Arts & Entertainment
‘O-M-A-H-Y-A’ spelled a
stunning Sting concert
By Joseph Bowman
Staff Reviewer
Sting was here.
Well, actually he was in Omaha
Saturday night at the Civic Audito
rium. He came with a big gray and
black geometrical stage set, a mas
sive array of hanging speakers and
lights, a spectacular nine-piece band,
and his ego. In fact, it was surprising
he had room for all that other stuff,
considering that he only had five
scmitrucks to haul it around.
But as long as Sling continues to
entertain th is well. he ’ 11 be able to get
away with being the arrogant snob he
is. The performance w as as sharp and
polished as you w ould expect it to be.
The caliber of the show- w as at least
eqi \1 to his ego, and that is no small
thing. Of course, it would be almost
impossible for Sting to sound bad,
especially when he has some of the
best young musicians in the country
touring with him.
Branford Marsalis, the world
famous saxophone and clarinet
player, was a shining vision in white
— of sound angelic in purity. The
sweet notes slipped out of his horn
and into the ears of the swaying
crowd, soothing their urges to throw
down the chairs and dance all over
the building.
l he spotlight was passed to each
musician in turn during the evening.
And each of the band members was
great in his or her own right, dazzling
the crowd with shimmering displays
of virtuosity. But they didn’t have the
same flavor of unity that the “Dream
of the Blue Turtles’” band had. This
group is obviously Sting and mem
bers from his last band, touring with
some studio musicians.
Sting opened up with “Lazarus
Heart” and surged into a blazing
performance of most of the songs
from his new double album, “. . .
Nothing Like the Sun.”
His finest moments were during
the ballads. “Sister Moon” was a
haunting piece that pierced the cold
est hearts. The timeless dream of
romantics was given a lingering
glance during the lovely instrumen
tal interlude when Sting ascended the
dark hill on stage. He met the gor
geous Janice Pendarvis, his backup
singer, to share a short dance that
everyone secretly took part in.
Sting’scovcrof Jimi Hendrix’ “Little
Wing” was absolutely stunning. It
was a powerful, throbbing heart
breaker, lifting everyone above the
mediocrity of everyday life for a few
moments. “The Secret Marriage,”
one of the last songs in the set, turned
out to be one of the most pleasant
performances of the evening.
Sting sounded surprisingly pretty,
even with his rough voice. He
showed a sincerely sensitive face that
was obscured most of the night.
Sung never stopj>cd playing the
trickster for more than a few mo
ments all night. He mimicked Mar
salis playing clarinet, and he stopped
between songs to poke fun at the
audience.
“O-M-A-H-Y-A — what’s that
spell?” he said.
“Omaha!” the confused mob
cheered.
i xv/ ii uv/v^ii i. iivuiiiinvi vu^iivii
asked, “What state is this the capitol
of, Iowa?”
At the beginning of the first half of
his performance, he stopped to com
ment on television evangelism. “It is
both fascinating and disgusting,” he
said. He told the audience about
Jimmy Swaggart’s reaction to the
song “Murder by Numbers.” Swag
gart allegedly said, “This here song
was written by the devil. Beelzebub!
Lucifer! Satan, the Homed One
himself!” Sting’s reaction was
“Well, I wrote the f—ing
song(laughter).” Some people booed
when he laughed at Swaggart, and
that was almost as funny as Sling’s
story.
Keep in mind that Sting has a
reputation for a sense of humor that
he must live up to. The funniest
moment was when he took off his
jacket to reveal his rippling nipples.
Just then, the thousands of young
twitchy teeny-bopper girls that had
been anticipating all night did what
they do best . . . screamed. Things
like, “Oh my god, I’m gonna die!”
“We love you!” “I want to have your
baby!” and “I want to dye you green
and make guacamolc out of you!”
As expected, Sting played “Mes
sage in a Bottle” along with a few
others, for the last of two encores.
Everyone in the audience sang along
with him, as if each of them was
sending out an S .O.S. Then the whole
band came out together, to join
hands, bow and officially say good
night.
.JA.*skv-V^sSf7 ’***tC&- 4 ywaw^jMffi'aff, -K
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records
The Dynatones
Rockin’ R & B Dynatones invade Zoo
By Ken Havlat
Staff Reporter
San Francisco’s Dynaiones,
having just delivered a fresh LP for
Warner Bros., will start a three
night stand tonight at the Zoo Bar,
136 N. 14th St. TTie band also will
be at the Howard Street Tavern in
Omaha Thursday.
The album, titled “Shameless,”
is perhaps slicker than it should be.
Produced by Huey Lewis’ own
honcho and former Stax Records
man Jim Gaines, “Shameless" is a
party record. Its express purpose is
to get people moving, manager
Rico Tee said in a telephone inter
view.
“Most people go on tour to sup
port the album,” Tee said. “We
need the record to support the lour.”
The Dynaiones have been coming
through Lincoln since the days
some of the members of the band
backed up Charlie Mussclwhitc.
