12
Thursday, April 7, 1983
Daily Nebraskan
Arts &
Entertainment '
Lack of ejroemeinice doesm't Mendeii' UNL sospel chow
By Ward W. Triplet t III
The Gospel Extravaganza, a traditional part of the
annual Big Eight Conference on Black Student Govern
ment, has always included the 60-plus member Oklahoma
choir, and the flashy, energetic Iowa State choir, also
about 60 members strong. But before those two esta
blished choirs performed Feb. 18, the members of the
UNL Gospel Choir took the stage for the first time in
any conference.
Through four songs, the. choir looked like a polished
product, and by most accounts sounded even better.
"We did have people from the other schools who
thought we had been together a long time," Donna
Reed, the choir's co-founder, said. "But it was really our
first performance."
Reed spoke after the regular Wednesday night choir
rehearsal at Commonplace. Behind her, William Tate,
a sophomore from Omaha, Jackie Dixon, a freshman from
Omaha and Teresa Webb, a sophomore from New York,
continue playing and singing. Tate, the choir's pianist
from its beginning last April, plays songs ranging from
traditional black spirituals to Walter Hawkins' modern
gospel. Only eight choir members had showed up for the
actual rehearsal, but Reed understood why.
V'--. A -t- l it
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Staff photo by Dave Bentz
UNL Gospel Choir .
"As a beginning choir, it's hard to establish consist
ency," Reed said. "The Big Eight conference helped,
because people could see a goal. We wanted to be. ready
for that program.
"After all that, 1 think people felt we didn't have
anything else to do, and stopped taking the time to
come out," she said. "People still ask about it, so they
haven't totally forgot it. They just put it lower on their
priority list."
The choir did have another concert, though, two weeks
ago at Norwood elementary school. Only 10 members
turned out for that, and the lack of participants at recent
rehearsals forced Reed to reconsider programs scheduled
for this month. Currently, Reed said the choir plans to
sing next at a musical given by the Mt. Zion Baptist
Church on the 23rd, and possibly at the University
Program Council's honors night if invited.
"We need more exposure," Reed said. "For this next
year, we're going to have to develop a calender of things
we want to do, and possibly apply for a grant so we can
afford to have John (Tatum, the musical director at
Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Omaha and the choir's
director) come down every week. For him to do it now,
it eats into his own money."
Continued on Page 14
in fi n n n?n
Intow m mraste a bad umrsft omra
;g'D(M
Last week: In the privacy of the men 's room at The
Drumstick, Mustafbena Miztaykh revealed to me that hq
is the GQ Guy, the slippery ladykiller of Diane Pember
ton 's dreams. He talked some foggy talk about how he
wanted to meet Pemberton, but he knew that the only
way to keep her interested was to make her forget about
the GQ Guy. I didn't understand, but I played along. He
- 1 1 -.
P' i' Pat
M 1 Clark 1
wanted me to teach him how to present a bad image to
Pemberton. That part I understood.
Once you start marching in the Parade of Fools, you
owe it to the other fools to stay in step. "You want to
come across as plain old Mustafbena Miztaykh instead of
as the GQ Guy, right?"
'That's a good way to put it, 1 suppose."
"So you want me to help you make a bad first impress
ion, so Pemberton won't think of you as the GQ Guy."
"That's it!" he said, rattling the handcuffs for
emphasis. "You tell me what to do."
I looked him over to the extent that I could, which
wasn't much considering the handcuffs, I could tell right
away he was the kind of a guy who could dissolve into a
background whenever he wanted, the kind of a guy who
had to keep moving around at wax museums so the little
kids wouldn't touch him and squeal about how real he
looked. He had a gaunt face that was dark but not tanned
tanned, like maybe it was stained from the smoke of too
many bars, a nighttime face more full of shadows thai
features. It was the kind of a face you could look at and
see whatever you wanted to.
"You gotta do something about that face," I said.
"You're the boss," he said plainly.
"Here," I said, messing up his hair a little to see if that
would help. "And don't be so quick to agree with me.
You start being agreeable and you're in grave danger
being a likeable, and you know what that means. A dame
like Pemberton could take that as a dinner invitation
from the GQ Guy."
"You're right, er. . .rather. . ."
"I'm right," I said. "And talk louder. We haven't
got time for me to give you any lessons, so youH have to
make do with these simple instructions. Be loud, overbear
ing and argumentative. Laugh loudly at your own jokes -pound
the table if you're really in the swing of it."
