Arts & Entertainment
UNL clarinetist: Music thrives in Lincoln
By Shaun Harner
Staff Reporter
Symphony in Lincoln is thriving,
according to Anthony Pasquale, a
clarinetist and doctoral student at the
University of Nebiaska-Lincoln.
“Lincoln is a very rare town . ..
(there is) a high level of activity in the
arts here -- especially in music,”
Pasquale said.
He said Lincoln is an exception to
the rule because it is made up almost
entirely of white-collar workers.
There is a cross-section of highly
educated people who are consequen
tially more involved in the arts.
Pasquale said he thinks the Lin
coln Symphony Orchestra and the
Nebraska Chamber Orchestra have
■» •
benefited the community. The level
of activity in the arts here could be a
drawing factor for people consider
ing moving to Lincoln, he said.
Pasquale said he’s favorably im
pressed with Lincoln, although he has
had the opportunity to live and work
in bigger places.
‘ ‘Right now I’d rather live here for
SI0,000 a year than in New York for
S40.000,” he said.
The pay scale in Lincoln doesn’t
match up with larger orchestras like
the Baltimore Symphony.
“The pay is much less, but the
standard of living is less here -- it’s
hard to judge a part-time professional
(symphony) against a full-time pro
fessional,’’ he said.
Last month, the Baltimore Sym
c oiummst ponders new
'decade-resurgence
in the 1980s’ theory
By Mark Lage
Senior Reporter
When this “1970s week” idea
was brought up and discussed a few
weeks ago, I picked up a couple of
stories, and tried to put the whole
thing away in the back of my mind
somewhere, so that I could concen
trate on more immediate tasks.
But the idea of a ’70s resurgence
here in the declining years of the ’80s
simply would not be stored away. It
bounced around recklessly in my
Drain, wnere u encountered other
seemingly harmless ideas like the
’60s resurgence, the ’50s resurgence,
and the rapid approach of the ’90s.
Against my own free will, a theory
began to take shape.
I tried to beat it down. I hate theo
ries almost more than I hate anything
else, and was greatly distressed that 1
was threatening to have one of my
own. But things like yellow smiley
faces wishing me a nice day and
Robert Plant’s lovely face on the TV
only fueled the unrcstrainable devel
opment of my theory.
I also began to think often and long
about bell-bottoms. I have to admit to
a profound ambivalence about bell
bottoms. I look down at my pants
now, cuffed and pinned in loosely
around my ankles, and the thought of
increasing the hem’s circumference
nearly to the toe of mv shoe seems
ridiculous. I can’t imagine going out
in public like that
Yet, I can clearly recall my sincere
love of my favorite pair of bell-bot
toms in the fourth grade. I could
never keep my head up when I
walked, because it was so much fun to
watch them flop around. But I di
gress.
Unable to Fight my theorizing, 1
gave in and sal down to try to write it
out. I decided to start with the title.
“After a number of false starts, I
came up with “The Mark Lage The
ory of Late 20th-Century Decade
Resurgence in America.”
I liked it a great deal, and even
began to get excited about possibili
ties for fame and fortune. If I could
get the pattern figured out and into
words, I would not only be revered
around the country as a genius, but
would be able to become rich by
using it to predict social trends of the
future.
Now it was the time for the nasty
mess of figuring out the pattern of all
these decade revivals. The decade of
the ’80s was to serve as my study
model, for one simple reason; it’s the
only decade that I can recall in its
entirety.
My first assumption was that the
’80s began in 1980, which sounded
good at the time, but I was to realize
later that there is no reason to believe
that this is true.
OK, so we had the ’80s cruising
along just fine, but then somewhere
in the middle, we began to hear rum
blings of the ’60s resurgence. New
hippies, love, peace and all that. This
all reached its peak (not much of one,
actually) somewhere around the 20th
anniversary of the release of ‘‘Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,”
in 1987. But it really never caught on,
although it was looking pretty good in
some alternative circles for a while.
A stronger resurgence throughout
me ous, ica mosuy ny Kcagan s
presidency, was that of the values and
attitudes of the ’50s. While some
were talking about the revolutions
and protest of the ’60s, more were
celebrating the return of the conser
vatism and morality of the “good ol'
days,” the ’50s.
It was also in 1987 that Newsweek
declared, for reasons obviously other
than calendar readings, that the ’80
were over. This is a momentous idea,
based upon the fact that not only did
it imply the early closing of the ’80s,
but iso intimated the reclosings of
the ’50s and ’60s.
In addition, since the ’80s were
over, wasn’t it safe to assume that we
must have been entering the ’90s
early? No.
Astonishingly, the end of the ’80s
did not in. fact usher in the ’90s, but
instead has seemed to bring back the
’70s to fill up the gap.
Confusing, to say the least. But my
theory, I had hoped, was going to
clear this whole mess up, thereby
making me ncn ana iamous.
But no matter how I shuffled and
reshuffled everything, no pattern
emerged. I resorted to bending facts
and statistics, but this didn’t help
much. I gave up, and declared the
entire situation a ridiculous mess.
Therefore:
The Mark Lage Theory of Late
20th Century Decade Resurgence in
America — The entire thing is a ri
diculous mess, and I suggest that you
consult your calendar if you want to
know what decade you are living in.
Example of application -- The 1990s
will begin on January 1, 1990.
