Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1990)
age 7D The Battalion Monday, August 27,1990 wners pull plug on local club Waivers, live music scene hears fat lady sing again femaiter edule, Wii- BVSOwi allege &• The sym- )ffers, Wi unable to ng seasoo series unt] ember Ti, or the 't Univenitt onjanuan oncert ot age is 565 nts and st’ Iren under ly seats k ncert, lid- the m t er. oncerninf ieason, cal! my Socien iox Office le n ! Battalion File Photo The shoe polish sign at Waivers, located in Northgate, should slowly fade. The club has shut down By John Righter is once Bryan-College Station again experiencing a shortage of live music venues. The local live music scene suf fered another setback on July 1 with the closing of Waivers. The North- gate club, located at 103 Boyett St., opened on Oct. 14, following the closings of Eastgate Live and the Cow Hop. Mary Ann Rea and Rick Kline led a group of investors interested in of fering diverse live music, local and statewide, throughout the week. Kline would not discuss the specif ics of the investors’ decision not to renew the building’s lease, but he said the group would not re-open the club in the future. Kline said the decision involved multiple reasons, refusing to say whether financial difficulties were the cause or not. The loss of Waivers has left a big gap on the Northside of campus, as well as dealt a major blow to local bands. Waivers, along with Kay’s Cabaret at the Post Oak Mall, was the main venue for local bands to play at last year. While the Front Porch Cafe has been a fairly consistent home for around-state groups, Waivers, which featured live music five nights a week, was a tremendous experiment ground for local bands just inter ested in playing. The philosophy of Waivers’ man agement was to acclimate the Bryan- College Station residents to a regular routine of live music with young, en thusiastic local bands for $1 or $2 a show. Unfortunately, the local audi ence response never matched the enthusiasm of the local bands. With a large drop off of returning groups from last year (For Cryin’ Out Loud, Subculture, Pathetic Sketch and the Band With No Sleep are a few of the many bands that have broken up and moved on.). Waivers was bound to experience difficulty in providing live music on a five-night-a-week basis. Among the shows the club fea tured each week, Waivers had housed the Lippman Jam on Wednesday nights, a weekly jam open to local groups and perform ers. The open-stage event, sponsored by Lippman Music, has been moved to Mama’s Pizza on Texas Avenue for the fall. With the closing of Waivers, there is the possibility that the Front Porch Cafe might expand its format to in clude more local live music (In fact, the Front Porch has added a local band night on Wednesdays and an acoustic jam on Tuesdays, which it will continue in the fall). Further, places such as Tippy’s in Bryan and Mama’s Pizza might in clude more local live music. For now Northgate, two years ago the home of the Brazos Landing (restaurant/club before Waivers) and the Cow Hop, is without a live music venue on its main strip. The closest place is the Front Porch Cafe, lo cated at 4410 College Main. Kline says he is sorry about the closing of Waivers, but he hopes that people continue to support live mu sic in the future. “We have good music in Bryan- College Station,” Kline says, “but the people have got to come out and see it.” Sundance club capitalizes on comedy market By Todd Stone With the emergence of Sun dance’s Thursday night comedy shows, Bryan-College Station’s has become a popular stop for touring comedians. Playing the same night as Gar field’s comedy show, the addition of the Sundance comedy club (located in the Hilton off University Dr.) as another comedy venue has made Thursday night the night for laughs. Many would assume there is com petition between the two comedy shows since both run on Thursdays. But Cathy Dea, director of food and beverages for the Hilton, said there is a strong demand for both comedy shows to exist. Promoters for Sundance selected Thursday night because it was the only open day for a new special — not to compete directly with Gar field’s. “It (8-10 p.m. showtime) is a tran sition period after happy hour and before midnight,” Dea said. “There was a void we wanted to fill.” Sundance gets its performers from A Good Humor Agency based in Houston that provides national touring comedians. Since opening in April, Dea said business has been “fantastic” at Sun dance comedy shows. The average audience size is 150-per-night. An event that should boost busi ness even more is Sundance’s Com edy Workshop special to support A&M’s student radio station, KANM 99.9 FM Cable on Sept. 6. One dollar from each ticket sold will go to KANM. TCA cable and Showtime movie channel also are sponsors. Comedians Scott Kennedy, Mi