THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Burlesque show makes return "Pretty Things Peepshow" draws in locals at The Granada. ENTERTAINMENT | 7A Where art and science meet Students, faculty research connections between the fields in this week's Jayplay. INSIDE THURSDAY,SEPTEMBER 17,2009 WWW.KANSAN.COM VOLUME 121 ISSUE 21 Adam Bohan/KANSAN Shane Reynolds, Springfield, III, fresher, proudly displays the VM tape he earned by winning the Pepsi Rock Band competition. Reynolds and nine other friends from his hometown created the "Nerds in Disguise" invitation to attend the MIV Video Music Awards and walk down the red carpet. "It was really soft carpet," Reynolds said. Reynolds and his friends will receive personally enriched Monman awards. Adam Buhler/KANSAN BY BRANDON SAYERS bsayers@kansan.com Among the Janet Jackson, Kanye Wests and Taylor Swifts at New York's Radio City Music Hall for this year's MTV Video Music Awards sat University freshman Shane Reynolds and nine of his high school friends. For most of the show, the group blended into the audience, politely clapping with the announcement of each award. That is, until they were announced as Moonman winners "When they announced our names we all just went crazy," Reynolds said. "There were people all over staring at us like we were nuts until they realized it was us that won. But then random people started coming up to us and giving us high fives and hugs and stuff. It was pretty cool." Last weekend, Reynolds and his friends accepted an MTV Video Music Award for "Best Performance in a Pepsi Rock Band Video" for a video that won a contest sponsored by MTV, Pepsi and the makers of the Rock Band video game. The group of Glenwood High School graduates from Chatham, Ill., who are now attending different colleges throughout the country, can go down in VMA history. They are the first recipients of a coveted Moonman award for a video featuring only Rock Band video game instruments. They are also the first people to receive a VMA for any type of consumer contest. As the grand prize winners of the contest, the group of friends were flown to New York City and provided hotel accommodations so they could attend the 26th annual MTV Video Music Awards. They each also received $600 for spending expenses and gift baskets from MTV and Pepsi. Best of all, they got their faces broadcast over primetime television during a 30-second commercial in the middle of the live awards show. BIG WINNERS The day after online voting ended, Reynolds and his friends received calls from MTV telling them their video was the winner. "I was shocked — I didn't even know what to say," Reynolds said. "Kids from central Illinois don't win things like this." He said he believed one advantage the group had in the online voting was the fact that they had so many people in different places spreading the word for a common cause. Reynolds' high school classmates now attend colleges from Colorado to Florida. That allowed them to rally students at different universities to vote for their video. Another star of the music video, Jake Giganti, freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder said he was shocked SEE MTV ON PAGE 3A CAMPUS Dining Services supports locally grown food BY ALY VAN DYKE avandyke@kansan.com Tucked away in the corner of the KU Dining Services' kitchen in the Kansas Union is a large, powder blue industrial elevator. Planted in the corner of the roof overlooking Smith Hall, behind a brown iron gate, are whiskey barrels overflowing with sage and other garden herbs. On the right are white buckets with vines climbing up wires, sprouting with bell peppers, jalapeños and tomatoes. Most days, the elevator carries staff and food between levels. But in the summer and fall months, the elevator serves a different purpose: it allows KU Dining staff to reach a rooftop garden and harvest herbs and vegetables for daily specials on campus. Traver said she began the Union Rooftop Garden last year in an effort to make the department more sustainable. And it all goes into the food on campus. Around that same time, Traver started going to the local Farmers' Market and communicating with farmers throughout Kansas. "Over the last two years, we've been watching the distances our food travels more closely," said Janna Traver, executive chef with KU Dining Services. She said the effort to support local food had doubled since last year. Now, about 10 percent of KU Dining Services' purchases are locally grown or processed. She said it purchased local pro SEE PRODUCE ON PAGE 6A Chance Dibben/KANSAN Jaanna Traver, executive chef for KU Dining, harvests herbs and vegetables used on campus dishes Wednesday at the Kansas Union. Her Union Rooftop Garden began last year to make food production more sustainable and increase purchase of food product. ACTIVISM Hundreds expected at rally against violence BY DANIEL JOHNSON djohnson@kansan.com Hundreds of community members are expected to march through downtown Lawrence tonight to protest sexual violence in the community. The march will be part of the Take Back the Night rally that will begin at 5 p.m. in South Park, 11th and Massachusetts streets, and end at 10 p.m. in Buford M. Watson, Jr. Park, Sixth and Tennessee streets. The event is Lawrence's version of the internationally held rally, according to www.takebackthenight.org. Take Back the Night is a nonprofit organization that hosts rallies to protest sexual violence against women worldwide. Jesse Jones, the event's organizer and an employee of Women's Transitional Care Services, said approximately 200 men, women and children attended the event last year. He said nearly half of the attendees were students. He said students were an important part of the rally because they made up a significant portion of the Lawrence population. According to the organization's Web site, the Lawrence rally will include local food vendors, live music, children's activities and guest speakers. The event will also feature displays from several organizations including the Clothesline Project, the Pantyline Project, and the Silent Witness Project, among displays from other community organizations. Each display will center on raising awareness of domestic violence. "There is a need to create solidarity between students and the broader community on the issues of safety and accountability," Jones said. Jones said the event would be family friendly, but that the speak out circle would be uncensored. During the speak out people will be invited to openly share their experiences with sexual violence. The event will conclude with a candlelight vigil in Buford Vatson Park, according to the organization's Web site. Edited by Alicia Banister TAKE BACK THE NIGHT RALLY: WHEN: Tonight WHERE tonight WHERE: Begins in South Park, ends in Buford M. Watson Jr. Park SCHEDULE: 5:00 - Children's activities, organizational tabling, Clothesline Project, Pantyline Project, food from Thai House and Bambino's Cafe. 5:15 - Music from Yucca Roots 6:30 - Guest Speakers: Amber Versola; Curt and Christie Brungart (of 1,100 Torches) 7:30 - March down Massachusetts Street Candlelight vigil and speak out circles immediately following the march at Buford M. Watson, Jr. Park index 8A Opinion...7B Crossword...6B Sports...1B Horoscopes...6B Sudoku...6B All contents, unless stated otherwise; © 2009 The University Daily Kansan ASSOCIATED PRESS Turk named as world's tallest man Guinness World Records names Sultan Kosen, at 8-foot-1, as the tallest man alive. RECORDS| 6A weather TODAY 77 50 Sunny FRIDAY N SATURDAY 19 75 58 Mostly cloudy weather.com 9