Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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UUOTE OF THE UAY “Politics can be defined as the art and science of attaining and maintaining power at any cost.” Vijay K. Beri I_K_H_I Special to The Gamecock (Left to right) Walter Graham, Terrance Henderson and Bobby Craft are the guys in “Dreamgiris,” which premieres tonight at 8 p.m. Workshop iheatre presents ‘Dreamgirls’ by Kamille Bostick . The Gamecock The Workshop Theatre presents “Dreamgirls” beginning today and lasting through Sept. 23. The musical reveals the story behind the glitz and glamour of 1960s show business, while highlighting the struggles of African-American singers as they struggled their way to the top of mainstream pop culture. “Dreamgirls” trans ports the audience to a time when the music and movements of American youths were in sync with their dreams. Director Cindy Flach directs a cast of 36 in this production, while USC se nior Terrance Henderson choreographs them in a show that brings the spirit of the Motown music machine to the stage. Its principal players include Crystal Cuyler, Valdina Hall, Ashley Herring, Nichelle Johnson, LaTanyua Thompson, Bobby Craft, Walter Graham, Will Moreau, and Henderson. Co-producers Pam Johnson and Nancy Platt combine with music director Roland Haynes, costume designer Ruth Mock, stage manager Ann Bums and oth • .i er specialty managers to create a performance for all who enjoy the magic of Mo town. Tickets for “Dreamgirls,” showing 8 p.m. nighty at the Workshop Theatre on 1136 Bull St., are $15 for adults and $13 for seniors, military, and students. The box office can be reached at 799-6551. For more information about auditions for other upcoming plays, call the theater at 799-4876. The spotlight desk can be reached at gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com. CP sponsors Improv by Kelly Hamilton The Gamecock The Improv Asylum delivered an original, fast-paced production of improvisa tional sketches and comedic scenes. The free show, sponsored by Carolina Produc tions, was performed in the Russell House ballroom Wednesday night. The four actors from the Improv Asylum Touring Co., based in Boston, were Eddie Mejia, Brian Frates, Paul D’Amato and Chet Harding. The group travels to colleges, corporations, festivals and parties all over the country. They have even per formed for Vogue magazine in Aspen. Frates, an actor for 2 1/2 years, says the experience lias been educational. “Working with the Improv Asylum has been the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done. Everything I’ve learned about Improv, I’ve learned from these guys,” Frates said. Frates received a journalism degree from the University of Massachusetts and worked as a sports broadcaster before starting stand-up comedy eleven years ago. “I was always interested in comedy and thought that maybe I could do that, “ Frates said. So he decided to give it a try and signed up for an open-mike night. The young Comedy see page 9 * No coins, no problem by Keita Alston The Gamecock The smell of dirty laundry is certainly not pleasant, especially when the nasty fragrance of those grimy piles permeates a dorm room. Grosser still is digging through dirty laundry to find loose change to wash those stained Carolina T-shirts and wet jeans from Saturday’s game. The search for quarters is over for those who choose to swipe a card instead. The university has implemented a new laundry option as a convenient alternative to using quarters. The cost of this new technology is $2 for each card, and a $5 min imum for credit. Students can purchase their cards from the “Add Value Station” located near the laundry room in each participating residence hall. The station takes cash in $5, $10 and $20 bills. This system is comparable to that of the meal plan and cash card used on campus; it is a debit system that, with each insertion for a washer or dryer, subtracts money from the original amount deposited. Marine science sophomore Tracy L. Cameron says she likes the new machines. “I think it’s a good idea because 1 think that it’ll be so much easier to just take the card downstairs than to take a million quarters, she said. Other students think the new system is inconvenient. “You have to pay two dollars for a card, and then you have to pul the money into a machine that doesn't accept one-dollar bills,’ psychology sophomore Danielle Parsons said. “Also, the prices are too high mid you have to worry whether or not you have enough money on your card to finish your laundry.” Either way, this new system offers something to USC students that is of high value for all — a choice. On those days when quarters arc nowhere to be found, this system could be of great value. For others who prefer quarters, that option is still available. The spotlight desk can he reached at gamecockspotiight@hotmail.com. 1 % * Five Way Friday to play two shows by Marguerite Higgins The Gamecock