Thursday, November 7, 1985
Daily Nebraskan
Page 7
E)iix7(giiosfl(2)ijns
The Daily Nebraskan's Entertainment Revue
.1
I V f,
i ,t f j
: ! If . feJ:
I 'iy-V
4
Mark DavisDaily Nebraskan
mm
mm
r3 1 1 1 y L
r Jf
ill
t7
A C.
s
, t'
it? C
Boehmer
i
III I
Andrea HoyDally Nebraskan
Chuck Williams of Albert Collins and the Ice Breakers.
Not just a 'dark hole in the wall'
Ar- AT '
UUill
tion
on blues music
By Kyle Foster
Staff Reporter
Certain places and certain build
ings seem to radiate a life all
their own. The Zoo Bar is such a
place.
The small, dark bar at 136 N. 14th
street comes alive at night with a blues
band pounding out a heartbeat. The
walls breathe the heavy smoke-filled air
and the floor drinks gallons of spilled
beer. The air is a murky mixture of the
stale beer and smoke characteristic of
the Zoo Bar.
Larry Boehmer, owner and keeper of
the Zoo, loves what he does. He has an
art studio above the bar, and considers
the bar "sort of a hobby."
Boehmer strikes a confident pose
behind his cluttered desk. He regularly
receives and makes calls to some of the
most well-known and respected blues
artists in the. nation, many whom he
considers close friends. For example,
Chicago's Magic Slim is his oldest son's
godfather.
Boehmer said "the blues world is a
small world. You can go from city to city
and country to country and when you
find people who are into the blues it's
like you're old friends."
Boehmer's interest in the blues dates
back to his childhood, he said. He grew
up on a farm near Pawnee City.
"I used to listen to a blues program
at night as I was going to bed," he said.
"It was on station KAAY from Little
Rock, Arkansas. At the same time I was
buying Jazz records through Columbia
Records."
His addiction to the blues intensi
fied during college, "I was in the aft
department, but I hung out with blues
musicians," he said.
In 1972, while still attending col
lege, Boehmer became acquainted with
the Zoo through friends who owned it.
"When I first walked in it felt like a
honky-tonk bar. . . small, dark, just
like a lot of the bars across the Kansas
Nebraska border I used to visit as a
kid," he said.
"I told them that if they would let
me put a row of Blues music on the
jukebox I would bring in some stu
dents," Boehmer said. "We'd sit around,
listen to the music and have a beer."
His role at the Zoo gradually in
creased. In the summer of 1973 he
booked the bar's first musical act, The
Cotton Blues Band. During Christmas
of that year he booked the bar's second
act, Charlie Burton. By the Summer of
1974 Boehmer began to book bands
three nights each week. In 1975 Boehmer
began to book bands to perform nightly.
At that time the bar had no PA sys
tem. Today the Zoo has an 800-watt PA
and Boehmer said he feels that he has a
"real good sounding room for the Blues."
The PA isn't the only thing that has
changed at the Zoo over the years.
Boehmer said that the quality of bands
has improved. He said that today's
audience is more sophisticated than
audiences of ten years ago and there is
pressure on bands to perform well.
With exception to the PA and the
quality of music, the Zoo has not
changed much since it opened in 1973.
Boehmer's philosophy behind that, he
said, is that "it's always a viable expe
rience to go into a funky little bar and
listen to music. I think it's timeless,
and that's why the Zoo doesn't change
much."
Today the Zoo is considered as one of
the nation's finest small usic clubs.
Not just anyone can plaj there, and
those that do are usually talented,
serious musicians, Boehmer said.
The bar is in an enviable position. It
showcases blues, rhythm and blues,
roots rock 'n' roll and jazz, none of
which have mass appeal for today's
audiences. Because most bands that
play this music don't have the popular
ity to sell out concert halls, they play at
small bars like the Zoo, Boehmer said.
Hence, some of the nation's best blues
artists, country rock 'n' rollers and the
like can be found at the Zoo each night.
The Nebraska Educational Televi
sion Network has produced and aired
four thirty-minute blues programs for
their channel, filmed at the Zoo. NEW
is currently considering having the
programs shown in Germany where
blues is very popular.
Four albums have been recorded at
the Zoo Bar, and Magic Slim has
recorded two of them. A soundtrack
featuring various artists, titled "Live At
The Zoo," has also been recorded there.
Boehmer's interest in music extends
far beyond the blues, he said. "I like
the old basic rock V roll, reggae, blue
grass, R and B, all types of roots music.
If it's musical and there is something
going on I like it."
Boehmer is a musician as well as a
fan. He plays bass guitar in his band,
Cocktail Shorty and the Tablerockers,
who appear regularly at the Zoo. He
also played in the now defunct Little
Jimmy Valentine and the Heart Murmers.
Boehmer applies his own philosophy
to the Zoo, "We don't try to please
everyone. We try to do what we do
well."
As for the somewhat sinister reputa
tion that the Zoo has, Boehmer said
that it can be a problem.
"People are scared because it's a
little dark hole in the wall, they're
afraid of the unknown," he said. "But
it's really a pretty hassle free bar.
Women have told me that it's one of the
few places they can go without being
hassled."