ArtU/j. Entertainment
I 1
Christina Geiger/Daily Nebraskan
Eagle aims for heart ot rock n roll I
By Ke\in Cowan
Senior Reporter
On Oct. 12, the faithful listeners of
radio station KMAZ arose to find that
an eagle had landed on their auto
mated top-40 station. KTGL, the
Eagle, had nested in the Lincoln/
Omaha radio market.
The Eagle sports the “classic rock
n' roll” format, said Neal Hunter,
program coordinator.
Essentially, he said, the station
plays rock dating from the early ’60s
to the present. The format was
founded three years ago in Milwau
kee and now dictates the tunes
cranked out from 30 or 40 stations
around the United Slates.
“A lot of the music is stuff you
haven’t heard on the radio for a long
time.” he said. “We concentrate on a
lot of the music by the Beatles, Roll
ing Stones, Doors and a bit on Pink
Floyd.”
Hunter said the station has had a
tremendous response.
• f
The recurring theme of the phone
calls, he said, is that people finally
have a station they can listen to.
“What separates us from other
stations in the area is our format —
geared toward 25- to 49-year-old
males instead of 25- to 49-ycar-old
females.” KHAT, he said, is a station
that fixes its target market on women.
J.T. Shrigley, general manager,
said they “were amazed at how much
the Lincoln/Omaha market reacted to
us.”
“We’ve had calls from people in
their early ’40s, a large number of
calls from university students and
calls from people in their early teens,”
he said. “The only complaint we’ve
had so far is from a guy who called to
complain about a Peter Gabriel song
we were playing.”
People describe the Eagle as an
“oldies” station with an improved
taste in programming. Shrigley said
“oldies” arc not what the station
strives to program.
Overall response to the station has
I. " 1 '
been irom college siuacms. How
ever, Shrigley said, KTGL is not
aimed at the college market.
“I think it would be technically
incorrect to say our market is the
university,” he said. “Our research
indicated that the 25- to 40-year-old
market was not being served, so we
assumed a format that would accom
modate those people.”
Shrigley said the 100,000-watt
station is one of five such stations in
the state including KFRX, KFMQ,
KLIN and KEZO.
The station hasn’t received offers
from concert promoters to co-sponsor
concerts and benefits because it is
new.
Promoting concerts involves ad
vertising at the station, Shrigley said.
“You have to grasp enough of the
market available before promoters
will consider contracting your
station’s talents,” he said.
Shrigley seems confident that
KTGL will succeed.
- i
Ladora can sing, nut snow too contnvea
By Scott Harrah
Senior Editor
Pia Zadora the former bad B
movie queen who’s now a critically
acclaimed torch singer, ambled onto
the Orpheum Theatre slat. in Omaha
Sunday to sing standards and Broad
way show tunes.
Concert Review
Zadora. clad in a purple sequined
gown and spike heels that lifted her
diminutive Irame to eye level, opened
with “For Once in My Life “ Backed
up by the lounge-li/ardish Las Vegas
Symphony- Orchestra, Zadora vacil
lated between flashy Vegas camp and
watered-down torch elegance No
body can deny that Zadora luo a great
set of pipes. Her voice was clear and
had a trenc hant vibrato that forcefully
blasted from her trademark pouty lips
at the end of each song.
But something about her perform
ance seemed contrived, too calculated
and mechanical The great torch sing
ers — Billie Holiday, Judy Garland,
Peggy Lee — always brought sponta
neous energy to singing, that breathy
melancholy insistence that created an
aura tn countless smoke-filled caba
rets. Zadora copied the legends’
breath mess perfectly — almost too
perfectly .One minute she’d be breathy
and impishly raw. then she d suddenly
segue into a soaring soprano like
clockwork. Necessary consistency
just wasn't there.
In the second number. "C csl Si
Bon." Zadora shimmied and flittered
around the stage like a French Charo
groov mg away in the hl\ is film "Viva
Las Vegas!”
