The Myth of the Campanile

1:25 am and I’m up here at Java Break, 1/2 block east of Mass & 7th St. on the south side, across from the Journal-World. I don’t think espresso had been invented in Kansas in 1982. Everyone working here was like negative 7 then, so they don’t remember the space’s former life, thought maybe a Dr.’s office.  But it had opened by my second year of architecture school in ’93 and they are open all night with wireless, so here I am. You know the place, Liberty Hall a block north, Hobbs is now on the corner, and the grade drops off to the east, so you enter about 4′ below Mass St. level. So here’s a little ambiance…

Great color scheme.

And some good reading.

And a nighttime snack, here's a great picture of the cereal bar.

Tonight was Rock Chalk Revue, a over fifty year tradition, the Glee Archetype. And I came to see all the shows, but in particular the women and men of Chi Omega and Phi Delta Theta now transplanted from Hoch Auditorium to the Lied Center.

Go Hawk Arts!

Anyway, it’s my second annual KU parents visit. Just another night up here in Lawrence with all the parents….Bill Self & his son & family, Mike McCarthy, John and Paula, Carol and Mort Searcy, Stephanie and Brent Stuber, the Wilinsky’s…just Kansas family.

John and Bill chatting it up about the kids and the game.

Featuring tonight, highlights of the Phi Delts and the Chi Omegas in Myth of the Campanile. Here’s the Phi Delt-Chi O intro video with Bill’s cameo from his living room about 1:30. Bill is a Chi Omega Dad of Lauren, a lost Student of Hawkland and Coach of the Kansas Jayhawks!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XukbO4PZk5U[/youtube]

Myth: if a student passes underneath the arch, he may not graduate in four years and the main characters are enticed to walk through, swirling through cosmic abyss to Hawkland where there are no classes (that we went to?) and no tests (that we studied for?), only carefree fun and Jayhawk Pride. Sound familiar?

Here’s a dance number:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YJZgFry3Pk&feature=related[/youtube]

And, presenting Ben Wilinksy, as new student tour guide. Ben went to Blue Valley in KC and we met his family now in San Diego and sister, a KU grad to East Village transplant working with ABC then Bloomberg. Go KU grads.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebq5LgEyMHk[/youtube]

Now I missed filming Joey Soptic’s scene where he is Truman the hero Hobo who falls from the Campanile on game day after a KU loss to MU Tigers. He is sat upon in my video and cannot be seen but he was great.

And here’s a guy I know, Jack Graves Adams, as the Chancellor behind the scrim. He is a cowboy-engineer, plays a little Guaraldi on the piano, does a mean backflip, and is presently a Phi Delt at KU with a few Beta genes. And after a lifetime of benign neglect, and promises to keep my offspring for the most part out of my blog, I just had to play stage mom to all these sons and daughters for one night.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmnfj7ubicU&feature=related[/youtube]

I never really left KU, literally returning in 92 and 2001 for two more degrees, so I can walk those steps up to Marvin Hall and across the bridge to Art and Design in my sleep, though the training in studio for all those years now means that I do not need much. But, this is like taps….
We’ll call it a night.

 

Phi Delts post show

Credits
Chi Omega-Phi Delta Theta

Lead Cast
Brad Crawford and Lindsey Murray
Chris Pyle
Erin Robinson
Jack Adams
Joey Soptic

Costume Design
Sandy Murray
Deborah O’Neal
Linda Robinson
Kari Schulz

Directors
Lindsey Murray
Erin Robinson
Rachel Schultz
Jack Adams
Chris Pyle
Ben Wilinsky

Choreography
Maddie Estrada
Rachel Schultz

Set Design
Chris Pyle

Music:
too long to write all this out, but it was good.

The End.

an XIT-ARTS Production.

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