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Wednesday, december 13, 1978
page 12
daily nebraskan
arts & entertainment
Creative group varies from acid-rock to Disney tunes
By Kent Warneke
"We're creative people, we're not just
musicians."
Such is the philosophy behind the
newest musical entry in Lincoln, A.K.A.,
whose first performance at the Zoo Bar
treated the audience to a musical concoc
tion unique in sound and visual image.
The name A.K.A., which represents
also known as, has an unusual origin.
"We couldn't come up with a name for
the group that everybody was satisfied
with, so we named ourselves A.K.A. which
lets us be a lot of different names," accord
ing to Saint Teresa, drummer for the
group.
And with such freedom of naming,
A.K.A. has come up with some other
possible identities, such as abdominal
kaleidoscopic abyss, abnormal kindred
adminition and adulterers kant advertise.
Formally a group since mid -September,
AX.A.'s members include Buzz Klik,
lead vocalist and live electronics; Mike
Swing, guitar, bass and vocals; Graveyard
James, bass, guitar and vocals; Saltine,
movement and vocals; Tiajuana, visuals;
and Saint Teresa.
If some of the things that AJCA.'s
members do seem extraordinary to the
regular rock group, it's because A.K.A. is
not your ordinary group.
Out of Fever Blister, a punk rock group,
Surrealestate, an avant-garde type of group,
and the Midwest Ramblers, a country
western group, have come the members of
A.K.A., and with it a wide range of talent.
"First of all, we are a rock group,"
Klik said. "But no one is stuck with
just that. We've got such a wide back
ground of musical styles that we can do
anything."
"We're very individualistic," Klik said.
"If someone comes to us and has some
thing that is creative and we don't already
have it, well put it in the group.
"And when we do this, itU either bomb
or we'll have a very unique sound to us."
Tiajuana said, "It's possible that we
could start using movies and viodeo tape in
the future. We try to make it a sensory ex
perience." One of the different aspects of A.K.A.'s
performances are the talents of Saltine.
"We try and present body language in
our performances and Saltine enables us to
have some high art in our act with her
modem ballet dancing along with our
music," Klik said.
Swift said, "A.K.A. is part of a new
wave.
"Our music can be as pretty as the
Beatles or as hard as any acid rock group."
Klik said, "We play all kinds of tunes,
some heavy, some light, some really
spaced-out music and some straight Top
40 hits. We even have some G-rated Walt
Disney songs that are just plain silly."
A.K.A. has no definite future plans
besides two upcoming dates Thursday
night at Jesse's Bar and a New Year's Eve
benefit also at Jesse's.
Swift said for now the group would be
satisfied playing in Lincoin five nights a
month, but would eventually like to cut a
record.
James said, "I think it's refreshing that
some group like ours is emerging in
Lincoln. We enjoy ourselves and we're not
satisfied with mediocrity.
"In the future, the world's music could
come down to regional electric minstrel
type of things, where quality would be
available for a low price and no one is
worried about making enormous amounts
of money, just glad to be able to pay the
bills and feed the kids."
But for right now, A.K.A. is satisfied
with doing things that the normal rock
band isn't usually associated with.
"We're not at all afraid to show
emotion " Klik said. "If we're playing a
song that is down and depressing, then
certain people in the group will show that
to the audience."
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Lincoln's
and some
new rock group A.K.A. offers listeners a variety of light and
songs that are "just plain silly."
Photo by Mark Billingsley
heavy music
Mere appliance can demand attention, dull creativity
By Pete Mason
The television, when it first appeared in American
living rooms, was little more than an appliance, like the
vacuum cleaner or garbage disposal.
It sat in a corner, gathering dust, and occasionally was
watched. There simply wasn't much there when the screen
lit up. The television was turned on for an hour or two in
the evening. The rest of the time it sat amidst the rest of
the furniture, its blank screen gray and glowering.
TV review
In the early days there was a tendency to let the tele
vision watch you, rather than you watching the set. The
screen of the early sets was small and when lit up, it stared
out of the darkness as viewers gathered around it. We
hadn't yet learned how to watch it.
