Arts & Entertainment
Susanna WUttams/DaiJy Nabrokan
Bands blast Duffy’s during Broadside Benefit
By Mick Dyer
Senior Reporter
The floors shook and ears throbbed
during the 16 bands in four hours
Broadside benefit concert Wednes
day night at Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 0
St.
Broadside is a magazine and tape
package that serves as a forum for
[local writers, artists and musicians to
[share their work with the community.
[Since its inception, a little more than
£ year ago, Broadside has published
Hfwo magazine-tape packages featur
ing the work of a variety of inexperi
enced, as well as established, musi
cians, writers and artists.
Gregg Cosgrove, musical coordi
nator for the tape and concert, said
Broadside serves primarily as a ve
hicle to give local writers, artists and
musicians exposure.
Wcdon t edit anything and were
not a dub,” Cosgrove said. “We’re
for people.
,fThc tape is theirs and the maga
zine is theirs. If you don’t have the
money to put it out, we’ll do it for
you.”
Cosgrove said Lincoln has a really
vital and stimulating alternative arts
and music scene.
“There is so much stuff going on,
it’s unbelievable,” he said.
The third Broadside tape is sched
uled for release on Oct. 14. Cosgrove
said the response from local musi
cians was strong for the up-coming
tape. The 90-minute tape is the long
est one so far, and includes music by
26 bands: 22 from the Lincoln area,
two from Omaha and two from Kear
ney.
“There’s not as much noise asTast
time, not as much experimental mu
sic,” Cosgrove said. “Almost all of
them are real songs ”
Cosgrove said mat 60 to 70 percent
of the music on the tape is by new
bands that many people haven ’ t heard
before. He said that the tape has a
fairly low sound quality, because it is
a strictly a reproduction of music
recorded on tape recorders in
people’s basements and garages.
But that’s part of the magic of
Broadside — it really captures the
mood and spirit of each band, Cos
grove said.
Cosgrove said that the release date
for the literary arts magazine part of
Broadside is still up in the air.
“They don’t have enough people
sending in material,” he said. “That’s
a real problem.
“People were really ambitious
about the music. I don’t know why
people weren’tas ambitious about the
writing and pictures and stuff.”
Cosgrove hopes Broadside will
take more of a leadership role in the
alternative publications.
“Broadside does well while other
things fail.” be said. “They need to
help others.
“Look at Free magazine, look at a
lot of Omaha magazines (that have
collapsed). People are even Xeroxing
stuff that you can get at skateboard
shops.”
Cosgrove said what ultimately has
to happen is that all the fractions of
alternative lifestyles have to learn
how to work together. Until that hap
pens, none of them will really have
the chance to experience their fullest
potentials, he said.
“Someone might experience a
tittle success, but it will be a flash and
it’s gone,” Cosgrove said. “If people
organize, it will be a lot more lasting.
‘There’s a lot of power when
people gel together.”
However, Cosgrovosaid, he is not
optimistic about the Lincoln alterna
tive art and music scene organizing
into a powerful force worthy of re
ceiving the national recognition it
sometimes deserves.
“It’ll probably never happen,” he
said. “People care too much about
themselves and not enough about the
community.”
‘There's not as much noise as last time,
not as much experimental music. Almost
all are real songs.'
—Cotgrovm
Wednesday’s concert was the sec
ond such Broadside benefit, where
local bands volunteer their playing
time to help raise money for the
Broadside project. Most of the bands
that played appear on the up-coming
tape.
Reg McMeen, manager and co
owner of Duffy’s Tavern, said that the
first Broadside benefit last April drew
the largest crowd ever at Duffy’s for
local or alternative music.
“We had 300 people in and out the
door last time,” McMeen said.
And the second benefit show lived
up to the reputation of the first. It was
a full house from 9 p.m., when the
bands started, to 1 a.m., when they
stopped.
Here’s a brief rundown of the
bands that played:
Sad Cadimite—Loud, guitar ori
ented metal straight from the garage.
Power drums and vocals.
The Lemmings — Really tight,
creative blend of pop and blues
sounds. Clean guitar, funky bass and
raw vocals creates a sound full of
contrasts. Like to hear more from
them.
Whipping Post — Not on tape.
Solid band. Melodic open guitar,
clear vocals, leading bass and solid
firecussion, combined with their
ively stage presence gives them the
potential to compete with some of the
more established bands in die Lincoln
altemadve music scene.
Cheating Snakes — After a false
start, the cheadng snakes got right
down to playing seme precision
power country. Tneir animated stage
antics really got the audience up. One
of Lincoln's best kept live music
secrets.
Chunk of Sound—This band was
so colorful, they were psychedelic. Its
unique fusion of musical instruments
and styles, as well as the elaborate
musical genius got the whole bar
moving. They blew the audience
away.
Leafy Green Things—Their par
ody song inspired by comments made
about them by a Daily Nebraskan
music writer, '‘Going straight to the
top with three chord rock,” infected
the entire audience with their irrever
ent and funny sense of humor.
Such Sweet Thunder — From
Kearney. Contemplative music.
Moody vocals, a spirited guitar and
thunder drums made for an intriguing
sound. Like to hear more from them.
New Brass Guns — Not on tape.
They need no introduction, having
been a major force in the Lincoln
music scene for almost two years
now. Playful rock.
Neon Yetis — Real rough sound
that seemed to lack any discemable
direction. Chaotic music that was
reminiscent of bad dreams.
Red Max—This three piece band
played hard-driving metal. They
were kind of scary, but kind of funny
at the same time.
The Sleep Merchants — High
energy guitar band. Pensive music.
Accoustic guitar gave the band a
fresher sound than a lot of the others
that stuck to the electric format. I'd
like to see more of them, too.
See BENEFIT on 10
^ Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
James Caan and Mundy FVtinkin star in "Alien Nation."
. .n ■ HIM >.< t,tut.»n.«iHuinuui>u>MumhnnMi
‘Alien Nation’ fails
in new twist attempt
By W. Andrew Robinson
Staff Reporter
It’s always exciting to see pre
views of a movie that present what
seems to be a fresh new twist on old
ideas.
It’s also extremely disappoint
ing when a movie doesn’t live up to
the expectations it sets itself up for.
Such is the case with the new movie
-•
“Alien Nation.” It’s a great idea,
but falls far short of what could’ve
been done.
The premise is that in the near
future, a spacecraft containing a
race of aliens lands on Earth. Uis a
recently-freed (apparently, but we
don’t know for sure) slave race
i__;__
which has “shipwrecked” and is
here to stay.
The race has its own culture and
language and, while the aliens look
a bit different, they soon prove to
have one of the same problems we
do: Crime.
The story is about two detec
tives, one human and one a “New
comer,” as they’re called. The
focus is on the similarities and
differences of two races from dif
ferent worlds and how they interact
with each other. At least we would
think.
Nice idea. Cops and robbers and
aliens; sort of an “Adam 12” meets
“The Invaders”, or a fusion of
“Dirty Harry”and“Star Trek”. The
possibilities for plot development
grow when a Newcomer LSD-like
See'ALIEN on 11
