Tuesday, October 15, 1985
Page 10
Daily Nebraskan
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Velsh band rebels from mainstream
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By Scott Harrah
Staff Reporter
"Curiosity killed the cat," the old
cliche says. That warning evidently
doesn't intimidate Gene Loves Jezebel,
an experimental Welsh band that is
scheduled to play at UNL Tuesday
night.
Curiosity about Nebraska and the
Midwest is the main reason the band
wants to perform here, vocalistguita
rist Jay Aston said in a phone interview
from his Detroit hotel room.
Jay Aston and his identical twin
brother, Mike, left the industrial town
of Porthcawl, Wales, three years ago for
London, where they first formed the
band.
Aston said they left Porthcawl
because the working-class Wales life
style was too harsh and aggressive.
"It gave us a desire to express some
thing," he said. "And we saw beauty
beneath all that ugliness."
The result of that expression was
their European debut LP "Promises,"
an Angst-ridden chronicle of the
highly-heated emotional state they were
in at the time, Aston said.
The culture shock they experienced
after relocating to London, as well as
disgust with the current music main
stream, were part of their frustrated
feelings present in "Promises," Aston
said.
"We didn't really enjoy the music
around at the time," he said, "and it
("Promises") was a reaction against
it."
"Immigrant," their second release,
and their American debut on Relativity
Beatles' impersonators
to play at Royal Grove
1964, a group known for its un
canny impersonation of the Beatles,
will be in concert tonight at the
Royal Grove, 340 West Cornhusker
Hwy.
Tickets are $4 at the door.
1964 dresses like the Beatles
from their Beatles mop-top haircuts
to their pointed black boots and
try to come as close as possible to
sounding like the Beatles.
Mark Benson (portraying John
Lennon), Greg George (Ringo Starr),
Gary Grimes (Paul McCartney), and
Tom Work (George Harrison) use
guitars created by Benson (a master
craftsman who made three of the
five guitars used in the performance,
and Vox equipment similar to that
of the Beatles, trying to create a
sound musically precise to the Fab
Four.
In a York Town Crier article, Ben
son said the group is successful
mainly because, "More of what other
groups do is a Beatle's story. What
we're doing is trying to do a Beatles'
concert...We're more concerned with
'Better Off Dead' steals
from funnier comedies
By Tom Mockler
Staff Reporter
Given "Better Off Dead's" merits, or
lack thereof, the title of this picture is
only too suggestive. A cheap play on
words is in order, although I will try to
resist such a temptation.
Movie Review
Ah, what the heck. "Better Off Dead"
really would be, except that it already
is.
Actually, this film is rather interest
ing for how many comic motifs it rips
off and tries to integrate into one film.
Records, was recorded with a more
optimistic approach, Aston said.
"We're very happy now with the peo
ple around us," he said. "Everyone
the people we play with, and the people
who come to see us. We're growing
more now and learning all the time."
Aston said that the band is very
colorful, sincere and intense, which is
why Gene Loves Jezebel is being put on
the map in the States.
"People relate to the music," he
said. "We're a very strong group, so it's
easy to feel something when we play."
Gene Loves Jezebel's style is some
thing music critics on both sides of the
Atlantic have had trouble classifying.
Some have said that their eerie sound
is a lot like The Cure, and others have
labeled their reasonant guitar riffs as
similar to those of U2.
A handful of critics have even sug
gested that Jay's vibrant voice is a dead
ringer for Robert Plant's.
But Aston remains calm and un
scathed by those comparisons, he said.
"I don't worry about it," he said.
"People that make those comparisons
often change their minds. We know
what we're doing."
Their flamboyant stage presence has
also been a victim of labels and com
parisons. Journalists have called them
everything from post-punkers and
theatrical gargoyles to Boy George
clones, according to-numerous reviews
and press releases.
Aston also shrugs off those labels
with nonchalance, he said. Aston said
that the only attitude or concept pres
ent in their appearance is the cele
bration of just being there, being alive.
It makes sense you just have to see
the actual look and portrayal."
The music performed in the con
certs is from the Beatles' touring
years, 1963-66, and includes hits
such as "And I Love Her," "I Want
To Hold Your Hand," "Please Please
Me," 'Yesterday," "A Hard Day's
Night," "Can't Buy Me Love" and "I
Feel Fine."
All in all th e group plays about an
hour and 40 minutes of classic Bea
tles' hits.
