Page 8 daiy nebraskan thursday, november 6, 1980
Fun, nonfunctional items help Tootlights' flourish
By Penelope M. Smith
If you wander into the Lincoln or Old Market branch
of Footlights, you're immediately struck by a sense of
transplanted exotica with a hint of New York glitter.
Ceramic hands like a scene from a Cocteau movie
beckon from the walls. There really isn't a functional or
dinary item in the shop.
Greg Lindberg is the man responsible for the creation
of Footlights card and gift shops in Nebraska. The stores
are so called because of the theatrical theme of the shops'
ceramics and their dramatic lighting.
Lindberg "wandered" into the icba of Footlights
through a job selling ads at IJNL for five years.
"I went to UNL for several years with the usual list
of journalism and business classes, but I learned a lot more
selling ads," he said.
"I finally stopped selling ads because I really didn't like
a lot of the businesses I was making money for and I was
disgusted making money for other people," he explained.
But Lindberg's ad days came in handy for him, he said,
because he was exposed to many of the "pretty out
rageous" retail items that he would later use in his shops.
When Lindberg stopped selling ads he really didn't have
a clear idea of what he wanted to do.
"I spent a year or two bumming around and as a
painting contractor; it was important to my business that
I quit running around at a job. I painted to pay for vaca
tions to New York, Dallas and L.A."
Ideas crystallize
In New York and Los Angeles Lindberg came across
several stores, such as Fiorucci's, that helped him crystal
lize ideas for his own shop.
"It has my own particular stamp but I like to see Foot
lights as a Fiorucci's without the $5 million budget,"
Lindberg said. "Fiorucci's in L.A. and New York is the
ultimate card and gift shop in the U.S. They use top
designers and are crazy with a capital K."
Lindberg said it has been expensive to import tilings foi
his snop because many of them are unusual.
"There are a lot of decadent things in the shop, for in
stance, some skin with whips. We see ourselves as a little
more rough, a little less cute. I have a lot of cute things
but decadence is the other side of the coin and it's real
nice too," he said.
"I'm really big on things that are fun and not really
functional. We're not waiting for the next depression
our store reflects this by selling art deco, punk, avant
garde. We sell the whole idea of having a good time in a
very non-traditional manner to provide people with a very,
different alternative to Hallmark or the jewelry store
at Christmas," Lindberg said.
Many people who have a stereotypical image of Ne
braskans arc surprised that stores like Footlights arc
surviving.
"In the beginning I was scared that the vice squad was
going to shut me down, but too many people liked the
cards," Lindberg said.
Open attitudes
According to Lindberg, competitors even have entered
his shops with notebooks to list items so they could
find them to sell in their own stores. In addition, the
clientele, consisting equally of men and women, never
ceases to surprise him with their variety and open atti
tudes. "Sophistication is here, appreciation is here. Sophisti
cation to me is an open-mindedness to something totally
new and a background of understanding for the things
I sell. People who don't have it would see no reason for
my existence. I was hesitant but people have proven to
me that they can support these things," Lindberg said.
"I had thought that I would get complaints on a daily
basis; there have obviously been little old ladies who
wandered into the wrong store, but it's really surprising,"
he said. "Some people come in and say. This is sick!' and
then the next day they'll come in without ihoir frin.ic
and buy me out of cards. There's really a much wider
cross-section than I thought there would be."
In spite of the open-mindedness there are some people
who just don't fit into Lindberg's shops and he under
stands their discomfort.
"The shop is just not for super-straight or traditional
people," he said.
Another thing that surprises Lindberg is that he has
had no complaints from outraged feminists.
Not sexist
"We're not sexist; naked men and naked women run
pretty 5050 on our cards. We've had absolutely zero
problems with feminists, in fact, some have come in and
bought boxes of cards with naked men by the dozen. I'm
not selling Penthouse here; it doesn't fit into my store.
We have some sexist cards but there are also cards like
the one entitled "Marilyn" where the guy is laid out like
a centerfold of Marilyn Monroe," he said.
Lindberg thinks footlights provides a useful function
beyond being fun or decorative.
