pageO
daily nebraskan
friday, march 28, 1980
Omaha Ballet company f orms'student rash line'
By Penelope Smith
If you live in Omaha or the surrounding
area you can satisfy your urge to pirouette
into spring with the final season perfor
mance of the Omaha Ballet at 8 p m. Satur
day and 2:30 pm. Sunday at the Orpheum
Theater.
Tickets for the performances are usually
$4 to $8, but the ballet has initiated a Stu
dent rush line." Twenty minutes before
curtain, all full-time students with some
form of student I.D.'can buy a ticket for
only $2.
"Young people seem to enjoy the ballet
very much. In fact we have, the youngest
audience. Our median age is around 28,
while opera goers on the average are about
45 or older," said Thomas Enckell,
director.
The program will include four works
that cover a wide range of styles and
temperaments. Enckell describes his selec
tions as "balanced."
For those who are romantically inclined
or need to vent their pent-up aggressions
Good timin ' Texas cowboy
has legendary popularity
By Casey McCabe
It's really hard to dislike ol' Jerry Jeff
Walker. There has always been something
in this transplanted New Yorker that
appeals to the rural sensibilities in every
one. Walker is the man who can both throw
the party into redneck bedlam, and then
close down the bar with music to soothe
and orient the last drunken stragglers. Most
any jukebox in any tavern that plays "Red
neck Mother" and "Sangria Wine" will
find many happy, willing voices joining in
the chorus.
Jerry Jeffs popularity (limited, though
legendary) has always hinged on his ability
to take the bar setting into the recording
studio. His latest album Too 'Old to
Change, provides a more intimate and
down-to-earth look at Walker's romanti
cized Texas lifestyle than anything he has
ever put out.
It is less of the foot-stomping whiskey
drinking material, and more of the music
that inspires you to put your boots up on
the table, nurse your Lone Star beer, and
think wistfully of the simpler things in life.
No one in recent years has been able to
do this quite as well as Jerry Jeff, though
Willie Nelson fans could justifiably argue
the point. While country music has provid
ed several artists with this Texas "outlaw"
keeps reminding the listener about his geo
graphical preference, and the vast amount
of dues he's paid, while with Jerry Jeff
Walker, it goes unspoken. I lis voice and de
livery assure you he's made the rounds, and
the listener can fill in the rough spots.
The title alone on Too Old To Change
provides the perfect focus for Walker,
though it's doubtful anyone really expect
ed him to turn to disco or heavy metal for
his livelihood. Written by Billy Jim Baker,
(with a name like that, how can you go
wrong in country music?), "Too Old To
Change" finds Walker at his drawling, bal
ladeering best; half-speaking, half-singing
the lyrics:
"I've just been too long ridin' that
range.
Runnin' wild, without reins
Howdy Doody travelin' against the
grange ...
And pretty girls deserve better . . .
But I'm too old to change."
Like most of the album, the backing in
strumental are subtle support for the
lyrics, but they are exceptionallyffine on
"Too Old To Change" with former Lost
Gonzo Band sax man Tomas Ramie rez, and
Mike Mordecai on trombone giving the
song a touch of New Orleans on its way to
the high plains.
On "1 Ain't Living Long Like This,"
Walker gives the song its harshest cover
treatment yet, and provides the grittiest
offering on the album, or on anything he
has done for that matter. He shifts his
voice into low, low, gear to drive in one of
the band's few stabs at electric country on
the record, and. though playfully pushing
the borders of his reputation, Walker
from school in a non-violent fashion,
there's Romeo and Juliet danced by the
ballet's principal ballerina Pamela I lest on
and Enckell, who also choreographed it.
"We're using the overture and other
parts of the Tchaikovsky score. The piece
will be 35 minutes long with seven men
and four women. I only used the main
characters, Romeo, Juliet, Capulet, Monta
gue, Paris, Tybalt. . so there will be no
crowds. I want to concentrate on the
drama of the star-crossed lovers and their
families," Enckell said.
Les Sylphides is the second offering on
the program. Enckell said it was choreo
graphed first by Michel Fokine and pre
sented by the Ballet Russe in 1908. Les
Sylphides is a ballet blanc done in white
flowing dresses to the soft music of
Chopin. As such, it is a remnant of 19th
century romanticism, but in its mirroring
of the music and lack of theme or story
line it shows a trend towards 20th-century
abstraction.
The "Pas de Trois" from Swan Lake is a
dance for three from the first act of one of
the most popular ballets of all time. The
dancers are a friend of the prince, who falls
in love with the Swan Queen, and two of
the Swan Queen's swan maidens. It is a
light piece done in classic tutus. It increases
in tempo and is designed to show the vir
tuosity of its dancers. This dance has been
set by international soloist HansMeister in
the tradition of its original choreographer
Petipa'.
The final piece, Maple Street Blues, was
choreographed by Thomas Enckell. It is a
blend of classical ballet and jazz.
Enckell says the Orpheum has 2,759
seats-a total of 5,400 for. two perfor
mances. Except for the Christmas Nut
cracker performances, the seats are never
filled, he said.
k v3
- I a n 1
b if A
v: m ' CV J .