The album is a synthesis of sorts
between Huey Lewis and the Fabu
lous Thundcrbirds. The lead single,
“Take the Heal,” is getting a fair
amount of play on commercial
radio. A trio of really nice songs on
the LP are “Old Habits Die Hard,”
“Can t Give You Up” and “Shake
Sherrie,” with great vocals by C.C.
Miller, although on the whole the
album plays it too safe.
Tee said the Dynatones consider
themselves more of a rockin’ R&B
band than a blues act. While Gaines
is primarily a blues producer, his
ear lends well to those who throw a
little rock on the side, as evidenced
by who he brought along for the
album—Steve Cropper (of Booker
T and the MG’s fame) and Kim
Wilson of the Fabulous Thunder
birds.
Tec said the Dynatones wanted
to incorporate “the Memphis
sound” into their newest album.
That also means they have to work
harder for the audience.
“We want to show people we can
come from the ground up,” Tee
said. “This has been our basic style
for six years now. Perhaps next
autumn will bring new adventures.
Wc arc going to be touring con
stantly almost up until then.
The Dynatones’ strong point has
always been their live show. People
having a great lime while the band
is playing in the background,
people meeting new people, is a
Dynatones trademark.
“We want to see people filling
the dance floor, starting friendships
and having a good time,” Tee said.
“That’s what it's all about.”
Last summer the band played for
thousands of people at Lincoln’s
Flatwatcr Festival.
“We enjoyed doing that,” Tee
said. “It allowed us to bring our
music out.”
The style of music the Dyna
tones play was seemingly incon
ceivable six or seven years ago,
even though it harks back to the ’50s
and ’60s.
“We are not a nostalgia band,”
Tee said. “We arc very much a band
of a present. We arc hoping, though,
that we can ride it for a while.”
The band is also not “Shame
less” for its association with Miller
beer. Tec said the network Miller
runs is inconceivable for bands who
only plan to be around for a short
lime, but can be beneficial during
the struggling-through-povcrty
years.
“Miller has been good to us,”
Tec said.
Cover each of the three nights is
$4. Show time is 9:30 p.m.
_JUHHK_1*J
Courtesy of Rhino Records
Phranc
Jewish, lesbian folksinger Phranc
gives riveting, dynamic performance
By Geoff McMurtry
Senior Editor
“Basic All-American Jewish les
bian folksinger” Phranc, who bills
herself as such and quoted that line
twice in referring to herself during
Saturday night’s performance, was
all that and more at her solo acoustic
concert in the East Union Great Plains
Room.
Emerging in a black turtleneck,
faded jeans, and black combat boots
looking like a cross between an early
Paul Simon and a short, slightly
lumpy Malt Dillon, Phranc immedi
ately captured the very partisan
crowd, opening with “Bloodbath,” a
strongly anti-apartheid rage, and kept
it with an engaging performance
mixed with anger, humor, sarcasm,
and honesty. Showing a wide range in
a distinctive style, Phranc’s powerful,
yet endearing stage persona capti
vated an audience of ready and will
ing admirers.
Ranging from political tirades
nearing stridency to intensely haunt
ing personal recollections and feel
ings, her subjects covered a fascinat
ing variety of topics, while always
coming back to a few central themes
of particular importance to the artist.
While talking about “Bloodbath,”
with its angry condemnation of “the
color of my skin,” Phranc said, “The
fact that I'm the same color as Re
agan, Botha, and Thatcher makes my
skin crawl.”
Another recurring theme through
out the evening was Phranc’s lesbian
stance. Although never shying away
from either her beliefs or her obvious
orientation, her winning sense of
humor and intelligent, subtle lyrics
kept her songs well out of reach of
preachiness or reduclionism.
One song was about ‘ all those
Amazons,” a lighthearted listing of
appealing female athletes, and a wry
twist on typical jock-bccr-commcr
cial sentiment.
Lest anyone think Phranc merely a
reversed athletic groupie, her sensi
bilities were clearly spelled out dur
ing “I Hate Female Mud Wrestling,”
and alluded to during songs like
.“Swim Team,” a tribute to the fond
memories of companionship and be
longing of her sexually formative
years, but not all the trappings that
went with it, containing the line “I
don’t like that bikini, it just isn’t me.”
Besides being a confident song
writer and a riveting, dynamic, gui
tarist, Phranc has a strong stage pres
ence that gently commands your at
tention.
Both her songwriting and guitar
styles ring with similarities to early
cra Bob Dylan, a vision that became
more evident during a chillingly
appropriate version of “The Lone
some Death of Hattie Carroll,” her
only cover song of the evening.
Despite an unfortunate delay
caused by Continental Airlines and a
Denver snowstorm, Phranc per
formed an inspirational two sets, and
showed herself to be a major figure in
the nation’s musical conscience,even
if she isn’t destined to be the next
Madonna.
Opening the show was another
singcr/songwritcr acoustic soloist,
Katie Bohner, who filled in at the last
minute for Continental Airlines, and
the Amethyst splinter-group duet of
Jaci Augustine and Kathy Tejcka,
who performed an entertaining two
sets, consisting mostly of 40’s torch
ballads straight out of Mickey Spil
lane.