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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1982)
features Battalion/Page 11 September 29, 1982 ten Gild i Is is ed' m the Dt iOntrdl at( :is hardfe at he, ife s doing t: )f a dum; lina." > Month number t: : the midi 5. ions wen *1. . civil-riglii! [fill poses! located is cause tit ttiy bldt hlorinatei : been lint tory Caroliiii oved itaminatfi nd expect nuefofi s. tnt Jr. is the I ed IP is charge! icople 31 ins To*» u* more in M illt & he viedfi jirlfrier- atheredf Campf center i afte*" lard, n sj er his iiatelyP' ls had p . ss ion an 1 iard. on’t nw*' e sonttt g. Inquir ,v. Mil*® nks' ^ E! Anthem written Economy affects rock trade fori unemployed United Press International NASHVILLE, Term. — Johnny Paycheck’s song “Take This Job and Shove It” became the national anthem for the working man five years ago. Now there’s one for the unem ployed. 1 , His rebellious anthem was adopted by striking blue collar workers all across the United States. One newspaper dubbed Paycheck the “working man’s hero.” That was back when people could find work. There are few strikes these days. In fact, blue collar workers are voluntarily taking pay cuts just to keep their jobs. With 18 million Americans unemployed, things have changed drastically. The new anthem for the har- dhats, grease monkeys, and other clock punchers is “Wish I Had a Job to Shove.” And this ; year, even white collar workers can relate. “I didn’t want to make a song about cowboys and beer joints,” said singer Rodney Lay, 42, who operates a quarterhorse ranch in Coffeyville, KS, when he’s not touring with country singer Roy ■ Clark. “This time I wanted to cut a song to kind of do my little thing for this country,” he said. “I wanted a song with a message.” The message is that people are finding themselves out of work for the first time and they don’t know how to cope. “It talks about I don’t like to stand in unemployment lines, about my pocketbook’s as empty as the gas tank on my old truck. I’m fed up with this. 1 wish I had a job to shove,” Lay said. “It talks about, God, we need to get back to work. It talks about a guy who says I’m sick and tired of looking through the classi fieds every day and not finding anything to do.” The song caught broadcaster Paul Harvey’s ear. CBS news man Charles Kuralt is listening. Hit; ■>:>«! mi ) ’ mvnrW . So is President Reagan. The people who program music aboard Air Force One, the president’s jet transport, just added “Wish I Had a Job to Shove” to the playlist. “I hope the president doesn’t take this record wrong,” said Lay, a card-carrying Democrat who supported Reagan in his last two bids for the presidency. “I’m still sticking with him. I know what Reagan’s trying to do, but I wish he’d hurry.” Lay, who said the song is the most successful he’s ever re corded, said there is one draw back. “The only bad thing about having a hit about unemploy ment is they don’t have any money to buy it,” Lay said. “I’m kind of the voice of the working man right now, except they’re out of work. Maybe some day I’d like to go to Washington and sing it for all those guys out there and maybe take a few har- dhats with me.” David Webb, vice president of Churchill Records, said thousands of bumper stickers saying “I Wish I Had a Job to Shove” were requested by offi cials holding the AFL-CIO con vention in Cincinnati recently. “The bumper sticker is catch ing on,” Webb said. “We just put those out 10 days ago and already we’re going into our second printing.” Lay said he has had his share of hard times between holding down jobs as an oil refinery worker, shoe salesman, rancher and disc jockey, “Lord, yes, I’ve held down so many jobs and been unem ployed in the middle. I was in New York City with one dime once. I wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll star. I went in a pool hall and bought a candy bar. I took it out side, opened it up and dropped it in the gutter. “I picked it up, brushed it off, and ate it. Golly, I was hungry. I do know what hard times are.” United Press International Adverse economic conditions have cut into the earnings of rock ‘n’ roll concert promoters, but most of them still say it’s a great business despite the fine line between profit and loss. “There’s less money being made by promoters, less money being made by record stores, less money being made by record companies and ticket prices have gone up $1 or $2 a person during the last year,” said Eddie Gaddis, head of The Agora, a Dallas rock club. This summer, there are more rock acts than in previous years, Gaddis said, and major groups are touring with smaller backup groups with one or two hits to their name. “People are still going out to the rock ‘n’ roll concerts, but they’re not selling out like they did last year,” Gaddis said. “This year, your big concerts have 3,000 or 4,000 seats left. But there are more shows.” Radio stations have raised advertising rates, he said, and record companies that formerly subsidized concert productions and advertising cannot afford to any longer. San