6A / NEWS / TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
CAMPUS
Malott's scare was secured
BY SAMANTHA FOSTER AND KELLY STRODA sfoster@kansan.com, kstroda@kansan.com
At 4:20 p.m. Monday, KU Public Safety received a call reporting an unknown chemical smell on the fifth floor of Malott Hall. The building was then evacuated.
Jill Jess, spokeswoman for University Relations, said at about 7 p.m. that the source of the smell was still undetermined but that it had disseminated. Malott was reopened except for one room on the fifth floor that was still being investigated as the source of the smell.
Two University employees complained of headaches from the smell, jess said. One employee was transported to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Another employee was treated at the scene.
Around 4:55 p.m., two firefighters escorted a man out of the north side of Malott Hall. The man later got into an ambulance in the parking lot behind Haworth Hall.
Justin Douglas is the director of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Core Lab, which is housed in Malott. He came to work after the building was evacuated and said that in his experience evacuations of chemical buildings should be taken seriously.
Douglas said alarms like this one happened all the time when he was attending grad school but not as often here at the University.
"Here, when it happens, it seems legitimate," he said. "You just never know. It could be something serious or it could just be a bad tuna fish sandwich."
Malott Hall houses the chemistry, physics and astronomy departments.
There were also two chemical spills on campus this semester. There was a spill in Malot Hall on Oct. 29 and a spill in Haworth Hall on Aug. 26.
Edited by Emily McCoy
Local band to compete for recording time
MUSIC
Evan Palmer/KANSAN
The Louisiana Street Band practices Sunday night in lead guitarist Evan Epperson's garage. The Louisiana Street Band includes Epperson, a senior from Wichita (second to the right), saxophonist Scott Marks, a senior from Lawrence (second to the left), keyboardist Austin Quick, a senior from Shawnea (back), rhythm guitarist John Marc Skook, a senior from Hastings, Neb. (bear), Brad Feagan, a sophomore from Oswego (far left) and drummer Nathan Deel (not pictured). The band, who will be performing in Lawrence on December 2nd at the Granada, is finalists in the General Mills Battle for the Band Contest being held on college campuses nationwide.
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
proesler@kansan.com
nroesler@kansan.com
The Louisiana Street Band is headed to Los Angeles to compete for recording time in the famous Firehouse Recording Studio.
Members include lead guitarist Evan Epperson, a senior from Wichita; saxophonist Scott Marks, a senior from Wichita; keyboardist Austin Quick, a senior from Shawnee; rhythm guitarist John Marc Skoch, a senior from Hastings, Neb.; Brad Feagan, a sophomore from Oswego; and drummer Nathan Deel. Baldwin City resident.
The band placed in the top three of a national competition
sponsored by General Mills called U Rock! Battle for the Best. When interviewed in November with two weeks left in the competition, The Louisiana Street Band had twice as many votes as the second-place band.
Originally a strictly blues band that started in Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall on Louisiana Street, the band has evolved to play everything from Cajun style music to classic rock.
Joining the local band in Los Angeles will be The Jerry Olea Trio from Cal State San Marcos in California, and The Acree Brothers from Longwood University in Virginia.
General Mills provides all three
bands airfare to Los Angeles as well as $100 spending money for the trip. The total value of the trip itself is approximately $2,000, all provided by General Mills.
The battle of the bands competition there will be judged by stage presence, interaction with and reaction from the crowd, originality, and overall entertainment value.
ARTS
"We hope to just keep going with it as high and as long as we can," Quick said in an interview in November.
Now they can. The national competition performance in Los Angeles will be held January 15.
'Legally Blonde'takes stage at Lied Center in its musical form
Edited by Anna Nordling
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
The hit 2001 film "Legally Blonde" is making its way to the Lied Center Theatre in form of a Tony-nominated musical tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Actress Nikki Bohne plays Elle Woods in the musical adaptation of "Legally Blonde." The Broadway musical debuted in 2007 and has been nominated for several Tony Awards.
Cotributed Photo
The story follows Elle Woods, played by Nikki Bohne, on a journey of self-discovery trying to win her ex-boyfriend back by going to law school along with her sidekick, Chiahuahua named Bruiser.
"Legally Blonde The Musical is following a current trend in the production of musical theatre on Broadway, the 'Moviecal', said John Staniunas, University of Kansas associate professor and chair of theatre, in a press release.
