8
Friday, March 23, 1979
University Daily Kansan
Collector's items
These comics would be worth more than $500 to a comic book collector, shown from left to right, are Conan No. 1, 1700; The Fantastical Four No. 1, 1961; and Spider-Man No. 1, 1963.
Heroes may be hard to find in the cynical 70s, but the lust of the hero-worshipping tradition, the comic-book
Staff Reporter
By RON BAIN
Superheroes' popularity thrives
Superman is now a movie. The Amazing Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk are TV stars. Rare comic books, such as Action No. 1, featuring the first appearance of Superman, are selling islands of dollars at comic-book conventions across the country.
But the companies that publish comic books may be facing a financial crisis in the future, according to a local comic-book fan group.
Murray, 22, said he had been reading and collecting comics as a hobby since he entered college four years ago.
*PART OF THE PROBLEM is that they are still catering to the kids, the kids that spend money on comic books are rapidly getting out of school.*
The DC company, which publishes Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, is losing money, Murray said. Marvel Comics, the publisher of Spider-Man, the Hulk and the Fantastic Four, is just barely clearing a profit.
"I was walking by a bookstore about the time I started KU and saw the comics, and said to myself I remember Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. I used to read those when I was a kid. I watched, and before I knew it, I had collected 2,000 comics," he said.
Comic books are popular with college students and teen-age nationwide, but children can no longer afford to buy them. Murray said the publishers of the four-colour newsprint book cost 10 cents in 1981, recently raised the price per issue to 40 cents.
HIGHER PRICES have made the comic-collecting hobby an expensive one in recent years, according to another collector.
Clark said he spent about $12 a month on new comic books and as much as $800 dollars a year on old comic books from used stores.
"DC, although they've tried, hasn't made it to the modern world," he said.
Clark's collection, which contains mostly Marvel superhero comics, numbers more than 2,500 issues, he said. Clark said he preferred Marvel's comics over DC's comics because Marvel's are more realistic and timely.
Marvel revolutionized the comic industry during the '80s when it created superheroes such as Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. These heroes had personal problems and did not win all their battles, Clark said.
SPIDER-MAN IS the best-selling superhero comic book, Murray said, and has been since the late 70s.
Dedicated comic book and fantasy fans will be able to get together for a weekend convention at the end of this month at the Johnson County Community College campus, Jonathan Bacon, coordinator of student activities at the college, said.
The movie "2001 : A Space Odyssey" will be shown immediately after registration, which costs $$ a person. Bacon said
The convention, which will be March 31 and April 1, will feature professional fantasy writers and artists as guest hosts, science fiction and fantasy films, comic-book and art dealers and a masquerade.
Registration for the convention will be held at 6:30 p.m. on March 14th at the student activities office of the college in Overland
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Spare Time
Nightlife
Lawrence Opera House, 642 Massachu
sette St.
- Gran Max and Wakefield, March 24
* Head Unit, March 28
- Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.
March 29.
- March 29
Paul Gray's Jazz Place, 926 Massachusetts
- Mike Vax from the Dukes of Dixieland,
March 23-24.
- Off the Wall Hall, 737 New Hampshire St.
- Earnie Valencia, March 25.
- Acoustic Jam Session, March 28
* Earthbound band, March 29
Concorte
K • KU Concert Chorale, 8 p.m., March 23,
Swarthout Recital Hall
- Milam Fried, violin, 8 p.m., March 24,
University Theatre.
- KU Chamber Choir with the Lawrence
Players, "The Passion According to
St. John," 3:30 p.m., March 25, University Theatre.
- KU Concert Choir, 8 p.m., March 28,
Swarthout Recital Hall.
Exhibits
Art and Design Gallery, Visual Art
& Stuart Loten, ceramics, through
March 21.
Kansas Union Gallery, Kansas Union,
photography contest winners, March 26
Lands' Gallery, 918 Massachusetts Limited Editions Wildlife Prints.
Lawrence Arts Center, 7th and Vermont streets, Fifth Annual Juried Pain Show, the Wesleyan School.
7 E 9 Gallery, 7 East 7th St, Dennis Heim
7 E Landscapes, portraits and still life paint
Valley West Gallery, 2112 A-West 25th St. Ruth Pangitin, batiks; Charles Sanderson, watercolors; and Kathleen Bartholomew, Kansas scenes; through March 31.
Concert violinist to appear
Miriam Fried, a concert violinist from Israel, will perform at 8 p.m. tomorrow in the
The concert is part of the KU Concert Series.
Pianist Luis Battle will accompany Fried's program, which will include works by Beethoven, Bach, Stravinsky, Paganini and Schubert.
Fried, who was born in Germany and grew up in Israel, began studying violin as an 8-year-old. At 16, she graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and later studied music in both Switzerland and the United States.
Fried made her debut in 1969 at Carnegie
Hall in New York City and was the first woman to win the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium Competition in 1971. She first persevered through the Phillarhionic during the 1976-77 season.
She has performed at Lincoln Center and has a soloist with symphonies in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Los Angeles, Toronto, London and Munich, West Germany.
