August 27,1984
ENTERTAINMENT
The University Daily KANSAN
Sandstone—bringing big names to Wyandotte Co.
By SUSAN WORTMAN Entertainment Editor
It was a strange combination — a restaurant owner, a promoter and the county government. But together they schewed up plans to build an outdoor amphitheater — just a little something they wanted to enhance Wyandotte County.
Cramer is a little something has been nothing less than a big success, says Kevin O'Neill, publicist for the ampiiater.
Sandstone opened June 2, and 15 performing acts have appeared there this summer — including Chicago, Hank Williams Jr., Juice Newton and Alabama.
Phil Lobel, who books and markets the concerts for Sandstone, said that the regular season would run through September but
that crowds had been so good that shows might be scheduled in October, said.
THE IDEA ORIGINATED with the restaurant owner. Gus Fasone, owner of Fasone's Supper Club in Kansas City, Kan., wanted to do something to promote Wyandotte County.
Lobel said, "Wyantoe is seen as the poor stepchild of the Kansas City area, and as a businessman, Fasone wanted to see that changed."
Now, the Agriculture Hall of Fame, a golf course, the Renaissance Festival and Sandstone Theater are all in Wyandotte Park, near Bonner Springs. Fasone is beginning to see changes.
changed.
So Fasone put together about $2 million to finance the project and the promoter and the government took it from there.
The most popular seating is on the lawn, Lopel said. People would rather lounge on the
grass, picnic and drink beer, which is served there.
But that does not mean a more rambunctious crowd. On the contrary, Lobel said. "They are actually more mellow. Since
September 5 - James Taylor and Randy Newman
September 7 — The Go-Go's September 16 — Yes
September 23 - Willie Nelson and Don Williams
Whitley Possible October show - Cindy Lauper
we open the gates two or three hours before show time, by the time the show starts, they are beginning to burn out."
THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT was sur-
suringly helpful, Lobel said. Officials
wanted to build up the park as much as Fasone did.
"They paved the streets, practically put in 1500th Street, put light in the park and installed sewer and power lines." O'Neill said.
Sandstone has already carved its niche in the Kansas City-area theater market. It is only 22 miles from the dorms, O'Neill said, so it ought to draw KU students. That is why Sandstone has booked acts like The Go-Go's and Yes during September, and is offering a special student ticket rate.
DURING SEPTEMBER, Sandstone is offering special rates for college students. If they buy three or more tickets, they can get them for $10 each instead of the regular $12.50 with a valid KU identification card. The tickets can be for the same concert or for three different concerts. (Call 1-721-3300 for
ticket information.
Although the Kansas City area already has the Starlight outdoor theater, Lobel said, Sandstone will have no problem booking bands.
bands.
"Starlight is inadequate for musical concerts," he said. It is no secret that the 1982 Summer of Stars resulted in a $500,000 loss, he said. Also, Starlight is under union contract. It costs $6,000-$9,000 to produce a concert there. At Sandstone, he said, it costs about a third of that.
THE MOST IMPORTANT difference is that Sandstone can seat 15,000 and Starlight seats 7,800. That means larger crowds and more money for the bands, Lobel said.
Audiences have been averaging 7,600 people a show, and next year, the crowds are expected to be between 9,000 and 11,000 people at each show. Lobel said.
There is no season such delight can bring / As summer, autumn, winter and the spring. — William Brown.
Prince's presence saves 'Purple Rain'
Rv SUZANNE BROWN
Staff Reporter
The intensity of Prince's performances might be unbearable, were it not so
"PURPLE RAIN!" starring Prince and Apolloniel Kotero. Produced by Warner Brothers Rated R. Showing at the Granada Theater, 1020 Massachusetts St It will be playing there for another week.
In fact, the least credible aspect of "Purple Rain," is the initial rejection of Prince's music by a rock club manager who thinks it is too personal to appeal to others. The theatre audience doesn't buy this, because, whether in agony or ecstasy, Prince's character in "Purple Rain" holds viewers captive every time he steps on stage.
THE PRODUCERS of "Purple Rain" call the movie a rarrick - a film with a strong plot - but it isn't the conventional storyline that makes the film a success. Nor is it the star's acting efforts, which are minimal. It is the presence of Prince himself, a fascinating, brooding young man, that enlivens even the movie's dullest scenes and generates an electric passion throughout the film.
