Multimedia Reporting (Adler-Noland)

The songs are written, rehearsed and polished. There’s a buzz beginning to be heard about your band around town and you’ve got some cash from playing gigs. It’s time to take that plunge into the wide world of recording an album. Although it is a big step, the Lawrence area is home to a vast amount of resources to help perfect your audio efforts.

The first decision that needs to be made is do you go it alone or hire a studio?
For those musicians who want to leave the recording to the professionals and worry solely about their performance Daybreak Recording Company, located inconspicuously in a large house at 1910 Massachusetts St., offers just about every service an artist could ever need.

Owner and audio engineer Joe Comparato opened Daybreak in November 2005 after four months of renovations on the house. The additions included building two recording and editing rooms, artist lounges and even an apartment for clients from out of town on extended stays.

In addition to Comparato, Daybreak employees two part-time audio engineers to help out with larger projects. Since Daybreak opened the studio has worked with dozens of local and regional bands at all different budget levels.

“We’re all about the development thing here. We like to help bands build up a warchest.” Comparato said. One of his favorite parts of working in the recording industry is being able to push new artists to the masses.

“I like the aspect of trying to help push new stuff and being able to provide [record] label type services to bands without actually being the label,” Comparato said.

Another professional studio option in Lawrence is Alibi 6 Recording, 920 Delaware St. During its four-year tenure, hundreds of bands from Lawrence and around the Midwest have recorded at the facility.

Like Daybreak, Alibi 6 has three employees and can cater to budget minded bands. Their most popular service is a demo package that includes recording, mixing and 25 CD’s of four tracks for $500.

“Lots of high school and college kids do this package. They send the demos out to get shows, and they put them on their Myspace page,” owner Derek Hogan said.

One University of Kansas student who took advantage of Alibi 6’s services was Jeff Milberger, Topeka, senior, guitarist for the now defunct band The Ice Cream Sandwiches.

“They first approached us about doing one song as a demo. They seemed like they were very professional, they knew what they were doing,” Milberger said. After the studio worked pro-bono for the band, they returned later for more work.

“We then recorded drums for 8 songs,” Milberger said. This is one way to archive professional results without breaking the bank. Record more technical parts, like percussion, in a studio, and for easier parts such as vocals do this own your own.

For those musicians who don’t have the cash for any part of a project to be done at such studios like Daybreak or Alibi 6, they may want to consider doing the work themselves. Lawrence band Periwinkle and the Vivid Tangerines has done just that.

The band saved up about $650 in order to purchase a simple recording setup that includes microphones, cables and a vintage reel-to-reel recorder. Chris Holmquist, Topeka, junior, and guitarist for the band explains why the band decided to go the independent route.

“I like the ability to be in complete control of our bands recordings, and to be able to learn about a subject that I’m interested in at the same time. We don’t feel rushed like at a studio when we would be paying by the hour,” Holmquist said.

For those musicians who want to do their own work but don’t know where to start, the Lawrence Arts Center has teamed up with Daybreak Recording to offer classes on audio engineering.
For $90 over the course of four sessions, class participants will get hands on experience and the chance to work with a live band.

“It will really get them a chance to feel how things work,” Comparato said

Beginner classes have concluded for this session, but another round is in the works. For advanced students, classes will start Feb. 19 and run through March 12. More information is available on the Lawrence Arts Center Web site,

Standing before the Lawrence School Board, Tonganoxie resident Alan Theno stood tall and looked strong behind the microphone as he addressed the members. The middle aged, light haired man’s speech was timid and hesitant, even though this was not the first time he has had to share his horrendous story about his son, Dylan.

Over a period of four years, Alan and his wife Cheryl watched their son’s confidence and self-esteem plummet because of constant bullying and harassment at Tonganoxie High School. He told the board Dylan left school his junior year and the family filed a federal lawsuit claiming the school district denied him the right to equal educational access under Title IX. Dylan was left scarred mentally.

“Our once happy son turned withdrawn and angry,” Alan Theno said.

Theno spoke at the Feb. 26 board meeting to offer his family’s story to support the Lawrence Board of Education’s decision to update its existing harassment policy. The board will soon add the words "bullying, cyberbullying and hazing” to the policy.

