Where have all the dance clubs gone?
Area clubs strive to revive Lawrence's languishing dance scene.
Lawrence, well known for its music scene, has become barron of clubs that are tailored to a progressive dance crowd.
By Kevin Hoffmann Kansan staff writer
That trend alarmed Ray Velasmo
"My wife was amazed when she first got here that nobody was dancing," said the Lawrence disc jockey. "She would go to parties, and everybody was sitting around drinking beer."
veiasquez's wife, Vanessa, comes from Brazil, a country in which dancing is common.
"There are so many kids at KU who come from someplace else who might not be into country music, or cover bands, or 'grunge' bands,"
bands, or 'grunge' bands," Velasonez said.
Rita Heneghan, Glennview, Ill., junior, described the Lawrence dance scene as restricted.
"The bars are basically for just sitting and socializing," she said. "You can really have a good time unless you go with a group of people."
Heneghan said dancing made it easier to socialize.
"Dancing says a lot about a person," she said. "People who dance can be more social."
Velasquez said he could not pinpoint a reason for the decrease in the area dance scene.
"In the 70s, everybody was dancing," he
my developed which caused a riff between rock and dance music."
The DJ said another reason for the anemic progressive dance scene was mainstream Americans' fear of expressing themselves emotionally.
"Americans, especially white males, were not raised to express themselves emotionally," he said. "It's not a racist thing, but whites were just not raised to show emotion. Dancing is a way of bringing
ion. Dancing is a way of bringing out emotions."
Velasquez said he hoped he could become a catalyst for the revival of underground, experimental and progressive dance
HOOD tal and progressive dance music in Lawrence.
"I'm hoping I can open up the opportunity to get more people out there integrated into the alternative dance scene," he said.
To accomplish his goal, Velasquez is constantly in contact with area club owners, setting up dance nights and promos. So far, Velasquez has been moderately
tuesday night is "Mondo
Disco" night at the Granada Theater,
1020 Massachusetts SL., where
Velasquez plays a collection of tech-
no-rave, alternative and retro-mod-
ern dance music.
successful.
Each Thursday night is house, techno and retro night at Dos Homes Restaurante, 815 New Hampshire St.
Velasquez described house, techno and retro music, which is not usually heard on the radio, as American "club" music.
Both dance nights are open to an 18-and-older crowd and cost $3.
Troy Kuglin, general manager of Dos Hombres, said his restaurant's dance night had started by accident.
"It started out just for fun at a party for our employees, and it went well with them," he said. "So we did a New Year's prom and just decided to keep it going."
Stacy Elwell, manager of the Granada, said she started "Mondo Disco" night to give Lawrence a place to dance.
"When I was going to school here, there was never any place to go dance," she said.
Velasquez said that by bringing the progressive dance scene back to Lawrence he hoped to do more than just provide additional opportunities to dance.
Hood
"One reason I do what I do, is that it really gives people a chance to hang up their stress in a positive way," he said.
"I hope it will integrate different cultures and add a new taste to Lawrence," he said.
Velasquez also said dancing could be a form of relaxation.
Since his beginnings at the University, Velasquez has spum records and played compact discs in the nightclubs of cities such as Chicago, Miami and New York. Lawrence, however, have become the current area of concentration for the nationally known DJ.
"This is home to me," the music lover said. "Lawrence will always have a place in my heart."
Velasquez began working as a DJ 15 years ago by playing records for fellow residents at Oliver Hall. He now spends Sunday nights as host of a progressive dance show on 105.9 the Lazer.
Velasquez said he had devoted most of his life to music, everything from spinning records at weddings to organizing dance nights at area clubs.
Why doesn't Velasquez move to a city more conducive to his style? The 39-year-old DJ, who was voted "Best DJ in Kansas City" by Pitch Weekly magazine readers, has an easy answer.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
If you had been blinded as a child, forced to spend your teenage and adult years in complete darkness, then miraculously regain your sight 25 years later after a breakthrough surgical procedure, what would be the very first thing you would want to see?
'Blink' delivers thrills
Okay, I've got a question for you. Sludge. "Shoot."
