page 10
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, September 23, 1931
Promoter apologizes for blues concert problems
By Casey McCabe
Problems with last week's Great Plains Blues Festival
have gone beyond the concert's poor financial showing.
According to Martin Wood, University Program Council
program coordinator, a series of misunderstandings with
promoter Keith Wagner have necessitated cancelling a
Nov. 4 campus appearance by George Thorogood.
Wood says he belives Wagner unfairly used UPC for
the blues festival, citing a high ticket price that discour
aged attendance, some unprofessional conduct and Wag
ner's videotaping of the concert, which was not stipulated
in the contract. Wagner was also to be the promoter for
Thorogood's show in the Nebraska Union Centennial
Room.
"The whole videotape thing was never agreed upon,"
said Wood. "People ended up having cameras in their
faces, and the delay in starting the show (nearly an hour
and a half) was due to their video problems."
"UPC's only goal was to put on a concert, but the pro
moter was more into the videotaping."
Wood also pointed out that ticket sales had been bad
all week and UPC had tried to get Wagner to cancel the
show.
"He wanted to do the show anyway, but we didn't re
alize his motive," said Wood. "It was a financial disaster
so his only possible gain was in putting together a video
tape to sell in Europe."
UPC refunded around 30 tickets the night of the show,
and Wood says he is still getting calls from disgruntled
people who want their money back.
"The bottom line was that UPC came out looking bad,"
explained Wood. "Based on what they saw, the concert
committee told him (Wagner) they couldn't trust him. As
of now there will be no George Thorogood because UPC
has denied the promoter sponsorship of the show."
Wagner, reached for comment in Omaha, said a letter
was on the way to the Daily Nebraskan that he hopes will
serve as an apology fcr the inconveniences caused by the
handling of the blues festival. He said he regrets that the
incident would have such a bearing on future shows.
"I understand their (UPC's) concern because I was the
committee chairman for two years myself," he said.
"They were frustrated and I would have felt the same
way."
But Wangner thinks the success of his past promotions,
including the Muddy Waters appearance at last year's
blues festival, should be taken into account as well.
"Mike Kappus of Rosebud in San Francisco (the book
ing agency that handles Thorogood) told meif he had to
stop business- with every promoter who started late, he
wouldn't have any shows," said Wagner. "This is not the
first show I've done with the university, but it's the first
one that's run late."
Wagner said the delay in the show's starting time was
not due to videotape problems, but in getting the sound
system "100 percent effective."
According to Wood, Wagner was very apologetic after
the show and admitted he had "taken" UPC on the deal.
Wood said UPCs dilemma was that it had no assurance
something similar wouldn't happen again.
"UPC wants to do Thorogood very badly," said Wood.
"But not with Wagner."
"It was a terrible decision to make, because Fm a big
George Thorogood fan " said Steve Arkfield, UPC-City
president, "but it had to be done. Because we have a re
sponsibility to our audience, we couldn't allow another
problem like the blues festival.
"It's ethics, it's our professionalism, it's the message
we have to send to other promoters," said Arkfield. "We
need it for our reputation and our ability to work with
other people. I hope somewhere down the line we will be
able to promote a lot more shows."
Wood cited that UPC was able to get the Dan Fogel
berg concert because the promoter was impressed with
how they handled last year's Linda Ronstadt show.
"I think UPC has done a good thing in taking their
stand," said Wood.
According to Wagner, Thorogood's Nebraska appear
ance will be moved to Omaha Music Hall on the same date.
He will still serve as promoter for the show.
"It's too bad because it hurts the students," said Wag
ner. "It would have been more intimate in Lincoln and it
would have been a new market for George. I like to give
students an advantage.
"I learned a good lesson at the blues festival, and I do
understand their (UPC's) position," Wagner said, "but I
don't think that they should preclude future concerts."
Zorro parody wastes shiny cast on dull blade
By Chuck Lieurance
To say that Medas' Zorro, the Gay Blade contains some
of the most exhausted humor to be used on film since Oz
zie and Harriet is a severe understatement.
The entire film comes off as an overly extended (90
minute) Carol Burnett skit, becoming a painfully baseless
parody by the last half hour. As a short television sketch,
all of this hamming, over-gesticulation and plot contriv
ance might have come across as funny, but as a film it is
simply the atrocious abuse of talent by a troupe of fine
performers.
George Hamilton as Zorro and as Zorro's offensively
effeminate brother (thus, the gay blade. Do I hear laugh
ter?) seems to enjoy his pathetic, unresourceful perform
ance far more than an audience ever could. All of his lines,
and the lines of the other characters seem stolen out of a
pile of Mel Brooks' script outtakes. Hamilton, who was
disarmingly funny in Love at First Bite is just a bad car
toon character here.
