Pulse Editor:
Ryan Nyburg
ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, August 12, 2004
— Oregon Daily Emerald
PULSE
Hot Picks:
Walker T. Ryan and the Delta Mystics
10 p.m. Saturday August 14
Luna, 30 E. Broadway
$5 cover
RYAN NYBURG
BUDGET RACK
Accessibility
of media
enhances
substance
A few columns ago, I posed the ques
tion of why comedian Bob Hope was
praised all to high heaven when he passed,
while the death of comedian Bill Hicks
was barely noted. The answer boiled down
to a matter of popularity. Hope was a
beloved figure while Hicks was a scabrous
and bitter cynic who never reached a level
beyond cult status in his lifetime. Hope
was acceptable to the mainstream, despite
his bland, white-bread comedy, while
Hicks broke new ground with his vitriolic
and intelligent social satire.
It's not fair that middle-of-the-road work
should be exalted over brilliant comedy,
but then again, life isn't fair. If it were, then,
as a colleague of mine said, you would de
serve every messed-up thing that has ever
happened to you. But the idea of how a fig
ure such as Hicks could even rise to what lit
tle prominence he reached is intriguing. To
me, it opens up questions about how cer
tain ideas rise in media, how different view
points become available and what is and is
not given a chance in our culture.
Hicks was able to make it into promi
nence despite being an abrasive performer
because stand-up comedy is and open
medium. Anybody with the proper skills
can be a stand-up comic and find an out
let for his or her work v/ith little personal
expense. Stand-up comedy is also one of
the few media in which new and creative
viewpoints are rewarded, given time and
perseverance. There is no way to hide a
lack of talent, though some have made
valiant efforts (Carrot Top comes immedi
ately and regrettably to mind).
Stand-up is currently in a static period as
far as I can gauge. Suffering from declining
returns, the industry behind it has rallied
around safe bets. This is the problem that
affects any medium when the audiences
start shrinking and the money doesn't flow
easily. Eventually, one of two things will
happen: The tide will turn and stand-up
will rise to prominence again, meaning
risks will be easier to take, or the whole
thing will disintegrate into dust, leaving the
way open for someone else to come
around and do it over again. Either way,
someone will shake things up eventually.
If you look at any medium you'll find ap
proximately the same patterns. The differ
ences are in how open or closed the nature
of the medium is. Each system has its own
quirks. Television, for example, is by its na
ture the most firmly closed system. With a
limited amount of space available (we're
talking broadcast rather than cable or satel
lite here, though they're all owned by the
same people) and a relatively high expense
inherent in operating a station, home
grown local TV is hard to find. Public access
is always available, but comparing the reach
of that to network television is like compar
ing a garden hose to the Mississippi.
Cable and satellite opened things up a
bit, but if you want to make it on televi
sion, you still have to play by the rules of
the people already in the game. It also
Please see NYBURG, page 10
TOP OF THE MORNING
Ann Dornfeld hosts
"Morning Edition" for
NPRat KLCC early
Tuesday.
Tim Bobosky
Interim Photo Editor
Air time
KLCC’sAnn Dornfeld is a lifelong radio aficionado and hosts an NPR morning show
MICHAEL A. BOOTH
FREELANCE REPORTER
nn Domfeld's love of radio developed at a
young age. When she was six years old, she
JL \»and her older brother would record televi
sion shows like Mister Rogers' Neighborhoodand
then insert their own commercials.
"We called our station K.I.D.S.," Dornfeld said.
"We'd sign off by saying 'K.I.D.S. Seatde — That's
our motto!"'
Twenty-one years later, in the National Public
Radio studio radio station KLCC, she exudes the
same youthful enthusiasm she had in her KIDS
days. As the local host of NPR's Morning Edition,
the morning news program, Dornfeld settled into
her seat in the cramped 10 foot by 20 foot studio
lined with vinyl records from floor to ceiling Tues
day like it was her own personal happy place.
When Tom Krumm, the host of the music pro
gram Fresh Tracks, came into the studio just min
utes before his 9 a.m. turn in the studio seat,
Dornfeld and Krumm immediately began their
on-air exchange to introduce his show. Smiling,
Dornfeld swiveled her chair to face the studio
control panel, pressed a button and began.
"Fresh tracks with Tom Krumm is coming
up next," Dornfeld said. "How are you this
morning, Tom?"
Her voice was smooth, precise, low and no
ticeably changed from a slightly higher and
faster conversational tone she used off the air
only moments earlier.
Dornfeld's enthusiasm for public radio doesn'
cease with her on-air delivery. She is also passion
ate about attracting a younger demographic to be
come the next generation of radio listeners.
"You can only do so much to cater to a younge
audience," Dornfeld said. "But you can produce
stories that interest younger people."
Younger hosts can bring a cutting-edge approad
to the production of news stories, she said. She ate
an example of a story she wanted to report abou
the growth of an unusual singles Web site callec
Friendster that Dornfeld describes as a "self-promo
tional" Web site. When the Web site was becominj
popular, she proposed the story to her boss
Please see NPR, page 10
Courtesy
The comedy juggling team Brothers From Different Mothers will appear
at the Lane County Fair, which will be held Aug. 17-22.
Lane County Fair
offers new attractions
The fair stays loyal to its roots
in agriculture but also offers
some high-tech fun
SARA BRICKNER
FREELANCE REPORTER
Kimberly Cook, a member of the Beta
Alpha sorority, said her favorite part of the
Lane County Fair is the food.
"It's only one time a year that you get to
have corn on the cob and elephant ears,"
Cook said.
Every year, Kimberly Cook and her peers
sell com on the cob at the Lane County Fair
in order to raise money for Beta Alpha, an in
ternational women's organization that is in
volved with numerous service projects. Cook
has worked at the Beta Alpha com booth for
fifteen years. The fair was a lot smaller when
Cook started working there, she said.
"It's grown a lot since I first joined. We
didn't sell near as much corn as we do
now," Cook said.
"The Lane County Fair is one of the
biggest and best county fairs in the North
west," said Lane County Fair Marketing
Manager Carrie Matsushita. This year, six
days of fair festivities will begin on August
17, including rides, shows, music, food
and family entertainment. Last year, more
than 170,000 people attended the Lane
County Fair. This year, fair organizers ex
pect similar numbers.
Several new events await this year's pa
trons, including several modem attractions
for gamers and technology gurus. The Race
Play Motion Simulators NASCAR replica
will offer NASCAR fans an opportunity to
simulate driving on a real race track and will
be located on the lawn in front of the Con
vention Center. Interactive Gaming Experi
ence; or IGX, is a free, interactive video game
exposition featuring 20 screens for gamers
to sample new PC, Playstation 2, Xbox and
GameCube games, or to enjoy old favorites. v
"We offer a lot of attractions that would
be appealing to an urban environment,"
said Matsushita. "We've seen fairs histori
cally move in a direction where they're be
coming much more urban."
Despite an emphasis on technology,
agriculture is still a central part of the Lane
County Fair.
"Emphasis on agriculture is key," said
Matsushita. "We try to emphasize educa
tion for people who have never been on a
farm or grown up in an agricultural setting."
Around 6 p.m., patrons will have a
Please see FAIR, page 8