BINDERY
W 202 PATTEE
The weil-stacked man
Broadcasting from inside a house of 7-Up cases at the Nittany Mall, Tom Roberts of radio station WRSC planned to sell all
this soda before coming out. The American Cancer Society received all the benefits of Robert's marathon, for which he
kept plenty of food, books and magazines on hand to stay occupied when business was slow. He started the marathon
Friday and had been inside for 30 hours at the time the photo was taken.
•
USG progresses despite student apathy
By LORRAINE CAPRA
4aily Collegian Staff Writer
Student apathy towards the Undergraduate Student
Government is legendary. In the last six years, voter
turnout for USG elections has ranged between 20 and 26
percent. Most students do not know what USG does,
and they feel alienated from their student government.
,But althoUghzUSG'iloes not h;aN;e the hill respect of the
students, it has come a long way.
jn 1975, president Joe Seufer was faced with the task
of rebuilding USG after the previous president, George
Cernusca, became involved in an insurance scandal.
The USG Senate claimed Cernusca signed with two
insurance companies for student health insurance.
USG spent months in an impeachment trial but the
impeachment was unsuccessful.
analysis
Seufer spent most of his year in office putting USG
tack together. He remained behind the scenes until he
and other student leaders signed a' letter calling for
University President John W. Oswald's resignation.
The students claimed that Oswald was insensitive to
students' needs.
Bill Cluck, adviser to the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws and a USG senator, has
%orked with each USG president since Seufer. He said
student leaders were much more radical during 1975-76
than they are today.
Backseat Van Gogh: high energy
Editor's Note: Backseat Van Gogh was
the result of a strange twist of events.
Bassist Kenny Mathieu and drummer
Rocco Fortunato were members of
Tommy Wareham's band, The In
iLigues, which was popular as the
nyrst's happy hour attraction.
Wareham suddenly decided to disband
the group, leaving The Phyrst without a
Friday afternoon act. Needing another
band to replace them, the Phyrst's bar
manager suggested that Mathieu and
Fortunato team up with Jamie Rounds
Ad David Fox, who were playing as a
duo on weeknights. Billed as The
Rockets (the name was eventually
changed due to copyright problems),
their first appearence was performed
without any rehearsal. But the en
tlriasm and energy which the band
generated more than made up for its
lack of polish. Since that time they have
worked hard, building up a repertoire of
;1. original songs, • while simultaneously
gaining an ever-increasing following in
town. Collegian staff writers Jon Brian
Peterson and Mary Jo Santilli in
terviewed Backseat Van Gogh last
month at David Fox's apartment. The
following text has been edited for length
ird clarity.
COLLEGIAN: From what we un
derstand, Kenny and Rocco were
members of Tommy Wareham's band,
Voter turnout still low, misunderstanding, alienation prevalent
The Intrigues. What can you tell us about
those days?
MATHIEU: The band was a necessary
step in our evolution as musicians, but
not as far as this band is concerned.
Probably the main thing is that Rocco
and I became known here and that gave
impetus to what we are doing. The In
trigues played weddings, Holiday Inns,
bars, private funtions the band played
everything. Wherever we played, we
remained as bizzare as we could.
FORTUNATO: Our ability was to be
bizzare, or, to give them anything they
wanted. We could play anything. We
could go play a wedding and play polkas,
then turn around and in the same night
play rock 'n' roll.
COLLEGIAN: Considering the band's
unusual' beginning, your debut was quite
successful.
Interview
We did it as a lark to see if it would work.
It beganto work as soon as we realized
that's what we wanted to do. . . At first it
was fun, but not professional.
COLLEGIAN: You weren't taking it
seriously?
FOX:Not really. It was high energy, a
lot of enthusiasm and excitement, not a.
lot of finesse. In fact the first job we
played was without anyrehearsal. It was
basically songs that we all agreed we'
knew.
4 :Pi COPIES
the
daily
During that time Cluck was a member of the
University Coalition, a group promoting student action
but not connected to USG.
"We formed to stop increasing tuition because USG
never really addressed the issue of tuition," he said.
"They had their own group to stop tuition but we felt
they never did anything."
.:. Cluck ,:saicl USG began to_address student.' „issues
under 1976 president W.T. Williams and vice preSident
Dave Hickton. Williams was "radical but polished in
terms of what he wanted and knew how to get," Cluck
said
Williams said students had been isolated from USG
in previous administrations and he focused on open
ness.
- - _
"Dave Hickton and myself captured the imagination
of the people and we put students back into the student
government by being more open," he said.
Jeff Goldsmith, a 1976 USG senator and former
coordinator of Students for PennPIRG, agreed that
Williams improved relations between USG and the
students.
"W.T. was by far the best president we've had since
I've been here, and Dave was totally trustworthy,"
Goldsmith said. "W.T. did more for the students than
any other president and he was willing to put his neck
on the line if he had to."
