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Friday, February 17, 1934"
Peg a 8
Daily Nebraskan
AIL HjlD
Disco Ranch style stirs mixed reactions
By Donna Sisson raid Tish Mocklcr
With the advent of new technology, many con
troversies arise as people weigh tradition cgainst
progress. In the music world, one band challenging
tradition is Disco Ranch.
Disco Ranch consists of Joe Budenholzer and
Jerry Kazak and a pockctbookfull of electronic equip
ment. Each time they step on stage, they must con
front a diverse range of audience expectations and
reactions.
When most people go to see a live band, they
expect to see the musicians in certain places and
when Disco Ranch seeks to break the mold, they are
taking on a great challenge. Their courage is admir
able. The first time they played as two people was really
scary, Budenholzer said. "I kept looking around for
the drummer because I would get out of tune with
the machine," he said.
During their shows, Kazak runs the electronics
while Budenholzer sings. "We put the whole show
together on stage. Some of it is recorded, some of it
we play live and some of it is electronically triggered
by the tapes," Budenholzer said. "We bring the studio
to the stage."
The audience responses they receive are mixed.
"We've had some pretty dead audiences, and we've
had some insulting audiences," Budenholzer said.
"For some people, when they don't see a drum kit
and a guitar player, you might as well not be there,"
he said.
"Usually, at least we get a reaction. Somebody will
get mad at us or somebody will tell us that they
really like us," Budenholzer said.
"In one of our most negative gigs, it was absolutely
quiet as we played, everbody just listened, and then
at the end of the song, there was clapping and boo
ing at the same time," Kazak said.
"We bring out some kind of passion whether it's
good or bad. But that's the whole thing, to get a
response," Kazak said..
Disco Ranch has been together for four years. One
year was spent as a four-piece band, and their four
song extended-play record was made with a full
band. But Budenholzer and Kazak originated the
band and have always been its core.'
Rock V roll Utopia
They coined the term "disco ranch" as a title for ah
imaginary place where people could go and listen to
music, Budenholzer said. "There were clubs like that
after disco faded out and the urban cowboy started
coming in. Clubs had all this disco stuff left over and
they started putting ranch stuff in too. It was such
an amazing combination," he said.
They said their show will be changing in the
months to come. Up to now, they have been con
forming somewhat to their audiences and have a
hard-electronic edge to their music, Kazak said. In
the future, they said they hope to become more
"discofied" and a little more funky.
Many of their songs contain a frenzy of electronic
chords smoothed by clear, compelling vocals. In
other songs, the attraction lies in the definite beat
combination calling all feet to dance. Their music
is built of simple and familiar chord structures
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Budenholzer (right) end Kazak cf Disco Ear.ch.
which, when combined with their unique tempos,
become distinctly Disco Ranch.
One of the beauties of their live performances is
that the sound is clean and tight. "We're the closest
thing to a live recording on stage," Budenholzer said.
Another advantage to working with electronics is
that it puts the emphasis on the musical idea more
than on having the skill to play an instrument,
Budenholzer said. "We let the machines do the work
and we think of the ideas."
Using electronic equipment also allows them to
avoid the hassle of finding other musicians to work
with, Budenholzer said.
Their interest in electronics was kindled by artists
such as Brian Eno, George Clinton and Kraftwerk,
as well as a discovery of the amazing machines and
what they could do, Budenholzer said. The instru
mental tracks in rap music spurred their interest in
funk. ,
New to bar audiences
"It's music come full circle. It's got the real African
rhythms going with the latest technology," Buden
holzer said. .
The two-man format is new in this area, although it
has been practiced elsewhere for a long time. Origi
nally, dub music was produced in Jamaica. They
would record the music in the studio then travel in a
van with a disk jockey and a singer, Budenholzer
said. "If anything we're a dub band."
The music Disco Ranch plays is easy to dance to,
but the sparsely-populated stage is inhibiting. It is
similar to dancing to a record or a video, which is
popular in discos, but is something a bar audience is
not used to.
"Some people think we're trying to trick them,"
Kazak said. It will take some time before audiences
feel comfortable with the idea of a two-piece band
and in the meantime all it takes is a few brave souls
to start dancing, and the floor fills up for most of the
remaining evening.
One of the drawbacks of Disco Ranch's method of
musical presentation lies in the performance as
pect. Because there are only two members, the
entire burden of visually entertaining the audience
rests on Budenholzer.
In an attempt to break up the monotony of this
situation, Budenholzer ddns various masks during
their performances. "I've always liked to wear
masks. You escape immediately from yourself. It's
like dropping through a trap ddor all of a sudden
it's not you on the stage anymore. Sometimes when
people get tired of watching me sing, if I transform
before their eyes it makes a little more excitement."
Budenholzer said.
"We're not really trying to compete with full
bands,nor are we a performance art or drama, but
more like a'performance event, an appearance with
styiizations," Budenholzer said.
"People should just listen, or try to dance and they
would just have to come a little ways put out a
little effort to listen and not just judge at face value,"
Budenholzer said. "We will keep persisting."
Disco Ranch will be playing with Digital Sex Sat
urday night at the Drumstick, 547 N. 48th St.
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Television
Humphrey Bogart fans note: If you can fight off
symptoms of sleepiness, Channel 6 will present two
of his films this weekend. Kid Galahad (retitled The
Battling Bellboy for its television screening to avoid
confusion with Elvis Presley's Falahad) will be on 3
am. Friday. Chain Lightning will broadcast at the
comparatively early hour of 12:30 a.m. Saturdav.
KZUM (89,5 and 03.3 FM) will broadcast a
, three-hour concert featuring local rock band Model
Citizens Club 10 p.m. tonight. The performance was
recorded earlier thi3 week at a Citizens Club live
appearance. The broadcast is part of the Weekly
Alive in Lincoln series, which features local musi
cians either on record or live recordings. It's also
part of a special week of programs in conjunction
with the station's sixth birthday marathon to raise
funds.
QnSts3
Paula Vogel's Meg will be presented at the Studio
Theatre, located on the third floor of the Temple
Building, 12th and R streets. Ticket reservations
may be obtained by calling 472-2073 between noon
and 5 p.m.
At the Sheldon
: , The onz-zw&iteiiT(mderl!ercis will finally b?'
screened this weekend in the Film Theatre. Screen
ings are at 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday through Monday.
There are also 3 p.m. matinees on Saturday and
Sunday. The film, directed by Bruce Hires ford and
starring Robert Duvail, has been described as a
touching story cf a dying country music singer.
This is the last weekend the current displays at
the Art Gallery will be available for viewing. The
exhibits are Chinese tapestries by Ruth Kao, paint
ings by Gary Day, and Chicago: Sane Other Tradi
tions, which features pieces by artists from the
Windy City. The exhibits are scheduled to come
down on Sunday.
At the raiii
The Nebraska Dance Ensemble will be appear
ing in the Recital Hall tonight and Saturday. Per
formances are set to get underway at 8 p.m. Tickets
may be obtained by calling the Kimball box office at
472-3375.
"Around Town
.The Frenetics, a rock n roll band ' featuring
Omaha World-Herald entertainment columnist
Steve Millburg will be spoearin at Chesterfield,
Bottomsley and Potts, 245 N. 13th St., Friday and
.turdsy nights. There fa' no cmxr chr-rrs.- .'
