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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 1984)
Wednesday, Ssptcmbsr 10, 1934 Pago 12 Daily Ncbraskan fl o ft km - m mm V.7 6ns' G TT JLUCKV c Analysis By Toner Cvcnsoa Dally Nebrkan Staff Writer litzy, glossy and glamorous. The Lucky Lady Lincoln's newest nightspot strives for all these impressions. A dress code, slick video and audio equipment and shiny brass and polished floors make the Lucky Lady a place for people to dance, drink and be someone else. The constant videos allow people to transform themselves into any of their rock idols on the multi-screened dance floor. It is a plastic pre-programmed paradise, of neon tubes, lighting strobes and spinning spotlights. It is a spaceage adult Disneyland with Star Wars lighting, doting wait resses and gregarious bartenders. The Lucky Lady is at the upper end of local spots in drink prices, but it is also at the upper end in the diversity of entertainment. Pool, video games, special con tests, backgammon and dancing are available. Bartenders and waitresses carry whistles "to get people rowdy," as one waitress said. The after-game crowd Sat urday didn't need any encour agement to get rowdy; they were intoxicated enough by either the Huskers' victory, ice cream drinks or draft beer to put the pounding sound system and fully lit dance floors to use. A pleasant surprise was the hot dogs, some of the best in town, certainly better than the Ladv wears high-tech jew els aluminum covered missiles that fly through Memorial Stadium. The popcorn was salty, as is usual with any place that is trying to sell drinks, but the bar didn't skimp. Drinks were strong and generous. Everything was top quality and geared to the masses of people who filled the lower level of Gold's Gaileria. For warmth and intimacy, the Lucky Lady is far from ideal. It is a place to be awed by the sound, screens and sheer size. It's a "neat" place, probaby the place to be this fall for the college crowd. Its large size lend3 some diversity, but it also tend to break up any gather ing of friends. One could spend an hour just trying to find them. The men's room is classy, there is even an attendant, whose job is not exactly clear.' Maybe it's to make you think he's important enough for you to leave a tip. Piped-in music and telephones keep you in touch with the out side world in this white-tiled rest room. The Lucky Lady radiates a strik ing, action-filled image; something is going on all the time and every one is doing something. There are no dark corners to recede into. Patrons seem to like being on display as much as the high-tech videos. Fast paced and splashy, the Lucky Lady is a place where laid-back and quiet are nearly unknown and almost feared. Y fY ; ' Y !y ; CYv) 4 Dsliy Itobras&an ttnt Photo Elaxk Sullivan &r;d Anns Bontaln enjoy themselves ct the Lucky Lady Losx&s. Lack offreshness, principles doom new shows Would you like the good news or bad news first? Suit yourselves. I always prefer the good stuff first, myself. Sunday I scanned the TV Guide for some hot series premieres. I noticed that "Punky Brewster" was showing on NBC, opposite "60 Minutes." Mark Holt Seen "Silver Spoons?" How about "Dif ferent Strokes?" "Webster?" Good. Then you probably know what principle "Punky Brewster" is acting on. First find a kid usic of with dimples, and stunted growth who is a minority member or a feisty girl. Then construct a show around it by hiring a couple of grown-ups to set up one-liners for them. It's kind of like the macho man detective show where the leading guy has the obligatory mustache and a name that sounds like hardware, firearms or a large metropolis. I admire .the producers of this series. To hire a miserable, unfunny, little girl who couldn't act her way Out of soggy tissue paper and use a script that sounds as if the cast made it up as they went along in an effort to make a quality show, is an ambitious undertaking. Gutsy as it may be, "Punky Brewster" is drab, silly, and gives the hard-core couch potato a welcome half-hour to visit the refrigerator. The evening wasn't all doom and gloom though. I did manage to catch "E. R." I guess this is what you'd call the good news. Relatively speaking, I'm afraid. Elliot Gould and Marcia Strassman are the only