Williams helped USG gain the respect of the
students, but University administrators did not respect
USG until 1977 president Grant Ackerman and vice
president Denny Rupert took office, Cluck said.
Administrators were wary of USG after the at
tempted impeachment of Cernusca, and most students
MATHIEU: We had minimal rehearsal
FORTUNATO: The energy that came
olle • iaril
out of The Rockets, before we were
Backseat Van Gogh, was just the en
thusiasm, . . At was fun, the crowd loved
it.
COLLEGIAN: So, you decided to
change, to become more professional.
How did this come about?
ROUNDS:We put in a couple of original
songs. I remember being scared at
making the transition from playing
Beatles songs to doing something
thatpeople couldn't automatically sing
along with. But then we found out that
people were singing along to it after the
first couple of weeks, and that's what
really turned my head around.
COLLEGIAN: Was this the originals or
the new wave songs?
ROUNDS: Both. We started filtering in
some new wave things at about the same
time we came up with some of our own
tunes. And so our image changed bit by
bit. I'm not even sure if the people knew
that the new wave songs were songs that
we wrote or songs that they hadn't heard
before whatever. .
- -
COLLEGIAN: It's obvious that classic
rock 'n' roll is at the heart of all your
shows: Who were your early influences?
MATHIEU: Wayne Newton, Mel
Torme. .. No, seriously,l think it would
be hard to find someone who hasn't
influenced us. We're all old enough to
remember the beginnings of rock 'n'
r 011... well, Jamie is a little younger,
Cuban planes sink patrol
boat, kill 4 in Bahamas
NASSAU, Bahamas (UPI) Eight
Cuban MiGs attacked and sank the
Bahamas Defense Forces patrol boat
Flamingo near Ragged Island, killing
four crewmen and wounding several
others, a government spokesman said
yesterday.
The Soviet-built MiGs attacked the
102-foot boat Saturday night after it had
taken two Cuban fishing boats into
custody for allegedly poaching in
Bahamian waters.
A Bahamas official said the Flamingo
was carrying a 20-man crew when it was
attacked and crewmen escaped the
sinking patrol boat on one of the Cuban
fishing boats it had in custody. Four
Flamingo crewmen were killed in the air
attack, but officials did not know how
many were injured.
The Bahamas official said they
believed the Cuban fishermen aboard
the two boats that were under tow by the
Flamingo alerted Cuban authorites by
radio that they had been taken into
custody.
Prime Minister Lynden 0. Pindling
was in London, but the Bahamas Cabinet
met in emergency session Sunday and a
government spokesman said: "We view
this as a very serious incident."
The U.S. State Department in
Washington said it was "aware" of the
leaders considered University officials their enemies,
Cluck said. Ackerman and Rupert worked through
these problems and opened' he door for today's better
communication, he said.
"The tide changed with Ackerman and credibility
started. We got some decent work done, mainly in the
area oflobbying," Cluck said.
Ackerm'aii!s _lobbying - efforts . produced the first
student liaion to the federal government.
"We believed in the need for students to work with
local, state and federal government to promote student
issues," Ackerman said. "That was the beginning of a
policy of looking toward Washington.
"We approached problems in a way that was
welcomed by University administrators. W.T. led the
way to transition and we got students to sit down with
the administration and discuss problems fully," he
said.
Although student lobbying was effective during that
time, USG's programs and services were put aside
when the University budget was not released from
Harrisburg until late in the year. Rupert said he and
Ackerman spent most of their term in office informing
students about increasing tuition.
"Most of our time was taken up with making
students aware of higher tuition and getting them to
write their legislators," he said. "We also tried to start
a Pennsylvania students lobbying group, but students
from the University - of Pittsburgh didn't want to go
through with it."
Student leaders recognized the need to better
organize the various governments during this time,
Continued on Page 16.
he's supple, like a new green branch, but
we'll mold and bend him to our will.
(laughter)
COLLEGIAN: What can you tell us
about your songwriting and the band's
sound?
MATHIEU: We have found through
great work and searching that we have
come upon a sound, or at least what we'd
like to make our sound. This search has
probably been the hardest aspect of
forming the group. Because when you're
a group you're always last to know what
it is that, you sound like. We're not
talking about eliminating anything,
we're talking about concentrating on our
strengths. Once youfind outwhat you do
incident and was awaiting more detailed
information.
"If the facts are as stated by the
Bahamian government Cubans MiGs
sinking a Bahamian Defense Force
vessel it appears to be a gross
violation of international law," a State
Department spokesman said.
The Flamingo was attacked about 30
miles south of Ragged Island, which is
the largest and southernmost of a cir
cular 110-mile chain of Bahamas islands
some 50 miles off the northeastern coast
of Cuba, the Bahamas said.
