Bashful Woody boldly pleasing , By DIANNE GARYANTES Daily Collegian Staff Writer Those of you who feel like you wasted your time Friday night by spacing in front of the television or going to a movie or packing into a bar you really did waste your time. . Penn State was visited by Woody Simmons: singer, songwriter, musician, producer, engineer and a very \ talented person. Simmons played soft rock, folk and bluegrass during the concert, although she just finished a tour on the West Coast with a rock 'n' roll band (which reveals her versatility). The concert at Schwab Auditorium was quite good; not only did Simmons give a great performance with her the daily collegian a rts Pain and problems of growing "Original Sins," by Lisa Alther, Knopf, $13.95, 592 pages By P.J. PLATZ For The Daily Collegian Growing up either female or black, overly sensitive, ignorant or intelligent was never easy for any of us, but then, no one ever said it would be. But, like the five children in Lisa Alther's Original Sins, we somehow manage to struggle through. -This poignant novel,; following the author's sweeping success of Kinf licks a few years back;is amazing in its scope and clarity of character. It is marvelously funny, its characters constantly scrabbling for attention. But beyond being good reading, Original Sins has its fair share of lessons about choices to be made by character and reader alike. It is also, in essence, a fine treatise on America's perpetually changing so ciety, and how bitterly hard-won those changes are. They call themselVes The Five. Raymond and Jed Tatro are distant cousins to Emily and Sally Prince, while Donny Tatro, despite his dark skin, is also a distant relative. (In Newland, Tenn. everybody is re lated in some way or another.) Ray mond and Jed figure if they marry Emily and Sally their children would be double first cousins (Donny was to be "like the uncle who came to Instrumental slip A music critic can make many _enemies by unfavorably reviewing a performance that a group of musicians felt was very worthwhile. As a music education major, I have learned that criticism is part of my major field and that I must learn to accept it. Whether or not I agree with a critic's opinion, I can at least respect his or her supposed knowl edge about the particular subject. But when the major facts in a review are incorrectly stated, I find it nearly impossible to seriously consider any other information in the article. Rebecca Clark's review of the Nittany Lion Band concert of May 13 appeared in the May 15 issue of The Daily Collegian. Clark apparently enjoyed Scott Good's solo performance more than any other part of the concert. She said that he played "a trombone solo with emotion, grace and style." This would be an excellent descrip tion of the performance if . Good had in fact played a trombone solo. But his solo was not performed on the trombone; it was performed on the trumpet. Miss Clark, a trumpet is much shorter than a trombone and it does not have a slide. If you recall, you reviewed a Blue Band concert last month and described a trombone solo that you found emotionless. Are you sure that the per former was playing a trombone and not a trum pet? I suggest the Collegian select writers for subject areas in which they are knowledgable. I am sure that this policy would add to the profes sional character of this newspaper. Renee Levin, 9th-music 'education Blue Band Secretary May 14 music and stage show, but the audience was warm, responsive and generally very supportive of the per former. She admitted to the audience that she hadn't performed solo for a while and did seem a bit nervous. Her guitar and banjo work were excellent. She began the show with "Banjo Raga," a fast pickin' banjo tune that seemed absolutely flawless. This definitely started the show off right everyone wanted more. She then moved to the piano and played five songs in a row, including John Hall's no-nukes song "Power" and "You Are My Friend," which is off of her new album Woody Simmons. She also sang "Who'll Save The Animals," a song about the plight of the whales which are quickly becom ing an endangered species. She then moved back to the guitar and played an excellent instrumental piece called "Trolley Car." As a contrast to this fast pickin' tune she played "Suite For Wings," a slow-moving piece touched by an Eastern influence. This ended the first set there was more and better music to come. Simmons' stage style is one of a rather shy, meek person who does not seem like the spotlight-type. I would have loved to see how she acted with her rock 'n' roll band when she plays her electric guitar. During the concert she belted out her songs and played her music with full