University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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was there for 'Ws he helped 'P- The crew Pipes to floor. WH fhe black lillstein was 'S for months, ' UP, kind of Void of life, ing CXperi- v couldnt 0 repair covered efore it was all's storied tue, slie anything. ll year to the ow, to art int for ry event. he KU Hall for the rt Women ans as well 'hard over band Taking the 1 surreal eriuels PHYS' cthim- I've been brought to tears by many artists, he says, noting that it was a performance by punk rockers The Descendants he saw during college that tops the list ofhis favorites. Something Susan and Fitzgerald keep hearing is hon' much artists love playing in their house. After a recent concert,joan Baez approached Susan to tell her how much she enjoyed playing in such an intimate venue. lt was a reserved seating concert, Susan notes, which Liberty Hall seldom schedules. But Baez just said how much she loved playing in such a cozy place. Alternative band Guster welcomed a fan onstage that Wrote them an e-mail, requesting to play violin in homage to one of the venueis muses. Decades ago, a show by politi- cal rockers Rage Against the Machine saw concertgoers stage diving from the lip of the balcony. Though the staff never encourages such activities, the question stands: Why do people love playing here so much? l'The question's answered by standing in the spot, Fitzgerald says, looking out across the empty house from a perch on the stage. Back in her office, Susan says that, unlike musicians, she prefers to sit in the balcony completely alone, soaking in the atmosphere as much as she can. But as much as she loves sitting in the back, Susan is quick to remind herself how close it all came to never happening. It just couldn't have been done without the Old' fathers, she says. f'Thanks to Charlie, Hnancing was covered? Over the years, of course, common wear and tear necessitated fresh coats of paint or new equipment. The owners recently installed a new sound system to accom- modate the needs of moviegoers and concert attendees. Some might see these alterations as an attempt to give Liberty Hall a facelift. For Susan, however, the reasoning goes deeper. aWe brought it back into use for the whole commu- nity, Q' she says. f'Our hope is to fortify the building so that we,ll leave it better than we found it. LIBERTY HALL W I4

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St, M? 15. -..fx .U 1 -. lg ' 'imjlw' --4 .-1-1... FRCM ASH ES O IM MCRTALITY Liberty Hall was born ofa fire. In 1856, the of- fices of The Herald ofFree- dom, the first pro-abolition newspaper to print in Kan- sas, burned to the ground, leaving only a charred shell on the northeast corner of Seventh and Massachusetts streets. The lot remained empty until Samuel Edwin Poole built the first incar- . nation of Liberty Hall later , A that year. -ati The Hall became a lightning rod for many events in eastern Kansas and Lawrence: public ti QB' debates, speeches, as well E as town hall meetings. lt wasn't until j.D. Bowersock converted the building into '?H an opera house in 1882 that it took on the theater design it's known for today. From lr' .Ann-sf- actual opera productions to performances by famous Vaudeville acts such as Al jolson, the stage at the fre- namedl Bowersock Cpera House became home for the O8 - O9 l JAYHAWKER arts in Lawrence. It even played host to performances by notable citizens such as Forrest Phog', Allen, who partici- pated in the local Elk's Clubls fundraising minstrel shows. The biggest interruption in the Bowersock Opera Houseis 48-year run occurred in 1911 when the building burned to the ground. The building had to be completely redesigned and rebuilt. A similar setback came on Sep- tember 20, 1886, when a fire ignited on the theatre's stage. However, instead ofcompletely rebuilding the stage, contractors simply covered the remains with fresh wood. Strolling over the weathered floorboards of the current stage, Fitzgerald points to the cross-section revealed by a stairwell descending into the basement. You can still see where they built on top of the old stage, he says. After the opera house went bankrupt and ran aground in 1930, the changing faces of the building became all the more apparent: from a Dickinson movie theater to the jayhawker Theatre to a disco during the ,70s to a punk rock club and even a short stint as a storage warehouse for the Hallmark company. Eventually, the building fell into obscurity. Then, in 1985, a rebirth. More than 100 years after a Fire torched The Herald of Freedom, David Millstein, Susan Millstein and the late Charlie Oldfather bought Liberty Hall at a sheriff's sale to restore Liberty Hall to its former glory. Susan remembers walking into the building for the first time. It was a wreck, she says. MI remember walking up to where the bar is now and there was a piano sitting there with a shriveled cake on top of it. It hadn't been touched in a year. Then, the rebuilding began. Fitzgerald was there for all of it. As part of the motley renovation crew, he helped to tear Liberty Hall apart from the bottom up. The crew replaced most everything from sheetrock to pipes to floor- ing. They laid palazzo-style tiling and tore down the black panels that covered the walls. And though Millstein was not there day to day, she watched the progress for months. alt was a 'strip it down and build it back up, kind of job,', she says. 