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Music of UNL employee charms c
By Heather Sinor
Staff Reporter___ .
Every Sunday morning for 29 years, Ray
Johnson has climbed 122 tiny stairs to the topof
the bell tower at First Plymouth Congregational
Church to play his music for the city of Lincoln.
It is from this point at 176 feet in the air that
Ray sitsonabench behind the church’s carillon
and performs for a 4- to 5-mile audience that
surrounds the church.
“It’s the closest to heaven I’ll ever get,” he
said jokingly.
He may be a familiar face to some Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln students, because he
drives the campus shuttle bus.
Once a student at UNL, Johnson said Myron
Roberts, a retired UNL music professor, recog
nized his musical talent in a class and recom
mended him for the job of carillonneur at First
Plymouth Church, 2000 D St.
Ray originally played the organ, but starting
with simple tunes, he soon learned how to play
the carillon, he said. The keys are arranged like
a regular keyboard, but they are struck with
Fists.,
He plays a variety of specially arranged
carillon music beforeand after church services,
at weddings and funerals and for children that
come to see him in what he calls his “cabin in
the sky.”
The church plans to install a video camera in
the lower, he said, so people who don’t want to
make the climb can watch him play.
Johnson said the largest bell weighs two and
a half tons, and the smallest weighs 25 to 30
pounds. The bells remain stationary in their
frame, and only the clapper moves to sound
them. With the exception of the clock chimer,
the system is entirely mechanical, so someone
must be in the tower to play the bells.
The bell tower, which was built in 1930,
originally housed 48 bells. In 1990, the church
supported a $350,000 renovation project that
increased the number of bells to 57 and re
placed the old carillon with a masterpiece
designed by Timothy Hurd of the Olympic Bell
Engineers of Seattle.
A larger frame for the bells was constructed,
and the wires that supported the bells were
shortened to provide greater playing control. A
new set of bells was cast, and the originals were
placed in a chamber carillon in the balcony of
the church.
-44
It’s the closest to heaven I’ll
ever get.
, — Johnson
carillon player
-ft -
' Johnson said he believed it was the only
chamber carillon in existence in the United
States.
The bell tower brings more than music to
Johnson. He said it was a part of his religious
contribution. It makes him feel good to know
that he “plays the bells that get the people to
church and sends them home afterward.”
He played well enough that one interested
listener crawled up into the tower to watch him
play 23 years ago. He ended up teaching her the
art of playing the carillon, and 11 months later
he married her. Now Kalhie Johnson fills in for
Ray when he can’t play.
Johnson is now busy planning a four-day
convention for 150 members of the North
American Gild of Carillonneurs Congress,
which will be held in Lincoln on June 16-20.
Ronald Bams, a famous carillon composer,
will hold a bell concert at First Plymouth to play
a song he was commissioned to write for the
convention.
Johnson said he welcomed listeners to at
tend the concert in the church courtyard.
uamon Lee/un
M
Ray Johnson takes a break from practicing his bells Monday at First Plymouth
Congregational Church, 2000 D St. Johnson, who also drives the campus
shuttle bus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has played the carillon at .
the church for 29 years.
• , * ' * -
Courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Bill Murray and friend in a scene from “Groundhog Day."
Murray shines in new film
“Groundhog Day”
If you mix a love story and some
standard Bill Murray comedy with
one episode of “Twilight Zone”,
you’ve got the recipe for ‘^Groundhog
Day’’ (East Park 3, Plaza 4).
Murray plays Phil, a TV weather-'
man who is egotistical, snobbish, and
overly sure of himself.
Yeah, he’s the quintessential jerk.
He and his producer Rita (Andie
MacDowell) arc sent to the Norman
Rockwell-ish town of Punxsutawney,
Pennsylvania to cover the annual fes
tivities of Groundhog Day, a celebra
tion that Phil is less than thrilled about
attending.
Unfortunately for Phil, the bliz
zard he predicted would completely
miss Punxsutawney hits just before he
and Rita are to leave, and they get
stuck there.
However, Phil doesn’t get stuck
just in Punxsutawney; he gets stuck in
that same day — over and over again,
Every morning, Phil wakes up to
Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”
on the clock radio (a true hell), the
same conversations, and so on.
Unfortunately, the film reaches its
peak about two-thirds of the way
through, and you’re just left hanging
there for the last part going “Well,
now what?"
