monday, October 10, 1977
page 8
daily nebraskan
AAaaic Slim and the Teardrops band
gaining acceptance in blues circles
Review By Casey McCabe
Watching Magic Slim play, one might wonder how the
husky Chicago bluesman got his name. But after seeing
his fingers glide through dozens of blues riffs, it's easy to
see the magic.
Magic Slim was in Lincoln with his band. The Tear
drops, for performances at the Zoo Bar, and as part of last
Friday's Great Plains Blues Festival.
Virtually unknown in the past, Magic Slim and the
Teardrops have been making quite a name for themselves
lately, and are becoming one of the most sought after
blues acts. Frequently playing the major blues bar circuit
in Chicago, Slim and the band also have built an inter
national following with blues fans in Europe, Scandi
navia, Australia, and Japan. When filming for European
television, they brought down the house, stealing the
show from such notable bluesmen as Jr. Wells and Buddy
Guy. .
"Breaking into the blues market is not that easy these
days," Slim said. "There are so many bands doing the
same material, in the same style, trying to do the same
gigs-
Slim's music, like that of most Chicago bluesmen,
comes from the powerful and brooding Mississippi delta
blues, but is set apart from the slick electric blues prev
alent today by its rawness and the gut-level feeling it pro
duces. The band plays a hard rocking blues with searinp
guitar licks from Slim and Coleman (Dadda' Rabbit)
Pennet, that takes on a highly electric oarrei-nouw cucu,
forged in Chicago's roughest "cut and shoot" bars.
"All my life I've been playing tre blues," Slim said.
'I can't even remember when I started. As a boy I was
playing, picking up anything that was the blues that I
could find."
Slim said he likes the informality and intimacy with
the. bar crowd, but also likes doing more structured per
formances like the Blues Festival, which was in a concert
format.
"They're two different types of crowds, but I like
them both, as long as they're ready to hear our music,"
Slim said.
While the standards for being a blues success are much
different from the world of pop and rock music, Magic
Slim and the Teardrops would have to be considered
successful. Though a hit in most areas of the music busi
ness is determined by the number of sales (usually in the
hundreds of thousands,) in blues it is determined by its
acceptance in different blues circles across the country.
Magic Slim has had several 'hits, and can be found in
any of Chicago's major blues clubs. The group also has
appeared on local radio and television in Chicago and cur
rently is spreading its blues magic over the U.S.
in blues where stature increases with time, Magic Slim
and The Teardrops are certain to become fixtures in the
music scene.
vJ
w
i jCD
n
Photo by Ted Kirk
Bluesman Magic Slim's root's come from the power
ful and brooding Mississippi Delta blues.
Symposium introduces six ma jor photographers
By Jim Williams
Six major American photographers and
a huge exhibit of photographs drew nearly
500 people to Sheldon Memorial Art
Gallery's "Photographic Celebration" Fri
day and Saturday.
Photographers Lewis Baltz, Betty Hahn,
Robert Heinecken, Barbara Morgan, Arthur
Rothstein and Henry Holmes Smith each
provided photographs for a one-room dis
play and gave lectures and discussions.
Ihe gallery's collection of 800 photo
graphs filled its exhibit rooms. The Art
Shop showed photographs by Nebraskans.
The exhibits run through Oct, 30.
Each photographer introduced his or
her work in a lecture illustrated by slides
Friday. That night Baltz, Morgan and
Rothstein discussed "The Photograph as
Document."
The panelists found it hard to agree on
a definition of a documentary photograph,
"We all know that the camera does not
lie" Rothstein said. "It's photographers
who lie."
He said a documentary photographer
must use the camera's characteristics to
emphasize details honestly .-Rothstein said
that by using the documentary style, the
photographer says he's telling the truth.
He said that television and movies by
using convincing, but unreal special effects,
have conditioned the public to disbelieve
photographs.
Rothstein said that the more people
'Dream role' prerequisites
were petticoats and falsies
By Charlie Krig
In some states, a man who dresses like
woman can be fined or jailed. But Dan
Reinehr did it last week, the only thing
he got was .laughs, and an offer to go out
on a date.
Reinehr was playing the role of Lady
Bracknell in the Studio Theatre production
of The Importance .of. Being Earnest,
"When a show comes out actors always
think,' 'What's in it for me? - Reinehr
said he sat in the theatre dressing room.
.Jie said I could play Lady Brack
nell but I thought that was weird because it.
sounded like a woman's role "
He said he read the script again and
again until the part became a "dream role,"
something he really wanted to do.
The director, Harley Lofton, helped by
asking Reinehr to read for the part at
auditions, Reinehr said. Lofton liked the
idea of casting a man for the role when he
offered Reinehr the part, Reinehr added.
"It was quite a test but a lot of fun and
work, Reinehr said. "Everybody was real .
excited that I got to play it "
"Lady Bracknell is so dominating she
has Lord Bracknell (her husband) whipped
into place. She's very masculine-even in
her mannerisms."