Fried also will conduct a master class from 10 a.m. to noon tomorrow in Room 338
Tickets for the Concert Series performance are on sale in the Murphy Hall box office for $3. $3.50 and $4. KU students will be admitted free with a valid ID card.
Theatre group seeks persons willing to work
The Open-Window Group, a theatre troupe dedicated to acquaining individuals with contemporary theatre, is organizing in Lawrence.
Rick Doolittle, Lawrence junior, is the group's organizer and director. He said the first production would be Martin Duberman's "Visions of Keronac," a play about Jack Keronac, a modern romantic prose writer. He also said the group would expand on the story with new garde staging, using slide projections, recorded music and intimate stage settings.
"The Lawrence community should have an introduction to contemporary work." Donna Good, a theater educator good, too. A certain population will pack our theater because Keroufe has a real talent.
"Kerouac writes about freedom to be able to roam," he said. "The play is an amalgamation of scenes that make up Kerouac's life."
DOOLTITLE SAID the play's author waived all the royalties and asked Doooltite to keep in touch with him about the company's success.
Doolittle说 the play would be produced in conjunction with the Lawrence Arts Center, 7th and Vermont streets, but that the funding would be his own.
"At this stage, all the funding is out of my own pocket, and we're going in the hole on you."
Doolittle said auditions for the group would be at 10 a.m. March 31 at the arts center. The play has roles for 11 men and women who will be staged this summer. Doolittle said
"It's a different play and I need really talented people," he said. "I'm looking for people that are dedicated and willing to work."
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN-
Arts & Leisure
'China' offers disaster syndrome cure
By TONY FITTS
Reviewer
Disaster movies have received a bad name in the last few years, with films like "The Towering Inferno," "Earthquake" and "Battle of the Bulge," both attributed their excesses to this bad reputation.
Because of these films, you think of a because movie as an expensive, elaborate piece of art. It's one with which hundreds of Hollywood stars are put in mortal danger by some natural or man-
When you first hear the premise of "The China Syndrome," it sounds like a typical disaster film. Southern California is threatened with atomic destruction because of a nuclear power plant disaster, which is discovered in an offhand way.
Jane Fonda plays Kimberly Wells, a television news reporter who witnesses a near-acident at a nuclear power plant she is covering for a piece of energy. Her cameraman, played by Michael Douglas, surreptitiously films the event.
WHEN HE SHOWS the film to an anti-nuclear scientist, the scientist says they almost witnessed the "China syndrome." He explains:
If the nuclear reactor vessel—the core—is exposed . . . . the fuel heats beyond tolerance in a matter of minutes, nothing can stop it, and it melts right through the bottom of the plant, theoretically to China. But of course, when it hits groundwater, it bursts into an atmosphere and send out clouds of radiation that people killed would depend on which way the wind was blowing . . . render an area the size of Pennsylvania permanently
KANSAN Review
uninhabitable—not to mention the cancer that would show on ul . . .
But, even though the usasser would be huge as in any previous disaster film, "The China Syndrome" doesn't come off quite like the trivial disaster movie.
The nature of the disaster makes it different. How many people really worry about being caught below deck in a caped ocean boat? The truth is that most countries have been arrested for demonstrating their strong beliefs of the danger of nuclear power are publiced every day.
The fact that the subject matter of the film is a matter of current public concern adds to the interest of "The China Syndrome."
The characters also distinguish "The China Syndrome." Fonda is torn between her need to please her boss and her desire to pursue her passion. It is important to her career as it is to the public.
JACK LEMMON, as a shift supervisor at the nuclear plant, discovers that he also has to make a choice—between his loyalty to the planet and his ability to tell the world that the plant is not safe.
These personal crises could be treated very melodramatically, destroying their credibility, but the film is written and acted so well that you see the characters as real people. You are about self-respect in face of the compromises they have to make to keep their jobs.
The technical excellence of the film adds to its credibility. The control room and reactor sets were constructed with an eye for the details that make them look like our idea of a power plant interior: the closed cabinet, the system, the security doors, the dials and gauges are similar to those we have seen in news reports of similar locations.
THE ACTING seldom detracts from the illusion of reality. Lemmon, Fonda and Douglas play their roles well. You don't need to know about any characters they portray. Lemmon in particular, gives a chilling performance, which his Oscar-winning role in "Save the Tiger."
Lemmon plays Jack Godell, a long-time company man, shocked by the lies and dangers concealed by the company. His confidence in himself is shaken as he hears that someone is stealing from him so long is lying to the people it is supposed to serve, all in the name of profit.
The credibility of the film is important to its impact. Douglas, who produced the film in addition to acting in it, has put together a collection of essays by Douglas on which acting which reads like a slice of real life.
Because of this reality, the film is interesting and entertaining even as it gets across a very strong message. Nuclear weapons should be rigidly controlled if not banned.
Go see the film. If you don't agree with its
experience, you can enjoy the fine acting and
production. If you do agree with what they
have to say, you will be part of the film
will be that much heightened.
Women to swing at jazz festival
Jazz, jazz and more jazz is on tap this weekend at the Second Annual Women's Jazz Festival at Crown Center in Kansas City. Mt.
