1
18 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WHAT'S HAPPENING
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2004
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28
Your Enemies, Read Yellow, The Brighton Line and The Scarecrow Garden will perform at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St. The punk show starts at 8 p.m. and is open to all ages.
Hope for August will perform at The Brick, 1727 McGee, Kansas City, Mo. The rock show begins at 10 p.m. and is open for those 21 and older.
Hot Fruit and Crush will perform at Davey's Uptown Ramblers Club, 3402 Main St. Kansas City, Mo. The 21 and over show features experimental rock and starts at 9:30 p.m.
THURSDAY, JULY 29
The String Cheese Incident will perform at Uptown Theatre, 3700 Broadway, Kansas City, Mo. The bluegrass jam band starts at 7 p.m. The cost is $33.
- Singer and songwriter Chris Isaak will perform at the Starlight Theatre, 460 Starlight Road, Kansas City, Mo. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. and ticket prices range from $29.50 to $100.
The pop-rock band, Distance to Empty, will perform at Fatso's, 1016 Massachusetts St. The 21 and over show starts at 9 p.m. and costs $2.
FRIDAY, JULY 30
Country singers Toby Keith and Terri Clark will perform at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 633 N. 130th St, Bonner Springs. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and ticket prices range from $33.75 to $63.75.
■ Dank Nuggets will perform at The Jazzhaus, 926 1/2 Massachusetts St., at 10 p.m. The funk show costs $4 for those 21 and over.
Brother Ali at Project Groove will perform at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St. The hip-hop show is open to all ages.
SATURDAY, JULY 31
Dierks Bentley, Ricchet and Dixie Road will perform at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, 2120 Harper, beginning at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15 and $20.
Summer Youth Theatre presents Robin Hood & the Duke's Daughter at 7:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire. Tickets are $6 and $8.
The McFadden Brothers will perform at The Blue Room, 1616 E. 18th St., Kansas City, Mo. Tickets are $15.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 1
Summer Youth Theatre presents Robin Hood & the Duke's Daughter at 7:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire. Tickets are $6 and $8.
Step on It, Scraps and Heart Attacks and Pull the Pin will perform at El Torreon Bailroom, 3101 Gilham Plaza, Kansas City, Mo.
Chicago and Earth, Wind and Fire will perform at 7:30 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 633 N. 130th St., Bonner Springs. Ticket prices TBA.
BOOKS
Thomas Frank's book leaves many questions unanswered
Thomas Frank's book, What's the Matter with Kansas? explores how the conservative backlash movement has brought culture to the forefront of politics and how politicians, elected by constituents with values simpatico, favor "business-friendly" legislation that hurts those same constituents.
The first third of the book is well researched, well written, and interesting. Frank said the masochistic, bidding wars in towns like Garden City entered to win contracts with slaughterhouses. For Garden City, the slaughterhouses not only brought jobs but also a cheap, immigrant labor force and a great need for corn, which depletes the dry region's aquifer.
Kansas Senator Pat Roberts' Freedom to Farm Act hurt farmers by removing "certain price supports" and allowed agribusinesses to pay "substantially less for wheat and corn than what it cost to grow the wheat and
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS?
Author: Thomas Frank
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Grade: B
corn."
These first 80 or so pages contain interesting anecdotes about big business in Kansas and a strange and selective biography of junior Kansas Senator Sam Brownback as a Catholicconvert with Opus Dei ties (Opus Dei was trying to obtain the Holy Grail until Indiana Jones thwarted them in The DaVinci Code) and as a roommate of people in Washington, D.C., who study "the leadership secrets of Hitler."
When the author leaves Kansas to cover the national conservative backlash, his book turns into a forty-minute version of Free Bird. He attempts to refute the Hannitys and Coulters of the Right, who often refute themselves. Frank then returns to Kansas and his
home suburb, Mission Hills, and whines about not being one of the elite. And at times, when Frank describes people with radical religious views, his tone borders on arrogant. He makes fun of one man's pronunciation of the word 'sedevacantism.'
