4B
University Daily Kansan / Friday, May 1, 1992
ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
HAPPENINGS
BARS
Benchwarmers, 1601 W. 23rd St.
Friday: Jackioplace
9:30 p.m. - 1:30 a.m.
Bogart's of Lawrence. 611 Vermont St.
Saturday; Let's buzz with Dan Bliss
and Ralph Ybarra; 9:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m.;
cover charge: $3
The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St.
Friday: Nic Cosmos
10 p.m. - 2 a.m.; cover charge: $3
Saturday: Common Ground and Cryout; 10 p.m. - 2 a.m.; cover charge: $3
Monday: Crackers with Mahoots
9:30 p.m. - 2 a.m.; advanced tickets: $7
Ages 18 and older admitted
Tuesday: Seaweed with Sleez Stax
9:30 p.m. - 2 a.m.
Ages 18 and older admitted
Wednesday: Ebbing Brothers Band
9:30 p.m. - 2 a.m.
Thursday: Fang O'Love
9:30 p.m. - 2 a.m.
The Brass Apple: 3300 W, 15th St.
Tuesday: Karaoke night
9 p.m.-1.30 a.m; no cover charge
Flamingo Club, 501 N. 9th St.
Friday/Saturday; topples dancing
noon-1 a.m.
cover charge: $2 or a two-drink minimum
Henry T's, 3520 W. 6th St.
Thursday: Karaoke night
9 p.m. - 2 a.m.; no cover charge
International Club 21, 106 N. Park St
Friday: Veronica's Room
cover charge: $3
Saturday: Sub-genius
cover charge: $3
Sunday: Reggae with Ras Mike
no cover charge
Monday: Movies and Beer: "Boyz N
The Hood." no cover charge
The Jazzhaus, 926 1/2 Massachusetts St.
Friday/Saturday: Soumasters
10 p.m.-1.30 a.m. cover charge $3
Thursday: Camberwell Green
10 p.m.-1.30 a.m. cover charge $3
Johnny's Tavern 410N. 2nd St.
Friday/Saturday. Lonnie Ray
and the All-Stars. 9:00 p.m. - 2 a.m.
cover charge $1.
The Power Plant 901 Mississippi S.
Ages 18 and older admitted
Friday/Saturday Dance Party
9 p.m. - 2 a.m.
Sunday Alternative Music Night
9 p.m. - 2 a.m.
Riverside Bar and Grill, 520 N. 3rd St
Friday: Badlands; 9 p.m.- 1 a.m.
cover charge: $2
The Vacht Club 530 Wisconsin St.
Tuesday: Karake night
9 p.m.-1 a.m. no cover charge
MUSIC
Friday Master's Rectal: Amy Clark
Beal, piano: Swarthout Rectal Hall
8 p.m. free
Saturday: Student Recital: Nathan Wegner, trumpet
Swapout Recital Hall 8:0 m; free
Student Recital: Woodwind and String Chamber Music
it Recital Hall; 8 p.m.; free
"The Day on the Hill" featuring Pearl Jam Campanile Hill; 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; free
Sunday: Student Recital:
KU Saxophone Quartet
Swarthout Recital Hall; 8 p.m.; free
Lawrence Chamber Players Concert:
"Prelude to Summer"; Haskell Indian
Junior College Concert Hall; 3.30 p.m.
Saturday, May 9: River Valley Music Festival featuring Blues Traveler; west of Kansas City off Highway 10 4 to 11 a.m. 25 to 25 advance; $25 at gate
THEATER
University Theatre Series:
"Festival of Renewal"
Crafton-Preyer Theatre
Friday/Saturday: 8 p.m.
Sunday: 2:30 and 8 p.m.
reserved tickets from SUA
ART EXHIBITIONS
Spencer Museum of Art
Tuesday-Saturday: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
closed Monday
Sunday: noon-5 p.m.
Cameras as Weapon: German Worker Photography Between the Wars Kress Gallery until May 10
Albert Bloch, South Balcony Gallery until May 24
Ceramics by J. Sheldon Carey North Balcohy Gallery until August 2
J. S.G. Boggs: Smart Money White Gallery
A lesson in culture
African drama features dance, rituals of village life
Jennifer Attocknie, left, and Toi Willis practice their roles as jesters in "Festival of Renewal."
By Cameron Meier Special to the Kansan
"Festival of Renewal," the African drama that premiered last night at Murphy Hall, was five years in the making. But for Nigerian playwright Omofolobo Ajayi, most of that time was spent waiting.
She wrote the play in 1897 for the convocation ceremonies at the University of Ife in Nigeria, where she earned her doctorate. It tells of the struggles and cooperation between the citizens of two Nigerian villages and the political turmoil threatening to tear them apart. However, university administrators chose not to stage the play, she said, after they perceived political overtones in the script.
