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ARTS & CULTURE
KANSAN.COM | THURSDAY, SEPT. 24, 2015
HOROSCOPES »
WHAT'S YOUR SIGN?
Aries (March 21-April 19)
For nearly eight weeks,
with Mars in Virgo, work
becomes a constant theme. Get financial details lined up over the next month with yesterday's Libra Sun. Make shared decisions. Peace and quiet get productive.
taurus (April 20-May 20)
For nearly eight weeks,
with Mars in Virgo, fun and
romance captures your attention.
Postpone financial
discussions and important
decisions today. Don't overspend, even for a good cause. Your team comes through for surprising success.
Gemini (May 21-June 20) Changes are required. Beautify your space, with Mars in Virgo for two months. Compromise, for ease and grace. No stretch
ing the truth now; not even a little. Secrets get revealed. Avoid arguments
Heed your elders. Let someone in.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
For about two months,
with Mars in Virgo, communications unlock new doors. Dance gracefully with an unexpected reaction. Carefully crafted, direct words soothe inflammation. Rekindle passion. Friends help you advance. They lead you.
the perfect answer.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) Save up for something special. For nearly eight, weeks (Mars in Virgo), work to increase income. Put your muscle into it. Moderate a controversy with family finances. Avoid risky business. Defer gratification and budget for
location and budget for what you want.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
Share the load or drop it.
For two months, with Mars in Virgo, personal matters take center stage. Stick to the truth, even when awkward. Compromise.
Provide cool common sense. Do it carefully or do
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Slow down to avoid accidents. Navigate errors and let the little stuff go. Get into peaceful retreat mode for the next two months.
Clean, sort and organize.
Look back to gain perspective on the road ahead.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Grow profitable opportunities through socializing.
Harness group power over the next two months, with Mars in Virgo. Energize a community effort. Don't borrow or lend ... contribute while leaving time for work, family and health.
Balance is key.
Sagittarius(Nov.22-Dec.21)
Take your professional passion to the next level. If you must ruffle feathers, do it gently. Assert your position
with humor. For nearly eight weeks, with Mars in Virgo, career advances are available. Practice what you love.
you love.
Capricorn(Cde. 22-Jan. 19)
Travel beckons for about two months, with Mars in Virgo. Nail down reservations early. There are still many secrets to be discovered. Don't try to run away.
Think of someone who needs you. New information changes things.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Don't let financial constraints stop you. For about two months, with Mars in Virgo, review and organize finances for increased power and income. Private conversations reduce stress. The truth gets revealed. Find
DEF JAM RECORDINGS
new ways to earn.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Provide support (rather than criticism) to someone in authority. Your partner contributes valuable data.
For about two months, with Mars in Virgo, work together for greater power.
Take advantage of a rising tide. Assume responsibility.
Vince Staples released his debut album, "Summertime '06," on June 30 and will be in Lawrence on Sept. 29.
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy
Vince Staples's mindset and perspective can be explained by only a few words: "it is what it is"
The Long Beach rapper's rhymes and lyricism are keen, but his honesty and ability to speak the truth regardless of the circumstances are almost more so.
Though he didn't grow up aiming at a rap career, Staples has carved out a place for himself in the rap industry and landed among the top West Coast "gangster rappers" of this generation.
Staples came up as a close partner of Odd Future centerpiece Earl Sweatshirt, then found his sound somewhere in between the eerie cynicism of Sweatshirt and the upfront activism of Kendrick Lamar.
All of that culminated on his debut album, Summertime '06, which was released on June 30 as a two-disc story that dove through the reality of growing up in Long Beach and being born into a lineage gang culture. Maybe that environment is what has made him so honest in his craft today.
Staples talked to The Kansan about the environment the Internet has created for artists, hip-hop as popular culture and the negative connotations of being black and in a gang leading up to
his solo performance at Liberty Hall on Sept. 29.
Kansan: Who is Vince Staples?
Staples: Vince Staples is a rap artist and also an interior designer from Long Beach, Calif. Make sure you put the interior part in there, because that's a lie. And, yeah man, we just make songs. I've played in Lawrence a couple times, I've been there with Earl Sweatshirt, I've been there with ScHoolboy Q. We just like to have a good time.
Staples: We're headed to Philadelphia, or in Philadelphia. One of the two. It's good. It's a cool experience to be around all of these different minds. It's always cool, bringing together the different kinds of music and different fan bases.It's cool to see.
Kansan: How's the tour with Tyler, the Creator and A$AP Rocky going? Where are you guys at right now?
Kansan: I saw you talk about the concept of laptop rappers before the album came out. When you think of laptop rappers, who do you think of? How would you describe them?
Staples: The internet has this glass ceiling. Some artists you could be looking into on the Internet, but you would never play them like, in a car, not necessarily on radio. To escape the realm of the Internet, they don't really translate well into the actual life. There's a lot of things that go viral that we won't really consider to be actual when it comes to the actual realm of music.
That's all I mean by that. It's kind of difficult to escape the Internet sometimes when it comes to certain things. There are all those artists, they kind of blow up, they have that one big viral video, but they're never really respected as artists. I don't really know if it's fair or not, but it's just the nature of the way things are nowadays. There can be artists who had a really great song, but it's not about you, it's about that one song. It could have been because it was funny, it could be been because of a vine, it could have been anything that really brought you into that position. That's just the nature of this shit sometimes.
Kansan: Were you ever in that frame? Was that ever a thing for you? Just getting over the Internet. I feel like Earl Sweatshirt really got you through that phase because once your name got out there, it was on a record with him.
