Arts & Entertainment
Lifelong
practice
| pays off
for singer
By Sarah Duey
Staff Reporter_,_
You never know when someone
will be watching you.
For that reason, Mary Penner, a
senior speech communications major
and a member of Scarlet & Cream,
said that every time she performed,
she gave it her best.
“Everyone has one chance in life
to make or break it,” she said. “Every
audition, every show you do, you
should go for it.”
Penner is taking all of the chances
she gels. Along with seven other Scarlet
& Cream members, Penner will tour
the Mediterranean for eight weeks
this summer with the United Service
Organ i'/ation.
Although this is Penner’s first sing
ing job out of the United Stales, she
worked for two summers at Worlds of
Fun in Kansas City, Mo.
Working for Worlds of Fun was
m> first taste of being away from
home,” she said. “More than any
thing, though, it was the first per
forming job I got paid for.”
Her show at Worlds of Fun, called
“Stax of Wax,” involved five cos
tumechangcs. She performed this 27
rnrnute show six times a day, six days
a week.
“The atmosphere was very com
fortable, even though the other per
formers were older,” Penner said.
“Most were students from different
universities, so that made it really
lun."
And Penner has devoted more than
just her summers to music.
Her earliest memory of singing
was at age 2. The day after her tonsils
were removed, she was home sing
ing.
In fourth grade, Penner said she
received positive reinforcement from
teachers about her musical talents.
Her parents had her take lessons. Along
with using her voice, Penner learned
to play the flute and piano.
She started performing in the geri
atric section of the Beatrice Commu
nity Hospital. Both Penner’s mother
and grandmother were volunteer nurse's
at the hospital, so they encouraged
her lo perform, she said.
“My grandma would also take me
to her sewing circle and I would per
form,” she said.
The youngest of four in a “super
supportive” family, Penner said her
family encouraged her in a million
ways.
“I will never be able to pay them
back for making me sing.”
Penner said she also had one of her
voice teachers to thank. Throughout
high school, Penner look lessons from
Berme Wherry in Pawnee City.
“She was the best thing that hap
pened to me,” she said. “She’s the
lady that gave me style. She pul forth
the idea that each person had their
own individual personality that should
be brought out when singing.
“When people sec me perform,
they see a different person. It’s confi
dence from something you’ve done
for so long.”
Penner’s dedication has paid off.
She’s performed with Scarlet & Cream
for four years. Since sixth grade, Penner
said she kept a file on Scarlet &
Cream.
“It was always my goal,” she said.
Step by step, Penner said she worked
her way up to being an active member
of the group.
“My experience with the group
turned out to be nothing like I imag
ined it to be,” she said.
“Some of my lifelong friends will
be from this organization.”
Mary Penner, a senior speech communication major and a member of Scarlet & Cream, will
tour the Mediterranean this summer with the USO. Penner is one of nine UNL students taking
part on the tour.
Scarlet & Cream selected
for Mediterranean tour
By Sarah Duey
Staff Reporter
■ Nine members of Scarlet & Cream
will lour the Mediterranean this
summer with the United Service
Organizations.
The group will perform for the
USO for eight weeks at military bases
in Spain, Sicily, Sandidnia, Italy,
Greece, Turkey, Crete, Saudi Arabia
and Bahrain.
- it
It will be the summer
of a lifetime.
Callahan, sophomore
Family Science major
-ft -
Scarlet & Cream videotaped its
pre-audition, and after a live inter
view with a lieutenant from the USO
in November, the group was chosen
to tour.
Because of costs, the government
can afford to send only nine members
of the 21 -member group. But not only
will the government pay for the trip, it
also will pay the performers.
Selected to lour were: Sandra Koch,
piano player, Brent Kuenning, Travis
Turpin, Kevin Witcher, Corey
Hurlbcrt, Jennifer Callahan, Aubric
Washburn, Mary Pcnncr and Tricia
Turpin.
Pcnncr, a senior, said the group
started working on its show about a
month and a half ago and practiced
four times a week.
The show will be well-rounded,
Pcnncr said, with a ’20s medley, ’40s
medley and a contemporary medley.
The group will perform enough mu
sic for a two-hour show, with four
solos for each person.
