Daily
p*e Arts & Entertainment Nebraskan
Radiators heat up stage
at Ranch Bowl Monday
By Mick Dyer
Senior Reporter
The Radiators — New Orleans’
premier bar band for more than 10
years — will serve up its own style of
“fish-head music” Monday at the
Ranch Bowl in Omaha.
“Nothing is funkier than a fish
head,” says Frank Bua, the group’s
drummer.
Funk is only one ingredient of the
Louisiana fish-head sound. The Ra
v diators’ swamp roots are in classic
blues, but Cajun, calypso and even
bluegrass styles complete its musical
formula. This rich and well-seasoned
gumbo of sound yields energetic rock
and roll.
Having been compared to Little
Feat and the Grateful Dead, the band
has lately been receiving more and
more national attention. The Radia
tors lineup is identical to the band
Little Feat — two drummers, two
guitars, bass and keyboards. They
share the Grateful Dead’s reputation
for playing sets of marathon length.
The problem is that the Radiator’s
Music really defies description.
“That’s why we call it fish-head
music,” laughed Camile Baudoin, the
guitarist. “People just have to listen to
it to understand it.”
And with a repertoire of more than
500 original songs, listeners could be
kept busy for a long time trying to
figure out what the Radiators are all
about.
Twelve of those songs appear on
the Radiators’ first major-label al
bum, “Law of the Fish,” on Epic
Records. Epic is currently playing up
the Radiator’s first video for the song,
“Suck the Head.” While the title may
raise a few eyebrows, the song is
merely a musical celebration of a
favorite New Orleans pastime: eating
boiled crayfish.
The lyrics of the title track may
provide some insight into the band’s
zany point of view.
•
The big ones eats the little ones... you
got to move your ass.
That’s the law of the jungle. And
the law of the swamp will prevail on
the dance floor Monday night as pa
trons move various parts of their
anatomy to the Radiators’ compelling
fish-head overtures.
Biennial regional art show
to present works of artists
at Joslyn Museum in Omaha
Forty years ago Joslyn Art Mu
seum held its first exhibition show
casing works by regional artists. This
year the Joslyn will continue the tra
dition as it presents the 20th Joslyn
Biennial.
Opening Saturday, the 20th Joslyn
Biennial will present a total of 73
artworks by 70 artists. These works
were chosen by Biennial juror Holly
Solomon, director of the Holly Solo
mon Gallery in New York, as the best
of more than 1,000 entries submitted
by 388 artists from Nebraska and 11
surrounding states. _
Seven artists have been selected by
Solomon to receive cash awards, to
taling $5,000, for their entries in this
year’s competition.
Cash awards go to:
•“Untitled,” ceramic and copper,
by Walter McConnell of Omaha,
SI ,500 award.
•“Shrine to a 33-ycar-old’s Memo
ries (In Memory of Rod Marcus),”
construction, by Edgar Farr Russell
III of Bellevue, SI,000.
•“Fur Cat Chairs,” oil, by Sharon
A. Bums-Knutson of Cedar Rapids,
1 muSiSttO
•“Mysterious Sex,” oil, by Dan F.
Howard of Lincoln, $500.
•“African Queen in the City,” oil
and acrylic, by Elias Ruiz oi
Bellevue, $500.
•“Mike Steps in Front of the Can
vas,” aery I ic, by Paulette Thcnbous ol
Maplewood, Mo., $500.
•“At the Lake,” photograph, b)
Joseph Davis of Bellevue, $500.
To encompass a wider area of the
Midwest, the number of states al
lowed to participate in this year’s
Biennial competition was increased
from seven to 12.
The states included were Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan,
Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska,
North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota
and Wisconsin.
Artists in nine of the 12 states were
chosen for the Biennial. The works
submitted have not been shown at the
Joslyn before and were completed
within the past two years. Artists
could enter up to three works.
The 1988 Biennial contains works
in all media, but is particularly strong
in painting and sculpture. The exhibi
tion features 26 sculpture, ceramic
and wood pieces; 23 paintings; U
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mixed-media works; seven watercol
ors, prints and drawings; and three
photographs.
Of the 70 artists represented in the
show, 35 are from Nebraska, 10 from
Iowa, nine from Kansas, eight from
Indiana, three from South Dakota,
two from Missouri and one each from
Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin. Among
Nebraska artists in the Biennial 18are
from Omaha. Three artists have two
works displayed in the show, while
the rest have one each.
The Biennial will continue
through May 15 at the museum.
The show may be viewed for free
with museum admission of $2 for
adults and SI for children under 12
and senior citizens. The museum’s
hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays
through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m.
Sundays. The Joslyn is closed on
Mondays and major holidays.
The 20th Biennial has been sup
ported in part by a grant from the
Nebraska Department of Economic
Development, Division of Travel and
Tourism, and is registered as an offi
cial Celebrate Nebraska ’88 event.
Joslyn Art Museum programs are
supported in part by United Arts
Omaha and the Nebraska Arts Coun
cil.
The 20th Joslyn Biennial repre
sents the vision of the juror, Holly
Solomon. Solomon, director of the
Holly Solomon Gallery in New York,
and her husband Horace first started
collecting art in the m id-1960’s. Soon
they became widely recognized as
collectors in the New York art world.
