OPINION
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5,2004
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Simpson's performance shows industry's control
So, Ashlee Simpson was caught lip-syncing. Is anyone even surprised?
Ms. Simpson was set to perform on NBC's Nov. 23 episode of Saturday Night Live. A technical miscause caused what was unmistakably a tape of her voice to begin playing before she was ready to lip-sync to it.
A visibly confused and embarrassed Simpson then favored the crowd with an unusual dance routine before bolting from the stage. Everyone from the crowd in attendance to a visible SNL producer mouthing "Oh my God" in the background were completely shocked at the incident
In an interview with a Los Angeles-area radio station, her manager-father Joe Simpson insisted that the tape everyone heard was merely a vocal-guide Simpson needed to use due to a particularly bad case of acid reflux disease that had caused her vocal cords to swell. Besides, he reasoned, all performers use these so-called vocal guides, from Celine on down.
As a music lover, I was more offended by that his vulgar display of deceit than that of Janet Jackson's famous Super Bowl mishap that devastated the country and corrupted the nation's youth.
Apparently, I was not the only one either. There are already several very amusing Internet sites dedicated to the lip-syncing fiasco, and even the message boards at Ashlee's own Web site are still not functioning. Betrayed fans caused traffic far too great for the site to handle, as angry messages directed to Simpson numbered in the thousands.
Unfortunately for the ears of the nation that has blessed the world with jazz, blues, and good old rock and roll, this is only one symptom of a much bigger problem concerning the recording industry. Recording companies today award rides straight to the top of the charts to those who possess a certain look that will sell the greatest number of albums, not to individuals who are the most talented.. Because the same small groups of people and companies own all the facets of production and distribution, they essentially decide who and what
PERSPECTIVE
JOHN BARRETT opinion@kansan.com
is going to be popular.
Except for some of the more underground music scenes, gone are the days when artists slowly built up a fanbase through hard work and effort, playing in smoky bars and opening for more successful musicians.
Instead, record companies carefully craft and market an image of pseudosexuality, slap it in heavy rotation on all 1,000 of their radio stations, and then rake in the profits. Since when are Paris Hilton and Hillary Duff musicians?
After all the tweaking that goes into those vocals, anyone can sound decent. Just as Ashlee Simpson so flawlessly demonstrated on national television, the actual music is really the least important aspect of the entire product. In a scene dominated by Clear Channel-approved imitations of imitations, it's not astonishing to see deception of this type from any of the Top 40 radio artists.
However, performers can't do this to their fans. It's not what the people paid for, and it isn't fair to charge $50 to listen to a cassette tape at a concert. The only thing missing from these types of concerts is the album packaging that drives the price of albums up to $22.
For now, it's the record companies that decide what is going to be popular. They are in control of the airwaves, and their profit-driven formulaic approach to music is damaging an important and enjoyable part of the human experience. This is something that needs to change.
Barrett is a Carbondale, ill., junior in political science and international studies.
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The recreation department sucks. Why can't 18 girls who want to play volleyball play volleyball? Why do they have to kick us out for basketball when it's only three people?
Dan Rather's a moron.
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Amazingly, Bush won on a pro-apocalypses platform.
This is really creepy. There are people all over campus and no one is talking. It is completely silent out here. What the hell is going on?
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Democrats must endure, prevail
GUEST PERSPECTIVE
Watching the election results come in Tuesday night was like watching Kansas let its lead slip against Syracuse in the 2003 men's basketball national championship. That same sinking feeling. Even before the results gave Bush the clear lead in Ohio, I couldn't watch anmore.
It's a hard time to be a Democrat. After all of the talk about the party being mobilized and the theory that the polling was inaccurate, we've lost not only the White House, but more seats in Congress as well. Another four years of President Bush feels like a bad dream. The Democrats I know all express a sense of loss, fear and disconnect with their country after this defeat. And it leaves us wondering, where did we go wrong?
STEPHANIE LOVETTI oninion@kansan.com
Well, I don't think we went wrong. We believed in the politics of hope. We believed that the American people deserve the truth. We believed that, surely, Americans couldn't honestly say they are better off now than they were four years ago. But it's hard to beat an incumbent. And for whatever reason, not enough Americans were convinced by our message.
I don't think we were naive to believe that the Democrats would turn out and swing the election. We just forgot that the Republicans are the kings of turnout and they, too, knew the
importance of this election. We may be in the (bare) minority in Congress and ignored in the White House, but we must not let this stop us from putting the Bush administration in check. We do have one thing to be thankful for: The Democratic Party is still going to be united against Bush and we have articulated a clear vision for this country.
