monday, October 9, 1978
page 8
daily nebraskan
arts and entertainment
Record quality suffers as producers 'pocket profit
By Kent Warneke
Record-buyers in Lincoln and across
the country are being plagued with poor
quality sound recordings from major
recording companies, according to Dan
Geiger, manager of Team Electronics in
downtown Lincoln.
"The problem started back when the
record companies had the viable excuse of
a lack of petroleum (the main component
in producing the vinyl record) which
forced them to produce lower quality
records.
"The sad part of this is that after the
petroleum situation had been alleviated,
the record companies didn't go back to
their higher quality sound recordings, but
kept on with sub-par records in order to
save money."
Record rush
Glenn Hild, an employee at Dirt Cheap
Records, agrees with Geiger but gives
another reason for the problem.
Record companies have "too much to
do, with too little time to do it," he said.
Geiger said the disco boom has created
a new record demand that is a strain on
record companies as they try to meet
production schedules.
The September 7 article in Rolling
Stone magazine presented various theories
about why American-made records are
inferior and it all came down to money.
According to the report, most American
record manufacturers are concerned with
producing as many records as possible at
the lowest price.
Press process poor
About three out of 10 records sold are
returned o the place of business due to
warping, surface noise and scratches, an
estimation confirmed by employees at
Dirt Cheap.
The quality of records are determined
by the pressing process.
The pressing process is similar to making
waffles in a waffle iron.
Two stampers (one for each side of the
record) are fitted into a press and a piece
of vinyl is positioned between them. The
press heats up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit
and pressure is exerted on the vinyl to
mold the record.
According to Rolling Stone's findings,
' 1 ,000 vinyl records can be made from one
set of the stampers with high quality per
formance, but the tendency of American
recording companies is to stretch that use
to almost 3,000 copies per set of stampers.
Better stereos
Another problem is that modern
electronic equipment is too advanced for
today's records.
Hild said, "In the 1930s and '40s the
record itself was far more advanced than
the equipment it was played on, but today
it is entirely the opposite case."
Hild and Geiger said American record
producers could learn from foreign-made
recordings.
"Stricter industry regulations and the
expanding or farming out of major com
panies would help alleviate the situation
as the great demand would be spread out
more evenly and a little more pride would
go into the business," Hild said.
Also, more advanced techniques such
as laser beams that eliminate the turn
table needle will help control surface
noise problems.
Geiger said, "A better stylus and more
pride can be helpful, but unless something
drastic happens, like people starting to
reject the low-quality records and quit
buying them in protest, the situation
will probably remain the same as it is
now."
Rumors, remodeling haunt Temple Bldg.
By Kent Warneke
Never fear, the ghosts are not here!
It appears that, at least for the moment,
the UNL campus is "safe" from everything
but rumors of those haunting spirits in
white.
According to campus folklore, the
Temple Building located at 12th and R
streets, is "the most ghost-infested building
on campus."
For some unknown reason, a horde of
ghosts is alleged to inhabit the interior of
the 91 -year-old building. The story of the
Temple" Building night watchman, who
during his patrol, walked upon the dark
ened stage and all of the lights suddenly
came on, may lead creedence to this story.
The night watchman supposedly found
that all of the doors and windows were
locked and the light switches were in such
a position that no single human could have
turned all the lights simultaneously as it
allegedly happened.
Ghosts set free
The story goes on to say that if the
Temple Building is ever altered or destroy
ed, the ghosts will set themselves free and
cause havoc with the students and on he
UNL campus.
The time for altering the Temple Build
ing could be near as the College of Arts and
Sciences is proposing a new Theatre Arts
building for the campus and has already
received money for the hiring of architects.
Director of Budget and Facilities for the
college, Jim Van Horn said, "We have come
up with a proposal that we favor, involving
three phases."
The first phase would be new construct
ion which would amount to $2.3 million.
The second phase would be remodeling the
existing Temple Building, costing $2.8
million and the third phase would be the
acquisition of theatrical and sound equip
ment for $669,000.
This totals approximately $5.8 million,
but does not include architect's fees, equip
ment and art for display, which is a
requirement of the Legislature for all
public buildings. This would bring the total
proposed cost to $6332,000 Van Horn
said.
