Arts & Entertainment
High-energy rock bands roar in Omaha
Jeff Haller/DN
Josh Ramos of The Storm jams on his guitar Wednesday at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
The Storm opened for Bryan Adams.
Bryan Adams,
The Storm stage
dynamic concerts
By Jill O’Brien
Staff Reporter
The hard rock ‘n’ roll of Bryan
Adams and the raging music of The
Storm rang some 7,000 pairs of ears
at the Omaha Civic Auditorium on
Wednesday.
Adams, a younger, more hopped
up version of Bruce Springsteen,
promoted his new release, “Waking
Up the Neighbours.”
Adams told his screaming fans he
had been in Omaha twice during the
1980s.
“The third time was even better,”
he said, referring to Wednesday’s
crowd and the continuous standing
ovation greeting each note Adams
played or sang.
Lighters and matches lit up the
darkness when Adams sang his song
“Everything I Do,” popularized by
the movie “Robin Hood.”
Opening for Adams, The Storm
plugged its self-tilled debut album,
recently released on Intcrscopc Rec
ords.
The Storm’s keyboardist and singer
Greg Rolic’s dark hair and relaxed
features showed little evidence of his
having aged since he co-foundcd
Santana in 1961 and Journey in 1973.
Fans roared their approval when
Rolic sang the classic Santana hit,
“Black Magic Woman,” while singer
Kevin Chalfant with his black hair,
black leather pants, black vest and
black bools paraded on stage, shak ing
the tambourine.
Rolie introduced Ron Wikso, The
Storm’s newest member, as “the drum
mer we stole from Cher.”
“Cher was unhappy,” Rolic said,
“but we can’t be happier.”
Wikso wowed and won fans when
he proved his drumming prowess
during a wild solo in the midst ol an
old Journey song, “Just the Same Way.”
Josh Ramos’ lead guitar burst forth
in short, rhythmic licks on “Show Me
the Way.” Harmonizing with Ramos’
guitar, Chalfant’s mesmerizing voice
melted the heart and soul of the crowd.
Former Journey-man and ex
member of the Steve Miller Band,
Ross Valory lightened up the show
with his clowning as he played bass
and hammed it up on stage.
Closing the short set, Chalfant
coupled his vocals with Rolie as the
two lead singers sang the hit single
“I’ve Got a Lot to Learn about Love.”
Having two lead singers is nothing
new, Rolie said backstage after The
Storm had finished its set.
“The Beatles did it. The Eagles did
it. There’s a lot of dual-, even triple
singing groups,” he said.
Rolie said when Mick Jagger came
out as the only lead singer of the
Stones, having multiple lead singers
in a group suddenly became taboo.
He laughed, recalling he had been
approached about whether fans might
be confused if two lead singers were
featured in one group.
Rolie said his reply wasr “What?
You think somebody is going to sit
there and go, ‘Oh my God, there’s
another singer there. I’d better go
home and think about it.’”
Chalfant said having two lead sing
ers created a pretty powerful sound.
“I think that’s what the record
company saw in us right off the bat.
Greg had already had a track record
and I pretty much was a stranger to
them, but they heard the combination
of the both of us together with the
other guys supporting it.”
Having two singers in one band
can be an advantage, Chalfant said.
He added, “There’s nothing worse
than having two singers and burning
them both out and getting the gig of
your life and then neither one of them
has a voice.”
To prevent that from happening,
Chalfant said, “They work my voice
for a while, then they work his (Ro
lic’s) voice, or they work us together.”
Chalfant said what really enticed
See CONCERT on 9
Vocal ‘wild man’ leads
Pearl Jam’s opening act
Tribe After Tribe notorious
for its political opinions
in South Africa, singer says
conrprf
—* Tfreview I
By Stacey McKenzie
Senior Editor
Once you cage a wild man in, he goes mad,
said the lead singer of Tribe After Tribe, which
opens for Pearl Jam at Nick and Eric’s Place in
Omaha Sunday night.
Robbi Robb is a wild man with a poetic
tongue. He descriptively opened his interview
last week from Los Angeles by saying: “L.A.
is looking beautiful-It’s just gone mad —
the flowers — too many flowers and too many
birds and the air is actually clean.
“The breeze is blowing. It’s pul the spirit
back in the earth.”
