thursday, december 15, 1977
page 16
daily nebraskan
arts 8t fi?tfSeJfifififl4
Prominent performers
show reporter humility
By Casey McCabe
This fall brought some of the country's
finest talent to Lincoln and for those who
were kind enough to devote time to the
local press, it became my duty to evoke
printable responses from them. Now that
may not seem like a teeth-pulling process,
but an inescapable notion runs through
your head. You wonder if a nationally
prominent entertainer will carry on a
rational conversation with a local news
paper reporter from Lincoln, Nebraska.
They're not normal people are they?
An Interview with Red Skelton was
conducted in a rather irregular fashion.
Skelton make himself fairly available
during his Lincoln stay, but was somewhat
hard to pin down. A cooperative Hilton
employee informed the Daily Nebraskan
that he was at the Stuart Theatre for a
particular afternoon, viewing Star Wars.
Duty called me to cover the theatre's
exits. I could think of nothing the poor old
guy would like less than to be lassoed by a
reporter after coming out of a movie.
Finally, I saw him with his back turned to
me, signing autographs. Going up to ask
him for an interview, I realized I really
was nervous. This is Red Skelton. I mean,
I grew up with a reverence for him. The
guy is a television institution.
Sincere man
What I discovered was a sincere man.
He was genuinely sorry when he explained
he had no time left for interviews. Then,
pausing to think, his eyes brightened and
he asked the Daily Nebraskan photo
grapher and myself if we'd mind walking
with him back to his hotel. We couldn't
think of anything better.
Thus, the interview was conducted in a
casual stroll down P St. Besides his already
well-known wit, I found him to be the
amiable grandfatherly type, who was as
comfortable off the stage as on. Celebrity
shock was over.
Coming back a couple generations, I
had a chance to meet and talk to Kenny
Loggins during his Lincoln appearance.
Now here was someone who probably did
not need a great deal of publicity and
because of the nature of his popularity,
(the phenomenal past success of Loggins
and Messina), he was probably pushed to
the limit with the same questions.
(i.e. "why'd you guys break up",
"where's Messina," "who cuts your hair?",
etc.)
However, the soft-spoken Loggins
politely answers the questions with cool
deliberation that comes from a good deal of
practice. He took an obvious interest in
his answers though, and seemingly was
concerned about how reporters felt about
the show. A rock star who is polite, well
adjusted and cooperative. Another myth
shattered.
Sell out crowd
The matter of publicity between dif
ferent musical genres provides an amusing
juxtaposition. From the near prison camp
security of the Fleetwood Mac Concert,
the Daily Nebraskan sent me to Omaha's
Orpheum Theatre for an already sold out
performance by The Lettermen.
The photographer and I showed up late
because of some misunderstanding. We had
no reserved tickets or arranged interview
once we arrived. Rather than the expected
"tough luck fellas" response, we were
given front row seats and immediately were
escorted to meet the Lettermen. Leader
Tony Butala was at no loss for words and
answered most of the questions in one,
long, non-stop sentence.
Even more informal was a meeting with
blues great John Lee Hooker. But a legen
dary bluesman may attract no more atten
tion on the street than a panhandler with a
harmonica (which is how many got
started.) We talked in his hotel room over
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breakfast and Saturday morning cartoons.
Towards the end of the highly enjoyable
interview, his traveling companion sheep
ishly asked me if I would mind taking them
to the airport. I humbly complied. It's not
often you get to do a favor for a legendary
performer in any field.
My later interactions with such people
as Billy Joel, Blue Oyster Cult, Styx and
Montage by Steve Boerner
Michael Murphey have served to enforce
my initial discovery; people who have
climbed to a stature of national promi
nence, still manage to keep close ties with
people they depended on, on the way up.
They actually are human t despite the
frequent hype they receive from this
profession. Their humility has made my
joba lot easier.
Finals Week bring groans and men in white coats
Q: Why is finals week like hitting yourself in the head
with a hammer?
A: Because it feels so good when you stop.
There is a theory that says finals are something our
otherwise-beloved university does to us because otherwise
we would stay here forever. Who can 'argue with the
charms of Alma Mater-the ivy covered wall, the vinyl-
Jim Williams
covered bar stools, the enticingly-covered Persons of the
Alternate Gender? To knock us out of this comfy nest
Alma Mater resorts to a swat in the behind that would
shatter armor-finals week.
The theory suggests that the human body has enough
energy to tolerate only a certain amount of abuse during
a four-year period. The university calculates this amount
and divides most of it into eight final exam periods.