Perhaps "watch it" is too vague a term; of course we
watched it, but not like we watch it today.
Creativity dries up
We look deeply into it now, with a concentration once
reserved for higher forms of passive involvement, such as
reading. But reading was work. It was invigorating. It
tickled the senses and exercised the muscles of our
imaginations.
Once we learned how to watch the television set, some
of our intellectual muscles became flabby. Our creative
juices, which flowed enthusiastically when we pictured in
our mind's eye the person, or place or period in time our
author was writing about, began to dry up. The only
muscles which became hardened were the big ones we sat
upon night after night.
Somewhere along the way we stopped turning on the
television set; it began to turn us on. As we began to de
velop television-viewing habits, the television began to
take a more active role in our lives.
Movies inspired awe
Television was conceived as an extension of radio and
the movies. Alone, these media were stimulating. Radio
had no pictures. Actions, places, times were all narrated.
The listener filled in the blanks. Movies were larger than
life. Their size when projected on the screen inspired pe
culiar awe. Movie-going was a weekly family experience.
Radio peaked in the 30s and 40s. The medium of radio
never became an art medium. Its potential for art was
never really there. Movies have reached a stage where they
can, in many instances, become art. (Movies, when they
approach an artistic level, are called films, which shows
that movies have indeed become art because art often
breeds pretentiousness.)
Television changed the courses of both movies and
radio. It was both and neither. . .right in our own living
rooms. Only the most pretentious would consider that
television is becoming art.
Part of the family
Consider the family television set (or sets) today. It is
usually a big, color console of gleaming mahogany, set in
a highly visible area of the room in which the family most
often congregates. It is polished and waxed, dusted and
cleaned. Its little brothers, if there are some, are scattered
in other areas of the house, usually for individual viewing.
It sits there, quietly, not bothering anyone, right?
Wrong. When that set is turned off, it is just as real and
functional as when it is turned on. It seems to sit im
patiently. It is no good to anyone when its screen is dark.
A dark television screen is an angry, frowning thing, which
silently chastises those who glance at it for letting it sleep
for so long.
A turned-off television set is a jab in the ribs, a burr
under the saddle, a pouting reminder that we're missing
something by keeping it off. A switched-off television set
is a spoiled brat, holding his breath until he turns blue and
gets his way. This is what television has become since its
inception; a living, sometimes scolding, sometims delight
ing, entity.
No only child
There is no longer such a thing as an only child. Every
home has a television set. It has become the family dog
minus the daily walk to the backyard and the weekly
food bill. It is the family baby minus the diaper change.
It's the widow's dead husband and the ugly man's
girlfriend. It's the only child's brother or sister.
This would seem dangerous enough but television has
become something more sinister. It has become a "looking
glass" of the Alice in Wonderland variety. One has only to
step through and reality is distorted. On the other side, we
become privy to someone else's perception of reality. Un
able to control our destinies in the world, amazingly
enough, we choose someone else's world where we have
no control whatsoever.
This "other world" has been described as a '"vast waste
land" or as an opiate, a crystal ball or a magic carpet. Ac
tually it is all and none of the above. It is something dif
ferent for every person who uses it, whatever his or her
motives.
Tube abuse
What it isn't is real. If we forget that, we're in very
big trouble. There are those in the television industry who
would have us believe that it is. Their motives are so
vague that it would not hurt us to be cautious of them.
The potential for abuse in television is greater than in
any other medium in man's history. And considering the
addictive quality of television and the number of people
who are hooked, no amount of vigilance is too much.
The next time you see a blank television, consider for
a moment who's making the decision to turn it on-you
or the television. It would seem to follow that if we
refused to be led by things, we could force the people
behind the things to take a closer look at their audience,
i potential for anger and its power to change the course
of the medium in a totally new direction. What a tragedy
.t would be if one day we stepped into that other world
tnli?? Wm uul,dn,t out- And what a greater
tragedy it would be if we didn't want to
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