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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1985)
Page 6 Daily Nebraskan Monday, December 2, 1985 usicians' whims met for sake of concerts By Lise Olsen Senior Reporter Van Halen wanted brown M and M's picked out. Bruce Springsteen request ed a jacuzzi, but settled for a massage table. Hall and Oates wanted to play ping pong. Local organizations, like the Univer sity Programs Council and Pershing 'auditorium officials, are often respon sible for making sure musicians who play major Lincoln concerts are safe and satisfied. Sometimes the requests seem a lit tle "prima donna"-ish, said Doug Kuh nel, Pershing manager. However, Kuh nel sdd, he understands the bands need to be specific about their menus and accomodations. "If they left it up to each hall, they'd eat McDonald's hamburgers every night," he said. For Bruce Springsteen, the UPC's Major Concerts Presentation's Team turned a locker room into a living room complete with large house plants, rented furniture and curtains to hide the lockers, said Chris Amberg, team chairman. Local groups' responsibility extends beyond meal and room planning. They also coordinate security, concessions and T-shirt sales and help the bands setup and pack away equipment, Amberg said. The Lincoln groups are at the end of a long chain of concert organizers. The chain begins with the rock group itself. The group is represented by a personal management company that contracts with a booking agency. Booking agencies notify promoters (entrepreneurs who put up the money for the shows) about available dates and routes, Kuhnel said. Both Kuhnel and Amberg work with the Midwest's major promoters: Con temporary of St. Louis, Jam of Chicago, Beaver of New Orleans, Feyline of Denver and Schon of Minneapolis. Throughout the year, Kuhnel says he makes 15 to 20 calls a week to promo ters. Amberg contacts them five or six times every two weeks during the school year, he said. The two compete with Omaha facili ties to draw concerts but not with each other, they said. Omaha has the advan tage of having a larger population. But concerts are cheaper to produce in Lincoln, which has a larger university student population, Kuhnel said. Lincoln and Omaha are "tertiary" markets, Kuhnel said. "They're not going to center a tour around us," he said. Whether a major concert comes to Lincoln depends on the concert's route, tour dates, contracts, weather condi tions and whims, Kuhnel said. December is a slow month for Nebraska concerts because of poten tially hazardous driving conditions, Kuhnel said. Even in April, weather can be a prob lem. Kuhnel recalled an April 2, 1982 ZZ Top concert at Pershing. The day started out in the 70s, but by nightfall a blizzard had hit and roads were closed. The group left Lincoln after the show anyway to stay on schedule. Lincoln and Omaha concerts are mostly limited to "Top 40"-type groups because of the sameness of the region's radio station formats, Kuhnel said. This year, several mainstream rockers Heart, Ratt and Night Ranger have appeared at Pershing. Ticket sales were lower than expected, Kuhnel said. Kuhnel and Amberg said it is often difficult to predict ticket sales because groups quickly gain and lose both regional and national popularity. Be cause most concerts are planned months in advance, some are surprise suc cesses and some are flops. "You make a lot of guesses. You try to know your market and you hope for good ticket sales," Amberg said. Last year, UPC major concerts team brought Springsteen, Chicago, Elton John and Hall and Oates to Bob Devaney. This year, not as many major groups are touring, both Amberg and Kuhnel said. UPC major concerts has yet to pro duce a show this year, although Amberg said an unnamed band is tentatively scheduled to perform in April. If a defi nite agreement is made, details will be announced when tickets go on sale sometime next semester, Amberg said. First semester, Amberg said, he re served concert dates at Devaney for Eddie Murphy, Bryan Adams, Tina Turner and Bill Cosby. For various reasons canceled tours, TVmovie roles, alternate loca tions each show fell through, he said. Only about one out of five "holds" (reservations) materializes into a con cert, Amberg said. Because of those odds, most con certs aren't announced until "we phys- Ax. J . y I - ( ... ' - r j J) - XxX' ' ' f Tw L v ' ' ically make the call to have the tickets printed," Kuhnel said. Promoters usu ally won't put up the money to print tickets unless the concert is reasona bly certain, he said. But even on the day of the show things can fall through. Kuhnel's biggest dissapointment as an auditorium manager was when Neil Young canceled a Lincoln concert on the day of the show in 1983. The con cert had sold out in one day and equipment was already set up when Young called from the Lincoln Hilton and said he was too sick to perform. "We felt the power of the artist at that point," Kuhnel said. The earlier euphoria of good ticket sales turned into a nightmare of refunds and explanations as fans drifted in from Lincoln and from out-of-town, he said. Because of the size of the halls Amberg and Kuhnel work with, both are limited to bigger acts with wides pread appeal, they said. Pershing's 8,500 seat auditorium is too big for bands like Stryper and the Violent Femmes, but it also is too small for Springsteen, Kuhnel said. The 14,000 seat Bob Devaney sold out Springsteen's concert last year. But Phil TsaiDaily Nebreskan UPC's biggest ticket count to date was for a Journey show, Amberg said. Because of seating and staging arran gements, Journey topped Springsteen by 200 tickets, Amberg said. Amberg attributed the major groups' touring slowdown to the popularity of videos. "It's a hell of a lot easier to make a video than spend all that money on production and spend six months of their (the group's) lives on the road," he said. Major concerts cost $60,000 $120,000 (Bill Cosby's minimum gua rantee) to produce, Kuhnel said. Simple lyrics, surprises help 'Live in London ' By Mike Grant Staff Reporter been on the country music scene for more than thirty years. Editor's note: The following is a - . review of two country music al- IGCOrcI R.6V16W bums. One is by a comparitive newcomer, Ricky Skaggs and the Ricky Skaggs, "Live in Lon other by Johnny Cash, who has don," CBS. Ricky Skaggs is one of the few bright spots in country music. Rather than depending on slick musical arrange ments and silly bravado lyrics, which sell so well for people like Lee Green wood and T. G. Sheppard, Skaggs digs deeply into his bluegrass roots for pure and simple lyrics and music that is traditional without being bland. "Live in London," his latest LP, is a good showcase for his talents, with a few surprises. The first surprise is that Sheppard recorded the album live at the Domin ion Theatre in London. Country music has a dedicated following in England. H f 6ftjp YcMlfiifig Campus Clubs Organizations Office Groups Dorm Floors Fraternities Sororities If 3 or more members of a group come in they . each receive 488-4832 4003 "fY St. all members need not come in together. i Don t B $ Unprep e C aught.. 10 r Let the Nebraska Unions Prepare your Deli trays for the Holiday Season. Just call our a "Deli Hot Line" 472-2181 City Campus f4 y (J 472-1776 East Campus MM Wh P Secondly, British singersongwriter Elvis Costello teams with Skaggs for a duet of "Don't Get Above Your Raising" a song written by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. But Costello also has written country songs before and performed with George Jones. But it is a surprise to hear Charles Haid, who plays Andy Renko oh "Hill Street Blues," perform the introduc tion to the album. It's a pleasant album. Skaggs has some of the best pickin' you're going to hear on country radio stations today. Songs like "Uncle Ben" and "Country Boy" show off Skaggs' and his band's vast talents. "You Make Me Feel Like A Man" is the prettiest country ballad recorded in a long time. Skaggs may lack the edge of pro gressive country performers like Rosanne Cash or Willie Nelson, but after all, this is bluegrass-influenced country, so it has a right to be mournful and slick, and it's done well to boot. The Bottom Line This is a fine record. If you're looking for a good introduction into the current bluegrass country scene, you couldn't pick a bet ter record than Skagg's "Live in London." i Q''f''-' Please set COiifJTnv nn -r teS&&? r,c vuuri i riT on 7