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Friday, January 31, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 9
A
n ice r it a i n i ce ii
Arts
(is
in C3 if
By Stephanie Zink
Staff Reporter
Obviously, a popular band is in the
making.
From the spirited response that the
Island of Misfit Toys received after
their performance at the Brickyard last
weekend, the casual observer would
have thought the band was a Lincoln
institution. Instead, it was the group's
second performance ever.
Band Preview
Although the lack of new music in
Lincoln might be part of the reason for
the Toys' success, their unusual sqund,
complete with violin, is fun.
With their pulverizing beat, power
bass, out of-control guitar and wailing
vocals, the Toys, whose sound echoes of
the distortion-rock England is sending
us, could be the next big thing in Lin
coin's music scene. To hear for your
self, they play Saturday in the
Nebraska Union Crib.
Band members are Randy Krause
(drums), Stuart Larson (guitar), Liz
Panarelli (bass), Brian Zikmund (key
board and violin) and David Zikmund
(vocals). Steve Panarelli is the sound
man.
David Zikmund and Krause, who
used to be with the Snappi Bats,
formed the new band at the urging of
Panarelli. They had problems finding a
guitar player, so they posted leaflets.
Larson responded.
"We chose him because he played
Paul VonderlageDaily Nebraskan
Zikmund of the Toys plays
keyboards and violin.
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The sordid life and
Ten years ago a snarling, brillo
headed enfant terrible named Punk
Rock was born. Although not musically
inclined at first, he did show an early
interest in setting live kittens on fire
with a Bic lighter.
In Eugene, Ore., there's a "punk
mall" where vendors sell only "punk"
related items. The food in restaurants
there comes in two colors black or
white. All the clothing stores sell lots
of leather and spikes. The beauty salon
Charles
Lieurance
specializes in mohawks and death
masks. They don't pipe in cello ver
sions of Rolling Stones songs. Live
bands play one-minute-long Ramones
covers. Strobe lights flash; there are
lots of dark corners.
Everything is very disposable.
Life is short in the heart of darkness.
At the age of 4, Punk saw his first
guitar. His big brother had it leaning
against his bed. His big brother played
m a band that played 10-minute-long
versons of Yes' "Roundabout" and knew
all of Led Zeppelin's songs by heart,
what Punk liked most about the guitar
was its broken string. He used it to
strangle his brother in his sleep. He
spent the next four years in reform
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ugly," Panarelli said.
Krause, with the agreement of the
rest of the band, described their music
as "loud and nasty with some shame
less pop thrown in."
Their shameless pop song is also
their token nuclear war song, "Feel Mv
Wound." 3
Their music is created when one of
the band members starts playing and
the rest of the band catches on, Krause
said.
Larson said, "One person thinks of
something . . ." ". . . and everyone else
changes it," Panarelli finished.
Krause said that band is a demo
cracy, but if one person doesn't like a
song it's not used.
Panarelli said she is the one who
vetoes the most.
David Zikmund said people should
get what they want to from their song
lyrics, written mostly by him and his
brother.
"It's great being in a band that uses
its creativity in a good way for musical
progress," Krause said. "I never want
to play covers or jump on a bandwagon."
Panarelli describes the lyrics as
"honest without preaching."
One of the most unusual things
about Island of Misfit Toys: A violin is
used in many songs. Brian Zikmund
said he doesn't know of any other
groups that use a violin.
Panarelli said the main problem
with playing in Lincoln is that there is
low band unity. There is also trouble
finding places to play that allow minors
to attend that still enable the band to
cover its costs.
But a benefit, she said, is that the
people who are interested in listening
to this kind of music support the bands
wholeheartedly.
The group has been together less
than six months.
Their next performance will be a
benefit for Pro-Peace, a non-political
group that supports multilateral
nuclear disarmament. Pro-Peace is in
volved with a nine-month protest walk
from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.
Brian Zikmund will be going on the
trek, so the band will need a temporary
keyboard player.
The Pro-Peace benefit will be Satur
day at 7:30 p.m. in the Crib of the
Nebraska Union. Other bands perform
ing will be 13 Nightmares, the Go-Batz
and Tel Quel. There is a small admis
sion charge, but Brian Zikmund said a
larger donation is encouraged.
school. The story was published in the
Weekly World News under the banner
headline: "Psycho-tot Gags Brother
Over Rock'n'Roll.
