THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15,2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
HOLLYWOOD HOPES
VOLUME 123 ISSUE 61
Evan Palmer/KANSAN
the Louisiana Street Band practices Sunday night in lead guitarist Evan Epperson's garage. The members pictured include, from left, bassist Brad Feagan, a sophomore from Oswego; saxophonist Scott Marks, a senior from Lawrence; keyboardist Austin Quick, a senior from Shawne; Epperson, a senior from Wichita; and rhythm guitarist JohnMarc Skoch, a senior from Hastings, Neb. The band, which will be perform in Lawrence on Dec. 2 at the Granada, is a finalist in the General Mills Battle for the Band Contest.
Band battling for trip to L.A.
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
Light brown and yellow leaves lie smashed under where the garage door seals against the driveway. Inside rests guitar cases, a saxophone stand, and enough amplifiers and speakers to rattle the house built above the garage on Lawrence Avenue in West Lawrence.
This isn't the home of The Louisiana Street Band — the members just happened to be using the garage to practice over the weekend. This is a band born in Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall, now poised to make the leap to Los Angles and win a recording session in the same place where Aretha Franklin and Dave Matthews Band have recorded past albums.
The music they practice inside of that small Lawrence garage has already reached thousands of ears across the country through a national battle of the bands competition sponsored by General Mills. The top three vote recipients in the competition, called "U Rock! Battle for the Best," will travel to Los Angeles to perform in front of industry judges and the winner will get to record in Firehouse Recordings Studios.
"That's a big deal," Evan Epperson, a senior from Wichita,
said. "Basically all the recordings I've done have been in most disad-vantageous locations."
The Louisiana Street Band had previously only recorded a list of about seven songs in their dorm rooms or the garage, which was on the verge of being invaded by fall leaves.
Epperson is the lead guitarist and vocalist in the band. He had been trying to put together a group since arriving at the University, but the current form of the band has only existed for one year. The six current members came together for their first performance together in September for the Campus Battle of the Bands sponsored by Department of Student Housing, KU Dining Services and General Mills.
The competition was judged by crowd noise. And the winner was slated to enter the national General Mills' contest.
"I voted for Lucky Charms," Scott Marks joked while Epperson quickly agreed.
Marks, a senior at Baker University, is the saxophonist for the band. He said it was obvious that their band had defeated the two other competing bands at Templin Hall.
Voting for the "U Rock!" contest began on Oct. 29. The
U ROCK! BATTLE
FOR THE BEST
Includes bands from nine different states. Voting open until Nov. 25 at www.rockyourcampus.com. You can vote once a day.
The Louisiana Street Band will perform at The Granada on Dec. 2.
Louisiana Street Band started the competition off in first place, but soon fell down in voting totals due to an apparent cheating scandal in the system. Some bands were receiving around five thousand votes each day. General Mills restarted the voting, and ever since then, The Louisiana Street Band has maintained the lead, almost doubling the second place band with 1,068 votes as of Sunday night.
Austin Quick, a senior from Shawnee, said the band has a decently strong following here in Lawrence.
"Someone at the Jazzhaus actually said it was pretty cool that our name was that." Quick said of
his band's name, which was originally The Louisiana Street Voodoo Kings, "Because if you're not from Lawrence you're not going to really know."
The band name also provokes a good sense of what their music sounds like, Epperson said. They originally began as a blues group, but have evolved into a classic rock
— with a hint of Cajun — funk group. The members of the band have experience as varied as the group's musical style. Epperson said they could sound like a band from New Orleans.
Marks has been classically trained in the saxophone, and he says that this group really allows for each member's talents and personalities to show through in their music.
Voting is open on the contest's website until Nov. 25. Epperson said even if they don't win this competition, the amount exposure they received from this national competition is invaluable. Quick said there was a long future ahead of this band.
"We hope to just keep going with it as high and as long as we can," Quick said.
But for now they will practice in their garage in West Lawrence with Louisiana Street on their minds.
— Edited by Clark Goble
COMMUNITY|6A
Students bring 'The Big Event' to Lawrence
An annual project started by Texas A&M students, the event promotes a day devoted to improving the communities that surround universities.
