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music
Four bands will take the stage Friday night at a local bar and compete for the privilege of
Playing the Hill
By Cathleen Siechta Kansan staff writer
Tomorrow, four local bands will find out if they have what it takes to play in KU's modern-day version of Woodstock.
Day On The Hill, sponsored by Student Union Activities, will start Saturday with the winning band of KIHK'K's Farmer's Ball music contest as the opening act. Eight bands from Lawrence, Topeka and Kansas City competed at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St., Monday and Tuesday nights. Four finalists were selected by a panel of four local judges. Tomorrow night, Atrox, Black Calvin, Nudie Voodoo and The Bubble Boyz will vie for the chance to open the Day On The Hill festivities.
"This is a great opportunity for local bands," said Sanantana Kaine, Kansas City, Mo., junior and co-head of the JKH music staff. "If they win, they get 15 hours of free recording time and lots of exposure from playing for bigger crowds."
This is the first time KJHK has held the band contest, but Kaine said it had drawn a good response. Sixty-two bands submitted tapes, and a KJHK board narrowed the entries down to eight. The judging was done by blind vote, so the board did not know the names of the bands for which they were voting.
Kaine said the contest's name, Farmer's Ball, was derived from the name of the KJHK local music show, "Plowing the Fields."
"It was really hard to decide," Kaine said. "Basically we just locked ourselves in a room in Dole with pizza and Coke until it was down to eight."
At this week's semifinal competition bands were judged on creativity, cohesive sound, effect on audience and songwriting. Audience ballots also were available at the door.
Some of the judges had their own criteria.
"The band has to have sex appeal," said Tim Lebesthy, Lawrence junior and a judge at Farmer's Ball. "But what I look for in the music is" originality, or at least being able to pull off unoriginality well."
The members of The Bubble Boyz, one of the bands to play at The Bottleneck, said they thought the audience would appreciate their original alternative music combined with a punk and early '80s sound.
Brian Gee, Lawrence resident and guitar player and singer for The Bubble Boyz, said the band was hoping to get a break through Farmer's Ball. He said even if the group didn't win, just playing at The Bottleneck was a valuable experience.
"When the band practices at home, people come out and dance in the street outside of our house," said Jason Carr, Lawrence resident and drummer for The Bubble Boyz.
"Our goal isn't just to win," Gee said. "We want more gigs."
But only two local bands will be playing on the Hill Saturday. Along with better-known bands Urge Overkill and Pegboy, Lawrence's own Vitreous Humor also will play. The Los Angeles-based band El Magnifico will open for Urge Overkill.
Tziortzis said she hoped Day on the Hill would attract a large audience.
"I am so excited about the names we have coming this year," Tziortzis said. "Pegboy puts on an incredible live show. Both bands do. I think every student should come because anytime you can see a performance with this kind of magnitude, it's going to be incredible."
Melissa Lacey / KANSAN
She added that with five different bands, there should be music to fit many different tastes.
"Even if you don't like alternative music, you should come check it out," she said. "There will be people distributing free promotional items, and we're having a canned-food drive. It's just a like an end-of-the-year blowout, and it's all for the students."
The final round of the Farmer's Ball will begin at 9:30 p.m. tomorrow. Admission is $6 for ages 18-20, $5 for 21 and older. The first 50 people in the door will receive a free Farmer's Ball T-shirt. That night's winner will open Day On The Hill at noon Saturday. Day on the Hill is free.
Bubble Boyz singer and guitarist Brian Gee, along with band mates Dan Cook and Brian Carr, will compete tomorrow with three other bands for the opening spot at Day On The Hill. The Bubble Boyz and Nudie Voodoo were chosen last night at KJHK's Farmer's Ball contest at the Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St.
Melissa Lacey / KANSAN
Atrox members Rene Blake, vocals and guitar, foreground, and Joe Roets, lead guitar, earned a spot Monday night to compete tomorrow in the Farmer's Ball contest. Black Calvin also was chosen to play.
music
Concert will be director's farewell
By Kevin Hoffmann
James Ralston directs a rehearsal of the University of Kansas Orchestra. The orchestra will perform May 1. Ralston is retiring after 40 years of work in the choral depart.
When the semester ends, James Ralston will bid farewell to his 40-year career as a teacher of music at the University.
Kansanstaffwriter
As the 63-year-old director sat in his office preparing for The Annual Chorus and Orchestra Concert that he will conduct Sunday, he reflected on his long history of musical involvement.