A Bahamas official said he "ex
pected" the Cabinet to discuss putting
the island nation's six-boat Bahamas
Defense Force on alert.
"We're in • a very delicate position,"
the government spokesman said. "We're
not in a position to wage war with
anybody." •
Bahamas officials said they had
heard, but were unable to confirm,
unofficial reports that a Cuban military
helicopter landed on Ragged Island after
the MiG attack that sank the Flamingo
in 60 feet of water.
Bahamas officials said they "also
heard, but were unable to immediately
confirm" reports that planes with
Bahamas officials sent to investigate the
attack had been buzzed by the MiGs.
Cmdr. William Swindley, a British
Moslem fundamentalists
control Iranian elections
By The Associated Press
The Islamic Republican Party and
its hardline clerical allies have won a
majority in the runoff round of the
Iranian parliamentary election,
Tehran Radio said yesterday.
Ayatollah AuhollQh - Khomeini also
appeared to be tightening controls
over the military and the press.
The Iranian revolutionary leader
has said the new Parliament will
decide the fate of the American
hostages. Many Islamic Republicans
say the captives should go on trial as
spies if deposed Shah Mohammad
Reza Pahlavi, in exile in Egypt, is not
returned to Iran to face charges of
murder and corruption.
The Islamic Republican Party won
50 of 98 seats in the Parliament that
were decided in the first round of
voting March 14. Returns from
Friday's second round showed that
the IRP had won 60 of the 124 seats
decided as of midday yesterday. Most
of the other winners were in
dependents, including Moslem
fundamentalists expected to support
the IRP. The radio report of a
majority appeared to include some of
these fundamentalist winners
The second round of voting in 23
and enthusiasm
well, you focus on that.
COLLEGIAN: Are your songs written
individually, or collectively as Backseat
Van Gogh?
MATHIEU: Jamie and David have been
our principle writers so far. We usually
take a raw product that's been written
by one of the members. Then we sit down
with it and work real hard, and collec
tively create an arrangement from that.
COLLEGIAN: Polish it up?
MATHIEU: More than polish, we form
it, we create it.
ROUNDS: I know how good Kenny and
David sound together on lead parts, I
know the notes they can hit, I know the
notes they have trouble with, and it's an
Backseat Van Gogh
15°
Monday, May 12, 1980
Vol. 80, No. 171 16 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
naval officer who is chief of the
Bahamas Defense Forces, took a con
tingent of troops with him by plane to.
Ragged Island when he went there
Swindley returned by plane in the
afternoon with the surviving members of
the Flamingo's 28-man crew, some of
whom were bandaged.
The military contingent that ac
companied Swindley apparently had
been left behind on the island.
A government official said, "In my
view, this is a very serious situation. It
was a very delicate situation to begin
with. There has never been any dispute
about the ownership of Ragged Island.
Cuba has never claimed it. If they did
land, it would be an even more serious
situation, for that would be an armed
invasion."
State College will do its rain forest
imitation for the next couple of days, as
we will have mostly cloudy skies today
and tonight with a few thunderstorms,
especially in the afternoon and evening.
Today's high will be 67 while tonight's
low will be a sticky 61. Tomorrow will be
partly cloudy, warm and muggy with
some more afternoon thunderstorms.
Tomorrow's high will be 77.
districts has been postponed because
of anti-government unrest in those
areas. But the constitution allows the
270-seat Parliament to convene once
180 members are elected.
A Beirut-based newsletter reported
yesterday Iranian foreign Minister
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh expressed:, fears
to Arab leaders that a long economic
blockade by the West could force
Tehran to turn to Moscow for help.
An-Nahar Arab Report said that
during a recent Mideast tour,
"Ghotbzadeh belied the air of self
confidence which he assumed in
public once he was alone with his
Arab . hosts. The Arab leaders adopted
an ambiguous attitude to Ghotb
zadeh's pleas for help."
The United States has cut
diplomatic and economic ties with
Iran to pressure it into releasing the
53 American hostages. America's
allies have promised to step up
pressure on Iran by May 17 if
"decisive progress" is not made
toward releasing the captives.
Ghotbzadeh was quoted as saying
Iran "cannot withstand an economic
boycott imposed by the United States
if it is supported by Western Europe
and Japan."
inspiration for writing because it's
almost like a goal: Let's give this vehicle
another chance to express itself.
COLLEGIAN:What is this sound that's
evolving? How would you define it?
FORTUNATO: Probably, we're the last
people in the world who can define that
sound. We do it; we can't see it, we can't
hear it. We are it.
MATHIEU: Well, we do have a handle
on it finally. At the beginning we couldn't
hear it at all; it really is hard to know
what your sounding like out front.
ROUNDS: We know how to make it, but
we don't know how to describe it.
The tropics
Continued on Page 14