Sometimes it's the scene and not the season ing that makes a meal worth eating.
Kate Shaw, Edmonton, Alberta, graduate student, and Mike Ghedotti, Detroit graduate student, eat lunch in front of the Natural History Museum.
John Gamble / KAN$AN
Take lunch.
Every noontide, thousands of students, faculty and staff descend upon the feeding pens of the campus eateries Union Square, Wescoe Terrace Burge Cafeteria. They have their fill of cafeteria food eaten on cafeteria tables with cafeteria chairs under cafeteria lighting.
But there are the midday mavericks, those who need more than food at lunchtime, those who want to make their chance to eat also a chance to relax. For these people, a lunch spent in the right place can replenish the soul as well as the stomach.
Prime example: the front steps of Dyche Hall, also known as the Museum of Natural History. At high noon, these stone stairs evolve from a convenient lunch spot to an informal eating and meeting place for the building's faculty and staff.
Norman Slade, professor of ecolo
gy, said he had eaten lunch regularly on the steps of the museum for 21 years.
dows in our office. Out here, there's sunlight and warm air."
Ghedotti said he tried to get out to the steps for lunch during good weather but drew the line when it was too hot or too cold.
"We don't eat lunch in the offices," Slade said. "The food would attract bugs and they would eat the museum displays."
"I'm a fair-weather step person," Ghedotti said. "There are others who live out here for lunch."
Across the way, other Dyche Hall lunch eaters stayed in the shade of the building's northeast entrance to dine.
Sitting on the top step while finishing his homemade hamsalad sandwich.
After keeping inside all day sitting behind a desk, Gwen Leonard, accountant for the Museum of Natural History, said she went outside the
"We're all biologists out here, so we like being outside anyway" he said.
"I come out here to thermo-regulate." Shaw said. "There are no win-
Slade said he welcomed the chance to eat lunch on the steps.
Just three steps down and a few feet over from Slade sat two other lunchers, graduate students Mike Ghedotti, Detroit, and Kate Shaw, Alberta, Canada. Both Ghedoti and Shaws said they appreciated taking lunch outdoors.
museum for lunch every day in good weather.
Bob McClaim museum administrator
"I'm a peoplewatcher. This is an ideal setting for people like me," she said as a steady stream of students passed by on the sidewalk.
Leonard's boss, Barb McClain, associate director for administration for the museum, said she expected the trips outside for lunch
would end sometime in mid-October when the weather turns cold. In the meantime, she and her staff continue the daily ritual from noon to 1 p.m.
Across the street from Dyche Hall, at Spooner Hall's Arthur Weaver Court, Barbara Breitung, Lawrence senior, said she liked eating her lunch close to Watson Library, where she works as an assistant.
"They've referred to us as being very reptilian, sitting out there soaking up the sun," McClain said.
"I definitely need the break," Breitung said. "It's nice to get outside where it's green."
Enclosed on three sides by a black iron fence, the court had the sound of tricking water coming from its small central fountain. Even with recent cold nights, flowers still bloom along the court's sides.
In the placid atmosphere of the court, Breitung ate her lunch — two peanut-butter sandwiches, a cup full of grapes and a banana — on a wooden bench only 20 feet away from the bustle of Jayhawk Boulevard.
"This is really quiet here," Breitung said as five other people sat around the court's scattered seats. "You're closed off from all that activity."
Toreally getaway for the noon hour, some lunchers recommended the white stone walkway to the side of and underneath the front steps of Watson Library.
bought at Wescoe Terrace, Wanda Dyer, library assistant for Watson, said she tried to eat at least two or three times a month at the library's nearly hidden stone niche.
Dyer said she often brought a book or magazine to read. But she added that she found the library's gothic architecture just as interesting.
Unwrapping a cheese sandwich she
"Maybe it does remind you of some kind of castle when you look at it down here," she said.
With its solitude, its scenery and its sense of place, Dyer's chosen dining site outside Watson has much in common with the other, lesser-known lunch spots on campus. For Dyer, its uniqueness lies in its unplanned exclusivity.
"I don't think you would be imposing on each other's space if there were more people," Dyer said. "But there is never going to be a crowd down here. It really isn't used that much at all."
