monday, October 1, 1979
dally nebraskan
page 9
Annual music festival at UNL brings
artists and electric blues
legendary
By Michael Wiest
There was something in the presence of Sonny Terry
and Brownie McGhcc on stage that went beyond the
familiar pose of the blind man with his blues harp, the
guitar player with his lame leg. It was a sensation that one
might have viewing a famous monument, the realization
that a physical reality has assumed a symbolic one as well.
It is because these men have become legends.
The legend still sounded good Friday evening as Terry
and McGhee opened the Second Annual Great Plains
Blues Festival at the Nebraska Union Centennial Ball
room. Playing to a nearly full house, the oldest and most
constant duo of the blues world quickly established a
warm rappdrt with their audience, encouraging clapping
and singing along on several of their traditional accoustic
blues numbers.
Terry and McGhee appeared to have fun with their
performance, as did the audience, judging from its enthus
iastic response. Subtle hints of one-upmanship were evi
dent in their reactions to each other's solo performances,
Terry with his harmonica style which has influenced
countless blues and rock harpists during past years, and
McGhee with his classic blues guitar work.
Their music was simple and elegant, very much the
roots of the blues, each musician's style complementing
the other's with an economy that only many years of per
forming together could establish.
The second half of the festival featured the electric
blues by Alligator recording artist Son Seals. Following
the typical format of his performances, Seals let his band
warm up with several numbers before taking the stage.
Members of the audience unfamiliar with the guitarist
Lincoln revue auditions
The Lincoln Community Playhouse will be holding
auditions for the musical revue, What's A Nice Country
Like Us Doing In A State Like This? Oct 1-2 at 7:30 p.m.
The revue, a satircal look at the United States, is
scheduled to be presented in the Gallery Theater of the
Playhouse Nov. 30, Dec. 1-2, and Dec. 6-8.
Bill Davis, formerly of Omaha, will direct the play.
Auditioners need to sing a show tune and be prepared to
learn a short dance routine.
might have mistaken this prelude for the main stuff of the
show-a compliment for the competency -of his band.
However, once Seals made his entrance there was no ques
tion that something had been missing. He was the power
and the significant talent,
An incident which, occurred In the next-to-the-last
number of the concert spoke powerfully of Seal's talent as
a blues guitarist. He snapped a string, and as he stepped to
the rear of the stage to repair it, his band covered for him
with a predictably lame rendition of the Rolling Stone's
"Miss You." x
It seemed odd to hear a rock tune, particularly at a
blub festival, but once the new string had been tied on,
Seals, still tuning his guitar with his back to the audience,
oined In and brought the song up to the caliber of his
)est blues music. You could almost forget where you had
heard it first.
The acoustics of the concert left much to be desired.
Lyrics were unintelligible at the rear two-thirds' of the
ballroom, which means that most the audience heard little
more than the base and the lead guitar clearly. This flaw
was less critical to the simpler, acoustic music of Sonny
Terry and Brownie McGhee, nevertheless the concert as a
whole suffered greatly for It.
HOUSE of Fioims
While in picking up your fresh
flowers redder for a lOspced
bicycle to be gfoen away Oct 31
TV
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MAST OF THE BRANDEIS PARKING LOT
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Degree deadline today
The deadline for filing applications for degrees
by students who plan to graduate in December is
Monday, Oct. 1. Degree applications must be filed
in the Office of Registration and Records, 208
Administration, by 5 p jn. Monday.
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SATURDAY, OCT. 13th 8:00 pm
BOB DEVANEY SPORTS CENTER '
TICKETS...
General Admission
$5.50 UNL Students
$6.50 General Public
Available soon
at both , Unions
and Dirt Cheap.
Sale
.ver
tarts Today
Never again-ever- will you have an
opportunity to save on books from
Lincoln House. All of those rare,
scholarly, and out-of-print books on
the Arts end Humanities (excluding
Western Americana) will be on sate for
two weeks only starting today. Save
50 now-whila you still can.
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Open 8-53, UanSap&kSgt, SsSasy
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1730 "0" St. , 432-6042 pi
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