Staples: When Earl first got out there, he wasn't blowing up. Early on when I met him, there wasn't much commercial success up until [Tyler, the Creator] broke through. So I definitely feel like it wasn't necessarily all the way there. If I was being realistic with where we were, it was still very much something that was true,
No matter how big our world might be, it's still not a Drake, or Kendrick Lamar, or J. Cole, where everyone has heard us. I don't feel like I started off — of course I had to fight to get a head start — I didn't start out on, for lack of a better word. But you know what I mean, what people like to call on and what was an automatic process; you don't have to work hard to get anything.
like there are still people that haven't heard Earl Sweatshirt songs, no matter how big we are. We gotta understand that.
I've had shows, I've played shows with Earl that were half full, you know what I mean? I've played shows by myself that were half full. I've played shows with bigger acts that were half full. It's all a process, man. These markets, man. It's a tricky thing to me to get the Internet to make the shift to what's real.
Kansan: How do you make that shift, then? Blue Suede was commercial, a few other things from you are on iTunes and Google Play, but how did you make that transition?
Staples: To me, music should always be commercial. It should always be something that's purchased because it holds a value. Things that don't have value are free. So, if music has a value, and we're all fans of music, it should always be for sale. Every artists
should start as a commercial artist; that's why the music is made, to a certain extent. That's why all the time put into the music is to eventually turn a profit and make a career and life out of it, doing something that you love. It should always be viewed as that.
I don't feel like ... going commercial isn't a thing. It's sad. ...
An artist is trying to feed themselves off the music is considered them making a transition. That should always be what it is. But it's viewed as, you know, music is just free and we're supposed to just give out music at a high value at a fast rate, and it's all supposed to be free. ... You should never give less support because something is for sale. If anything, you should have more support because that says where we are as people.
Kansan: Going off that, do you think rap will ever be "the genre?" Do you think it will be respected in general by the general population?
Staples: Rap is the genre. Rap is culture. Hip-hop culture is popular culture, it is American culture. Tell me who the rock star is right now?
At 840 Massachusetts Street, Yuri Zpancic had his work, ZOOM, displayed for Final Fridays. People came through to admire the work of the local artist on Aug. 28.
Arts Center to host a '70s-themed 40th anniversary celebration on Final Friday
CAROLINE FISS/KANSAN
HARRISON HIPP
@harrisonhipp
The Lawrence Arts Center will celebrate its 40th anniversary downtown this Friday, Sept. 25 with a '70s themed block party.
The party outside the Arts Center will feature live music and different retro activities. The 40th anniversary block party provides a festival atmosphere, with new exhibitions and activities inside and music and vendors outside. The staff at the LAC has been planning a 40th anniversary party for the past year or two, Arts Center CEO Susan Tate said.
"We just wanted to throw it back to 1975 to honor the 40 years of the Arts Center being in existence," Development Director Heather Hoy said.
Final Fridays is an event where all things cultural come together in downtown Lawrence on the last Friday of each month. This year there'll be flashback crafts, Disco 101 and a sitcom-athon with 1970s sitcoms playing in the theatre located in the Lawrence Arts Center.
"The Lawrence Arts Center started in a very small and intimate way and responded to the interests of the people in Lawrence. As the community grew, the Lawrence Arts Center grew." Tate said.
The Arts Center was previously housed in the Carnegie building on 9th and Vermont
St. downtown. Built in 1904, it is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since its founding, the Arts Center has become a key part of the Lawrence community, Tate said. As the Arts Center grew, its founders contemplated additions onto the Carnegie building to further accommodate the program. However, restrictions on additional construction because of the building's historical status made relocation a reality.
"We rented dance studios at the end of the block," said Ann Evans, founding Executive Director of the Arts Center. The program eventually partnered with Treanor Architects to construct the current 40,000 square foot building funded by a mix of city contributions and private donations.
When we opened this new building [in 2002], we really expanded what we were able to do in three areas: temporary exhibitions, live performance, and visual and performing arts education," Tate said. "I am proud of Lawrence, Kansas for creating and sustaining the Lawrence Arts Center — very proud."
With indoor exhibitions, outdoor activities and music free to the public, the Arts Center's 40th anniversary party invites all of Lawrence to celebrate the city's cultural diversity as a part of the September edition of Final Fridays. Several of the event's crafts include pet rock making, vintage t-shirt printing, and a tent to dance the hustle and other '70s dances.
There will also be a reunion show from theater troupe Seem-to-Be-Players; a group that features the Arts Center's Artist Director of Performing Arts Ric Averill. He and his wife Jeanne founded the group, which has not performed since a 2008 show at the Arts Center.
The event will last from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. and the film screening of "Big Eyes" will start at 9 p.m. Based on a true story, this Tim Burton film starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz tells the story of artist Margaret Keane, who became known for frequently
Chuck Mead and his Grassy Knoll Boys will follow shortly after. Mead got his musical start leading bands in Lawrence but currently lives in Nashville. He and the Grassy Knoll Boys will soon embark on a European tour in support of a new album out in December in collaboration with UK artist Beans and Toast.
Live music will kick off starting at 6:30 p.m. with performances from local bands Truckstop Honeymoon and Chuck Mead and the Grassy Knoll Boys. Truckstop Honeymoon is a two-piece band that's been active for 11 years. The band is made of married couple Katie and Mike West who tour with their four children. The duo has toured three continents and are currently signed to Squirrel Records.
depicting large-eyed subjects in her work.
Hoy said Chuck is from Lawrence so it's "bringing somebody back home."
Food and beverages will also be available from Free State Brewery, the Mad Greek, Purple Carrot, Fine Thyme Foods, Drasko's Food Truck, Torched Goodness, Air Summer Snow and Juice Stop.
—Edited by Derek Skillett