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SCENE AND HEARD // TOWN BALL
> New places. New faces.
Contributed Photo
It's 7 p.m. on a Tuesday evening, and a game is being played at Water Tower Park. This game is a lot like baseball — there's a bat, a ball, and what appear to be four bases. But if you watch and listen carefully, you'll notice it's something else entirely.
Contributed Photo Let's play ball: The Lawrence Town Ball League, a game similar to baseball, was formed after being introduced to students in a class.
The game being played is town ball, an early form of baseball, and the people playing it are part of the newly formed Lawrence Town Ball League. The league began after some of the players were introduced to the game in an Early American Culture class. Now the league meets on Tuesday nights.
The historical Town Ball game uses a slightly heavier bat, a cloth ball and stakes for bases. Town ball rules vary slightly from the rules of baseball.
Synthia Somerhalder, Burlington senior, says it is more laid back and easygoing than baseball. Anywhere from eight to 30 players will show up, and Somerhalder says that no matter how many players are there, they make it fun. "The only thing that we really require for people who want to play is good sportsmanship, a smile and being able to take insults — we try to be gentleman, but we also like to give people a hard time once
in a while," Somerhalder says.
The players also give each other nicknames — Somerhalder's is Squeaks, and Sarah Bassett, Hays senior, is known on the field as Hammerlord. Bassett says not only does town ball increase the players' knowledge about early American history, but it's good exercise and a lot of fun, too.
To learn more about the Lawrence Town Ball League, visit their Facebook page or attend a game at Water Tower Park on 1225 Sunset庙 on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m.
AMANDA SORELL
SCENE AND HEARD // FINAL FRIDAYS
> New places. New faces.
Thank goodness it's Friday. Finally
Final Fridays, Lawrence's most recent reoccurring event, is just one more reason to count down to the end of the week. A spin-off of the First Fridays art experience in Kansas City, follow the bright yellow flags along Mass Street, from The Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St., to Teller's Restaurant, 746 Massachusetts St., to find participating venues filled with exhibits or performances on the last Friday every month.
performances in honor of the free event, the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St., is filling vacant buildings with flair one Friday at a time.
"The Center uses currently empty spaces downtown and "flashes" them into galleries just for one night," says Lawrence senior and administrative assistant Emma Hoyle. Flash Space, the name of the constantly changing gallery, is currently located at 739 Massachusetts St., formerly Maurices.
"I think it's a cool way to utilize under-used space and an awesome way for more artists to have their work shown." Hoyle says.
And where there's art, there's usually music. Final Fridays is no exception. Follow the sound
Contributed photo
If it's not harbor, a playoff of Kansas City's First Fridays, Lawrence's Final Fridays offers a chance to check out local art galleries, like Rita Blitt's exhibit pictured here.
of strumming or singing to find an unusually high number of street artists.
Jane Pennington, Director of Downtown Lawrence Inc., deems the event "a monthly celebration of the arts," from 5 to 8 p.m. The first Final Fridays was on Aug.27th and the next one is on Oct.29th.
For a complete list of participating venues check out: http://downtownlawrenceartsdistrict.org/
| ASHLEY BARFOROUSH |
STAGE PRESENCE // AD ASTRA ARKESTRA
> It's not all about fast food and beer polg.
Three's a crowd, as the saying goes. But local band Ad Astra Arkestra is nine members strong, and as far as they're concerned, the more members the merrier.
Ad Astra Arkestra evolved from an earlier band, Ad Astra Per Aspera, which started in 2001. In 2008, the band evolved into Ad Astra Arkestra, and Mike Tuley, a guitarist and drummer for the band, says having many people allows members to contribute their own ideas.
"We're not beholden to one incarnation or one idea, which is sort of the idea behind calling it Ad Astra Arkestra. It's a continuation of an earlier project," Tuley says.
This helps the band incorporate many different sounds, from afrobeat to free jazz and polyrhythmic to punk music. These numerous influences and collaborations offer listeners more than they might hear from a smaller band, and Tulev says that's the point.
Tuley says most members of the band are also involved with other bands or busy with their families, which can make it difficult for all nine of them to get together to practice or play a show. But when they do, it's well worth it — the group placed first in
the experimental category of the Pitch Music Showcase earlier this year. And Tuley says it was even more of an honor to look out into the crowd and see the faces of friends and fans
"The process of creating music with these people that I really like, that's the most rewarding part," says. "It's just really, really fun."
To listen to the multi-faceted tunes of Ad Astra Arkestra, check out their myspace at www.myspace.com/adastraarkestra or catch one of their live shows at the Bottleneck on Oct. 8.
AMANDA SORELL
An eclectic sound: Members of Ad Astra Arkestae are not wanting. The nine-piece band takes influence from a wide array of musical styles, including afrobeat and punk music.
said. "I like to go."
That's my thing. I think it's going to be fun. It's going to be interesting to see how this thing happens"
Marcus Morris said the difference may be most noticeable on defense.
Senior guard Tyrel Reed is one of the quickest players on a fast Kansas roster. Reed said the athleticism on this year's team reminded him of the 2007-2008 national title-winning team.