chael O’ Rourke, David Lament, Bill Silva and Jeff Schilling will perform at the special. Tim Stewart, Aggie 96 DJ, will be the emcee. TCA will give away a free cable in stallation for new subscribers, and Showtime is giving away free jackets and other door prizes at the comedy special. Those purchasing advance tickets for the special will receive a ticket to a future Sundance comedy show. Advance tickets for the show are $4. To get more A&M students in volved with the special, KAMU-TV and TCA will travel around campus to videotape students telling their fa vorite jokes. The video will be shown before and after the comedy special. Dea said the comedians will in volve the audience in their perfor mances, which will also be taped. Tickets for the Sundance comedy club are $4 in advance and $5 at the door. Showtime is 8-10 p.m. Tickets can be purchased from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hilton’s executive office and at Sundance after 5. Garfield's continues ‘TNL ’ through fall By Todd Stone “Thursday Night Live” at Car- field’s keeps the laughs rolling with a talented flow of comedians from “The Comedy Workshop” tour. The Workshop tour includes stops at Port Arthur, Houston and Galveston. Many national comedians perform with The Comedy Workshop. The list of past Workshop per formers is impressive. Popular co medians such as Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks and the Texas Outlaw Comics, all started with The Comedy Workshop. TNL began in January of 1989, and the average-audience size has expanded to 150-per-show. Since TNL’s inception, business has been strong. General Manager Gary Box said “Thursday Night Live” has been suc cessful because of its one-night-a- week format. “We decided you can’t have com edy five or six days-a-week,“ he said. “People will just get bored. But they would enjoy going to a (comedy) once every week or two weeks.” Still, when the Hilton Sundance began its own comedy show on Thursday nights, Garfield’s faced its Aggie Vision (Continued from page 5) as Fish Camp, Muster, bonfire and Silver Taps receive plenty of screen time and are covered thor oughly. Further, there are solid features about life at Residence Hails and the Sterling C. Evans Library. Aggie Vision also recognizes other student organizations — from the Corps to fraternities and from sports car to water ski ing clubs. But the video yearbook misses many Aggie issues. Aside from the bonfire protests, AggieVision didn’t address most of the contro versial issues at A&M. Protests of the Miss TAMU Scholorship Pageant, removal of MSC trees and Aggie Cinema boycott were ignored. AggieVi sion aims for highlights, not low- lights of Texas A&M. In fairness to the makers of AggieVision, it’s impossible to cover everything at A&M in one hour of video time. The school is too diverse. Also, this is the first attempt to develop a video year book at A&M, so perfection shouldn’t be expected. Again, the only thing holding this video back is the lack of ex planation. Sports coverage is hurt the most by this. AggieVision shows highlights from most A&M men and women’s athletics, but aside from football scores, no informa tion about expectations, major events or results are given. During the Men’s basketball segment, there was no mention of former A&M head coach Shelby Metcalfs firing or interim coach John Thornton’s departure. These were major events in Aggie basketball. Even the selection of Kermit Davis as new head coach received little coverage. But, AggieVision stays strong because it quickfy and efficiently shows a little bit of everything about A&M. You may not get a lot of substance or explanation, but this video faithfully attempts to show life at A&M. That’s what may make this vi deo worth purchasing. It’s an ex cellent visual recapitulation of a year at A&M — ideal to show your friends. After all, it’s diffi cult to describe what makes A&M so different. AggieVision may help students cross that commu nication barrier. Although not perfert, A&M’s first video yearbook displays promise, and it should develop into the ideal complement-for the Aggie storyteller. AggieVision is available at the English Annex or the Journalism office, 230 Reed McDonald. The cost is $32.33. first competition for the same enter tainment market. Box said there was a let down in business the first two weeks after Sundance’s comedy show opened, but he said the regular TNL crowd quickly returned. Since then, Box said the competi tion shouldn’t effect Garfield’s busi ness, and there’s room for two com edy shows in Bryan-College Station. This summer Garfield’s had a weekend comedy special featuring nationally popular comedians Ron Shock and Gary Bun Richardson. Richardson provided some solid laughs, and Shock simply stole the show — establishing himself as one of the most popular comedians to perform