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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1984)
SS|3Ty\OJcf C*] T?] CJ ' . ll»U I|I..I1IJ„ Karen Kraft will be at Dr. G's tonight By ROBIN BLACK Senior Staff Writer For someone who just landed a big recording contract with CBS Records, Karen Kraft doesn't ask much — just men tion her dad's name in The Bat talion and she's a happier per son. Allen Kraft. There you go, Karen. The print equivalent of TV's "Hi, Mom!." "Please," she says, "If you'll just mention my dad's name in The Batt, it would mean more to him than anything I've do ne!" You see, Karen comes from a long line of Good Ags, her dad included. "There are just millions and millions of Aggies in my fami ly," she says. J But Karen is not an Aggie. Oh, she's from here, all right. But Karen didn't go to A&M. "I went to summer school here once, does that count?" she asks. Instead of going to A&M, Ka ren has had a somewhat varied music career. First, she went to California and sang commercial jingles (Polaroid and McDonalds) and played with a band in Disney land. Then, she says, she was sup posed to tour with the band but somehow she wound up in New York City. When she got to New York, she worked for Pink Floyd's drummer for awhile and then played around the city with people like Gary U.S. Bonds. "That's where you get your Rolling Stone write-ups and stuff," she says. "That's really exciting." But. "But then I decided it was just getting too cold up there for me, so I moved back to Austin," she says. That, in a nutshell, is Karen Kraft's career. Kind of. There's a little bit more to Ka ren's achievements than the above list. Karen did a lot of behind-the- scenes work in New York that earned her quite a reputation in the music business. It also earned her the interest of pro ducer and big CBS person John Hammond. Hammond took so much in terest in Kraft, in fact, that he sent several demo tapes to CBS records and the whole thing ended up as a nice recording deal for Karen. Karen had an idea about what was going to happen be fore the record deal was ever confirmed. "Austin is a small town, and I heard a rumor that the deal was coming through before I was ac tually told about it officially," she says. "I didn't know for sure until I talked to Hammond. I've been pretty much smiling steadily for a month, now." Hammond has acted as pro ducer for other Austin acts in cluding Joe Ely and Christopher Cross, and will act as executive producer for Karen's forthcom ing album. Karen has a lot of respect for Hammond, too. "He can get a great perfor mance out of a potato," she says. But great performances come only from talent, elbow grease and patience, so Karen's going to take her time on this album. It will be released nationally sometime by the end of 1985 — maybe, she says. "We'll do a week or two or pre-production in New York in December," she says, "but the album itself will be about a year in the actual making." "Hammond wants to make a legendary album, but he also wants to be real careful." Karen will have a variety of contributors on the album, and she says it'll be done half in Austin, half in New York. "I'll definitely be doing some songs by Gary U.S. Bonds," she says, "and it's a pretty safe bet that Bruce Springsteen will write something for me." Karen says she'll also do something by one of the mem bers in her band — the same member who wrote Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Cold Shot." Even though Karen's travel schedule is going to get pretty hectic in the coming months, she says she's going to try to stay put. "I'll continue to live in Aus tin, regardless," she says. "My in-laws live in New York, so it'll be pretty easy to drift back and forth." Karen says she likes Austin because it's been good for her artistically. "Here I can play a lot and im prove on what I learn," she says. "In New York City, you're lucky to even get a chance to play, and if you make a mistake then, you'll be extremely lucky to get a chance to play again in six months." Karen Kraft will be at Dr. G's tonight. The show will begin around 9 p.m. Play auditions will begin Sunday Just another reminder for the open auditions for "Tango," a play by Polish playwrite Slawo- mir Mrozek. Auditions will be held for the Aggie Players' pro duction on Sunday and Mon day, Oct. 7 and 8 at 7 p.m. in the Rudder Forum. All Texas A&M students, re gardless of major, may audi tion. Anyone who wants to au dition should read the script first. Scripts are available in the theatre arts office 141 Blocker. The play, an "absurdist dra ma," uses a Bohemian family as a metaphor for the state of Po land. Arthur lives with his fam ily in appalling disorder: his mother sleeps with a vulgar hoodlum; his father writes av ant-garde plays; his grand mother is constantly plays cards. Another character, Eddie — who has been excepted into the family — represents the invad ing force into the state. Arthur tries to purge the invading force, but his coup d'etat in which he seeks to establish or der at gun point leads to his to tal defeat. "Tango" will be directed by Mary Anne Mitchell. For more information call 845-2621. Video contest open to students Okay, aspiring producers. Here's a chance to prove your selves. The JVC Company of Amer ica has opened competition for its 1984 Professional Video Competition, but this is the first time college students have been eligible to give it a try. The event was established in 1980 to "inspire and stimulate video communication excel lence among professionals." The college students who are allowed to compete are limited to those studying teleproduc tion, mass communications, journalism or film on the basis that they are future profession als. Competitions for profes sionals will be judged sepa rately from those for students. Dan Roberts, vice president of the JVC Professional Video Division, says that with the field of video communications expanding so rapidly, JVC felt it was important to include future professionals in the competi tion. This way, he says, judges see both the best of today and the best of what is yet to come. There are four categories of competition: communications, training, promo tion/merchan- dising and local cable produc tion. There is no entry fee, and JVC will award the following prizes in the professional cat egory: first place will get to choose JVC professional video equipment worth $5,000; sec ond place winners will get to choose $3,000 worth of equip ment; and third place will get to choose $1,500 in equipment. For the student division, JVC will award tuition scholarships worth $2,000, $1,000 and $500. The competition is open to any U.S. business, educational, scientific, government or com munity organization that pro duces videotape programs in- house. Competition closes Novem ber 30, and winners will be an nounced by March 1985. Official rules and entry forms are available by writing: 1984 Professional Video Competi tion, do Shaw & Todd, Inc., 6101 Empire State Building, New York, N.Y. 10118 or by calling (212)244-5225. MSC Outdoor Recreation Committee Equipment Rental (at the Grove) 1984-85 Price List RENTAL PRICES Weekend Week Tents: $16.50 $41.25 6 Man 11.00 27.50 4 Man 10.00 25.00 3 Man Dome 6.50 16.25 2 Man-Mountain 5.50 13.50 2 Man-Pup 5.50 13.50 Backpacks 5.50 13.50 Sleeping Bags 5.50 13.50 Boats: Kayaks 22.00 55.00 Canoes 27.50 68.75 Stoves: Backpacking 3.00 7.50 Coleman-2 burner 4.50 11.25 Cook Kits: Small 1.50 3.75 Large 3.00 7.50 Lanterns 4.50 11.25 Ice Chests 4.50 11.25 Fuel Bottles 1.00 3.00 Fuel Bottles With Fuel 2.00 5.00 Ensolite Pads 1.00 2.50 Ponchos 1.00 2.50 Folding Saws 1.00 2.50 Water Bottles .75 1.50 Utensil Sets .50 1.25 Sierra Cups .50 HOURS MONDAY 10-6 THURSDAY 3-6 TUESDAY 3-6 FRIDAY 10-6 FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 845-1515 or 845-4511 1.25