The Broadway adaptation of the popular movie starring Reese Witherspoon received seven Tony Award nominations after its first year on Broadway in 2007. The show also won three Touring Broadway awards and was considered one of the year's best new musicals.
"She is great role model to play; I learn something new from her every time I perform," Bohne said. "She is completely selfless with a huge heart, which is why I think people connect with her so well."
Bohne said that one of the best behind-the-scenes stories is that of her dog Bruiser, played by both Roxie and Chico the Chihuahuas. She said both dogs are rescue dogs, and Chico is the dog from the original Broadway show.
"He is such a pro" Bohne said of her canine sidekick.
A memorable moment in the movie is when Elle Woods learns how to "bend and snap" to attract
the attention of her man. The Lied Center made this popular move into a competition for two free tickets to the show and a chance to meet the cast. People submitted videos to the
Lied Center of themselves doing bend and snap. Andrea Romero, a graduate student from Miami, and Vaughn Lower, a senior from Wichita, were those two talented bend and snappers.
"My technique is just one quick swift movement," Romero said.
She said she was completely surprised when she received the e-mail saying that she had won and was looking forward to meeting the cast.
Despite audience's attachment
"I've never talked to anyone who has been in a Broadway play before so that is kind of cool," Romero said.
to certain moments from the Hollywood film, some had to be altered to fit musical parameters.
"The interesting aspect of watching a 'Moviecal' is having the chance to study the film before you go so you can see first-hand the changes and addition of songs to the structure of the original work." Staniunas said.
One scene that changed is how Elle Woods applied to Harvard Law. Instead of sending in a video tape of her bragging about her assortment of skills, she brings
a marching band from UCLA to invade the Harvard Campus and perform a huge musical number to gain entry.
Bohne said this musical fits in perfectly with the college town atmosphere because most of it takes place at Harvard.
"It's a great time in their lives where kids find themselves and develop their passions." Bohne said, "This musical just looks at that in a unique and really fun way."
California case carries real stakes for some law students
POLITICS
BY MEG LOWRY
mlowry@kansan.com
Sitting among his peers from Outlaws and Allies in the Burge Union, Joseph Jarvis intently watched the opening oral arguments of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a same-sex-marriage case based in California.
Jarvis, a third year law student from Lenexa, was interested in the case not because he worried about it showing up later on an exam. Rather, he knew that the ruling had the potential to affect his life.
"As one half of a same-sex relationship, the case is of course very important to me," Jarvis said.
The most recent rulings are only chapters in an already extensive debate about same-sex marriage in California. In May 2008, California legalized same-sex marriage. The following November, Proposition 8 was passed and outlawed same-sex marriage.
Today, three judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals began the second trial regarding the legislation, which means that the case may have effects on the
rest of the country.
"Up to now, all of the challenges have been under state law," Jarvis said. "California has won under the state, so now the debate will be at a federal level."
Although the law has a lot at stake, Ryan Rash, a law student from Tahlequah, Okla., and the
president of Outlaws and Allies, was optimistic.
"This would be huge if upheld," Rash said. "It would give all couples the federal rights that only opposite-sex couples have now
"But it could go the other way, also."
"It would give all couples the federal rights that only opposite-sex couples have now."
The central issue in the debate today was that of the constitutional right to marry. The defense attorneys argued that marriage is an individual liberty, given by the Constitution. He compared outlawing same-sex marriages with outlawing interracial marriages.
"In the most absolute scenario, the court would allow the same federal rights and benefits to all couples in every state," Rash said.
Rash points out that the court could overturn the previous decision, and uphold the California voters' decision to outlaw same-sex marriages.
"This is the fundamental question," Charles Cooper, a defense
RYAN RASH Law student
attorney in the case, said during the trial. "Whether the definition of marriage is one for the people to resolve through democratic process, or whether it takes that out
of the hands and decides it for them."
Regardless of the ruling, Jarvis said that it is likely the case would likely be appealed and taken to the Supreme Court.
"It has the potential to be the Roe v. Wade of our time," Jarvis said. "It was like watching history in the making."
Edited by Emily McCoy
NATIONAL
Edwards copes with terminal diagnosis
RALEIGH, N.C. — Elizabeth Edwards, who has battled cancer publicly since 2005, said in a statement Monday that doctors have no hope that further treatment will ward off her cancer.
Edwards, who is separated from former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, is resting at home with her family.
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
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