Page 10
Wednesday, December 8, 1982
Daily Nebraskan
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Lincoln bands up and coming
Area groups seeking exposure
By Mary Louise Knapp
A number of new bands have appeared on the Lincoln
scene during the past few months. Since many members
xf these groups are minors, their performances at local
bars have been few, but they have been active at parties
and concerts in the area.
Cartob Pupils, which recently appeared at the Drum
stick, consists of microphone player Steve Canney, 18,
Nightlife
Photo courtesy of Bill bored
Cartoon Pupils
a UNL student, drummer Bruce Stephen, 17; guitarist
Harry Dillman, 18; and bass player Karl Stephen, 19.
The group has been together for several months and
has performed at various places, including "Son of Or
deal," a summer concert featuring local bands, and some
private parties,
The group described its music as "Gothic dance,"
loud music largely-influenced by Joy Division.
The Cartoon Pupils' audience is mostly young, rang
ing from 12-year-olds to people in their early 20s, Can
ney said.
"When I grow up, I hope to be a rock star and have
13-year-old groupies by the time I'm 25," he added.
The Cartoon Pupils hope to put out a flexidisc re
cord in the near future.
Twisted Justice, consisting of drummer Shaun Theye,
16, "Screamer" Al Wilson on the voice box, Andy Stan
ley, 14, on lead guitar, and Matt Aldrup, 21, on bass,
has been playing for about four months.
Theye, who characterized the group's sound as
"moderately fast," said the band has played at several
private parties and hopes to appear at future concerts
in the area.
The group appeared in a "Young Rocker's Competi
tion" in Kearney Aug. 29 and placed third, winning a
$50 prize.
"Our name basically says what we think about
society," Theye said.
Reaction Faction, whose members are Steve Schleich,
19, on lead guitar; Dan Kelley, 21, on drums; Pat C,
20, vocals; Andy Davis, 19, vocals; and Liz Lang, 16,
on bass, has been together for two months and has played
at several parties.
All members are from the Lincoln area except Pat,
who came to Lincoln from Los Angeles several months
ago.
Kelley said the group has been influenced mostly by
T.S.O.L., a Los Angeles band, and 45 Grave.
The group's audience ranges from people in their
early teens to mid-20s, "with an occasional 12-year-old,"
Kelley said.
The band plans to stay in Lincoln this winter and
continue to increase its exposure.
Continued on Page 1 1
'Ballad': Piercing glimpses of a man called Lennon
THE BALLAD OF
j i ji it y l juL
t y
V,' i
k TfEJEDfTORS OF ROLLINH STONE
The Ballad of John and Yoko
Editors of Rolling Stone
DoubledayDolphin
John Lennon appeared as at ease with
himself as he had ever been. He was a
happy man and physically radiated the
peace, love and understanding he had
spent a lifetime crusading for.
He had kept musical silence for five
years, most of which he spent secluded
Book
Review
with his second wife and child in an
apartment overlooking New York City's
Central Park. He had finally returned to
the public eye and had a new album,
"Double Fantasy," which was as delicate
and beautiful as the orchid Yoko and he
had named it after.
He was happy, pleased that his wife
was at last sharing the acclaim he felt she
had so long deserved. The dream is over,'
he sang years earlier, and indeed, the world
was no closer to world harmony. Yet he
had found private grace in marital bliss
and fatherhood. -"v
Songs for a future album were on
finished tape and under his arm when, as
he returned from the studio two years
ago tonight, Mark David Chapman struck
a military stance and pumped six bullets
ifito Lennon 's chest and shoulder.
!. As he was raced to the emergency room
in the back of a police cruiser he was ,
asked if he was John "Lennon. "Yeah"
Was-4helast word-the legend ever breathed.'
Perhaps no murder was ever as sense
less and grotesquely ironic. That he al
ready had attained immortality through
his music softened none of the grief felt
worldwide. His lyrics "Give peace a chance"
were never more mphajlic than they were
on Dec. 8, 1980. There is no greater
tragedy than the loss of something unique.
Lennon 's greatest achievement, greater
than even his music and what it stood for,
was undoubtedly the Beatles. It has been
a long 25 years since the day in slummy
Liverpool he recruited Paul McCartney
and formed his first band. In that time,
the world has changed, or at least its
culture has been partly reshaped, by the
Beatles. The band was in a true sense
historic.
"The Ballad of John and Yoko" isn't
a book about the Beatles, however. It
isn't the story of John and Paul. It is
the ballad of John and Yoko. Yoko Ono
never instigated the band's breakup, as
gainsayers sometimes say, yet she did
mark the transition between John the
myth and John the man.
No one is better equipped to tell the
ballad of John and Yoko than the staff
of Rolling Stone magazine. No one more
doggedly chronicled the couple's career
of fame and folly than its various editors.
