The two-steppin' beat has hit Lawrence and the nation. For those looking, the Lawrence area offers several country-dance options.
Jason Auld / KAN$AN
Kim Buche / KANSAN
Left. A couple two steps across the dance floor at the Shiloh, 1003.E.34 St.
Above: Buddy Edwards of the band "Killin' Time," provides music for dancers.
By James J. Reece
Kansan.staffwriter
cowboy boots salesman, a bar owner and a Kansas basketball player all agree: Lawrence, like much of the nation, is in the middle of a country music rejuvenation.
And with the music comes a renewed interest in country and western
dancing.
People in search of a bar that plays the music with a two-stepping beat could go to the Shiloh, 1003 E. 23rd St., Lawrence's only country music dance hall.
"I jut up with a bunch of people that go out there," said Greg Ostertag, who dances at Silihol whenever he can. But he is no trend follower.
"I was born and raised on country music," said the Duncanville Texas, native and center on the Kansas men's basketball team. But he said it hardly compared to Billy Bob's Dallas, which has several dance floors and includes a rodeo arena.
"One of the dance floors is as big as Shulh." Ostertag
Shiloh is open Friday and Saturday nights with bands and free dance lessons both nights.
Vern and Edi Oelschlaeger have owned and operated Shiloh since 1979, when they converted a 4,500-square foot skating rink into a dance floor. Oelschlaeger said the latest songs by chart-crossing country stars had brought a lot of KU students to Shiloh.
"It's not that whiny stuff like back in the '40s," said Oelschlaeger.
The old stuff is still around, but a new sound has led to the popularity of country music musicians like Wynonna, Billy Ray Cyrus, George Strait and, of course, Garth Brooks.
Albums by these artists appear in Billboard's Top 50 Albums chart in the Feb 4 Rolling Stone, including four by Brooks which are ranked in the top twenty-five.
"The Garth Brooks era is what we call it," said Kelly Harrell, who works at Vanderbilt's, a western wear store at 1548 E. 23rd St.
Allen O'Day, a disk jockey at KTPK in Topeka, said with Brooks's versatility, country music has become a proven commodity.
"It's the top dog right now," O'Daysaid, "O'Day thought the popularity came from its stylistic return to a sound similar to early rock music.
"It's probably a direct line from the good time music of the '60s. "O'Day said.
"It's a happy thing that you don't have to be sterned to enjoy."
Jennifer Timblin, Edmond, Okla,
freshman, is another avid country music fan.
"I started liking it right before it became popular," said Timbim.
But after two years in Lawrence, she said she does not listen to it as often as she used to because of how her friends see the habit.
"A lot of them just laugh," she said. But she said she would continue listening to country music when she was in the mood.
"There's a right time for it," she said.
like when she felt mellow or did homework
But not everyone is attracted by the mellowness of country music.
"I'm not excited about the music as much as I am the dance," said Adam Moritz, Chicago senior, who loves dancing and is now enrolled in square and ballroom dance classes at the University.
Mortiz said he usually danced at country bars when he goes home to Chicago, and has danced several times at Shiloh.
Another area bar with a large dance floor filled with people two stepping up; Guitars and Cadillacs, 3954 Central in the Westport district of Kansas City, Mo. Manager Paul Satterfield said many different types of people came to the bar.
"People have this preconceived idea that it's a country bar so they will see as lots of cowboys," he said. "But if you look in the parking lot, any night you will see as many cars from Johnson County as there are from Miami County."
He said the bar, which has a capacity of 1,000 people, had people dancing on its wood floor in fraternity sweatshirts, cowboy hats or suits.
County music seems to have staying power. Guitars and Cadillacs has been in business six years old, Shiloh thirteen and KTPK eighteen.
With fans just as old or older, O'Day warned that the country superstars of today are the only ones with something to lose if they took chances with their music.
"If they try to disassociate themselves with the mainstays of country music, then they could lose their audience," he said.
movie review
Eccentricity lends charm to 'Used People'
"Used People" doesn't try to sell you a lemon. But it does try to sell you lemonade. The film contains a bitterness that is sometimes hard to swallow, but the genuinely sweet aftertaste left by Shirley MacLaine and Marcello Mastroianni is enough to tide you over and leave you thirsty for more.
MacLaine plays Pearl, the aging Jewish matriarch of a neurotic Queens, N.Y., family. Pearl is pursued throughout the film by Joe (Mastroianni), the charming Italian who begins courting her, much to the chagrin of the family, at her husband's funeral.
