Music stores prepare
for new Garth release
By Mike Kluck
Staff Reporter T
If past sales are any indication,
Garth Brooks’ newest album “Fresh
Horses” will be sold out by lunchtime.
His last compact disc, “The Hits,”
sold out at Best Buy, 400 N. 48th St.,
in just over three hours, said Scott
Hoffman, media manager at the store.
And Brooks’ second compact disc
“Ropin’ the Wind” sold out in Lincoln
in under four hours.
Because of Brooks’ past success,
Lincoln-area record stores have been
ordering extra copies of “Fresh
Horses” and planning promotions for
the start of the sale today.
Hoffman said Best Buy closed its
doors at 9 Monday night to prepare for
the sale of Brooks’ album, along with
new releases from the Beatles, Don
Henley, Tom Petty and and Bruce
Springsteen. Best Buy planned to open
from midnight to 1 a.m. this morning
for early sales of the albums.
Amy Lueth, product manager for
Homer’s, 6105 0 St., said she ordered
150 compact discs and 40 cassettes of
the new Brooks’ release. Lueth said
the normal ordering of a new release
was 50 compact discs.
Homer’s, which usually opens at 10
a.m., planned to open at 6 this morning
for the sale of Brooks’ album. Lueth
said because her store has a strong coun
try crowd, she hoped to sell 100 “Fresh
Brooks searching
for new musicians
NASHVILLE, Term.—Mu
sicians, prepare your resumes.
Garth Brooks is looking for two
band members who aren’t ob
sessed with job security.
Brooks, whose new album
comes out today and who is
booked for a U.S. tour, lost two
musicians to solo careers—gui
tarist Ty England and the coun
try star’sown sister,bassist Betsy
Brooks.
“The two faces that are prob
ably most known to people, Ty
and Betsy, are lost,” Brooks sai d.
“So it’ll be tough.”
Brooks said he told both they
could rejoin the band any time.
— Associated Press
Horses” compact discs today.
Advertisements shown during
ABC’s “The Beatles Anthology,”
Brooks’ performances Monday night
on “The Late Show” and on Fox’s
Thanksgiving NFL pre-game show,
combined with a big shopping day
Friday, have Lueth predicting huge
sales for the album.
‘Muppet Show’ spirit lives on
Elton John, George Burns,
Dizzie Gillepsie, the Star Wars cast
and Carol Burnett.
All celebrities of yesteryear. All
performed on different stages.
But sometime during the late
1970s, each journeyed to ATV stu
dios in Borehamwood, England
(near London), to guest star on “The
Muppet Show.”The starsconnected
the show’s all-puppet cast of the
show with its worldwide audience.
I suppose having real people in
the weekly cast helped bridge the
expanse between that magical pup
pet world and mine, but I remember
thinking the Muppets were doing
those big-named entertainers a fa
vor by booking them on the show.
And Miss Piggy, in my estima
tion, was too taken with the stars.
They were, after all, ordinary people
... nothing like the extraordinary
puppet cast surrounding her.
Of course, as a youngster tuning
in from the Great Plains of America,
I was quite unaware of the techni
calities of puppetry or television
production. I knew that Kermit was
green, and propelled and squashed
eas'' . That I could see.
e monsters were the fuzziest
of the beastly cast. To a chi Id, fuzzy
was good.
But there were many things I
didn’t know about the show.
As a 5 year old immersed in the
energy and lunacy of the Muppets,
I had no idea who Jim Henson was.
And I did not realize how much I
Kelly Johnson
knew of him. The Muppets pro
jected and amplified his spirit.
And until recently, when I heard
mention of Frank Oz, I thought
people were referring to the Wiz
ard. I supposed people close to him
called him Frank. Now I know that
Frank Oz, indeed a wizard, was
Henson’s creative sidekick.
When the Swedish Chef ap
peared on the show, he tossed chick
ens with human hands. One hand
was Henson’s and the other, Oz’s.
They coordinated the puppet’s
movements together, which makes
the idea ofjugglingmeat cleavers a
bit more impressive.
I didn’t know that the environ
ment I saw on the screen was a set
constructed on stilts. So, there were
no trapdoors or tunnels for the hu
mans under the puppets, as I’d imag
ined.
I did know the Muppets. They
were uncannily familiar. The sense
I had about those gonzo, googly
eyed puppets was that they were
much like myself.
They were like me because we
weren’t adults. They were fabric
covered humans, animals and mon
sters with spunk and zeal. And I
was a kid with a curiosity about
their peculiarities.
The Muppets helped me recog
nize who I was.
They combined a tinge of the
absurd with emotions, warmth and
compassion.
Kermit was small, 1 ike I was, but
he ran the show. Also, he was green,
and that was cool.
Fozzie Bear’s insecurities and
general lack of comedic talent were
offset by his stick-to-it-iveness. In
spiration for a small child.
I imagined Sam the Eagle would
be president of the Muppet uni
verse, if one were ever elected. He
reminded me of certain adults I
knew, serious and removed from
the wonders of childhood.
Now that I’m a bigger kid, I
know that the Muppets were more
than they appeared to be. They were
the merging of the humans who
gave them life and my attentive
imagination.
Things have changed. The show
ended. Henson died. And as I age,
the danger of becoming stiffly seri
ous — like Sam the Eagle — in
creases.
But the Muppets created a one
ness amongall who understood their
entertainment as children. Through
this, Henson’s vision perseveres.
And the show goes on, in this spirit.
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