The festival, which features only women jazz performers, is expected to attract more than 3.000 jazz fans, and performers from 43 states and Canada. Weekend activities, include jam sessions open to the public, and three free concerts.
Some of the most well-known women jazz performers in the country, such as pianoist Marian McPartland and singer Carrie Owens, are her son, former one of the festival coordinators, said.
The festival will open Saturday morning with concerts by high school and college jazz bands, including a performance by a KU jazz ensemble.
THE JAZZ festival, sponsored by the
"WE GET all types of people coming to the festival," Comer said, "jazz fans of course, rednecks, feminists and a lot of curious people."
A performance by six of Kansas City's best gospel groups will be at 2 p.m. Sunday in the International Cafe. Some of the groups performing at the Gospel Songfest Uplifters, the White Tones and the Michael Charles Singers.
Corner said this week that she was expecting a larger crowd than last year for the festival since it was the festival's second anniversary and it had received more publicity this time.
Highlighting the weekend activities will be the Second Annual Jazz Concert at 7 p.m. Sunday in Memorial Hall. The master of ceremonies will be Leonard Feather, a conductor and historian. Comer described Feather as being the top jazz authority in the country.
"Feather produced the first all-women jazz combo album in the country," Comer said. "He pioneered the way for women jazz artists to record."
Women's Jazz Festival, Inc., was started last year by Comer and Dianne Gregg, both of Kansas City, Mo. Comer said that they wanted something like the Jazz Festival in 1977 and that they decided they wanted something like it for people in Kansas City. She said she thought a jazz festival that featured only women persecuted before, so they decided to try the idea.
Comer said women jazz musicians received little recognition for their work.
"For singers and pianists it's not too much trouble to get recognition," she said. "But there's this sexist attitude that women can't blow, so they can't make beautiful music, and so it's more difficult for a woman saxophone or trumpet player."
McPartland has played at every major jazz festival and club in the world. Comer McPartland has also been on radio show and owns her own record label, Halcyon. She is also a composer and a jazz critic for the New York Times. McPartland is also performing professionally for 27 years.
Although Comer said they tried to get different performers to come each year, an internationally-known artist, Marian McPartland, will be returning this year.
"When we first thought of a women's festival, Martian was one of the first persons who had a role."
another nationally-known jazz artist, another Carmen McRae will be appeased at the premiere of her new sensual vocal style. Corner said, and she has performed with Duke Ellington and Count
THE FESTIVAL will give women jazz performs a chance for more recognition in the music world.
Other festival activities include jazzy clinics and a performance by Cobi Narita and the Universal Jazz Coalition of Women at 5 p.m. Saturday in the International Caref
James Barnes
--go downstown and buy records, books and pocket scores.
Composer finds success with self-discipline, study
By RHONDA HOLMAN Staff Reporter
James Barnes has won two major composition awards and written music for groups across the country, but he does not consider himself typical of most modern composers.
"You are where you came from," said Barnes, staff arranger and assistant to the director of KU bands, about his upbringing on a farm near Hobart. Okla.
"I'm just not the standard musician type. I was a music student in high school but I was real big in Future Farmers of America, and I'm going to state 4-H champion sheep judge one year."
Barnes, 29, was honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers by an achievement award this year. He is a member of the Master's Association Ostwald Composition Contest and is often asked to write major compositions for high school bands and publishing companies.
"I'd read every book about music in the library by the time I was in junior high," he said. "But I would come to the University of Kansas every summer for music camp and
Barnes said he began composing when he was a sophomore in high school during the time he was copying parts his band director bad written for the group. Barnes said that he would try to study music in his hometown, but that he had collected books and studied on his own.
BARNES BEGAN writing arrangements for the Marching Jawhays band in 1968 while he attended the University of Kansas. He has also written arrangements, transcriptions and original works for the symphonic band and jazz ensembles. He now conducts the men's basketball band and the top jazz ensemble.
"BIELEVE if you're going to be a writer you need those tools. You don't have to in New York to study, you can open up a pocket score and study with Bela Bartok right there. When a composer writes it down, it's all there."
He said he thought too many contemporary composers abandoned the tools of the great composers when they tried to be creative themselves.
"What leads composers to think that you can throw all that out the window and still expect people to listen to it?" said Barnes. "There is no such thing as avant-garde music; they look out on stage, blow your nose and turn around twice and somebody will clap for it."
"Nobody has to write in the key of D all the time, but there are too many composers that are lost if they can't write for a com- pany with nine obes and a transverse narrator."
BARNES SAID that he thought we "lived in an environment of melody," and that composers were coming back to the traditional musical forms.
"I think musk is changing," he said. "I think it's going back to the whole idea of musk."
Barnes, who often conducts clinics with junior high and high school bands, said he thought an interest in music forced students to develop self-discipline.
"What you've got to do to be a composer is to be willing to work harder than anybody else on your own," he said. "Musical training in general is so good for kids because it teaches self-discipline that they will learn how to succeed if you really want to excel in music, you have to make yourself do it—nobody's there to slow the whirlflower for you."