As one Democratic operative told The New York Times, "With 120 million people voting, at some point it's got to settle in with us that there are just more of them than there are of us." The same strategist expressed fear that Democrats will now fight internally over how to combat another four years of Bush. If that happens, we Democrats are in trouble. We need unity now more than ever.
And at the least, we must stop Bush from doing more damage to the United States and its reputation. That may mean blocking Supreme Court nominations. It may mean voting down spending in Iraq. It will certainly mean stopping the renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act. But the only way these things are possible is if we are able to reach out to some Republicans in Congress.
Democrats can't do this alone; it's going to take a bipartisan effort to keep Bush from wreaking havoc. Now that this bitter fight is over, we will only truly be the losers if we are unable to move past it. Democrats have got to take a deep breath and start working again. As this week's elections have shown, the current partisan divide in our country stands to hurt us more than them.
It's OK for us to hurt for a while. But it's up to us to keep our own apocalyptic predictions about another four years from coming true. The Republicans certainly aren't going to look out for our interests.
The next four years are going to be about endurance. Because Maya Angelou is a favorite of Bill Clinton's, I will quote her here without shame: "You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated." And as my wise friend Taylor says, Kerry on my wayward country.
Lovett is a Kansas City, Mo., senior in journalism and political science. She is a writer for Jayplay.
Tuition hike hurts all students
Could you go out right now and buy a new iPod? How about two of them? How about three? No? Well, you better work on that. Why, you ask? Because buying three shiny new iPODs would run you about $900, the amount most of you will be paying every year if the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences passes its differential tuition plan. Do I have your attention now? Good.
There are probably more than a few students on this campus who have no idea what I'm talking about when I say differential tuition. It's a fun name, isn't it? But to keep things simple, let's call what it is: a tuition hike. You're never going to hear that from members of the administration, though. After all, they are the ones who managed to assemble a five-year plan of tuition hikes and sell it as "tuition enhancement." It's enhanced a few things around campus most notably my debt.
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So what is this new tuition hike all about? Well, for every credit hour you take in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, you'll pay an extra amount of tuition on top of regular tuition.
most notably my debt.
BRIAN THOMAS datkinson@kansan.com
This extra bit would be the "differential" part. In the current proposal, that amount would be $30 per credit hour after a two-year phase in. That money would stay with CLAS to pay for new projects, including the plan to gut Wescoe Hall and rebuild it, and to add a new natural sciences building next to Malott Hall.
I'll be the first to admit it, the thought of Wescoe being torn apart puts a smile on my face. A new natural sciences building is needed and renovations to other buildings, such as Fraser, Blake and Lindley halls, are also welcome.
So the administration wants to have a "dialogue" with students. Well, actually, just CLAS students. After all, why should the college have to listen to anybody else? For starters, no CLAS students are required to take Drawing I, but all the Art and Design students are required to take English 101. In fact, I can probably count the number of CLAS students taking Art and Design classes this semester on my fingers and toes.
legislature hasn't really been inclined to fund public education recently, especially for the University of Kansas. And rather than spend time lobbying to fix that mentality, CLAS administrators figured it would be easier to charge us instead. After all, if something is hard, don't even try. A wonderful message for them to be teaching us if I've ever heard one. Maybe next month they'll teach us to jump off bridges with all the other cool kids.
And that's perhaps the least of the problems. Isn't this a state university? Isn't the state supposed to being paying for stuff like this? And aren't we in the middle of a five-year plan to "enhance" my tuition? Sure. All of those things are absolutely true. But the administration doesn't want to go to Topeka to ask for some help. That would be hard. The
So how do we stop this from happening? The administration says it will stop if students don't seem to be in favor of the plan. What would that entail? The administrators don't know yet — or won't tell. So they're having public meetings to discuss the whole plan, and you're invited. Well, you're kind of invited. They were nice enough to send out an ambiguous e-mail about "building a new vision."
The next meeting is from 5 to 6 p.m.
Monday in 3140 Wescoe Hall. You might want to attend. Unless, of course,
you can afford those iPods.
And after the first meeting was full of angry students yelling, they were nice enough to call the department heads and ask them to invite "like-minded" students. But don't think of it as stacking the deck against you. Think of it as the deck being "enhanced" against you.
Thomas is a Plano, Texas, senior in English and political science.