6
Friday, February 4, 1977
University Daily Kansan
Kansas City promoters steal the show from KU
By BILL UYEKI Entertainment Editor
One often hears these days that the era of the big rock concert is gone. The youth of 1977, some claim, aren't attracted to the sharing shows as were the youth of the late. 60%
To some extent, that's true. Booking rock concerts has become a big business. But the whole spectacle of seeing a live performance by one's favorite group through a veil of marijuana smoke remains widely popular—despite rising ticket prices and a surging discount. Fad. One only need look to recent Kansas City concertes for proof.
As one observer noted, "The age of rock music as an instrument of social and political change is gone. The music as an art form will always remain, yet the massive concert symbolizing radical change no longer exists as it did in the late '80s."
The Paul McCattney and Wings show had to be the top Kansas City concert of 1976. Not only did the 18,000 seats in Kemper Arena sell out, but the tickets were sold out and no more would be given to the summer's, the outdoor shows at the Truman Sports Complex have been most successful.
And more recently, concerts featuring tird the Eagles, then Linda Rondeau, both first.
This is fine for Kansas Citians, but for the avid concert-goer in Lawrence, the situation this school year has been hardly satisfactory.
Last fall marked probably the worst concert season for KU, not in terms of quantity, but quality. Sure, there were lots of concerts—five rock concerts and two pop concerts. But most were tasteless, decibel blow-outs with little to offer artistically or aesthetically.
The Leon Russell show proved how bad the sound in Allen Field House could be, while also proving that Russell wasn't the top draw he was once. Jimmie Spheeris still seemed to have a notable follow, but neither Lynard Skyrn nor Heart provided enough artistry to appeal to sophisticated Lawrence tastes.
In fact, the last three shows mentioned were hardly KU concerts. They were booked by a Kansas City promoter, who was not sure to fill at least half the concert hall's seats.
much of a success. Like most KU homecoming shows, the music catered to middle-of-the road listeners. Sedaka sold enough field house seats for SUA to make a profit and provided a glistening performance for his fans.
Only Neil Sedaka at homecoming seemed
Two jazz concerts, one sponsored by SUA and the other by an outside promoter, will be presented on Tuesday.
Intermission
success the year before, lost $1,000 last fall.
And a larger crowd shows up for a psychology lecture than the crow that saw
the Paul Consort in Hoch Auditorium.
Many dischented students who look for someone to blame point to SUA. They shouldn't. Under its present structure, the SUA staff is severely limited when it must compete with local promoters in the doge-dog business of concert promotion.
The familiar stereotype of the business or advertising executive, with a phone in each ear and two secretaries at his side eight hours a day, represents today's rock concert promoter. His concerns for a single concert are many—guaranteed base pay, sound systems, lighting systems, security, transportation and transportation are just a few.
When a group occupies to tour a certain area, promoters in that area are at each others' throats, each making offers to the group's agent over the phone. Often, with less than 2 minutes of notice, a promoter must up with thousands of people to a concert hall to schedule the group.
But the SUA Special Events Committee, which handles KU concerts, isn't set up for that kind of work. The SUA Special Events Committee chairman, says that as a part of the University, the committee must follow certain procedures to ensure approval comes too late.
"One of our problems is that we have certain bureaucratic steps to go through," Mason says. "We have to go to the Events Committee to get funds approved. Chris Fritz (one of two large Kansas City stormers) name us to do that."
In fact, Mason said, agents for Jethro Tull bypassed KIL because funds couldn't be found.
Speaking of bureaucratic channels, TI'll never forget that infamous incident about three years ago, when the then half-healthy and un-Chered Allman Brothers Band offered to play at KU. They were refused because their playing showed date fell into two weeks of a scheduled concert with the Miracles, without Smokey Robinson.
A Special Committee member, managing dealing with the "Ormond Brothers", it is said.
"The biggest misconception is that students believe we can bring in any act at any given time," Mason says. He noted the proficiency of Kansas City promoters, who simply outclass the Special Events Committee. From Jan. 1 to Feb. 15, there were nine shows scheduled in just six weeks in Kansas City.
Another factor affecting the Special Events Committee is that it supposedly should make revenue to finance other SUA programs. Mason said that had Leon and SUA combined, it would totally booked by SUA, there may not have been any film series this semester.
SUA's recourse, then, is to bring in outside promoters and supply the facilities, technical crews and ushers.
"We have to break even," says Mason.
Using outside promoters guarantees us of
housing.