Salty Iguanas tap into acoustic sound to satisfy fans
A worn-out couch clutters the stage, and an old lamp provides most of the light. No, it is not a basement ree room. It is Tuesday night at The Bottleneck, and the Salty Iguanas are playing and lounging — simultaneously.
Kansan staff writer
By JL Watson
What makes the Iguanas' Tuesday night performances different is not the furniture but the style — acoustic.
Maybe that is because at home excruciatingly loud amps make for grumpy neighbors. At home, it is necessary to turn those amps down. That is the idea behind Tuesday nights at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St.
"It's a lot like bein' at home," said Iguana's bassist, Charlie Wolf.
"We're acoustic .but not unplugged." said guitarist Barry Osbourne. "It can't be completely unplugged. Even MTV runs guitars out of a P.A."
The band brought the sound to Lawrence audiences at the suggestion of Brett Mosiman, owner of The Bottleneck.
"He got tired of us being in here on Tuesday nights so he finally said, 'Why don't you work for your beer?' " said drummer Jesse Sharson.
The band got together and decided to do a slightly different version of their usual songs.
Even so, listeners are treated to a more laid-back version of Salty Iguana's regular songs.
The enthusiasm of fans for acoustic music comes from a need to hear good, real music, Wolfsaid.
"The trend toward loud, grung-
bands was on the upswing last
year," Osbourne said. "This is flip-
floppin."
In looking to their future sound, the Salty Iguanas seek musical influences from the past. "We listen to John Lee Hooker and Homeschick James," Wolf said.
The Salty Iguanas point out that despite interest in acoustic music, they do not intend to get stuck in a rut.
Wolf, Osbourne, Larson and guitarist/vocalist David Thompson plan to release a compact disc in January on the Mercy label. The Tuesday night performances last throughout the semester. Cover charge is $3.
"Mostly, I listen to my mom," Larson said. "She's an ass-kicker. She plays banjo like a bat outta hell."
Melissa Lacey/KANSAN
Bassist Charlie Wolf, left, and singer Barry Osborne of the Salty Iguanas perform an acoustic set at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St. On the stage floor is their friend's dog, Simba.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
People and places at the University of Kansas.
calendar
NIGHTLIFE
enchwarmers Sports Bar & Grill
1601 W, 23rd St
Broken English CD Release Party, 9 tonight.
Monterey Jack, 9 p.m. tomorrow.
Parent's Weekend: Liverpool As The Beatles,
9 p.m. Saturday
The Crossing
12th and Oread Ave.
Transylvania 2000, 9 tonight
Deb Griusi, p.m. Saturday
Dos Hombres
814 New Hampshire St.
Eight Men Out, 9 p.m. tomorrow, free
The Jazzhaus
926 1/2 Massachusetts st.
The Starkweathers, 9:30 p.m.tonight
Baghdad Jones, 9:30 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday
Free State Brewing Co.
636 Massachusetts St.
Free State Jazz Quartet, 7-9 p.m. tomorrow,
free
737 New Hampshire St.
四海英才 中国英才
四海英才 中国英才
For New Hampshire St.
Common Ground, 9 tonight, $4
CD Release Party: Women of Destruction and
Nude Swirl will open for Stick 9 p.m. tomorrow,
$5
The Bottleneck
Granada Theater
James McMurty, Mountain Clyde, and Lonesome Hound Dogs, 7 p.m. Saturday
1020 Massachusetts St.
So What, 7-9:30 tonight $2
Krazy Kats, 7:30-11 p.m. Saturday, $4
Staying Alive: '70s Flashback, every Wednes
day
Hockenbury's Tavern
1016 Massachusetts St.
Water, 10 tonight, $4
L.A. Ramblers, 10 p.m. tomorrow, $4
Hellcat Trio with The Eudoras, 10 p.m. Saturday, $4
Acoustic open mic, 10 p.m. Sunday, free
Full Moon Cafe
803 Massachusetts St.
Bill Crayhan, 10:30 p.m. tomorrow, free
Einstein, 10:30 p.m. Saturday, free
MOVIES
Dickinson Theaters
2339 Iowa St.
Man Without a Face (PG-13), 7, 9:30 tonight
See CALENDAR Page 14
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See CALENDAR, Page 14.
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