception, but two works stand out. They are "Face," by Dan Cyrillou, who reallyolly Dancing," by Cyril Younger.
NANCY SEARLE/Kansar
Cheryl Younger works in stark black and white images. Her pictures are in sharp focus, and the sense of documentary representation.
Dan Younger
from the camera. A series of shadows are created that lend an almost cubist quality to the photograph.
"BELLY DANCING" is a series of repeated exposures of Cheryl's pregnant abdomen that form a strip of
images. The forms, in their repetition, actually seem to dance across the surface of the paper. The piece was supposed to be about 30 feet long and three feet wide, but because of space restrictions it had to be presented in a smaller form, Dan Younger said.
"We believe that it's possible to take pictures of your kids without taking kiddie pictures," Dan Younger said.
The Youngers, like other parents,
like to take pictures of their kids,
but to steer away from vacation
 snapshots.
'Bronco Billy' old-fashioned fun
Staff Reporter
By DAN TORCHLA
Hollywood's nee-infatuation with the cowboy continues with "Bronco Billy," Clint Eastwood's latest starring and directing effort.
Eastwood is Bronco Billy, a
"Billy" now showing at the Varsity Theatre, is a fun two hours, a meal of westerns where the cowboys were a humble folk and said "ma'am" a lot.
character far removed from his "Dirty Harry" days. Billy, a former shoe salesman and ex-counsor, is a simple man who wants nothing more than to travel around the country with his Wild West Show.
His group includes an army deserter, a phony doctor and an Indian couple. He has befriended them, and they are now in touch. They have not been paid for six months.
They play the small-town circuit to
half-empty crowds, with the dream of buying a ranch where kids can go for a taste of the old days.
Billy always thinks of the kids, calling them "little pards" and admonishing them to say their prayers and listen to their parents.
The group picks up an heirse, Anonette Lilly, played by D砂Locke Love. As she is by her husband, she is forced by Bily to join the show as his assistant.
There is an old-fashioned charm to the movie, but the "gee whit" sentiments can be too much sometimes. The characters are generally believable but almost too sweet. And Lilly coining "Barroom Buddies" after she and Billy spend the night, is pushing things.
Eastwood's direction is solid, and there are quite a few funny moments. But mostly the movie charms and entertains.
JAZZ UP at Paul Gray's Jazz Place a unique private club upstairs at 926 Mass.
tonite: the MIKE BEISNER TRIO 5-8 pm drinks 2 for the price of 1—no cover!
friday: 72nd Birthday Party for
RAY EHRHART legendary Jazz Pianist who will be the Gaslite Gang 9-12 special $3.00 price total for as many people as you can bring!
saturday: Chuck Berg and his Band
Call 843-2644 for reservations and information
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