Students jive with disco-reminiscent club creation
By Lisa Donovan
Senior Reporter
Two University of Nebraska-Lin
coln students think that Stayin’ Alive
means knowing how to jive - the
disco way.
Michele Sybert and Kati Tablor,
two UNL freshmen, and 12 of their
friends make up the Shake Your
Rump Disco/Funk Club, which
formed last fall.
“We discoed before then, but not
regularly,” Sybert said.
Originally, the members of the
group started listening to disco be
cause it was funny.
“We truly like it though,” Sybert
said. ‘ ‘We’re serious about disco, but
we do it for fun.”
According to Tablor, the group
gathers at one of the members’
houses about once a week and listens,
dances or roller discoes to their col
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lection of disco albums.
“It is so uncool that it’s funny,”
she said.
Both Tablor and Sybert agree that
disco music is resurging.
“There’s an ABBA revival going
on right now,” Sybert said.
“They’re the greatest,” she said.
“When we go to parties, we play
ABBA albums. Others kind of laugh
and then they join in,” Sybert said.
ABBA, according to Sybert and
Tablor, is a symbol of the 1970s.
Sybert describes the ’70s as slick.
“It describes everything,” Sybert
said. “Slick polyester, slick collars
and slick dance moves.”
It’s the disco beat that enables
these slick dance moves, Sybert said.
“Disco music provides more for
creative movement... it’s very pro
vocative,” she said.
Besides dancing, Tablor and
Sybert said the group enjoys roller
skating and “rollcr-discoing.”
Sybert said group members try to
wear short shorts when they skate.
Besides short shorts, Sybert said,
sometimes members of the group
dress in ’70s attire.
“We like platform shoes and
clogs,” Sybert said. “Clogs are es
sential to the disco outfit.”
Sybert and Tablor also listed tube
tops, halter tops and flared pants as
other favorite ’70s clothing.
Although members of the group
« « /S • 1
wear ’70s clothing, Sybert said most
group members don’t wear them in
public because they’re afraid people
won’t take them seriously.
A person is tagged “nerd,” if he or
she Is associated with the ’70s, Tablor
said.
According to Sybert, it’s lunny
that so many people are embarrassed
about the ’70s and that they tried to
repress it.
“Everyone had fun (during the
’70s),” Tablor said, “but they made
fools out of themselves.”
People have forgotten to have fun
in the 1980s, Sybert said. She attrib
utes this to the Yuppie rage and the
self-conscious, cool attitude that goes
along with being a “1980s person.”
But, Sybert and Tablor recall how
Barry Manilow and Donna Summer
were once “cool.”
According to Sybert, Manilow
was on top of the world and “ then one
day he just fell; he was uncool.
“Everyone attacked his nose, his
clothes
And though the two lament over
the critics’ attack on Manilow, they
have happy thoughts and idolize
Donna Summer.
“I think Donna Summer is the
ideal woman,” Sybert said. “She’s
sassy, she’s slick, she’s beautiful...
she knows how to make music fun.”
Sybert said Donna Summers’
“Love to Love Ya Baby,” is her
i • v
/us musicals commnea
many styles, time periods
Musicals of the 1970s were a cul
mination of almost every style and
time period which had come before
them. The ’60s style overlapped into
the beginning of the new decade with
the musicals “Oh, Calcutta!” (the
first nude musical) and “Hair,” a
hippie’s look at life and Vietnam.
In the early ’70s (1970-73), his
tory was a popular theme in musicals,
such as in “Jesus Christ Superstar,”
“A Funny Thing Happened on the
Way to the Forum,” and “Pippin.”
These all dealt with characters and
locations from ancient history.
Musical plots also dealt with more
recent history in various cultures,
such as the ever-popular “The King
and I.” Other musicals in this cate
gory include “The Fiddler on the
Roof' and “The Sound of Music”.
“Follies,” “A Little Night Mu
i ~
sic,” ‘‘No, No, Nancuc” and
“Grease,” (a musical about youth in
the 1950s; made into a movie later)
also dealt with a variety of modern
themes.
Later musicals like “Working,”
“A Chorus Line” and “Side by Side
by Sondheim” (a musical review)
addressed issues of realism in society
with touches of humor.
Musicals also progressed in a non
realistic way by using a universally
timeless and sometimes magical set
ting.