Ajayi came to KU in 1990 as an associate professor in theater and film and in women's studies. At that time, she had no idea Uii-
versity Theatre would be interested in her play, but after other faculty members read the original script, they adopted it as the last show of this year's theater season, which concentrated on international works.
Whether the wait was worth it, KU has never seen anything quite like Ajayi's work. And she can still only speculate why the play was originally rejected by her university.
"They thought it was too political. And since the head of state was going to attend, they thought it was too explosive," Ajayi said.
She said the administration might have seen the collapse of relations between the two villages in the play and the incompete-
tence of its leaders as symbolic of the "pandering to politics" at the university.
"They felt it addressed what was going on at the University," she said.
The production features native dance choreographed mostly by Ajayi and original music by a Boston-based Nigerian musician, along with some traditional African music.
The festival refers to the traditional, unifying celebrations between the villages of Igbinae, which derives its power from the sea, and land-locked Opiakarauan, with its heritage tied to the soil. This festival, though, is torn apart by the intrusion of outside forces that threaten to destroy the villages' unity. The village women also choose to challenge tradition by playing a more active role in the festival.
Dolores Ringer, associate professor of theater, suggested the play to the play selection committee and designed the set as well. The set is meant to capture the feel of a Nigerian village. The detailed patterns and sharp peds and blues give an appropriately exotic flavor to the piece.
The technical design, however, may have been the easiest part of the entire pro-
The original play was meant to be performed with the audience seated in a circle around the action, not on a proscenium stage, so some revisions were necessary. Also, a scene had to be rewritten, original music had to be composed, and Ajayi fell ill during rehearsals. She had to rely on Jack Wright. University Theatre director, and others to help prepare the play.
"It's about people coming together."
Sean Holland Actor
She said, however, that the play-within-a-play aspect of the original script involved the only major revision. It was removed to simplify the plot and make it less confusing, she said.
"Overall, I just touched up a few things," she said. "It's what you do when you have a working script."
She said she still was not satisfied with the play's ending but thought the audience would be able to understand the rituals presented in the play.
"it's part of my culture that is dying," she said of the traditional, ritualistic festival.
"It's not going to disappear, it's just changing to change face. It's very religious overt and disappearing."
Ajayi cast 20 actors, almost half of whom are African Americans. The casting reflects Nigerian heritage and the coming together of the two different villages.
Sean Holland, Kismet junior, who plays a citizen of one of the villages, said students would get a valuable lesson in foreign culture and appreciate the racially diverse cast.
"It's about people coming together, and the interracial cast is very symbolic of that," he said.
"Festival of Renewal" will play at 8 p.m.
tonight and Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. m.
Sunday at Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy
Hall.
Sam Shepard play produced and paid for independently
Special to the Kansan
By Julie Wasson Special to the Kansan
If you want to know what's sospecial about the relationship between Eddie and May, you'll have to go see "Fool for Love."
Director Donna Kane will say just this: "It's an obsessive love story. To say any more would be to give away the whole story."
"Fool for Love" is a Sam Shepard play. It's intense drama set in a run-down motel room in the Mojave Desert.
There will be a preview of it tonight and a performance tomorrow night, both at 8 p.m. in the auditorium at Hashinger Hall. The performances will be free, but there will be a donation box. The play is an independent project, not a Hashinger production.
The cast is comprised of three students and one faculty member, Ron Willis, professor of theater and film
Kane, who has directed several plays at the University, said the play was financed entirely by members of the cast. "It's really been a labor of love," she said. "The money has come out of our own pockets."
"I's really exciting to have Ron working with us because he hasn't performed at KU for a long time." Kane spends most of his time directing."
Willis said that taking a break from directing was important to him.
Eddie, played by John Abramson, talks about love with May, played by Diana Dresser, left.
"I think it's important for directors to get a sense of who they're talking to, who they're working with," Willis said. "Acting lets me do that. It lets me get some perspective."
John Abramson, Holton senior, plays Eddie. He said that the opportunity to work with Willis was one thing that drew him to this production. "He's a good friend, and working with him is a dream come true," he said.
Bernie Cox, Palatine, III., freshman,
said the play had provided him
valuable experience.
Donna Dresser, Lawrence senior, plays May. She said that the plot of the play was conducive to the intensity she and Abramson portrayed. "It's written to develop toward the final mental state at the end of the play," she said.
"This has been great for me, to get work with two very experienced performers, and of course with Ron," Cox said. "I've learned a lot in a really short period of time."
Becky Shear, Lawrence junior and assistant director, said that the crew had gotten scenery through a fortune coincidence.
Bob Donlan, Lawrence graduate student, recently finished his master's
thesis in design, and his thesis was designing the sets of two Sam Shepard plays. Shear said.
Beastie Boys blur boundaries between rap and rock and roll
" 'Fool for Love' was one of those plays, " Shear said, "and we're really lucky to get to use his sets."
