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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1971)
As the stomach churns soapsuds roll on and on... Review by Jim Gray In the good old days of TV, everything was either black or white (only slight pun intended). That is, every show could be put into one of two categories-patently good or blatantly bad. Today, however, things are different. In addition to the still-tremendous crop of blackies and whities there is a vast ocean of grays, not to mention a pretentious overflow of magenta, chartreuse and pastel orange. Some things, however, never change. Since their emergence in the muck and mire of the Dark Ages of TV, soap operas (known to the Dish Dan Set as "daily continuing dramas") have remained pretty solidly in the black wasteland throughout the history of the tube. Barring an occasional glimmer of hope, such as was observed during the advent of the now-deceased Dark Shadows series, the soaps have proved to be a poor example of pretty much anything. Trite in plot, shoddy in settings, shallow in character portrayal, the sudsies still leave many an intelligent observer holding his stomach and making a quick dash for the can. One exception can be found 'From the Review by Bart Becker Poco does good things to your ears. You may have to run their newest release, "From the Inside", past your head a few times before it grabs on, but if you like good country-rock you'll find the grooves in the record fitting right into the grooves in your brain. "From the Inside", for my money, misses what I call the "top-notch" category by about the width of a high E-string. It's damn good music, but it's not very distinctive. Performed live I'd guess it could knock your socks right off but at first listening it seems a little flat. However, it does seem after awhile to grow right inside of you. The album opens with "Hoe Down." It's one of those songs that might run through the back of your mind for weeks .after hearing it. The -second cut, Bad "Weather, shows some nice, subtle steel guitar work. This song, and a few others on the album, employ vocal combinations that got me thinking of Neil Young. From the opening steel whining of "What Am I Gonna Do" I almost expected Tammy Wynette. Small Surprise: you get Richie Furav. The last two tune on the side arc "You Arc the One" and "Railroad Days," neither of which I found particularly exciting. The former is pretty standard country fare and the latter is more of a rocker but no standout. The second side opens up with the title tue which ce mi, to me, nothing special. "Do You Feel It Too is pretty bland stuff. But the last three songs on the album make any wait worthwhile, "Or Forgiver finds Poco weaving some of the prettiest instrumental tapestries to be found anywhere in recent months. "What If I Should Say I MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, in the super-soggy sudsie known as As the World Turns, which, while it hasn't quite made it into the white area, is well out of the black, into the gray-chartreuse. As any daytime TV devotee can probably tell you, World is currently the number one soap in the world, being broadcast not only in the U.S., but in several foreign countries as well. The show's plot (if indeed any soap can be said to have a plot) is in many ways quite imaginative.lt centers basically on four general spheres: in the town of Oakdale USA the Oakdale Hospital, the law firm of Hughes and Lowell, Simon Gilby Enterprises and a Book Shop. While this may not seem like the widest range of subjects, the script writers seem to do very well. Within these four areas, the various characters, ranging from evil no-goodniks to sweet young things bounce about, constantly commiting one form or the other of mayhem on their fellow characters. The writers have to be imaginitive to come up with some of the things they do. Shaky as the plots may be, the acting makes up for it on the whole. Especially good is super-wicked Eileen Fulton as Lisa Shea, the twice-divorced Inside': over and over Love You" starts out as a kind of slow pleader and builds itself up to peaks of rockin'. The final cut, "Just For Me and You", ties up the album in fine fashion. We get so few good records these days that we shouldn't complain when the "good" discs aren't "great". "From the Inside" will take 37 minutes and 54 seconds out of your Last chance for New Haven, Macbeth The University of Nebraska Repertory Company goes into its final week of production with Macbeth running