Not too startling, I guess, and not
too likely to bring me fame or riches.
But I wasn’t disappointed for too
long. I remembered that I hate theo
ries, and if I’m going to be respon
sible for one, it may as well be an
obviously simple one.
phony ended a 22-week walkout
concerning wages -- the longest
strike in American Symphony his
‘Right now I’d
rather live here for
$10,000 a year
than in New York
for $40,000.’
-Pasquale
tory. Pasquale says that it didn’t have
much of an effect on the Lincoln
symphonies, although he and other
musicians supported tne Baltimore
members’ actions.
Pasquale said the chances of Lin
coln players going on a strike are
“almost nil . . . (People) wouldn’t
even consider it” because the money
they make performing is less than
half their income.
“Most people have full-time jobs
outside (of performing),” he s^id.
Both the Nebraska Chamber Or
chestra and the Lincoln Symphony
pay according to union wages. In the
Lincoln Symphony the principles
(first chair) are able to negotiate their
contracts and arc usually paid above
the minimum union scale.
“Omaha gets more than we do,
but we operate on a different sys
tem,” Pasquale said. The Omaha
;>ympnony memoers are paid per
performance or rehearsal, and the
symphony has about 30 full-time
players. It also brings in part-time
players for different programs.
The Lincoln Symphony negoti
ates a “master contract” from its
budget for each rehearsal or perform
ance.
UNL students participate in both
the Lincoln and Omaha symphonies
as well as teachers and other profes
sionals. There is no special consid
eration for students who audition.
“(Students) audition like every
one else,” Pasquale said, and the
symphony chooses the best players.
Students are paid according to the
same union scale and are given the
same considerations as other players.
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Andy Manhart/Dally Nebraskan
Spring starts Iranian New Year
By Lane Van Ham
Staff Reporter
Iranians, living at home or
abroad, have been celebrating
their New Year, “No Ruz,” today
and over the last weekend.
No Ruz coincides with the first
day of spring on the Iranian calen
dar, and change is the mood of the
Iranian people. The weather
warms, the day and night become
equal, and everyone prepares to
usher in a new year — in this case,
the year 1368.
In the United States, No Ruz
started between 5:30 and 6 a.m.
this morning.
“Every nation has some day as
a new year, some day that some
thing has to change,” said UNL
junior Ahmad Kamali, who has
been a student in the United States
for three years.
“To us, that is the spring. A few
weeks before this day, people will
start picking up around their house
and buying new clothes so you can
feel things are changing.”
/\n cApiaiiauon ui r*o ruz wnt
ten by Omar Khayam states that
“No Ruz symbolizes all the quali
ties of spring: birth, newness,
awakening, cleanliness, virtue,
justice, knowledge and sensitivity
to nature.”
The No Ruz celebrations are
focused on the family, as an hour
before the Vernal Equinox they all
gather around an ornamented table
called the “Haft Seen.” Seven
symbolic items beginning with the
Iranian letter “Sr> compose the
Haft Seen.
The seven objects traditionally
include things like vinegar, hya
cinth, a coin, garlic, sumac (a
spice), an apple and barley sprouts.
Also on the table are a gold fish,
the Koran, a candle and a mirror.
“Every member of the family
sits down in their new clothes and
waits for that particular second
that the new year comes. Then the
older member of the family reads
some prayers from the Koran and
we s»art kissing and exchanging
money,” said Kamali.
Kamali said No Ruz starts in the
family and then extends outward.
After the immediate family cele
bration, younger family members
begin to visit their elders and
people of higher stature. No Ruz
lasts for 13 days, so there is time to
visit nearly everyone.
Keeping in line with the theme
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customary for people to try to re
build relationships that have gone
sour in the last year.
Although the celebrations are
not organized on a national scale,
Kamali said the feeling is always
there.
This atmosphere is difficult to
capture here, Kamali said, because
Iranian students are in a different
culture.
“You don’t feel it unless you
have Iranians around you. You
know it’s New Year’s, but there’s
nothing really different on TV or in
the clothes people wear on the
street. You do the same things you
would do any other day and you
don’t really feel it because nobody
stops to say ‘Happy New Year.’’’
Because of this, Iranian com
munities in the United States have
to organize their own celebrations.
Here in Lincoln, this was reflected
in a party conducted by The Per
sian Society.
Omaha resident Mahmud
Javadi, who organized the event,
called the society “an informal
group” and said that the celebra
tion included many people who are
not from Iran.
“There are about 200 people
here tonight,” he said at the cele
bration. “About 70 percent of
them, I would say, are Iranian.”
Kamali said that in a city like;
Los Angeles, where there is ai
larger group of Iranian residents,,
many such parties would be evi
dent over the last weekend. Be
cause the actual New Year occurs;
on Tuesday, communities gener
ally have to organize their events;
on a weekend in this country.
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Altai d iii/i iisauj a
we just have to plan around it,”
Kamali said. “There are so many'
different New Years that if we;
celebrated them all, no one would I
ever go to work.”
Kamali said that happiness and I
community among people is at
constant, even though the ways in i
which it is done may be different.
“Even though we don’t cele
brate Christmas or the American i
New Year, and you don’t celebrate
the spring for our New Year,”
Kamali said, “that doesn’t mean
there is anything wrong with us. It
is just so good that all over the
world people have some reason to
be happy. ’