Lauren Hutton, as the revolutionary woman of means
who has come to help the peasants and fall at George
Hamilton's feet, misuses her talents to the fullest extent
of creative masochism. She has proven before (in Ameri
can Gigolo, for instance) that she can create a character
as complex as Lauren Bacall in her prime, but in Zorro
she is reduced to reciting generic litanies that hever add
to the already sparse satire.
The only endearing character in the cast is the indomi
table Ron Leibman (Slaughterhouse Five and Norma Rae.)
who has graced the most discouraging of films with his
remarkably unique features and vocal inflections. Leib
man even gives some credibility to Hamilton's perform
ance when they appear together, but normally he seems
to be the only one trying to please the audience and not
just amuse himself.
Parody is a difficult kind of film to pull off success
fully. The subject must be well chosen and take itself seri
ously enough to warrant trie satire. The subject matter in
Zorro is not nearly saturated enough in the American cul
tural mainstream to warrant such a slapdash treatment or,
for that matter, any treatment at all.
This parody goes off on tangents that have no basis in
the subject being satirized: the homosexual brother, the
obnoxious but wretchedly unfunny Brenda Vaccaro as
the wife of the tyrannical president (Liebman), and an un
explained relationship between Zorro's father deposed by
Liebman and the old Zorro.
These elements are just useless baggage in the movie,
attempting to give substance but merely detracting from
things that might have been mildly humorous.
Needless to say, the subjects for good parodies are
somewhat limited and there are few who are doing lam
poons with any success. Zorro is the product of minds
not capable of finding the humor in the original material.
It is just the weak vehicle for a strained script of intoler
ably tired jokes. Thank God for Mel Brooks and the three
great minds responsible tot Airplane. They have new ener
gy and an ingenious eye for all that is ludicrous and banal.
Zorro, the Gay Blade is as ludicrous and banal as the origi
nal material it was intending to parody.
jppr? I
W i k In i 7 W fi im
Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century-Fox and
,, . .. , , , Melvin Simon Productions
George Hamilton stars in the title role of Zorro, the Gay Blade.
entertainment notes
The Joyo Repertory Company at 6102 Havelock Ave
nue will be holding individual interviews for possible up
coming productions. The scheduled time for the inter
views is Saturday, Sept. 26, at 1 1 :30 a.m. If you have any
questions call 466-2441 and someone will return your in
quiry as soon as possible.
Tickets for the 1981-82 Foreign Film Series are cur
rently on sale in the North Lobby, in room 200 of the Ne
braska Union, 14th and R. streets, or at the door of the
first film event. Series tickets are $12 for UNL students
and $15 for the general public All screenings will be held
at the Sheldon Film Theatre, Sheldon Memorial Art Gal
lery, 12th and R streets, on Sundays at 3, 7 and 9 p.m.
and on Mondays at 7 & 9 p.m.
The wheels of progress churn round and round this Sun
day and Monday, Sept. 27 and 28, as Charlie Chaplin gets
caught up in Modern Times, feature film at 7:30 p.m.
each night in the KZUM Classic Film Series. Screenings
are at the Joyo Theater, 6102 Havelock Ave. Admission is
$2 for the general public, $1.25 for KZUM members.
Thirty-third Street Sessions, a locally produced contem
porary music series featuring Nebraska groups, returns
with five new concerts for public television viewers begin
ning Friday, Oct. 2, at 9:30 pjn. on the statewide Nebras
ka Educational Television Network. The programs are re
peated on Saturdays at 4:30 pjn. .
Opening the new series of concerts is an Omaha-based
rock 'n roll band, The River City All-Stars, performing a
number of original songs, as well as Top 40 selections. In
cluded in the 30-minute program-which was taped before
a live audience in the Nebraska ETV Network studios are
"You Really Got Me" and "Domino." Also performed are
original pieces "Blue Suede Rock V Roll Shoes," "He
Never Called Her," "Stringin Me On" and "Havanna
Anna."
The five-piece rock group features Rich Walter, drums
and vocals; Doug Fackler, guitar and vocals; Tom Jack,
keyboards and vocals; Bucky McCann, reeds, piano and
vocals; and Brian Sampson, bass.
Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All
The King's Men is the basis for Carlisle Floyd's new mu
sical drama, Willie Stark, which marks the fall premier of
Great Performances, Monday, Sept. 28, at 8 p.m. over the
statewide Nebraska Educational Television Network.
Willie Stark is the story of a small-time politician who
rises from a humble background to become governor of a
state in the deep South. He is the grassroots champion of
the working class, but behind his "country boy" image
Willi Stark is also a shrewd politician, willing to stretch
the law whenever he feels constricted by its boundaries.
Willie Stark is telecast with closed captions for hearing
impaired viewers.
