Wednesday, March 13, 1996 Page 9
Mike Kluck
Basketball
fans prepare
for weekend
If you’re a basketball fan, this is the
one weekend a year for which you live
— the beginning of the road to the
Final Four.
From Thursday through Sunday, at
least 48 different NCAA men’s bas
ketball games will be on the tube, not
to mention a variety of NIT games,
women’s tournament games and a few
NBA games.
With all these opportunities, it is
important to carefully plan out the
week in advance to utilize the maxi
mum viewing time efficiently.
The first thing you need to do is get
yourself in shape. You should have
started last weekend by watching the
Big Eight Tournament, the Nebraska
State High School Tournament, the
Southeastern Conference champion
ship and, of course, Sunday’s NCAA
selection show.
Now I know the high school tourna
ment and opening rounds of the Big
Eight probably weren’t as exciting as
the NCAA Tournament will be. But at
least they gave your eyes practice for
continuous<gaa»)g.Jiju
Monday and Tuesday were the read
ing days, learning about the teams,
fill ing in your tournament brackets for
the office pool and memorizing phone
numbers for carry-out and delivery—
because once the tournament starts,
there will be no time for cooking.
It is also a good idea to rent a couple
of movies. I would recommend “Hoo
siers” and “Blue Chips.” “Hoosiers”
gives you the emotion you expect from
the tournament, while “Blue Chips” is
what college basketball is all about.
Today you need to let your profes
sors know that you won’t be in class on
Thursday or Friday. If they give you
any grief or accuse you of wanting to
leave for your spring break trip early,
just scream at them in your best Dick
Vitale voice, “It’s the NCAA BABY!
Time for the PTPer’s to step up be
cause it’s one game and go home!”
Now if for some reason they still
can hear and have a problem with you
ski ppi ng j ust say, “I looovc you, man! ”
in your best Budweiser commercial
* imitation. By this time they should be
ready to let you leave.
finally, on Thursday, sleep in. But
if your most comfortable chair is just a
little better than sitting on nails, you
may need to make a run to REMCO.
While there you also may try to
secure yoursel f a big screen television.
Even if your team loses, you can al
ways return it on Monday.
Just before the first game starts,
make sure the phone is close but the
answering machine is on. You know
how your mom always decides to call
you with only a minute left in a one
point game. But you do want the phone
close to order supper.
Also hide the remote control. This
way, even while CBS goes through its
barrage of commercials you won’t have
any temptation to switch the channel
and miss a key play.
Another thing to have close by is
your tournament bracket so you know
when your Final Four teams lose (which
hopefully won’t be on the first day). A
cooler and a 12-pack may not be too
bad, but then you have those unwanted
trips to the bathroom.
Now sit back, relax and let the games
begin.
Kluck Is a Journalism graduate studeat
and a Dally Nebraskan senior reporter.
‘Reading Rainbow’ looks for pot of gold
By Patrick Hambrecht
Senior Reporter
“Reading Rainbow’s” executive
producer Twila C. Liggett just fin
ished five new episodes ofheraward
winningprogram atUNLthismonth.
But Liggett said she wasn’t sure
how much longer the show would be
on the air because of congressional
funding cuts and a frugal economy,
economy.
A UNL graduate, Liggett said
the new shows she produced with
UNL’s Great Plains National and
University Education Television
used important children’s books,
dealing with issues like
homelessness, multiculturalism and
math education.
“Fly Away Home,” based on the
book of the same title by Eve
Bunting, is a ground-breaking epi
‘We’re struggling for funding. This is probably
the most difficult time we’ve had since I
/ started.”
TWILA C. LIGGETT
Executive producer for “Reading Rainbow"
sode, Liggett said. The show tells
Bunting’s story of a homeless father
and his young boy, both forced to
live in an airport, followed by live
interviews with homeless children.
“I think it’s probably one of the
most important shows we’ve ever
done,” Liggett said. “Leaving our
audience feeling helpless about a
problem is something we don’t like
to do, so we show them how they can
help also.”
To show children how to fight
homelessness, Liggett said, she fo
cused on two groups started by chil
dren to help the impoverished— a
man and his daughter who collect
donated pennies for the poor with
their national program, Common
Cents, and a teen-ager who distrib
utes excess restaurant food to the
hungry.
Most of Liggett’s time is not spent
on developing new shows, she said,
but on fund-raising and grant writ
ing to keep “Reading Rainbow”
alive.
“We’re struggling for funding,”
Liggett said. “This is probably the
most difficult time we’ve had since
I started.
