Page 12
Daily Nebraskan
Friday, September 5, 1986
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Photo courtesy of Creative Concepts
Fashion victims now can get in on the latest trend:
stonewsshing one's own jeans.
Your jeans look new?
Get yourself a rock
By Julie Liska
.Staff Reporter
The beat-up, trashed out, work
look has arrived. Unfortunately, pri
ces for the trendy stonewashed denim
look leave many fashion conscious
people gasping.
In answer to the high-priced
stonewashed look, a North Carolina
based jean manufacturing company
called Creative Concepts is market
ing a stonewashing kit. With the kit,
jean wearers can flaunt personal
ized stonewashed clothing much as
people caught up in the tie-dyeing
fad did years ago.
The kit, called "The Authentic
Jeanwashing Stone," comes in a box
shaped like a washing machine, and
contains a single volcanic rock with
which the stonewashing is done. An
instruction manual is also included
in the set.
For years, stonewashing could
not be done in the home because it
was a lengthy industrial process,
said Marshall Bank, president of
Creative Concepts. Bank said the
idea for an at-home stonewashing
kit began when he gave some of his
sons' friends stones with which to
do their own denim clothing. He
said the stones went over so well
that he decided to sell them com
mercially. Banks said so far the
stones have had great success.
Banks specified that the stone
sold by his company is a special
volcanic type from the Sierra moun
tains in California. Stones of other
kinds do not react to denim fabrics
like those included in the kit, Banks
said.
Stonewashing with the kit takes
about 15 to 30 minutes. Jeans, or
any denim item, are soaked in hot
water to loosen up the fabric. Excess
water then is wrung out and the
garmet is spread out on a flat sur
face, such as a kitchen table. "The
Authentic Stone" is then used to
scrub the garmet by hand.
"The Authentic Stone" recently
arrived at local Brandeis stores and
sells for $6.
Banks said one reason for the
stones' popularity is that it allows
great individualism. The exact
amount and location of stonewash
ing can be controlled. Banks said he
knows of a sorority girl who even put
her sorority's Greek letters on her
rear end.
Comedy nights
Rockin ' at Rocky 's
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Stand-up comedians from across the
nation and the Lincoln and Omaha area
will take to the stage every Thursday
and Sunday at Rocky Rococo's, 214 N.
14th St.
Every week at 9 p.m., the restaurant
will dim its lights and turn on the mic
rophone for a three-act show, including
an opening act, feature act and a head
liner. This Sunday the bill includes
Craig Anton, T. Marni Vos and juggler
Jek Kelly.
Kelly, who says he's been juggling for
87 years, is a member of the Interna
tional Juggling Association. Kelly has
thrilled audiences all across the Uni
ted States and Canada for the past
seven years.
T. Marni Vos also has been thrilling
audiences across America by keeping
her act in Lincoln. A native of Lincoln,
Marni spent her summer performing in
clubs in Minneapolis, Kansas City and
St. Louis. Her show applies the pers
pectives of being a woman living in the
1980s, as well as topical, trivial and
trendy issues.
Free pizza will be handed out during
the show.
Because Rocky's is a pizza estab
lishment, no ID will be required the
younger college set is welcome to
check out live comics.
Cover charge is $3 per person and $5
per couple. Come early if you want a
good seat.
NDT will present award-winning play
The Nebraska Director's Theatre will
open its 1986-87 season with a presen
tation of William M. Hoffman's award
winning play, "As Is."
Proceeds from each performance
Sept. 11 through 14 and Sept. 18
through 21 will be donated to the
Nebraska AIDS Project and the Health
Concerns Committee. The play will be
presented at 8 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 1 1)
through Saturday (Sept. 13) and Sept.
18 through 20. The Sept. 14 and Sept
21 performances will be at 2 p.m. The
Nebraska Director's Theatre is at 1309
R St., below St. Mark's-On-The-Campus.
"As Is" was winner of the 1985
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding
New Play.
The play focuses on a man who con
tracts AIDS and struggles to cope with
the disease and the rejection he suffers
from family and friends.
For reservations, call 472-1610 be
tween 1 and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday. Admission is $5 for the general
public and $3 for students and senior
False Prophets, "False Pro
phets" (Alternative Tentacles
Records)
Recorded in 1984, but only recently
released, this diverse album is a chron
icle of most of this New York band's
six-year history
While False Phophets can unleash a
decent thrash attack (as in "Somebody
React"), they are not content to limit
themselves to any one musical style.
"Scorched Earth" begins with a rap
like introduction, which develops into
a fast-paced attack upon man's seem
ingly endless destruction of life on
earth. Songs like "Functional" and
"The Taxidermist" make full use of
Debra Adele's keyboard playing while
maintaining the high energy level of
typical hardcore punk songs.
With the abundance of styles on this
album, it is hard to pin down any one
influence for False Prophets. Several
songs, such as "Suburbanites Invade,"
use four or five different styles and
speeds, further complicating matters.
Suffice it to say the music on this
record is original. It is the stuff by
which others are (or should be )
influenced.
The lyrics to the fourteen songs on
this record cover a variety of personal
and social problems. Unlike many of
today's punk bands, False Prophets do
not simply rant against the system;
instead, they present problems and the
hope of solutions.
The song "Baghdad Stomp" bristles
with energy as Stephen Ieldi sings,
"In vicious circles lie hungry
wolves
Dehydrated with fear
Clinging to a well beaten path
Follow the leader cries one
And in time tens of thousands do
Tail to tail excreting on each oth
er's faces"
The music then subsides as Debra
responds,
"We can break these chains
We make them up ourselves
We make them break them make
them break them ..."
Beginning and concluding with
pointed attacks upon the religious
establishment, this album is sure to
offend some of the more devout mem
bers of the public. Have no fear, a 24
page "How to Tell A Genuine False
Prophet" booklet is enclosed.
