Friday, August 29, 1986
Page 8
Daily Nebraskan
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State Fair has something
for every musical taste
By Geoff McMurtry
Staff Reporter
Photo courtesy of North Carolina Dance Theater
Kimball's season abounds with the arts.
Sea
son debuts
Sept. 21
By Kim E. Karloff
Staff Reporter
Are you mystified by Mozart, too
timid to try theater and virtually morti
fied by the mere mention of post
modern ballet?
Well, cower in the back of the recital
hall no longer, the 1986-87 UNL Per
formance Series at Kimball Hall will
cure your fears.
"We're doing some new things this
season," said Kit Voorhees, director of
audience development at Kimball Rec
ital Hall.
Voorhees said these new things
include an attempt to "demystify the
arts."
Pre-preformance talks by the per
forming artists, for example, are sche
duled throughout the season allow
ing audience members to see, hear and
question the experts. The talks will
last about 30 minutes before the per
formances, with a 15-minute break for
both artists' and audience members
before the curtain rises, Voorhees said.
The 1986-87 Performance Series also
offers UNL students half-price tickets.
To lessen costs further, students
may apply to be ushers at Kimball Hall.
For more information, call the Kimball
Box Office at 472-3375.
"The Performance Series is for stu
dents first," Voorhees said, ". . .that's
what Kimball is about."
From ushering in the theater to
actually selecting events in the series,
students are involved totally, Voorhees
said.
The 1986-87 season will open at 8
p.m. Sept. 21, with jazz vocalists "Rare
Silk." The three women, one man and a
back-up trio hit the year-end Billboard
charts with a top jazz album, "Ameri
can Eye." The group's contemporary
jazz sounds and approach appeal to a
wide audience.
Noel Cowards' comedy, "Fallen An
gels," will be performed Oct. 3 by the
Missouri Repertory Theatre. In the
play, two wild and witty wives tip
champagne while their husbands golf.
They are waiting for a visit from Mau
rice, their former French lover. The
husbands come home late, Maurice
arrives early and a comedic perfor
mance ensues.
On Oct. 12 Dutch soprano Elly Amel
ing will perform everything from Satie
and Poulenc to Gershwin and Ellington
in her caberet show.
The Lucinda Childs Dance Company
will be at Kimball Oct. 16. Childs' per
formance and choreography may best
be remembered in the Robert Wilson
Phillip Glass opera, "Einstein on the
Beach."
The Preservation Band billing them
selves as the "happiest show in the
world," will visit Lincoln for two shows
on Oct. 19. Charles Rosen will be at the
piano keyboards in a concert on Oct.
23.
On Oct. 26, 4 plus 1 equals magic.
When you do math like that, it can only
add up to the Cleveland Quartet and
Emanuel Ax. Pianist Ax joins the string
quartet in an evening of classical
artistry.
Zoe Caldwell captures playwright
Lillian Hellman in "Lillian" on Oct. 28.
Straight off Broadway, Caldwell per
forms an absolutely riveting one-woman
show about one of the unforgettable
figures of our time.
In November, the North Carolina
Dance Theater with their classic mod
ern ballet, will perform on Nov. 1 and 2.
A special event titled "Look, See,
Feel, Dance!" has also been scheduled
for Nov. 2. The dancers will take you on
a tour at the Sheldon Memorial Art
Gallery and tell you what they see in
the arts, and the artists will tell you
what they see in the dance. A one-hour
mini-performance will follow at Kim
ball Hall.
Another new thing this season is the
Saloon Seminars, Voorhees said.
The first one will be held at 8:30 p.m.
Nov. 5 at McGuffey's, 11th and P
streets. This free companion event with
"Man of La Mancha" will feature pro
ducer Charles Jones and director Carl
Beck in an interview with Cervantes.
Based on the legend of Don Quixote,
the Nebraska Theater . Caravan will
present "Man of La Mancha" on Nov. 8
and 9.
The final performance in the fall
semester will involve the Negro En
semble Company Inc. from New York.
Set in Harlem in the 1950s, "Ceremo
nies in Dark Old Men" is a funny and
touching classic performed by Ameri
ca's premier black theater.
