fathom
page 7
Musician's big break came
aid of diploma
friday, april 25, 1980
without
the
By Bill Graf
Six years ago Bobby Marlette gave up
his quest at Linc61n Southeast High for a
high school diploma it didn't, seem like a
valuable prerequisite to becoming a rock
star.
Many thought it was a foolish move.
However, Marlette will have the last laugh
in a couple months.
Marlette's piano will be heard on Al
Stewart's latest album scheduled for re
lease this summer.
In the rock n' roll world, he explained,
"It isn't important if you graduated from
high school. What is important is how well
you play."
Marlette, 24, said the time spend wait
ing for the big break was "scary."
Getting ready and searching for a way
to break into the big money rock scene
'takes up everything. But if you're good,
pack your bags and go for it.
"You have to know deep down that
you're good enough to compete," he
stressed.
Much of his goal was a dream, he
said
"But part of the dream has to be reality
to give you the drive to make it." he
asserted.
"Many people will tell you that you're
great. But you have to ask yourself what
qualifies that person.
"I'm not the best by any means. But
I'm good and I've got the guts to take the
tools and create," he said in a telephone
interview from his Beverly Hills, Calif,
apartment.
Some of Marlette's comments may
sound slightly egotistical.
Bui he explained that in order to
succeed in his chosen field one must have
"a certain amount of ego."
Chances to play for a nationally known
band don't happen every day, he said.
"You have to have the ability to make it
happen and also have enough faith in your
self to pull it off.
"If you don't have faith in yourself the
band leader is going to ask himself: Why
should I listen to him if he doesn't want to
listen to himself?"
Marlette explained that there is a lot of
politics involved in getting the big break.
But once a musician gets a major audition
only talent will see him through.
Marlette said that his audition with
Stewart's band came about as a result of
knowing several people at Village Record
ers in Los Angeles.
Village Recorders is the studio where
Stewart's new album was recorded. Other
bands that record albums at Village
Recorders are Pocp,. Steely Dan, Super
tramp and Fleetwood Mac, he said.
Also Marlette's girl friend, Andrea Dial,
a real estate salesperson, sold Al Stewart
his Belair, Calif, home, which he said,
certainly didn't hurt.
Marlette said he isn't sure what his role
with the Stewart band will be after the
album is released.
Hie album which is now being mixed
"is going to be wonderful," according to
Marlette. But rather than join the band
full-time, Marlette is working on a solo
career.
1 don't know how involved IU become
with the Stewart band. It's a good project
but I really like the freedom to do what I
want."
He added that sticking with the band
involved a "heavy contract."
Currently Marlette is working on a solo
demonstration recording, which he hopes
will lead to a nationally circulated solo
album.
Helping him with the solo demo is Steve
Chapman of Poco and John Helliwell of
Super tramp.
Some of his solo works so far include an
intro theme for NBC radio as well as other
radio jingles played in the Los Angeles
area, he said. '
"111 be asked to write a 30 -second intro
without knowing where it ends up. Later
111 be listening to the radio and hear the
theme and think: Oh that's where it went."
About his own compositions, he said,
"It's going toward a more pop-rock sound
that's commercially accessible. It's not
patronizing stuff.
"I'm taking what I see as the best points
of commercial music, putting art back into
it but still making it financially successful
for myself and the record company," he
explained.
"It's formula music applied to decent
music."
Marlette described formula music as
tunes that are "so catchy that they grab
you by the throat."
Besides working on his keyboard skills,
Marlette said he is working on his voice
for the first time in his music career be
cause "the one that sings is the one that
gets all the women," he said jokingly.
Marlette declined to say how much
money a rock star makes.
He added, "You'd be surprised how
much money some bands don't make."
On the other hand, as far as salaries
are concerned, he said, "The sky's the
limit.
The music business is a multi
million dollar industry. Some of the
money has to go to the musicians,"
he added.
During his less financially successful
days in Lincoln, Marlette played organ
and electric piano for Oedipus Rock Band
and on the Boys' first single as well as
working as a "salesman and fixer upper"
for Dietz Music House.
Other bands he has worked with
include Detective, Shatter Star and
Matthew.
Of the albums released by established
bands Marlette said he enjoys Kenny
Loggins latest release as well as any album
featuring Steely Dan or Michael McDonald
of the Doobie Brothers.
However, he added that he listens to
everything he "can get his little hands on"
because it's important to know what is
being done in the music industry.