In the three years after the Thenos filed their lawsuit, bullying has evolved significantly and is more sophisticated. It is now possible to bully someone even without a face-to-face confrontation. Because of the Internet, students now have the unique
chance to bully anonymously through programs like AOL Instant Messenger, Myspace.com or even by a cell phone text message.

In a 2006 report, two university researchers define this new form of bullying called “cyberbullying” as the “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text." The report by Justin Patchin of The University of Wisconsin and Sameer Hinduja of Florida Atlantic University surveyed 1,400 adolescents. It concluded that more than one-third had been victims of some form of cyberbullying.

The Lawrence Board of Education adding cyberbullying to its harassment policy allows Lawrence schools to discipline students for actions even taken off school grounds. “It may not be on our [computer] equipment or our time, but it does affect us if students come to school upset,” Dr. Karen Vespestad, Director of Grants, Board Services and Strategic Planning for Lawrence public schools said.

Nancy Willard, the executive director of the Oregon based Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use says that schools also need to be aware of the flip side of
cyberbullying. There is a possibility that a student cyberbullying could be the victim of a bully in school. “Cyberbullying may be a continuation of in-school bullying or may be in retaliation for in-school bullying,” she said.

Even with the Lawrence School Board doing its part in curtailing cyberbullying, Vespestad says that it comes down to parents teaching their children prevention at home.

As a 2002 article in the Journal of School Violence explains parents must talk more than just once with their children about cybersafety. “There appears to be a paucity of ongoing communication, leaving parents generally unaware of the online behaviors of their children,” the report said.

For the Thenos however, prevention only went so far. The family tried more than 40 times to get authorities at various levels of government to do something about the bullying of their son. They talked with authorities from the school district up to the Governor’s office but to little avail.

The family finally was recognized last August when the Tonganoxie school district was ordered to pay them $440,000 after the Thenos won their lawsuit.

“It wasn’t about the money, it was about getting justice for Dylan,” Alan Theno said.

Sitting surrounded by hundreds of neatly filed pages of sheet music at the computer in his dim office on the fourth floor of Murphy Hall, University of Kansas professor of clarinet Dr. Larry Maxey looks out of place, and he’s the first to admit it.

“I prefer the typewriter… I think it’s the last one on campus,” Dr. Maxey says coyly.

The typewriter sits in a corner by the room’s only window, one that towers almost floor to ceiling. A fitting size as the inhabitant of the office is the approximately the same height.

Other vintage items fill up the space in the room. From an old metal clarinet displayed front and center on the room’s black, upright piano, to past posters on the walls advertising concerts that Dr. Maxey has performed.

All of these will be gone from the room come the end of the semester when, after 37 years at the University, Dr. Maxey will retire from teaching the instrument he loves and what has been his ticket for traveling the world.
“It’s just time to do it. [retire] I’ll miss the students, but it’s just time to move on,” Dr. Maxey said.

Born in northern Indiana, Maxey first started playing clarinet when he was in grade school. However, the idea of playing the instrument was not his.

“The band director looked at our chops and said ‘you should play clarinet,’ ” Dr. Maxey said.

Dr. Maxey went with the director’s recommendation and the instrument stuck with him ever since. After playing through high school, he studied the instrument at Michigan State University where he earned his undergraduate degree. He then was accepted into the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where he completed his master and doctoral degrees. Maxey was anxious to begin teaching, however Uncle Sam had other plans.

“I was drafted and spent two years in the Army. Originally, they started me off as a clerk typist, so I had to manipulate the system to get into music,” Maxey said.
It was in the service that Maxey first began to travel on account of his musical abilities. He was stationed in Germany and played concerts across Europe with the 7th Army Symphony. It was at one of these concerts where he met his future wife, Linda, also a musician.

“She was the soloist that evening and I was in the backing band,” Maxey said. The two married after Dr. Maxey left the Army and arrived back in the United States. Their two children, Mark and Kim, continued the family’s musical talent.

“My brother and I both played piano, and I chose the clarinet in grade school. My dad was my teacher in sixth grade all the way through high school,” Kim said. Kim chose not to pursue the instrument in college due to one key piece of advice that her dad gave her.

“He said there was no money in it,” Kim said laughing.