To improve the situation, Mason says he hopes to collect enough revenue from externally-promoted shows to allow SUA to book more artistic and less commercial
This resulted in last fall's offering of more commercial and popular groups like Heart, Lynyd and Skynyrd - fine groups, but not all of them. You see in an academic environment like KU
Such acts have appeared at KU in the past—acts like Herbie Mann, the Mahavishna Orchestra, Weather Report, Makshima Band, Ratt, Jackson Browne and Phoebe Snow.
In the meantime, KU students should keep their eyes open for好 live music around Lawrence—it's often cheaper than the concerts on the hill. Also, there have been several Kansas City concerts which were worth the drive.
The final option would be to save your money. It's becoming more and more expensive.
Arts & Leisure
Old Times allows imagination
BY JULIE LENAILAN
Boulder
Reviewer
Sofa chat
Holding true to the noted playwriting style of Harold Pinter, "Old Times" gave the opening night audience a taste of bizarre contemporary drama in William Inge These.
Pinter's "Old Times," like his "The Homecoming," was successful as a play. But "Old Times'" lacks conformity with most of the conventional critical measurements. As a matter of certain element of the play is that it has three characters.
The cast of "Old Times," reminisces about events in London 20 years removed. From left are Bruce Jones, Topakia graduate
Almost nothing else about the play is definite on the surface. But the uncertainty works well
On Stage
for the play, allowing ample imagination and pre-calculated soul-searching on the viewer's behalf.
Set in a remodeled country farmhouse near London, the play opens as Kate, played by Barbara Rogers, Albany, N.C., to her brother Daniel, to her husband Deeley, played by Bruce Jones, Topeka graduate student. Kate and Deeley discuss Kate's friend and former roommate, Anna, whose French Louis senior, who has come to visit her "closest and dearest friend Kate" after 20 years. The reunion inevitably results in much reminiscent of old times, each character, including different version of the past.
The characters do a fine job of communicating the erratic tone of the play; bullying up to the conflicts and sauntering around it. r he rearse d colloquialisms with politeness and wit.
Rogers is a sly, subdued,
whimsical and dreamy-eyed
Kate. Kate is a fine arts consoieur, reveling in the theatres,
student; Catherine Rogers, Albany, N.Y. graduate student, and Joy Gaffey, St. Louis senior.
museums and concerts. Rogers does an exceptional job rebounding from the demure, mousy woman she appears as in *The Chronicles of Narnia*-spirited woman she is in one segment of the second half.
Guffey maintains a degree of cool assuredness and sophistication throughout the play, adjusting accordingly to the stage and other characters. Guffey's characterization is commendable, but obviously not as demanding as Rogers'.
Jones does a good job of rounding out the confusing trio. Spinning tales of lustful adventures, he antagonizes, sings with Anna in musical comedy style and playfully harasses his companions. Deeley, however, has always weaker character of the play.
Directed by Paul Gaffney, associate instructor in theatre, "Old Times" sports an impressive use of extended silences and sporadic pauses, pauses that Pinter purposely wrote into the play.
Serving at times as transitions, the silences seem to freeze the present action and move on to a new point in the play. At other times, however, the pauses are interspersed just when the action seems to be mounting. These pauses create the effective presentation.
Sets for the play are minimal, including only a black backdrop, matching sofa set and table. The sets and the play action take an opposite twist in the second half of the struggle into the struggle for possession of the whimsical Kate.
Pinter's "Old Times" is the first of the second semester offerings in the ILP theatre *The Inventor*, a work tonight through February 12.
Marquise of 0 premiere promises an altered tale
By CHUCK SACK
Reviewer
**Review**
"The Marshals of O ..."
begins with a local journal notice as bizarre as anything you might read in the columns of today's sexually-iliberated underground newspapers:
The undersigned declares that, without her knowing how, she became pregnant. The father of the child is being asked to come to school. We have, for family reasons, decided to marry him.
The Marquise (Edith Clever) is a virtuous widow who lives with her parents, brother and her two children in northern Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. Her father (Peter Luden) made of the M-*, which he invaded by Russian troops.
The events of Heinrich von Kleis's story, which premieres in the Midwest this weekend, have been adapted faithfully in his novel *Kleis*, and the Marquis is rescued from an attempted gang rape by a Russian count (Bruno Ganz), who carries her safely to her father's castle, where she is kidnapped by Albert's surrender, the Count reappears and asks for the Marquis's hand in marriage. First, social honor and then the unusual pregnancy impel his requests, and the Marquis places her in and adopts the paper.
