Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1990)
The Battalion LIFESTYLES 4 Mo c Monday, February 19,1990 Lifestyles Editor Mary-Lynne Rice 845- Graveyard shift not so easy to get used to By CHIP SOWOEN Of The Battalion Staff If you think pulling an all-nighter aoine it home. She said that she is really begin ning to like her job, and will be there ih is tough, try doing it every night. Many people in Bryan and College Station work the graveyard shift — from late at night until the early morning — but that doesn’t mean they get used to it. ‘T’ve never been used to staying up all night,” said Jim Bishop, over night announcer for KORA-FM. “When I first started, I drank gal lons of coffee and was shaking so bad I couldn’t hit the buttons,” he said. The 38-year-old former welder got his job at the station by an swering a newspaper ad. He has been at KORA for five years now, working the lonely midnight to 6 a.m. shift almost the whole time. ‘as long as I feel needed.’ Adjusting to an overnight sched ule was no problem for Joy Lindan, overnight cnecker at Kroger in Col lege Station. Her problem, she said, is getting to sleep. “I drink beer or wine or whate ver,” she said. “It’s the only way I can get to sleep.” Lindan said the hardest people to deal with are those who want to buy beer after hours, or want to write checks for over the amount of pur chase after the appointed time. She just keeps telling them no, she said, and keeps the cash drawer closed be cause she’s afraid of getting robbed. “It’s kind of nice not to have all the people around,” Bishop said. “I like it when nobody’s here.” But tele phone calls on the request line break up the solitude. “Overnights are when you get most of the calls from the lonely peo- f >le,” he said. “You’re their best riend — I’ve got a lot of best friends.” But Celia Rios, who works the graveyard shift at Taco Cabana, meets a lot of people face to face at her job. “Sometimes the people are really hard to deal with, especially those who have been drinking,” she said. However, Rios said, “I really like the regulars.” wvernights are when you get most of the calls from the lonely people. You’re their best friend — I’ve got a lot of best friends.” — Jim Bishop, KORA disk jockey Like Bishop, Rios is not a night person at all. “For me to stay up, I need about four or five cigarettes and a couple of cups of coffee,” she said. “But I’m getting used to it.” She said she really didn’t like the hours at first, but the schedule works for her. “You get a lot of strange people,” Lindan said. Michelle Klump, on the other hand, said she doesn’t worry about people at the Kettle Restaurant on University Drive where she works the weekend overnight shift. She said the restaurant has many regular customers, even in the early morn ing hours. Rios gets home just as her mother "lildfr has sent her children off to school. She goes into her bedroom, draws the blinds, turns the television and the ceiling fan on for a little back- f round noise, and falls asleep within 0 minutes. By the time she wakes up, her children are just getting “You get to know them and they get to know you, and if you ever need anything, they can nelp you and vice versa,” Klump said. “It all depends on how well you can deal with people.” So what keeps a displaced day person in the mainstream of the noc turnal counterculture?' “I don’t want to get a real job,” Bishop said with a big smile. Conservator restores San Jacinto battle flag SHARPSBURG, Md. (AP) — The San Jacinto battle flag, one of Texas’ most treasured artifacts and synvbol of the day the fledgling Republic won its independence from Mexico, is nothing more now than shards of silk spread across a workroom table. In a house in the foothills of the Appalachians, textile conservator Fonda G. Thomsen is taking apart and, with the help of a microscope, putting together again what’s left of the 155-year-old banner. “How do you tell them they really don’t have a flag left?” Thomsen asks, examining the fragments of original silk that remain glued or shellacked to a piece of linen. Thomsen was hired to do the sec- l\/ly treatment has to be reversible ... You can’t be so arrogant to think your treatment will last forever. As a conservator, you always hope you leave no trace on a work of art.” — Fonda Thomsen, textile conservator ond restoration of the flag carried into battle by a group of Kentucky :eerea t ‘ ‘ — to help Texas men who volunteerec fight against Mexico. The flag is so precious to the state that Department of Public Safety of ficers escorted a van carrying the flag from the state Capitol in Austin to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Since bringing the flag to her home, Thomsen has been trying to lag’s fii undo the damage of the flag’s first from expo- years of deterioration sure to light. Allen McCree, the architect re storing the Capitol, said the San Ja cinto flag is a symbol of Texas’ April 21,1836 victory over Mexico. “It was our resounding 20-minute victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, after that terrible defeat at the Alamo, that turned us around and gave us our independence,” McCree said. So when the state decided to re store the flag as part of the restora tion of the 101-year-old Capitol, Campbell looked carefully for a tex tile conservator before choosing Thomsen, McCree said. Thomsen has advised the Smith sonian Institution on preservation of the original Star-Spangled Banner, and her many textile restorations in clude the Treasury Guard flag that John Wilkes Booth ripped with the spur of his boot as he fled Ford The ater after shooting President Lin coln. When conservator Katherine Fowler Richey received the flag in 1932, it was a mass of tattered silk stored since 1896 in a walnut box. “When received by me, the figure (in the flag) was in little pieces that disintegrated upon being touched,” Richey told state Librarian Fannie M. Wilcox in a Dec. 28, 1932, letter. The flag was painted in 1835 by artist James H. Beard for a group of men from Newport, Ky., who had volunteered to fight for Texas. Led by Sidney Sherman, the New port Rifles carried the flag into the battle of San Jacinto. The flag consists of a woman, one breast bared, brandishing a sword with the banner “Liberty or Death,” painted on silk. Richey used shellac and dozens of stitches to secure the flag to a piece of linen, but was never able to find record of the flag as it was originally. Thomsen is undoing Richey’s stitches and removing the shellac from the painted silk and the yel lowed bits of background fabric. Shellac becomes brittle with age, and the damage becomes less and less reversible, Thomsen said. “My treatment has to be reversib le,” she said. “Richey did a lot of damage with her stitching. You can’t be so arro gant to think your treatment will last forever. As a conservator, you al ways hope you leave no trace on a work of art.” Because only about 70 percent of the painted portion of the flag re mains, Thomsen will fill in the miss ing slivers with matching-colored cotton. Far less, however, remains of the silk background — Thomsen esti mates just 20 percent of the original fabric remains. Once finished, the flag will return to its place behind the House speak er’s podium, but will be displayed only when the House is in session. Drapes will conceal the original the rest of the time, and a reproduc tion will be displayed instead. An unveiling of the restored flag is planned for San Jacinto Day in April. X-it’s live dance rock Must crazy’ wi tic wl Wi fr to m P< P c ev P r Photo by Kathy Havemin Onstage at Waiver’s is X-it, a local band that plays mostly cover songs and strives for energetic, intense performances. By TODD STONE Of The Battalion Staff X-it has made it a priority to bring one thing into their live performances — excitement. “People tell us we have a great live sound,” gui tarist David Loving said. “We’re not just a live band that plays. We try to put on a complete show.” Loving said the band has someone working the lights and someone mixing their music during every show — part of the extra effort they put forth to be more than just another club band. The members of X-it are David Swartzbach, lead vocals; Russ Friesz, bass guitar; Ken Scott, keyboards; Mark Seid, drums; and guitarist Lov ing. The local band features a unique blend of songs by progressive artists such as New Order, the Cult and R.E.M., as well as songs by rock art ists such as Boston, Rush and Led Zeppelin. Loving and Seid describe their performances as a process of building momentum. “It starts out slow because people have to get there,” Seid said. “During the first set, people are usually still deciding where they’re going that night, but towards the end of the first set, people start coming in and the show takes off.” Loving said, “We try to project a good, live. on fire because of a power overload. “We were just rocking along playing Boston,” Loving said, “when I turned around, and Mark (Seid) was pointing at some smoke, and I thought it was our smoke machine. “Then, David (Swartzbach) picks up the mon itor and throws it outside.” However, the audience thought it was a planned stunt and became more excited throughout the show. Seid said, “People were coming up to us asking, ‘Did you guys plan that or what?’ I’d say, ‘No, man, we’re not KISS.’ ” Seid and Loving said it is difficult to find time for rehearsing and composing because Swartz bach and Scott live out of town. “We practice rarely,” Loving said. “Last semes ter we were playing so much we only practiced eSt of trtt “I think it is really tough to be an origini band,” Loving said. “Unless you’re someone It Rush, peoples attention span toward your ok: I " be: ‘ music will be short.” Seid said a band has to mix its original materiil with covers to win the audience’s interest. Lovin,T believes a band must gain a reputation as a rel; I able band before it can play its own material. “Right now, we are establishing ourselvesasil band people want to come to see," Loving saic I “We can play for most clubs in town now,andtht I fraternities know us. “Now, if we want, we can slip in someofcuit own songs, but it’s (being in a band) only a pari time thing, so we don’t have time.” R Drit care devi anti run toal L stOr Tuc indc clier once. The rest of the time we were just perfor ming. Loving said, We try to project a good, live, jamming party. We always nave people dancing by the second set, and by the end of the show, it’s just crazy. One performance became a little too crazy when one of the monitors the band used caught To incorporate new material into their reper toire, Loving said, each member learns the songs individually, and then the group rehearses the songs before a performance. They write original material sporadically, but when they do, it is a group effort. “Usually David (Swartzbach) will put some ly rics together, and we’ll look at it anti try to get a feel for what sound he wants,” Seid said. “We’ll all just play around, and each of us will add our own part to it.” Loving and Seid said the band members like playing cover songs, because club audiences want to hear popular music. In addition to its local performances, X-it has | played in Houston and is scheduling shoits in | Waco. Loving said the X-it members are studentsfirs I and not a “working band” that survives on itsmn sic. “We would like to break into Austin, but its I too expensive,” Loving said. “We’re all serious but it also has to be convenient and fun.” Describing X-it’s music, Seid said, "X-it rods your mom. Even your mother could come out to a show, and she’s going to like us. So bringyoutil mom.” X-it will perform at The Zephyr Club befott spring break and will play Sneakers March 23. If you and your mother need more informa tion about an X-it performance, call 693-4197 and ask for Mark. Players give ‘Fantastick’ show of classic musical w befo Tun whiti addi splas subje traits A1 table studi grap Sp I espe< learn By ANDREW GARDNER Special to The Battalion The Aggie Players opened their spring theater season Thursday with a thoroughly entertaining musical comedy, “The Fantasticks,” written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. Performances will continue Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. in Rudder Forum. The most striking thing about the production is its physical simplicity. A bench, a cardboard sun-moon and a magical prop box are the only items on stage. The rest is left up to the imagination. As El Gallo, the narrator, Greg Carter presents the scene in wonder fully descriptive words and song, set ting the stage better than any props could. The Mute, played by Belia Gonza lez, uses mime and dance to aid El Gallo in his storytelling. The opening song, “Try to Re member,” sung in a deep bass by El Gallo, calls us to relive young ro mance with the two main characters, Matt and Luisa. Matt and Luisa are young neigh bors in love. The catch, however, is that their fathers are entirely against the relationship. Stephany Tramel plays Luisa, a starry-eyed sentimentalist who sees ve as poetry. In her beautifuls rano, T ramel expresses her exp« lions of love in “Much More.’’ year; “I me h Photo byjayjanner Greg Carter, Stephany Tramel and David Tyson perform in “The Fantasticks.” love as prano tations Luisa is separated from Matt hi wall, both real and figurative. Tin wall was built by their fathers, vk want to keep them apart. Each has forbidden his child toit sociate with the neighbors. New theless, Matt and Luisa meet attk wall and their love surmounts tk barrier. Matt, played by David Tysot sings to Luisa of his enduringlovei the next song, “Metaphor.” Hisdf lightful, obviously well-trained ing voice is a pleasure to hear. The play begins slowly, but real picks up with the fathers duet, “Never Say No.” Thishifanoj scene marks the start of the coinel that continues throughout the plat Jonathan Burke plays Hucklebd Matt’s father, and Dennis Wl# head plays Bellomy, Luisa’s They make a hilarious duo I more than one occasion, hadtheafj dience roaring with laughter. In this song, we discovert fathers actually are trying tojf r their children together. They to discovered that to make their d dren do something, they needot to forbid it. It turns out that the wall and^ bad neighbor relations are men part of a complex matchmafe! scheme. This deception isthefirsi many surprising plot twists. The fathers hire El Gallo to sS an attempted rape of Luisa so # Matt can save her, giving the fatlr an excuse for reconciliation. ElGai also hires two actors to help him Henry, played by John Mak and Mortimer, played by Orlar" Castillo, make an uproarious | pearance as the two actors whou only misquote Shakespeare and ^ with consummate skill. The storyline will take a few® 1 unexpected turns before it reacW its finally happy ending. Tickets for the remainin: mances are on sale at Rudder E Office. Prices are $7.50 for the eral public and $5.50 for students says. W abou near! piece moth Sh hour and blue “T tight Sh