confidence and control, but you could almost see her blush when the audience applauded. Simmons drew energy from the audience and this was especially evident during the second set one in which she seemed more confident. One of the highlights of the set was the banjo song "Raga Encounters." A raga is an Eastern Indian musical form. Simmons told a story that went along with the song before she played it. It involved two Eastern Indian musicians who were playing music together when they heard a third musi cian playing far away. The music came closer and closer to the two other musicians and the three of them began to play music to&ther. Suddenly they all burst visit") The Five's childhood days, in the early 1950'5, are filled with making mud sculptures out of the red clay by the pond, eating grape-flavored Sno- Cones on the curb and exploring caves and coves. One annual ritual is traipsing through the woods with - the .22 to shoot down a clump of mistletoe for Christmas: "The mis tletoe lived on dusty green through the winter when everything else in the , forest appeared , dead.. Like book review them, the mistletoe was special, chosen to keep watch. Yet the waxy berries were poisonous. You didn't mess with mistletoe, and you didn't mess with The Five either." But high school finds us dealing with five distinct personalities. Jed the jock, a budding redneck on thp make; , Raymond the pimply-faced stamp collector and photographer; Sally, cheerleader, honored member of the Ingenues, the Devouts and the Citizenships Corps, runner-up for Miss Newland, and desperately try ing 'to keep her virginity from Jed; Emily, intelligent and studious, but frightfully embarassed about her Sane songster In your otherwise excellent review of an excel lent concert by the University Chamber Choir, you did make one rather serious factual error. Benjamin Britten did not compose "Rejoice in the Lamb" while in an asylum, nor was he "possibly insane at the time." Dr. Miller was referring in his introduction to Christopher Smart, the poet who wrote the text which Britten used as the basis for the composition. I do hate to quibble, but I'm sure any aspiring journalist will want to be sure to have her facts straight. On a more positive note, I was pleased to read a review in which the writer seemed more concerned about commenting on the per formance than in coining clever quips. This is not always true of Collegian reviews (or of those in many other newspapers, for that matter). Name withheld upon request 'Mame' maimed I must disagree with Vicki Fong's review of "Mame." Neither she nor I can boast of being a professional theatre critic, but each can openly express his or her opinion. I attended the Friday evening performance and left Schwab Auditori um with a completely different impression. Miss Fong wrote on numerous occasions that "Mame" is a• "campy musical." The humor of both author and lyricist is more sophisticated than campy as each line has a , purpose, adding body and 'substance to the plot. If it were a campy show, it would not hold the record as the 11th longest-running Broadway musical. A question was brought up in her review. "Whatever happened to closing the curtain be tween scenes?" If this antiquated practice had large breasts; Donny, basketball star and A-student in his segregated school. High school is peopled with the likes of Mrs. Dingus, the English teacher whose policeman husband patrolled the roads while "she pa trolled the corridors;" Coach Clan cy: crude, tough, and thoroughly despicable: " 'That fumble on the 25, Tatro, that was the most pathetic feat of all ball handling I've ever witnessed. Why,- you, 'looked like a one-armed paper hanger with crabs. I do believe a girl could have did better.' "; the principal Mr. Hoarde, "short, fat, balding and hunched over his desk like a toad." The Plantation Ball, Sadie Hawk ins Day Dance, football and basket ball games.and deciding what to do for the rest of their lives keep The Five occupied for less than half the book. They grow and change. Some graduate, some move away, some stay, some marry and some have heart-breaking affairs. At the book's end, four of the original five meet at the funeral of the fifth. We see them now not in close-up, but as a camera sweeps a panorama, one of immense breadth and searing realism. Alther has concocted a gem with Original Sins. It's a modern version of Five Little Peppers, but, oh, how differently these five grow. Letters to the edify,/ out into some bluegrass. The other hightlight of the evening was an audience sing -a-long, "Too Good To Be." Simmons explained to the audience that her band usually sings the back-up vocals to this disco-like tune and asked them to help her