nightlife
Here they come, in droves
By Lynne McAdoo
Kansan staff writer
he easiest way to describe the Springfield, Ill., band They Came In Droves, is to describe what they are not.
said bassist Mark Finney, "and we are not techno like Jesus Jones."
The band plays a combination of rock, folk, Gothic and pop and does not like to be categorized into one type of music, he said.
Lead singer, Glen Dilman, said, "It has it's own sound, but it's a creation of everything. I hate using the word alternative."
The band, which got its name from a box of cereal, is making its first appearance in Lawrence at 9 tonight at Benchwarmer's Sports Bar and Grill, 1601 W.23rd St.
Photo courtesy of They Came In Droves
Members of the band They Came in Droves (left to right): Ted Brannon, lead guitar; Gary Hawthorne, drums; Glen Dilman, vocals; and Mark Finney, bass.
"We've never been there," Dilman said. "We have been to Lincoln, Kansas City and Wichita but never Lawrence. We heard that's where the scene's at."
Finney said "it's our bonehead manager's fault."
Members of the band are: Gary Hawthorne on drums, Finney on the bass, Ted Brannon on guitar and Dilman singing lead vocals.
"There have literally been times when we have made $10 a piece." Finney said.
Dilman said the worst thing about touring was the heat when she went to the door.
"The day after, with the same people farting in the van," he said.
They Came in Droves was formed in 1900 after Dilman answered an advertisement for a singer in the Springfield newspaper.
"We ran ads everywhere," Finney said. "Some very scary people showed up, including a bald, medieval, Hare Krishna on steroids. He had a voice like Morrissey and scared the hell out of the neighborhood kids."
Dilman auditioned next.
"He was spacey, kind of dumbfounded," Finney said. "But he had a good voice so we thought we could handle it."
"I joined the band and after two weeks we were playing gigs," Dilman said. "We weren't ready and we had twelve original songs."
"So we went and wrote the lyrics with a big marker all over the floor. I kept having to bend down to read them and I acted like that was how I always sing."
After three weeks together, they cut a seven-song demo tape called "Song of Songs."
Two years later, and with an ever increasing original tones, the band still writes most of its music.
"We literally write on stage and during sound checks," Finney said.
The band has no plans of stopping in the future. "We're almost a stereotype," Finney said. "We'll be at each others' throat, ready to kill each other, and then have the greatest time the next night."
"I don't think we'll ever stop, 'Dilman said. "We love touring and all the different people."
They recently released their new CD titled "Hundred Acre Wood" and have already sold 1,000 copies in the first three months of release.
"We got the title out of 'Winnie the Pooh,' that's where he went to get dinner." Dilman said
R. E.M., the alarm, Robin Hitchcock and U2 are some of the band's influences, he said.
Finney said it was hard promoting their material since they were an independent label. But the band has found an interesting way of marketing itself.
The band's drummer, Gary Hawthorne, and Finney went to a U2 concert in St. Louis and kept tossing CD's and T-shirts on the stage. The lead singer of U2, Bono, finally pulled Finney on the stage.
"He whispered in my ear to do one of my own songs," he said.
While he was playing Bono put on one of the band's logo T-shirts and modeled it in front of the crowd of 58,000 at Busch Stadium.
"After I finished, he started screaming 'Sunday,
Bloody, Sunday,' Friary said.
"We haven't heard from him to do a Christmas album or anything. But we have our fingers crossed."
"House of Blue Leaves" opens to the public
theater
By Tracl Carl
Special to the Kansan
The University Theatre's production of John Guare's play, "House of Blue Leaves" will make the audience laugh, then stop and think, said director Rena Cook, assistant professor of theatre and film.
"They can expect to laugh a lot and leave very troubled," Cook said.
"Blue Leaves" opens at 8 p.m. tomorrow in the Cradle-Proffen Theatre with additional showings at the same time Saturday and Nov. 19, 20 and 21.
The play is a African-American comedy about "larger than life, diluted values," Cook said, and the spine of the play is based on each character's need for recognition.
Steve Grossman, graduate teaching assistant in acting and improvisation, plays the 45-year-old, no-talent songwriter and zoo keeper named Arte.