They’ve grabbed the No. 1 slot for WARQ’s “Top Five at Five” show for the last three days this week. Now, Five Why Friday is looking to draw in the Co lumbia crowd, as well as those Bull dog football fans from Athens, for their weekend shows at Pavlov’s and the El bow Room. A modem pop rock band, Five Why Friday’s popularity has increased with their song, “Does Anybody Care,” from their recent CD titled Run Like This: Originally formed more than three years ago at Wofford College, the band plans on increasing their local following be fore planning any upcoming tours. “We’ve toned down our touring a bit in the last two years since we were playing four to five nights a week in Geoigia, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida,” lead singer Randy Helmly said. “We just perform on the weekends now and want to make our group strong in Columbia, because the climate for live music bands isn’t what it used to be:” Five Way Friday includes Mac Leaphart as lead guitarist and background vocalist, Michael Helmly as rhythm gui tarist and background vocalist, Michael McWhorter, who plays the keyboard, Gibbs Leaphart as bass guitarist and drum mer Joe Good.. The band will play around 11 p.m. Friday night at Pavlov’s with opening act, The Volley. General Manager Wil son Collins said he expects more of a crowd since University of Geoigia stu dents follow the band, as well. . “I tlrink with a lot of people from Geoigia coming down and the general excitement, now that the Gamecocks have finally won a game, there will be a lot more people wanting to come down to Five Points, hear some bands and cel ebrate this weekend,” Collins said. The band plans to play more songs from their recent album, released in Feb ruary, as well as songs from their previ ous CD, “Moon Driven World.” “We’ll play more of our recent songs from the newer CD and then a couple of cover songs, but we enjoy doing it,” Randy Helmly said. Five Way Friday is not under any management, after downsizing from Jarred Wilkins, manager of Charleston’s Blue Dogs. “We wanted to basically start over again and be more a part of what goes on ourselves,” Good said. “We haven’t had too many prob lems so far, although most of us are com ing from entirely opposite directions, and I think that just has to do with our motivation to perform which makes dis tance nothing,” Good said. No new records are in the works, but the band will continue to play in Co lumbia, Athens, Ga. and Atlanta for the time being, Randy Helmly said. “Wfe’re always working on new ideas and we might do a live CD, but for right now we want to hang onto the radio play for right now and see what'goes from there,” he said. Cover for Pavlov’s is $6 for people 21 years or older. The band will do an other show at the Elbow Room Satur day night at around 11 p.m. Jennifer Net tles, former singer for Soul Miner’s Daughter, will open for Five Way Fri day at around 10 p.m., and people 18 and up can attend with a cover of $5. The spotlight desk can be reached at gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com. ~ Special to The Gamecock Five Way Friday will play this weekend at the Elbow Room and Pavlov’s. The group’s popularity has increased in recent months. Teen’s charity honors father who didn’t see him grow up by Margie Fishman College Press Exchange HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. — When he was five years old, Matt Arkans kissed his father for the last time through a surgical mask. Rick Arkans' weak immune system couldn’t handle clos er contact. He died in 1992 of acute leukemia, before he could see his son mark his bar mitzvah, a rite of passage in Judaism. To involve his father in the ceremony, Matt Arkans and his mother, Barbara, wanted more than a plaque on the syn agogue wall. So, taking $1,000 from the bar mitzvah gifts he received in October, this fall Matt Arkans will establish a need-based academic scholarship at Pennsylvania State University's Abington canipus, a satellite of his father's al ma mater where his mother recently continued her post secondary studies in English. Matt Arkans is the youngest donor in the Meadowbrook school's history. “College is important,” the ninth-grader said. The fam ily is trying to raise an additional $9,000 to make the schol arship an endowment, which would allow the scholarship to be given in perpetuity. Other mitzvot, or good deeds, completed by Matt Arkans as part of the ceremony included buying toys for a poor fam ily during Christmas and donating nearly 1,000 pounds of pet food and supplies to the local SPCA. An aspiring veterinarian, the 14-year-old plans to at tend Penn State’s main campus. “I don’t know what I'm going to do when he goes to col lege,” said Barbara Arkans, who admits to holding on tight ly to her son since the first love of her life was taken from her. Although Matt Arkans is at the age when he makes his mother, the chauffeur, walk 10 feet behind him and his friends at the mall, it is apparent