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Wednesday, April 9, 1997
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
RCA to release boxed set of rare Elvis Presley music
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Researchers have unlocked a vault of unreleased material — in one case quite literally — that they hope will do for Elvis Presley's posthumous career what the Anthology sets did for the Beatles.
RCA is preparing a four-CD, 100-song Presley set for release this summer that will contain 77 performances that have never been released publicly.
The record company said the project was in the works before Capitol released the three Beatles Anthology albums during the last year and a half. "But it did motivate us," Osmansky said.
The package, called Elvis Presley Platinum: A Life in Music, is part of a blitz of activity that will coincide with the 20th anniversary of Presley's death in August.
"We have not really traced his whole career in one box set," said Michael Omansky, RCA's vice president for strategic marketing. "We wanted to come up with a product that would appeal to the fan base and also appeal to the casual record buyer."
Those Beatles albums proved there was a hunger for outtakes and unheard performances by seminal artists who won't be heard from again. RCA did some real detective work for the first time to unearth new Presley material.
One of the more intriguing
finds came when two researchers were looking through the office of Vernon Presley, the singer's deceased father. They were seeking documents to trace some of Elvis' early performances.
They found a locked file cabinet, the key long since lost. After making a new key to open it, Graceland archivist Greg Howell and Presley researcher Ernst Jorgensen found about 40 tapes.
Most of it was junk: Elvis' personal music collection and test tapes from aspiring singers that had long since been tossed aside. But there were a handful of private Presley performances nobody knew he had recorded, including Elvis singing Bob Dylan's *Blowin' in the Wind* in a deep, bass voice.
That's on the box set, along with a recently discovered 1953 recording of I'll Never Stand in Your Way made by an unknown Presley in a Memphis studio where he had paid for the time himself, Jorgensen said.
Presley lore had the singer entering a studio once before his professional career began to make a record for his mother's birthday. This second performance indicates there was another motivation, he said.
"I'm not going to believe that this had anything to do with his mother's birthday," Jorgensen said. "He went into a recording studio hoping that someone would discover him."
A wheelchair that offers its users both sitting and standing positions for about $15,000 less than similar wheelchairs began as a dream for one quadrilegic.
By Mary Corcoran Special to the Kansan
Students help create standing wheelchair
That dream is about to become a reality for Jay Johnson with the help of a University of Kansas industrial design professor and his students. Johnson, an entrepreneurial graduate student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, lost the use of his arms and legs eight years ago.
Associate Professor Lance Rake began working on the project with St. Cloud State engineers in the spring of 1996. Rake and his students are concentrating on the design aspects of the project, while the Minnesota unit is working on the engineering of the wheelchair.
The chair, which will operate in both standing and sitting positions, will offer people with disabilities a chance to do more tasks in the standing position, such as reaching the top cabinets of their home, Johnson said.
"The chair adds quality of life to people who have mobility impairments," Johnson said.
"One of the unique aspects of the project is the use of both designers and engineers to complete the wheelchair," Johnson said. "Traditionally, engineers made things work and designers made things look nice. This is the first time an engineering team has combined with an industrial design team like this."
One of the main goals of the project is to make the wheelchair as economical as possible, Johnson said. Current standing position chairs cost between $15,000 and $20,000 about $5,000 of which is covered by Medicare and other health care providers.
The team hopes to make a standing chair that will cost only $5,000, all of which will be covered by Medicare.
In the past five years, the team has gone through many models for the chair. Members of the team call their model the Vertran, for vertical transportation. The latest model, the ZX10, combines the best components from the previous models.
GR Gordon-Ross/KANSAN
St. Cloud State has been working on the wheelchair since late 1992, Johnson said. The team plans to have a prototype model finished in about three months and have a chair on the market by May 1998.
Johnson said that St. Cloud State had chosen to work with KU's industrial design program because of its location and reputation.
