Students
invited to
free show
By John Fulwider
Staff Reporter
Stand-up comedians Katsy
Chappell and Pablo Francisco
will give a free comedy show
tonight at 7:30 at the Culture
Center.
Admission to the Univer
sity Program Council event is
free for students and $3 for the
general public.
Kim Spurlock, UPC event
director, said both Chappell
and Francisco were hilarious
when she saw them in Omaha
at the National Association of
Campus Activities conference.
Spurlock said Chappell
jokes about being “big” and
going into clothing stores
where the outfits are too small.
Chappell also jokes about is
sues facing black women,
Spurlock said.
Chappell has had a number
of film and TV roles. Recently,
she played Jamie Lee Curtis’
office friend in the movie “True
Lies.” She also has appeared
on the TV show “Roseanne.”
Chappell also performs for
the U.S. Armed Forces. She
won a Bob Hope Entertainer
'of the Year "award‘from the
v United Services Organization
for her performances, de
scribed as “bodacious, viva
cious and totally outrageous.”
Francisco’s comedy deals
with his everyday life as a His
panic man, Spurlock said. Fran
cisco employs bizarre sound
effects to enliven characters
from his life.
Francisco, originally from
Tucson, Ariz., got his start in
comedy in high school when
he snuck into a local comedy
club for a comedy competition
and took first place. He has
appeared on HBO’s “Loco
Slam” and the Comedy Chan
nel.
• rjT ^ . ...... • ■
Murmurs gig to deliver raw emotion
By Brian Sharp
Senior Reporter
Dreams of becoming an actress
carried Liesha Hailey away from
Nebraska almost five years ago.
And this weekend, music will carry
her home.
Well, sort of.
Hailey, who sings for the Mur
murs, graduated from Bellevue
West High School in 1989. She and
partner Heather Grody will play at
the Hurricane, 1118 0 St., Satur
day.
Hailey and Grody teamed up at
New York City’s American Acad
emy of Performing Arts, Hailey
said, but writingmusic together was
just a hobby.
The duo’s first appearance was
at a theater company, she said, and
it felt good. Soon they were playing
“When you really get
us is when you get us
live. ”
■
LIESHA HAILEY
Murmurs’ singer
in New York subways, parks and
coffeehouses.
It would be almost three years
before the Murmurs members, with
their rainbow-colored hair, would
gain recognition for the song “You
Suck” off their second self-titled
album. But Hailey said the sounds
produced in the studio were not
what fans would hear Saturday.
Hailey described the acoustic
sound of the Murmurs as “really
raw and full of a lot of emotion.” In
the studio, she said, the duo got
lost.
There were so many things that
could be done to the music, she
said, and just as many opinions
about what it should sound like.
The result, she said, was more what
producers wanted than what the
band wanted.
Hailey said she was proud of the
Courtesy of MCA Records
The Murmurs, Heather Grody and Leisha Hailey, will appear at the Hurricane
Saturday.
current album, but she described it
as slick — not raw.
“When you really get us is when
you get us live,” Hailey said.
The due has been on the road
touring for the past six months,
Hailey said. Opening for the Light
ning Seeds and Joe Jackson has
provided them with a lot of expo
sure and some interesting experi
ences. '
“Every city has a completely
different feel,” Hailey said. “And
every night it’s like a totally differ
ent story.”
Hailey said when the band played
in Salt Lake City as part of a group
show, the crowd was moshing and
body surfing. That was crazy, she
said, given the Murmurs’ sound.
When the duo opened for Joe Jack
son, she said, the crowds were older,
and often just sat at tables and lis
tened intently to every word.
The Murmurs will begin touring
with Bush next week.
But even with all the concert
dates and interviews, Hailey said
success was still a distant reality.
There’s still too much to do, she
said.
Getting back to Nebraska, how
ever, is an important stop along the
way, Hailey said. Maybe it’s ironic
that her favorite Murmurs song is
“Carry Me Home,” on which she
sings:
“I’ve been around the world/
seen a lot of faces/I know a lot of
people/I’ve been a lot of places/I
still want to know what it’s like to
be a butterfly .yGgjrry me home.”
Author’s tales a cultural bridge
By Elizabeth Gamboa
Staff Reporter
Author Lev Raphael will give
a free reading freon his works at
the Wick Alumni Center tonight
at 8.
“I see my writing as building
bridges between different com
munities—Jewish and non-Jew
Raphael
isn, gay ana
straight, aca
demic and non
academic,”
said Raphael, a
former English
professor at
Fordham Uni
versity.
Raphael
said he knew he
wanted to be a
writer since the fourth grade.
“I loved storytelling and hear
ing stories told,” Raphael said. “I
loved reading so much and I
wanted to write the kind of books
that I would like to read.”
Raphael writes stories about
recognizing one’s sexuality, deal
7 see my writing as building bridges between
different communities—Jewish and non
Jewish, gay and straight, academic and non
academic. ”
■
LEV RAPHAEL
Author
ing with parents and growing up
Jewish.
His work often seems autobio
graphical. Like some of his char
acters in “Dancingon TishaB’av”
and “Winter Eyes,” Raphael grew
up in New York City, the son of
Holocaust survivors.
This aspect of his family his
tory has had a big impact on
Raphael ’ s writing and on nis iden
tity as a Jewish man, he said.
“It’s made me more commit
ted toward seeming Jewish in gen
eral and more determined to carry
on my Jewish culture,” he said.
Homosexuality also is an im
portant topic in Raphael’s writ
ing. Raphael began telling people
he was a homosexual in the 1980s,
and said he had been gradually
coming out more and more every
year.
“It gives me a lot more time for
everything else in my life,”
Raphael said. “I’m no longer hid
ing or worrying a lot.”
Although he draws from his
See RAPHAEL on 10
Lincoln legend moves
to P.O. Pears’ stage
By Joel Strauch
Senior Reporter
Live music sensation Paul
Phillips is back on stage, but he
has changed his performing venue.
Phillips had been playing at
the Watering Hole, 13210 St. He
will now perform at P.O. Pears at
322 S. Ninth St. every Thursday
night in March.
Bob Jergensen, owner of P.O.
Pears, said his bar and grill was
not stealing Phillips away from
the Watering Hole.
“Actually, Paul worked here
before the Watering Hole even
opened and started playing here
first,” he said.
“It’s a real lucky break for us
that he’s coming back.”
Phillips’ audience-involving
performance has become well
known by Lincoln’s bar crawl
ers.
“Paul’s a tradition in Lincoln,”
Jergensen said. “He’s just grown
and grown and grown.”
Phillips has been singing for
audiences ever since he was a
student at the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln.
“He serenaded my wife when
she lived in Sandoz Hall,”
Jergensen said. “And that makes
it a long time ago.”
Jergensen said Phillips’ music
was so appealing because he let
audiences sing along.
“It’s music that even if you are
inebriated, you can remember the
words to the songs,” he said.
To honor Phillips’ return, Pears
will offer a bus ride back to cam
pus if enough people request one,
Jergensen said.
“It’s only Thursday nights to
start with,” Jergensen said.
“People can call us and ask about
it, and we’ll get it hooked up and
running.”
Pears also features dollar drinks
and food items on Thursday nights
and has no cover charge.
“There’s never a coverat P.O.
Pears,” Jergensen said.