out. Everyone did and had fun doing it. Some of the more lyrical songs Simmons played were "Feather In The Wind," "Oregon Mountains," also the title of her first album, and her encore "Fare Thee Well." The concert was a combination of beautiful, lyrical melodies (mostly played with the piano), some excel lent acoustic work on the guitar and some fast pickin' on the banjo. I was more impressed with Simmons' guitar and banjo instrumental pieces than her piano works. Her piano songs began to sound the same after a while nothing really innovative was done. Anytime she played more than two songs on the piano, I found myself longing for more guitar or banjo. Nevertheless, the audience seemed to love every minute of the concert and Simmons received a standing ovation at the end. "I was surprised," she said after the concert. "It was a nice audience. The people are wonderful." Simmons said that she had not been on the road alone for almost four years when her first album Oregon Mountains came out. "This is kind of a first," she said. "It's the first.time I've ever flown to an Eastern city by myself." "I think the only place I haven't played is the Deep South," Simmons said. "I've been on a lot of different tours with different people." Simmons said that she has been sticking to soft rock and piano tunes lately. When asked about Eastern musical influence, she explained that she likes to shade a lot of her banjo music with an Eastern quality. "I play a lot of things with an Eastern Indian and bluegrass touch'," she said. "There's a lot of things you can do with a banjo. A lot of people get stuck in a bluegrass mode I like to have fun with it." been exhibited, scene changes would have been long enough to utterly bore the audience. No amateur nor high school theatre group today uses the curtain as a shield from the audience. Overacting is a common problem found in amateur theatre but was not apparent to my eyes. The term "overacting" can be described as attracting attention to one's self on stage at the wrong time. Any actor guilty of the above was not in the cast of "Mame." There was mention in The Daily Collegian review of the simple choreography. As I saw it, the dancers performed difficult steps with skill and unity, causing the finale of the first act to make the audience's hearts thump almost as loudly as the thunderous applause. Very little was mentioned of Candace Kintz er's magnificent performance in the title role. Miss Fong said she "carried the lead well." If anyone was born to play Auntie Mame, it was Miss Kintzer. Her facial and vocal expressions generated more than enough energy to spark the audience and set the other cast members aglow: Her performance in the song "If He Walked Into My Life" brought tears to her eyes as well as mine. This one moment deserved a curtain call in itself because Kintzer forced her entire soul into the number. • Her versatility was well demonstrated in such numbers as her argument in "Bosom Buddies ; " delicate affection in "My Best Girl;" and with determination in "Open a New Window." All three were as different as crayon, pencil and ink, yet executed with supreme skill. Her fellow cast members each found his own special character so that not a moment of plot was lost. Kathy S. Hart (Vera Charles), Erik McDonough (Young Patrick), Aileen Mclntyre (Agnes Gooch) and David . Colestock (Older Patrick) were each stars shining at their bright- Lectures, program honor Bartok By BECKY JONES Daily Collegian Staff Writer This year marks the 100th birthday of one of the most important composers of the 20th century Bela Bartok (1881- 1945). The University and WPSX television commemorated Bartok's life and times Thursday with a day of educational and musical events, including two lectures and a taping 'for a television program on the Hungarian composer. The day began with lectures to School of Music students by Tibor Bachmann, professor of music at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an expert on Bartok. Bachmann, who studied with Bartok for a short while, spoke with tremendous warmth and humor orthe 'composer who was so misunderstood in his time. He explained the nature of some of the works that were to be played foithe television taping. For example, Bachmann spoke on the "Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano," which, unlike most sonatas, gives equal importance to both instruments. "The piano and violin are like two women talking," he explained. He also explained the concept of pentatony (five-note scales constructed in a specific manner) in Bartok's compositions, and how America was one of the first countries to understand Bartok's music. Bartok wrote much of his music in the style of