Callahan, a sophomore family
science major, said, “It will be neat to
represent the university and America
as a whole.
“Through our music we hope to
bring the (service) men closer to
gether and we will become closer
ourselves.
“We arc all really excited to be
able to share different types of music,
our singing, dancing and acting with
people that arc so far away.
“It will be the summer of a life
time.”
Corey Hurlbcrt, a senior broad
casting and marketing major, said,
“We hope to provide a good time for
these men. We will be bringing a
piece of America to them.
“Being exposed to different people
and situations, the trip will be like no
other experience we’ve had.”
A uthor
presents
erotica
as art
“In Praise of the Stepmother”
Mario Vargas Llosa
Penguin Books
By Mark Baldridge
Senior Reporter
Mario Vargas Llosa is no ordinary
writer.
He’s one of the foremost of the
South American “boom writers” and .
one of Peru’s greatest writers ever.
(His other works include “Aunt Julia
and the Scriptwriter”and “The Story
teller.”)
But his latest novel, “In Praise of
the Stepmother,” is no ordinary book.
Though it wasa national bestseller
in 1990, it's not the kind of work the
National Endowment lor the Arts
would be quite up to funding these
days.
It’s an excellent book, and a darned
good read, but it’s probably a little
loo racy for the self-appointed cen
sors among us.
However, if “Stepmother” appeals
to the prurient interests, it docs so in
the context of high art.
It is simply that rarest of items, a
good erotic novel.
Too often the act of writing an
erotic work sends otherwise excellent
authors into goofy self-parody. And
while it’s no crime for a novel to
refuse to take itself seriously, one can
begin to wonder if it’s possible for
erotica to be anything more than fluff.
Science fiction, as an example of
genre, is full of good ideas and
memorable characters. There’s lots
of trash too, of course. But it’s at least
possible for a science-fiction novel to
be a good book as well.
Llosa is one of the writers who has
done for erotica what, say, writers
like Ursula K. LcGuin did for sci-fi:
He has brought art into the arena.
But that’s not all he’s done. “Step
mother” goes where other erotic writ
See BOOK on 10
rEthno-clectic’ Decades hit Duffy’s
■Four-member band
■features husband,
|wife combination
Py Laura Ray
B>teff Reporter
■ The music of The Decades could
Bf described as a mixture of folk,
classical and ethnic rock, one
B*-tnd member said.
rl| The Decades’ guitarist Eric Rea
Haid, “We’ve been using a phrase to
Bcscribc our music lately — cthno
Bteciic."
I The f)ecadcs, who have been going
Btrong for the past year, will play
Bright at Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 0 St.
Based in Omaha, the band is made
up of Rea, Rea’s wife Mary, lead
singer; Steven Ziegler, bass; and Blake
Engelhard, drums.
The Reas formed the band three
years ago and adopted Engelhard to
replace the old drummer in January.
Eric Rea said he was in a few small
bands before The Decades, but “noth
ing of note.” He is the main song
writer for the band, but his wife and
the other members also contribute.
Rea said he has many different
musical influences, including Rich
ard Thompson, Neil Young, and Duke
Ellington.
The band members have different
personalities, interests and tastes, Rea
said, all of which add a twist to the
band’s music.
Although playing with The Dec
ades has made him poorer, Rea said
he enjoys touring. The group has played
at bars in Miami, Denver, and Chi
cago.
«r “
Rea said touring has been a learn
ing experience.
One of the worst learning experi
ences the band has had happened one
month ago in a Lincoln bar. Mary lost
her voice just before the show. The
opening band played a little longer
and Eric Rea sang as many songs as
he could.
Then the Yardapcs walked in. This
Lincoln band did a set of their own on
The Decades’ instruments, for which
Rea said he was grateful.
“Basically, people everywhere arc
pretty nice,” he said. “There aren’t as
many jerks in the world as you might
think/’
Rea said he’d like to play music
for a living because it is one of the
things that motivates him.
When he gets up in the morning,
Rea said, his biggest goals arc “to
keep pursuing the band, music, and
my wife.” The Decades’ show begins
at about 10 p.m. Cover charge is $3.
The Decades
