tuesday, November 25, 2003
news
the university daily kansan
NIRVANA: Big acts harder to attract for Student Union Activities
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During the show, Krist Novoselic threw his bass guitar 50 feet in the air like he did at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.
"I don't think he knocked his head off that time, though," Roosa said. During the VMAs, Novoselic's bass landed on his forehead.
At the end of the show, the band knocked over Dave Grohl's drum set before heading out to Massachusetts Street for a night out.
Roosa hung out with band members Grohl and Novoselic at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St. Later they went to the bar at The Eldridge Hotel, then called The Big 6, 701 Massachusetts St.
Kurt Cobain decided not to go out and went back to the Holiday Inn Holidome, 200 McDonald Drive, where the band was staying. Roosa said the band was aware of its oncoming fame.
"At that time it was exploding for them," Roosa said. "Dave was walking around going, 'This is
"They don't show up at our campus for less than $25,000.And that's a midrange
that's a midrange band."
Dawn Shew
SUA program adviser
crazy!""
Roosa said Grohl was funny, Novoselic was more political and Cobain was miserable.
"Kurt — you could kind of tell he was an unhappy guy," he said.
'They don't show up at our campus'
In 1991, it was possible for a band like Nirvana to play in a 1,000-capacity venue filled with college students who could barely afford to buy an album. Today, it's not so easy.
appearance, and the band got to keep profits from tickets. In 2001 when the SUA tried to bring Counting Crows to Lawrence, the band's hospitality — food and beverages mostly — cost about $1,500, according to Dawn Shew, SUA program adviser. Counting Crows ended up not playing the concert.
SUA paid Nirvana $1,250 for its
In Nirvana's hospitality section of the contract, the band requested five hot meals, one vegetarian meal, two cases of bottled beer, one pack of Marlboros, soda, orange juice and a deli tray.
"FAST FOOD IS UNACCEPTABLE," the contract read.
"Hint: NIRVANA likes Thai, Indian, Chinese, and Mexican food."
Shew said it would cost SUA $150,000 to bring a group such as the Dave Matthews Band to the University. She said SUA asked the band to play every year.
Shew said that in 1991, a band had to capitalize on the college circuit to make it in the music world. Today, she said, a band
needed to be on MTV's Total Request Live.
"They don't show up at our campus for less than $25,000," she said. "And that's a midrange band."
It's not entirely the artists' fault, though. There are a few bands around today who aren't in it for the money. Shew said.
"I think if it were up to the bands they would cut their production," she said. "The industry decides a lot."
Shew said she hoped that all would be different someday, and some unknown band would come from out of nowhere to change things — just as Nirvana did in 1991.
"I don't think there's anybody out there like this right now, though," she said, pointing to a photo of Nirvana.
-Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl declined interviews for this article. Edited by Cate Batchelder
Nirvana's set list
Kurt Cobain wrote the set list on a paper plate for the band's gig Oct. 17, 1991, at the Kansas Union Ballroom.
1. Jesus
1. Jesus
2. Aneurysm
3. Drain You
4. School
5. Floyd the Barber
6. Smells Like Teen Spirit
7. About A Girl
8. Breed
9. Polly
10. Sliver
11. Love Buzz
12. Lithium
13. Been A Son
14. Negative Creep
15. On A Plain
16. Blew
17. Territorial Pissings
Source: Brad Roosa
MARTIN: Two of three suspects get 15-year maximum sentence
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pocket-size Bible. He thumbed through the Bible throughout the day, and shed tears during the testimony about Martin's dreams and her death.
Stauffer, a Topeka resident, has made 11 trips to Costa Rica to help the local and state police move the investigation forward. Yesterday, she sat across from her daughter's killers for what she said she hoped was the last time.
"I just can't believe these people I was sitting across from could do such a horrible and vicious murder." Stauffer said by phone, hours after the verdict. "I was thinking 'My God. How could you do it? Why did you do it? Why can't we go back and erase what has happened?'"