Director Eric Hohner has written a book of "The Marquee of O . . ." but he has made major contributions to the world of Kleist. His wickedly clever novella concentrates on idiotic positions that the family's search for honor places them in history, architecture. Archy funny twins in the plot are the vehicles by which we examine the 19-code.
social customs. In films such as "Claire's Knee," "My Night at the Nightclub," and "Afternoon" he has dealt with characters torn between sexual passion and more moral reason. So he will never choose whom to choose film the lusty Kleist?
The closest Rohmer comes to answering that question is in the last third of the film. "It is not a question of feeling," declares
The Cinema
he heroine, "but of logical leduction."
There is such a character in "The Marquise of O . . ." but this time there are two differences. First, the Jean-Claude Briali, Jean-Louis Tritignant阻击，在 last three films all resisted the woman's advances. Here, the man succumbs. Second, the three previous films were all told from the man's side, in which he is the woman, the Marquise, who is the center of attention.
When the noblewoman protests her innocence, she is subjected to the accusations of her family, tormented by the girl who caused her marriage and slaughtered by the local gossips. She is cast out of her own home by her aristocratic parents, but in a town where she is advised by a midwife to ignore everything but the child.
The shifts in theme in Rohmer's version will not upset them much, because they embellish rather than supplant the originals. Yet over with themes and actions change is a marked change in tone.
point of being held immobile by their sense of what is proper. The author can be misled while posing gracefully and capturing the aristocratic character of the realism prose of this period (the father's anguish is a prime example), also display a cool and peculiar relic to Herron's work.
In the case of the characters, characters are vibrant, despite their shortcomings, but with Rohmer the main figures at play.
Finally, since the change in media dictates that many of Kleist's plot twists be toned down to a dramatically "flat" in places. Because the director is so adept at revealing his characters' personalities, he less and less and less important. The problem is that if you already know the plot, you run the risk of robbing the of Rohmer's achievements.
With the plot becoming increasingly transparent, Robher delves further and further into his characters, often in darker ways. Even after the Marquise again confronts her parents and the father's identity is obvious, Robher is getting portrayals from his aeors that are more intense than the scenes Kleist wrote.
When the Marquise is married and finally reconciled to her husband, the handling of his relationship achieves all the power that Kleist gave in his prose. What he has lost in irony and drama is a legacy of his resuscitated by Rohner's compassion and sure sene of psychology.
Even if you are enchanted with the original, there is still much to admire in the adaptations of Kleist's first settings and Nestor Almendros' beautiful camerawork. If you have never read the original, the first and only setting will be dual-screened by Kleist's descriptions. But if your are overly enamored of the sharp wilt of the prose, be prepared for a challenge at the theatre. Kleist knows you can't please everyone.
Courtship with Emmy Lou over
Bv TIM BRADLEY
Reviewer
most journalism course preach objectivity as a cardinal virtue, while many media theorists point out that pure objectivity is impossible. Let me begin this review by confessing my bias. You see, I'm Harris. I get a bad case of the slack-jawed feebles every time I hear her voice.
Because she is able to strike a subtle balance between vulnerability and assertion, and because of the emotional pain she causes in her songs, Harris could make a corpse tangle with the excitement of secrets revealed and experiences shared. When she sings a and song, I cry; when she sings me get my stempin and rinnin".
That is, till now. With Emmy Lou's latest vinyl visitation, "Luxury Liner," the ship hits the sand.
It's difficult to say exactly what went wrong. Harris is no novice. You can find her second-voicing on albums by Gram Parsons, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan, Herb Pedersen, and
Riffs
Sky" and "Elite Hotel" on the Reprise label, are tasty little devils. These two were eminently satisfying because of the tenderness Harris was able to convey, and like any good album, its soulful album lyrics were sweetly sentimental and delivered as such.
The next two, "Pieces of the
The Hot Band, which backs the singer, is made up of crackerjack session players and various add-ons who definitely have their country licks down. With the exception of Mike Auldridge and country wizard JD Parton, the personnel and producers are the same on the previous two disks.
even Mary Kay Place, whom you may know as Loretta Strohker, a fourth album as leader. The first album, on the Jubilee label, is impossible to find, and I would admit to owning herself would admit to owning it.
So what went wrong? It sounds as if Emmy Lou is tired
of the biz, and the Hot Band is cooling off. Drummer John Ware sounds at times as if someone at the last minute handed him bananas instead of ice cream. The harmonica would be more at home in a dog food commercial than it is on this record. In most places, the backing vocals are adequate at beat, and the production quality is very low, without punch or presence.