Dr. Maxey’s concise manor isn’t just reserved for his personal life. Dr. Margaret Marco, associate professor of oboe, has played alongside Dr. Maxey in a number of musical groups during her eight years at the University. In February, the two played a concert with the Kansas Woodwinds, a sextet comprised of music department faculty members.

“He isn’t as verbose as most of us in the group, but when he contributes a comment, it’s always pithy and pertinent,” Marco said. In addition to playing with this group, Dr. Maxey has toured extensively as a soloist and played duets with Linda on her instrument, the marimba.

“I’ve been to Lithuania twice, Costa Rica three times, Portugal once. Music has always gotten me there,” Dr. Maxey said. However, students have always been Dr. Maxey’s first priority, and this dedication has not gone unnoticed.

“He was a big reason that I came to KU. His help is ongoing and encompasses many different types. Not only clarinet, but also helping me get through this degree that has many requirements,” Mike Walsh, Stony Brook, NY, graduate student said.

Dr. Maxey had the opportunity on multiple occasions to be promoted into administrative positions, but that meant going against his nature of teaching students on a one on one basis.

“I was never enticed by the offers for administration for more then three seconds,” Dr. Maxey said.

As of now, Dr. Maxey’s calendar is wide open after the last day of the semester. However, there is one thing he knows he’ll be doing in the coming years.

“I suppose I’ll be traveling with Linda.” Dr. Maxey said.

Standing amongst a half-dozen other vendors in a quiet parking lot on Vermont Street on a Tuesday afternoon, Avery Lominska is in his element. This is the second of many sessions of this year’s incarnation of the Downtown Lawrence Farmers' Market Proudly displayed on Lominska’s white plastic table are various vegetables grown organically at Hoyland Farm, located five miles north of Lawrence and owned by Lominska and his father, Bob. Customer turnout is low on this day, along with the varieties of vegetables Lominska has for sale. When a patron saunters over to the table, Lominska methodically eases into talking up some of his spinach for sale.

“This is all from the greenhouse, that last bit of cold weather slowed everything outside down,” Lominska said. Cold weather isn’t the only threat to Lominska’s outdoor crops; across the road from one of Lominska’s fields sits a neighboring farmer’s land. This farmer does not grow organically, meaning that the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, growth hormones or other chemicals may be present.

Last summer, the farmer grew corn in the field, which is outside the 30 foot buffer zone that the United States Department of Agriculture requires for close quartered organic and traditional fields.

“Corn is one of the worst, it uses lots of herbicides. Some of it got onto some of our stuff and discolored it. Luckily the damage was pretty minor because we didn’t have a lot planted in that field.” Lominska said. The herbicide entered Lominska’s delicate organic crop field because of a problem known as spray drift.

Dr. Robert Wolf, associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering at Kansas State University, specializes in the study of drifting and says that there are two different ways that it can occur.

“Vapor drift is associated with evaporation of a [chemical] product. This is more of a concern when it is applied on hot, dry days,” Wolf said. The other form, particle drift, is created by the mechanics of the applicator nozzle.

“It has to do with droplets created during the spray process. Larger droplets go onto the target area, while smaller droplets can be picked up by the wind on the way to the ground,” Wolf said. Chemical drifting has the potential to travel much farther distances than across a road like it did in Lominska’s case.

“If conditions like temperature, wind speed and air moisture are right, chemicals can drift up to a few miles,” Wolf said. Drifting can be more detrimental to an organic crop than just the discoloration of a product as in the case of Lominska.

“Exposure to minute concentrations of some of the more commonly used hormone type herbicides can result in crop damage or failure. Organic growers could lose their Department of Agriculture certified organic status if any types of pesticides are detected in their crops,” Jana Beckman, coordinator for the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops said.

For buyers of organic produce who may be concerned about the quality of products, Beckman points out that the likelihood of tainted produce reaching a market is small.

“Organic certification goes far beyond the farm. Third party certifiers are required to inspect and determine if a producer is meeting the organic standards. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency tests a sampling of food and products sold for pesticides and other toxins,” Beckman said. One of these other toxins which has been difficult to detect in organic foods is synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.