at TNL. Box said Shock is the best audi ence attaction and most popular co median to perform in Bryan-College Station. Box is negotiating with Shock for a return performance in October, but nothing is definite. Local comedian and A&M student Jason Porter will return this fall as TNL’s opening performer. Porter has been the opening act for Gar field’s the past year. Comedians Leo Nino and Cindy Eaton perform this week at TNL. Tickets for TNL at Garfield’s are $4 in advance and $5 at the door. Tick ets can be purchased at Garfield’s. You must be 21 or older to attend. For more information, call Gar field’s at 693-1736. ‘Less music, more talk’ catches ear of WTAW By Don Atkinson Jr. On the local radio scene, 1150 AM WTAW, a country music station for the last 28 years, has changed their format to talk radio. The station played its last country song on July 9. Ben Downs, general manager for WTAW, said he felt it was time for the market to have an alternative to music programming. “Being a college market, we know that enough people have the intel lectual curiousity to listen to and participate in these national talk shows to find out what’s going on, especially in the current events talk shows.” WTAW, as part of its regular lineup, carries three of the most popular talk-radio shows in Amer ica: Rush Limbaugh, Bruce Williams and Larry King. The new programming for WTAW is as follows: 6-9 a.m. The Muck & Mire show, featuring local information blocks with Scott Delucia and Mary “Mike” Hatcher. 9-11 a.m. Meg Whitcomb, dis cusses relationship problems. 11 a.m - 2 p.m. Rush Limbaugh — an ultra-conservative show concern ing current issues. Sometimes con troversial, almost always entertain- ing. 2- 3 p.m. Neil Myers gives advice about life and relationships. 3- 4 p.m. Dr. Deane Dell, talks about medical problems and issues. 4- 7 p.m. Bruce Williams, financial issues. 7-10 p.m. Sports Talk. 10 p.m. - 4 a.m. Larry King. 4-6 a.m. News programming from Mutual and NBC. Most of the shows feature calls from the listening audience. Each show announces its phone number during its broadcast. Downs said that in addition to the new talk-radio format, WTAW still has its local sports coverage of A&M Consolodated football and basket ball, Lady Aggies basketball and Oil ers football. ELECTROLYSIS, EUROPEAN FACIALS,* with this coupon Q f L," L," • EUROPEATi FACIALS | ^ iJ V V I I • wAXirsn W. Jill Bruegaing, C.C.E. 693-3547 1701 S.W.Pkwy. Ste. 204 College Station coupon expires 9/15/90\ WAXING and LASH & BROW DYES $5 OFF IBM COMPATIBLE MOTHERBOARDS FOR THE POWER USER 386-33 64K CACHE (58 LM> $995 486-25 128K CACHE (115LM) $2995 (Complete system, add about $500) Configuration & Assembly available 696-7601 Welcome Back Aggies! BARBEQUE BURGERS. CHICKEN FRIED STEAK Best Old Fashioned Burger in Town at the best price! Drive thru. 2319 Texas Ave. S., C.S. 696-7677 betw een Holleman and Southwest Parkway ir——————“"■—““—■—•“I Buy one Hamburger, get second Va price see coupon on Mondays Expires 9/2/90 J •NEW AND USED CD’S <9 S # A <*V . cP.y a ►FORMERLY DIGITAL AUDIO EXCHANGE cP I J /STUDENT GOVERNMENT Tlixls A«ll UNIVenStTV Applications now available to serve on University Committees Student Government Office, 221 Pavilion Due Monday, September 3rd by 5:00 pm Academic Scholarship Selection Committee, Alcohol & Drug Advisory Committee, Concessions Committee, Convocations Committee, Cotton Bowl Representative Selection Committee, Council on Teacher Education, Environmental Safety and Health Committee, Fiscal Appeals Panel, Hensel Park Committee, Honors Program Committee, Intramural Advisory Committee, Minority Student Conditions Committee, New Student Committee, Placeman Advisory Committee, Student Health Insurance Committeee, Student Organizations Advisory Board, Student Health Center Advisory Committee, Student Publications Board, Students' Rights Appeals Panel, Women's Issues Committee, University Academic Appeals Panel, University Lectures Committee, University Recreation Committee, Yell Leader Advisory Board A GREAT IDEA DOESN'T HAVE TO BE COMPLICATED AND OUR STUDENT CHECKING ACCOUNT ISN'T. ★ FREE ATM CARD not only is the card free, but if you use our ATM machines the transactions are free, too. ★ UNILIMITED CHECK WRITING on this account you can write as many checks as you need to ★ NO CHARGE FOR BALANCE INQUIRIES OR PRINT OUTS your questions are answered free of charge ★ SATURDAY MORNING BANKING our Post Oak Mall Branch is open until noon ★ CANCELLED CHECKS RETURNED TO YOU you receive all your checks with your monthly statement ★ ONLY $10 PER MONTH that is the most you will pay, minimum balance 500 +-free 300- 499-$5 per month FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF BRYAN MAIN BANK 2807 Texas Ave Bryan 779-1111 SINCE 1862 N MEMBER FDIC * POST OAK MALL BRANCH 1500 Harvey Rd. College Station 693-1200