"I've been teaching all these years, and I'm ready to step back and do something else," said Ralston, professor and director of choral music.
"I started out on the drums," Ralston recalled with a laugh. "Then I played the baritone in junior high and switched to the trombone in high school."
Ralston came to the University as a student in 1980 and joined the KU band as a trombone player. While at the University, Ralston became active with choral music and eventually received three degrees in music education.
The only time Ralston was away from music was while he was aboard a ship in the Navy. Even then he couldn't stand to completely distance himself from his love.
"I arranged a quartet that sang over the PA and at officer's clubs." Ralston said.
But, Ralston pointed to a single event while he was teaching at a high school in Kansas City that was pivotal in bringing him back to KU.
"My predecessor invited me back to fill in at his position while he took a semester off and toured Russia," Ralston said. "That, more than anything, led to my long career here."
As Ralston eased into the role of professor, he kept busy playing big band music in the Kansas City area.
After awhile, Ralston gave up the big band scene and concentrated his efforts on teaching.
"Gigging gets to be a drag for anybody," he said. "Going out on Friday nights and playing until 1 a.m. gets old."
Over time, Raiston would work with thousands of students and would help them polish their musical abilities.
"Everything I've done includes the students," he said.
Those who have worked with Ralston
pointed out his many good attributes.
"He's a walking encyclopedia of knowledge on choral music," said Janeal Krehbiel, director of the Lawrence Children's Choral and adjunct clinical professor in music education. "When I have questions about choral music, I often call him."
review
Krebbiel said Ralston's use of children in many musical events at the University also pleased her.
"Many conductors tend to view children as trinkets," she said. "I appreciate very much that he considers children as true
See RALSTON, Page 10.
Reviewers sign off with top-10 list
In place of a fond farewell column, Shudge and I have decided to throw rocks at our own glass house, the place where movie critics and presumptuous others with specious credentials reside. We have made a semester out of attacking average films and lauding good ones, attempting to convince our readers that we have a wealth of experience at our disposal.
"Speak for yourself."
Sorry, Sludge. Our, uh... my hope, naturally, is that we have fostered a certain level of confidence with our audience and that we have hit fairly close to the critical mark
"Man you are insecure."
Well, maybe, but whatever confidence we may have earned to this point may disappear as we ride the fence between objectivity and personal bias when committing the most common, and, ironically, the most non-objective, crime that a
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
See MOVIES, Page 10.
People and places at the University of Kansas.
calendar
NIGHTLIFE
The Bottleneck 737 New Hampshire St.
Planet Maker and Go
The Millions and Walking on Einstein,
10 p.m. Saturday, $5
Kart, 10 tonight, $5 (18 and over)
JKHK Farmer's Ball Final, 10 p.m.
tomorrow, $5 (18 and over)
Matthew Sweet, Luna and Low, 8 p.m. Monday, $13.50 (18 and over)
Big 6 Sports Club (under the Eldridge)
701 Massachusetts St.
The BluesHead Beggars, 10 tonight cover charge
803 Massachusetts St.
Full Moon Cafe
The Tommy Johnson Experiment, 8 tonight, free
Anonymous, 9 p.m. tomorrow, free The Boys of the Prairie, 9 p.m. Saturday, free
Jazz Brunch with Michael Paul, noon Sunday, free
Toms' Tuesday Thing with Russ Kapp and Starbrow, 7 p.m. Tuesday, free Lou's Revenge, 8 p.m. Wednesday, free
Tim Cross Jazz Trio, 8 p.m. Thursday, free
Benchwarmer's Sports Bar and Grill 1601 West 23rd St.
Turquoise Sol, 10 tonight, cover charge
Wakeland with Brain Pudding, 10 p.m. tomorrow, cover charge
Please, 10 p.m. Saturday, cover charge
Rage with Hearttief Poets, 10 p.m.
Tuesday, cover charge
The Sun Sawed in Half, 10 p.m. Thursday, cover charge
Hockenbury's Tavern 1016 Massachusetts St.
Arkansas White Trash with Red Dirt Rangers. 10:30 tonight. $3
New Riddim, 10:30 p.m. Saturday, $3 Acoustic Open Mic Night, 10 p.m. Sunday, free
Interstring, 10 p.m. Wednesday, $4 The Winebottles, 10:30 p.m. Thursday, $3