The story in "Purple Rain" is about a troubled rock singer who is in danger of
following his father, a former musician plagued with bouts of violence and depression, into oblivion. Prince, known in the movie as "The Kid," heads a once-successful band called The Revolution that plays at an exclusive Minneapolis rock club.
WHEN THE MOVIE opens, the Kid's star is on the wane, apparently because of his cryptic song lyrics and abrasive
MOVIE REVIEW
sexuality on stage. The manager of the rock club warns Prince he must make his music commercially popular or look for another job. Prince's decision marks the climax of the film.
Appolonia Kotero debuts in the movie as a dancer and singer hoping for stardom at First Avenue, the club where Prince plays. She falls in love with the Wid, but the relationship is stormy. Throughout the film, Appolonia battles Prince's crippling ego and bursts of anger with a sometimes saintly patience. In one of the movie's best scenes, she flees sobbing from the rock club after Prince writings in a mock-sexual act on stage to insult his seemingly faithless lover.
character, the film has two problems. One is the plot, which, though acceptable, is so skeletal beside the flesh and blood of the music that its dry rattling is sometimes uncomfortably loud.
unfortunate.
The movie's other problem is its actors, most of whom are reported to be Prince's friends and cohorts off-screen. Prince himself gives his character a depth not found in the others. However, his lines are generally limited to such utterings as "Gimmie that," "Freak show" and "Is that what turns you on?" The allure of his presence, however, makes his acting almost irrelevant.
DESPITE THE SUCCESS of Prince's
and here Kotero is decidedly weak, but much of this results from her character, a long-suffering woman who accepts gross treatment at the hands of her lover Farmore interesting is Wendy, the lead guitar player in the Revolution. The musician combines strength to beauty to make her performance more compelling than that of fair Appolonia.
Prince and 'Purple Rain' challenge Jackson, Springsteen for popularity
rall Appobona.
Some who criticize "Purple Rain" say the movie is little more than a sexually explicit rock video. But the overwhelming impression the film leaves one with is not music, but the irresistible character of one man. If the sexual aura of Prince is keenly sensed, is this not right? For what Prince is doing with his music is making love to us all.
By United Press International
NEW YORK - Prince Rogers Nelson is giving Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen a run for the money as the most popular rocker of the year.
The shy, diminutive 26-year-old rock star from Minneapolis has released an album, "Purple Rain," and a single, "When Doves Cry," and both have No.1 That is no small feature during a summer when both Springsteen and the Jacksons have new albums and are on tour
He also made his film debut in "Purple Rain" which is widely regarded as one of the best rock' n' roll movies ever made
the best stock
PRINCE IS QUICKLY becoming a larger than-life figure of the proportions Jackson has cut for himself.
Jackson has come to Paramount in the Prince mythology is the belief that "Purple Rain" is an autobiographical sketch of the rocker, previously known for the hit singles "Little Red Corvette" and "1999."
Red Corvette There are undeniable similarities between Prince's character and Prince himself. As in real life, Prince's background is biracial. The cast is largely composed of his Minnesota musician
Albert Magnoli, the first-time director who made "Purple Rain" and wrote the final screenplay, said the movie told more about Prince's values than his personal history.
"THE SCREEN STORY was created independently of my knowledge of Prince," Magnoli said. "I didn't know anything about Prince's personal life at all."
friends — members of the The Time, Appolonia 6 and the Daz Dickerson Band
"The approach was always to create a very strong story line and let the music counterpoint that, as opposed to emphasizing music, and maybe there's a story when you get offstage." Magnoli said.
The idea of a rock'n roll star's making a movie is certainly not new. Elvis Presley, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones have all
Magritoli said Prince understood from the outset that he would have to "lose that secure image that he has in the rock world."
made movies. But virtually all those films either are concert documentaries or star vehicles with songs that bear little relation to the plot. In "Purple Rain," the songs heighten the dramatic impact of the film
Despite the character's darker side, Magnoli said audiences understand Prince's motivations and sympathize with his plight.
"He grows up in a tremendously violent environment. He is being influenced by his parents and by his father especially, and he struggles to break free of that. Kids — so far the response has been they understand the turmoil they go through, they're identifying with the troubled nature of his character."
