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University Daily Kansan / Friday, February 28, 1992
ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
HAPPENINGS
BARS
Benchwarmers Sports Bar & Grill,
1601 W. 23rd St.
Saturday: That Statue Moved, 10 p.m.
1:30 a.m. charge: $2
Bogarts of Lawrence
611 Vermont St.
Saturday Black Cat Bone, 9:30 p.m. -
1:30 a.m. cover charge: $3
The Bottleneck
The Bottleneck
737 New Hampshire St.
Friday: Fashion Tones and Shadowy
Men on a Shadowy Planet,
cover charge $3
Saturday: The Urge and laxion,
10 p.m.-2 a.m., cover charge $3
Monday: Open mike; 9:30 p.m-
2 a.m., no cover charge
Dos Hombres 815 New Hampshire
Wednesday: Karaoke night, 10 p.m.
no cover charge
The Brass Apple. 3300 W. 15th St.
Tuesday: Karaoke night, 9 p.m.- 1:30 a.m. no cover charge
Flamingo Club. 501 N. Ninth St.
Friday, Saturday. top dancers, noon-
1-a.m., cover charge: $2 or
a two-drink minimum
Henry T's Bar & Grill 3520 W. Sixth St
Thursday: Karaoke night,
9 p.m. 2 a.m., no cover charge
International Club 21, 10 N Park St
Friday. African Affairs Student Association
party, 8:30 a.m., cover charge $3
Everyone welcome
Saturday. Steal Mary, 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday. Live jazz, cover charge $1
The Jazzus of Lawrence,
926 1/2 Massachusetts St.
Friday, Saturday Ida McBeth and
Friends, 10.p.m.-1.30 a.m., cover
charge.$3
Thursday Ida McBeth and Friends, 10.p.m-1.30 a.m., cover charge; free
Johnny's Tavern. 401 N. Second St.
Friday, Saturday. Rhythm Kings,
3:00 p.m. m. cover, $1
The Power Plant, 901 Mississippi St. Friday,Sunday: alternative music night
Riverside Bar and Grill
520 N. Third St.
Friday, Bandlands Bath,
9 p.m. 1 a.m. band, cover charge: $2
Shilah, 1003 E. 23rd St.
Friday: Armie Johnson with Midnight
Special, 9 p.m.-1 a.m., cover charge: $3
Saturday: Dance lessons,
7:45-8:45 p.m.
Band: Over Easy,
9 p.m.-1 a.m., cover charge: $3
The Yacht Club. 530 Wisconsin in St
Tuesday. Karaoke night, 9 p.m.
1 a.m.-no cover. 4 m ockery.
ART EXHIBITIONS
Spencer Museum of Art
Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
 Sunday, noon-5 p.m.
Beyond the Floating World Japanese Prints in the 20th Century runs through March 15
Mexican Retable Painting The Art of Private Devotion runs through March 8
Documenting the American Dream: FSA Photographs of the Great Depression runs through March 8
THEATER
The Lawrence Community Theater
1501 New Hampshire
"The Road to Mecca"
Friday, Saturday, Thursday: 8 p.m.
Sunday matinee: 2:30 p.m.
tickets: $8 students
University Theater Series
Crafton-Preyer Theater
"Romeo and Juliet"
Friday, Saturday, 8 p.m.
Sunday matinee, 2:30 p.m.
tickets: $3.50-students
MUSIC
Friday: Master's Recital:
Christine Schumann, soprano,
Sawthorn Recital Hall, 8 p.m.
Monday: Concert Series: The New
York City Opera National Coal. in "Tosca
Topeka Performing Arts
Center, 8 p.m.; tickets: 10-students
The rise of the CD
tuesday: Winter Concert; Chamber and Concert Choirs, Crafton-Preyer Theater, 8.p.m., free
Wednesday. Winter Concert University and Concert Bands, Crafton-Preyer Theater, 8 p.m., free
Compact discs could mean death for cassettes,just as cassettes killed the album
By Jay Williams
Kansan staff writer
Tape cases may be doing more in the future than simply storing cassettes.
They may become coffins for a forgotten format of music buried under the forward march of technology.
"Cassettes are dying," said Mike Soden, a floor clerk at Streetside Records, 1403 W.23rd St
He said that the burial could be as soon as two years. Then, cassette tapes will be where vinyl albums are today.
"We have about 50 albums in stock and that is it," Soden said. "A lot of older stuff you cannot even get on vinyl."
The cause of this change can be summed up in two words: compact discs.
Soden said that his store sold between 75 percent and 80 percent of all music in compact disc format.
But reports of the cassette's death may be premature, said Brent Hefley, a salesperson at Kief's Discount Records & Stereo Supply, 2429 Iowa St.
"There is no doubt there has been some loss in the market, but cassettes are still extremely strong." he said.
Cassette prices range from $9.49 to $9.99.
cassette prices range from 40 to 160.
Soden said that the average price for a CD was between $13 and $16 and had not changed much since they made their splash on the public.
"The record companies will keep the price there as long as they can." he said.
Soden said that the digitalized sound from digital recordings was good for certain styles of music, such as classical music and some forms of jazz. For other forms, digital recordings, the basis for most CD recording, leaves something to be desired.