Antonio concert promo ter Joe Miller of JAM Produc tions said he got into the busi ness while working for radio sta tions in Austin and Bryan. “I do everything from Alaba ma to black shows to plays,” he said. Rock concerts have included “Triumph to Loverboy to Fleet- wood Mac, you name it.” He launched his company in 1968. When asked if it is profitable, he said: “I’m still in business, but I’m the only one in town who’s lasted that long. It’s a tough business.” One of the biggest rock con cert promoters in the Southwest is Louis Messina, president of Pace Concerts Inc. in Houston, who handled 200 concerts last year in Texas, Louisiana, Okla homa and Alabama. ■ “Rock is doing real well, but some of the bands are not doing as well as they used to,” said Mes sina. “Business is down 20 to 25 percent. Asked if the growth of cable television threatened to harm the concert business, Messina said: “The thing that TV misses is the excitement of being there, which you can’t capture by being in your house. I don’t see it tak ing away from concert business. The atmosphere at concerts is such that nothing can take its place.” Another Dallas promoter, Mark Lee, concentrates on the new rock and has brought the Police, The Clash, Squeeze, Talking Heads and Steel Pulse to town. “The economy is not real good,” said Lee, who operates a punk club called the Hot Klub. “You’ve got to move toward smaller concerts because there are more groups bidding for the same entertainment dollar.” “The large shows are falling considerably short of the antici pated gross. New music is thriv ing, but that’s not to say all my shows did as well as expected. New music is affected by the eco nomy as much as the old music.” The Doobie Brothers, on their final national tour, are breaking up because of econo mics, said Lee, who doubted members of the group would be separating if the money was roll ing in like it used to several years ago. The premier rock concert promotion company in Kansas City is News West Productions, headed by Chris Fretz. News West is working in partnership with Contemporary Produc tions of St. Louis. Fretz said a promoter realizes about $3 profit from a $15 con cert ticket. “Kansas City, considering what’s been coming through, is a great concert town,” he said. “But right now I don’t think any body’s making money in the market because there is too much competition” The business is definitely rid ing the yo-yo, he said. “It has some consistency to if, but the audience is changing sp drastically that a group that is hot this year could lose money next year.” The most profitable shot^s are at stadiums, he said, noting that 53,000 people saw Fore igner in May at Arrowhead Sta dium. *3 “But we’ve had bombs in ey- ery area of promotion, from family shows to concerts to motor sports,” he said. “Weath er can kill you. “People just think you hire>a band, sell some tickets and put«a lot of money in a bank,” Fretz said. “For every three show£, you have one or two losers. That’s what makes it such a majr- ginal business.” Now you know MSC ARTS COMMITTEE PRESENTS NEW EXPRESSIONS IN MODERN DANCE l “THE DEBORAH HAY DANCE COMPANY” I United Press International CHICAGO — Medical ex perts estimate as many as 50 to 70 percent of school children classified as underachievers are suffering from visual problems. Their most common prob lems are difficulty in focusing, which makes reading an un pleasant chore, and myopia, or nearsightedness, which makes it hard to see distant objects such as blackboards. Such problems show up as failure to concentrate on home T work, avoidance of studying, in attentiveness in class or mis understanding directions, says optometrist Paul Warnick. Warnick says warning signs of eye problems include dislike of reading, frequent breaks from homework, holding a book dose to the face or bending close over homework, complaints of blurry lines or headaches after studying or red, teary eyes after studying. AN arnick is on the staff of Chi cago-based Pearle Vision Cen ters. ! The Resale Gallery ♦ Furniture I t Furniture New and Used at affordable prices 2795 S. Texas 775-7300 I across from Brazos Savings Top Drawer -V-j * from Basics to Designers Leris - MpfieU - Let - 1 Bkss - Cdrta Klein - Ocean Pacific - [ecker - Stanley - lledker - Esprit - lorfacke * W SPECIALS MOO SHU PORK OR BEEF, WITH 3 PANCAKES EGG FU-YUNG Come dine with your family and friends in a relaxed jatmo- sphere with personal attention. Lunch hours: 11:30-2:00 p.m. Dinner hours: 5:00-10:00 p.m. 1 Tuesday through Sunday Closed Sunday evening & Monday 3805 S. Texas Avenue Bryan, Texas 846-8345 AGGIELAND ORGANIZATION CONTRACTS DUE — SEPT. 30 — (Contracts will be accepted with $10 late charge until October 15) Room #216 For more info. Reed McDonald 845-2611 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1982 RUDDER AUDITORIUM, 8:00 P.M. TICKETS AT THE MSC BOX OFFICE, 845-1234 $3.50/students, $4.50/general public *3^ THIS PROGRAM IS SUPPORTED JOINTLY BY A GRANT FROM THE TEXAS COMMISSION ON THE ARTS AND ^ THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS. %