Student escapes all to sample diverse concert
By Bryan Peterson
Senior Editor
When it is the middle of the se
f mester and you are behind in all of
your classes and everything else
seems to be falling apart, there is
nothing better than leaving it all for
a few days.
I don’t mean taking a nap or
going for a walk, but really getting
out and going. With that in mind,
and in hopes of seeing Public Enemy
and Anthrax together in concert, I
left town last weekend with two
friends.
We were to see the concert in
Champaign, 111., on Saturday night
after driving there at a leisurely
pace and then spending the day
wandering through Chicago. We
would return to Lincoln on Sun
day, again at a leisurely pace.
Of course, it did not happen like
that at all. It was terrible and it was
great. I am even further behind in
all my classes and other projects
than I was before, but I would go
again in an instant.
• ♦ • ♦
1 Things got out of hand from the
start. Minutes before we left, we
found out that we had the concert
dates wrong. The bands would
play Chicago on Saturday and
Champaign on Sunday.
We did not worry; there would
be guest passes for us (journalists
aU) at Saturday night's show. If not,
we could always buy from scalp
ers. The main thing wastoget back
by Sunday, in time for work and
classes.
Before we got out of Lincoln,
my ears already hurl from the vol
ume of CDs blaring as I sat in the
backseat of a small Bronco, nestled
cozily between the two stadium
sized speakers.
I watched the sights and lis
tened to a motley progression of
bands: Limbo Maniacs (“The Toi
let’s Flooded”), Stevie Ray (“Couldn’t
Stand the Weather”), Primus (“To
Defy the Laws of Tradition”).
Primus. I had never heard of the
band until a few weeks earlier;
; somewnere in lowa, i Dougnt a
piir of gloves but lost one of them
by the end of the trip. I wanted to
buy some extra socks but all the
truck stops sold them only by the
dozen and I wanted to save my
money for the essentials like a
concert T-shirt.
By midnight, we were some
where in Illinois and decided to
start calling friends for a place to
spend the night. We ended up in
one of the coolest apartments in
the world, near DePaul University
and in one of the coolest neighbor
hoods in the world.
I could have spent the whole
trip wandering through that part of
North Central Chicago: endless rows
of tall, skinny houses covered with
ivy and elaborate exteriors.
There are no yards, but trees
appear everywhere, grand arching
trees reaching out over all. The
streets, though lined with parked
cars, are often paved with bricks
and cut through the area at all
angles, making no city block the
same and adding further to the
coziness of it all.
After sleeping in late, the three
“Gimme a
fucker.” Mo
backed by
older, bigg<
on,
that
inc
deeply scarred, remained with rrtte.
Inside the ballroom, they had
never heard of us. We tyaited for
the Public Enemy guest ksfacy&fi
rive as a steady streamy>Lficket
holders passed by. “* '
was sold out;
way»__
Th^MfljJIlK^ense and the
divisioffBear The whites had come
for Anthrax and the blacks for Public
Enemy. Freaks of unkrtpwn color
had come fqx Primus. \ _
We heard fairu_jw-Hmds from
within and ihougJua sound check
was in progress. But the sounds
did not slip, and before Ibng, we
knew that the Primu$ set had ended
Some white metal* Tans were
ejected and another set ended:
Public Enemy’sjet-was^done, and
the guest list had never coms^We
got back into the truck, $614 and
dejected, deciding tlFlrasIvr**#1
friend’s apartment in trl*
the southwestern part of rhjcrtgh u<
Ernest Hemingway'discrtb^
home town, OakPa^f, as a pty of
wide lawns and-narrow minds.*
Somewhere in there he neglected
to mention the watirTtMedun^gr
and the prostitutes waiting at the
city limits.
Once in Oak Park, we found the
friend’s apartment easily. It was an
other peat apartment in another
ifdat/i^ighbprhood, but by the time
wcHwJrW|^it was too late to
ie nextdjbfpfw, we went out N
akes ah&Jnd*fWoJohns 'frf
laughted at me aga wfc>edn4foj ate -i
all of my pancakes am] (t»ds(y)f '
those Ordered by qut hostr&f*
1 She Oauiionedv^JbeforenM^
tbpt ttwas*Yuppiepapcalf$place,
but we were undeterred, flie^aht
before, tvehad sauntered mfe^ord
Chumley’s Pub, hoping for acnetp
meal aVid beer."',. 1 v:
Once seated, our mistake be
came dear: Itwas a^Quou&yoppie
haveri Mpst meals were priced mare
.than $12-95 and frad-lon#, funny .
names, weordered appetizers apd
sank an inch or two lower in oyr
seats. Too cold for beer, I asked for
a cup of coffee •— refillable.
The waitress wa.sQiiite|tfAa>fla|tffr
not batting an eye ar our order and
even bciM^Mn‘Bji^4fr4ffTOmpli'
tyfcWljYflWW^fread Most serv
IPHiWulahave made snide com
ments and given cold service, but
she betrayed no ahndyanee.
I stopped in the bathroom be
fore getting on the Toad again. I
looked- at tne picture of fruits arid
"Vegetables above the urinal, then
down to make sure my airn was ■ ’
gocxf.'then back up^agerPTfefeUrig
somethjpg was^amiss.
—~ Artdlt was. A nippier righfthere
in the mi^dl® of the picturip. Pyu
emirebreast, in fact, ofi
contrast to ihe '
generic lurid cor
;ou wAftei-’pancakes
oft the book
.0a k Park, the
Hefftm^way”
and end u
there in
Seats
‘ gn*
in Chicago:
Whiter, much more
safe. ' '
These people moni
here for a glimpse
transferred from the
the stage for a few
-from the South Side
The openers, Young Black
agers, rap through three blasts
without a pause: Five white guys,
three of them rapping, making good
noise, opening a concert which
will break all rules of color and
musical style.
