415 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DEC. 13, 2001
Domestic LAWRENCE "We Stand Behind & Foreign AUTOMOTIVE Our Work, and WE CARE!" Complete DIAGNOSTICS 842-8665 Car Care INC. 2858 Four Wheel Dr.
ENTERTAINMENT
Benefit the Children at Kimee's Coffeehouse
Come to Aimee's Coffee House 1025 Massachusetts Street Sunday, December 23 6:30 pm-10:30 pm $5.00 to enter
Fundraiser for Douglas County-Children in need
Enjoy Wine.
The Academy, which will be at 745 New Hampshire St., will provide instruction in a variety of American musical styles by offering courses on the bluegrass mandolin, the banjo and even the harmonica.
SPONSORED BY OAKS NONTRADITIONAL STUDENTS
Music academy to open in Lawrence
By Donovan Atkinson Jayplay writer
When Thom Alexander first thought about opening a nonprofit music school in Lawrence, he thought the community would not be very supportive.
"I thought the response would be pretty marginal," said Alexander, Lawrence resident. "But the community has given us so much positive feedback."
Classes will be taught in a lowkey group environment, and private lessons also will be offered.
On Jan. 13, Alexander, with the support of the Lawrence music community, will be opening the Americana Music Academy.
Alexander, who has a Masters degree in education and will be
teaching a guitar class, has been able to bring in 15 respected artists from the area music scene to help him with the Academy's music lessons.
Some of the talented musicians who will be on hand to instruct classes will be jazz musician Tommy Johnson, who has performed with jazz greats from Cab Calloway to Dizzie Gillespie; Bob Faris, who has played fiddle for Reba McEntire's appearances on Hee Haw and The Grand Ole Opry; and Tom Johnson, a music producer and engineer who has studied with Nathan Berg.
Alexander said Lawrence was a haven for talented musicians.
"Lawrence has always had a really good music scene," Alexander said. "It's a really, really good magnet for musicians."
Alexander said that he and the instructors who will teach at the Academy also were concerned with passing on the American musical tradition to students, not simply the technical ability to play.
"Going back to the roots is a valuable thing," he said. "Any time there's a chance of creating anything new in music, you have to learn from the old."
In addition to the regular classes, the academy also will offer special music therapy sessions.
Music therapy is the use of music and music techniques to assist a person with reaching non-musical goals.
Alexander said he had seen the positive effects of music therapy on his own son, who has a handicap.
Such therapy can be beneficial to anyone, but particularly those with special mental health needs, learning disabilities or substance abuse problems.
"My son went from not communicative to being very communicative for his handicap in the last four or five years." Alexander said. "The music therapy sessions could take on a life of their own."
Alexander said that a school
such as the Americana Academy had never existed in Lawrence, or in the state of Kansas.
When looking into the idea of opening a non-profit music school, Alexander said he talked with members of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago for ideas.
In the future, Alexander said he would like to move beyond instrument instruction and music therapy and add classes on music history to the Academy.
Alexander said he also would like to see the school earn some form of accreditation, which would allow the Academy to offer low-level university courses in music.
For more information regarding the Americana Music Academy, call 850-9640.
Course catalogs are currently available and class sign up will continue through the first week of classes.
Contact Atkinson at 864-4810
'Mine and yours'a songwriting smash
By Clay McCuistion Jayplay writer
David Mead isn't a Backstreet Boy. He's not a member of Limp Bizkit. He's not a joint-inhaling rapper. David Mead is an insanely intelligent, insanely gifted singer and songwriter. He sounds like nothing else I've heard from a major record label in 2001.
And that's the surprising thing. He wraps together melodic and lyrical tricks from Elvis Costello, the Beatles and prerock songwriters such as George Gershwin and Cole Porter. But pithy reviewers' lines don't do justice to these silkily melodic, tightly crafted songs.
On one hand, Mead doesn't fit any context. I can't imagine any radio station that would play songs as concise
Mead has created a music that stands out of and is part of the current scene.
and adult as "You and I" or "Figure of Eight." On the other hand, his combination of influences — from the rock and classic pop worlds — couldn't have been mixed at any time but the present.
Mead also sings with restrained passion. That's just as much of a rarity in these Celine Dion days as his spot-on songwriting.
His sultry falsetto caresses songs from the opening, a grooving "Flamin" Angel," to the close, an elegiac "Only In the Movies." Like Rufus Wainwright (whose summer release, *Poses*, was also criminally overlooked), Mead carves out a uniquely personal yet forcefully tastful artistic position.
He's not only found his niche, he's constructed that niche by hand. Let's hope he never leaves that spot.
Contact McCuistion at 864-4810
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