Page 12
Oaily Nebraskan
Friday, February 13, 1987
MIL
A
By Charles Lieurance
Senior Reporter
You're slowly cruising through the
spring nightf the fins on Ihe
JL Chrysler gleaming, the top down,
the dashboard glowing a sort of space-
age green and some kind of primal
chemistry going on between the driver's
seat and the passenger seat, when the
voice of the AM DJ bards, ". . . this is
goin' out to Suzi from Ernie who
knaws 'True Love's Ways'." Buddy
Holly begins to croon and the chemistry
in the Chrysler, at first just a purr, revs
into adolescent fibrillation.
But these were other days, tinted in
amber and warm neon, when AM catered
to teen-age infatuation the way shoe
shine boys cater to movie stars.
Gary Stone, program director for
KLMS radio in Lincoln, said AM
dedications still hold a fascination for
their audience, even in the age of
static-free, shimmering FM.
"AM is still very romantic for dedi
cations, and we get a fair amount on
holidays like Valentine's Day," Stone
said. "Most people who are dedicating
grew up on classic AM."
Classic AM
And classic AM is what KLMS is all
about, where you can still get the DJ to
spin Frankie Valli's "My Eyes Adore
You" or the Platters' 'The Great
Pretender."
FM, however, is not entirely cynical
about love and romance. Tracy Johnson,
KFRX program manager, said the
station's most popular program is the
Sunday dedication show. On the pro
gram, DJ Dean Lambert acts as love's
middle man from 10 p.m. to midnight,
Longshoremen, "Walk the
Plank" (Subterranean Records)
It's no exaggeration to say that some
of the oddest, most refreshing sounds
in alternative music today emanate
from Tony Bennett's heartthrob, San
Francisco. Omaha natives and Subter
ranean alumni the Muskrats are crea
ting folk music that would make Peter,
Paul and Mary jump the next Mandala
out of town. Camper Van Beethoven,
immigrants from Kedlands, Calif.,
blends pseudo-Slavic ethnic music and
psychedelic folk. Bardo, S.F. native,
performs a gypsyEddie Cochran syn
thesis that boggles the neurons, and
the White Fronts record blissful lessons
in what you can do with a four-track
recording device, a mind-altering sub
stance and a fuzztone guitar pedal in
the privacy of your own home.
Longshoremen are basically free-
form experimental poetry readers,
doing rhythmic performance pieces
with occasional, very primitive, instru-
mental interjections. Despite the
gender-specific name, two of the three
Longshoremen are women Carol
Deitweiler and Judy Gittelsohn, who
provide rhythmic repetitions to lead
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trying to get in as many of the 300 to
400 requests received during the week
by phone and mail.
"We chose Sunday night because it's
& traditional "dead night for radio.
Usually people stick to TV on Sundays,"
Stone said. "We hoped this would get
people's attention off the tube. And it
worked."
Stone said the most-dedicated songs
4 AM is still very
romantic for
dedications and we
get a fair amount on
holidays like
Valentine's Day.
Stone
have been love ballads like Madonna's
"Crazy for You," Lionel Richie and
Diana Ross's "Endless Love" and
Chicago's "You're the Inspiration."
Lambert, KFRX's voice of love, says
it's his favorite time on the air.
"For one thing, I get to talk, and I
love that. For another, I'm not forced to
stay within the usual radio format,"
Lambert said.
Lambert said most of the dedications
are guy to girl and "contrary to popular
belief, most are over 18 years old."
"A lot of the dedications are to or
from girlfriends college kids left
behind," Lambert said. "Plus we get a
lot of mail from the prison."
Lambert said he took a dedication .
vocalist Dog's readings of Dave Swan's
poetry pieces. The women act as a cross
between the Supremes and Laurie
Anderson.
The pieces vacillate between the
bizarre, the demented and the jubilant.
The first work, "The Pit," is a paranoid
rambling by a gas-station attendant
that should keep those already half-
paralyzed by urban angst out of the
gas-station full-service lanes for good.
Our narrator is a "greasy mechanic"
who wants to hide in your trunk with
the spare tire and follow you home.
Dog's reading is frighteningly deadpan.
"Locomotive" is the most tradition
ally "musical" cut on the album, a sort
of zydeco dance tune without the
traditional instrumentation. Dog, Judy
and Carol do a fine job of creating the
rhythm and the Cajun mood sans
accordion and washboard.
If just plain demented fun isn't your
idea of poetry reading, the Longshore-
men turn in one menacing serious
piece on the next side, a rereading of
Nietzche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra"
(the Reader's Digest condensed version)
which Gary Blaise provides subdued
harpsichord in the background.
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from one prisoner who wanted to tell
his wife and family how much he'd
screwed things up and how sorry he
Brian MaryDaily Nebraskan
Each piece is rendered with an ear
for variety, so this experiment doesn't
get as lifeless as similar stuff like
the John Giorno Dial-a-Poet record
series. As vinyl oddities go, this one
actually holds up for more than one
listening.
Album courtesy of Pickles
Records and Tapes
Charles Lieurance
Peter, Paul and Mary, "No Easy
Walk to Freedom" (Gold Castle)
In the mid-'GOs, folk music splintered
into at least three distinct subgenres
(even excluding such mutants as Dylan
and Simon and Garfunkel). There were
the traditionalists, the senior of whom
was Pete Seger. There were the activists,
typified by Joan Baez. There were the
popsters, the most popular of which
was Peter, Paul and Mary.
"No Easy Walk to Freedom," PP&M's
first new record in nine years, seems to
be an attempt to emphasize the political
over the popular. The cover photo
shows Peter, Paul and Mary being
arrested at the South African Embassy.
This album, if I can be a bit cynical
without casting aspersions on the
See REVIEW DOAF1D on 13
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was. When he got out of prison a few
months later on good behavior, the
couple stayed together,
"The guy bought me a box of
doughnuts because he said the dedi
cation saved his relationship," Lambert
said.
FM giveaways
Some FM stations have traded in the
simplicity of the love dedication for the
upscale giveaway. KFMQ, for instance,
is giving away a night on the town,
flowers and cash for Valentine's Day.
"There just isn't a great demand for
the dedication here,". said KFMQ DJ
BobAlleh."Theyjustservesuchasmall
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portion of the audience basically
just one person, It's not a big vehicle."
"It makes more people mad than
happy, because we can't get to all the
dedications," Allen said.
: As you're cruising through the spring
night with the back-window brake light
on your Ppntiac Fiero gleaming and the
light-emitting diodes on your dashboard
telling you your latitude, the time and
how many inches are being worn off
your tire tread, and you need somethig
to pick up the chemistry a bit, there are
still some DJs out there waiting for
your call to transform the purr' to
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