"It's located within arm's reach," Johnson said. "And it was one of the best programs of the 40-odd we thought we could work with."
Lance Rake's team began designing the chair by sketching small models of what they thought it could look like. Then, they turned the drawings into computer generated models, using computer animation programs. Rake could then send concept models via the Internet to the engineering team in Minnesota.
When both teams had agreed on a computer model, the industrial design class made quarter and half size models of the wheelchair.
"We take the 2-D and move it into 3-D," Rake said. "We are working very economically and the digital
Jay Johnson, St. Cloud State University graduate student, looks at conceptual drawings of his wheelchair with a member of the KU Center Design Research class. Johnson lost the use of his legs and arms eight years ago and has been working on the wheelchair for about two years.
realm helps that."
Johnson said that the beauty behind the project was that they were not following the tradition of building a product first and then realizing that it didn't work.
Students in Rake's Center Design Research class meet on Tuesday and Thursday nights at the Chamney House located on West Campus. The house is filled with drawings, photographs and sketches of the chair, as well as many three-dimensional models and computers. They use the
The project received a $500,000 grant from the federal government and is also partially funded by private foundations, Johnson said.
Chamney Barn for prototyping and machining, Rake said.
Rake's class is also breaking the tradition of using engineers to make a product work and designers to give the product style.
The class has 11 students, about half of whom have taken the class for more than one semester. Many of the students were personally asked by Rake to enroll in the class.
"You can't just style these things," Rake said. "You have to think about he way they fit the human."
"It is a prestigious thing to be a part of this select group," said Trent Zagorsky, Shawnee senior.
Seventh Annual Spring Pow-Wow
sponsored by Native American Student Association
Saturday, April 12th at the Anshutz Sports Pavillion
Grand Entry - 6pm
EVERYONE WELCOME
Honored Guest; Olympic Gold Medalist, Billy Mills
STUDENT For further information contact Regina Grass at 832-2569 SENATE
Have you always wanted to make a significant difference in the lives of people? Do you care about social issues such as illiteracy, homelessness, and violence?
Then it's your chance to work with a team of college students that affect community changes!
The Co-Directors of KU Center for Community Outreach are currently seeking applications for 1997-1998 Project Coordinators.
Applications available at Student Senate Office (410 Kansas Union)
Applications received at 5:00 PM to Student Senate Office
Questions? Call Amy or Emily at 864-4073
Project Coordinators manage a volunteer program that involves recruiting and training volunteers, coordinating volunteer schedules, and maintaining contact with community groups. Project Coordinators also serve on the Center for Community Health Sciences at the University of Illinois Epidemiologic Program related responsibilities which include the following duties:
- Alternative Spring Break Coordinator
* Community Internship Coordinator
* Concern, Aware, and Active Students Coordinator
* Camp Write Coordinator
* Financial Coordinator
- Jubilee Cafe Coordinator
* Peer Mentoring Coordinator
* University Relations Coordinator
* Research Board
* Students Tutoring for Literacy
M
STUDENT
SENATE
Applications for other staff members are due Friday, April 11 by 4 pm.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Be a player on the best team in the nation.
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The best college newspaper in the nation is on this campus and we want you to be a part of that winning tradition. Find out how the real advertising world works, hone your computer skills, set your own hours,and get experience that will shine on your resume.
We want people from all walks of life no matter what sex, race, interest or major. If you think you can contribute to a winning team, we want you. Pick up your application at the Kansan office in 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall and score a great job for either the Summer or Fall.
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+ Catch up or get ahead on course work
There are many benefits to attending summer school in Lawrence!
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+ Enroll for 4 and 8 week courses
Enjoy Lawrence in the summer
Enrollment Dates: now through April 30 for currently enrolled students June2 for new admits and readmits Late Enrollment June 3-June 16 Classes begin June 3.
For further information about the KU Summer Session, contact the Enrollment Center at 864-5459.
For admission or readmission information, contact the Office of Admissions at 864-3911