Still, Director Harold Ramis
(“Caddyshack”) does a great job with
the film. He makes the bizarre premise
work, and he still knows how to get a
laugh at something that an audience
can see coming a mile away.
And Murray is great here. The
same zany personality flip-flops he
displayed in “What About Bob” work
here tpo.
Although faulty at a couple of
points, “Groundhog” is worth check
ing out.
— Gerry Beltz
Adults can enjoy G-rated movie
“Homeward
Bound: The In
credible Journey"
OK, fine. “Homeward Bound: The
Incredible Journey” (Lincoln 3, East
Park 3) is another one of those “ house
hold-pets-smarter-than-anyone-else”
movies.
But it works for young and old
alike.
The voices chosen to go with the
animals are perfect; the playful spot
ted bulldog (Chance) is done by
Michael J. Fox, the spoiled Hima
layan cat (Sassy) by Sally Field and
the willful golden retriever (Shadow)
by Don Amec he.
They are left with a family friend
for only a short time, but soon escape
to find their family.
Naturally, along the way they run
into various types of problems, such
as nature, wildanimalsand (of course)
stupid humans.
Still, while several of the sequences
are of the chcesiest type and will
appeal to kids of all ages, the adults
will still be entertained with the hu
morous banter between the an imals as
well as what the animals say to their
various adversaries.
The three lead animals also de
serve a lot of credit. Their on-screen
antics are terrifically entertaining, and
many of the camera shots are done
from a ‘‘pet’s-eye view” to give a
different feel to the movie.
Rated G and suitable for all ages
(although the porcupine incident may
be a bit unsettling), it's definitely
worth a look.
- Gerry Beltz
Sappiness trickles through rilm
“Untamed Heart”
“Untamed Heart” (Douglas 3,13th
and P streets) works perfectly for an
audience of teen-agers, but it falls a
few beats short of perfection for
grown-ups.
It's not that the movie lacks, urn,
heart, but instead it’s overflowing:
longing looks, lingering kisses, ro
mantic overtures — and a baboon
heart, magic records and a hurtling
hockey puck.
Marisa Tomei (“My Cousin
Vinny”) shines in her first shot at
carrying a film. She is Caroline, a
waitress and would-be hairdresser who
is a loser in love. That is until she gets
to know Adam (Christian Slater), an
introverted busboy at the diner where
she works. ,__ —_—
There’s much more to him than
meets the eye, of course, and Caroline
falls hard and fast. Theirs is a sweet
love story — idealistic and hopeful.
Maybe that’s where it skips a beat:
Can any love affair be lhatjperfcct?
All is not lost, however. The script
is oftentimes funny and inevitably
Lincoln setting of Starkweather murders
grabs attention of television screenwriter
OMAHA (AP)—Th&cultural cli
mate surrounding Charlie
Starkweather's 19S8 murder spree in
which 10 people died intrigued the
author of a screenplay for a television
miniseries about Nebraska’s notori
ous mass killer.
“It's just a fascinating story,” said
MichaelO’Hara, the screen writer and
co-executive producer of
“Starkweather: Murder in the Heart
land, a two-part ABC minisenes to
be aired in May.
“It’s all about the time and place'
for me,” he said.
The time was the winter of 1957
58. The place was Lincoln.
The movie, which is being filmed
in northern Texas, stars Tim Roth as
Starkweather. Brian Dennehy, Randy
Quaid and Fairuza Balk also have
roles.
sad, and the acting is very good. Slater
doesn't have a lot to say, but he has
perfected innocence — an odd turn
from the bad boy in “Heathers.” And
Rosie Perez (“While Men Can’t
Jump") is a riot as Caroline’s best
friend and fellow waitress.
“Untamed Heart” is sappy in some
places, and that sappiness hurts its
realistic qualities. But it’s also sexy in
an offbeat way, sweet in an idealistic
way, hopeful in the most romantic
way and sad in the most heartbreaking
way.
— Anne Steyer
Film involves jazz
“Face the Music” is a film
noir thriller involving jazz mu
sicians who struggle to perfect
their art but fall into crime. Rare
35mm print showing 1 p.m.
Tuesday and 3: IS p.m. Wednes
day only at the Mary Riepma
Ross Film Theater. All film
studies films are free and open
to the public.