"Ooh wait! I know! You know that Keystone commercial that geekbag has that magic spray that turns everybody into Rachael Hunter? Yeah, that's what I'd wanna see...except with better beer."
"Wow, Matt, that's a toughie. Gimme a sec."
Personally, I think that I'd want to see the people of the world join hands in a symbolic gesture of hope for a future of global peace.
Emma Brody (Madeline Stowe), a blind violinist in a Chicago folk band, begins to recover her vision after a corneal transplant. She does not, however, have full use of her vision and suffers from "retroactive vision," a condition that causes a lag between the time her eyes absorb an image and the time her brain actually "sees it." So when she sees her neighbor's murderer in the hallway of their apartment building, it doesn't register on the next day. The image haunts her throughout the film.
That was my next choice. Anyway, this is the premise behind our movie of the week, "Blink."
This is most of the fun in "Blink." While Emma continues to see the killer's face everywhere through her distorted vision, we're never sure whether the face is real or simply a hallucination. Director Michael Apted has plenty of fun milking our fears of not being able to see what we're scared of, using computer-enhanced blurring and disconcerting camera angles. Of course, the police are skeptical because she can hardly make out a mug shot or a lineup, but one detective (Aidan Quinn) sticks by her, partly because he believes her and partly because he begins to fall in love with her.
"The way that guy's knarly head kept popping up, that was freaky. Then that loopy music would go 'Bwooooszch!' and scare the snot out of you."
"I thought he was a knob. Wasn't he Mikhall Barvshnikov?"
Uh, no. Sludge, that was Quinn. I agree with
Good thing he controlled himself. Though Barysh.er.. I mean, Quinn remained one-dimensional, Stowe turned in the intelligent, aggressive and sexy performance that has become her trademark. She turns Emma into a damsel who is not in much distress after all. "Blink" owes most of its tense momentum to Stowe. The script, though occasionally languishing in trite exchanges, manages enough cleverness and wit to prod the story along at a decent pace. The suspense is maintained through the unsettling nature of Emma's condition, and there are enough good scares to satisfy even the most skeptical moviegoer.
you, though. His portrayal of the formula rough-edged thriller cop who slurps coffee and chomps doughnuts was only mildly interesting and barely escaped being cliche.
"Well, it sure looked like Mikhail. I kept thinking he was going to break out the leotard and start leaning around."
"Those goobs who brought shovels for their popcorn and waited "tl every quiet minute in the movie to glob in a load and snack it around."
"C'mon people, work with me. Twenty kernel limit a shovelful, please. And chew with your dang mouth shut. You sound like my dog licking cheese off the floor." I ask them to post a sign. What did you
They were annoying, weren't they? Maybe they hadn't eaten for a few days.
I'll ask them to post a sign. What did you think of the movie, Sludge, on the whole?
"Only one problem. What's that Sludge?
What's that, Sludge?
Ok, ohay. I get it. Hey, Sludge, I think "Schindler's Lst" is coming on Friday.
About what? What do you mean?
"What about "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective?"
PAGE 6
"I mean, good flick!"
We'll flip a coin.
Preservation society seeks to revive '70s with music collections
By JIM PATTERSON
Associated Press Writer
It seems just as fast as something falls out of fashion, along comes a format change or nostalgia fad that gives it new commercial life.
NEW YORK (AP) — Selling the same old thing in a shiny new package works for beer and detergent — and definitely pop music.
Finding legal life stifling, they quit law practice and found refuge in The 70s Preservation Society, a tongue-in-cheek organization with the serious goal of selling compilations of silly 1970s hits such as "Having My Baby," "Seasons in the Sun" and "Billy Don't Bea Hero."
Just ask Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld, two afflicted New York lawyers who are partners at Razor & Tie Music.
"We had a strong sense that 1970s music was going to come back," said Chenfeld, citing the 20-year nostalgia cycle that made the '50s popular in the '70s, and the '60s a rage in the '80s.
Their first compilation sold about 100,000 copies through humorous late-night television commercials featuring Balsam as a guy stuck in the decade of polyester.
"You know, all these people who are getting to our age (early 30s) and a little bit older are beginning to lose touch with pop culture and getting a little nostalgic for when they were kids," he said.