'This is going to be harder than I thought," he said.
"You don't know the half of it,xkid. Now rumple up
those clothes a little, and lose those eyes."
"I'm kind of stuck with them."
"Sure, but you don't have to keep looking at her,
especially when she's talking. Don't be too attentive.
Interrupt a lot, and let a smirk be your umbrella."
Continued on Page 13
If
r7
A private look ata publoc mam
As time goes on the reflections of
hiatory portray individuals differently as
their lives are looked upon and analyzed
from the time the writer is writing. Those
viewed as inept during their life hope that
history will be kinder to them.
History being revised has given hope to
former Presidents Richard Nixon and
Jimmy Carter. They would like history to
look upon their accomplishments while
overlooking their failures. The opposite
of this trend is also true. Those individuals
seen as great at one point in their lives,
may be found to have faults later by
others.
John F. Kennedy's life has been written
about in much the same fashion. After
his death, there were biographies written
that showed Kennedy as a great president.
As the years have passed, there have been
other accounts showing him as being inept
and unable to handle the problems he
faced.
A two volume set on the life of John
Kennedy written by Herbert S. Parmet
takes the middle ground, showing Kennedy
as a president who was fallible in many
ways, but who also had moments of
greatness. The book, published this year,
is called "JFK: The Presidency of John
F. Kennedy".
"JFK: The Presidency" finds Kennedy
to be a man who knew what he wanted to
accomplish, but saw the limitations
imposed upon him.
Kennedy believed that by 1960 the
time had come to give more civil rights to
minorities, but felt that submitting civil
rights legislation would hinder passage
of any other legislation he would put
forward. Key Congressional committees
were controlled by southern Senators.
They would fight civil rights legislation
in their committees and hold up Kennedy
backed bills because of their disapproval
of the civil-rights legislation.
By 1963, civil rights marches were
becoming more common. Violence within
southern cities toward the protestors
occured often. Kennedy then marked
passage of civil right legislation as an area
of primary concern for his administration.
Parmet goes over Kennedy's foreign
affairs problems by showing Kennedy as
a man who weighted all of the elements
and information at his disposal before
making a decision. The Soviet Union
continued its cold war stance of the
1950s during the Kennedy administration,
while moving in other areas to test the
inexperience of the young president.
Parmet discusses the main confrontations
in this book on a overview basis. The
trouble in Laos, Berlin, the two Cuban
Crises and the problems in Vietnam are
merely touched upon.
The Berlin crisis saw the two super
powers face to face over the freedom of
West Berlin. The Soviets wanted the entire
city to be recognized as part of communist
I c1 lf
East Germany, to prevent the flow of
Easterners to the democratic West
Kennedy felt that if he didn't stand up
to the Soviets over Berlin, the next
confrontation would be somewhere else
but a much more serious nature'
Eventually, the Soviets broke down from
their demands and built the Berlin Wall
instead.
The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by
the U.S. was the biggest mistake Kennedy
made early in his administration, and he
paid for it in world opinion until the
Cuban Missile Crisis. The Bay of Pies
invasion was a military move to depose
dictator Fidel Castro of Cuba by using
Cuban refugees as an attacking force
Kennedys indecision on how much
military backing the United States would
give, along with the poor planning of the
CIA, caused the plan to fail before it was
ever launched.
The Cuban missile crisis was the event
that marked Kennedy as a man who had
learned from his past mistakes and who
would use this knowledge for his benefit.
The missile crisis was the closest the two
superpowers had come to nuclear war
before or since then. Kennedy withstood
the demands of the Soviets while using
the men around him to formulate an agree
ment that allowed the Soviets to remove
the missiles without losing too much face.
The high point for John Kennedy was
the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
with the Soviets in 1963. Afterx the con
frontations with the Soviets, Kennedy
understood that the world could be thrown
into nuclear war very easily. He hoped to
use the treaty as a start toward a Salt
agreement with the Soviets.
Parmct's account of the presidency of
John Kennedy gives a greater feeling for
the private life of Kennedy than for the
more major issues facing him. If one is
more interested in the issues facing
Kennedy and the people of his admini
stration one should read either "Kennedy"
by Ted Sorenson or "1,000 Days" by
Arthur Schlesinger. But if you are
interested in the private life of John Ken
nedy, with an overview of the political
Kennedy then "JFK: The Presidency of
John F. Kennedy" should be worth
reading.
David Wiese