Each member of the group has
researched the Beatle he plays,
concentrating on costumes, hair
cuts, speaking and singing voices,
stage movements and facial expres
sions. Benson, who portrayed John Len
non in two "Beatles" tribute bands
before, has also made guitars for
The Eagles, The Allman Brothers,
Journey and Van Halen.
George, who looks the most like
the musician he portrays, was once
told by a television announcer that
he "looks more like Ringo than
Ringo himself."
In the promos it originally seemed to
be a relatively simple story about a guy
(John Cuzack) who loses his girlfriend
to a real jerk who happens to be an ace
skier. He tries to get her back by beat
ing him in a downhill race.
That portion of the film is still there,
but apparently the producers didn't
think that was enough to make for a
successful comedy. They were probably
right, but unfortunately their solution
really wasn't very helpful.
Let's count the various comic strains
that keep popping up throughout the
film, which were in someway or another
ripped off from other, typically more
successful comedies.
Please see DEAD on 12
it."
Aston's twin brother Mike had more
objections to the labels on their look
when he was interviewed by British
journalist Helen Fitzgerald two years
ago.
"Our characters are naturally color
ful, but not overtly sexual," Mike said.
"The ugly, chauvinistic attitudes
towards sex are just what we're against!"
Commercial success is not a top
priority for Gene Loves Jezebel, Jay
said.
"I never really think about it," he
said, "Our music is an expression
we never really think about how many
records we'll sell."
Sometimes working with family
members in a band causes conflicts
and polarization, but the Aston broth
ers work together harmoniously, Jay
said.
"Playing with Mike is brilliant," he
said. "We're very honest with each
other, and there are no ego problems
involved."
The band is currently on an Ameri
can tour. They made their live debut on
these shores at New York's trend
setting nightclub, Danceteria. They've
also done shows in Detroit and Chicago.
Although they've had the chance to
see a lot of America, Jay feels that they
haven't witnessed enough of the U.S.
music scene to make a judgment about
it. However, he said that Gene Loves
Jezebel admires such American music
legends as The Talking Heads, James
Brown and Canadian Neil Young. They
are more inspired by "the feelings
those musicians' records give us" than
Sheldon's new security system
to help fight costly art vandalism
By Use Olsen
Senior Reporter
A $17,000 security system installed
at Sheldon Art Gallery two weeks ago
should reduce vandalism, Renee Kay,
chief of security, said.
Using the system's 12 cameras,
gallery guards spotted about 15 visitors
touching painting and sculpture last
week, Kay said. ,
The cameras automatically scan
gallery rooms. They can also lock in on
one room, or follow a suspicious-looking
visitor through the gallery, Kay said.
The camera's record after-hours vis
its to the gallery. Kay reviews the night
videos each morning, she said.
The system will help tighten up
gallery security, Kay said. Formerly the
gallery's three guards could only leave
the front desk about three times a day
to check interior rooms.
Kay said she has seen two to three
visitors a day touch art works with
pens, pencils, backpacks or fingers.
The frequent contact leaves body oils
and marks that reduce the art's value,
Kay said.
"They (the visitors) just sort of
bump through the gallery," Kay said.
Eventually, works become worn and
must be restored. The gallery has spent
about $10,000 in the last two years to
restore works according to George
Neubert, gallery director.
Gallery employees use white gloves
when they move art, Kay said.
Most vandalism inside the gallery is
unintentional, Kay said. However, some
visitors intend to be destructive.
Earlier this semester one such group
went on a vandalism spree. The damage
was not discovered until after the vis
itors had left the museum, Kay said.
She said if the system had been in
place, the damage might have been
prevented.
Neubert said that film of the des
Gene Loves Jezebel
the sound or styles they use, he said.
And what feelings can Lincolnites
expect to experience Tuesday night in
the Union?
"Something very special," he said.
"And most of all, fun."
Gene Loves Jezebel performs tonight
truction could have been used in court.
Theft is not a major concern at the
gallery because of its supplemental
alarm sensor system, Kay said.
The new system was made possible
by a $12,500 grant from the National
Renee Kay, chief of security
on the new monitor security
"V v' "'
II
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Courtesy of Important Records
at 8 p.m. in the Centennial Ballroom of
the Nebraska Union. Local group, For
Against, will open.
Tickets are $5 for students and $6 for
non-students and are available at the
Union's north desk and Pickles and
Dirt Cheap record stores.
Endowment for the Arts. It was first
proposed in August 1984, by Kay and
other gallery officials.
In the future, it might be expanded
to cover the Sheldon's proposed under
ground addition, she said.
I f.
Mark DavisDally Nebraskan
Et Sheldon Art Gallery, switches
system.