Bryan Peterson
Sigue Sigue Sputnik, "Flaunt
It" (Capitol Records)
No big deal here. These guys are just
Kiss for the '80s. No, I mean it. You got
your weird haircuts, you got your funny
clothes. You got your Japanese monster
movie imagery. You got your spacey sci
fi origin for the band. Just like Kiss.
Only the musical cliches have been
changed to protect the profit margin.
Sigue Sigue's music is all of a piece
goofy synth-pop loaded with over
dubbed vocals, funny noises and a sin
gle raucous rock a billy guitar line. The
only song cn "Flaunt It" that stands
out at all is "Atari Baby," a rip-off of
Prince's "The Beautiful Ones" that cer
tainly qualifies under any legal defini
tion of plagiarism.
Sigue Sigue puts ads on their back
cover and between the tracks of the
album. As long as this stays an isolated
gimmick and doesn't become an industry-wide
policy, it doesn't bother
me. It's kind of a cute joke, and anyway
the "L'Oreal" ad is the album's most
interesting moment, rhythmically.
The band had to cancel a recent
British tour due to lack of interest, and
sales of "Flaunt It" here in the states
have not been spectacular. So, thank
fully, Sigue Sigue is no the wave of
rock's future. In fact, we may never
hear from them again. But since the
band got $1.5 million in advance for
this album, Sigue Sigue is crying all the
way to the bank.
The Rainmakers, "The Rain
makers" (Polygram)
This one gets my vote as unexpected
joy of the year. My first contact with the
Rainmakers was seeing their video for
"Let My People Go-Go." This is a great
rock'n'roll dance anthem with a bibli
cal theme.
Moses went up to the mountain
high,
To find out from God "Why did
you make us? Why?
Secret words in a secret room. . .
He said "Womp bob-a-lu-bop a
womp bam boom!"
When I picked up the album I was
afraid these guys were going to turn out
to be another Hooters one great
song over a pile of AOR schlock. Not so.
The Rainmakers combine clever,
topical lyrics and cheerfully energetic
riff robbery into a package that should
make everybody happy except for those
poor souls who are plugged into one
narrow musical style.
Except for the gentle stabs at reli
gion in "Go Go" this album is one of the
least likely to torque off the PMRC that
I've heard in a while. The Rainmaker's
targets include welfare bums, drug
abuse, dangerously shoddy construc
tion and public drunkenness.
Your average left-wing, free-thinking
rock'n'roller might have some prob
lems with this band's rightward lean
ings, but a political wise-ass like me,
people who think that any sort of polit
ical conviction is is a sure sign of a
seriously disturbed mind, will get a
real kick out of this album. Lots of
great rock'n'roll bands have lambasted
the political icons and sacred cows of
the right-wing. It's fun to see an intelli
gent band taking aim at what obnox
iousness lies to the left for a change.
Chris McCubbin
Belinda Carlisle, "Belinda"
(IRS Records)
The good news about this former Go
Go's vocalist's first solo album is that
she looks great on the cover. Once
plump, Belinda has evolved into a
svelte, sexy woman with a sophisti
cated aura that would certainly com
plement some intelligent, smoky mood
music. But on the LP, she comes off
sounding like an airheaded school girl.
"Mad About You," the first single, is
a perfect example of her ditsy approach
to the album. With lyrics like "I'm mad
about you, you're mad about me, babe,"
she gives the impression of a love
struck, bubble-popping pre-teen who
has just written something in her diary
that she feels is witty.
And if Belinda is trying to sound like
a bubblegum icon, she picked the right
producer. Michael Lloyd produced all
of these tracks with the same sopho
moric fervor he displayed when he
made hits for Shaun Cassidy back in
the '70s.
The problem is that all the songs
.seem to blend together into a monoto
nous, chessy drone. Even her remake of
the classic weeper "Band of Gold"
sounds flat and fatuous.
Belinda does have a melodic voice
she proved that back in her Go-Go's
said days but there's just no effort
here. Perhaps Carlisle should concen-
Run DMC, "Raising Hell" (Pro
file Records)
Rock steady, Jam-Beat, Hip-Hop,
Dub-Dub and Rap are still happening.
The focus of the New Music Seminar in
New York last July said so. The street
beat is on its feet, and at the forefront
of today's scene are the kings of rock,
Run DMC.
Run, Daryl Mac and Jam Master Jay
have unleased a monster-beat album.
They stand tall and bad, and must be
credited for resurrecting Steven Tyler
and Joe Perry from the depths of the
'70s arena-rock graveyard. This release
of "Walk This Way," is hard, tough, big
and could probably beat up your dad.
The album shows similarities to
their previous LP, "King of Rock," in
that both exhibit that heavy Marshall
guitar edge.
Run and Daryl begin side one with
"Peter Piper," a take-off on nursery
rhymes, then shift into "Tricky," which
lays out musically resembling "My
Sharona," a late '70s rocker from The
Knack.
the duo whips out some fun with "My
Adidas," "Dumb Girl," and "Illin"
tunes that shed light on what it's like
to be Rap Gods. They get serious, how
ever, with "Proud To Be Black."
Side two is just as hot and if you dig
Run DMC and Jam Master Jay, who
happens to be the disc-slappin' wizard
that glues the sound together, then
look for their hard-to-find re-mix ver
sions off this album.
The hottest rap hitting the streets,
and which is a definite buy-it-or-lose-it
is "Rock the Bell," byLL. Cool J.
This man takes all sucker emcess to
the hoop, he drives the land and
doesn't come up for air. His word cho
ice is incredible and the driving rhythm
of the bell makes him the tops in all the
land. "Mythological characters stand
below, Rock the Bell!"
