THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2003
MUSIC
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3
DJs unite for communism revolution
By Cate Batcheler
cbatchelder@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Join the revolution! Come and dance, they say, but just wear red and black.
Dance! Dance! Revolution!, a dance party with communist overtones, will uprise at 10 p.m. Saturday night at The Pool Room.
Friends Mark Hurst (code name X9), Philadelphia sophomore, Meredith Vacek (R9), Lawrence junior, and Justin Riley (C8), Fayetteville. Ark., sophomore, are joining forces to get Lawrence dancing.
Their means of promoting the event include using propaganda fliers and videos, emblematic logos and recruited danceparty patrollers that demand you dance.
"It gives everyone the feel of a political party meeting in a way, but yet it's kind of silly and absurd because we're just all there to dance," Vacek said.
The disc jockeys united for the first Dance! Dance! Revolution! in December, but unofficial dance parties have taken form in Hurst's living room for a year. Hurst thought of the
idea of combining a dance party and communism for a performance art class, taking the dance party's title from a video game.
The three organizers are regulars at La Tasca's, 943 Massachusetts St., '80s and '90s Neon dance nights but still saw a void in the Lawrence dance scene.
"I have this need for dancing and realized I couldn't be the only person in town," Hurst said.
The December dance party attracted 200 people. With word on the street and their propaganda campaign, they think the crowd could be much bigger.
Fliers distributed all over campus and even in Kansas City show the three friends looking stern and intimidating. At the show, postcards will be distributed of each DJ. They modeled this after communist China where each family had its own picture of the Mao, the communist leader. Hurst and Riley used the photographs and multimedia projects from the first dance party for class projects.
"We've milked that, and now we get to do it on our own," Riley said.
The organizers have spent the whole semester building on the last dance party's projects. The last video was shot from sites in three states: downtown Lawrence, corners of The Plaza in Kansas City, Mo., and at an abandoned building in Fayetteville, Ark.
The video is synchronized with the music DJ'ed by the trio. Each DJ specializes in genres of music so a wide spectrum of music will be played such as breakbeat, '80s synth pop, hip-hop, rock, industrial and gothic.
"I think we all expose people to music they've never heard before," Vacek said. "There's a desire out there to hear the music, and there's no one playing it."
Saturday night's party for the Party has been
dubbed Lawrence's cultural event of the year, Vacek said she heard.
"It's as altruistic as it can be," Hurst said. "It's just about getting people to dance."
Meredith Vacek Justin Riley Mark Hurst Lawrence junior Fayetteville, Ark., sophomore Philadelphia sophomore
Mark Hurst
CALENDAR
TODAY
Youngblood Brass Band at The Bottleneck
Olga Kern, piano, 7:30 p.m. at Lied Center
Floyd The Barber, 7 p.m. at Pachamama's
Drag the River / TBA at Replay Lounge
Raising Grey at The Jazzhaus In Kansas City
King Missile III / Bradford Reed and His Amazing Pencilina / Minds Undercover, 9:30 p.m. at The Hurricane
Fat Sal and Senor Ozgood's Sound System every Thursday Night at Jilly's on Broadway
The Movielife / One Line Drawing /
Vendetta Red / Static Lullaby, 7 p.m. at El Torreon
Mandarin, 9 p.m. at The Cup and Saucer
Mark Reeves, 8 p.m. at Westport Coffee House
Jeff Lux Group, 8:30 p.m. at Davey's Uptown
Poetry Slam, 7 p.m. at Madrid Theatre
Palomar at The Brick
TOMORROW
Black Keys / The Hefners / Little Axe (members of Sweep the Leg Johnny and June of 44) at Replay Lounge
CKY / Letter Kills / Momento, 8 p.m. at The Bottleneck
Paul Schneider, 9 p.m. at Paradise Café
Mark Gottschall, 6 p.m. at Pachamama's
Billy Ebeling & The Late For Dinner Band, 9 p.m. at Stu's Midtown Tavern
John Prine, 8 p.m. at Lied Center In Kansas City
Unstoppable Thought Leopards / Death Ray Angels at Davey's Uptown
Sahara Hotnights / Ikara Colt / Washdown, 7 p.m. at El Torreon
Snakebite Orphans / Brother Trucker at The Brick
Ross Christopher, 9 p.m. at Westport Coffee House
Pilot Radio at The Hurricane
Brody Buster, 9 p.m. at Grand Emporium
Snuff Jazz, 9 p.m. at The Cup and Saucer
SATURDAY
Blues Bums and a Babe, 9 p.m. at Stu's Midtown Tavern
GCT Trio, 9 p.m. at Paradise Café
Swing Canyon at The Jazzhaus
Lawrence High School Battle of the Bands feat. The Electric Kool-Aid Experiment / S.M.O.C.K./J.Boogie and Playskool / Conceptual Blue / Translucent/ Two Scoops of Robot / Innocent Victim / Aridium Nepenthic, 5 p.m. at Lawrence High School In Kansas City...
