Tuesday, September 9, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 9
rfis
M esrfr amment
Stevie builds momentum
A
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'7 I
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1
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Andrea HoyDaily Nebraskan
Joseph Hayman, middle, and David Hrdy work to convince Sidney Warner, left, to buy "No Big
Red" button or bumper sticker in front of the Nebraska Union Monday.
Students sell 6No Big Eed9
Buttons and bumper stickers must-haves for the fed-up
By Ken DiMaggio
Staff Reporter
"I saw 4No Big Red' written on a
bathroom wall in Nebraska Hall, and I
liked it," said Joseph Hayman, 23, a
junior in English from Annapolis, Md.
And with David Hrdy, 21, a junior pre
dentistry major from Sioux City, Iowa,
the two marketed their own bumper
stickers and buttons that read, "No Big
Red."
Getting the idea was easy. Finding
out about trademarks, copyrights and
marketing procedures was not, they
said.
"I talked with four people from the
Library of Congress in Washington, and
they couldn't tell me if our idea was a
trademark or copyright," Hayman said.
"I contacted a few state offices, and
they told me to go to the patent office
at UNL," Hayman said.
The patent office, which Hayman
said primarily secures patents for in
ventions and. ideas produced in the
I N L engineering departments, provided
free research for their product.
"They gave us a printout with about
100 variations on 'Big Red,' " Hayman
said.
"But there was no 'No Big Red'
listed."
Hayman and Hrdy still haven't secured
Progressive view of the past
Looking back to R
Editor's note: "Progressive"
has always been a catchword
among serious music lovers. It
is undeniable that the art of
music must always move forward,
and it is certainty true that when
music is controlled or constrain
ed by the past, it Is both sad and
ridiculous.
Backtracks
But being progressive does
not mean that the past must be
thown away, put down, or ig
nored. The greatest cities are
built on the ruins of other great
cities, and the cutting edge is
useless without the weight of
the rest of the blade behind it.
"Backtracks" is a new, irreg
ularly appearing feature. "Back
tracks" will look at the great
albums of the past, from the
in
VJ4 V
.v. .
a copyright or trademark for their pro
duct, but they are talking with an
attorney about registering their idea.
In the meantime, Hayman and Hrdy
already have had 600 buttons and 158
bumper stickers made up.
The bumper stickers and paper
printouts for the bottons were made at
Lancaster House Printing and Publish
ing. The metal base and plastic to seal
the printouts were bought at Boomer's
Printing Co. A friend provided the
machine that laminated the printouts
to the buttons and he helped with the
labor.
So far, Hayman and Hrdy have invested
$180 into the project. And while sales
to the few Florida State fans at Satur
day's game were meager, it was an
interesting experience for Hayman.
"It was a line of red for 80 minutes,"
Hayman said about standing in front of
Richards Hall with about 60 other
vendors before Saturday's game with
his 'No Big Red' paraphenalia.
"For about 80 minutes," Hayman
said, "about 1,000 people walked by,
and about 500 of them said, 'No Big
Red?' and I said, 'For a dollar.' "
While Hayman did not get oranges
thrown at him as he expected, he did
receive some minbr harrassnient.
"Several elderly couples just walked
right up to me; looked at me and my
classics to the historically in
teresting to the tragically ig
nored, from many eras and
decades, from all styles and
genres.
The Rolling Stones, "Exile on
Main Street," Atlantic
Hundreds of rock critics feel really,
really silly about this album now.
"Exile on Main Street" has become a
sort of reverse "Sergeant Pepper." When
"Exile" came out it was panned.
"Overblown," "self-indulgent," "direc
tionless" Almost everybody said this
was the Stone's worst album ever,
These days most people will say it's
the best Stones album' ever. "A clas
sic," "one of the most significant records
of the last 20 years "and, in some dark,
secret closets the words "greatest rock
n' roll album of all time" have even
been overheard, furtively whispered in
the night. .