Th^ place is overstaffed: fake
smiling-caramel-vestedyoui^^te
every twentyfee^MM^H^K
_ ~sta
' them white,
ie your ticket, honky.
I gave .-tine. What .are yOu, a
student ushftria£jrt the stadidth to
see tJHfstfiow for free? I doth^ap
Lincdn to hear the
I hear^Mjpgpil^p^ny^and won
derMWnanyofthehonkiesaround '
me can hear this, the worcls behind
the heat, the Symphony of anger
lacking a resolution. .**
Between bands, music booms
ouijover the audience, music used
advertisem«fU (veryoircd
rtfhearing the endless loop ad for
yTerminaiot.X’s new record)andas
\ ^JS&sSS&qL.
catjorW'Ddore the concert h$s re
ally'begun, telling us tjl$jbiael? ’
s>6ry, dissing^6olumbdi*jmjt.iJb«^
P'S schools hu&‘ ■ ~
fMhod, toft. "r~.«
'^^§B,aIe'<^?fcrto(*Jrtppers?
y Quei^p JdttifaKr why did you Tfot
replace Catherine at 'the Aragon
^ tjBailrooirfth Chicago? Thought too
Soon—almost in response, a
< woman’s voice booms overhead—
“That’s why 1 sing the blues’*—but
Mm > .
|only for two lines. ^f| i
'•^Primus now done
leirihe sfkfcw already.
^ m°re
effect tjpon rapple
A thattfTrierkkof
afji hacTiiiisetfall
e^Swything^feut The
Wta PrimusTv/
^ Their fronfpaan is a
is fast, unspeakably so
spindly leg pumps up
with the music. His hands move in
a blu r across and around his bass as
multisyllabic words pour from his
mouth with facile ease.
The band is tight, together.
The crowd is moving and hop
ping in spite of and on top of the^
caramel bipwrfchairs, not Warning *
the band to f*nfsh.
lerminatoc a s ad is pounnaB
and pounding out again,
with revisionist history putb
dollar signs? Revisionist' po
history pouring but, and who is
listening’ * £
Two rows dowh, a 1
white boy flips*)!! life friendSwH
us, he wearing a/npsh Pubii3|
emy t-shirC wi$s .the mc^H>
“Apocalypse 91 ♦ t)*: enemy mmgb
black The trademark blac^^HL
in < toss hairs appears on the f*
but the message if clear: 1
honky m those harts. PeacH
but who is listening?
'Hey white bOymonky rtBb«
how hard are you,lippingol o
fronds in the backpf the StaS
Do" you know the projects
buy? 1 lave you seen the street ■■
ners, honkv’ 1'ver !>een with a Stro»
Corner girl’
M^y^reet corner girl, like the one
\tfflo propositioned us out in the
cold Chicago night under a dark
nghtjn*a darker sidewalk, wear
mga short skirt and a lorfg wig’
BOYEEE!!! PubUc Enemy is done
and I scramble to make notes in the
dark Did anyone listen? Here is a
black band telling a white audi
ence to make reparations payments
■■■■
tuning in the
blic Enemy fin
a rack of about
stage is cleared
sed guards, no
tn the center, but a row
of extra monitors spanning the stage
Anthrax playing now, my legs
vforanhg with the sound of it.
Vocaiist all right but like Public
Enemy, spends too* much time
getting the crowd to cheer.
One guitarist a madman, doing a
stage-stompmosh, his Hare Krishna
ponytail flailing about, the other
guitarist quiet behind a hanging
.— —,— -— —’..—
lav pi
mop of hair, bassist loud behind 1
the same, drummer lost behind a 1
cage of drums.
This is the terrordome of the \
Public Enemy song. The set has
just begun and the caramel plastic T
chairs in the orchestra pit are thrown
aside to make room for slamming
and moshing as people are passed |
overhead after diving off the stage. I
The security folks look nervous
and helpless. r
The band opens with the omi- f
nous ticks of “Persistence of Time”
before reaching back to the first r
album and working their way back
up to "Cry for the Indians,” appro* |
priate for this campus.
fjMThe vocalist dons a headdress |
^ifd encourages the crowd to make
fk a war dance and they cheer. |
llgiter, all chant together, syllable by 1
IMllable, “You’re Antisocial.” Are
tu listening?
like Flavor Flav says in his nasal
K>ice, BOYEEE!!! Anthrax finish,
linen come back for a rap encore
Btid a metal encore, then again for
Bering Tha Noize” which brings
Bublic Enemy on stage with An
il1?* for a crowded finale.
|f, * * * *
After the show, we stop for food
at another convenient store that
allows no one inside.
A guy in a Public Enemy T-shirt
standing behind us in line tells us
he sat by the sound board. “Yeah,
and the decibel meter was in the
-OMfir zone for aU of Anthrax man,
ova- 116.”
We drive all night and I listen to
the Primus CDs again. By the time
I take the wheel outside Des Moines,
a haze spreads over my eyes and
ears.
The final shift is mine, and I
watch the sun rise behind me in the
mirror and greet a new day with
Primus It is still cold but no longer
raining
Hpwa flows past as a flow of
coffee and donuts warms me. I
cross the Missouri as my first class
begins Monday morning and
wonder whether anyone is listen
ing to the lecture. g