Hungarian folk tunes, which are built on pentatonic scales just like many American folk tunes, Bachmann said. In all, the lectures served 'to bring Bartok's music into a clearer perspective, especially for those of us who have difficulty understanding his work. • Those partaking in the tribute were at the Pavilion Theater Thursday night for a taping of several performances for a television show on Bartok, his life and music. A large part of the University's tribute to Bartok is invested in this WPSX produc tion, produced by William Miller. The show should be released to national public television by the end of this year. To open the program, Bachmann's daughter, Maiia, and a colleague from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Liani La Rose, performed the "Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano." est without overpowering Auntie Marne. Which is how it should be. Mark Whiteford, 3rd-Spanish May 11 Tomov tripped I wish to thank you and your staff for including coverage on April 29 of George Tomov's Yugo slavian dance workshop, sponsored by Interlan dia, held April 25-26. However, this article has a serious misquote attributed to Mr. Tomov. First, let me share with you Tomov's philoso phy, briefly summarized. If a person has the correct step and style for a dance of a particular region, but nothing else, then that person will never be more than a mere performer. They may even be an expert performer, but their performance will bring no joy or happiness to any spectator or audience. For this person, to do a dance is 100 percent of their effort. But the person who does not stop at that, who goes on after he or she has the steps and style correctly mastered to bring something of themselves out; these people are artists who bring joy and happiness to. others. Tomov wants us all to be artists in whatever we do, and not merely performers. Hence his constantly exhorting us to let the style and steps be only "maybe 60 or 70 percent" of the dance. One other comment. International folk dance has its largest membership in the United States on college and university campuses. This means that often entire folk dance groups consist of people who have been participating for less than three years. Consequently, many persons danc ing ethnic dances from various regions in the world have no conception of style and turn all They were followed by Phyllis Triolo, a locally prominent L , ii! pianist, and members of the music faculty.' ' It was refreshing to hear such, professional performances of 1 , works in different media. Triolaperformed a set of short pieces , ),,,. , A.-, entitled "Improvisations" with flair and grace. ',4 , Pianist Steven Smith played selections from "MikrokOs- i', l 7. mos," a set of six graded piano books, and accompanipd r, 0 soprano Suzanne Roy on two folk songs from the set.•l ~ t, He also accompanied Roy for a song cycle entitled "Village \ , • pk. Scenes." . f k.` k, Pi li Smith joined clarinetist Smith Toulson and violinist Ray mond Page for a delightful rendering of "Contrasts" a jazz piece that truly illustrated the contrasts of timbre and articula tion. The program closed with the Marc! String Quartet playing the "String Quartet No 4 The colors and textures of the piece created an interesting effect. quite typical of Bartok. Miller said WPSX plans to tape the "Concerto for Orches tra" at the Curtis Institute in october before the program is released. Woody Simmons Monday, May 18 30 ~1 • classical dances into some vague "folkish" sort of appear ance. To counter this, reputable folk dance teachers at the professional level have been emphasizing the importance of style. With only one body and its two legs and two arms people can progress only in a limited number of ways, i.e. to get from the left foot to the right foot you must step onto the right foot. How you step ont( the right foot is style, and each region's dance has its own typical style. Tomov repeatedly emphasized the importance of style to the dance, even at one point com plaining because a few people "hooked" the free foot rather than holding it straight, and thereby dancing in Bulgarian rather than Serbian style. He said. "There are a lot of nice Bulgarian dances. Save the Bulgarian style for them." Your article claims Tomov said, "The style of the dance is 60 to 70 percent whatever you want. The rest is the steps and that's the easy part." This quote is exactly opposite to Tomov's entire iihilosophy, and is not what he said. The style is GO to 70 percent of the dance. What you are is the rest, i.e. the inner you, that which makes you an artist, not a mere performer. Had your reporter, Wendy Miller, remained she would have even tually come to understand