ARTS & CULTURE | KANSAN.COM
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Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015
Karaoke nights, despite changes, attract returners
Sadie Barbie, from Lawrence, sings Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" at the Burger Stand on a Wednesday night.
FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
KATE MILLER
@_Kate_Miller_
It's 10:15 p.m. on a Wednesday at the Burger Stand at the Casbah, and it looks pretty much like expected — a few people taking advantage of $5 late-night burgers, others finishing up their last rounds at the bar.
But as the clock ticks closer to 10:30 p.m., an entirely new crowd starts to trickle in, making its way past the bar and up the stairs to the second floor. The regular crowd is a mix of high schoolers, college students, recent college graduates and established townies. They're all here to do one thing: sing their hearts out for karaoke night.
Karaoke culture is a staple in Lawrence, with karaoke nights across town six times a week at various locations. Many people who attend karaoke night at the Burger Stand, at 803 Massachusetts St., also attend other karaoke nights during the week, and the Burger Stand's karaoke night draws from 35 to 150 people a week.
"Karaoke is sort of a common language," said Chris Hoffman, a host of the Burger Stand's karaoke night. "A lot of people come out to laugh with people and laugh at them as well."
Hoffman was one of the first hosts who started karaoke night at the Burger Stand five years ago. The hosts purchased their own karaoke equipment, still used today, to bring once a week.
However, while the equipment has stayed the same, the people haven't. A good deal of the business is driven by college students during the year, and Hoffman said it was like a "rite of passage" to see so many come through the doors and eventually graduate over the years.
The attendees aren't the only ones who have changed. The Burger Stand almost closed down its karaoke night recently when the original hosts quit the program. Hoffman said he came back to resume the program and "struck a deal to get it back on track."
Now, the karaoke night is
back in full swing, with some singers and groups returning every week.
One of these groups is a few high school students who come to karaoke night after an evening of theater rehearsal at the Lawrence Arts Center.
"I just love that I can sing with all of my friends and have fun and not care about whether I'm hitting the notes right," said Joaquín Dorado, one of the students. "If I mess up, I can just laugh it off."
Even though two of the songs that Dorado sang were released before he was born, he was comfortable with the older music performed during the night. Oldies were a go-to for many performers on that evening, and audience members sang along, contributing to a feeling of community and support.
It's this positive environment that keeps people like Will Chaffield-Taylor, a 2015 graduate who attended karaoke for four and a half years, coming back.
"I had a group of friends who originally got me to come out
"Karaoke is sort of a common
"Karaoke is sort of a common language. A lot of the people come out to laugh with people and laugh at them as well."
CHRIS HOFFMAN
Burger Stand Karaoke Night Host
On a recent Wednesday night, he sang "Flagpole Sitta" with Hoffman — the pair's signature song.
and start singing with them, and when they eventually stopped coming, I just came back here to socialize," Chattfield-Taylor said.
Hoffman, both a host and a performer on that night, put into words why the event was, and continues to be, so popular.
"It makes people feel like they're the lead singer of the band," he said.
- Edited by James Hoyt
'U.N.C.L.E.' triumphs as comedy
ALEX LAMB
@Lambcannon
Stylish spectacle tends to be the main draw of spy movies, but "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," based off the series from the 1960s, instead excels in the hilarious dynamic between the partnered American operative and Russian agent leads. All the other standard spy movie elements amount to decent entertainment, but the snappy humor and the contentious one-upmanship of the stars drive this lighthearted movie about a Cold War mission.
Henry Cavill trades the earnest seriousness he embodies in Superman for buoyant, quick-witted charm as the debonair Napoleon Solo, a sly former thief who now uses his talents to easily become the most effective agent of the U.S.
In the playful opening sequence, he leads beautiful German car mechanic Gaby (Alicia Vikander) on a dashing escape over the Berlin Wall while hulking KGB spy Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) matches him move for move, feisty and frustrated as he nearly stops them.
So when the Russian and American agencies set up a joint operation that teams these two arrogant spies, they don't exactly play nice with each other. Their frivolous back and forth liveness up their routine mission to locate Gaby's long-gone scientist father and retrieve his atomic bomb design plans from the bad guys.
But while Solo gets to indulge his smooth charisma and playboy antics, Illya must calm his temper and not blow his cover as Gaby's architect fiancé This creates a comical tension as he's pushed around and disrespected, especially
funny when Solo is the one teasing him like a little brother. Hammer nails the comedic timing here as he speaks in a thick Russian accent and clearly relishes this lively, memorable role that helps him stand out as more than the Winklevoss twins from "The Social Network."
