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-
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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.
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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."
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