I ji I A .r III
- (f
SJ.:
f -
I! f-
Jazz
jamboree
Photo courtesy of Jeffery Johnson
A local reggae group, J J. and the Reggae Calypso
Lafro with 'em All Stars (formerly JJ. and the
Lafro Reggae with 'em All Stars) will perform at
Gunny's pub, Thursday and Friday, April 4 and 5.
The group Traditional Jazz will play the first set
with Dixieland and New Orleans jazz, and then the
All Stars will take over.
Pictured is Jeffery Johnson, formerly of Tradi
image, there seems to be a difference. Even makes it work . turea IS Jteiy Johnson, tormerty of Tradi-
a hardened veteran like Waylon Jennings ' Continued on Page 9 tional Jazz and currently a member of the All Stars.
Honesty isn't best way to avoid spring breakdown
By Peg Sheldrick You must razzle-dazzle them with the kind of whimsi- 'Dance for us, O Princess of the Stars!' they cried. I was
cal nonsense usually reserved for essay tests and answering confused. I began to dance- slowly at first, then faster
questions in class, lne toliowing are just a tew sample
lines you might consider trying.
With the dawn of spring break glimmering on the hori
zon and half the campus crouched in a ready-set-go
position (the other half having gotten ready, gotten set,
and gone), it seems a good time to reflect on the pleasures
and pitfalls associated with this peculiarly student
holiday.
Spring break in the student mentality is a paradoxical
period, when one looks forward to partying down and
dreads catching up. The desire to shuffle off to Buffalo
(or Wisner or Van Nuys or Emerald) is somewhat dampen
ed by the memory of having said, "Yeah, I'll do it over
spring break" about every assignment since Christmas.
The resulting pile of dusty, unopened books and blank
reams of paper threatens to clutter if not inundate, the
semester's only real shot at a total escape from responsi
bility and deadlines.
So what's a student to do? If you opt for doing all the
postponed paperwork, spring break may prove the cause
of a spring breakdown. If, on the other hand, you choose
to throw caution to the wind and your books into a
corner, you face the necessity of explaining why the
assigned coursework is not completed. It's a thorny
problem.
Three solutions spring to mind. 1) Do the work and
bite the bullet (probably a rubber one to match the room
you'll end up in); 2) Have your fun and then throw your
self on the mercy of your instructors (but notify your
next of kin first); 3) Lie like a rug.
Surprisingly, many find option number three the only
way to go.
If you decide to indulge in mendacity to ensure your
academic survival, your prime directive must be this: be
creative. The old death-in-the-family routine isn't enough
these days. (Most instructors will ask to be taken to the
grave site, if not to see the body.)
humor
The Sympathy Apprbach: "Well, I woultf have gotten
my term paper in today, but I didn't remember the due
date. In fact, 1 didn't remember much of anything after
the train hit me . . . Who are you, anyway?"
The Political Approach: "1 planned to get it done over
break, really, but somehow between the Regents dinner
party and that wonderful picnic with Chuck Thone and all
those lunch dates with Uncle Ed Zorinsky , I just lost track
of time. I hope you don't mind. I mean, if you were angry
it would just throw my whole mood for my brunch with
the chancellor ..."
The Naive Approach: "Paper? What paper? You never
said a word about it. Nope, I would have remembered.
Those things are important to me. I wouldn't space off a
whole term paper. Don't give me that- if you had assign
ed it, don't you think I'd have it? Come on, April Fool's
was a week ago ..."
The Fantasy Island Approach: t4I had just started to
work on it when suddenly, from out of nowhere it seem
ed, a band of gypsies appeared and stole me. Really. They
threw me in their wagon with all my books and papers
and rolled away into the night. Imagine my surprise.
"We rattled into a clearing in a strange black forest.
They took me out of the wagon and handed me a tam
bourine. A fire was blazing in the center of the clearing.
ana taster until everything became a blur. That s the last
thing I remember. I awoke alone in the clearing this morn
ing, a ribbon in my hair and tea leaves on my breath.
Amid the ashes of the fire I found what was left of my
paper. Here, it's in this bag. I knew that you'd want it. . ."
The Heroic Approach: "Oh, I'm so sorry I don't have
it. I really am. I've been working on it really hard and I
had it all done this morning. Dam! If only it hadn't been
in my pocket when I jumped into the lake to save that
poor little orphan ..."
The Tragic Approach: "Well, I haven't done much with
it, to be honest. I guess that's pretty rotten of me. like a
lot of things I dor I'm just not a good student-not even a
worthwhile person. I probably dont deserve to live. How
high is this window, by the way?"
The Honest App.vach: "Urn . . . uh . . . urn . . . well
I it's ... I ... No ... I .. . didn't . . . haven't
. . . un . . . How much does the final count?"
As you might surmise, the Honest Approach is of re
commended. What is recommended is a long, leisurely rest to assist
your thought processes in preparing a truly worthwhile
excuse, a literary triumph of verbal fertilizer laced with
irresistible pathos that will get you off the scholastic
hook. If by chance this seems like too much trouble, you
might settle for actually doing the work.
But, like the Honest Approach, this course of action is
not recommended, since few follow it and it tends to
screw up bell curves. Remember that spring break may be
your only salvation. Remember Christmas vacation. Re
member the Maine. But above all, remember that a stu
dent saved is worth a spring break burned.