'Alt went from that total dark, void oflife, to just lighting up.', Fitzgerald says that the rebuild was a trying experi- ence, but that the team was easy to motivate. It was a labor of love, he says. But even in the rebuilding phase, the crew couldn't escape the building's history. While working to repair and update the video store bathroom, they discovered the stairwell blacks used to enter the theatre before it was fully integrated. For Susan, letting go of the Hallis storied past wasn't an option. It,s a beautiful, historical community venue, she says. It carries that history with it, but it can be anythingf' From the 30 or so weddings it hosts each year to the local events, such as the Victor Continental Show, to art house Hlms, Liberty Hall has become a focal point for Lawrence culture and changes its face with every event. This concentration has even bled into KU life. The KU Law School's Pub Night has taken place in the Hall for the past 15 years. The event, a fundraiser to support Women in Law programs, includes silent and live auctions as well as performances by students and professors. It's been a great venue,', says professor Richard Levy. Levy's band, The Moody Bluebooks, is a cover band composed of members of the law school faculty. Taking the stage under the lights at Liberty Hall, he says, is a surreal experience. We felt like rock starsf' For Fitzgerald, it's the combination of the venueis mys- tiques and the talents of musicians that really affect him.

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' risten Freese has political flair, but when she sees others wearing the same black and white piece of fabric, she'isn't annoyed. She Glasgow, Mo., is the a change. more than nd said that about half of Wild Man Creation Station her Web site. that it is a way to the market local and rsupportlocal shops. if if 2 Buttons and stickers O9 ir'iJAY HAWKER GRADUATE STUDENTS AKE MONEY SELLING BAN DAS kind of come and goftshe said. This way, you can be showing your support without being outlandish. ii Freese, whose bandanas display the words Vote for change, said' she began selling the bandanas in May 2008, before Obama was officially nominated and had adopted the slogan. She got the idea from similar anti- Bush bandasnas she sawlafa festival. She said it was pri- marily a business endeavor, but wouldnt have happened without theiginterest she had in the elections. Times are different now. We are ,getting further away from our evil past of separation and of segregationf she said. I've gotta do this. D Although she had donated to the campaign in the pastishe said her fund-raising efforts were meant to cover ghaoverhead costs of the project and to pay for graduate school. P lf'I'l.ove my Obanda, said Whit Bones, Tulsa, Okla., senior. Bones uses his to cover his face from sawdust and titiieridebris during his sculpting classes. 'rt -ffThis,is the First time in my voting life that I could actually get behind a candidate. He has really united a generationj' he said. Keith Campbell, deputy county clerk in charge of elections in Lawrence, said the office broke a new record for daily in-person ballots received, and had already sur- passed the number of early ballots submitted in 2004. He said many of the voters were students, sometimes coming in big groups or with their athletic teams. , . 9 Capital gains don't resonate with college-aged kidsj' said jonathan Earle, assistant director at the Dole Institute of Politics. There has always been something about Obama striking a chord with younger people. He represents change. Students can make their own cam- paignf' Freese has sold about 350 bandanas so far, some of which were given away for promotion. She admitted the general undertaking had not been easy. I second-guessed myself at first, she said, referenc- ' ing start-up costs and the initial ridicule she had received from some. Finding time for the business in the midst of school and work was also a big investment for a small- time gig,', she said. She's spent sleepless nights talking with tech support for her Web site. Tony Brown, Kansas City, Mo., graduate, said he saw Freese sporting a bandana while riding her bike and decided to buy one four months ago. He wears his on his backpack. Freese sold the bandanas at Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival, summer kickball games and even the Voodoo Music Festival in New Orleans. Some of the festivalis performers, including Erykah Badu, unexpect- edly wore the bandanas during their performances. The bandana funds paid for that trip. It was the most exhilarating experience. I will never forget it,- she said.