11 o
Bruce Springsteen will rock 'n ' roll
for Carolina fans during his tour
By GEOFFREY MOCK
Y almost complete popular
10) anc" critical acclaim, the
cvciil ill rtiiici iv.au ivv-in in
1980 was the nationwide tour by
Bruce Springsteetr'and the E Street
Band, tickets to the sell-out tour were
snatched up as soon as they were on .
sale, baffling critics as to why after
2Vi years of isolation from the public
eye Springsteen has emerged as one
of the most popular figures in
American music.
After years of having his popularity .
limited to the urban northeast,
Springsteen's most recent album. The
River, turned the entire nation on to
his fresh revival of old rock and roll
themes, climbing to the top of the
charts within weeks of its release.
Profile
It took several months for
Springsteen's tour to come to the
North Carolina area, but Tar Heel
fans are now treated to three area
concerts, the closest being Saturday
in Greensboro Coliseum'.
Springsteen has usually avoided
North Carolina in his tours and the
popularity of the Creensboro show,
which sold out in a day, surprised
Coliseum officials.
"We really weren't expecting it,"
said John Bryson of Creensboro
Coliseum. "He's never played here
before. The line started Friday and
the tickets didn't go on sale until
Monday morning, but a person from
Chapel Hill took it upon himself
to make a list and have people sign it
so Monday when they came back all
was fine. We had two policemen at
the door letting in 1 5 to 20 people at a
, time and everything went smoothly."
When the tickets for the
Creensboro show went on sale over a
month ago, some Carolina students
arrived at the ticket booth days in
advance to insure a good seat.
"Just to be allowed to see the show
makes it worthwhile," said Jay Joyce, .
a junior from High Point. "I went over
on Sunday. Any seat is great just to
see Bruce Springsteen. It may be the
best concert they'll ever have here."
"I am a Springsteen fanatic," said
Eva Kambot, a junior from
Springsteen's home town of Freehold,
N.J. "I expect to hear four hours of
really good music. I've been looking
forward to it for a long time."
v -Ironically, the tours' success has in
turn resulted in serious problems.
Many fans wishing to see shows have
not been able to find tickets.
Springsteen's four show stint at New .
York's Madison Square Garden
brought in over a quarter of a million
ticket requests, most of which could
not be filled.
- With demand far above the limited
supply of tickets, the tour has
become a scalper's dream. One ticket
for a Los Angeles show sold for $200.
Bryson said precautions had been
taken against scalping at Greensboro
and that he fo'rsaw few problems.
"We abided by the promoters' wishes
and set no ticket limit,"he said.
But we took the address of those
who bought 20 tickets or more and
they might run into problems if they
do scalp."
Nevertheless, tickets were
immediately available on campus for
prices well above the $11.50 list. "I
had a friend who bought a ticket for
$35," Kambot said. "But in New
Jersey tickets were going for over a
hundred dollars so $35 isn't bad by
those standards." ,
"Personally, I'm outraged that they
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Bruce Springsteen is coming to (ireensooro
.he brings his revival of rock and roll Saturday
didn't put a limit on tickets at
Greensboro," said Bill Turner, a
senior from Winston-Salem. "When
someone buys over a hundred tickets
you know he's not going with that
many people.".
Those who do have tickets are
already preparing themselves tor
what they expect will be one of the
year's highlights and to see whether
Bruce Springsteen really is the Boss.
i ,
'Geoffrey Mock is assistant sports"
editor tor The Daily Tar Heel.
Mel Blanc brings his voices yo UNC
Mel Franc's numerous voice creations
By ANN PETERS
ATURDAY, mornings just wouldn't be the same if
Mel Blanc's voice didn't breathe life into cartoon
characters like Tweetie-Pie, Porky Pig and Bugs
Bunny. These little animated animals all are his personal
friends.
UNC will be the 108th college Blanc has spoken at in
two years. "I speak on the creation of voices," Blanc said
in a telephone interview last week. "I use slides to tell
how each is created and how I created these crazy little
voices.
"Once you create a character, you never forget it. I
love my work so much, I can never retire."
In a career covering four decades, he has invented
nearly 400 characters.
Blanc floats easily into his cartoon voices while
explaining how they were created. "Bugs was a tough
little stinker," Blanc said. Blanc decided that the voice
should have either a Brooklyn or Bronx tinge to-it. "So I
put the two different voices together.
"What I used to do was to think how would the
character talk if he could," he said
Blanc said he would go around talking in his cartoon
characters. "People would think I'm nuts," he said.
Blanc described Porky as a little timid pig. Tweetie as a
little bird, and Sylvester as a big sloppy cat. His voices
tend to create these images.
Among Blanc's other voices: Barney Rubble. Captain
Caveman, Speed Buggy, Dino the Dinosaur. Yosemite
Sam and Pepe le Pew.
"I always loved dialects and comedy," Blanc said
In his early days, Blanc said, he went back to one
studio quite often looking for a job. He finally got his
break after 2 'i years.
Blanc's first cartoon creation was the voice of a
drunken bull. Porky Pig, created in 1937, was Blanc's first
major characterization for Warner Brothers' Looney
tunes. Bugs Bunny followed in 1938.
"Many times children and adults will come up and say:
'Hey, say something,'" Blanc said. "I love to meet people.
I love my work."
Since his early days. Blanc has progressed further than
just creating voices for animated cartoons. Blanc
Communications Corporation, for example, creates radio
instructions for the armed forces, using the voices of the
cartoon characters, as well as voices of stars, such as Kirk
Douglas.
Also Blanc and his son, Noel, have an antique watch
collection. "I have a German watch dating back to 1510.
It is possibly the first watch ever made. Mine is more of
an evolutionary collection while Noel's is of unusual
watches."
I asked Blanc what advice he could give to a novice
who wanted to follow in his path
"You have to be creative," Blanc said "Think of some
voice that is unusual, I like to create instead of imitate.
"I'm always doing one thing or another. I'm kept busy
night and day."
Blanc will be at Memorial Hall tonight at 8 Tickets are
$1 for students and $2 for the general public. 53
Ann Peters is editor oi the Wctkender.
Weekender, February 26, 1981