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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1995)
to juggle, joke By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter Sam Williams, one-fourth of the Flying Karamazov Brothers, juggles for a living on stage. But at home in Seattle, he has a different juggling act — his twin 2-year-old sons Zach and Josh. 9 “One was just hitting the other with a little plastic person,” he said, as the twins sang a chorus of cries. “Josh and Zach are twice the fun, twice the everything.” For Williams, life is a jug gling act. The Flying Karamazov Broth ers are everything they’re not. They don ’ t fly. They aren ’ t broth ers. They aren’t Russian. What they are is an eccentric clan of four friends who joke, dance, sing (and juggle). And they are coming to the Lied Cen ter this weekend. Williams, along with Paul David Magid, Michael Preston and Howard Jay Patterson, go by their Russian “aliases” of Dmitri, Rakitin, Smerdyakov and Ivan. For 22 vears, the group has performed on Broadway, Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Cen ter and several television shows. Members also were alongside Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito and Kathleen Turner in “Jewel of the Nile.” They’ve been on stage with stars such as Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton, the Who, the Blues Broth ers, Bobcat Goldthwait and the Grateful Dead. “A Grateful Dead show is a large party,” he said. “The audi ence was pretty up, so we’d have a magnificent time performing for them.” The “brothers” would even come on stage and juggle during a few of the Dead’s songs. Although the Karamazov “We had a great deal of optimism, and things just happened for us. Funny thing about how the universe seems to work. ” ■ SAM WILLIAMS a Flying Karamazov Brother Brothers’ performance at the Lied Center will be a little different from a Grateful Dead concert, it will have their trademark ingre dient — fun. Their production “Club Sand wich” mixes physical comedy and juggling with 1930s detective film noire. Club Sandwich, a club for wealthy jugglers, is the setting of a murder, which leads to a chase of three millionaires, a butler, a detective, an exotic woman, a fat man in a fez and his cohort. Did Williams ever expect that the Karamazovs’ antics would get him this far? “It was rather assumed from the get-go,” he said. “We had a great deal of optimism, and things just happened for us. Funny thing about how the universe seems to .work.” If Josh and Zach have friends with fathers who succeed as stuffy lawyers, doctors and engineers, Williams said, he would teach his sons how to succeed with fun. “I’m not stuffy,” he said. “I’m fluffy.” The Flying Karamazov Broth ers will perform Friday at 8 p.m. The show is sold out. Travis Heyfng/DN Paul Phillips performs with an audience member at P.0. Pears last week. Fans follow Phillips to Pears By Joel Strauch Senior Reporter Paul Phillips is back on stage, and his audiences are ready to do more than just applaud his return. Phillips has moved his musical act from the Watering Hole, 1321 0 St., to his original home at P.O. Pears, 322 S. Ninth St., and most of his followers agree it was a move for the better. Karen Everets of McCook said at a Phillips’ show last week that she liked Pears because it’s bigger and better. v “There’s no beer-in-your-back kind of thing,” Everets said. “And 1 really like Pears’ food.” Corey Hupp, a senior radiology major, agreed that size made Pears a more appropriate venue for Phillips. “'ITiere are a lot more places to sit,” Hupp said. Phillips entertained the crowd with his usual variety of songs that everyone knows, songs like Don McLean’s “American Pie,” the Who’s “Pinball Wizard” and Van Morrison’s “Brown-Eyed Girl.” “He always brings in a good crowd,” Hupp said. “He plays good ol’ music.” Darla Schaff, a junior business major, said listening to Phillips’ “good ol’ music” was fun. “You can sing along with his music, and he really encourages that,” Schaff said. He got the audience involved by stopping his singing during well known refrains, venturing out into the audience to sing on top of tables and chairs and inviting several lis teners up on stage to try their voices out. Kate Clark, a senior advertising major, came out to see Phillips on her birthday . “I really like the crowd-in volve ment thing,” Clark said. “He gets people up on the stage to sing and dance with him.” Another way that Phillips has found to get the crowd rockin’ and rollin’ along is by passing a tam bourine through the crowd and let ting people contribute to the beat of the music. In fact, that was the