Looking forward to 1987, legendary
modern danceman Merce Cunningham
will be in Lincoln (he also will be part
of a Saloon Seminar in March), the zany
Pilobolus Dance Theatre will return,
the Guthrie Theater will perform George
Bernard Shaw's "Candida" The Empire
Brass, Kronos Quartet, Bob Florence's
Limited Edition big band jazz, The
Franz Liszt Orchestra of Budapest and
guitarist Alexandre Lagoya are all on
tap to finish out the season.
"It's such a good series," Voorhees,
said.
It's so good you probably won't
even be tempted to sit in the back.
After all, front-row seats are available.
All performances are at Kimball
Hall, 1 1th and R streets, unless other
wise noted. For tickets or more infor
mation, contact the Kimball Box Office,
113 Westbrook Music Building.
Get the car! Pack the kids! Oboy
obovoboy, it's State Fair time again!
Cotton candy, freak shows, huge rides,
lots of animals and -a ferris wheel that
you can see all the way to the Capitol
building from. Maybe farther. Please
Mommy please, can we go on one more
ride?
Yes, kids, it's State Fair time again,
and whatever age you may be, there's
probably something there for you. From
exhibits to events, carnivals to cano
pies, the Nebraska State Fair has all
Mr attractions of a, well, a State Fair.
Mist three paper-thin dollars you
t an be a part of the sights and
s ils of Lincoln's (and Nebraska's)
1. :st annual event.
seated on the state fairgrounds just
north of and including the Devaney
Sports Center, the State Fair offers an
assortment of attractions for kids,
adults, adults who'd rather be kids,
and kids who'd rather be adults. But
just in case hot dogs, tractor pulls,
carnival barkers and giant cucumbers
aren't enough to hold your interest,
there is a schedule of added attrac
tions and events at the Sports Center
nearly every night.
Running from today to Sunday, Sept.
7, the festivities get underway with
world-renowned magician Doug Hen
ning. A veteran of several TV specials,
Henning's magic features spectacular
effects and death-defying illusions, with
an emphasis on glamour and surprise.
Henning brings his Evening of Magic
and Wonder to the Fair tonight.
Saturday features rising pop group
Mr. Mister, whose hits include
"Broken Wing," "Kyrie" and "Is It
Love." And yes, the rumor is true. The
guitar player, Steve Farris, is from Fre
mont. Opening the show will be the
Bangles, a promising young band from
L.A., who have the hits, "Manic Mon
day," "If She Knew What She Wants"
and "Coin' Down to Liverpool" among
their credits.
Amy Grant will be headlining tin.
Sunday show, which features Gary
Chapman and opening act, These Three,
Grant is part of a growing new collec
tion of Christian rock and pop stars,
and one of the few to have made a dent
on the maintstream record charts. Hits
include "Love Will Find A Way."
This is, of course, the age of reunions
and revivals, so Monday's show is Dick
Fox's Golden Boys of Bandstand, star
ring '50s and '60s teen heartthrobs
Frank ie Avalon, Fabian and Bobby
Rydell. Hits include. . .aw, ask your
parents.
Fans of big band swing will be
rewarded on Wednesday, with the one
and only Tommy Dorsey Orchestra,
conducted by Buddy Morrow, along
with guests the Pied Pipers.
The next few nights feature a slew of
past country music entertainer, band
or group of the year winners. Thursday
has Alabama. Friday has the Oak Ridge
Boys and Exile, and Saturday is reserved
for the esteemed Willie Nelson and
family. "On the Road Again," "Blue
Eyes Cryin' In The Rain," and "My
Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" are
just a fraction of an enduring list of
country classics Nelson has piled up
over the years.
It must inevitably all come to an
end, but Sunday, Sept. 7, marks the
return of Stevie Wonder to the stage for
his first tour in several years. His string
of hits began with Motown back in the
diaper years with "Everybody Say Yeah"
and "Superstition," "Uptight, Outta
sight," and "Mon Cherie Amour," among
several others.