"Exile," like rock 'n' roll itself, js a
chaotic, nasty, powerful, scary con
glomeration of every kind of American
jk. - .. .. m
it
7 JYf
n
stickers and buttons, and tried to stare
me down," Hayman said. "I also got a
couple dozen variations of, 'go to hell,
pal."'
David Hrdy received similar verbal
abuse when he told a stranger at a bar
about their project.
"1 told this guy in O'Rourke's about
our idea," Hrdy said.
"The next thing he said was, 'I'm an
alumnus, I drove 400 miles for this, and
you're lucky Nebraskans like me aren't
violent people, and you're lucky you
don't get your head beat in.' "
For both Hrdy and Hayman, the pro
ject has been a learning experience.
They have plans to print their logo on
T-shirts, pens and hats, and sell them
to all of the Big 8 schools. Hrdy has
already contacted the bookstore at
Iowa State University at Ames about
stocking their buttons and bumper
stickers.
Although Nebraska's first football
game is over, Hayman has had several
students ask about his bumper stickers
and buttons and buy them.
"I made three sales while watching
television in Neihardt Hall," Hayman
said. "And I made a sale to one guy who
came back a minute later and yelled,
'What the hell is this, 'No Big Red?' I
thought it said, Go Big Red!"' ;
folk music the last two centurys have
given us. Country, blues (Chicago and
delta), Dixieland, boogie-woogie, R&B,
it's all there. All of it.
And that was the problem. Back in
the early '70s a band, especially a band
as firmly entrenched in the music
scene as the Stones, was supposed to
have a single sound that they did better ,
than anybody else. Artistic unity was
very big in the 70s, Experimentation
was not.
"What are the Stones trying to do:
here?- people asked. The answer was
"everything," but they weren't ready
for that in 72, -:. r::
" When - the alburn came out they
called U overproduced. In ...these days
of industrial noise and synthesized
s! indulgence that becomes funny.
The steel guitar, blues harp, pianos, ...
brass and other 100 percent natural
ingredients that spice up "Exile" give
the album an all-encompassiung den
seness that never becomes claustro
phobic or overwhelming.
oiling
By Stew Mangnuson
"Staff Reporter
So there I sat in my nose-bleed
seat at the Stevie Wonder concert,
desperately trying to send telepa
thic messages to Stevie, psychically
begging him to "please, please play
some of your old stuff." The concert
started grinding to a halt. The
ushers in red and white stripes laid
down the rules, "No dancing! No
toe-tapping, no pictures, and no fun
allowed!" And if anyone tried any
thing funny, they had the big goons
dressed in blue, carrying billy clubs
ensuring no one got out of line.
Concert Review
Meanwhile, Stevie, dressed in
shiny silver from head to toe, sat at
the keyboard, playing some of his
new, boring songs. In my opinion,
Wonder hasn't written a worth while
song since "Sir Duke." Stevie teased
me earlier with his wonderful
"Higher Ground" from 1973, but he
quickly retreated back to the new.
junk.
What this concert needs is a real
horn section, I thought, not some
guy playing the synthesizer, making
fake saxophone sounds. What this
concert needs is someone to crank
up the revolving stage to about 55
mph during those slow, agonizing
ballads that make Barry Manilow
seem like a rock 'n' roller. I'm sorry!
I just can't get into a concert sitting
down in those red plastic seats at
Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Why is it Nebraska never gets the
living legends and super stars until
ten years past their prime? I moan.
Then when they do come to Nebra
ska, it's always on a Sunday night.
But waitt What's this? Stevie
actually broke into a classic, "Mon
Cherie Amour," and some dance
crazed radicals in Section C6 climb
ed into the empty rafters and started
swaying and clapping their hands to
the beat! Then Stevie and his five
piece band picked things up with
"Uptight(Everything is All Right),"
and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered."
The dancing spread into Section C7
and CI 3.
By the time Stevie got to his cover
of the Isely Brothers "Shout," I was
hopping around with the dancers in
C 13.1 looked down on the crowd
sitting on their rumps while Stevie
played "Livin For the City." They
can all sit and just tap their toes for
all I care.