Chenfeld said the duo thought of "70s music as fun and frivolous. "And we thought there would be a lot of younger people who would hook into sort of that pre-AIDS, pre-crack kind of disco, top-40, more innocent-sounding kind of stuff," he said.
Technology played a major part as well. The originals came out on vinyl records, cassettes or even 8-tracks.
Much of the material had been deemed unworthy of compact disc release by the big record companies because the songs came from one and two-hit wonders instead of superstars.
Even Rhino and Rykodic—leaders in the compact disc reissue field—tend to stay with well-known artists (David Bowie, Frank Zappa and Elvis Costello, in Rykodic's case) or compilations of more exotic musical genres.
Razor & Tie has since marketed follow-up compilations focusing on such '70s niches as "Disco Fever," "Those Rockin' '70s" and "Easy' '70s."
Disco fans can groove to songs like "Ring My Bell,""A Fifth of Beethoven"
and "Y.M.C.A." Sentimental types can get dewey-eyed on "Easy '70s" with David Soul's "Don't Give Up on Us" or Engelbert Humperdinck's "After the Lovin'" Air-guitarists will prefer "Those Rockin' '70s," with stuff like "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Takin' Care of Business."
"We have five (albums) out, and each one sells every week. In fact Arista (Records) has a very good attitude toward this," he said. "They have the 'Greatest Hits' out, so they are with us."
Chenfeld cites The Partridge Family catalogue as a Razor & The success story.
In each case, more than 40 songs are spread over two compact disks — one-stop shopping for your 1970s music needs.
Razor & Tie also has albums out by Ian Hunter, Elliot Murphy, the Knack, Jules Shear and Rick Springfield. And they're thinking even further ahead, to a future where technology bypasses retail — and television mail order — altogether.
February 3,1994
KULife
Your guide to Entertainment in the Lawrence Area.
calendar
NIGHTLIFE
Benchwarmers Sports Bar and Grill 1601 W. 23rd St.
The Lonesome Hounddogs, 10 tonight,$4
Lie Awake, 10 p.m. tomorrow,$3
Soul Food Cafe, 10 p.m. Saturday,$3
Stone Culture, 10 p.m.Feb.10,$4
The Bottleneck
737 New Hampshire St.
731 New Hampshire St.
WTCF Benefit with Kill Creek and Slackjaw, 10
tonight, $5 (18 and over)
Lee Dixie and The Subs, 10 p.m. Saturday, $4
Ben Vaughn and Alex Chilton, 10 p.m. Tuesday,
$7 (18 and over)
12th and Oread streets
The Crossing
The Eudoras, 9 tonight, cover charge
Easy Reader, 9 p.m. tomorrow, cover charge
Frank Zappa, 9 p.m. Saturday, $15 advanced tickets
Pet Fetish, 9 p.m. Feb. 10, cover charge
Full Moon Cafe
803 Massachusetts St.
Tim Cross Jazz Group, 9:30 tonight, free East West Fusion, Ry Brown, Clark Jamison, 9:30 p.m. tomorrow, free
The Young Johnny Carson Story, 9:30 p.m.
Saturday,free
1777 Brunch. noon Sunday. free
Jazz brunch, on Sunday, free
Tom's Tuesday Thing, 7 p.m. Tuesday, free
Acoustic Juice, 9 p.m. Wednesday, free
Tim Cross Jazz Group, 9 p.m. Feb. 10, free
The Jazzhaus
9261/2 Massachusetts St.
Whittle, 9:30 tonight, tomorrow and Saturday,
cover charge
Poetry Slam, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, cover charge
Dah-Veed, 9:30 p.m. Feb.10, cover charge
Hockenbury's Tavern
1016 Massachusetts St.
Walking on Einstein, 10:30 tonight, $3
Walking on Einstein, 10:30 tonight, $3
L.A. Ramblers, 10:30 p.m. tomorrow, $4
Ricky Dean and The Eudoras, 10:30 p.m. Saturday, $4
Open Mic Night, 10:30 p.m. Sunday, free Itals, 10:30 p.m. Monday, $6 advanced tickets
Blues Revenge and the Spicey Urchins, 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, free
The Keepers, 10:30 p.m. Feb. 10; $3
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