name-brand stars in this latest nutty-folks-inhabit-hospital-comedy drama. (E. R. stands for emergency room, by the way.) Not since the days of "MASH" have viewers been treated to such a combination of keen humor and gripping drama. I'm lying. "E. R." has pro vided itself with the very flexible back drop of an emergency room, but fails to deliver any more than what every other show in the genre already has done. The plot involves a few neat characters and some good lines, but it's conceptually plagiaristic and lacks the freshness of its charismatic predecessors. Gould even resembles the glib doctor he played in the original "MAS'H." While good writing can potentially dis guise all these aforementioned shortcom ings, the producers of "E. R." still went with "the public likes what it's seen be fore" idea. The result is a semifunny series 'with no identity of its own. Now, no one's a bigger fan of humor than me. I still laugh when Tom and Jerry beat each other and -I watch "Monty Python" religiously. But in the hands of writers who don't know exactly where they're going or what they're doing, the yuks can be laughable. "Punky Brewster" and maybe "E. R." are just such shows. Their days are numbered. M 80s reflects spirit 01 optimism, diversity Seven out of 10 Lincoln com mercial radio stations play some variation of contemporary rock' music the music many Lincoln listeners prefer over all others. And the variety offered in the rock of the '80s may be the reason for their choice. Joanne - Young Elvis Presley's records domi nated radio in the '50s. In the '60s, the Beatles had 36 records in the top 20. But Elvis wasnt far behind with 30. The 70s still had the British sound in the limelight with Elton John coming up with 17 records in the top 20 of the decade, and Elvis Presley and members of the Beatles still hanging in there on the list of the top 1 0 artists. But in the '80s, Elvis and the Beatles have finally surrendered their, dominance of the past 30 years but to whom? Michael Jackson hit his stride in the past couple of years, cul minating with his Thriller album. But KFRX Program Director Tracy Johnson doesn't credit Jackson with the staying power of Elvis and the Beatles, "Michael Jackson has been in credibly popular "Johnson said," but now is getting a little burned out. You can't keep topping things like Thriller. ' KFRX, the station that draws the largest audience, plays a con temporary hit radio format that Johnson said is based on variety. Music today is more diverse, he said, with dance, new wave, tra ditional and slower music reflect ing the different age groups. Many of the popular artists have been around for awhile Chicago, Elton John, Michael Jack son and brothers, Hall and pates, the Pointer Sisters and the Cars. Stations playing the contem porary hit records can expect to draw an audience ranging in age from 10 to 50. "People in their 30s and 40s grew up with top 40 radio, so they can identify with that type of music," Johnson said. If the music of the '80s can be characterized, most people say it's upbeat and driving match ing the more upbeat attitude of the people. Drugs, war and the women's movement were laced. through the musk of the late '60s and the 70s not exactly a party atmos phere. Twenty years ago, in September 1964, the number one song was "The House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals. In the same month of 1974, "I Shot the Sheriff" by Eric Clapton was number one. The Beatles, Beach Boys and Supremes were among the hotter groups in the '60s. That decade also brought us such meaningful songs as: "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" "Fun, Fun, Fun," ''Gone, Gone, Gone," and "Run, Run, Run." In the 70s, it was Elton John, Chicago and the Carpenters top ping the charts most often. The Beatles were still on the charts but not as a group. Frank Sinatra made it to the top 100, as did Frank Zappa But in the '80s, there's more of a spirit of optimism along with the variety. The Sept. 1 5 Billboard Top 10 reflects the diversity with John Waite, Cyndi Lauper, Prince, Lionel Ritchie and Iluey Lewis and the News in the top five slots. Smf. tT5 KlO-UStlH JL'ST RVUSUCP CLPPimDSCFYQV n WW I 11 rS ZATHB 5MMy .' IN... you stop mwNe YOUR HEM OH WB FLOOR 7 0TA mtr 7 w, no... we X ygZZ"1' " V i