he Battalion
riday
ebruary 1 6, 1 996
Aggielife
Page 3
’nRecord Convention offers rare albums and posters
zuelan k yjohn LeBas
n explain he Battalion
lerica tta
ie-hard music collectors and casual lis
teners alike can peruse a slew of new
and out-of-print musical gems this
eekend in College Station.
where $ The Infinite Record Convention is Saturday
re forM tthe College Station Ramada Inn from 10
vomenatt jn. to 4 p.m. The free show is sponsored by
itions.ti louston-based Infinite Records.
“and lli
us intoti
to the
"X
It
healty
erstandiij
ic achietf-
ortant ::|iosters andothercol lectors’ items,
rengthai
uncturei
r West
;ed wit
t
-a Hark\
pbilosofh
ementst!
nted, sh
been ar
othesizias
item f»
1 multicu!
or whois
urse, saii
t utilizinj
^ruly
r nei
e sciences
en
Women's
Hardin!
on a gl
ssueSi w
erwise bs
“I bring 3,000 or 4,000 current CDs and
housands of posters from around the world,”
le said.
He also brings thousands of new and
ised records.
Many music sellers from Texas and nearby
totes participate in the convention, which has
seen held in College Station for the last four
ears. Ritz subleases space to these indepen-
lent vendors, who offer rare and collectible
ideos, photographs, T-shirts and autographs,
is well as new music.
According to a promotional flier, such items
Dave Ritz, Infinite Records owner, said the
onvention offers people a unique opportunity
o choose from a large selection of inexpensive
lew music, as well as hard-to-find records,
attract serious music collectors to Infinite
Record Conventions from around the world.
Collectors are pleased to find an abundance of
out-of-print records, the flier says.
Ritz said recent rises in the popularity of
record collecting have had a positive effect on
the convention.
“You just can’t really find old records any
more,” he said. “These conventions are about
the only place you can get vinyl.”
Ritz said convention attendance has in
creased over the years as music stores have
stopped carrying records.
Casual music buyers also come to the con
ventions because of the large variety of music
styles available, Ritz said. Although the shows
are primarily rock-oriented, he said buyers
should have no problem finding jazz, blues,
soul and country selections.
Infinite Records has produced similar
shows throughout Texas and other southern
states since 1978. And while the College Sta
tion show may not quite rival the size and
scope of shows in larger cities — the Houston
conventions usually occupy 8,000 square feet
— Ritz said attendance and vendor participa
tion has been growing steadily.
Ritz said Texas A&M football games and
other events often hinder efforts at finding
appropriate convention venues.
“It’s sometimes hard to book shows (in
College Station) because there are always
so many things going on,” he said.
But unlike conventions in other cities
where prospective buyers pay for admis
sion, the College Station show is free.
“It costs a lot to put on a show,
with advertising and other expens
es,” Ritz said, “but I know that
money is not always easy to
come by when you’re in college.”
Noting the significance of
money for most students,
Ritz also applies this under
standing to his pricing. CDs
will be available from $2
and up, and records will
start at $1.
Ritz said the plethora of in
expensive music and memora
bilia that will be available Satur
day will attract plenty of people to
the largest record show ever held in
College Station.
“People at the show will see stuff
that they can’t see elsewhere, and for
cheaper,” he said. “I’d say that’s a pretty
good reason to come.”
Marcia Ball brings Boogie-woogie piano
music to B-CS on way to New Orleans
By Libe Goad
The Battalion
W hile heading down to New Orleans
this weekend to purge yourself of
all debauchery before Lent, keep
an eye out for Marcia Ball.
After stopping at the 3rd Floor Cantina
Friday night, the rhythm-and-blues pianist
and her band will head straight to the jazz
headquarters of the South.
Among the mask-wearing, bead-barter
ing masses, Marcia Ball and her Boogie-
woogie sound will continue a tradition of
the Mardi Gras of an older generation.
“Mardi Gras is less of a music event
than it used to be,” Ball said. “Now it’s
Spring Break in New Orleans — all youth
and no money.”
