BIG BUCKS QUICK
Now hiring signature canvassers
No experience necessary ... we train
We pay 50* per valid signature
Hurry, job ends July 1
Call Today - collect if needed ...
Fair Pay Committee 646-3346
11200 SW Allen Blvd. Beaverton, Or 97005
*l¥oMVtcL 4
20th S. “A” & Main,
Springfield 747-9354
Open: Mon.-Sai., 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
by YAMAHA
$100 OFF
50 & 80 Models Only
No Money Down
O.A.C. low cost
financing available
Own your
own business
Can you beg, borrow,
or finagle $1,200
With this initial investment you can pay for your
entire college career and have extra earning power
for years to come.
You will own your own business and people will
come to you. A legitimate offer from an established
Portland firm.
A limited amount of sunglass dealerships are
available. This program is our contribution to the
college students of America. Come to the Green
wood Inn, Pacific Room, in Beaverton on Thursday,
June 7, at 6 p.m.
EVERCLEAR PRSIER OFFER
For your full color 18" x 22" Everclear
poster, send $3.00 in check, money order
or use your Mastercard or Visa to:
Everclear Foster Offer
500 3rd Avenue West
Seattle, WA 98119
25
r>ii<in— . -.- - . -..-.-—.—.- ■
CinrrttaMi—. .- Zip
7tm
Kama* #.
• Inn OS»f9o«Jml»anhr OOMvodi
Or Wortdt
.-. fap —
vpfuh^nttdby law Ho
Taking note
On a recent Monday morning Mary Decker
was seen at a local restaurant reading The
Register-Guard. It was the day after she took a
wrong turn at a road race, and ran the "fun run"
instead of the 10K — by mistake. The R-G
photographer had caught the track star in an
unflattering pose that appropriately illustrated
her confusion. Decker was the portrait of befud
dlement and not the glamorous woman the
public has grown accustomed to seeing on
magazine covers, Kodak endorsements and Nike
ad spreads.
While Decker was trying to digest her
breakfast, the story goes, she picked up The
Guard, looked with disgust at the picture and
slammed the paper down on the table. Periodical
ly, she'd glance at the article and throw it down
with an increasing degree of horror and disdain.
How could the press do such a thing to its local
celebrity? The Guard had caught her off-guard,
and Decker didn't look like she likes to look.
The interesting thing is that Decker has come
to do a very clever job of controlling her image.
She requests that certain photographers take her
picture, she has called a moratorium on speaking
News and newsmakers:
Who's controlling whom?
Angela Allen Morgan
with the press until the Olympics, and she now
issues statements to the media through her
coach. The hotter a commodity she becomes with
the press and public, the more attuned she is to
her role as a media product.
Great athlete who she is, she has become a
kind of rock star. The media uses her — while
she's big — and she's using the media — while she
can.
This whole phemomenon of image
controlling, especially in amateur athletics, was an
alien concept a decade ago. To many purists, even
today, it's nauseatingly contrary to the principles
of "non-paid" sport. In the entertainment
business, image-controlling is almost second
nature. There must be some relationship.
The rock industry is the most obvious
perpetrator. Anyone who has been to a Hult
Center rock or pop concert this year has tem
porarily suspended his or her rights during the
assiduous pre-concert searches for cameras and
tape recorders. However many dollars the public
laid out for a ticket (the top-price ticket for a Hult
rock show was $18.50 for The Dead, according to
Rollie Howell, a Hult ticket office worker) the
groups still manage to dutifully protect
themselves from image- or sound-making over
which they could lose control. Most often a con
tract agreement between the Hult, the promoter
and the groups themselves, this kind of ques
tionable security system has made it possible for
big names to keep the corner on their marketabili
ty, and to keep their image "clean."
Last summer when The Tubes came to town,
an Emerald photographer and reporter wheeled
and dealed through a local promoter to shoot pic
tures of the popular band's concert. Somewhere
in the negotiations, the Emerald agreed to use the
photos only for the Emerald.
Later on some trouble arose when the
photographer agreed to let Ken Babbs, editor of
The Bugle, run a couple of the photos. The Tubes'
promoter, Jane Hoffman of Jensen Communica
tions in Burbank, got wind of this and reacted
vehemently. The Emerald had betrayed its original
agreement, but Hoffman was more enraged over
the possibility that the rock stars' photos might be
used counterproductively to their “image." Who
knows, the reasoning went, the Bugle could be an
unknown, disreputable and sleazy rag — no place
for The Tubes.
The problem was resolved when the Emerald
agreed to send the photo contact sheets to Bur
bank so Hoffman could "okay" the "publishable"
material. In the process, she crossed out nearly 50
percent of the frames. These photos, Hoffman
wrote in a return letter, were never to be used.
The Tubes are just one of the many entertain
ment goldmines who have managed to keep such
a tight grip on what the public sees and hears of
them. Def Leppard, Big Country, Duran Duran
and a number of the biggies that Northwest pro
moter John Bauer represents almost unequivocal
ly, according to Bauer, do not give interviews.
Just like Decker, these groups don't need the
press. They are sell-outs anywhere. They can talk
to reporters when they want to and demand con
trol — as much as possible — over photographs.
On the other hand, if Decker loses abysmally in
Los Angeles this summer, or if the bottom of The
Tubes' following falls out, the press might drop
both as ruthlessly as it has courted them. But right
now they are hot stuff, and hot copy. We want
them; they don't need us.
The same was true last week when "Gonzo"
journalist Hunter Thompson stopped in at Mac
Court for his $3,000-plus question-and-answer
spiel. The "outlaw" journalist is in demand on
campuses everywhere.
Thompson agreed to only one interview, and
the Emerald got it. We spoke to Register-Guard
reporter Bob Keefer the afternoon of Thompson's
arrival and Keefer assured us that we were a very
lucky bunch. He was envious. It wasn't a one-way
street: Thompson demanded that a woman inter
view him. So who's manipulating whom?
As members of the press who cover the arts
and entertainment world, we have to seriously
consider how much maneuvering we do to get to
the people who have so little time for us — and
who have their act down so flawlessly. Meanwhile
the stacks of hand-written press releases of
publicity-poor arts groups haunt us.
University Theatre, the School of Music and
the Bach Festival are several Eugene groups that
have effective public relations. It shows. Their
work is frequently covered. Even fledgling arts
groups are understanding how to better take ad
vantage of publicity, and many are grateful for any
kind of a coverage they receive. Similar to big
stars, they're not innocent of self-interest; but
neither are they so savvy about self-image.
There's a place for the big-story-big-star ap
proach in entertainment newspapering, especial
ly if it is "news." But the insensitive reporter can
sell out to the full house and the quick-fix trend.
We also have a job to do: inform the public of
what's going on, however unslick the artists' — or
the athletes' — efforts.
-HARRAH’S
-LAKE TAHOE
Looking for
Summer Employment?
Join Our Team - Be A Part of The Best
Be A Part of Harrah’s
Summer positions are available now at
Harrah’s Tahoe Hotel/Casino. Openings
include Food Prep, Food Service, Cleaning
and Casino.
Apply in person at:
Harrah’s Tahoe
Stateline. NV
An Equal Opportunity Employer ■ MAF
1 FREE Soda*
plus
•4 EG off
I \J any slice
Offer good
Monday-Sunday
11:30-Midnight, Mon.-Fri.
3:30-Midnight, Weekends
1211 Alder on Campus
^ 686-9598
sL York
^ Sy's
I) New
Pizza
A cosmic selection
of Science Fiction * .
at your
Bookstore
m the Book Dept