the meaning of that phrase. Obviously, the particular dance she, tried was the one with the easy steps, implying more freedom to be an artist, since the style was 60 to 70 percent of the dance. It is worth noting that the message does not pertain not only to international folk dance. We should all be artists, not merely performers who it r, have mastered the technical part of whatever we A do. Those who have done so are called successest on their profession. Clark, graduate-educational theory Melvin E. and policy May 4 Photo by Steyi MUSIC if 9 6 9 :- By . DAVID BOYER .:'• Daily Collegian Staff Writer More than 11 years have passed since Aardsma, a 22-year-old University s- ; graduate student, was stabbed to death in Pattee. Police have never found her attacker or a motive for the murder, and say the murder will probably never be . solved. t 4, The facts about Aardsma's death have (' • often been misunderstood and twisted, ~). and even fictionalized by sensational ,•I rumors. Betty Bechtel, Aardsma's friend, has heard the rumors and stories. They were ;.both graduate students in English at the 7-,: University in 1969, and ,they became ",': friends when they had a course together. ..t-.;\-They also lived on the same floor in '.p:Atherton Hall that year. „t 4: Bechtel still lives in the area, and ;works as an editor for Town and Gown .:4 ,l !magazine. "If there's a story in Betsy, it's be- Yi-ause of what has grown up surrounding the event," Bechtel said. "I'm dismayed f'eabout the use of the incident to scare freshmen. The dignity of Betsy's dying as seemed to be diminished." . i ; Bechtel described Aardsma as "a very 1411,i fine person." 41 1 "Betsy was very pretty," she said. fl.! . .:"She was slim, had the build of a model, . and she had long brown hair. She had an TS i laugh. She was bright, but 4 not a bookworm." Aardsma lived in Michigan and grad- Liated from the University of Michigan in When you rent at Heritage Oaks you get the "good life" included at every turn and it is all included in the rent at no extra cost to you. Just think about everything that is included free. * All Utilities * Bus Service * Parking * Wall to Wall Carpeting * Air Conditioning * Furnished or Unfurnished Units Available * 9 & 12 Month Leases Available * Community Center monthly Membership including a sauna, hot tub,. tennis awft,-ii:Aiiiriinind'Oool, fa Ocr areas and so much more. * Efficiency, one, two, and three bedroom apartments available for summer and fall. : 0 A A :- I 'air° Boulevard , ( I.' )i Betsy Aardsma 1969. She came to Penn State in the fall of 1969. She had a boyfriend attending the University's School of Medicine at Hershey, and they had planned to be come engaged over Christmas of that year. "Betsy was a very happy person," Bechtel said. "I remember we used to sit outside on the steps of Atherton, catching the last rays of fall. Betsy liked to sit there and watch the squirrels and chip munks running around." The course Bechtel and. Aardsma had together was English 501, a graduate research course taught by Harrison T. Meserple, professor of English. Aardsma ITAGE KS Professionally managed by Benchmark Realty, Inc goes unsolved had met with Meserole in his office in the basement of Pattee on the day she was murdered, about 30 minutes before she was killed. "She was an excellent student," said Meserole, who still teaches English at the University. "She was resourceful, very hard-working, and a very attractive young girl. It's still hard for me to believe that someone simply slew her." The incident that Meserole said he still has trouble believing happened on Fri day, Nov. 28, 1969 the day after Thanksgiving. Aardsma had decided to stay at school over the holiday because of her heavy workload. She talked with Meserole about her research' for the course, and then left his office shortly before 4:30 p.m. She went to the card catalog room, and then went to the second floor core of Patteeto look for information for her course. • "You have to realize that the second floor core area liwks different today from the way it did at the time of the murder," said Rockview State Police Sgt. George H. Keibler, who investigated the crime. "Back then it was very poorly lit, a very dingy place. Now you go there and it's brightly lit." Between 4:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. that day, a woman student working near the second floor core heard a woman scream, .and then heard the sound of books falling. A man was seen hurrying out of the core, and the woman and another student heard the man say, Office Hours Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-8 p.m Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m Sunday 1 p.m.