PAGE 5A
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015
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arts & features
TRENDING We Are The World' celebrates 30 years
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS BY
HANDS ACROSS AMERICA
On Jan. 28, 1985, at A&M Recordings Studios in Hollywood, following the American Music Awards, more than 40 artists gathered to record a song Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson had written to raise awareness of widespread, life-threatening poverty in Africa.
COLIN REMICK
@Crems4
Thirty years ago when Eddie Murphy was king of the box office and a jean jacket with an assortment of buttons pinned on was a sign of coolness, "We Are The World" was released. The song spins a story of hope, togetherness and charity for those in need.
"We Are The World" was, in actuality, a historic venture of great artists coming together to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Singers and performers getting together under a collective group name to record music to benefit those in need was an idea that had been slowly growing in popularity in the late '70s and early'80s.
Few times in history have we seen congregations of characters and heroes join forces as they did in "We Are The World." The bill boasts iconic names such as Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner and Billy Joel — and those are all just within the opening verse.
The name of the group was "USA for Africa," and it successfully raised more than $50 million for humanitarian aid in one year. The song topped the U.S. charts and was a wild commercial success, inspiring listeners to become involved in the cause on a massive scale.
Aside from funds raised and messages sent, an underlying takeaway for this event was that the genres of rock 'n' roll and pop music were not merely tools of a young generation to have, fun and party. They could also be a driving force for good in the world. In the same decade, massive concert events such as Farm Aid and Live Aid raised millions of dollars for their respective charities.
The legacy of "We Are The World" is that its important to realize when you buy a CD or a single on iTunes, you can oftentimes make a difference. Although you may not often see where the proceeds from CD sales are going, it's important to remember how much power you as the listener and consumer of music have.
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In a time of selfies and celebrity gossip, "We Are The World" is remembered as a decent song with a great message, sung by people motivated by human need rather than individual fame.
Edited by Mackenzie Clark
EMPHASIS ON THE SMOKE
KC Smoke Burgers opens downtown Lawrence location with satisfactory reception
KC Smoke Burgers, 1008 Massachusetts, serves each burger with a personal on-plate smoker. The new restaurant has more than 20 burger options.
ADAM SWERDLOW
@KansanNews
ALL DOVER/KANSAN
THE PLACE
With the competitive nature of Massachusetts Street comes a constantly evolving lineup of restaurants in downtown Lawrence, making it easy for new restaurants to fly under the radar. If you haven't been downtown for a bite to eat in a while, a new restaurant called KC Smoke Burgers has opened, located at 1008 Massachusetts Street.
This is the second location for the adolescent burger franchise, the first of which is located in Kansas City, Mo. I dined in at the Lawrence location around 6 p.m. Monday night; the restaurant was busy, but I was seated within minutes.
The moment you step through the door you understand the name of the establishment due to the strong aroma of smoke. The venue is relatively small with limited seating but spacious enough you don't feel like you are eating shoulder to shoulder with another party.
bit disappointed to see my "Breaded Half-Moon Mozarella Cheese" was essentially just flattened mozzarella sticks. That being said, they were very good mozza
Eating on a Monday, I was able to enjoy one of the establishment's generous daily deals — Mondays are buy one get one free burgers and I had more than 20 burger options.
two burgers We ordered the Bacon Cheese Smoke Burger and the Fire Cheese Smoke Burger. The Bacon Cheese Smoke Burger has American cheese and bacon while the
For an appetizer I started with "Breaded Half-Moon Mozzarella Cheese." I wasn't sure what to expect, but knew I love just about anything breaded and anything with mozzarella cheese. When the appetizer was delivered to the table, I was a
THE MEAL
NOTABLE DEALS
Monday: Buy one get one free burgers
Tuesday: Buy one get one free tacos and hotdogs
Wednesday: Buy one get one free Philly cheese steaks
Thursday: Buy one get one free gyros
retta sticks. The cheese was completely melted and the seasoned breading was salted to perfection. My friend and I decided to indulge in the Monday special and split
Fire Cheese Smoke Burger had pepper jack cheese and jalapeños, both of which came with fries. The burgers were delivered to the table still inside the individual
smokers used to cook them, which was a nice touch. The burgers are half-pound patties served with lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles and mayo in addition to the specialty toppings available. Both burgers had a strong smoke flavor and were quite juicy. The American cheese and bacon on the Bacon Cheese Smoke burger were sadly a bit overshadowed by the intense smoky flavor of the patty, but were nice, subtle additions to a good burger. The Fire Cheese Smoke Burger had a more distinct flavor due to the nature of spicy peppers. I would classify the spiciness of the burger as mild
to moderate. Both burgers were quite tasty and very filling. The fries were exceptionally good — golden-brown and crispy.