By M. Olsen
Special to the Kansan
The Beastie Boys, along with for-Dejam label mates RUN-DMC, Public Enemy and LL Cool J, brought hiphop to a wider and wider—whatever audience in the mid-80s by articulating the similarities between rap and rock-and-roll. With their latest effort, "Check Your Head," the Beasties further blur the boundaries between these genres, showing how ridiculous these imaginary musical boundaries are. All that really matters is that it's for real and it's 'rockin', whether it's old-school hip-hop or hardcore rock-and-roll. As Beastie Boy Mike D. said, "We're exercising our constitutional
This time the Beasties rely less on sampling and actually play their own instruments. Returning in part to their hardcore roots (an early incarnation of the band was known as The Young and The Useless), the main instrument is guitar, bass and drums. While "Check Your Head" will probably be categorized as rap, it a diverse effort that incorporates elements of hip-hop, fuzzed-out hardcore, funk-and svrpv 706 soul.
MUSIC REVIEW
Beasties' surprisingly nuanced production work. Two of the three Beastie Boys spent time during their teen years apprenticing at New York City recording studios, and their skills behind the boards show it, especially in the sound they give the live drums. Instead of the cold, metallic sound that drums usually sound like on hip-hop records, the Beastie Boys give the drums a clean, booming sound like the neighbor's kids bashing it out in the garage next door.
One of the album's highlights is the
right to be fresh."
As for the rap's, they are left high in the mix with the tinny, distorted sound of a Mr. Microphone. This is the perfect compliment to the brash, in-yourface style of the Beasties' delivery. On the whole record has a deliciously
low-tn sound,the instruments blending together to create fuzzed-out sounds not unlike a worn eight track of "Shaft."
The Beastie Boys were once called "an accident of pop history." They also have had to bear frequent accusations of being mere puppets for their original producer, Rick Rubin. With "Check Your Head" they prove once and for all how innovative they can be on their own and that they truly are for real. Whether you want to admit it, they are among the most influential groups of our time, helping to open hiphop to a rock-and-roll audience and changing the face of suburban culture. In many ways, they are living out our fantasies, and they know it.
'The Day on the Hill,' River Valley Music Festival fill outdoors with music
By Ranjit Arab
Kansan staff writer
For the next two saturdays, music lovers in Lawrence want to spend the day outside listening to some of the best national and Lawrence bands need not look any further than their own back vards.
Brad Roosa, live music coordinator for Student Union Activities, said the Seattle-based band, PearlJam, would headline "The Day on the Hill," Saturday. The event, which is sponsored by SUA,
will begin at 11:30 a.m. and last until 6:30 p.m. It is free to the public.
Among the other acts performing Saturday will be Tribe After Tribe, from South Dakota. From the band's ackhand hand in Fresno, Calif.,
The event will feature intermission acts ranging from Big B, a KJHK disc jockey, to the Cicada Rhythm Band, which features six percussionists and a saxophone player, Roosa said.
Lawrence bands Zoom and Trademark also will perform.
The free event was a way to thank students for supporting SUA activities throughout the year, he said.
"We just want to have quality music, give local bands some exposure and provide entertainment." Roosa said.
On Saturday, May 9, five bands will gather just west of Kansas City off Highway 10 for the first River Valley Music Festival, which will begin at 4 p.m. and last until 11 p.m.
Reed Brinton, organizer of the festival, said the event
Brinton said he expected about 10,000 people to attend
Festival features Indians
was created in part to showcase the New York band, Blues Traveler. The band, which has released two compact discs and appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman," has played before in Lawrence.
the festival. He said he thought the new event was appealing because it brought together a wide variety of nationally known bands.
New York
He said other major acts would perform at the festival. Among them are: The Samples; Big Head Todd and the Monsters; Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit and D.I.
He said plenty of tickets were still available from Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets cost $22.25 in advance and $25 at the gate.
"This is something that has never been done before," he said. "The caliber of entertainers is just impeccable. They attract a lot of the same crowds but also have a lot of diversity."
Festival features Henkel Twenty-eight films and videos created by American Indians are scheduled for the first Indian-produced film festival ever presented at Lincoln Center.
ENTERTAINMENT
BRIEFSE
"Wind and Glacier Voices: The Native American Film & Media Celebration" opens June 3 with an exhibition featuring contemporary Indian artists.
Presented by the Association on American Indian Affairs and other organizations, this festival serves as the focal point for a series of seminars on American Indian artistic, social and political concerns.
Los Angeles
Pink Panther strikes again
Four-time Academy Award-winner Henry Mancini has been signed to score Blake Edward's "Son of the Pink Panther" for MGM. The soundtrack will feature Mancini's famed Pink Panther theme, as well as original music composed for the film.
"Son of the Pink Panther" continues Mancini's long association with Blake Edwards, for whom he has scored almost every film, including "Victor-Victoria," "Skin Deep," "S.O.B.," "10" and every Pink Panther movie to date.
From The Associated Press