The co-writer and director Guy Ritchie brings his distinct visual style to the Italian-set narrative and puts together several inventive montages of the two agents in action. However, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." feels paired down from his usual fast cutting and kinetic energy. That works both for and against it, as the action sequences are a bit underwhelming, especially considering his high-impact set pieces in both "Sherlock Holmes" films. A final chase takes on tricky terrain but loses steam pretty quickly. However, the rhythm Ritchie
sets the actors on is even more fun than Holmes and Watson squabbling. And several of the best, laugh-out-loud moments come from slowing down a frenzied moment and watching the action play out hilariously in the background. Solo enjoys a sandwich off to the side as illya dodges gunfire in a boat chase. Later on a character's hysterically brutal demise occurs behind the agents without them noticing until way too late.
"The Man from U.N.C.L.E. works better as a comedy than spy movie. It leaves something to be desired from the secret agent thrills but succeeds in a much more surprisingly amusing mission. Cavill and Hammer are delightfully funny together, and that chemistry carries it throughout.
Edited by Miranda Davis
From left: Alicia Vikander as Gaby; Armie Hammer as Illya Kuryakin; and Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo in the actionadventure film "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", a Warner Bros. Pictures release. The movie, about a Cold War spy mission, was based on the series of the same name from the 1960s.
DANIEL SMITH/AP PHOTO
JAIMIE TRUEBLOOD/AP PHOTO
From left: Aldis Hodge as MC Ren; Neil Brown Jr. as DJ Yella; Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E; O'Shea Jackson Jr. as Ice Cube; and Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre in the film "Straight Outta Compton."
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The boys from Compton smashed opening weekend expectations, while the stylist "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." struggled to find its footing.
Universal's N.W.A. biopic earned an astonishing $56.1 million in its debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Director F. Gary Gray's well-received film charts the formation and rise of the influential rap group. It cost just $29 million to produce.
N. W.A. members Dr. Dre and Ice Cube served as producers on the film, which has Ice Cube's real son O'Shea Jackson Jr. playing his father. Dr. Dre also released the companion piece "Compton,"—his first new album in 16 years.
Nick Carpou, Universal's president of domestic distribution, said they were "elated" with the results. Universal had previously predicted a very conservative $25 to $30 million opening.
"It really struck a chord with audiences. It's a story that is resonating right now," said Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak's senior media analyst. "It was one of those records that was an important work and a
Beyond the fandom around N.W.A. and the timeliness of the themes, Universal also launched a clever marketing campaign around the film, "Straight Outta Somewhere," which allows social media users to insert photos in the iconic "Straight Outta Compton" album cover and write in a hometown of their choosing.
very important expression of a particular viewpoint. To this day, that album has so much power."
There have been over 5.4 million downloads to date and it trended No. 1 across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for two days in a row.
"We've got the best marketers in the business and they understand their audiences," Carpou said. "The good news here is it attaches to a product that we're exceedingly proud of."
According to exit polls, audiences for the R-rated film were evenly divided between genders, 51 percent were under the age of 30,46 percent were African-American and 23 percent Caucasian.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. PG-13-rated adaptation of the 1960s television series "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." debuted in third place, behind "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation," with a sluggish $13.5 million.
"(Director) Guy Ritchie made an original and fun movie. Eighty-six percent of our audience was over 25 and 39 percent are over 50," he said. "Older audiences, we all know, don't rush out opening weekend."
"The Man From U.N.C.L.E." stars Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as a pair of American and Russian agents in the fashionable Cold War-era film.
"I was hoping for a little higher number, quite frankly," said Jeff Goldstein, executive vice president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. The goal had been a modest $15 million. The period spy thriller will have an uphill battle to make up its $80 million production budget.
Goldstein noted that they weren't able to attract a significant younger audience, who are likely not familiar with the source material. The 7 percent who did turn out gave the film a favorable A- CinemaScore, and Goldstein hopes that word-of-mouth will spread in the coming weeks.
But it's Universal's weekend
Fox's "Fantastic Four" plummeted to $8 million to take the fourth place spot, while "The Gift" took fifth with $6.5 million.
to celebrate once more in what has become a banner year for the studio. Universal crossed the $2 billion mark domestically on Saturday — four months ahead of previous record-holder Warner Bros.
"Straight Outta Compton" is Universal's sixth film to open over $50 million in 2015 and broke the August record for an R-rated opening.
"If you were to create a blueprint for how to perfectly execute a box office year, they've done it," said Dergarabedian.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
TOP-GROSSING MOVIES
1. "Straight Outta Compton," $56.1 million.
2. "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation," $17 million.
3. "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," $13.5 million.
4. "Fantastic Four," $8 million.
5. "The Gift," $6.5 million.
6. "Ant-Man," $5.5 million.
7. "Vacation," $5.3 million.
8. "Minions," $5.2 million.
9. "Ricki and the Flash," $4.6 million.
10. "Trainwreck," $3.8 million.
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