reason Everets showed up. “I came to see the tambourine lady,” she said. Bob Jergensen, the owner of Pears, said he was pleased with the results of last Thursday’s show. “It was very busy for a Thurs day, and I think it’ll only get busier,” Jergensen said. Phillips will be playing at Pears every Thursday in March. “It ’ll be a great time,” Jergensen said. “We’ll see how it goes and see if we (he and Phillips) want it to go on forever and ever.” Musicians offer notes of hope By Josh Wimmer Staff Reporter A benefit conceit this weekend will use the best kind of noise — music — to break the silence sur rounding AIDS. Nebraska musicians will come - together for “Broken Silence” at Kimball Recital Hall Sunday at 7 p jn. Money raised from ticket sales will go to the Nebraska AIDS Project, said Scott Roewer, a se nior music education major and co-chairperson of the event. Those who attend “Broken Si lence” will hear a wide variety of music, and all of it will be good, Roewer said. “You’ll hear everything from showtunes to gospel to piano,” he said. “There’s going to be a good variety of music.” The two-hour concert will in clude performances by University of Nebraska-Lincoln music stu dents and professors, he said. Featured artists include: David Abbott, a visiting assistant profes sor of piano; Diane Cawein, an assistant professor of clarinet; and vocalist Charles Smith, a UNL graduate and professor of vocals at Hastings College. Cawein said she was looking forward to the event. “I was just really excited to be asked to participate in this event,” she said. “I think it’ll draw a lot of people, because it’s a really great benefit.” The Scarlet and Cream Singers, the new UNL Vocal Jazz Ensemble and about 11 other acts will also perform, he said. Jim Hejduk, associate professor of music and director of choral activities, and Sophia John, a disc jockey for KKNB (104.1 FM) the Planet, will act as masters of cer emonies. Two music fraternities, Sigma Alpha Iota and Mu Phi Epsilon, are organizing the concert, Roewer said. Angela Jenkins, president of Sigma Alpha Iota and co-chairper son of “Broken Silence,” began thinking about community service projects for her fraternity last Au gust, Roewer said. She came to Roewer, who directs community service for Mu Phi Epsilon, with an idea for a benefit concert. Originally, the concert was sup posed to be a very small event. Since August, however, it has blos somed into something bigger, Roewer said. “We just planned on something small,” he said, “and we got ex cited.” The fraternities chose the Ne braska AIDS Project because of the organization’s efforts to educate about and prevent AIDS in Ne- l braska, Roewer said. The project also provides support for people with HIV and AIDS. / The project serves more than 280 individuals with HIV/AIDS in Nebraska and western Iowa and has five offices across the state. Preparing for the concert has meant a lot of work for Roewer, but he hopes his work will pay off Sunday. “I think what would cap this off for me would be having a sell-out crowd and a great performance,” he said. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for the general public. Ticket buyers may also donate to the Ne braska AIDS Project. Tickets will go on sale Sunday at 6 p.m. Science fiction fans gather at convention Andromeda 2 lands in Lincoln this weekend By Chris DeKalb Staff Reporter This weekend, Lincoln fans of science fiction and fantasy may travel to Andromeda 2, a conven ICTION HWM V/Vlllg held by the Star base An d r o m e d a club. The con vention will take place Friday through Sun day at the muiiaua nu tel, Ninth and P streets. A week end pass costs $25, and one-day passes are available for $10 to $15. Featured guests at this year s convention include authors Rob ert J. Sawyer (“The Terminal Experiment,” “End of an Era”) and Robert Reed (“Down the Bright Way”). Artist guest J.R. Daniels will appear, as will Sandy Veneziano (set designer for several “Star Trek” projects), Karl Rasmussen and Fredd Gorham. The convention kicks off Fri day with a “Star Trek”-themed murder mystery, a dealers’ room, an expanded art show and a con vention hospitality room with food, drinks and some program ming. Video Rooms will be open all three days, showing “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” “Red Dwarf’ and other shows sug gested by guests at Andromeda 1, last year’s convention. Scott Clark, a Starbase Androm eda member, said the group ex pected 250 to 300 people to attend, an increase from last year’s 230. This year, more emphasis will be placed on the guests and the more successful events such as the murder mystery, Clark said.