Friday, October 10, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
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Courtesy of IRS Records
REM, one of the most talked-about bands, plays tonight at Pershing.
Youprobably already know this, butR.E.M. is in Lincoln
Mo plays PersMmg toiiigM
Preview by Stew Magnuson
Staff Reporter
I don't know why I should bother
doing a concert preview for R.E.M. A
concert preview should do two things:
it should get the word out about a
band's concert and it should inform the
uninformed of what the band is all
Concert Preview
about. But I sincerely doubt there is
one person in a 100-mile radius of Lin
coln who cares about alternative music
and who doesn't know what kind of
music R.E.M. plays or who doesn't real
ize the band is playing tonight at 8:30
p.m. at Pershing Auditorium.
Sometimes a concert preview in
cludes an interview with the band, but
interviewing anyone but the bassist or
drummer is nearly impossible, and it's
been done too often. No one gets an
interview from singerlyricist Michael
Stipe unless he's a reporter from Rol
ling Stone or Spin Magazine, and even
he doesn't get many words out of the
singer.
As far as alternative music bands go,
R.E.M. is probably the most written
about band in American music. So
what can I say that isn't rehashing last
month's SpinRolling Stone interview?
All I have is some jumbled thoughts
and an opinion or two.
First, an official rumor. My room
mate's brother, who goes to school in
Indiana, saw R.E.M. about three weeks
ago. They allegedly didn't play any
songs from "Chronic Town" or "Mur
mur." "I have a -friend who got very drunk
before an R.E.M. concert. She got up on
a chair to dance during "Seven Chinese
Brothers," slipped off, hit her head and
got a concussion.
R.E.M. stands for Red Eye Make-up.
R.E.M. is the favorite band of U2's
Bono.
In 1986, R.E.M. sold more albums
than Elvis, the Beatles and Box Car
Willy.
On July 29, 1985, 1 was in Edenburgh,
Scotland. A week earlier in Munich, I
found out that R.E.M. would be making
a short tour of England, so I slowly
made my way up to gloomy north Bri
tain. I was afraid I'd by the only person
at the concert. I didn't think too many
fellow American tourists would know
about the concert, and it seems British
music fans have strong prejudices
against American music.
When I got to the line, there were 12
people waiting to get in, all Ameri
cans and one Scot. One girl from Loui
siana, even dragged her parents all the
way from Vienna just to see the band.
I'm lucky I saw R.E.M. in a small,
intimate club, a forum the band will
never return to in the United States.
The concert went something like
this: Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike
Mills came out and picked up their
instruments on a dark stage. Buck hit
the first eerie not es of "Gravity's Pull."
A man I didn't recognize walked across
the stage and grabbed the microphone.
I thought he was a roadie, but, in fact, it
was Stipe with a new crew cut, his long,
stringy hair missing. I didn't recognize
him until he picked up the mike and
started singingmumbling.
The crowd included lots of R.E.M.
fanatics from Scotland, after all a
crazed group was jammed up against
the stage screaming out names of songs
I'il never even heard of. The crowd was
intense. The music was beautiful. It
was the greatest concert I've ever seen.
I've never really cared about what
Stipe's lyrics were or meant. For me,
his voice is an instrument, and his
garbled words and voice are part of a
greater whole. They interweave with
Buck's guitar to create moods and
thoughts without the benefit of exact
meaning.
One of my favorite R.E.M. songs is
"Khoutek," from last year's "Fables of
the Reconstruction." 1 can't under
stand a word Stipe sings, but I know
it's about lost love, and that's all that
matters. When I hear the song "Box
cars," I think of Omaha. I don't know
why, I just do.
R.E.M. plays at 8:30 p.m. in Pershing
Auditorium.
But you probably already knew that,
didn't you?
Entertainment Letter
Professor says films serious fun
I always enjoy reading Dave Meile's
column in the DN, but I'd like to add a
few thoughts about the pleasures of
late night movie viewing. Dave is quite
right in singling out such gems as
"Monster on the Campus" and "House
of Dracula" as worth watching andor
taping, but they're really only part of
the whole picture. For example, right
before "Monster" was a great little Ray
Milland film entitled "So Evil My Love,"
directed by Lewis Allen, who did the
fine horror film "The Uninvited" in
1945, still one of the screen's best
ghost stories. Why not tape "So Evil My
Love" and "Monster on Campus," and
enjoy them both with breakfast coffee
the next morning? Really, if you set
your VCR on WOWT (Ch.6) from 1 a.m.
to 7 a.m. any Friday or Saturday, you'll
usually wind up with two or three old
masterpieces the next morning to
entertain you when the TV offers nothing
but "Big Valley" reruns.
Another point is that although I
enjoy horrorfantasy films as much if
not more than the next person, I like to
take my films a tad more seriously than
Dave does in his column. Now, Dave
'and I have corresponded, and I've been
a guest on his radio show, and I really
don't want to quibble with his approach
to old movies. But it seems to me that a
film like "House of Dracula" is not only
fun, but it's a good film on its own
terms and turf. Certainly John Carra
dine gives an excellent performance as
the Count in that film, and Onslow
Stevens does yeoman service as the
stock Mad Scientist. Both actors per
form above and beyond the require
ments of any routine "programmer."
Dave's column is important to me
because at least he discusses some of
the films available on late night TV. But
really, if you're watching "The Mummy"
or "The Abominable Snowman of the
Himalayas," why not try "Death Takes a
Holiday," "The Scarlet Empress,"
"Public Enemy," "Secrets of Scotland
Yard," "The Big Clock" and lots of the
other stuff that runs in the graveyard
slot. Most of it is entertaining; much of
it is great. As they say in New York,
"Check it out.!"
Wheeler Dixon
film studies
Department of English
Contemporary Christian
Reck Music
7:00 PM October 13, 1986
Fremont City Auditorium
9th & Broad St Fremont, NE
Advance Tickets Available at Maranatha Bookstore
70th & VineLincoln
$6 (balcony) $8 (main floor) $7 & $9 at the door
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322 SOUTH 9T2 STKEET,
LINCOLN, NE 68508-476-3551
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