"Arte represents a longing most Americans feel to be rich and famous," she writes.
"American culture tends to worship celebrities and give them a degree of reality beyond themselves and their own families," Grossman said. "We spend our time loving Johnny Carson, and we can't love our own husbands or wives."
the playwright, the only real people are the famous ones."
Guare makes a powerful statement about 20th century culture using Artie's dreams of fame, Grossman said.
The comic style combined with the darker message makes the play a challenge for the audience and the 11-member cast, Cook said.
"It's very difficult to walk the fine line between pathos and comedy." Cook
The serious message doesn't weigh the play or the comedy down, he said.
"It is a hilarious comedy," Grossman said. "It has something to say, but it's not deep or ugly or hard to say. It's bright and funny."
The play moves quickly because it is constantly changing. Grossman said.
"There will be a surprise minute," he said. "It's like a kaleidoscope. It's always changing in rhythm and movement."
"It's this mystical moment when you ask yourself, 'Why am I laughing?' Pat Robinson, lighting designer and Tula, Okla. senior said.
"Blue Leaves" traditionally has been popular with audiences, Cook said. She described the play, which received the New York Drama Critics' Circle award and four Tony Awards, as an "American classic."
The biggest surprise of the play is the ending, which Cook said was an "unexcuseable" one.
The University Theatre originally intended to present Joe Turner's "Come and Gone," but they were unable to cast the play. The result was a last-minute switch to "Blue Leaves" and a cast and crew that has not stopped working yet, Grossman said.
"We had to hit the ground running." Grossman said. "We worked very hard, very fast."
Jennifer Nelson, Lawrence sophomore who plays Artie's mistress, said the cast had not had time to get tired of rehearsal.
"We never really got to the point where we said to ourselves, 'Hey, these rehearsals are going really slow,' " she said.
At first glance, the stage resembles a drab New York apartment. A closer look reveals weird angles, inconsistent door sizes and slanted floors that give the set a carnival fun house appearance.
Judy Pfeifer, scenic designer and Overland Park senior, said she incorporated subtle zoo themes into the set to reflect Artie's line of work and the fact that "his life is a zoo."
"The set design is extraordinary," Grossman said. "It's sort of a crazy house."
Student tickets are $3.50 at the Student Union Activities box office in the Kansas Union. Public tickets are $7, and tickets for senior citizens are $6 at the Murphy Hall Box Office.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Real KU Life begins on the weekend.
calendar
Nightlife
Benchwarmer's Sports
Tonight - They Came in Droves
Friday and Saturday - Boulder Band Blowout
with Water, Wild Peach and Steak
Sunday - Turquoise Soul
The Bottleneck
737 New Hampshire St.
Tonight - Uncle Tupleo, Savoy Truffle
Friday - Big Hat, Blue Museum
Saturday - That Statue Moved, The Hollowmen
Monday - Open Mike
Tuesday - The Cadillac Tramps
Wednesday - Either Orchestra
Brass Apple Sports Bar & Restaurant
Apple Sports Bar & Restaurant 3300 W.15th St.
Features 10 TV's with satellite dish & Monday
Night Football
Congo Bar
520 N. Third St.
Friday and Saturday - Excalibur
Dos Hombres
815 New Hampshire St.
Tonight - Jeff n-Jeff
Down & Under
Gusto's
Down & Under
801 New Hampshire St.
925 Iowa St.
Friday - Nic Cosmos with Molotov Cocktail
Saturday - The Kents with Melodramatic
Wallflowers
Sunday - Toys For Tots Comedy Benefit
Henry T's
Henry T's
3520 W. Sixth St.
Karaoke every Thursday night
Hockenbury Tavern
HOCKFurby Tavent
1016 Massachusetts St.
Tonight - Milhous Nixons
Friday - John Dillon and the Robroys
Saturday - Soul Shaker
Sunday - Acoustic Open Mike
International Club 21
International Club 21
106 N. Park St.
Friday - Darkened Eden, Danger Bob
Saturday - Dead Stanley's, Bluegrass Band
Continued on Page 8.