I used to be a disc jockey at dances
in high school; just sit behind a cheap
stereo in the gym under a lone black
light and spin the hits. Once I played a
record by The Grateful Dead. Country
music was real big in my high school,
and one of its most stalwart fans came
up to me and told me to stop playing
"that disco stuff." Last semester a
woman I was talking to in a bar told me
she liked Punk Rock. I became inter
ested and asked her what groups she
listened to.
"Tears for Fears," she said.
Punk liked reform school. He met
interesting people and no one was
allowed to listen to rock'n'roll. This is
how Punk missed most of the music
coming out in the early 1970s. He never
heard "Seasons in the Sun," "Billy
Don't Be a Hero," "The Streak" or the
magnum opus "All By Myself." Once he
heard "Smoke on the Water" coming
out of the warden's office. Punk ran
those chords over and over in his mind
for four years.
He stared at the ceiling at night and
imagined playing those chords on a
guitar with a broken string.
Joanie has a neat haircut. I like it a
lot. It's really long in back and spiky
and short on top and in front. I went
through her records. She's got a Barry
Manilow album she refers to as a "jazz
record. She tells me the Ramones are
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ugly times of Punk
untalented.
"Jazz," she says, "I really like jazz."
She sings a few verses of "October"
by Manilow.
Joanie has a neat haircut.
"1-2-3-4!"
' Punk heard it in his head. He woke
up sweating and pulled at his plain
white T-shirt. It was soaked. It was so
hot he ripped holes in the knees of his
pants.
"1-2-3-4!"
Quick and fast, over and over again.
Leather jackets and torn blue jeans.
White high-top tennis shoes. Punk
couldn't figure out where it came from,
charging chords from nowhere. Some
times when he awoke from his endless
stream of nightmarish visions, he found
blisters on his palms and fingers.
Here come the critics. Wagner's
"Flight of the Valkyries" is playing. The
critics are marching, singing, "Art, art,
art, art . . ." Under their arms they
carry The Book of Rules and the Ten
Commandments of Love.
There was a Fender Mustang in the
window of Dick's Pawn Shop. Punk
looked at it for a long time. There were
no strings on it. When Dick wasn't look
ing, Punk grabbed the neck of the
beast and ran like hell.
He stole a chord from The Star City
Players during their break at the Royal
Grove. He paid for a Peavey amplifier
with a bad check, wrote another one to
an acquitance for a Volkswagen, and
drove to Los Angeles.
It was like the big reform school in
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The Island Of Misfit Toys
the sky. It was 1976. He bought strings
for his guitar in 1977.
In New York City, at the Chelsea
Hotel, the love affair of this century
began. Forget King Edward VIII and
Miss Wallace Simpson. Forget Charles
and Di. Sid Vicious and his true love
Nancy Spungeon knew what romance
was about. Never has the link between
passion, sex, love and the great abyss
been illustrated more picturesquely.
Love in the place of black-and-white
food. Love in leather. Love in a death
mask.
Once you've got martyrs, the music
is old hat. Punk is sitting on the bench,
reading SPIN magazine. He's drinking
a wine cooler, but he hates it.
Punk gets up, brushes the sand off of
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Jagg rocks midnight
The midnight hour will be rocked
in tonight by Jagg, a four-member
Lincoln band.
Jagg will play in the Centennial
Room of the Nebraska Union from
midnight to 2 a.m. as part of the
University Program Council's Wal
purgisnacht festivities.
According to Jagg's lead vocalist,
Tommy Roth, the band plays a wide
variety of cover songs and a few orig
inals as well.
"The hardest thing we play is
probably Led Zeppelin, and then at
the other end of the spectrum, we
insist
'1
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Paul VonderlageDaily Nebraskan
Rock
his pants and puts his hands deep into
his pockets. His fingers play in the coil
of his new guitar strings.
The other day I saw the Finnsters
playing behind a hedge outside Love
Library. I guess they're playing in
all the rooms for Walpurgisnacht at the
same time. They were playing in the
Harper Residence Hall bathroom the
other night, too. Once I was watching
them at Chesterfield's and a friend of
mine said he saw them standing out
side the union at the same time. I
couldn't have been true, of course.
Punk looks at the blisters on his
hands.
"1-2-3-4!"
He guesses he wasted that money he
paid out for an exorcist.
play some REM," Roth said.
Jagg has been together since late
spring of last year, but really got
serious last summer.
The lineup includes Jim Beavers
on lead guitar, Matt Gauthier on
drums, Bob Kennedy on bass and
Roth on vocals.
"The most unique thing about
the band is that there are only three
instruments, no keyboards or a
second guitarist," said Roth. "We fill
things out uniquely and are very
innovative with our cover arrangements."