"We outlined this proposal as the most
appropriate at the September Board of
Regents' meeting and are not asking for
any action on it until the November meet
ing,", Van Horn said.
Dealership affected
Van Horn added that this proposal
would probably affect the Mid-City Toyota
car dealership, located next to Temple
Building, because the university owns the
land.
ASUN President, Ken Marienau, a noi i
voting member of the Board of Regent s,
said, "The proposed Theatre Arts buildhjg
is not high on the Regents' priority list for
construction and in all honesty, probably
will not receive funds for the 1979 budget
year.
"Some of the members of the Board of
Regents are concerned that millions will be
spent on a facility that will serve only a
limited number of students," Marienau
said.
"The Board has put in a request for
additional planning on the project and will
likely place it on a waiting list for a year
for more detailed discussion," he said.
'Dead Father9 toys with intuition, builds confusion
By David Wood
Tlie Dead Father by Donald Barthelme
Ouokka, $2.25
First off, the Dead Father isn't dead -or
else, possibly, he is dead, and just walks,
talks, and is moody, as if he's alive. You
can never be sure with Donald Barthelme,
and that's the only certainty in Tke Dead
Father.
The twenty-odd people, who tow the
Dead Father along by a cable down
highways and through kingdoms, say he's
dead and it is usually accepted by those
told in polite conversation. Who's to dis
agree with a Dead Father who's robed,
regally selfish, sword-toting, has a mechan
ical leg, and is 3,000 cubits tall?
"How do you get him around bends in
the road?"
"He is articulated."
"No rigor mortis?"
"None."
"Then he is not properly dead."
"In a sense."
"Has it both ways does he0"
"In this as in everything."
Inadequate non-answers
The foreman of the towers. Thomas.
explained the paradox that way to a
stranger, innocently assuming his non
answers were adequate. Faced with such a
ponderous unreality, where could the ami
cable stranger start to question the im-plausibilities?
book review
A reader encountering The Dead Father
has the same problem as the stranger meet
ing the Dead Father. The book demands
and succeeds in suspending our rational
faculties; it requires a tolerance for un
finished paradoxe, parodies, puns, ambi
guities, anachronisms and articulation.
Barthelme conjures his fairy -world by
distracting and confusing readers through
re-associations, syntactic mischief, humor,
by not answering questions, by teasing
expectations only to frustrate them, and
by misleading attention. Like the Dead
Father ignores rigor mortis, so does the
style avoid the conventions of proper
fiction; plot, realism, motivation, mean
ing, proportion, and grammar. We're left
without our devices for interpretation.
"I asked iiim about organization."
"What did he tell you?"
"Destroy it in order to let the water
flow freely."
Elusive integrity
Through the author's pesky mucking a
dim feeling of artistic integrity lingers; an
elusive connection survives through all of
Barthelme 's discontinuities. What it might
be, though, is kept ambiguous, at best. It is
no more than obscure aspects in slight
array. How the reader assigns them is not
apparently a fuction of the book.
"Yourrg men never understand the
larger picture."
"I don't suggest I understand it now. I
do understand the frame. The limits."
"Of course the frame is easier to under
stand." Some of the incidences in the book
clearly do have experimental equivalent,
such as dancing and trying to make talk
with the dumb apes who have crashed a
party and provoke jealous) among the
humans - we know what Barthelme
means. Or when the Dead f ather afttr
"attempting to insert hand (left) between
the waistband of Julie's skirt and Julie"
gets rebuffed, then with his sword muti
lates a valley full of musicians - we can
imagine that to be a parable easily enough.
Unanswered questions
But other understandings are not as
accessible. For instance, who is the Dead
Father? Why is it that Thomas employs
nameless workers on his journey with Julie
across the country? Is the Dead Father
Thomas's past, maybe, or an inherited
superego, or society, or maleness? Or, per
haps, the relationship is more pertinent
than what it relates.
"We sit with tears in our eyes wanting
the Dead Father to be dead - meanwhile
doing amazing things with our hands."
Donald Barthelme, 47, has been critical
ly noticed, and has won a National Book
Award, yet. his books have never sold well.
That probably is because his prose are
sometimes untractable. his ambiguities so
open they appear frivolous and his usage is
such a derived dialect that it is self
indulgent His surreal brevity and his per
forated conventions leave us feeling
KPPed. and many don't like their reader's
intuition toved with
