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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 1988)
Readers booing everybody on Halloween <jur nearts bleed for headbangers Alter the Def Leppard concert on Oct. 19, we were overjoyed by the actions taken by Bob Devaney Sports Center officials to hinder the group’s road crew. Heavy metal music and its fans have been a great inconvenience to society for so long that it is great to finally see the tables turned. We were even more excited by the idea that heavy metal concerts might never return to the sports center. But after reading the letter by Wendy Koller and Theresa Lubischer (Daily Nebraskan, Oct. 25) our opin ions radically changed. On Oct. 19, a tragic injustice oc curred. In our greedy bliss, we never con sidered the opinions and feelings of groupies. These two women, and ^ .L 1 _ .1_ _ _ . ■ vUUIlUVud UUIW3 11^ Ult/ill, WUC UIC victims of a cruel injustice that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln thrust upon them. How dare the uni versity disappoint and anger these young women whose entire life and being revolves around this group called Def Leppard. These people have been anxiously awaiting this concert for months, only to have the university coldly stamp out the only beam of light these people have in their obviously dark and depressing lives. The girls who wrote to the DN were obviously outraged by the way they were treated, but not nearly as much as they should have been. Per haps their shut-in lives have pre vented them from being able to speak out boldly — but we arc able and willing to come to their cause. We have compiled a list of repara tions that we demand the university pay to these girls, and others like them, in the name of justice: • Concert ticket — $20 • Black concert T-shirt — $20 • Tight jeans — $40 • Assorted leather accessories $20 • Pack of Marlboros — $2 • Illegal drugs and alcohol — $30 (a conservative estimate) • Post-concert munchies — $10 • Birth control (in case you get backstage) — $10 • Emotional trauma — $35,000 That leaves us with a grand total of $35,152. Some people may argue that this is not enough to offset the horrible ac tions of sports center officials. After all, how can we put a price on the joys Def Leppard brings to these girls? But let’s be realistic. The university sim ply can’t afford to pay each and every groupie the exact amount they de serve. But we feel this sum would be enough to offset the disappointment and grief of these tragedy-tom young women, and possibly give them enough money to follow the group for M»V IVIIIU1IIUVI V/I liO IUUI . Our hearts bleed for you, Wendy and Theresa, and all those similarly mistreated groupies like you. Al though our opinions on heavy metal music remain the same, we still would like to see justice prevail. We hope the university sees fit to pay the repa rations you greatly deserve. Tim Siedell sophomore Benjamin Zink sophomore Chuck was correct; Robin is a bitch We arc writing in regards to the recent influx of letters by naive, nar row-minded people attempting to label Daily Nebraskan editorial col umnist Chuck Green as a sexist be cause of his stance on the Mike 1 y son-Robin Givens marriage (Oct. 17 and 25). We wholeheartedly agree with Green and his position. All of you hasty-minded labelists alert to the fact that before die Tyson Givens marriage, Givens’ playmates included Chicago Bulls basketball player Michael Jordan and comic movie star Eddie Murphy. Add to this the fact that these are two of the most wealthy, high-profile men in Amer ica. Now you tell us who is the sexist in this picture. Givens obviously had that “$25 million twinkle” in her eye when she seduced Tyson to the altar. In an interview on a recent 20/20 show, it seemed obvious who was attempting to wear the pants in the family. Givens, in our mind, was exhibiting a type of reverse sexism toward unsuspecting Tyson. She controlled the interview from the start and came ac ross as a conniving bitch. In this marriage, Tyson was no more than a $25 million meal ticket for Givens. In rfp.fp.rwtino firpp.n’s rnliimn wp are addressing one isolated incident, not women as a whole. In this respect, we think Green’s column was very insightful. Keep up the good work, Chuck! Charles Berry Patrick Barnes sophomore junior advertising biology Lincoln, Nebraska: Heavy metal capital On Oct. 19, the Bob Devaney Sports Center played host to a concert featuring Def Leppard and the L.A. Guns. Def Leppard is one of the hot test touring groups on the rock music scene today. Lincoln is one of the last cities the band will play on its 15-month, 250 concerttour. The lour has played in 15 countries on three continents and has been successful. The Lincoln concert was sponsored by the University Program Council and UNL and Lin coln were very fortunate to have se cured a date on this tour. There were more than 18,(XX) tick ets sold for the concert at SI 8.25 each. That’s a minimum of $237,250 in ticket sales only. UPC received 75 cents handling fee a ticket. That would add up to a minimum of $9,750. There were people hired lo cally to help unload and load equip ment on a temporary basis. The Ne braska Department of Revenue col lected taxes on the tickets, refresh ments, hot dogs, T-shirts, posters, jackets, photo books and countless other items sold. The exact revenue figure to the state is “proprietary in formation” and not available for public information, but it’s safe to say that all sales considered and dollars exchanged far exceeded the $300,000 figures as a result of the Def Leppard concert. In addition, there is a special aura that is created by a concert, especial ly a rock concert. It creates another spark of activity in Lincoln on an otherwise fairly dull Wednesday night. These concerts are great for Lincoln — both socially and eco nomically. I believe the University of Ne braska as a whole and the sports cen ter officials need to access their posi tion very closely before they categori cally exclude any future rock concerts from the center. The Def Leppard concert was the first at the sports center, except for State Fair concerts, since YES appeared there in Novem ber 1987. On the other hand, Omaha has numerous concerts every month ina smaller,older building. It’s disap pointing to compare the number of concerts Omaha gets to the few Lin coln gets. In the small circle of concert pro moters, it docs not take long for the word to get around that a person, city or building supervisor is difficult to work with. I feel that we are slowly building this reputation. Pershing Auditorium can and should be considered by all pro moters. The staff and management there are eager and cooperative to work with, but given their seating capacity and stage limitations, other cities suddenly become more attrac tive. We can ill-afford to label our selves as unreasonable and uncoop erative. I believe that it does take two sides to compromise and there are at least two sides to every story, but the bottom line is the bottom line. If we say no to concerts, we say no to a huge source of revenue and devastate part of our social atmosphere. I believe that through sensible, open discussion that Lincoln can continue to hold quality, high-energy and fun concerts. Gary Kasper Lincoln I ifp still artps nn --o after boo-boos stop Last time I checked, I lived in the United States. You know, that’s where we have freedom of speech. I do agree that it was rude for a small section of Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln students to boo at Gov. Kay Orr and UNL Chancellor Martin Massengale, but that was the students’ right. Orr and Massengale can’t think everyone approves of them. I am sure that these are not the first or the last boos they will get. By apologizing for the students, the As sociation of Students of the Univer sity of Nebraska is only drawing more attention to it. If ASUN can apologize for something it hasn’t done, can the students who booed apologize for things that ASUN has done? Yes, it was rude. But life goes on. Darla Johnson sophomore language arts . Save a spot oil your calendar for IBM’s PS/2 Fair We’ll show you how the IBM® Personal System/2® can help you organize notes, revise papers, produce high-quality graphics, and more. It’s easy to learn and easy to use We think you’ll find it’s a perfect match. IBM* Personal System/2* Model 25 REGISTER TO WIN A PS/2 MODEL 25 COLLEGIATE \ IBM PS/2 FAIR 1 NEBRASKA UNION REGENCY SUITE, 2ND FLOOR MON., OCT. 31; TUES., NOV. 1 10:00 AM -4:00 PM