-5 p.m. 237-82( )1 "Someone had better help this girl." Keibler said, "We never learned that man's identity. After that man left the core, he went up a flight of stairs and presumably left the library. He may not have been the suspect, but he certainly had been in a position to have seen something " The woman who heard the screaming entered the core and found Aardsma lying on the floor, with books strewn about. Keibler said Aardsma was not bleeding, or at least no blood was visible, and the people who first came upon her did not realize she had been stabbed. She had, in fact, been stabbed once in the heart. "The people who found her• thought that she had perhaps fainted," Keibler said. "But it wouldn't have mattered. Nobody could have saved her from a wound like that." Keibler said Aardsma went into shock after being stabbed, and that prevented much bleeding. It was not until doctors in the Ritenour Health Center examined her about 5:15 p.m. that the wound was discovered. A doctor who examined Aardsma said at the time that she had probably died within five minutes of being stabbed. Keibler said the police conducted an active investigation for about two years, interviewing -thousands of people. But after two years, all the leads were ex hausted, and the police had nothing left to go on. Clip and Save , 237-6191 Free Parking • . rII , .„ ,Clip.and Save: I'' f • wkM..Sy r, i I I 1 1 . .. Order a Calzone and Receive 1 .. . . . . .. :. .. . ~.. : . the 2nd like Calzone at 1 / 2 Price! Good Only 4-6 p.m. & 9 p.m.-midnigh! = . ci Monday 1111.0 Wednesday Happy Hours • 2 37-6191 . . 119 S. Atherton St.. between College and Beaver Ayes. i• ree Parking GROTTA SPECIAL rder any Dinner Entree and Receive the 2nd like Entree at 1 / 2 Price Good Only 6-9 P M Monday thru Thursday 119 S. Atherton St.. between College and Beaver Ayes IA BELLA VITA SPECIAL Order any Pasta Dish and Receive "I' L . • the 2nd like Pasta Dish at 1 ./2 . Pnce Good only: 4-6 p.m. 6z 9 p.m.-midnight Monday thru Thursday Happy Hours . . 119 S. Atherton St.. between College and Beaver Ayes. 1 Satellite complex planned By LORI E. PERKINS Daily Collegian Staff Writer Communications Satellite Cor poration plans to build "the most technologically advanced earth sta tion complex in the world" about 10 miles outside of Bloomsburg, a spokesman for the campany said. The complex, expected to cost $5O million, will be built on a 100-acre farm in Cleveland Township, said Bill Brobst, manager of media rela tions for Comsat. Operations are expected to begin in 1983. Cleveland Township is an ideal area for the complex because there is not a great deal of radio frequency interference, Brobst said. The new earth station will provide additional capacity for growing sa tellite communications traffic be tween the United States and other points in the Atlantic Ocean region, Brobst said. Satellite traffic is ex pected to double in volume by 1985, and again by 1991, he said. Robert Kinzie, a vice president of Comsat World Systems said: "This facility is key to Comsat's continu ing ability to meet the growing need in the United States for reliable international satellite communica tions." Brobst said though a formal pro posal has not been submitted to the local zoning board,. Comsat met with board members, and their attitude was supportive. ---- Clip and Save I I I The Daily Collegian Monday, May 18, 1981 Columbia County Commissioner Lucille Whitmire said that at their April 30 meeting, Columbia County Commissioners agreed the construc tion of the complex would be an asset to the county, and encouraged residents to support the project. "We believe the complex will be a boost to the economy of Columbia county. We expect between 30 and 50 jobs to be created for townspeople, and the construction of the site to be done by local a firm," she said. Marshall Kaplan, University pro fessor of aerospace engineering and a consultant for Comsat said the earth station complex will consist of three satellite dishes capable of ex changing short wave impulses with Intelsat 5, the latest in a series of communication satellites. Telephone calls, telex messages and TV transmissions will be re layed via the Intelsat 5 system, he said. The complex will be the third on the East Coast, joining others in Andover, Maine and Etam, W.Va., Brobst said. Comsat will have a 50 percent ownership interest in the facility, he said. The remaining ownership in terests will be owned by the other members of the U.S. Earth Station Ownership Consortium, with Ameri can. Telephone & Telegraph and In ternational Telphone and Telegraph among them, he said. 237-6191 Free Parking Expires 5/25/81 Expires 5/25.81 . 1 11 S
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