A new University of Kansas proposal suggesting a 1.6 percent raise in food and housing fees will go before the Board of Regents this week.The 1.6 percent increase, roughly $58, was the smallest increase of all six universities represented by the board.
CAMPUS|3A
Food and housing fees may rise again with new proposal to Board
INDEX
Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5A
Crossword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6A
Cryptoquips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6A
Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7A
Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1B
Sudoku. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6A
WEATHER
TODAY
62 33
TUESDAY
Partly cloudy
59 38
Mostly sunny
WEDNESDAY
5526
POSTER|4B
Few showers
Don't forget to bring your Kansan gameday poster
Don't forget to bring the sports section of today's paper to the basketball game tonight and participate in one of the school's more popular pre game traditions.
Woodyard
Most people will remember Woodyard for his work ethic, easy laughter and dedication to the
Professor left an 'indelible mark'
BY MICHAEL HOLTZ
OBITUARY
mholtz@kansan.com
Professor Emeritus George Woodyard, a pioneer in the field of Latin American theater, died of cancer on Nov. 7. He was 75 years old.
community,
said Stuart
Day, chairman of the
Spanish and
Portuguese
Department.
"I'll always remember him for his gentle kind.
ness and for the way he helped people reach their potential," Day said. "Sometimes without them even knowing it."
Woodyard was a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese from 1966 to 2005. He became the first dean of international studies in 1989.
He founded an academic journal called the Latin American Theatre Review in 1967 and was
its editor for more than 40 years. He won numerous awards, including the Ollantay Prize for Theatre in Venezuela and the Miami
"I'll always remember him for his gentle kindness."
"If I continued in academia I would've wanted to be like him," said Johnson, a Spanish teacher at Perry-Lecompton High School. "I would've wanted to have that kind of positive influence on students while still being a highly regarded academic professional."
what she described as his "treemendous sense of humor." She was a student in his Latin America drama class nearly 40 years ago.
Woodyard was also a widely published author. His publications include several anthologies and bibliographies, articles in major publications in the U.S. and abroad and a collection of essays on Latin American playwrights. He contributed to "Theatre Companies of the World" and various Cambridge Guides to theater, according to a KU news release.
"He will be remembered for his generous dedication of time toward his students and other young scholars, for his vitality when organizing international events, and for his foundational contributions as a scholar of drama and the stage in Latin America." Anderson said in a press release.
Teatro Avante lifetime achievement award.
STUART DAY Spanish professor
Maribel Johnson, a KU alumna, was one of those students. She said she remembered Woodyard for his genuine enthusiasm and
Danny Anderson, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said Woodyard was a teacher and mentor who left "an indelible mark" on students and faculty alike.
his wife, Eleanor Tendick, and four children.
Woodyard was born on Nov. 18, 1934, in Charleston, Ill., as the youngest of nine children. He is survived by Tendick, and
Woodyard received his bachelor's degree in education from Eastern Illinois University in 1954 and his master's degree in Spanish from New Mexico State University the following year. He received a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Illinois in 1966.
—Edited by Kelsey Nill
Wes Sante, a native Kansas and former Olympian, died Sunday after battling cancer. In the 1950s, Sante was one of three men lying to break the eleventh four-minute mile record.
1950s track superstar dies Sunday at age 78
OBITUARY
BY ROSHNI OOMMEN roommen@kansan.com
Wes Santee, a University track star and Olympian, died Sunday morning at the age of 78 in Eureka after battling cancer.
Santee was regarded as one of the world's greatest distance runners in the 1950s, according to a press release from KU Athletics. While at the University, Santee won three NCAA individual titles. In 1953, he led the cross country team to its only NCAA team championship. He graduated from the University in 1954.
Santee competed in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. He was named the nation's most
outstanding athlete by the Helms Foundation — an athletic foundation based in Los Angeles later that year.
In 2004, Santee was inducted into the State of Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame.
"Wes Santee was one of KU's all-time greats, not just in track and field, but in the history of Kansas athletics," said Sean Lester, KU interim athletics director, in the press release. "He loved KU and the entire Kansas family will miss him. Our hearts go out to his family."
Edited by Dana Meredith