After "Livin For the City," Stevie
disappeared down a hole and the
house lights went up.
Stones and Aerosmith
This album opened up the door for
the new eclectic bands that are so
important to music right now. Camper
Van Beethovan could never have existed
without this album. The Replacements
have been trying to make "Exile on
Main Street" for the last five years.
This is the most sincere album the
Stones ever made. Maybe the only sin
cere album the Stones ever made.
Whether the Stones hang on, or die, or
just fade away, this album proves that,
at least for a while, they were true ,
masters of the music they've loved for
so long.
Chris McCubbin
Aerosmith,
Columbia
'Greatest Hits,'
KEM, Let's Aetive, The Smiths. Way
in, Way out, Bitchin', Happenin'. All I
hear these days is "psychedelic paisley
soul folk music." It makes me sick.
Just try to describe it ah, well, it's
not new wave, it's kind of, ah, some
thing. . . Every "new" band these days
"There will be a brief intermis
sion," a voice announced. Sure, if
you consider a half-hour brief. I
don't. And just when I was getting
excited.
Eventually, Stevie returned, play
ing some heavy funk with a line of
African dancers in multi-colored
robes a rousing beginning for one
of the most boring sets of music I've
ever heard. Sir Wonder soon lapsed
into a bunch of slow, unremarkable
songs, none of which I recognize,
only pausing to int roduce the band
members, giving hometown and their
astrological signs. Boring, boring,
boring. If he plays "I Just Called to
Say I Love You," I'm either going to
puke or get up and go get some
popcorn.
Wonder started in on a long foray
into weird synthsizer noises and a
jazz number with his harmonica and
piano. By that time Section Cli, (7
and CI 3 are all back sitting on their
behinds. One girl gets up to dance.
"Come on," she yells at the
lethargic crowd. "Aren't you people
into jazz?"
"No, we're not," seems to be the
reply.
But things have to pick up. A
pattern emerges.
Stevie has to group things, ap
parently. First the boring songs,
then the classics the only reason
why I wanted to see the one-time
12-year-old genius and now newly
appointed admiral of the Nebraska
Navy. Finally, "Sir Duke," with syn
thesized horn-like sounds, "You Are
the Sunshine of My Life," and
"Superstition."
By the time Wonder gets around
to the inevitable "I Just Called to
Say 1 Love You," and "Part-time
Lover," the crowd is going wild and
dancing in the rafter resumes. Ste
vie even attempted to dance, but all
he could do was thrust his hops in
an embarrassing manner. Well, I
thought, I knew he'd have to end the
show with the two latest hits, leav
ing a bad taste in my mouth.
But I was wrong. Instead, Wonder
ended the show with a powerful
birthday song for Martin Luther
King and a souped-up King Sunny
Ade-like anti-apartheid song, heavy
on the fun and African rhythm, from
the new album. Six dancers came
out and did a tribal dance thing in
African garb and got most people
dancing as well. I loved the song,
and I was forced to rethink what I'd
thought earlier about Wonder not
having written a decent song in 10
years.
Wonder and his band rushed off
the stage, African dancers close
behind. Since the show lasted 3 12
hours, no encore was played or
necessary.
wants to be "original" and make music
that avoids "labels." Give me Aero
smith any day.
"Aerosmith's Greatest Hits" is just
what it says. Aerosmith was, and now is
again, a great rock and roll band. Not
heavy metal, not pop rock, not dance
disco, just rock and roll. And that's very
uncommon these days. Not many bands
could put together a collection of songs
like this. "Dream On" starts the album
out right. Steven Tyler doesn't scream
oryell at his audience, he sings to them
about things he has seen. J. Perry's
guitars match Tyler's voice like none
other could, not only on "Dream On,"
but on all the tracks. "Sweet Emotion"
and "Walk This Way" back-to-back
show the variety of this band. "Sweet
Emotion" is a song that not only stays
in your head after the first exposure,
but grows on you with repeated listening.
See BACKTRACKS on 10