"I think without Cole and having Keef at the five and having T-Rob coming in, we're going to be a lot quicker in coming off ball screens and being able to trap and sometimes switch with the five," he said. "Keef can guard and T-Rob can guard, so I think we'll be a lot quicker on the perimeter."
Sophomore forward Thomas
Robinson said he doesn't think the game plan will change — Self always wanted to play up-tempo last year, he said — but the team this year is more geared to play to those strengths.
"Coach Self wanted us to play
fast from the beginning, so for us to have a more athletic team from top to bottom just put us right where we want to be," Robinson said.
said.
Reed said the ability to go from one through five without a significant drop-off reminded him of another team he played for at Kansas. One that won a national championship.
amphibious.
"Id say, being here in '07-08,
yeah, it definitely does look a lot
more like it," Reed said. "Just from
the standpoint that we have a lot of guys that can go and go get scores and do their own thing. We're all unselfish, and I think that's kind of the way they were."
- Edited by Clark Goble
Mariah Montgomery, a sophomore infielder from Ralston, Neb. slides home safe Wednesday night at Arrocha Ballpark. The Jayhawks beat Johnson County Community College 16-1 in an exhibition match. The Jayhawks racked up 15 hits against the Cavaliers.
SOFTBALL
With two wins, Jayhawks start season strong
BY BLAKE SCHUSTER bschuster@kansan.com
NEXT GAME:
WHO: Kansas vs.
Seminole State CC
WHEN: Saturday, 11 a.m.
WHERE: Lawrence
Coming off a 10-0 win against Baker in the practice season opener, the Jayhawks looked to continue their winning streak, taking the field against Johnson County Community College Wednesday night. The Jayhawks won 16-1.
Kansas struck first, going up 2-0 after a homerun by senior outfielder Liz Kocon to right field in the bottom of the first inning, with a runner on second. In the next inning, the Jayhawks chased Johnson County's starting pitcher Lynna Kays after adding eight more runs onto their lead on six hits.
The Jayhawks lost the shutout in the third inning after an error by KU led to a run scored by the Cavaliers. That would be the only run scored against Kansas for the rest of the game.
rest of the game
The lajhwacks pounced on the Cavaliers, totaling 16 runs on 15 hits with two errors. The Cavaliers totaled one run, three hits and six errors.
In only their second practice game of the season, the Jayhawks already looked to be in mid-season form, both on offense and defense.
One of the main elements con
tributing to KU's win was smart, effective base running, according to coach Megan Smith.
"We really try to make it a focus for us at practice, to really work on that base running so we can utilize that during our games this season," Smith said.
The layhawks were very attentive on the pads, stealing bases at appropriate times and getting good leads which turned into runs scored.
Complimenting the base run
by the jayhawk bats
Sophomore outfielder Rosie Hull
helped ignite the team's offense,
accounting for three RBIs including
a run scored.
ing a run score.
"It was awesome," Hull said on her offensive night. "My normal role on the team is a slapper, and my job is to just get on base, so I don't get a lot of RBI's. To come up in the situation and perform just felt really great."
She finished the game, retiring the side in three consecutive batters. After the game Jones commented on the backup her team gave her while she took control of the mound.
The role of closing out the game belonged to sophomore pitcher and outfielder Alex Jones. With the slaughter rule about to take effect, Jones stepped to the mound in the seventh inning looking to get the job done.
jones said. The Jayhawks take the field next on Saturday with double header action against Seminole State Community College and Washburn at Arrocha Ballpark.
Edited by Michael Bednar
"I know that my defense is gonna back me up if the ball is put in play, but I was feeling it tonight, and I just felt really good and the defense did step up when they needed to," Jones said.
Another thing that really stood out to me about these rules was how they fit in to "forming the man," which is one of Gill's goals. These rules, while they take away distractions, also seem to take away some of the traditional football stereotypes of big tough guys who curse and womanize whenever the opportunity arises. I am by no means saying that any player actually fits that stereotype, or that Gill's rules have made a change, but on paper they sound good.
Gill has defended these changes as ways of keeping distractions away before games, which is a completely valid point. Although the rules may sound odd at first, they start to make sense when you think about how distracted the average person is by his or her phone or the opposite sex.
The way I see it, Gill is not going to turn this program and its reputation around dramatically within a year, which is to be expected. But what he can do is start to change the reputation of the athletes. Some reporters have said that this will hurt recruiting, but I think if Kansas' trademark is producing well respected young men, that is not a bad reputation to have.
night.
The last one stood out to me as most interesting because the first thing I thought of was a line from the 1975 film "Rocky," Rocky is training for a heavyweight title bout when his trainer Mick tells him he cannot see his girlfriend anymore because, "women weaken knees." This was not Gill's reason exactly, but there are some common elements.
Gill brought new rules just as any coach would do to keep his team focused and in line. Three of the biggest changes are the new rules on not cursing in the locker rooms or on the field, not using telephones the night before a game and not seeing women after 10 p.m. on any night.
Especially if the success on the field follows.
— Edited by Tim Dwyer