Despite the college students that will be
partying on Bourbon Street this weekend,
Ball will stick around to enjoy her native
state and perform on Fat Tuesday.
,,nor Cf.
ft,
tffin, A*
Goad,
n,ks:H*
topher. M 1
aarkJ.'i
flirls M lile ''
Brownie
niferl>' nne
ter. A nlW
^inthel*
iin .1 ^
11. J
fall al ’„
xtep'""
posiaf! e
ts
lu^
Marcia Ball is performing at 3rd Floor
Cantina tonight.
The heart of the New Orleans music
scene is where it all began for Ball.
Critics compare her music to the revolu
tionary music of Jerry Lee Lewis, whose
“Great Balls of Fire” gave piano music a
new spark. Ball’s similar spark has earned
her the honorary title, the “Queen of Boo
gie-woogie.”
Ball said the word carries an old-fash
ioned connotation and assures that the mu
sic is not boring.
“My husband and I were watching a
chase scene and they used a Boogie-woo
gie song,” she said. “It’s the rock ’n’ roll
of piano.”
Ball’s Boogie-woogie title comes after
many years on the piano. Thanks to her
grandmother, who played Tin Pan Alley
and ragtime piano, Ball began taking for
mal, classical piano lessons at age five. Due
to normal teenage concerns, she stopped
playing piano nine years later.
“I quit because I got distracted — by
everything,” she said. “Cars, boys, sports
and other things.”
She said she pushed piano to the back of
her priority list until she and her husband
moved to Austin in 1971.
“Me and my husband moved to Austin
and went to a junk store to look for a wash
er and a stove and brought back a piano,”
she said.
The piano sat at the back of the store
covered in dust with a mannequin on top.
She ran her fingers over the keys and dis
covered everything was in working order.
“People quit and wish they hadn’t,”
Ball said. “I encourage people to start
playing again.”
Ball started playing again, and after a
stint with Freda and the Firedogs, a pro
gressive county band, and a solo debut al
bum, she began banging out the music of
her home state.
She gathered a band and began touring
throughout the Southwest and released
Soulful Dress (1983), Hot Tamale Baby
(1985) and Gatorhythms (1989).
Her most recent release is Blue House,
an album Piano and Keyboard magazine
said was “hard to categorize, unless your
record collection includes a section for cool,
piano-based blues, rhythm and blues, and
New Orleans boogie, with touches of coun
try and zydeco to stir up the brew.”
Exit 68 aims for mainstream by writing original songs
By Kristina Buffin
The Battalion
O ne of the biggest mysteries of a
band is usually the name.
Names like Barenaked Ladies,
Mirandasexgarden and Lunachicks of
ten cause people to wonder, “Where the
hell did they come up with that name?”
Add Exit 68 to the list. The College
Station band was originally named As
If ... , but the four A&M students de
cided they needed to find a more origi
nal name.
Bass guitarist Tommy Newman and
drummer Hans Betten were driving
back from Dallas, saw all the exit signs
and thought why not name the band
exit something.
“We wanted to name it Exit 69,” Bet-
ten, a senior agricultural development
major, said. “But Case’s (Brown, the
lead singer) mom would have kicked
our ass.”
Exit 68 formed in August after Bet-
ten and lead guitarist Ryan Ash met
last spring on the way to the Conroe
County Cookoff. At the fair, the two
started jamming and decided to try and
form a band.
Brown, Ash and Newman knew
each other from being in Company F-2
in the Corps of Cadets, and Betten
was in Company A-l. They all liked
music, and Ash and Betten had been
in bands before.
“My whole family is into music,” Bet
ten said. “My stepdad played drums in
Dallas, and as a kid, I used to bang on
everything I could. Alex Van Halen is a
god and inspired me.”
Exit 68 is a cover band like most oth
er bands which are just starting out.
Their first gig was on Sept. 2 last year.
They only knew 10 songs at the time,
but Ash said they were just thrilled to
be part of the music scene.
Now the band plays at least once
a week.
Most of the band’s gigs involve play
ing for charitable causes and benefits.
Exit 68 has played for Habitat for Hu
manity, Bonfire and at the Roadhouse
benefit last week.