She delivered her rendition of
Garland s "The Man That Got Away”
from the proverbial weepy ihaun
teusc’s stool, belling ariaN from her
spotlight. Although she displayed
sensitivity for the lyrics her vtxal
delivery was again lot' planned The
problem with Zadora is that her voice
is still developing To make up for her
Haws, she borrows cliches from her
influences without adding enough
impromptu emotions to make the
songs her own. She definitely can sing,
but she needs a new direction, some
thing to carry her passion
Zadora changed into a white satin
pantsuit and pul barrettes into her hair
lor the second act. making her look
I ike a c ri'sv bet ween a teen-age Brigitte
Bardot and Alvin the Chipmunk. Her
closing number, “I Am What I Am,”
from thedrag-queenmusical“La Cage
Aux Folles,” is a song about personal
freedom that’s definitely Zadora’s
way of saying her “Lonely Lady” days
arc over.
Whether you hate Zadora or love
her, you have to admit there’s some
thing about her fight to be taken seri
ously, her “jailbait" sexpot look and
her curiously provocative past. That
alone made the concert worth attend
ing.
A gray-haired, middle-of-the-road
crowd dominated the audience and
was evidently more interested in the
songs than Zadora and her voice. In
essence. Zadora’s new musical career
is simply a vehicle to let Pia be Pia.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
An obnoxious, annoying, hack
neyed comedian ol the Catskills/
Ramada 1 nn lounge persuasion opened
the show w ith tired, racist sexist, eth
nic jokes backed up with polyester
motives Grecian Formula Republi
cans lound him amusing, but those
w ho didn’t felt the> had to laugh for
fear that his Iriend Guido was eyeing
them vigilantly.
1 hope Pia didn t recommend him.
Book of Questions' questions nothing
By ( harles l.ieu ranee
Senior I'Lditor
“The Book of Questions,” Gre
gor} Stock, Ph.D., Workman Pub
lishing, $3.95.
For anyone who just lives to play
psychological Jeopardy with those
clever B.F. Skinheads who came up
with that most respected of personal
ity profiles, the Multiphasic Person
ality Test,Gregory Stock has come up
^ with a yuppified self-help version of
the test in handy pocket-book form.
Stock’s “The Book of Questions”
takes up where the Multiphasic Test
left off, purportedly “giving you per
mission to ask those things that are
Book Review
uki bold, loo embarrassing or jusl loo
difficult to ask by yourself.”
The Multiphasic Personality lest
tried to trap psychotics into honestly
responding “yes’ or “no” to state
ments like I am often visited by the
Lord Jesus while using the reslroom
*’ facilities in popular restaurants” by
craftily wedging ihcm between state
ments like, “I like socks more than
clealed sandals” mid “Blue skies are
nice to look at."
But “The Book ol Questions” is
• user-friendly. The book comes at
psychological sell-examination from
an “I’m OK, you re OK’ stance.
The only judgments in the book
are those you're likely to heap upon
yourself when you respond honestly
to questions like: “Would you be
w illing to do something very unsatis
fying (for example, clean toilets) for
five years if you were certain that the
experience would afterward bring
you a deep sense of personal fulfill
ment for the rest of your life?”
The questions all have to do with
physical appearance (usually being
physically deformed in some way),
sex and financial status. Mainly they
ask you to sacrifice one of the above
for another of the above or for some
abstract, noble goal like world har
mony or the eventual return of Jimmy
Hoffa.
Stock question: “Would you be
willing to murder an innocent person
if it would end hunger in the world?”
If it would improve your sex life? If
someone offered you a million dol
lars and the keys to the Taj Mahal?
Stock seems downright obsessed
with trading various superficial
things for either other equally super
ficial things or things so sappy you’d
puke if you saw them in a Hallmark
card. Would you stick 3-inch needles
all over your face if someone asked
you to play Russian roulette and of
fered you the presidency of the
United States and the woman of your
dreams if you won?
OK, now that we have the idea
down, let’s play.
“While parking late at night, you
slighdy scrape the side of a Porsche.