“Reading Rainbow,” whose host
is LeVar Burton, the famed actor
from “Star Trek: The Next Genera
tion,” is one of the oldest educa
tional children’s television shows,
younger only than “Sesame Street”
and “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
If viewers want to keep the 13
year-old program on the air, they
should write letters to their local
stations, Liggett said.
“One of the best tools we have
are spontaneous letters, letters from
parents and children and teachers,
just letting them know they like the
show.”
Purple Moon offers flashback
Coffee shop
re-creates
’60s style
By Lane Hickenbottom_
Staff Reporter
The spirit of 1967’s summer of
l ove has pot been forgotten,^perhaps
only hidden.
Free friendship, free candlelight
ambiance, free live music and af
fordable coffee all can be found at
the Purple Moon Cafe. Open daily
from 1 pan. to 3 a.m., tills cafe is one
of Lincoln’s best-kept secrets.
Linda Bunik, owner of the Purple
Moon, located near the corner of
13th and F streets, said that by open
ing the cafe last summer, she was
trying to re-create a coffee house
like the ones she remembered in the
late 1960s.
“A coffee house was a place that
attracted interesting people,” Bunik
said. “The focus wasn’t so much on
what the coffees were, as much as
the atmosphere with music where
you could meet others.
“Music was part of it. You had a
lot of amateur players.”
Most coffee shops today are quiet
places where a lot of people go to
study, Bunik said. In keeping with
her memories of coffee houses in the
’60s, Bunik wanted less of a study
hall.
You didn t go there to study,”
she said. “You went there as a place
away from studying. The old coffee
houses had character. You had an
atmosphere where you could wan
der around; you weren’t stuck at one
table.”
And the Purple Moon has very
much become that.
Inside, the customers appear to
have good times — sitting around
tables, tell ing stories or playing card
games or chess. The walls are lined
with cushy couches, end tables and
lamps, providing a very comfort
able environment.
Live music is featured every night
at the Purple Moon with no cover
charge. The acts are usually solo
acoustic artists who sing and play
their own tunes. And the music is
just another part of the atmosphere
Bunik has tried to create.
Duringthe day, before the nightly
live music begins, people are wel
come and encouraged to play their
guitars and use the stage.
“I have no problem with musi
cians,” Bunik said. “It’s my belief
that people need their own individual
expression.”
As an ordained minister, Bunik
said she was often frustrated with
the way people interacted these days.
“We have lost our human quali
ties,” she said. “It’s like we are some
robots walking around.”
This kind of sentiment has influ
enced the environment she said she
wanted the Purple Moon to offer.
“I have become a minister, and it
is kind of my ministry,” Bunik said
of the Purple Moon. “It is a healing
kind of coffee house. If you look
James Mehsling/DN
around, to me, it’s like the candles
arc there to heal.”
The community atmosphere that
has developed — with Bunik’s en
couragement—at the Purple Moon
also contributes to her vision of what
a coffee house should be.
“It is a place women can go, and
it is a safe place,” Bunik said. “Ifyou
need a walk to your car, there arc
always people to walk you to your
car.”
Futz show
examines
growing up
By Brian Priesman
Staff Reporter
It’s hard to grow up.
And this weekend, the Futz The
atre intends to show just how diffi
cult growing up
can be.
‘‘Founda Peanut ”
the latest offering
from the Futz the
atre starts off a
three-week series
of productions at
the Futz, located in
the Mission Arts
Building, 124 S.
Ninth St.
“Found a Peanut” tells the story
of a group of children growing up
together next to a vacant lot. An all
adult cast will play the roles of the
various children who interact in the
play.
The Futz’s artistic director, Paul
Pearson, said the play examined is
sues that face kids throughout their
lives.
“It’s very kids stuff that they^re
involved in,” he said. /
“It really looks at greed.”
According to Pearson, many of
the events which happen to the kids
help shape and affect them as they
grow up.
“It looks at certain acts of vio
lence that we indulge in as chil
dren,” he said.
“Found a Peanut” will run this
weekend only, a scheduling that is
uncharacteristic of the Futz, which
usually runs its theatrical produc
tions for at least two weeks at a time.
The reason for the short run of
“Found A Peanut” is because of two
upcoming events, Pearson said.
Next weekend the Futz will
present its annual “Futz Follies,”
and the weekend after that it will
present a drama from England that
delves into the controversial issue
of abortion.
“Found a Peanut” opens tonight
at 8 at the Futz Theatre and runs
through Saturday. Tickets are $8.
For more information or ticket res
ervations, call 435-6307.