Reinehr said he wanted Lady Bracknell
to be real and not stereotyped. He did not
want the audience to see just a "swishy"
guy playing a girl, but he wanted them to
have fun and enjoy the play.
"I was scared in that I didn't want it to
be an overdone characterization. I just
wanted people to think I was a girl," he
said. ,
His effort evidently paid off because
.J.J,.u1..i...,W-u.1J....M...,M,,t., , auWM,... ltWMWJMMJ.,
respond to a documentary picture, the
more successful it is,
"I never considered myself as an artist,"
Rothstein said. "It's only incidental that
other people consider some of my photo
graphs to be works of art."
Lewis Baltz, on the other hand, defined
art differently He said his photographs are
art because he is an artist by profession.
Baltz said many things in museums
today were not originally made as works of
art -their artistic qualities were discovered
by 20th century viewers.
"The camera is secondary, really,"
Barbara Morgan said. "Pre-visioning is the
big thing."
She said she does not photograph un
less she has a result clearly in mind. She
said the interplay of people's body spaces ,
is tremendously important and she tries
to get that right first.
Museum endowments
Heinecken said most art photographs
are bought by museums, not individuals,
because museums get money to do so from
government agencies like the National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The NEA
provided matching funds for the expan
sion and cataloging of Sheldon's photo
graphy collection.
Heinecken compared this to the
Depression, when the Works Progress
Administration gave money to artists and
the Farm Security Administration provided
work for photographers like Rothstein.
Henry Smith said that art works must
stand on their own merits.
Smith's works are not always accepted
because they do not look like most photo
graphs. He said it's the fault of narrow
minded curators that photographic ex
perimentation is being held back.
Smith said documentary photographers'
conceptual ideas are too narrow. He said
"new problems face documentary photo
graphers in exploring what he called "the
careless and the cheaters," like companies
carelessly using dangerous chemicals. He"
said the poor and disadvantaged are over
documented and the privileged and careless
under-documented.
Printmaking techniques
Betty Hahn said she thinks photographs
are both documents and experiments,
She said she incorporated printmaking
techniques and fabric elements into many
of her works (like Sheldon's "Road and
Rainbow") because she is interested in the
art of 19th century quilts.
Hahn's photographs in the exhibit
were taken with a "Mick-a-matic," an
instant-loading camera with no adjust,
ments, built into a plastic Mickey Mouse
head. Hahn said she began using the
Mick-a-matic because she liked the qualities
of its simple lens.
Saturday afternoon the artists visited
the galleries to discuss their work. Also
Saturday afternoon there was an unsche
duled slide-illustrated lecture by Hein
ecken. He discussed shapshots such as a
photo of a fat woman in a bikini. It illus
trated Newhall's concept of "the thing it--self,
or, to use a more complicated art
history term, subject matter."
Daily Nabraskan photo
Studio Theatre actor Dan Reinehr
several persons said they thought Reinehr
was a woman and the name Dan on the
program was a misprint. Reinehr said a
friend told him he was "pretty" and that
a stranger asked him out for a date after a
performance, -
Reinehr said the compliment was
"bizarre" but he did not go out.
Reinehr said another "kinky" aspect of
his role was the clothes he wore. They
included lots of jewelry, a full-length dress,
a large hat, two petticoats, a complete
girdle and a false bustline that some
cast members fondled, he said. ,
He said he arrived early each night with
the actresses so they could apply makeup
and roll their hair for two hours. He said
he could not appreciate the whole "drag."
"I'm still not used to it.. I now under
stand why women wear jeans," he said.
Lincoln jazz vital, growing
The Lincoln Jazz Society is back after
a "very pleasing" premiere year according
to the society's acting president, Dave
Luebbert.
"We feel we've done something for the
jazz scene in Lincoln," Luebbert said when
he , announced the society's 1977-78
concert season.
"Before, there would be maybe one
concert a year. Now the society can bring
in four concerts a year " he said.
Luebbert said the four concerts this
season include the Dexter Gordon Quar
tet Oct. 13, the Dkzy Gillespie Quartet
Dec. 16, the Woody Evans Quarter Feb.
17 and the Bill Lvans Trio March 16.
All concerts are to be 8 p.m. in O'DonnclI
Auditorium on the Nebraska Wesleyan
campus, 50th and Huntington streets.
"I'd like to see Lincoln become a good
place for jazz to develop," Luebbert said.
"Both to develop local talent and to bring
in the 'jazz master' and the music that's
the very best."
Luebbert said the society's other duties
include helping with the weekly KFMQ
radio jazz hour. The jazz hour host, Dave
Landis, is a member of the society,
Luebbert said.
"Our basic purpose is to promote
appreciation of jazz, but I would expect
that as we continue people will hear
the music and learn that it's really good
music.
"Jazz isn't dying at all," Luebbert said.
Lincoln Jazz Society season tickets and
memberships are available by writing the
foCrn!oy ? 227 N- Uth Uncoln. Ncr.,
68508. Season tickets are $15 for Jazz
Society members and persons over 65
years old; non-member tickets are $16
and Jazz Society memberships are $5.
Luebbert said.
