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Battalion/Page 11
September 29, 1982
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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.
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1982
RUDDER AUDITORIUM, 8:00 P.M.
TICKETS AT THE MSC BOX OFFICE,
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