Now, her focus is on one return trip home tomorrow to get back for Thanksgiving with her family. It has been six weeks since Stauffer left.
"I want to see my two girls," she said of her daughters Staci Wolfe and Sheri Martin, who are both KU graduate students. "I miss them."
Larry Thomas, Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent, also was there for the verdict announcement. It was his third trip to Costa Rica. He and other investigators spent Sunday making last-minute pleas to possible witnesses, he said.
"It's our job to gather the information and present it," Thomas said. "I feel confident that we found all that was available under the circumstances."
Jesse Ybarra, a Topeka translator who assisted Thomas' investigation, was pleased with the decision. He has spent almost as much time investigating the case in Costa Rica as Thomas.
"Everything we did paid off," he said. "This means there has been justice for Shannon."
Boeing gets military contract
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Boeing Co. has finally landed its deal with the U.S. Air Force to supply new airrefueling tankers, but it can't put to rest the controversy surrounding the multibillion-dollar contract.
Boeing's announcement yesterday that it has fired its chief financial officer and another executive — a former senior Air Force official — for misconduct has raised concerns over whether the recently approved tanker deal could be tainted.
Boeing said it dismissed chief financial officer Mike Sears for violating company policies by communicating directly and indirectly with Darleen Druyun about future employment last year before she had disqualified herself from acting in her government capacity on matters involving Boeing. It also said an internal review found that both attempted to conceal their misconduct.
-Edited by Ehren Meditz
The Chicago-based company said the firings are not connected to the tanker deal — which the Senate finally approved last week after two years of negotiations. The House approved it previously. The deal was part of the defense authorization bill signed by President Bush on Monday.
Boeing and the Air Force had sought a deal in which the Air Force would lease 100 converted 767 jets as air-refueling tankers, with an option to buy the tankers,
Boeing is also cooperating with an ongoing investigation by the Pentagon into allegations Druyun acted inappropriately in giving Boeing financial information about competitor Airbus' bid for the tanker deal. Druyun at the time was principal deputy assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition and management.
for about $21 billion. Congressional leaders from Seattle to Chicago pushed for the deal, but critics including McCain derided the proposal as a sweetheart deal for Boeing that hurt taxpayers.
To satisfy critics, negotiators crafted a compromise that calls for leasing 20 jets and buying the remaining 80 in a standard purchase — a savings of about $3 billion to $5 billion.
The Air Force contract is Boeing's largest single order this year. It comes as commercial airline orders for its 767 jet, built in Everett, have been drying up. The jets are to be modified in Wichita.
U. S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) said he was surprised by the news, but added it didn't cast a shadow on the tanker deal.
"I don't think the shake-up at the Boeing Co. in the finance office is something that would disrupt our ability to meet a need that's very real."
Sprint eliminates more jobs amid losses
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Sprint Corp. will lay off 2,000 workers, or nearly 3 percent of its work force, by the end of the year as part of an effort to cut operating expenses over the next three years.
Sprint said Monday the job cuts will involve both its wireline and wireless divisions.
It employs about 70,000 people overall, including about 20,000 people in the Kansas City area.
About 20 percent of the jobs that will be cut are in the Kansas City area, company spokesman Mark Bonavia said.
The cuts are part of the Overland Park telecommunications firm's reorganization around two market segments: business and residential customers.
The restructuring is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1.
Including the layoffs announced Monday. Sprint has cut more than 21,000 jobs in just over two years.
The layoffs are in addition to those announced in September, when Sprint said it will use outside contractors to handle some software operations, affecting hundreds of jobs at the company.
Sprint also announced in September that it wanted to reduce total operating expenses 5 to 7 percent or more than $1 billion each year over the next three years.
The company will announce later how much the job cuts will cost Sprint during the fourth quarter, Bonavia said.
Both of Sprint's tracking stocks will record one-time charges.
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