You are certain no one else is aware of
what happened. The damage is minor
and would not be covered by insur
ance. Would you leave a note?”
No. but hu u several more limes
with ihe lire iron in the trunk.
There are no “right” answers.
“How do you react when people
sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you in a
restaurant ?”
First scream “How did you know it
was my birthday?” savagely at the top
of your lungs. Then scream, “You’ve
all been watching me, haven’t you?
What else do you know about me?
Did you ask Paul McCartney for per
mission to use this song? Who sent
you?”
Usually by then the desire to make
birthday wishes has subsided and one
can peacefully continue with one’s
meal.
“What is the worst psychological
torture you can imagine suffering?
Anything causing even minor physi
cal injury should not be considered.”
1 have this dream where,.while I
sleep, several Argentine doctors
mumbling incoherently make an inci
sion around my head and place an
object in my sinuses that I can’t rec
ognize. When I awaken the next day,
every time I breathe my head makes
the sound of an accordion being
squeezed by a small child. No one
else can hear it. I live with this the rest
of tny life. I don’t even wake up
screaming.
“Would you be willing to give up
sex for one year if you knew it would
give you a much deeper sense of
peace than you have now?”
I have that sense of peace now.
And thank you for reminding me.
Courtesy of Restless Records
Vaughn Combo is back I
By Chris McCubbin
Staff Reporter
On Wednesday the Ben Vaughn
Combo will play the Ranch Bowl
in Omaha. This will be their second
appearance there in two months,
but bandleader Ben Vaughn said he
doesn’t mind coming back so soon.
“It’s a great place to play be
cause after sound check you can go
bowl a couple frames,” Vaughn
said.
Concert Preview
Vaughn is not ashamed to admit
that his combo’s sound is lower
volume than most roots rockers’.
But easy and accessible as it may
be, Vaughri’s music is saved from
the easy-listening ghetto by
Vaughn’s genius for melody, his
funny, poignant sing-along lyrics
and the combo’s stripped-dowrn,
unpretentious arrangements.
The Ben Vaughn Combo con
sists of drums, bass and accordion
with Vaughn supplying songs,
vocals, guitar, harmonica “and
charisma, on a good night,”
Vaughn said.
The Ben Vaughn Combo spe
cializes in an early-sounding rock
‘n’ roll reminiscent of the Everly
Brothers or Buddy Holly. Vaughn
says his music comes from rock,
country, rockabilly—“everything
but jazz; you got to read music to do
that stuff."
But the most memorable part of
any Vaughn song is the lyrics.
Vaughn specializes in sweet, sub
tly twisted stories that are laugh
out-loud funny without ever being
silly or mere novelties.
The titles of Vaughn’s songs tell
the whole story: “Lookin’ For a 7
11” in my “M-M-Motor Vehicle,’’
I felt like “Jerry Lewis in France.”
I was thinking “I Dig Your Wig.”
But I had the “Wrong Haircut” and
now “I’m Sorry (But So Is Brenda
Lee).”
“Brenda Lee” provided Vaughn
with his first big break when it was
recorded by Marshall Crenshaw.
Vaughn’s first album, “The Many
Moods of Ben Vaughn,” got great
reviews from both the alternative
and the mainstream music press.
Now Vaughn is touring to pro
mote his new album “Beautiful
Thing,” on Restless Records.
Vaughn said there’s more depth to
the writing and production on
“Beautiful Thing” than on “Many
Moods,” a change he puts down to
“maturity rearing its ugly head.”
Nebraska is not usually the fa
vorite venue for New Jersey bands,
but Vaughn is an exception. He
said he prefers his home stale’s
inland farm country to the coastal
cities.
Vaughn said “Beautiful Thing”
was recorded in a converted barn in
Vineland, N.J., an area he com
pares to Nebraska.
Vaughn also is drawn to Ne
braska music. He considers the
Muskrats, a duo of transplanted
Omahans, “the greatest.” And he
admits that he still hopes that if he
keeps coming back to Nebraska
he’ll someday get to meet Charlie
Burton.