The compact disc player uses a laser beam to read the information on the disc. The disc is made up of many different sections. Each space has a special code. The laser beam reflects back to the disc player the pattern of the code, which represents the sound the listener hears.
Compact discs, the leader of the latest wave of entertainment advances, amazed people with their sound clarity, but not everybody is excited about it. The vast majority of computers and digitalized sound. Seda said.
Hefley said that the process basically worked along the same principle as a laver piano.
Source: Audiothile magazine; Los Angeles Times; Richard Spurlock; Computerland
"I sounds more mechanical, too perfect," he said. "You don't get the feeling of the music."
The sound may be too perfect, but people listening to CDs have other reasons for buying them. Hefley said.
He said that CDs were more durable than cassettes.
"Unless they are physically damaged, they are a lifelong item." Heflev said.
CDs are a more convenient form for listening to music because a person does not need to rewind or fast-forward to find a song, he said.
Disc technology now reaches into more areas than music.
Prices for laser disc players run from $500.00 to $3800.00. Hefley said the major difference in the players was quality of construction.
Laser discs, an older format of discs from the early 1980s, are beginning to become more popular. he said.
One store in Lawrence sells and rent's laser discs.
Miracle Video, 910 N. 2nd St., has between 250-300 movie titles on laser disc, said David Farve, a salesperson at the store.
He said that people liked the high-quality sound and picture a laser disc gave.
"If I had the money, I would buy one." Farve said.
Farve said that about 20 percent of the store's business was in laser discs.
The laser discs have features that cannot be found on video cassettes, he said. Most discs add extra material about the movie, such as interviews with people from the movie and extra footage left out of the videocassette.
For the movie "Aliens," the laser disc includes an extra 30 minutes of footage left out of the original movie.
Jeff Meesey, Daily Kansan
Personal computers have not escaped the touch of dist technology. A new computer system is making its move toward the mainstream of personal computing.
CD-ROM, which stands for compact disk read-only memory, uses a compact disc instead of a floppy disk to read information.
The price tag for an entire system -CD-ROM drive, laser disc player, computer and monitor-costs almost $10,000.
Because of the high price, all sales of multimedia systems have been to businesses, said Richard Spurlock, an employee at Computerland. 2429 Iowa St.
He said that a compact disc stored more than 300 times the amount of information of a regular floppy diskette.
CD-ROM systems are slower than regular computers to load information, but once loaded, they can keep up with more traditional systems, he said.
Laser discs extend the possibilities of computers even more. Spurlock said.
ly combining the storage of CD-ROM with a laser disc, multimedia presentations using high quality sound and video are possible on a computer screen, he said.
"The picture from a laser disc looks just like a TV picture." Spurlock said.
He said that Computerland used multimedia presentations in classes that taught computer skills.
"It is most productive in education," Spurlock said. "It is a teaching tool. It is a teacher."
Seven Romeos for seven Juliets?
Japanese sceneographer uses Western, Asian influences in Shakespeare's classic tragedy
Special to the Kansan
By Rachel Thompson Special to the Kansan
University Theatre has a special treat for theater lovers who have never seen Shakespearean actors with bald heads and colorful masks.
"Romeo and Juliet," directed by Paul Meier, associate professor of theater and film, is a non-traditional rendition of Shakespeare's classic tale for beloved love.
Meier said he wanted to present "Romeo and Juliet" with utmost simplicity, steering away from the play's limited meanings and getting down to the basics of humanity.
"It is supposed to represent all of mankind," he said. "We are all Romeo and Juliet in some sense. We are all young men."
"The effect is to hear all of the inner voices of the characters," Meier explained. "Not one actor owns these roles of Romeo and Juliet. I wanted to focus on the character, not on the personality of the actor."
Meier's "Romee and Juliet" casts 14 members - seven women and seven men. All the women get a chance at playing Juliet, while all the men play Romeo at some time during the play.
Mitsuru Ishi'i, guest sceneographer from Japan, complements Meier's directing with his costume and set designs.
Ishi's costume designs include robes displaying Western and Japanese influences like skullcaps and masks.
"The Japanese characters painted on the masks tell you what role the actor is playing." Ishi'll said. "If you show the actor's face, you see the different actors playing Romeo and Juliet."
"I designed the costumes so that they could be Japanese style, or they could be European style," Ishi's said.
The "Homee and Juliet" set comprises a large blind that covers the back of the stage and silk attached to a black cloth behind the blind. When the actors are not performing the stage, they move behind the blind to watch the performance.
"I use lots of symbolism with the set and lighting, " Ishi i" said. "That way, you get an effect through the blind, with images moving behind the blind. It's very different from European realism."
"There are people who want to see it as they see it in their own minds," he said. "If they are locked into wanting to see it that way, they are going to be disappointed."
Kristen Petty/KANSAN
Tybalt and Juliet, portrayed by Jeff Orr and Diana Dresser, Lawrence seniors, dance in one of the opening scenes of "Romeo and Juliet." University Theatre's presentation of the Shakespearean tragedy, will run Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Crafton-Preyer Theater. Tickets are $3.50 for students.