Arts & Entertainment
In search of a band
Former group
pervades mind
Bryan
Peterson
I used to sing for a band called Juvenile
Dissent. We were simply and truly awful.
We were a punk band, so that did not matter
much. In fact, our very awfulness was the basis
for our existence as a band.
We had about 10 songs and only played out
a few times, and all of those to small groups of
other people who were into hard-core punk
music.
We played a few basement parties and once
in a gymnasium. Our drummer could not make
that show, so some guy from another band sat
in and beat the drums for us and tried to start
and end the songs at the same time.
We also played twice at the Magic Theater
in downtown Omaha. Those were our best
shows, with a large audience and songs that
almost went well.
My favorite song by Juvenile Dissent was
called “Shit,” in which the other band members
made as much noise as they could, sheer may
hemic cyclones of amelodic discordant clamor,
while I repeated the word “shit” over and over.
Sometimes we would do a sort of scramble,
all trading instruments with each other, never
letting up the “Shit” chorus while we pum
meled each other’s instruments.
One of our typical songs was about how we
always saw police cars parked in front of a local
doughnut shop.
One time when we played that one, I opened
a box of crusty old doughnuts and threw them
at people in the audience, who then retrieved
the broken pieces and hurled them back toward
me.
Ah, those were the days ...
I am pretty well into the student grind now,
six years and counting, and I sometimes look
back on those past days of punken glory with
some fondness.
It usually happens late at night, after I have
spent about 12 hours on campus, come home
for a quick snack and begin my homework.
Right in the heart of my most structured,
disciplined moments of studying, it happens. A
blast from the past will seep into my awareness
and take me back to those halcyon days when
I truly lived.
It has been happening more often lately, and
it has been getting harder and harder to return
to my studies after reveling in the liveliness of
the past.
When people ask me what I am doing lately,
the answer is always the same: School and
work, school and work. Every time I use that
See COLUMN on 11
By Robert Richardson
Senior Reporter
To Sam Myers, blues are “the old stan
dards of music.”
Myers, award-winning vocalist and
harmonica player, said that just as blues
sparked his interest in music, the blues
spawned other forms of music.
“Other musics went in a circle around
the blues,” Myers said. “Blues never went
in a circle. It just gives the other musics a
chance to catch on. There will always be
blues.”
Myers was in Lincoln earlier this week
to perform with Anson Funderburgh and
the Rockets at the Zoo Bar. But before a
show, he took time out in his hotel room
to reminisce about his own blues history
and to smoke a cigarette.
Myers grew up in Laurel, Miss., and
went to Pinewood Country Life School, a
boarding school. That is where it all
started.
“Music my third day at school was the
thing that really was what caused me to
learn what two plus two is today,” Myers
said.
Myers played trumpet in the band, sang
in the choir and traveled with the choir
during part of the summer. Then, as
Myers was getting ready to graduate from
high school, he received a scholarship to
attend the American Conservatory School
of Music in Chicago.
“Wow, that was a giant step,” Myers
said. “Music has always played a big part
of my life and then it was my life for a
long time growing up. That’s how I can
appreciate it the way I do.”
Myers said he appreciated it more than
most, because black students in the 1950s
didn’t have many avenues to such an
education.
| “Your books and your sports and music
— those are your basic things, three of
your s’eps going up the ladder to success,”
he said.
Success, for Myers, has arrived. In
1988 he won several prestigious W.C.
Handy awards for his vocals, harmonica
playing and songwriting.
Myers’ harmonica triumphs didn’t start
out like most other blues musicians’.
Myers was older when he began playing.
He said he used to blow along with
records to fine-tune his sound.
“I was past 21 when I started, see,
because I started out as a trumpet player,”
Myers said. “So the (mouth) harp was just
a crossover so it was very easy for me to
learn and not be inspired by anybody.”
Starting out in those days caused
problems for harmonica players. The
See MYERS on 11
William Lauar Daily Nebraskan
Veteran blues man Sam Myers blows his harp Tuesday night at the Zoo Bar, 136 N. 14th St., as a member of Anson
Funderburgh and the Rockets. Myers has been playing the harmonica since he was 21.
Blues his staple
Award winner plays ’50s style ,
Album proves Dinosaur Jr far from extinct
Courtesy of Sire
By Michael Stock
Staff Reporter
I remember hearing Dinosaur Jr’s
“Freak Scene” single for the first time
and how it affected my life. My eyes
kind of popped out a bit and 1 drooled
all over myself.
But it was a good experience —
better than drugs or a good chicken
sandwich.
Then I listened to the rest of “Bug”
back in 1988 and found myself wish
ing the entire album had the same
SST rccords-type spirit of pop amidst
layers of grunge. Sure, there were
other songs that had that same drool
ing-inspiring quality of grunge-pop,
like “Let It Ride” and “They Always
Come.” Hpll, my favorite was “Little
Fury Things” from back in 1987 on
the “You’re Living All Over Me”
album.
Still, over the entirely of the two
albums, I didn’t love every song.
Maybe there weren’t enough pop hooks
— I’m a sucker for a good happy
song. Maybe earlier Dinosaur Jr were
only “half-good” and that’s why I
only loved one-half of its songs. Maybe
Dinosaur Jr
“Green Mind”
Sire
Rating: 5
Ratings are 1 (Bad) to 5 (excellent).
my salivary glands had simply dried
up.
I’ve fervently wished for a new
Dinosaur LP, maybe featuring “Freak
Scene, Part 2,” for about three years
now.
Finally“Grccn Mind,” Dinosaur’s
first complete album since 1988, has
been released. And although it doesn’t
feature that “Part 2” that I’ve been
waiting for— neither docs it need it.
“Green Mind” ranges from pure
pop, a la Bob Mould “Workbook”
style, to the typical Dinosaur rampag
ing raucous thump and growl of lecd
back that has inspired its own school
of music. Following closely in Dino
saur’s rather large, rather noisy foot
steps arc such bands as Buffalo Tom,
Swervedrivcr, Teenage Fan Club and
the Boo Radleys.
Spawned from the loud and proud
tradition of Minneapolis power-pop
greats HUskcr Du, The Replacements,
and Soul Asylum, Dinosaur Jr has
gone at least a step further in the noise
category, mastering the art of “feed
back-grunge-pop.”
J. Mascis, the lead singer, is no
newcomer to the field of grunge-pop.
He helped Sonic Youth on their re
cent success “Goo,” engineering and
producing, as well as singing back
ground vocals. He also loaned his
equipment to Buffalo Tom for their
tour.
“The Wagon,” the opening song,
had been around for about a year
before its inclusion on “Green Mind.”
Originally released in 1990 as a 7
inch single on the Sub Pop label, the
single received all sorts of praise.
See DINOSAUR on 10
