■ . ... , , v, ..
Wednesday, September 1B, 1SS3 Akts@Entertainment
Midnight Oil warms to enthusiastic audience
I Travis Haying/DN
Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett on stage at Pershing Auditorium Monday night. Hothouse
Flowers opened the show.
Australian group brings music,
message, good will to Lincoln
Monday’s Midnight Oil concert
was more than a University Program
Council event—it was Ireland, Aus
tralia, an entourage of environmental
organizations and an estimated 2,000
fans all under one roof at the Pershing
Auditorium.
Opening the concert promptly at
7:30 p.m., the Irish rockers Hothouse
Flowers proved they were no light
weight band.
Melodic keyboards, coupled with
the voice of lead singer Liam
O’Maonlai, ran the crowd through a
gamut of emotions.
After an hour-long set, the band
cleared the stage. As Midnight Oil’s
crew began to prepare the stage, fans
wandered through the lobby, check
ing out the environmental booths.
Concerts for the Environment, an
organization that connects environ
mentally conscious performers with
benefit shows, sponsored three re
fional groups: Save Boyd County—
top the Nuke Dump, C.L.E.A.N.
(Citizens Leading Environmental
Action in Nebraska) and the Omaha
chapter of the Sierra Club.
Peter Garrett, lead singer for Mid
night Oil, is on the board of directors
of Greenpeace, which also was repre
sented.
Farther down the corridor. Bob
*42artcr3Df San Francisco answered
questions about Coral Forest, a non
profit organization fighting to save
the coral reefs.
Carter said he was\lucJcy to be a
part of the Midnight Oil entourage.
“The band lets us travel in the tour
bus and has saved our organization
$7,000,” he said.
“Midnight Oil’s environmental
commitment is more than skin deep.
It’s what they live for.”
Garrett and his bandmates would
make that commitment clear in the set
to follow.
At 9 p.m., Midnight Oil hit the
stage, and the audience on the main
floor rose to its feet. Most remained
standing during the 90-minute set,
which focused on selections from the
band’s latest album, “Earth and Sun
and Moon.”
On stage, overhead purple and blue
lights reflected on Garrett’s sweating
bald head — his stiff hand motions
transforming him into a towering ro
bot. At other times he moved with the
fluid grace of a martial arts master.
The uninhibited crowd craned
necks, screamed, swayed hips and
heads ami pumped fists into the air
Midnight Oil's
environmental
commitment Is more
than skin deep. It's
what they live for.
—Carter
environmentalist
-tt -
during every song, with the exception
of “In the Valley,” when respectful
silence accompanied the piano and a
gold beam of 1 ight focused on Garrett.
The singer built a solid rapport
with the crowd. At one point he even
invited a student on stage and ques
tioned him about school.
“You have the best ofboth worlds,”
Garrett told him—a cue for the band
tp begin the next song “Best of Both
Worlds.” rff r "5
Throughout the show, guitarists
Martin Rotsey and Jim Moginie, along
with bass player Bones Hillman, boast
ed a brill iant network of guitars tied to
the movcsofGarrctt, who even played
the harmonica during the song,
“Truganini,”
Midnight Oil wrapped up the set
with “Beds are Burning,” followed by
a short set of encore songs.
During “Bushfire,” one of the final
See OIL on 10
[New KRNU disc jockey pushes ‘heavier’ heavy metal
By Anne Steyer
■ Senior Rtporfr_
Radio listeners beware: “heavi
er” heavy metal hits the airwaves
tonight at 10p.m. when Mike Buell
takes over KRNU’s sound board
for “Heresy.”
Buell, a 21-year-old junior
broadcasting major, said his metal
show inherited the title “Heresy”
from previous KRNU metal pro
grams.
But, he said, he’s planning on
playing a different breed of metal
than past disc jockeys.
“I try to stay ahead of everyone
else, I cton’t want to play stuff tnat’s
a year old,” he said. “I guess it
could be called progressive metal
— stuff that hasn’t been heard yet,
no mainstream.”
Buell said the label “heavy met
al” incorporates everything from
glam rock, grunge, and death rock
to speed metal.
He plans on plaving a bit of
everything, except the glam rock
ers, who Buell denounces as “lip
stick rockers — guys that spend
more time on their hair than their
music.”
“You won’t hear Bon Jovi on
my show, or other would-be metal
bands like Poison.”
Some you might have heard,
but most of it is outer fringe,” he
said.
“I’m planning on having fun, so
I want the audience to have fun.”
His plans include on-air inter
views and give-aways, and although
Buell said he makes most of the
music selections himself, he hopes
to have more audience-oriented
play lists as the show gains listen
ers.
Buell, an Omaha native, moved
to Lincoln in August, after spend
ing three years at UNO.
It was there he first encountered
radio—Buell spent his free time as
a volunteer at KBLZ, UNO’s stu
dent radio station, working as mu
sic director for a year and metal
director for two.
His time at KBLZ gave Buell
much needed experience, he said,
but it didn ’ t do much for his school
work.
“Shuffling all that responsibili
ty gave me a badG.P. A. at the same
time,” he said.
Buell retired from double duty
—station music director and metal
director simultaneously—and con
centrated on just the metal job and
hi« rls)w<i
His duties at KBLZ ended last
spring, but he stayed on through the
summer to train his successor.
“I gave him all my connections,
who to call, that kind of thing,”
Buell said.
His decision to transfer to UNL
was academic, he said. He was a
journalism student in a school with
ThanwnGoodtett/DN
Mike Buell It KRNU’s new metal man. His show begins ailing tonight at 10 p.m.
no journalism college. UNO only
offers journalism as a department
within another college.
A possible job at KLRNU was
another draw, he said. UNO’s sta
tion has a small broadcast area and
can only be heard on campus in
university buildings.
Buell said he contacted KRNU
last May abbut a spot as a regular
DJ. Shortly after, he found out the
metal director job was opening at*
ICRNU.
Buell said that information was
the push he needed.
He “played a little phone tag”
and eventually contacted Rick
Alloway, KRNU’s station manag
er, about the position.
While he was attempting to reach
Alloway, Buell said a record label
representative contacted KRNU
music director Bill Homan and put
in a plug for him.
“She just harassed him about
See DJ on 10