Elvis is king overseas but a quiet U.S. rocker
By MICHAEL HALLERAN Staff Reporter
He has been called anything from "rock's angry young man" to "the guy who did 'Accidents Will Happen.'" Regardless of his many labels. Elvis Costello is still an enigma to many of today's music fans
The man of mystery will be performing at 8 p.m. on Sept. 8 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Mo. Nick Lowe, former member of Rockpile and one-time Costello producer, is the opening act.
the opening act.
COSTELLO IS TOURING the U.S. and promoting his latest album, "Goodbye Cruel World."
despite critical acclaim, his songs don't do as well as the superstar bands featured on commercial radio and video music shows.
In 1977, Costello released his first album, "My Aim is True." The album stayed on the United Kingdom charts for 12 weeks, topping out at the 14th spot.
Costello may be an unknown in the U.S., but across the Atlantic, when people says "Elvis is king," they aren't talking about the man with the blue suede shoes.
manwin with the breathtaking overseas has diversified his American eyes to the U.K. scene. "My Arm is True" was named Album of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine in 1978. His eight LP, "Imperial Bedroom," finally placed him on the U.S. charts in the spring of 1982.
ONE REASON his albums haven't done as well in the U.S. is that Costello plays music that advertisers shay away from, says KJH disc jockey Paul薛舔cky. Lawrence junior
Kellie Wells, Kansas City, Kan. senior and KJIK program director, agreed
Wells said, "The Kansas City Lawrence-Topeka market is a very conservative market, and radio stations are there to make money and to sell air time. You can't expect advertisers to be particularly progressive-minded.
"Everybody has heard of Michael Jackson
Sceptyki says he likes Costello's lyrics like those he wrote for "Radio, Radio."
He is a soaring success. If he is on the play list three or four times, people will listen, and we'll sell spots. They stick to what is safe, they play the same albums, the same stuff that is going to appeal to the masses. "'
"I DON'T KNOW if any radio station would play that — one of the lines says 'radio anesthetizes the way that you feel' It's a great song, but people don't want to hear that," he said.
that he says.
"I think it comes down to one basic fact," he says. "Costello is one of the outstanding songwriters today."
"Van Halen plays a safe sound. Elvis doesn't," he says
Perhaps the constant shifting from rock to country western to blues and back again has helped Costello remain on the music scene
costello has been virtually ignored on the Top 10 charts, Szeptyki says, but he will endure because of his versatility
cestello is like a chameleon, and so his music. He has undergone many changes and incorporated many different styles into his own particular brand of rock
hoped Costello fended in 1981, he released "Trust," which was a change from his stormy, icey tones toward a more mellow sound. A year later, he released "Almost Blue," which was a departure from pop and a move toward country-western. Szeptycki thinks these changes have kept Costello from wasting away musically.
Even with the publicity, Costello remains a mystery to the average radio listener. Wells says only large radio stations and college stations can play Costello's songs.
"KJHK has all of his albums, and he gets a lot of air play, particularly his older albums. He is so diverse — somebody has to like at least one of Elvis Costello's songs because he has every musical influence imaginable." she said.
"my mom likes Elvis Costello," Wells said. "I don't think there is anyone that he couldn't appeal to."
NBC plans theatrical movie
Bv United Press International
NEW YORK — NBC is joining the ranks of commercial television networks in the theatrical movie-making business with plans for a big-screen production of a World War II spy thriller "Emerald," starring Ed Harris.
An agreement to produce the movie, which will be distributed worldwide by MGM-UA Entertainment Company, was signed by John Agoglia, executive vice president of NBC productions, and Martin Starger, president of Marstar Productions.
Besides Harris, who portrayed astronaut John Glenn in "The Right Stuff," the movie will feature Max Von Sydow, who was in
"The Exorcist", Horst Buchholz, of "Fanny", Helmut Berger, from "The Danned" and Eric Stoltz, who just completed Starger's production of "Mask" for Universal Pictures.
PART 15 IT WILL BE filmed in and around Paris and Harris will play the protagonist, an American double agent who intritrates Paris in 1944, just before the Normandy D-Day landing on June 6.
Agoglia rose, to the undertaking as a possible 'time venture' by NBC Productions, which will allow the company an opportunity to learn more about producing the theatrical motion pictures. He said there was no NBC feature film division in the planning stage at this time.
9