Arts & Entertainmpnt
Scholars discuss
Hispanic literature
More than 100 foreign language
scholars from colleges and universi
ties across the country will participate
in the annual Mid-American Confer
ence on Hispanic Literature Oct. 15
17 at the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln.
Catherine Nickel, conference di
rector and UNL professor of modem
languages, said the event will feature
sessions on the literature of Spain and
Central and South America.” We’ll
have sessions devoted to all aspects,
genres and periods of Hispanic litera
ture,” Nickel said.
Medieval Hispanic literature, the
Golden Age of Drama, 19th century
Spanish women writers and contem
porary Latin American authors will be
among the topics considered. The
conference w ill include presentations
of papers, foreign videotapes presen
tations and a workshop on the use of
multi-lingual word processors.
Keynote speaker for the event is
Andrew Dcbicki, acting chairman of
the Spanish and Portuguese Depart
ment at the University of Kansas.
The Mid-American Conference on
Hispanic Literature was initiated in
1984 by UNL’s College of Arts and
Sciences, Office of International Af
fairs and Department of Modem Lan
guages and Literatures. Since then,
the annual conference has been held at
the University of Kansas and the
University of Colorado at Boulder.
Washington University in St. Louis
will be the site for the 1988 confer
ence.
For more information about the
event contact Nickel at 472-3745.
UNL music prof records
organ music of Bach
By Richard Egger II
Staff Reporter_
Concert organist and University of
Nebraska-Lincoln music professor
George Ritchie believes in doing
things right.
Perfection sometimes requires
incredible steps ... even shutting
down traffic to eliminate noise.
For instance, the task of recording
the works of Bach on the organ
sounded easy enough to someone
who has played the organ for 30 years,
as Ritchie has.
However, when a large organ
could not be transported to a record
ing studio, Ritchie was challenged.
He wanted to use a Bcdiant organ
located in Cornerstone, 640 N. 16th
St., on the UNL campus.
Fine. Because he couldn’t move
the organ to a studio, the studio w ould
have to come to the organ.
Ritchie is the head of the organ
department at UNL. Before that he
was chapel organist at Drake Univer
sity. He has studied w ith some inter
nationally renown instructors, in
cluding Clyde Holloway and Ray
mond Boese.
After iccciving his doctorate from
Indiana University, Ritchie contin
ued his organ studies. He visited
(jermany and France, where he stud
ied with noted organists Helmut
Walcha and Andre Isoir.
George Ritchie’s “The Organ
Works Of J.S. Bach” is available on
both compact disc and cassette at
Keelan’s Music.
Recording the music was a chore.
After the initial sound-checks of
the recording equipment at Corner
stone, Ritchie found yet another ob
stacle: Too much exterior noise was
being picked up by the microphones.
“Due to the sensitivity of the digi
tal recording equipment, 1 decided
that 1 would have to try to eliminate as
much excess noise as possible,” he
said.
First, Ritchie needed to reduce any
possible noise within Cornerstone.
He turned off the building’s heating
system. But it was winter, and with
out heat his fingers became cold and
he could not play as well as he nor
mally could.
His next idea was to use a portable
space heater. This was also was loo
noisy.
Ritchie turned back on the
building’s healing system and the
sound meters were once again
checked. He decided that this would
not affect the recording too much.
Another problem arose because of
the location of Cornerstone. It is on a
heavily-traveled street, surrounded
by residence halls and Greek houses.
See ORGAN on 9
Ward Williama/Daily Nebraskan
Laurie McClain
Local singer makes comeback,
plans a move to Nashville
By Bill Allen
Senior Editor
Two years ago, when Laurie
McClain started singing again, she
didn ’ teven own a guitar. She had to
borrow one from a friend. Her
repertoire was just a lot of popular
cover tunes.
Concert Preview
Two months ago, McClain re
leased her second album, “Genin’
Out Alive.”
The Lincoln singcr/songwritcr
also is playing quite a bit around
town lately. Tonight she will sing
at the Zoo Bar and Thursday she
will be at Chesterfield’s. The cover
charge is 50 cents and $ I, respec
tively.
McClain said she has about 20
original songs that she plays in her
show. Most of the songs arc from
her second album, and her first
effort, a hastily put together 11
song set tilled “Brand New Start”
— “the corniest title in America,"
she said.
But the title might have been
appropriate.
Two years ago McClain said she
was writing mostly about herself.
"I had went through two lousy
marriage experiences and was not
really sure about what I wanted to
do with my life," she said. "I found
out I really wanted to sing and write
songs."
McClain plays alone, using no
back upexccpt herown harmonica,
depending on her guitar skills and
her strong clear voice.
McClain said that in her recent
work she has moved more toward a
country sound, and began writing
songs about other people. She said
one of her new songs, 4 Almost All
Right,” is about a friend of hers.
“There’s a lot to write about,’’
she said. “I’m trying to write more
songs where I sec things through
others eyes.”
McClain still docs a number of
cover songs in her live show, in
cluding songs by John Prine, Bruce
Springsteen, Nancy Griffith, Steve
Earl and Neil Young.
McClain said she plans to move
to Nashville in the spring, after
graduating from Southeast Com
munity College in surgical tech
nology. She said she hopes to find
a job in Nashville in that field and
pursue her musical career.
“Something inside of me says to
do it,” she said. “When I first
started, the songs were there, but
the feelings weren’t. I was just loo
scared.”
“Gettin’ out Alive”costs$7and
is available in local record stores.