page 10
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, april 22, 1981
Waters and King span rural-urban blues base
By Casey McCabe
Muddy WatersKws BeeBlue Sky
Muddy is still doing the same thing he's
done for over 40 years. Perhaps it's just the
sheer power of experience that keeps his
music pumping through your system like
some staunch old locomotive chuggin'
through the backwoods of the Mississippi
Delta.
Muddy Waters is still the king of the
rural blues. King Bee is the assertion that
he is content pursuing his legacy for the
bottom-line basics. Let these new kids get
wild with their interpretations, because
Muddy will always be there if somebody
needs to be reminded of the foundation
blues is laid upon.
Since there is nothing particularly sur
prising about Waters' approach to a genre
he has commanded for years, the highlight
of each new album is the fine production,
again under the guiding hand of Johnny
Winter. Much of the delta blues connois
seur's library contains recordings that are
as primitive as they are authentic.
To hear delta blues pioneer Robert
Johnson's depression-era recordings give
the music a sense of brutal reality. But in
1981 it's still good to hear a well-mixed,
audiophile-quality record by a man like
Muddy Waters who knows tradition
doesn't have to be a compromising word.
Back together on King Bee is his most
stable crew of studio musicians in recent
years, including Bob Margolin on guitar,
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith on drums, and the
classic sound of "Pine Top" Perkins on
piano. Making a brief appearance on "(My
B.B. King and Muddy Waters continue to be the most influential figures in blues
music with the release of new albums.
Eyes) Keep Me In Trouble" is old sideman
James Cotton on harmonica. Elsewhere,
Jerry Portnoy is capable with the slower,
more deliberate, style of gut-bucket harp
that this particular batch of Muddy
(McKinley Morganfield) Waters' songs call
for.
Happy singin' the blues
Muddy's slide guitar work is mixed fair
ly low in the recording as the younger guys
handle the more difficult chops. But
Water's voice is as dominant as ever, grind
ing, growling and unmistakable. Stand outs
on King Bee are the title track, "Mean Old
Frisco Blues," "Champagne and Reefer"
and his fitting conclusion "No Escape
From The Blues."
Muddy appears on the cover seated at
a throne, and on the inner sleeve posed
with his smiling family. An influential man
who still loves his music, Muddy Waters
apparently wants us to see that one can in
deed be happy while singing the blues.
B.B. KingfTliere Must Be A Better World
SomewhereMCA
Like Muddy Waters, B.B. King is a pro
duct of the Mississippi Delta. But King's
approach leans to the more svelte sound of
the urban blues.
There Must Be A Better World Some
where is the latest of God-knows-how-many
albums by the ever prolific King.
Now in his mid-fifties, B.B. can still pick an
incredibly crisp blues guitar, and his vocals
are both smooth and emotive. The only
factor not to King's credit is the actual
songwriting chores, to which he contri
butes nothing. This time the composition
was put in the hands of Doc Pomus and Dr.
John.
Urban soul
The good doctors let B.B. weave his
transcendental riffs through a merger of
styles that never let him stray too far from
a blues base. On "Life Ain't Nothing But A
Party" they show a fondness for the post
World War II "ballroom band" horn
section, to which King occasionally inter
rupts and lets his guitar do the talking.
"Born Again Human" takes a few steps
into jazz, while "You're Going With Me"
does the same for King's soul tendencies.
The only other composer on the album,
rhythm guitarist Hugh McCracken, offers
"More, More, More," a driving gospel
influenced piece that would be absolutely
stunning carried off live by King, who al
ways seems to respond best in front of an
audience.
Never one to ignore his strong suit, King
lays into the doctors' highly dynamic 'The
Victim" with all the embellishment of the
blues master that he is. King's approach is
more spiritual than the earthy feel of other
blues contemporaries. There will be no
complaints as long as the spirit moves him
and he keeps Lucille in tune.
Local writers read works at Zoo Bar tonight
By Michael Zangari
Along 'bout 11 p.m. on any given drinking night,
everyone seems to be a poet at the Zoo Bar. Between the
graffiti and the lubricated conversation, many space-age
gems have passed through the smoke and etched them
selves indelibly on someone or something. Ask the saintly
bartenders. The news then, that four established area
writers will be reading from the stage instead of the floor
tonight seems to be a logical extension of something that
Zoo dwellers have known all along.
The writers, Warren Fine, Ted Kooser, Sally Herrin and
Judith Sornberger, along with musical interludes by John
Walker, will be reading from their works in an informal
setting starting at 9 p.m.
Fine and Kooser, of course, are nationally respected
writers. Of Fine's four novels, (one in the mail), the last
two have been nominated for National Book Awards. He
has a play running in an experimental theater in Chicago,
has held fellowships in the National Endowments for the
Arts twice, and is working on a volume of poetry called
Catulus in America. Kooser also has held a fellowship in
the National Endowments for the Arts, and is the editor
and publisher of the Blue Hotel, a literary magazine. He
has four volumes of poetry out, three smaller volumes and
several chap books. He also owns and operates the Wind
flower press.
The two women, both former Vreeland Award
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winners, also have many credits. Both are represented in
the upcoming collection 40 Nebraska Poets, and Sorn
berger has upcoming poems in Kaylx and The Kansas
Quarterly. Herrin's work has appeared in Prafrie Schooner
and she currently is working on several novels, The Queen
of the Blue Bar, the one most often heard about.
The four writers work in widely diverse styles and will
read a variety of material. Fine is co-producing the read
ing with Larry Boehmer, owner of the Zoo Bar. Boehmer
says he has been open to the arts, and is anxious to see the
response.
"Besides," he said, "Warren, Sally and Judith are resi
dents of the Zoo, and I know Ted it'll be interesting to
see them reading in a small, funky bar."
The atmosphere doesn't seem to be an issue. Fine indi
cates that it won't exactly "be a reading in the coffee
lounge of the English department," and is making suitable
adjustments, thinking about reading some comic prose
and maybe some poetry.
Sornberger said the Zoo might be the best atmosphere
for the reading because "there will be no sense of false
reverence about the reading." Both Kooser and Herrin
agree that it will be somewhere between interesting and
fun.
The Zoo itself won't go through any radical changes
for the reading. There will be a $1. cover to help pay
Walker and various costs, but other than that it will be
business as usual. The Zoo is at 136 N. 14th St.
Ensemble to feature
keyboard selections
Photo by Mark Billinqsley
UNL English professor Warren Fine is co-producing tonight's poetry reading at the Zoo Bar.
The UNL Collegium
Musicum, an ensemble de
voted to performing music
written before 1650, will
present a free concert at 8
p.m. Sunday at the Wesley
House, 640 N. 16th St.
The music to be perform
ed is entirely from France,
and will feature the Notre
Dame Mass by Guillaume de
Machaut, perhaps the great
est composer of the 14th
century, according to
Quentin Faulkner, an associ
ate professor of organ.
Other works to be per
formed are taken from the
publications, of Pierri,
Attaingnant, a French music
publisher active during the
first half of the 16th
century. These works in
clude keyboard pieces for
organ, harpsichord and
clavichord, songs arranged
for various combinations of
singers and instruments and
lute pieces.
Also featured will be two
sets of dances, performed
by students from the UNL
dance department, dressed
in costumes of the period.