that the pair thoroughly enjoy each other's company. Sitting in their living room re cently, Barbara Arkans wrapped an arm around the shoul der of her son, who joked that she was cutting off his cir culation. Matt Arkans’ memories of his father are few in number, but vivid: Rick Arkans, an advertising executive, convinc ing his wife that buying a white Bichon Frise would be good for her alleigies; skipping work to drink hot chocolate with his son on a snowy day; and always being optimistic even as he was confined to a hospital bed with a terminal illness at age 33. It was “less than a year from him being diagnosed to dy ing in my arms,” Barbara Arkans said, adding that she forced her husband to go to the doctor after he had been com plaining of groin pain. In 1979, she was a sophomore at Penn State's main cam pus, working at an optometrist's office, when Rick Arkans, a senior in a fraternity, came in to buy sunglasses. Com plaining that the tint was not right, the South Philadelphia native continued to visit the girl from Bellefonte. After he graduated, she followed and put her studies on hold. \Vfearing Penn State sweatshirts, the trio, along with Pat ty, the hard-won dog, are pictured sitting in their backyard in the fall — the season when the couple were married. After enduring eight months of chemotherapy, Rick Arkans was still smiling with a full head of hair and a gen tle face. Just before the photograph was taken, he had been told that he had relapsed. After the death of her husband of 10 years, Barbara Arkans said, she focused all of energies on her son, teaching him how to fish, ride a bike, and play base ball. “If I get too far ahead of her, she flips out,” Matt Arkans grumbled about a recent biking outing. “I'm starting to let go,” Barbara Arkans said, trying to make herself believe it. The spotlight desk can be reached at gamecockspotlight@hotinail.com. t '* John Slavin College Press Exchange Matt Arkans, 14, holding a 1991 portrait of his fam ily, donated $1,000 of his bar mitzvah money to set up a scholarship in honor of his father, who died in 1992 of acute leukemia. What’s Happening . Friday, Sept. 8 Billy G’s: Tootie & The Jones 21-plus after 10 p.m., no cover, show starts at 9:30 p.m. Elbow Room: Dezeray’s Hammer, 18 ' plus, $5 tickets, doors open at 8 p.m., show starts at 10 p.m. Jammin Java: Jeff Chandler, all ages, $2 cover, show starts at 9 p.m. Jillians: The Resonators, 21-plus, $5 cover, show starts at 8 p.m. Macs on Main: All shows, all ages, two-beverage minimum with no cover. Fourth Element (jazz band composed of USC jazz students), starts at 8 p.m. Sundance Grill: Muddy Quarters, 21 plus, no cover, starts at 10 p.m. Willy’s: SEC Fan Jam: The Whatever Band, all ages, no cover, show starts at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9 Billy G’s: Speed Bumps, 21-plus, no cover, show starts at 10 p.m. Elbow Room: Five Why Friday, 18 plus, $7 tickets, doors open at 8 p.m., show starts at 10 p.m. Jammin java: Phil Norman, all ages,-$2 cover, show starts at 8 p.m. Jillians: Contagious, 21-plus, $5 coyer, show starts at 9 p.m. Macs On Main: All shows, all ages, two-beverage minimum with no cover. Jeff Liberty starts at 8 p.m. Sundance grill: Volley, 21-plus, no cover, starts at 10 p.m. Campus Notes Carolina for Kids needs tutors Carolina for Kids is recruiting tutors for the fall semester. If you are inter ested in becoming a tutor or mentor, pick up an application in the commu nity service office in the basement of Russell House. Association to hold dance The Greater Columbia Chapter of the U.S. Amateur Ballroom Dance Associ ation will hold its monthly dances 7:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Saturday and Sept. 23 at the Hugh Dimmery Memorial Center, 680 Cherokee Lane, West Co lumbia. Dress is casual. Admission is * $4 for national USABD\ members, $7 for non-members and S3 for students. For information, call Mike Verdone at 407-0132 or Grace Keller at 957 9259. Battle of Gettysburg topic of USC exhibit The Thomas Cooper Library has com piled an exhibit detailing the Battle of Gettysburg. The exhibit is on display during normal library hours, 7:30 a.m. to midnight weekdays and 10 am. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and 1 p.m. to midnight on Sundays through Sunday on the li brary’s mezzanine level. CPR class to be offered Health and Wellness Programs will of fer an American Red Cross Adult CPR course from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the Blatt P.E. Center. Golden Key to meet Golden Key International Honor Soci ety is having their first meeting of the semester at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Golden Key room, Russell House 309. Honor society to meet The Gamma Beta Phi Society will meet at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in the ODK/Mortar Board room on the third floor of Russell House. Items to be dis cussed include all upcoming activities for this semester.