The country licks the rest of the players are so good at are so cliched that they actually imitate them. The album, Guitarist Alber Lee and pedal steel player Hank DeVito, play very well, but they inspire inspiration. They have the feathers, but not the flight.
And if some of the lyrics were horses, you'd have to shoot them, they're so lame. The formula that worked so well before just doesn't make it this hard. The tempo tunes lack excitement and are so static that neither singer nor listener is moved to anything but yawns. In spots, Emmy Lou's voice sounds raw and
The album is not without some good moments. "Making Believe" and "When I Stop Dreaming" (by the famous Louvin Brothers) are tochy ballads that can mist the eye and warm the heart if the album has been too much. Chuck Berry's "Cest La Vie" is the only cheerful earl in the bunch.
barsh, and without the emotional support needed to keep "Luxury Liner" afloat.
It's saddening to exorcize the work of a favorite performer like this. It's impossible for the listener and reviewer to know what has happened and frustrations that went into the creation of this album.
But to fall back on this would be to cop a grievous out. I didn't like the album because of its lack of direction or sparkle. The band will be better, and Emmy Larkin has played a singer I'd most like to take a nap with on the basis of voice alone.
The moods and health of the performers, human relations in the studio, travel fatigue—all we have an effect on performers.
Weekend
Highlights
Nightelubs
Saxophonist GARY FOSTER and trumpeter BOBBY SHEW, two members of the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band, play two shows tonight at Paul Gray's Jazz Place. The first show is from 6:30 to 8:30, the second show is from 9 to 10.
THE RIVER CITY JAZZ BAND plays from 9 p.m. to midnight Saturday at Paul Grav's.
FORT DODGE, a Kansas City city rock band playing from 9 to 10 AM. Visit Wall Hall. FROG tomorrow. Night at HALL. FROG plays from 9 to midnight.
GREG E. PROOPER R.
playing from 11 to 2 touches.
Spirit: MILLIONAIRE AT
midnight at the Opera House.
Concerts
ELECTRIC LIGHT OR CHESTRA-8 tonight Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Mo.
COUNTRY HEIR, a local
rock band, plays a benefit concert tonight for Kappa Sigma fraternity at Baker attending a 8 in Rice Auditorium.
PAUL WINTER CONSORT—
8 tonight, McCain Auditorium,
Manhattan
GENESIS—7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Municipal
Auditorium, Kansas City, Mo.
BENNY GOODMAN—8 p.m.
Safurday, Music Hall, Kansas
City, Mo.
Exhibits
NANCY HAUSER DANCE COMPANY - 8 p.m., Sunday, White Concert Hall, Washburn University, Topeka.
LAWRENCE ART CENTER
Two graduate students are new this week. Richard Bird shows his work on *Anima*. Kapuan shows ceramics.
LAWRENCE PUBLIC LIE-
BRARY—New February exhibi-
tions; paintings; Will Orvelad;
wooden works; Byron Sneegas,
powder and silverwork; and
Cramer paintings and prints.
Recitals
WATSON LIBRARY-"Women's Studies" in the foyer.
Theater
ROBERT GLASGOW, profs or music from the University of Michigan, will present an exhibition of light in Swarthout Recital Hall.
DANCE AND MIME IMPROVISATIONS with Mary Fulkerson, senior lecturer at Law University, Devon, England, and the MOvement CENTER WORKSHOP, resident dance and mime company of the Lawward Arts Center. 8 tonight.
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"THE ORPHANS." 8 tonight through Feb. 26, Missouri Reporter Theatre, UMKC, Kansas City, Mo.
"THE MARVELOUS ADVENTURES OF TYL," KU Theatre for Young People, 2
Saturday, University Theatre.
'THE GLASS MENAG-
ER' through Feb. 26, alternating
with 'The Orphans,' Missouri
Reporter Theatre, Kansas
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"FACULTY FOLLIES," the
sixth annual School of Fine Arts
revue, 3:30 p.m., Sunday,
Swarthwout.
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Books
HIGHLAND FIRE, by Abigail Clements (Gold Medal, $1.50)—One of those charmers who will join you in job with a mysterious man, in this case one who lives in isolation in the Highlands of Scotland. Our sweet young thing that she's a target for murder.
THE SEA-KING'S DAGGERER by Barbara K. Hansen Suspense in the isles of Greece, dealing with young Sandy Bishop and a treasure-hunting explorer, in all kinds of accidents begin to be placed. Michaelis is the place of the best' in the Gothic field.