But Robb was not allowed to be either
poetic or wild in Johannesburg, South Africa,
where Tribe After Tribe originated.
Robb and bass player Robby Whitclaw,
with whom Robb formed the Asylum Kids in
the late 1970s, left South Africa five years ago,
bound for Los Angeles and, more importantly,
artistic freedom.
After arriving in Los Angeles, Robb and
Whitclaw hooked up with P.K., a drummer
well-versed in both African and industrial per
cussion, to form a band that combines hard,
emotional rock with African magic and rhythm.
Robb and Whitclaw had their concerts in
Africa shutdown by police, who carried rubber
whips to disperse the mixed crowd, because
Robb would get on stage and preach politics,
including anti-apartheid messages.
“I was considered by the press to be the
angriest young man in South Africa,” he said.
‘Td get upon the stage and just freak out at the
people," he said.
Robb’s outspokenness also created prob
lems with concert promoters in South Africa.
They told Robb they wouldn’t book the band
unless he shut up.
At multi-band concerts, Robb said. Tribe
after Tribe stood out on stage because of its
altitude.
"The (other) bands would get up to talk
about love and peace and such. Tlic press
would say every lime we got up that (we)
would try to tear away the veneer. And the
other bands would say, ‘We haven’t come here
to change the world. We’ve come here to
party.’”
Although Robb doesn’t seem like a man out
to change the world, he docs seem like a man
out to make a musical impact.
Tribe After Tribe hooked up with Megaforce
records (Mctallica and King’s X) because the
company accepted the band’s sound as it was,
Robb said. In 1991, the band released its self
titled debut LP and loured the slates for about
one month. The band now is working on its
second LP, which will be less introspective and
more "live,” Robb said.
The band’s plunge into the American music
scene has not been as unrestricted as Robb
thought it would be.
See TRIBE on 9
‘Cozy9 releases come in time
to provide dead week relief
NEW
RELEASES
By Anne Steyer
Staff Reporter
Dead week is not really a dead week here
at the university, and luckily, it is not a dead
week for home video releases either.
The two major releases arc both — well,
kind of cozy. Neither is carlhshaking, nei
ther is perfect. But both arc comfortable,
cozy films that arc worth viewing.
“Late for Dinner” (PG) At first glance,
this film seems to be another initiate to the
sci-fi category, but it turns out to be more
about relationships than science fiction.
Willie Husband (Brian Wimmcr of “China
Beach”) is an unemployed milkman whose
home is being eyed for acquisition by an
unscrupulous land developer.
When Willie and his slow-witted brother
in-law Frank (Peter Berg of “Shocker”) try
to reason with the crooked tycoon, they’re
framed for kidnapping and murder.
While on the run they hide out in a
doctor’s office and get caught up in a cryo
genics experiment and arc frozen. They
remain that way for 29 years, until a freak
accident thaws them out.
From there they rediscover life — and
how drastically things changed in the in
terim between 1962 to 1991. Willie and
Frank make ihcir way back home lo ihcir
families and Willie tries to rekindle the
loving relationship he shared with his wife
Joy (Marcia Gay Harden of “Millcr’sCross
»ng”).
Wimmer is wonderful as Willie—sensi
tive, affectionate and dependable. Berg is
equally good and plays not to Frank’s slow
mental capabilities but instead lo his heart
warming tenderness.
“Late for Dinner” is a delightful film that
is part comedy, part romance, and all fun.
(Available 4/29)
“Frankie and Johnny” (R) Directed by
Garry Marshall (“Pretty Woman”), this
Broad way-play-lumcd-major-motion-picturc
stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino in
their first starring roles together since
“Scarface.”
It’s the story of two lonely New Yorkers:
Johnny (Pacino), an ex-con turned short
order cook, and Frankie (Pfeiffer), a thirty
something coffee shop waitress who hides
from life and love.
Based on Terrence McNally’s award
winning play, this movie is full of witty
dialogue,especially as Johnny tries tocharm
Frankie into trying to love again.
There is something—a shred of bclicva
bility — missing from the movie as a whole,
but that cannot be blamed on the leads.
Pacino is solid, as always, and Pfeiffer shines
in her first somewhat unglamorous role.
Also hampering the Him is the all-too
quick wrap-up al the end. But regardless of
these flaws, “Frankie and Johnny” is worth
watching. (Available 4/29)