Now, a new testing technique discovered by British researchers at the Institute of Food Research is making the detection of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers easier. The study, published April 4 in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, compared nitrogen isotopes of both traditional and organic produce. Researchers found that synthetic nitrogen fertilizers leave a distinctive signature visible on both organic and traditional produce isotopes.

Another innovation that has been developed to protect consumers and to aid organic producers is the development of a registry on the Kansas Department of Agriculture Website. The registry, allows producers of sensitive and organic crops to register their land locations that the crops are grown on. The database, entering its third year, enables those who apply chemicals to realize the exact location of sensitive crops in order to avoid contamination and a possible fine.

“It’s a good visual means for the applicators to see where they should exercise caution,” Lisa Taylor, Director of Communications for Kansas Department of Agriculture, said. The registry has about 175 registered sensitive crop sites and was the first of its kind in the country.

Despite being on registry, Lominska still encountered the problem of drifting and says that eventually it may be necessary to take legal action against the neighbor. In the meantime however, Lominska is more focused though on what to do with the land this season.

“I’m still deciding if I’ll be planting a lot in those fields,” Lominska said.

Chris Jones looks to observers like any other outdoor enthusiast simply enjoying a leisurely hike on the trails at Clinton Lake State Park in west Lawrence. For Jones, Lawrence, senior, the thing that sets him apart from other visitors to the park is a small blue device no bigger than a cell phone. It is a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, and it is directing him to a location in the park that contains a modern day treasure chest.
The search for the treasure chest, in this case an old ammunition canister, is one of the world’s fastest growing outdoor hobbies called geocaching. The word is a combination of two terms, the prefix geo meaning “earth” and cache meaning “an area for storage.”
The origins of geocaching began May 1, 2000, when President Clinton issued a directive ending the decades old practice of distorting the broadcast signal of GPS satellites to civilians. Up until this time, civilians could own GPS receivers, but their accuracy was intentionally poor to prevent them from using the GPS system in ways that could be seen as harmful.
Clinton ended this practice by enacting the order to “encourage acceptance and integration of GPS into peaceful civil, commercial and scientific applications worldwide; and to encourage private sector investments in and use of U.S. GPS technologies and services.”
To test the newly upgraded accuracy of the system, two days after the passage of the act, a GPS user near Portland, Ore hid a bucket and posted its coordinates, measured in longitude and latitude, on a message board online.
Within days, others who owned GPS devices found the first cache and began placing their own. The game quickly spread across the country, so fast that it was necessary to launch an official Web site,www.geocaching.com, in late 2000 to house the coordinates of all caches placed.

Since 2000, according to geocaching.com, more than 150,000 caches have been concealed across the world, including more than 2,500 in Kansas and even a handful on The University of Kansas campus. The appeal of the hobby is quite simple, which explains its rapid growth.
“It’s just a great way to get outside and see things you normally wouldn’t see,” Jones said. The concept of the hobby may be simple, but the mechanics of the game are quite scientific.
KU professor of engineering Gary Minden says that in order for a GPS receiver to calculate its location on the Earth’s surface, a minimum of three satellites signals must be present. The more satellite signals a receiver picks up, the more accurate it will be.
Like Jones, Dr. Jay Kennedy is another local geocacher who has been active in the Lawrence geocaching community. For him, the enjoyment he gets from geocaching comes from his family joining him in the hunt.
“My kids really enjoy the ‘treasure hunt’ aspects of geocaching. My son Nicholas is five and my regular caching buddy. He also helps me build and hide caches in the Lawrence area,” Kennedy said. Kennedy says that his favorite cache that he’s found to date, and the most difficult, was one he found in January while spelunking in Kentucky.
“Its only been found twice, both solo efforts. I was the second to find it. The cache is at the bottom of a 93-foot deep pit and requires technical expertise in rope work and caving to reach it,” Kennedy said.
The rewards for finding a cache varies greatly, but the guiding principle is take something from the cache, and in turn leave something for the next person. Common objects left in caches include books, stickers, CDs and other inexpensive trinkets. For a few lucky cachers, however, iPods, sporting event tickets, PDAs and even $100 bills await those who locate these select caches.
Jones said for him, geocaching isn’t about these rewards; it’s about the adventure and simply enjoying the great outdoors.
“This was my 208th cache found and I never got tired of it,” Jones said.