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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 28, 1982)
Shakespeare The EMU Cultural Forum »s organising a group tnpto Ashtand's Oregon Shakespearean Festival for May 29 and 30 For $26, participants will see Julius Caesar ", Sookesona' and "Wings . For more information, contact the Cultural Forum Comedy Comedians Johnny Dark and Batty Marder will be in town Friday and Saturday for shows at the Hacienda Steak House in Springfield Tickets are $4 SO Elecronic Mural “Electronic Mural," a 55-minute musical/video presentation displayed on a set of mounted color television monitors, will be shown in 167 EMU from 10 a m to 3 p.m. today only The event is free, and open to the public Dance llnlveralty Department of Dance students will present a concert of their works at 8 p.m May 7 and 8 at the Dougherty Dance Theatre in 354 Gerimger Admission is $2 for University students, $3 for the general public Shrovetide I comes to the Doughe% Dance Theatre April 30 through May 2. with wotkshops, dance concerts and demonstrations of Slavic, Balkan Hungarian Cretan and East European ads and customs For more information contact Ken Aldrich at 686-3386 Grupo Raiz Grupo Raiz. a Chilean folk music ensemble, will perform Friday at 8 p m at the W O W Halt as part of the ‘Cetebration of International Solidarity ". Admission is $4-$6. on a sliding scale Silly Wizard Paul Winter Laurie Anderson Silty Wizard brings its brand of Scottish progressive music to the EMU Ballroom Thursday night for a dance/concert at 8 p m Tickets are S3 50 for University students, or S4 50 for the general public The Paul Winter Consort comes to the EMU Ballroom for a concert May 5 at 8 p m. Tickets are $5.50 for University students. $6.50 for the general public Musician, sculptor, poet, filmmaker, photographer and. most recently, pop star Laud* Anderson will appear tonight at 8 p m at the Neighbors of Woodcraft Hall in Portland Tickets are $9, and are available at the Portland Center tor the Visual Arts at 117 N W Fifth Ave in Portland matt meyer Let me say this about that There I was. sitting through an other endless roll of credits in a darkened section of a sextuple theater The lights slowly came up. I kicked my mostly empty car ton of popcorn under the seat, and stood up to leave I took one step, and found mysett falling for ward My foot was cemented solidly to the floor by an inch of dned Cokes and Good N Plen ty* VNrtien I d finally freed myself. I went to talk with my friend Quig ley who works for that particular theater 'Tell me. Quigley." I asked, ‘‘why are most of the theaters m Eugene so lousy7 * Wiaddya mean?" he asked "Well." I replied trying not to offend him. "it seems to me that a lot of the movie theaters I go to are. well gong downhill fast « seems hke halt of the sound sys tems were bought second-hand from Fast Eddie s Car Stereo Shop half ot the screens have Cokes splattered across them and all of the theater floors are carpeted in wall to wall goo What gives7" Quigley looked at me secre tively. then motioned for me to accompany around the comer of a row of broken video games, away from the other movie-goers When he was sure no one could hear, he whispered "It's all part of the plan " "Wiat do you mean7" ' Well.'' Quigley said, "the owners of these theaters are well aware of the economic hardships the folks m Eugene suffer Times are realty tough and it s hard for an unemployed logger to justify going to a plush theater for an evening of entertainment" "The owners recognize that and are doing their brt to help Rather than make then theaters plush and make that poor logger feel aK guilty, and oownnght un comfortable m such a luxurious environment, they try to keep their theaters feeling "lived-m, and comfortable tor everybody " • Gosh."' I said what a great bunch of guys'"’ ' But there s more " said Quig ley "Say you happen to be doing OK. making a few bucks You feel a little guilty, because you know there are hundreds of people out of work What do you do7 Go to the movies1 You'll rub shoulders with those poor out-of work people and have a genuine bond with them You can really feel tuned in to the economic times, because you re suffering through the same poverty they are Of course you get to drive your BMW back to your house on the hdl but you ve shared an im portant experience with the non wortong class Bravo' I cned A teenager who just tost his quarter m the Battle Zone machine gave me a strange took Quigley cautioned e lIUIClifM mHBI m canDTiin SPORTING GOODS oo off aM Etorec Runrwvg Shoes tor men 4 »omen witi (Ns coupon OatrepresU^ 13, ’982 1495 E. 19th St. 485-3471 me to be quiet "Ssssh' There s more than one movie chain in town, you know " “Are they doing the same thing for the community7' I asked ‘Oh. no," said Quigley They re tied in to the cable TV system in town See they figure if they slowly make their movies look and sound absolutely horri ble people will get tired of slodg ing through the stale popcorn to sit in uncomfortable seats to watch a lousy movie They'll stay at home, and watch lousy movies m their own homes which means lots of cable subscriptions If they keep it up long enough, there’ll be no theaters left m town at all " “The knaves’ I cried “What are you going to do to fight them7 ’ “Ssssh" Well. I guess it s sate to tell you We re going to try to put some romance back into go ing to the movies We ve started purposely breaking films two or three times each showing, just to give couptes a moment or two in the darkness So far it's worked out just great Except for a couple of muggings ” "Wow, that's wonderful," I said, pulling some chewing gum off my shoe "What'll you guys think of next7” The lobby was empty now He just emptied a garbage bag full of pre-popped popcorn into a huge warming bin and grinned