"What I find really interesting is that I provide an out
let for a lot of people who don't know how to express
themselves," he said. "For instance, if they had a really
good time last night or 'gee you were great in bed,' it's
a real thing but people don't talk about it. I was lucky.
I had parents who were real open but for a lot of the shy
people a card is really right for them; it helps them
communicate."
If lie could, Lindberg said, he would like to expand his
shops into other areas.
"I'd like to get into clothing, carry some punk, things
like really bizarre Danskins with zebra stripes and polka
dots. Also, I'd like to get into some of the nice different
porclain products from different countries by designer
names," he said.
Lindberg would like his customers not to stereotype
his stores or his clientele.
"I want their minds to be like a chalk board so I can
write "Footlights" across it but 1 don't want them to walk
in and see soft porn. There might be a lot of skin, but
there are cards from the Museum of Modern Art, too, and
some people buy both," Lindberg said.
Flood of disillusion runs high in new Bowie album
By Casey McCabe
Scary Monsters is, by David Bowie's
own admission, "a 1980 nursery rhyme."
This, he says, is a return to the 1880's nur
sery rhyme where little boys were getting
their ears cut off and the like. In other
words, the "Sesame Street" ideal was that
being pushed in the 70's has given way to
a flood of disillusionment.
It is engaging, too, because 10 years ago
Bowie was a mondo-bizarro, British glitter
rock star, an asexual space creature the
likes of which had never been wrought up
on the unsuspecting masses. Now he is a
recognized superstar who was somehow
able to share a stage with the late Bing
Crosby. Yet Bowie has never sold out, and
with this latest effort it becomes increas
ingly apparent that he has learned much
from "being ahead of his time."
On "Ashes to Ashes" he resurrects
Major Tom from his early hit "Space Od
dity" to find what the astronaut in limbo
would be like 10 years later. Well, we find
that Major Tom's a junkie, "strung out in
heaven's high, hitting an all time low."
Realizing that the technology involved
to launch him into space was merely to
bolster the ego of others, the disillusioned
Major Tom wants deperately to come
back down to earth and crawl off into a
womb somewhere, a theme Bowie uses
frequently as some unattainable goal in
today's social environment.
"There 's a brand new dance
But I don 't know its name
That people from bad homes
Do again and again
It 's big and it 's bland
Full of tension and fear
They do it over there
Bu t we don 7 do it here ' '
from "Fashion"
Bowie's "Fashion points out tnai ur
wellian social ethic, thought so quaintly
avant-garde when Bowie was first knocking
at the door in the early 70's has now crept
slowly into reality. And the voice that is
telling us all this has gained as amazing
amount of credibility.
Bowie's inspiration for the song he ex
plains as coming from early experiences
with discos in the U.S. Where he once saw
spontaneity, Bowie now observes "an in
sideous, grim determination to be fashion
able." People clawing the racks for designer
jeans, drinking Perrier, and waiting in line
to be seen in "the right places" thus re
remains a mass. In Bowie's realistic percep
tion, when everyone seeks to be different,
no one is different.
'Technicality it is not unemotional,"
said Bowie, citing his obvious interests in
Orwell's 954prophecies. Scary Monsters
does have its emotions, though they are
typically held under control, as Bowie puts
his vocal delivery on automatic pilot. But
closely scrutinized either on record or on
the lyric sheet, Bowie's intelligently laid
poetry has inescapable clout.
Musically captivating as well, Bowie in
dulges the use once again of Robert Fripp
on guitar, with appearances by Roy Brit
tan, a pianist on loan from Bruce Spring
steen's E Street Band, and Pete Town
shend on guitar for "Because You're
Young."
The musical moods run from haunting
paranoia on "Scary Monsters (and Super
Creeps)" to some straight old British pop
rock ("Kingdom Come") and a nice melod
ic buildup for "Teenage Wildlife."
Bowie's ability to keep one step ahead
of himself has always confused the critics.
With his soulful, nightclub voice he could
compete with Johnny Mathis, and with his
insight and creative twist, he could blow
away most of his New Wave counterparts.
Yet on Scary Monsters we find an enig
matic creature, a rocker at heart, but con
vincingly smarter than the rest of the pack.
Continued on Page 9
WW
fall
David Bowk