At the end, if everything works out right, you should have
just enough change coming to grasp your diploma in flac
cid fingers and totter off the stage.
Fifth year
If that is really the plan, it's no wonder I'm in bad
shape. This is my fifth year here and I'm getting through
dead week on borrowed karma.
I don't think it's fair. I've been good. IVe gone to
classes regularly except for when I missed them, I've
done the outside work (I remember that clearly because I
did quite a bit of it last night). I stay off bar. stools
because I don't drink. And IVe given up chasing Persons
of the Alternate Gender, although that's mostly because
of the way they used to yawn in my face when I'd catch
them.
So it seems like a terrible affront to my shining virtue
1 that this has been about the liveliest Dead Week since
someone terminated Count Dracula's social calendar with
a stake. f
Dead week
Of course, there are no tests during Dead Week, to
avoid distracting students studying up for their final
exams. I just had to write a paper, make a feature-length
movie, finish off 250 pages of book reports the illiterates
in my journalism class wrote, create four works of art and
put the finishing touches on the Great American Novel
I had to write for English class.
One of my teachers said once that if I'd start on my
assignments earlier, I wouldn't have to rush during Dead
Week. I said that if pigs had wings, we could open a fac
tory and make cast-iron umbrellas. You were wondering
why it's taking me five years to graduate?
Although the habit of Finals Week Tension gets
ingrained, I found out yesterday it's possible to stop it.
I was amazed to see Angie Burger sitting calmly in the
waiting room of a university building thumbing through
a magazine. Amazed because at one time Angie was a
compulsive crammer, dedicated to keeping her , 4.0 CPA
for med school and fending off study distractions with
a .30-06. This time last semester, she would have been
locked in her room with a 1 2-quart coffeepot.
"Hey, kick the study habit?' I asked cleverly.
She yawned in my face. "Oh, I just decided it wasn't
worth all the grief and both":," she said. "I can't see
why I used to worry about silly things like good grades
and getting into med school. Why ruin your life with trivia
like final exams?"
Then she screamed and pointed at my head.
"Yaaah! Bats! Big black hairy bats, coming out of your
nose! Yaah! Get the golf shoes!"
Two muscular attendants in white coats came out and
carried her away.
r
Gillespie to perform
With a legendary beginning, in 1935,
a 19-year-old man went with his mother
to Philadelphia carrying his trumpet in a
brown paper bag. He stayed in the city
two years, long enough to pick up the
nickname of Dizzy from musicians
around town.
The Unco In Jazz Society is spon
soring a concert with The Dizzy Gil
lespie Quartet at O'Donnell Auditorium
on the Nebraska Wesleyan campus
Friday, 8 p-m. .Tickets are available at
Dirt Cheap and BrandeU Stores for $5.
Recognized by many jazz musicians
and ardent followers as the innovator of
bebop music of the '40s and 450s,
Gillespie, at the age of 60, still produces
a warm rapport with his audiences. His
colorful chatter is almost as entertain
ing as his music.
Gillespie personified bop more than
any other musician, introducing bop
fashion items, bop glasses, berets and
goatees.
Uis compositions Include jazz classics
like A Night in Tunisia", "Groovin'
Highland "Woody V You."
Dance concert Friday
Students in the UNI. nivkinn nf n
will perform at 7 p jn. Friday in room 304
of Mabel Lee flail, in "First Showings
an Informal Dance Concert."
Marie Sanwick, head of the division,
said 20 dancers will perform six works by
students in composition classes and by
Assistant Professor Barbara Ball Mason
and former irtist-in-residence Donald Brad
burn. "It's one of the times in which students
get a chance to perform the things they do
on a fairly professional level," Sanwick
said. "We thought it was time we opened
it (the performance) up to the public."
Works choreographed and performed by
.students in composition classes as final
exercises include: an untitled work by
Stephen Cholka set to music by Chuck
Mangione; "Mystical Fear" by Katy
Derickson; "Buckaroo" by Julia Weesner;
"Tomorrow" by Michek Saucier;
"Gotcha" by Jolaine Kaminski; and an
untitled work by Connie O'Nele.
"Temporal Matters" by Barbara Ball
Mason has six sections: "Girl and Mirror,"
The Couple," "Prowess Diminished,"
Time Trap," "Fountain of Youth," and
JTablcs Turned." Dancers in the work are
Taffy Wrighton, Edson Gibson, Shawn
Farley, Stephen Cholka, Jolaine Kaminski
and Jim Flynn.
Members of the division's Dance
tnsemble will perform "Conference of the
Birds, choreographed by Donald Brad
burn. Admission to the performance is free.