Musicals of this genre include
“The Wiz,” “Candidc” and “The
Fantastiks.” “Pippin,” an earlier
musical, also could be included in
this category .
Other “hit” musicals of this era
that dealt with recent history in vari
ous cultures are “Chicago,” “An
nie,” “Evita,” “Best Little Whore
house in Texas,” “Sweeney Todd,”
“Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Sugar
Babies." - Shaun Harner
I
| DIGEST. |
March 21, 1973 — Wednesday
The big news in the Daily
Nebraskan was a speaker who said
a build-up of Soviet troops on the
Sino-Soviet border was respon
sible for the warm-up between
China and the United States. Lu
cian W. Pye, professor of political
science at the Massachusetts Insti
tute of Technology, was the visit
ing scholar.
Bill Freudenburg, Unity and
Progress candidate for ASUN
president, lost by 11 votes to Get
Off Your Apathy candidate Ann
Henry.
About 20 UNL juniors were
going to study in Europe and Latin
America with various exchange
programs. Summer trips to Mex
ico and Japan were also men
tioned.
“Today’s youth have no re
spect for taboos. They smoke dope
openly and engage in other illicit
activities,” said Bob Russell in a
column about the demise of the
drive-in.
“Paul Williams reminds one of
an over-sized, )ver-aged elf,
whose only duty on this earth is to
act silly, consume large amounts
of alcohol, and entertain folks
with his songs,’ ’ said Larry Kubert
in a raving album review of Wil
liams’ “Life Goes On.”
In sports, senior Hoppy Batten,
a horizontal bar champion, antici
pated the Big Eight gymnastics
meet that weekend.
favorite ’70s disco song.
Sybert said the song supposedly
was recorded when Summers was
having sexual intercourse.
‘Tm trying to find the 16-minutc
version,” she said.
According to Sybert, the group
searches for 45s.
‘‘It’s not even cool to say ’45s;’
now they call them ‘seven inches,’”
she said.
But in this search for old music
and places to roller disco, both Tablor
and Sybert agree theirs is a remote
social statement about '70s and disco
music.
Because there was no AIDS scare
in the ’70s, promiscuity and sexual
freedom were accepted.
‘‘If sex isn’t fun then how can
dance and music (be)," Sybert said.
Although the 1987 movie ‘‘Dirty
Dancing” revived some of that, the
attitude of the ’70s was conducive to
free expression of sexuality.
‘‘People were more comfortable
with their sexuality (in the ’7Qs),”
Sybert said.
People were not as concerned with
bodily perfection then as they arc
now, Tablor said.
Both sec this as a new trend and
say it will reach its peak in three or
four years.
‘‘I suppose we’re five years ahead
of our time or 15 years behind,”
Sybert said of the group.
Andy Manhart/Daily Nebraskan
’77 Travolta film
epitomizes ’70s
Every decade produces a film that
is representative of its youth culture:
the 1950s had “Rebel Without a
Cause,” the ’60s had “Beach Blan
ket Bingo” and the ’70s had “Satur
day Night Fever.”
John Badham's 1977 film is repul
sive and unnerving, yet it captures the
period well._
j Ji SUM. |
The film follows the life of 19
year-old Tony Mancro (John Tra
volta), a working-class kid from
Brooklyn. Tony comes from poor
social conditions and a miserable
family life; he only feels good when
he is dancing at the 2001, a local
disco.
There, Tony spots Stephanie
(Karen Lynn Gomey) and he sets out
to make her his new partner. Stepha
nie seems sophisticated and smooth
to Tony, unlike his former partner
Annette (Donna Pescow).
Annette, however, is in love with
Tony and does everything in her
power to get him to reciprocate her
feelings.
The film is the epitome of the
stereotypical ’70s: bell-bottoms,
clogs and disco, disco, disco. It brings
together the music of the Bee Gees
(who can forget “Stayin’ Alive’’ and
“More Than a Woman?’’) and Tra
volta s then-considercd-scxy moves.
Travolta, in fact, was one of the
main reasons for the lilm’s huge suc
cess. His portrayal of Tony is believ
able and his dancing is fairly agile.
As we move into the ’90s, one
might stop to consider what the youth
film of the ’80s is - possibly “The
Breakfast Club.’’
- Sarah Knight