Is there life after graduation? Seaton Hall knows
By Patti Gallagher
Floyd is an undeclared senior. He's
taken a barrage of varied classes from one
end of the campus to the other. He's got
seven minors, but still cannot decide what
he wants to devote his life to. Floyd is be
gining to wonder, "Is there life after
graduation?"
Some may suggest Floyd had better
hurry and get his act together. Two cam
pus agencies and a Lincoln career counselor
may be able to help him narrow his field
and choose an appropriate career.
Daydreams play a very
important part in career
planning. They are a key to
where a person's interests lie
The UNLTounseling Center in Seaton
Hall offers career information with over
200 different listings, according to
counselor Katharine Brzezinski-Stein.
From anthropology to social work to
mechanical enginering, the center holds
an updated file of job specifics.
Brzezinski-Stein, who holds a master's
in psychology and has been at UNL since
1975, said the specifics include what a field
involves, essential training, geographical in
formation, hiring trends, salary estimates,
competition, working conditions and ad
vancement opportunities.
Along with the library of files, the
counseling center offers one-on-one coun
seling and also issues interest tests.
"The interest inventories are designed to
match up 'a person's individual interest
with the interest of various professionals
in the field," she said. The results are not
to be taken as gospel, she said, but are
used to identify a general field.
Also available at the center is the
Occupational Outlook Handbook, com
piled by the Federal Bureau of Labor of
Statistics. The information available is
similar to the library files, but Brzezinski
Stein agreed that some file material
attempts to "sell a career," and that the
federal government information is
completely objective, because the "govern
ment doesn't care whether you're a photo
grapher or a stone mason ."
Brzezinski-Stein said that in the past
five years there has been a definite trend
away from the liberal arts.
"People are a lot more, pragmatic in
their selection of a career," she said.
Students are tending to make practical
choices and decisions rather than to nur
ture the 'ideal career image."
"Daydreams, however, play a very
important part in career planning. They are
a key to where a person's interests lie,"
according to Brzezinski-Stein.
She said the counseling center asks
people 'If you can't do your daydream
career, how could aspects (of it) be
satisfied?"
The Seaton Hall counseling center
published a booklet in the fall of 1978 en
titled "Is There Life After Graduation?"
which Brzezinski-Stein said lists entry Jevcl
occupations corresponding to degrees avail
able at UNL She said the listings were
compiled by actual jobs attained by UNL
graduates.
She said the center also tries to connect
professionals and persons with an interest
in their field to provide a personal aspect
of a career.
Brzezinski-Stein said that the center
offers personal as well as career counseling,
the clientele befng about split down the
middle.
Karen Sachtleben, who teaches a career
planning course at Southeast Community
College, agrees that the role of a career
counselor is to make information available
to interested persons.
Sachtleben said that there is a miscon
ception about the purpose of career plan
ning. "Many people come in expecting some
one or some test to telr them their career,"
she said. "Career planning is gathering
information so that they can make the
decisions."
A person must first evaluate his wants,
needs, values and abilities, Sachtleben said,
which are usually reflected in their
interests. Her class, offered to the general
public through the college's continuing
education division, works with a series of
readings, exercises, and discussions to
I
) S
Katharine Brzezinski-Stein
narrow career decisions.
She said her students tend to be moti
vated and organized persons who want to
make educated decisions about their
careers. Very few are the 'at-their-wits-end'
variety, she said.
If a student were to enter the career
planning class with rose-colored glasses,
"the class forces them to challenge the
superficial" to determine exactly what a
specific career entails," Sachtleben said.
Her advice to college students un
certain about a career route is to get
experience, perhaps through volunteer or
part-time work, and to get relevant infor
mation about what the career involves.
She said Southeast Community College
also offers a career information library
open to the general public.
When an area of interest is narrowed to
name a career the UNL Career Planning
and Placement Center in the Nebraska
Union can take over.
According to director Frank Hallgren,
the center can aid students on how to
make their skills marketable, with
resume and interview preparations, as well
as library with complete files on between
600 to 700 companies.
The library, 225 Nebraska Union,
contains all information on employees,
careers, programs of graduate study, and is
open to all students.
The center also holds many on-campus
interviews in their 18-room office, with
major companies representatives coming
to UNL for job recruitment, Hallgren said.
He recommends that students put their
names and resumes on file in the placement
center adding that interview dates are post
ed around campus and at the center.
Applicants then sign up for a specific
job interview at least two days prior to the
company representatives visit.