Dance! Dance! Revolution at The Pool Room
Ultimate Fakebook / Pilot to Gunner at The Bottleneck
Sister Hazel / The Wil Seabrook Band, 7 p.m. at Beaumont Club
Given With Honor / Die Section Ate / Say Your Prayers / Pillbox, 7 p.m. at El Torreon
Buddy Lush Phenomenon / The Throttlers / Wasted Stacy at Davey's Uptown
Quality Vinyl / Ezekiel Spoke at Main Street Cafe
Roomful of Blues, 9 p.m. at Grand Emporium
Goddess Gala, 6:30 p.m. at Madrid Theatre
Fed Up / One Last Hope, 7:30 p.m. at The New Earth Coffee House
SUNDAY
Floyd The Barber, 10 p.m. at Harbour Lights
Nokia, CMJ & MTV2 Present The Advance Warning Tour featuring Longwave / Raeonettes / The Mooney Suzuki / White Light Motorcade at the Kansas Union Ballroom
In Kansas City...
Dave Chappelle's "Blackzilla Comedy Tour,' 8 p.m. at Uptown Theater
Law OF All Ends / When Good Robots Go Bad / Dick Chennys Dick, 7 p.m. at El Torreon
Brian Auger's Oblivion Express at Grand Emporium
MONDAY
Rocket From The Crypt / The Spits / Sonny Vincent, 9 p.m. at The Bottleneck
The Flash Express / TBA at Replay Lounge In Kansas City...
Brodiokie at The Brick
The Jayhawks, 8:30 p.m. at Grand Emporium
TUESDAY
B.B. King / Alvin Youngblood Hart, 7:30 p.m.
at the Lied Center
Getdown Lounge, 9 p.m. at Abe & Jake's Landing in the Pub
In Kansas City...
Everclear / Authority Zero / The Exies, 7:30 p.m. at the Uptown Theater
The Independents / Flat Stanley / The Corpes / 4th Offense, 7 p.m. at El Torreon
That One Guy, 8:30 p.m. at Davey's Uptown
The Bellrays at The Brick
Todd Rundgren / Royston Langdon, 8 p.m. at Beaumont Club
The Kelihans Irish Rock, 6 p.m. at Grand Emporium
Club Wars Invitational Round featuring Large / Severance, TBA at Grand Emporium
WEDNESDAY
Keller Williams, 8 p.m. at Liberty Hall
Drums & Tuba / That One Guy at The Bottleneck
$2 Shoe Revival at Abe & Jake's Landing in the Pub
Poetry Slam: Open Poetry Readings at The Jazzhaus
Drunk Horse at Replay Lounge In Kansas City...
50 Cent / Clipse, 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Hall
Jeff & Vida / Trouble Junction, 8 p.m. at Davey's Uptown
The Ataris / Further Seems Forever / Juliana Theory / Yellow Card, 7 p.m. at the Beaumont Club
The Groove Hogs, 8:30 p.m. at the Grand Emporium
Club Wars featuring Eminence / Pompous Jack / Synesthetic / Angst at America's Pub