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daily nebraskan
Wednesday, October 24, 1979
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Heart-Murmurallbum captures Zoo Bar's blues
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By Casey McCabe
Ever since I can remember obtaining a fool-proof I.D.
and enjoying all the benefits of this new form of
entertainment, one of my best memories comes from
stumbling into a place called the Zoo Bar and getting my
first taste of live blues music.
If the beer, the smoke and the crowd didn't start to
affect you, the music undoubtedly would. I sat there
mesmerized by a combination of all four, but it was the
gritty blues music put out by Eddie Clearwater that was
driving itself home to every tapping foot in the place.
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Photo Courtesy of Candy Apple Records
Little Jimmy Valentine's new Live at the Zoo Bar album captures music from the Zoo Bar on vinyl to create a
home away from home for its patrons. ,
I deduced that three was an irresistible quality about
live blues that almost no one could resist, and its rightful
place was in a crowded, no-frills place like the Zoo Bar.
It's like a home away from home for most of its patrons.
I also promised myself most everytime I left the bar,
that I would go down to the local record store the next
day with a blank check and invest a major part of my
savings into blues albums.
Somehow under the flourescent lights and strange
background music of the record store the mood just
wasn't the same. I'd blame it on the beer from the night
before, ieave the store empty-handed, and thus my
collection of blues albums grew slowly.
So there is something special about the release of Little
Jimmy Valentine and The Heart Murmurs Live at the Zoo
Bar on the local Candy Apple record label. The Heart
Murmurs, one of Lincoln's most tangible assets, are now
captured on vinyl in a fine live recording that doesn't
distract from the music, but instead puts you back in the
Zoo Bar in a cloud of smoke and a crowd of companions.
If you've ever heard the Heart Murmurs before, or
know their style, there is no need for a detailed analysis of
the music on Live at the Zoo Bar. The eight tracks on the
album were pulled from three nights of recording at the
Zoo last January. They pulled no punches-it is the same
gut-bucket blues the band has become known for.
Four of the Heart Murmurs take turns on lead-vocals.
The best results come from Jim Cidlik on "Dust My
Broom" and "Shake Rattle & Roll," and harp player
Madison Slim on "What Have I Done.",
But each member of the band shows the strong musical
capabilities that make the band a complete blues en
semble. Bass player Larry Boehmer; guitarist Doug
Rosekrans, and drummer Marc Wilson firmly anchor the
sound, allowing for individual effors to soar, from lead
guitarist Sean Benjamin, harmonica player Madison Slim,
and some especially fine piano work from Cidlik.y fiVi
A tip of the hat goes to Candy Apple Records for the
high quality live recording, and a nicely designed, well
packaged album. ,It is reported to be selling well, locally
and how much farther it will go should be, interesting to
watch. , . . ,7-, j7 , ,,, ..,:'" , ' ' .7
It may be a little too easy to heap on the praise when
local folks do good, but Little Jimmy Valentine and the
Heart Murmurs deserve it, They fiHed a void that existed
in Lincoln for too many years.
I'm of age now, I still go to the Zoo. And I never, get
tired of listening to the Heart Murmurs.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater sets 'Shrew' in Italy
By Penelope Smith
7. . ' : J'";'' 7:7- 7' '7 " .7"" ' "77 ' ' " . :- - ; ."','-- '
In its 26th season the Milwaukee Repertory Theater is
again touring the Midwest with what is hoped will be
another of its highly acclaimed productions. For the
1979-80 season the theater's artistic director, John Dillon,
is directing the company in a production of Shakespeare's
Taming of the Shrew,-
The approach taken by Dillon is an unusual one and is
likely to cause controversy among Shakespeare devotees
and purists,
"We set Shrew in an unconventional way, WWII Italy.
Petruchio is an American G.I. and Kate is a sort of Sophia
Loren. Petruchio is from a different culture with rougher,
bolder habits. This allows us to explore Kate and to see
that Kate is really different," Dillon said,
"Shakespeare was interested in the many different
types of love," Dillon said . "In this play there are basical
ly two love stories. One is the conventional romantic one..
Bianca and her lover court and sneak around; It's a stereo,
type, like Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neal in Love Story.
.Then there's another type of love. It's tempestuous and
passionate, maybe more passionate than the other."
Dillon said mat this was Kate's type of love and it
illustrates her personality. .
'Part of Kate's problem," he said, is that nobody,
understands her. She has tremendous exuberance, vitality
and passion. Her love affair is as passionate and exciting
as she is." , . 7
DILLON DECLINED to comment anymore on the per.
sonality of his Kate and in particular whether he handles
her final speech of submission as an ironic or sincere one.
"If I told you how we handle the last speech," he said ,
"It would spoil the fun, it's the most interesting part of
the entire play."
Dillon said he really enjoyed dealing with WWII. "It's a
.clearly identified historical picture with a lot of pictures.
'It's' been great run to research the period and the details
of life."
He said he didn't mind at all about taking the play out
of its Elizabethan context, what would be called by
"purists" an anachronism,
"Shakespeare loved anachronisms. His Italian
geography was bad and his Latin and English "were
jumbled, I don't feel bad about it. It's an attempt to
capture his exuberance of style, His Roman plays were in
Elizabethan dress; anachronism is a part of Elizabethan
England," .
AS DIRECTOR, Dillon has had to develop one inter,
. pretation of the play: For example in this particular pro
duction he does not use the induction, a framing device
that makes of 'The Taming of the Shrew" a play within a
play. '" -v
- "I cut the introduction this time, but maybe sometime
IH use it when I want to do something different with the
play Shakespeare is inexhaustable. I get angry when
purists say there's only one way of doing a play. There are
different layers of meaning, and a hundred different ways
of doing Shrew," Dillon said .
7 "Any good play has multiple meanings," he said, 'The
emphasis comes from the interpretive artist-as opposed
to the scholar-critic who makes the reader aware of many
things, On stage the words go by only once so we must
decide what they mean. As an artist you have to leave
yourself open to what a playwright has to say to you. You
cannot be controlled by the critic because then there is no
discovery and , without discovery there can he no
creation," ' ,
'The Taming of the Shrew" will be perfoimed Nov. 1
and 2 at 8 pjn. in Kimball Recital Hall and next Wednes
day at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha.
Guitar book good for all string buffs
By Casey McCabe
If you enjoy playing the guitar, if you enjoy listening
. to the guitar, if you have a reasonable idea what a guitar
looks like, there now is a book that should broaden your
knowledge of the instrument. '.
The Guitar Player Book from Grove Press is more than
a collection of quotes, facts and pictures. It is a tribute to
the instrument itself and the people who play it, put to
gether by the editors of Guitar Player Magazine with style,
' clarity and perhaps a bit of reverence.
As the publisher of Guitar Player Magazine, Jim
Crockett, in his preface to the book, points out:
'XWe) have always tried to differentiate between those
who just play a little guitar and those who are serious
musicians-one group thinks of the instrument as a prop
or, at best, a necessity for singing or son gwri ting; the
other considers the guitar as an instrument to be practic
ed, to be developed, to be honored."
iX2)k BGUC3U
Along these lines, the editors have devoted more than
half of the 400 page book to insights from 78 of the arts'
finest performers.
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THE LIST IS wide and varied, and reads like a Who's
Who in the music world. Jeff Beck, Julian Bream, Eric
Clapton Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Leo Kottke, John
McLaughlin, Carlos Montoya, Jimmy Page, Joe Pass, and
Frank Zappa are but a few of the interviews brought from
the pages of Guitar Player Magazine for the book.
Continued on Page 1 1