September 13, 15, 17 and 18, and We Bomed in New Haven running September 14, and 16. Performances are on the Howell Theatre state, with curtain time at 8:30 p.m. MATINEES DAILY! Showing Now VIIIUER! BEST EROTIC FILM r - r 1 ! " II a 1 ....AND IT'S FUNNY TOO! A ,,K BBS9B8SBSS9 t I ABSOLUTELY NO ONE UNDER I ' I It WILL BE ADMITTED f V", .,,..,,uuji:.Ii. in r 1 iv w AT 12, 1:50 3:40, 5:30 7:20, 9:10 P.M BS 1971 magpie, who daily claws and scrapes her way into the hearts of viewers everywhere. Also good is the portrayal of Simon Gilby by Jerry Lacy, who is better known for his commercial work for a leading anti-perspirant in which he utters the memorable Bogartesque "Dry up, sweetheart " line, none the less, as the rich and evil business tycoon Lacy manages to run shivers up and down more than a few spines each day. In the fair-to-good category is where most of the players tend to gravitate. Not that all the acting is good. (Some of it is downright embarassing.) Nor are all other aspects of the series rosy. The sets are poor-to-worse, the background music boring as hell and costumes blase and gaudy. Even so, the show has something special. It is a live show. In the early days of TV many a drama was live. But today the show that remains untaped and uncanned is a rarity: Sure, this means that a few minor errors will appear in the finished products, but even so, being live gives a show a spontaneity it could not otherwise have. And that spontaneity is eactly what puts "World" in the gray. future. You should try to spare the time. The album title, too, says something about where Poco's at. It's a personal record. It's filled with love and pain songs. It'll do you moi good than harm to listen to it. One of Poco's songs, "Picking Up the Pieces", says "There's just a little bit of magic in the country." In Poco, too. McGovernites plan meeting Students for McGovern plan an organizational meeting Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Nebraska Union. Interested people are welcome. HOLD THIS wr (Ml ! iWOOT OA3 20ATW AfR CONDITIONED Thru Thurs. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL SHOWN AT 11P.M. Late Show FRjAT THE DAILY NEBRASKAN . PTH III J J t 1 A broadly painted sign with the words FREE THEATRE once hung defiantly in a window at 210 South 11th Street. Now the sign, like the Free Theatre, is hanging in limbo. The Free Theatre, formed by two NU students, Paul Paker and Jan Van Sickle, and companied by a small group of dedicated followers, sought to become a self-supporting, non-profit theatre providing quality avante-guarde plays. On Friday, September 10, the theatre's bubble burst. On that day, a Lincoln Fire Inspector visited the Free Theatre and according to Baker, told the company that under no circumstances could they have a theatre in their current building. It seems that approximately $3,000 worth of repairs would have to be made on the building before the theatre could even think about opening its doors for public assembly, and since the Free Theatre had sunk all of its funds into the renting of their current building, these repairs would be impossible. Thus the Free Theatre, at its present location, is no more. Some of the plans which Van Sickle and Baker had for the Free Theatre (outside of the production of free plays) were the addition of free workshops in theatrical activities, local rock bands in a coffee-house-type atmosphere with no admission charge and free coffee and free W. C. Fields and Laural & Hardy movies. The Free Theatre COULD have developed into a variety of activities for NU students to take an interest in-now, it won't. However, Baker, Van Sickle and the company are not giving up completely. They are staying at their current location, using it as a rehearsal hall, and hopefully (if it meets with approval from Student Union officials) they plan to move the actual productions onto campus, either in the Ballroom or the Centennial Room of the Student Union. The productions would still be free, but at the end of the show, if the audience members want to, they ccan make contributions to the company. IF the Free Theatre productions are moved to the Student Union, or any other place for that matter, go and see a couple of the shows, and give money if you want but at least give them a chance. Nebraska Repertory Theatre 12th & R macbeth FINAL WEEK OF PERFORMANCES: MONDAY: MACBETH TUESDAY: WE BOMBED IN NEW HAVEN WEDNESDAY: MACBETH THURSDAY: WE BOMBED IN NEW HAVEN FRIDAY: MAC8ETH - SATURDAY: MACBETH 472-2073 PAGE 9 f