The author doesn't list the benefits capitalism provides. However, he mentions President Clinton's involvement in the deregulation of business and admonishes liberals, especially New Democrats, for buying into the values-not-economics-war.
What's the Matter with Kansas? is worth reading, if just for its first chapters. In the end, I have many questions for the author. What is the matter with Kansas? Why do trains sound their screaming whistles when they pass my apartment at three in the morning? And why do they leave that pig-poo smell in their wake? I'd give Thomas Frank's book a B, but since the book can't even answer these simple questions, he gets an F.
Wheaton Elkins
DINING OUT
Roly Poly restaurant offers average wraps and salads
A cheap meal is worth its weight in gold in a college town. An added benefit to the cheap meal equation is a creative way to serve the food. Roly Poly, 818 Massachusetts St., is a fairly cheap and creative way to get the classic sandwich in town, and at a great downtown location.
Roly Poly offers wraps and salads at a relatively cheap price. A half-wrap costs $3.25 and a whole costs about $5. The menu offers almost 50 different styles of wraps, ranging from the tame Chicken Caesar to the strange Thanksgiving wrap.
One of their more traditional wraps is the Ranch Roast. Roast beef, garlic spread, sundried tomatoes, bacon, lettuce and ranch dressing are rolled into a tortilla and is a tasty and interesting alternative to a regular roast beef sandwich.The toppings weren't particularly fresh. The lettuce was brown and wilted, and the sundried tomatoes tasted sweeter than usual. There wasn't a generous amount of meat on the wrap. In fact, more meat would have made up for the less-than-fresh extras. The size of the wrap was average, appropriate for the half-size price.
ROLY POLY SANDWICHES
Address: 818 Massachusetts Street
Hours: Sun-Wed, 10am-10pm; Thursday,
10am-11pm; Fri & Sat, 10am-1:30am
Specialty: wraps, salads
Grade: C
Another classic wrap is the California Turkey. Turkey breast, cheddar cheese, scallions, lettuce, tomato avocado, ranch dressing and mango chutney spice-up the ordinary turkey sandwich. The mango chutney didn't taste right in the wrap, and the lettuce and toppings weren't fresh either. The avocado tasted excellent though, the
right amount of smoothness to cancel out the strong taste of the chutney. The meat and cheese were unremarkable and tasted average.
The store was very clean and very quiet. The seating areas next to the windows provide a nice people-watching space, and you don't feel cramped into corners like other Massachusetts Street restaurants. The service was average. The staff seemed more interested into running back into the kitchen than actually serving the customers at the table.
Overall, Roly Poly is an average eating experience. The toppings could have been fresher, and the averaged wraps didn't compare to larger sandwich wraps someone could make at home with his or her own ingredients. The only reason to go back is to sample their huge menu, but it isn't much more appetizing than any other sandwich shop in Lawrence.
Meagan Kelleher
MONDAY, AUGUST 2
OURS will perform at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire, beginning at 6 p.m. The show is all ages.
Bruce Hornsby will perform at Uptown Theater, 3700 Broadway, Kansas City, Mo., beginning at 8 p.m. The show is all ages. Tickets range from $25 to $36.
Clutch will perform at The Granada Theater, 1020 Massachusetts St., beginning at 8 p.m. The show is all ages. Tickets are $16.50
TUESDAY, AUGUST 3
One hundred fifty years of fashion accesories will begin at 10 a.m. at Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts St. There is no admission. Call 841-4109 for more information
Downtown Lawrence farmer's market will be from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of Vermont Street.
Kansas City Royals play the Chicago White Sox at 7:10 p.m. in Kauffman Stadium. Ticket prices range from $7 to $25.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4
Evanescence, Seether, 3 Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin will perform at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre, 633 N. 130th St., Bonner Springs, beginning at 7 p.m. Ticket prices range from $22 to $34.
Kansas City Royals play the Chicago White Sox at 7:10 p.m. in Kauffman Stadium. Ticket prices range from $7 to $25.