“We just want to help out,” Newman,
(from top) Hans Betten, Tommy Newman
a senior wildlife and fisheries science
major, said. “We will play for any orga
nization on campus, for a community
service project or for any good cause.
This year we will play at Muster and at
Big Event.”
The band members are working on a
couple of original songs and are looking
forward to writing more.
“Up until now, we have been a cover
band, that is what we started out to
do,” Newman said. “In the future, we
want to play more original songs and
we plan to get involved in original
songs in the next few months.”
Until it starts playing original
songs, Exit 68 plays a wide range of
cover songs. The band’s variety
ranges from anything like the Steve
Miller Band to Silverchair.
“We like to try a lot of different
stuff,” Newman said. “We play any
thing from classic rock to mainstream
alternative. Our music reflects the di
versity in our influences. It kind of
gives us our own sound because we cov
er a variety of songs.”
The diversity of the band is also re
flected in the members’ personalities.
Newman describes himself as the per-
Gwendolyn Struve, The Baitalion
, Ryan Ash and Case Brown are Exit 68.
fectionist and the anal one of the group.
Brown wears Tommy Hilfiger shirts at
every performance; Betten wears a dif
ferent pair of boxers at each perfor
mance, and he describes Ash as the
personality of the group.
“I’m kind of like the guy that never
gets tired in terms of goofing off and all
that stuff,” Ash, a sophomore mechani
cal engineering major, said. “Hans and
I like rock ‘ri roll, Tommy likes bands
like the Cure, and Case has more of a
country background. When we all get
together, we throw in our own part.
“It’s a problem when we find a song
to play because we can’t agree. When
we finally agree, it is something that
we all put our hearts in.”
College Station has not been known
for its local band scene. However, in the
last couple of years, the number of local
of bands has proliferated.
“I think that we have noticed that
the College Station scene is getting big
ger and more friendly,” Betten said.
It is getting bigger because of local
bands like Peeping Tom and Mr.
Friendly.”
Exit 68 is playing at Northgate to
morrow at 8:30 p.m.
The stunning artistry
and precision of
Guildhall Strings,
featuring renowned tnutar
soloist Manuel Barrueco,
will delight hulsu: [am -
of all ages.
This group of
I I string players and
one harpsichordist delivers
an appealing mix oj
Imroque and
modern works.
ANt?
TAVCE iT
DEFENSIVE DRIVING ... COMEDY STYLE
USA Training Company, Inc.
Speeding Ticket? Have the Last Laugh!
State-approved Defensive Driving course
for ticket dismissal and insurance reduction
Convenient Saturday classes taught
at 4.0 & Go Tutoring in College Station
Taught by professional comic Bobby Bernshausen
To register, call 778-GRIN (778-4746)
1996 WOMEN’S WEEK AWARDS
Opera C' PtffcirMfyj jlrts Society
http://wwwmsc.tamu.edu/msc/opas/opas.html
opas@tamu.edu
Texas A&M University
Rudder Auditorium
February 22,1996 8:00 p.m.
Tickets are on sale at the
MSC Box Office-TAMU,
or charge by phone at 845-1234.
Now accepting Aggie Bucks™
Texas A&M University’s Women’s Week Awards, established in 1994 as part of
Women’s Week, are designed to honor Texas A&M University students, staff, faculty
and administrators who encourage and promote the sensitivity to and awareness of
issues that relate to women.
Categories (one award will be given in each category)
Student Currently enrolled undergraduate or
graduate/professional student
Staff Employees other than faculty or administration
Faculty Tenure track or non-tenure track faculty
Administrator Department head level or above
NOMINATIONS DUE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29 BY 5:00 P.M.
Please contact the Vice President for Student Affairs Office at 845-4728 for further
information. Nomination forms can be picked up on 10th Floor Rudder Tower.
f Persons with disabilities please call 845-89
special needs. We request notification three
the event to enable us to assist
ist you to
03 to inform us of your
(3) working days prior to
the best of our ability.
Awards will be presented at the Women’s Week Kickoff Luncheon
Friday, March 22, 1996 - 12:00 p.m. at the Student Recreation Center