THE FINAL OPINION
Overall, the dining experience at KC Smoke Burgers was a positive one. The food is good, but not necessarily anything to write home about. KC Smoke Burgers is definitely a solid addition to the already impressive lineup of downtown Lawrence food options. If you like your burgers smoked, KC Smoke Burgers is the place for you.
Edited by Laura Kubicki
COBURN FROM PAGE 1A
KANSAN: Can you elaborate on your inspiration for "The Hereditary Estate"?
COBURN: It was kind of an inspiration that's happened over the course of about five or six years. Basically, my work and research revolves around the family photo album. [It] is one component of this infrastructure that supports the American dream. What got me interested in this is my own family. When I was a ... teenager, these truths about my family history started to come out — stories from my parents, from my mother, from my father.
My mother, her sister and my grandmother were victims of extreme domestic violence. I didn't know this until I was a teenager. Also, my father had a brother [who] committed suicide. There was this kind of generational, cyclical alcoholism that had happened through my family history. It was interesting to me because that never appeared in my own family photo album. What I saw in my own family photo album was a series of happy moments. So I guess youd say that a lot of my work is about creating a supplement to the family photo album that tells a more complete story about the sometimes-troubling nature of family.
COBURN: Making these photographs has become very cathartic. It's been very therapeutic. All of the photographs that I made for the book are staged recreations of memories and fantasies that I had on my journey to adulthood. Some of them are memories that my parents may have had that they've relayed to me, some of them are my own childhood memories. So I'm restaging these events, and I'm having to do that in concert with my parents and my immediate family.
KANSAN: Because you never experienced these issues until you were a teenager, how has this book affected you?
I'm working with them very closely in this act of theater, this moment that we're recreating. During that process, discussions happen, conversation happens, we talk about things that we've maybe never talked about before.
KANSAN: Can you describe the catharsis that you've experienced?
In that sense, it's been a very positive thing. It is about my family, but I hope that it's accessible. I want it to be accessible to most people. In an ideal world, I would think of these as somehow referencing this kind of universal experience, something that everyone can identify with.
COBURN: It's really more about communication, and I think that there was a lack of communication. I think through the act of just being honest with each other about the things that have happened in their past, and how that has affected us [is helpful]. I think that there is this passing of values from generation to generation. If we can confront those things and stop them, then that's a good thing; that's a positive thing.
For instance, I'll photograph a landscape that, for me, represents a certain psychological state. Or I'll maybe photograph someone else that's in my life, maybe a significant other, and that person becomes a metaphor for maybe my grandparent or something like that. I'm interested in making photographs that can become icons or symbols of the human existence.
KANSAN: Did you have a specific process to create your photographs?
COBURN: Yeah, they're all different. I think my work has become more and more abstract over time. I originally started by making very direct portraits of my parents and my brother and his children, but I've allowed myself to take some liberties with some abstraction.
KANSAN: One of the photos was of a blurred woman, leaning back in a rocking chair. Can you tell me about that photo?
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
COBURN: Sure, that's my mom.
The blurring that happens in that image, and in other images where I make a double exposure, I want the work to be about my family, but I also want it to be about the medium of photography. I really think it's important for photographers to engage with the history of the medium. For me, that work is also about spirituality. There's this history of photography and spirituality.
For instance, late-19th-century photographers were actually
con men [who] would convince people that they could actually take pictures of ghosts or their deceased relatives. So that blurring that happens, I think, references that history of spiritualism in photography.
KANSAN: Has your experience from this book had any affect on how you teach your students?
COBURN: I think it's important that no matter what type of creative you are — whether you're a writer or artist or photographer — that it's important to see the value in documenting the things that are close to you, because those are the things
that you know intimately and you understand very intimately. Sometimes, I think it's easy to discount personal issues as not being important. But in actuality, I think [discounting personal issues] is very important, and sometimes it's almost disingenuous to remove yourself from your immediate environment and not show the world what's important to you, personally. I encourage my students to remain true to themselves and to have some sort of integrity in what they choose to photograph and choose to make.
Edited by Mitch Raznick
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