So there you have it. You've got to
like one of those, right? For ticket
information and show times, call 473
4105 or stop by the ticket office in the
State Fair Administration Building
weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Pink Floyd influence
Queensryche Js newest
rocks against nukes
Welsch's newest offering falls flat;
reviewer says to ignore this one
By Chris McCubbin
Senior Reporter
"You Know You're A Husker
. . ." by Roger Welsch and
Paul Fell (Plains Heritage)
Book Review
This is Welsch and Fell's second
cartoon book by, for and about
Nebraskans. Their first effort, "You
Know You're a Nebraskan," was a
likeable little book. It wasn't out
rageously funny, but its observa
tions about the weather and the
farm mentality were charming, often
amusing and occasionally quite
telling.
This book is a big step down.
"You Know You're A Husker. . ." is
an ad-hoc collection of hyperbole,
absurdity and cliche that goes no
where and says nothing.
The big problem here is that
Welsch and Fell are too good at
observing human nature to fail to
see that the average football fanatic
(or at last his stereotyped image) is
a narrow-minded, slovenly, annoy
ing and rather pathetic entity. But
instead of exposing these obnox
ious critters for what they are,
Welsch and Fell play up to them.
What you're left with is a book for
morons and illiterates designed to
congratulate them for being morons
and illiterates.
Level of humon "You know you're
a Husker when you hate commies
most of all because they stole your
color." Yuk, yuk, yuk. Anybody who
finds this funny deserves to spend
$4.95 on this book.
There are people who might enjoy
this book, but none of them would
have made it this far into this
review. They would have dropped
out no later than the word, "hyper
bole." For those of you who remain,
give it a miss.
Queensryche, "Rage For Or
der" EMI Records.
Clearly one of heavy metal's most
unique bands, Queensryche has put
together one of this year's most inter
esting albums. This quintet from Bel
levue, Wash., has strung together a col
lection of songs that has incredible
tempo and theme changes and catchy
hooks that lend a new meaning to the
phrase, "heavy metal."
Heavy Metal
Some of their songs deal with the
possibilities of nuclear war and how to
stop it. If the message of "Surgical
Strike," and "Chemical Youth (We Are
Rebellion)" remind you of Ozzy Os
bourne's latest, it is necessary to tell
you that Queensryche actually beat
Ozzy to the anti-nuclear bandwagon
with songs on the same subject almost
two years before His Ozzness.
Other songs here are related to the
theme of technological indoctrination
vs. human emotion, as in "I Dream In
Infrared," and "Screaming In Digital."
The rest are love songs structured to
showcase vocalist Geoff Tate's in
credible range check out "Walk In
The Shadows."
There is a powerful Floyd influence
here. Strange background sounds and
voice and the way the songs flow
together make this unmistakably ob
vious. One song, "Neue Regel," sounds
much like Floyd's "Waiting for the
Worms." But the influence is success
ful on this record and not an all-out
theft of Pink Floyd ideas.
Twin ax-slingers Chris Defarmo and
Michael Wilton effectively blend their
guitars together when playing either
electric or acoustic. Eddie Jackson's
bass gives the band the rhythm it needs
to experiment successfully with a var
iety of sounds.
'Rage For Order," has the ingre
dients to get Queensryche some much
deserved attention. If you're a metal
fan who'd like to see some intelligence
injected into this musical vein, then
this album is for you.
Rodney Root
David Lee Roth, "Eat 'Em and
Smile" (Warner Bros. Records)
Roth's solo LP is better than aver
age, but it has its drawbacks.
One one side, there is the great asset
of having one of the best guitar players
around today. I'm talking about ex
Alcatraz member Steve Vai. Vai's phen
omenal playing seems to carry some of
the songs on the album when Roth's
vocals alone just won't do it. I would
have to say that he plays just about as
well as David's former sidekick, Eddie
Van Halen.
On the minus side, some of the songs
on the album seem slow and boring no
matter how hard Steve Vai works. Take
the song, "Big Trouble," for instance. A
lot of the time it seems like Dave is
singing the same notes over and over
with the same monotone voice. t)
The best songs are "Yankee Rose,
"Goin Crazy" and "Tobacco Road,
which are receiving FM air play. They
are probably the same ones you will
hear if you go to Diamond Dave's con
cert in Omaha Sept. 3. However, if you
like hard-rocking music and screaming
guitars then this album probably isn't
for you. The potential is there with
Vai's guitar playing, but not with the
rest of the music. ,
Review copy courtesy of Pickles
Records and Tapes.
-Mark Waller
