Entertainment supplement to The Battalion
Thursday, October 8, 1981
Town Hall presents
concert, Broadway play
Francis Mendenhall as Miss Mona and Christopher Wyn-
koop as Sheriff Ed Dodd will appear in MSC Town Hall's
presentation of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."
From Motown to La Grange,
from soul to sex MSC Town
Hall is providing plenty of en
tertainment this week.
Friday night the Commo
dores will bring their unique
blend of ballads, jazz and soul
to G. Rollie White Coliseum, a
show guaranteed to boost the
blood pressure of any soul fan.
Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursay evenings the American
Theatre production of “The
Best Little Whorehouse in Tex
as" will sing and dance across
the stage of Rudder Au
ditorium. What new can be said
about the attraction of this
show, based on Marvin Zind-
ler's zealous fight to close the
La Grange Chicken Ranch?
The regional appeal of "Best
Little Whorehouse" — La
Grange is just a couple of hours
away — its rave reviews and a
natural curiosity about brothels
explain why this show is sol-
dout.
But why would thousands of
students from a conservative
University such as Texas A&M
rush to sit in a gymnasium and
listen to soul music?
Maybe it's because the Com
modores can play jazz, funk
and romantic ballads — and do
it all well. With hits varying
from the funky "Brick House"
Basement reopening next week
For explosive entertain
ment, bop over to 201 Memo
rial Student Center tonight
and Friday night, where the
MSC Basement Committee is
presenting the Explosives, an
Austin new wave trio.
In the two years since its
conception, the band has
played to packed houses in
Lubbock and Austin, and
opened shows for the Ven
tures, the B-52's and Robin
Lane and the Chartbusters.
The band — Cam King on
guitar, Freddie Steady on
drums and Waller Collie on
bass — returned from Califor
nia last April, where its single
"Girl Like You" made the FM
charts.
Taking a pop stance toward
new wave, the band mixes
originals tunes wun
such as the Four
oldies
Top's
"Reach Out," Bobby Fuller's
"I Fought the Law" and Sam
the Sham's "Ring Dang
Doo."
But the entertainment
won't stop when the Explo
sives pack up and head home
to Austin.
Starting Monday, Base
ment has a week of entertain
ment scheduled to launch the
reopening of the Basement,
formerly the Basement Cof
feehouse. This schedule, sub
ject to change, is:
Monday — Monday Night
Football (what else?) on the
video screen.
Tuesday — the Marx Brothers
in "A Night of the Opera,"
presented by Aggie
Cinema.
Wednesday — video con
certs, to be announced.
Thursday — a dance, featur
ing a disc jockey and a vari
ety of music.
Friday and Saturday —
shows by local performers.
All these activities will be
inthe Basement, which the
committee had unofficially
renamed the Hideout. How
ever, this name was rejected
by the MSC Building Studies
Committee this week.
For additional information
on next week's events, call
845-1515; tickets for the Ex
plosives are $3, and are avail
able in the MSC Box Office
and at the door.
and "Too Hot Ta Trot" to bal
lads like "Three Times a Lady,"
the band is able to keep its audi
ence alternately energized and
mellow.
The group's lead singer,
Lionel Ritchie, is resonsible for
most of the group's softer
tunes, and is the band's bal-
ladeer. Drummer Walter
Orange wrote some of the
group's more sizzling numbers,
like "Too Hot Ta Trot" and
"Squeeze the Fruit."
Other members of the band
are trumpeter and business
manager William King, bassist
Ronald LaPread, Thomas
McClary, guitarist, and on key
boards, Milan Williams.
Just when everyone here has
a chance to rest from the excite
ment of this concert — not to
mention that of midnight yell
practice and the Texas A&M-
Houston game — "The Best Lit
tle Whorehouse in Texas"
comes to town. The show, that
is.
The musical is based on the
La Grange Chicken Ranch, a
brothel that got its name during
the Depression, when custom
ers often paid for services with
poultry instead of cash. Francie
Mendenhall plays the madam
of the amorous establishment,
which was allowed to fourish
under the watchful eye of local
law officers until 1973, when
Houston reporter Marvin Zind-
ler went on a successful crusade
to close the "cancerous growth
on LaGrange." For his efforts,
Zindler received several broken
ribs, courtesy of the La
Grange's sheriff, as well as
state-wide publicity.
Zindler is portrayed in the
play as Melvin P. Thorpe, a re-
S orter who wears an American
ag necktie. That pretty well
sums up the character.
The sheriff is romantically in
volved with the Chicken
Ranch's madam in this version
of the La Grange escapade. Put
a madam with a sheriff and
throw in a do-gooder reporter,
and you've got some basis for a
play.
The musical score of "Best
Little Whorehouse" is accented
with a country-western tinge to
give it an authentic Texas
flavor. The characters speak
with drawls, and there's even a
scene featuring Aggies.
The play is regional in nature,
about Texans in a place almost
as well-known as the Alamo,
but that hasn't stopped it from
becoming a hit on Broadway,
where it's in its third year. Or
on the West Coast, where a na
tional touring company has
been playing for two years.
*> I
ST
THE EXPLOSIVES