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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1991)
Bad Company member survives ‘long haul’ Confidence pays off By Robert Richardson Senior Reporter Tonight’s dual performance of Bad Company and Damn Yankees marks the second time in less than a year that both groups will travel to Nebraska. Touring in support of their tenth release, “Holy Water,” Bad Company’s only original member, Simon Kirke, said it has been a long haul — but the band is something he is proud of. “I’ve been with the band since day one, the fall of 1973,” Kirke said. “A lot of water has gone under that bridge.” The experienced, steady percus sionist started playing when he was about 13 years old. But he didn’t get his first trap set until he was 15. about the same time he formed a high school band called the Maniacs. “Actually where I cut my teeth, I don’t suppose has been done before. But I went around to a disco to a guy who had a couple of record turn tables,” Kirke said. “And I drammed to the records on the stage I had to keep in time, obviously.” Playing with records at the disco gave Kirke his timekeeping ability, and ultimately, his first job. Kirke came down from die country to Lon don to listen to a blues revival and saw a group called Black Cat Bass. Kirke told the guitarist that he was better than their drummer. “And as luck would have it, they were actually auditioning for new drummers the day after,” Kirke said. “And I got the job.” Several years after his first job, Kirke and the guitarist from his first band formed Bad Company, and ever since, Kirke has never really worried about getting another job. “I always had a lot of confidence in the group,” Kirke said. “And if the group had broken up for good, I was pretty confident that I could have gotten work elsewhere.” Kirke’s experience and confidence gave him an air of immortality. He banked on that, and it paid off. He has never been replaced or left the band that he started, Bad Company. “I’ve been playing drums a long time. I’m pretty good at what I do now,” he said. “If I’m not good now, then I never will be.” Kirke advises bands just starting out to try something original. Playing covers is okay, he said, but it’s better if the band tries to do their own thing. “That is the one single factor, I think,” Kirke said. “If their writing is original, then they will perform it with originality. The material must be original otherwise they haven’t got a hope in hell.” Damn Yankees will open the sold out show at 8 p.m. tonight. The con cert is at Pershing Auditorium, 226 S. Centennial Mall. n Depth of songs on latest release may win fame for Canadian band By Matt Larsen Staff Reporter With the release of “Casino,” Canadian favorites Blue Rodeo may have found the key to popularity in America. The Canadian quintet consists of Jim Cuddy on guitar, Bazil Donovan on bass, Mark French on drums, Bob Wiseman on piano and organ and Greg Keelor on guitar. Keelor and Cuddy share the songwriting and singing duties, penning well-crafted pop that has found a loyal audience north of the border. Pumping out a sound resembling many of today’s alternative guitar based bands, Blue Rodeo stands out for the depth of its songs and its slick production. These qualities have helped the former Toronto bar band to win two successive J uno A wards as Cana dian Band of the Year in 1989 and 1990. “Casino” starts out with the catchy “ Til I Am Myself Again,” a song about getting things under control. Should this song get sufficient air play on the college stations, it may become Blue Rodeo’s first Top 40 hit in the United States. Blue Rodeo “Casino” Easi/West America Rating: 4 Ratings are 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent). “Trust Yourself’ also shows signs of hit potential. Like most of Blue Rodeo’s songs, it has interesting, easily understood lyrics: “Now you’ll be alone/When the sun comes up/With your tattered little dreams/and a bro ken cup/then you’ll have to trust yourself/and don’t believe in any more lies.” “Casino” also features a few pleas ant love songs. “5 A.M.” and “Mon treal” are two of the better ones. “Montreal” is a simple tale of a spe cial place, and “5 A.M.” is a reminder of the power of forgiveness between two people who love each other. Probably the best song of the col lection is “After The Rain,” a melan choly song that catches the ear and draws the listener into its sad tale. This song is a prime example that Blue Rodeo is able to transcend the pop stereotype and can make music for adults too. One major fan of Blue Rodeo is Meryl Streep. After listening to Blue Rodeo’s first two albums during rides in her limousine, she invited them to be her backing band in her most re cent film, “Postcards From The Edge.” The live performance of “I’m Check ing Out,” with Streep singing, was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Song. The rest of the songs on “Casino” are pleasant and well-done, but aren’t anything special. Altogether, “Casino” is a well-produced and well-executed album that stands out from other al ternative music on the basis of its maturity and sensibility. If Blue Rodeo avoids being pi geonholed as just another jangling guitar, empty-headed alternative music band, then they should find success on the American music scene. i BEFORE HE CAN FOLLOW _ FOLLOWTO^RULES^ TO .. .S!”!^“*R:3“uw # n«.n ^ Don't wait to catch this one! LONDONBEAT'S "In The Blood" on sale this week at Pickles. Prices good through 3/1/91 RECORDS * TAPES * COMPACT DISCS 17th & P * 237 $ 70th * 3814 Normal ■ - ' * ’ • ■ T \ ' * i* * f • Courtesy of Pocket Books New science fiction includes Star Trek By Bryan Peterson Staff Reporter Baen Books regularly unleashes large batches of science fiction and fantasy from new and established writers, and it has done so once again. Falling into the category of es tablished writer is Jerry Poumelle, with his latest effort, “Falkenberg’s Legion.” “Legion” is the union of two previously published works, “The Mercenary” and “West of Honor,” separated by 20 fictional years. Using Robert Heinlein’s notion of future history, a framework for a collection of interconnected sto ries set in the future, Poumelle presents the effort of one man (John Christian Falkenberg) to unite the fragments of future civilization. Poumelle has teamed with Larry Niven of Ringworld fame on a number of woiics but has no short age of his own works (nearly a dozen of which have been released by Baen Books). Established writers Roger Zelazny and Fred Saberhagen have joined to write “The Black Throne,” available in Baen Books' line of fantasy. Inspired by the Gothic horror of Edgar Allen Poe, ‘The Black Throne” begins in Poe-ish style — “fogs entombing the world,” “bleak walls and vacant eye-like windows” — and ends with his death. Eric Kotani and John Maddox Roberts have brought out another book in their Island Worlds series, “Delta Pavonis,” on Baen Books. “Delta” is the story of Dierdre Jamail, a young explorer assigned to the galaxy’s roughest planet full of dinosaurs and similar adven tures. Pocket Books is not widely known for its science fiction, al though it has released a never-ending stream of Star Trek novels based on both the old and new series. x iwui uic miguiai OiUj un, v.c. Mitchell has written the 51st book in the Pocket Book series, based on the original characters. “Enemy Unseen” is full of stock Star Trek ideas like Bones hover ing over a dead figure, the Enter prise hosting an ambassador and the return of one of Captain Kirk’s seemingly unending procession of past loves. Is there any new material for Star Trek left to cover? Does it matter whether or not there is to hardcore fans? Has anyone actu ally read the 50-odd Pocket books based on the first series? Thus we come to “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the mere 14th book in the Pocket Books series based upon that series. “Exiles,” by Howard Weinstein, is his fourth Star Trek novel and one that gamers back-cover praise from Gene Roddenberry for its “social relevance.” The story is, once again, famil iar. The Enterprise crew must negotiate a conflict between two planets, yet there is always room for variations upon the theme. More recent releases from Pocket Books include the third Star Trek hardcover, “Prime Directive,” and numbers 52 and 15 in the respec tive Star Trek series.