At the core of their early collection
were such artists as Andy Warhol,
Roy Lichtenstein and Claus Old
enburg. (Warhol and Lichtenstein
have each created a portrait of her). In
1969 the Solomons became proprie
tors of a loft which served as a per
formance and exhibition space. Solo
mon has said this space provided the
atmosphere in which younger artists
could work, with more public expo
sure than the studio, but none of the
commercial pressure of the gallery. In
1975 she opened her gallery at 392
West Broadway. This gallery soon
became a well-known feature of the
SoHo art community. Solomon
moved her gallery to its present site on
Fifth Avenue and 57th in 1983. Cur
rently she represents such artists as
Nicholas Africano, Robert Kushner,
Kim MacConnel, Judy Pfaff, Ned
Smyth and William Wegman.
BCR, Duratti, Rollins styles vary
Music haunts, refreshes, wanders around
Rollins Band, “Life Time” (Texas
Hotel Records)
Former Black Flag vocalist
Henry Rollins has just released a
new album, but unlike his last solo
work, this is a joint effort. “Life
Time,” by the newly formed
Rollins Band, is a collection of
Henry Rollins punk-customized
bitterness and reflection.
Rollins is backed by Chris
Haskett’s barrage of minor-key
mayhem on guitar, along with the
plodding bass-playing of Andrew
and the happy-go-lucky drumming
of Simeon Cain in the background.
The band is a tight, although
very extemporaneous setup and
manages to pound out some hard
core quite reminiscent of Black
Flag. Rollins apparently has dc
cided to slick lo whai worked before
and to quit experimenting in rock
abilly punk and other strange dab
blings like he did on “Hot Animal
Machine,” his solo album. That is
not to say “‘Life Time” is belter, just
more influenced by sad memories
of Black Flag.
Rollins’ lyrics haven’t diversi
fied. He still manages to talk about
himself in nearly every song.
However, that’s what he does best,
so why change?
Songs with titles like “There’s
Nothing Like Finding Someone
Wh„n You’re Lonely to Make You
Want to be All Alone” and “Gun in
Mouth Blues” make you wonder
how much longer he’s going to be
with us, but Black Rag fans will
appreciate the morbid introversion
that Rollins has always possessed.
Rollins does some reflecting on
the hotter tracks of the album like
“You Look at You,” a bitter look at
the egotistical side of people and
the problems they have dealing
with the reality of themselves.
“Wreck-Age,” a raging hard
core wall of sound, takes a pitiful
look at Rollins’ personal experi
ence with people who have
wrecked their lives through drugs,
alcohol, depression and just about
everything else that is destructive.
She look some pills, tried to crawl to
the dead zone
Her mother found her just in time
She's strapped to a bed in psych
ward doing fine
Oh girl, what happened, what hap
pened to you?
Rollins sings with such an inten
sity that it’s hard to listen to the
whole album in one sitting. Also,
Haskett has created some of the
strangest, most distorted tune^ pos
sible to weave around Rollins’
vocals.
This album definitely backs up
the differences Rollins has ex
pressed between himself and other
songwriters, like U2’s Bono, Bruce
Springsteen, AC/DC and people
who go see Styx. Sure, he won’t
ever make a fraction of the money
these performers do, but he has
expressed some legitimate criti
cisms of them.
Black Flag fans, introverts and
simple psychopaths will like this
album. The vocals are fiery, the
music is haunting. Your cat will not
be able to stand this album.
— Michael Deeds
The Durutti Column, “The Gui
tar and Other Machines” (Ven
ture Records)
“The Guitar and Other Ma
chines” has the distinctive Dunitti
Column sound to it, a crisp and
atmospheric mood of a clear day
that carries through the whole al
bum. As the title of the album in
fers, Vini Reilly’s delay-laden gui
tar playing takes the foreground in
the landscaping of the music. All 11
songs on the album sound like
something one could serve cock
tails to.
The album opens with the song
ArPc£g iator,” one of the two songs
on the album not written solely by
guitarist Reilly. It starts the album
in an upbedt and inviting way, being
a bit faster and more motivating
than typical Durutti Column mate
rial.
The vocals on the tracks with
lyrics arc soft and lulling, even
though a very odd effect was used
on Reilly’s voice on some of the
tracks. Stanton Miranda takes the
vocals for two of the songs on the
album, and she also helps pul the
listener into a dreamlike state, al
lowing the album to fill one’s mind.
The easy term to use to classify
this album would be “new age,” but
the Durutli Column has a sound and
style that is easier to swallow than a
lot of the more rinky-link music that
is usually described with those
words. It has more elegance and
finesse, despite the synthesized
drums. The song “U.S.P.” is a 2:22
acoustic guitar solo with an allur
ing, almost medieval sound.
This whole album is fun and
spirited, but still as entrancing as
one would expect from the Durutti
Column. As all of their albums are,
it’s very good for taking a load off
your brain and relax ing at the end of
a day. Getting a copy of it would be
a good thing to do if you enjoy light
music that is easy to let wander
around in your mind.
— Brian Wood
BCR, “Which Earth Are We
On?” (Fifth Street Records)
BCR, Kansas City’s only “Afro
Nuclear Wave Funk Swing Reggae
Tango Band,” is renowned
throughout the nation as much for
its spellbinding music as for its
lively stage performances.
It is a metaphysical, metamusi
cal phenomenon that science can’t
explain.
But the band’s first album,
“Which Earth Are We On?,” cap
tures the spirit of this phenomenal
combo in an exciting way.
You have to start with the data.
BCR’s sound is a menagerie ol
styles, with each of the seven
members of the band representing a
different musical animal. Tom
Albcr and “the Right Rev.” Dwight
See REVIEW BOARD* on T~
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