Sans Camels
Levitt Arena and Shocker basketball are inseparable concepts. Yet a surprising variety of non-sports guests have added to the lore of the Roundhouse. In fact, everything from elephants to Elvis has emerged from the arena’s tunnel at some point during its 47-year history.
A short list of celebrities and other public figures to perform or speak in Levitt includes the Monkees, Three Dog Night, the Eagles, Willie Nelson, Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan, Bob Hope, Steve Martin, Jesse Jackson, Gloria Steinem — and a circus or two. Yet as eclectically illustrious as Levitt’s guest list is, Cessna Stadium, as far as anyone can officially tell, holds the distinction of being the only campus venue ever to host camels.
The brainchild of former WSU Athletic Director Ted Braedehoft, the camels were brought in for races to entertain Shocker football fans. Not that “races” is the best description since a camel has a running speed of 12 mph — at the gallop.
Because it’s doubtful camels will be making a debut in WSU’s new $25-million Roundhouse, set for completion in August 2003, let us provide camel fans with this piece of trivia: The typical ratio of animals found in a box of animal crackers is 6 gorillas to 5 bears, 4 camels, 3 rhinos, 2 tigers, 2 monkeys, 2 sheep, 1 buffalo and 1 lion.
Jazzed Up
Matt Wilson ’86 is jazzed. His newest release “Arts and Crafts” helped him garnish a spot as a 2001 Playboy Music Poll nominee for Jazz Artist of the Year. Further accolades: In the November 2000 issue of Time, he was said to be one of four drummers who represent the future of jazz drumming; and in 1997 the New York Jazz Critics Circle honored him as Best New Jazz Artist.
“He’s one of the most versatile drummers I’ve ever heard,” says J.C. Combs, professor of percussion at WSU and the producer of Wilson’s newest album. Wilson WU-ed WSU students and friends at a Valentine’s Day performance that included a tribute to the late, great Waylon Jennings.
Operation: ’Possum
Karen Brown Sullivan, WSU associate professor of biological sciences, and her husband, Pete, have an unusual pastime: rescuing opossums. The Sullivans estimate they’ve saved more than a dozen of the marsupials.
During their recoveries, the ’possums join the couple’s menagerie of five cats, two dogs, a gray parrot, a ringneck dove, two parakeets, eight snakes, a tarantula, centipede and an assortment of fish. “This is fun for me,” Karen Sullivan says. “I teach a general ecology class, so it’s nice to share this with my students. The focus of the course is on conservation of species diversity and that all species are valuable.”
The Truman Show
This show is brought to you by — no, not Jim Carrey — Tom Frye ’71/84. His latest theater gig, “Tru,” in which he portrays author Truman Capote, is headed to New York to begin a run on off-Broadway. While Capote’s life embraced nearly as much sadness and adversity as it did success, Frye is full of optimism. “Hopefully,” he told the Sunflower, “this show will lead to a lot of other things.”