Their collective coverage could fill a book
and then some, and "The Ballad of John
and Yoko" is that book, minus the then
some and plus a few previously unpub
lished articles.
It is a privileged view. Rock 'n' roll's
most celebrated couple opened their door
and hearts to Rolling Stone almost ex
clusively, and Rolling Stone owes some
of its success to that honor.
The beginning of the Lennons' life
together coincided with the magazine's
inception as a neighborhood rag in San
Francisco. John was the cover of its de
but issue in 1967. The cover of its first
anniversary issue was the frontal nude
shot of the couple that had appeared on
"Two Virgins" and gotten the album
banned.
In 1971, Rolling Stone published "John
Lennon Remembers," a book-form trans
cription of the most telling interview ever
given by a Beatle. In 1972, the magazine's
co-founder Ralph J. Gleason entered the
front lines of John's fight against the
revoking of his passport.
. In 1980, .Rolling Stone coordinated
another feature on the Lennons. Most of
the last photos taken of them, such as the
Rolling Stone picture story and the covers
of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and
"The John Lennon Collection" shown
here, we.c taken by staff photographer
Annie Leibovitz in the Lennon's rooms
in the Dakotas on the day John was
killed.
These facts are- notfiingihat a Leiuwn-
follower doesn't already know. The same
may be said of the book. "The Ballad of
John and Yoko" isn't a rehashing of the
known. It is a reprinting of the known,
Rolling Stone's definitive articles, inter
views and photos, and, as such, is a for
midable document.
Because it is a compilation, there are
some redundancies, both within the book
and with the material readers might have
seen in the magazine. Regardless, it is
possibly the greatest book that will ever
be written on the subject.
The text proceeds chronologically. It
begins with sketches of the couple's
respective childhoods in Liverpool and
Tokyo, then skips to their marriage,
the bed-ins, bagism, Yoko's avant-garde
films, John's returning of the Queen's
medal, the failed Toronto Peace Festi
val and long immigration battle. It fol-'
lows John from his secretive five-year
separation from music and his VA year
separation from Yoko, to his return,
starting over and death. "The Ballad of
John and Yoko" ends with remembrances,
retrospectives and hindsights.
It would be hard to single out individual
articles without putting them in the con
text of the rest. There are 33 articles by
24 writers. The book includes objective
chronicling, intimate abstraction and lofty
criticism, all written very earnestly. That
"The Ballad of John and Yoko" can be
so overwhelmingly informative and yet
leaves so much enigma is a tribute to its
authors' rigor and its subject's unique
genius.
David Wood
'Double Fantasy' revisited
'i i
IV I
The John Lennon Collection
John Lennon
Geffen
John Lennon has been dead two years
today. Yet new anthologies of his music
Album
Review
still come out. But the Beatles have been
gone for 13 years now, and their antholo
gies still come out. It's hard to say when
it'll end. What you can say is the songs
always will be great - there's no alter
native. "The John Lennon Collection" isn't
a big deal in the world of posthumour
music. It's nothing like a posthumous
Jimi Hendrix or Joy Dividison collec
tion. All the music has been released
before and still is available. All that se
parates "The John Lennon Collection"
. from previous Lennon anthologies is. that
it includes cuts from John and Yoko's
last album, "Double Fantasy" - six
of them.
"The John Lennon Collectidn" is a
long 15 cuts' worth of Lennon's most
beautiful and memorable songs. The
tendency is somewhat toward ballads.
With this in mind, the preponderance of
"Double Fantasy" cuts is understandable,
and for people who never bought "Double
Fantasy," here's a chance to get Lennon's
best and none of Yoko Ono's B side,
though that's good, too.
But plus you get Lennon's greatest
peace anthems, "Give Peace a Chance"
and "Power to the People," the knock
out "Instant Karma!" and touching num
bers like "Imagine," "No. 9 Dream,"
"Mind Games" and "Jealous Guy," to
name a few.
Even though "Xmas is Here (War is
Over)" isn't included, it's the perfect
gift for the neophyte who only first took
interest in Lennon when he was shot.
Here is the music of our generation's most
admirable dreamer, aphorist and rock 'n'
roll singers. Here are the "Double Fantasy"
songs America and the world grieved to -"(Just
Like) Starting Over," -Woman,"
"I'm Losing You" and his last hit, among
his greatest, "Watching the Wheels."
People say I'm crazy doing what I'm
doing
Well they give me all kinds of warnings
to save me from ruin
When I ysay that Im OK they look
at me kind of strange
Surely you're not liappy now you no
longer play the game
People say I'm lazy dreaming my life
awav -
Well they give me all kinds of advice
designed to cnlightcji me .iC.z " :
i
. ... . ... - ,., . . . , . David Wood