The miraculous Mets and the moon landing of 1969 serve as the backdrop for the wonders that this romantic stranger brings into this problematic family's life.
Pearl's oldest daughter, Bibby, played by Kathy Bates, is a divorced mother who lives in the shadow of her estranged, beautiful sister Norma, played by Marcia Gan Harden.
Norma, who was psychologically scarred by the death of her second child, finds it therapeutic to dress up like '60s movie stars. If that isn't enough eccentricity, her first child believes his grandpa's spirit makes him indestructible, and he almost kills himself trying to prove it. Pearl's mother, played by Jessica Tandy, and her mother's best friend of 72 years spend their time engaging in bizarre conversation which draws too much attention to its ethnicity to be truly witty.
Though "People" is never quite as poetic as the stream of proverbs that continually spout from Joe, the authentic bond that builds between Pearl and Joe is lyrical enough to compensate for the film's occasional lack of direction.
Quite simply, Mastriani and MacLaine take a few lemons and manage to make lemonade. B+
Unfortunately for "People," there are too many subplots that detract from the true heart of the film: the developing relationship between Pearl and Joe.
'Hexed' will bother you from first frame
Sadly, the only pleasurable scene in "Hexed" is when Hexina (Claudia Christian), decks a mime with a right hook from her car. Assaulting a mime may not be considered socially correct behavior, but this doesn't seem to phase the psychotic supermodel a bit.
As it turns out, this scene is the least offensive moment in the entire film. In fact, this scene, along with every other scene, is cursed with a general tastelessness and stupidity that makes "Hexed" practically unbearable.
The pitiful premise: Matthew Welsh (Arye Gross), a compulsive liar and con-artist hotel desk clerk, swindles a date with the French TV model Hexina. Amazingly, Hexina, with whom Welsh has a fanatical obsession, just happens to be staying at the hotel where he works. But Hexina is "bonkers!" as she declares at one point, as well as a sexually abused, formerly obese amonist. Wow, what character development.
She has come to town to murder the
man who is blackmailing her with her past. After a string of goofy coincidences, the hapless Welsh is framed for the murder and spends the remainder of the film trying to clear his name.
"Hexed" wants desperately to be a comedy, but jabs and pokes fun at things that just aren't funny: cops thrashing a defenseensel victim with nightsticks a la Rodney King — complete with a bystander and videocamera; people getting shot in the head; and bodies getting stuffed into refrigerators and car trunks and even thrown off of buildings.
"Hexed" ends up being a morbid, pointless attempt at black comedy, and is far too obnoxiously crude for its own good.
The real curse of watching "Hexed" is that incapable feeling that once you have paid for your tickets you are obligated to watch the whole thing. My advice to you is to avoid buying tickets altogether. D-
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Your guide to Entertainment in the Lawrence Area.
calendar
Nightlife
Benchwarmers Sport Bar and Grill
The Bottleneck
1601 W. 23rd St.
The Fuzz Box, Thursday, $3
Soul Food Cafe, Friday and Saturday, $3
737 New Hampshire St.
The Milhous Nixons, Thursday, $3
Billy Goat with Keely Zoo, Friday, $7
Freddy Jones band, Saturday, $5. Advance tickets available
The Crossing
12th Street and Oread Avenue
Jeb Bolin, Thursday
The Which Doctors?, Friday
Foodhead, Saturday
Karaoke, every Tuesday
All shows $1
Gusto's
925 Iowa St.
House Party III, 7:30 p.m., Thursday
No Left Stone, Friday, $3
The Which Doctors?, Saturday, $3
Hockenberry's Tavern
Hockleberry's Tavern
1016 Massachusetts St.
Monterey Jacks, Thursday
Baghdad Jones, Friday and Saturday
The Cocktail Wieners, Wednesday
All shows $3
Jayhawk Cafe
Jayhawk Care
1340 Ohio St.
Prairie Rockers, Friday, $3
The Jazzhaus
926-1/2 Massachusetts St.
Jimmy Thackery Band, Thursday, $4
L.A. Rambiers, Friday and Saturday, $4
Riverside Bar and Grill
520 N. Third St.
Billy Spears, Friday
Black Pearl, Saturday
$3 per person, $5 per couple
Rick's Neighborhood Bar and Grill
623 Vermont St.
Trout 66, Saturday, $2
The Yacht Club
Fleet Club
530 Wisconsin St.
Scott Weisenberg-acoustic guitar, Wednesday
Scott Weisenberg acoustic guitar, Wednesday
Continued on Page 8.