Arts ©Entertainment
Wednesday, November 29, 1995 Page 9
■ ■ ■ - --
the glassy eye
^PMU'IIIIII .,,1.1 .
Mark Baldridge
Electric Co.
better than
purple fluff l
i
When I was a child, so Tin told, I
was a voracious TV watcher. I kind of
remember it — I just never thought
that was such a big deal.
Apparently it was. And if there’d I
been more people saying “TV rots
your brain” I probably wouldn’t have
been given the chance.
But I spent a good deal of my
childhood in a semi-hypnotic trance
downloading a lot of nonsense that
just happened to become our current
culture. Don’t see how that hurt me.
But kids these days ... I’m afraid
it’ll rot their brains.
Let’s explore the differences be
tween “The Electric Company” and
“Barney the Dinosaur.”
“The Electric Company,” like
“Sesame Street,” was a product of the
Children’s Television Workshop and
featured no less than the (then) future
superstar Morgan Freeman as Easy
Reader — an afroed hipster with a
^peflcha»t for reading*
“The Electric Company” did a lot
of that kind of joke: Easy Reader—a
play on the cult classic “Easy Rider.”
One stock character was a bumbling
encryption specialist known as Fargo
North, Decoder.
I was in my 20s before the geo
graphical reference dawned on me.
And that’s the point, sort of.
Here I was, a 5-year-old glued to
the set while my mom or older sister
ironed or folded clothes in the room
behind me.
Fargo North, Decoder (who always
referred to himsel f that way) comes on
and stumbles around trying to decode
some obviously transposed sentence.
I knew what the sentence was long
before the pratfalling North. Every
kid did. And that knowing was impor
tant.
n meant we couici ngure tnings out
“for ourselves”—a much more effec
tive pedagogical technique than mere
instruction.
But in the meantime, my sister,
patiently folding clothes, laughs ... at
something I don’t quite catch.
Fargo North, Decoder.
And not just the name, but sly, off
the-cuff references to a larger world
of culture and knowledge than is avail
able to my 5-year-old self.
The example I give is simple
minded, but effective. For those who
want a fuller exploitation of the effect,
may I suggest “Sesame Street’s” “Me
Claudius” on “Monsterpiece Theatre”
with Alister Cookie as host. It’s a
hoot.
But back to the matter at hand.
The reason that the “The Electric
Company” is better than his Purpleness
is that it included jokes aimed over my
head.
Shows like “The Electric Com
pany” and “Sesame Street” offer some
thing that can be shared by parents
with children — a good thing at any
time.
And even more important, it offers
a kid the idea that there are LEVELS
of humor—or allusion or what have
you.
“Barney” and all his Care Bear ilk
exist entirely on the surface—and the
surface is aesthetically dead.
So I’m afraid for these kids today
— TV will rot their minds.
Or, maybe not.
Jay Calderon/DN
Dancers in the production “Postcards from Nebraska” perform during a dress rehearsal Tuesday evening in the Howell Theatre.
Reflections
Dance show features images of Heartland
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporter
The image of dance in the Heartland will be
delivered on “Postcards from Nebraska” at the
Howell Theatre this weekend.
“Postcards from Nebraska,” the UNL dance
department’s fall performance, features new and
experienced choreographers and dancers from
Nebraska.
,-1 Lisa Fusillo, dance director
ment ot dance in Nebraska by
bringing together about 20 stu
dents, faculty and former stu
dents who have become pro
fessional dancers.
Mark Jarecke and Cary
Twomey, two UNL dance
aiuumi wiki nave oeen wonc
1-1 ing in New York, will present
their collaborative piece “Whetstone” with UNL
faculty and students.
Visiting artist Anita Lemon, although not a
Nebraska native, will present her seven-part dance
“The Nebraska Waltz Project,” which represents
her time at UNL.
And for the first time, senior dance majors
were allowed to choreograph dances for the fall
performance.
A special Saturday night will move the spot
light to long-time dance professor Dee Hughs
who is planning to retire.
Hughs started her career at UNL in 1954 when
the dance department was part of the physical
education department.
She stayed with the program as it moved
through the Teachers College and to its current
home in the Department of Theatre Arts and
Dance.
In 1994, she received the UNL 40 Year Ser
vice Award.
Tice Miller, department director, has worked
with Hughs for the 23 years he’s been involved
with the program.
He said it was unusual for people in the arts to
stay for as many years as Hughs has.
“The pioneers and people who have been a
real stable force of the university have been
around a long time,” he said. “They’ve given an
enormous amount to this institution.”
Fusillo said Hughs introduced several non
dance majors to dance in her introductory, social
and ethnic dance classes and has shown support
and dedication to dance and dance education.
“She has been an incredibly stabilizing influ
ence through all the changes in the dance pro
gram at UNL,” Fusillo said.
A national search will be conducted to fill
Hughs’ position and another full-time position,
which was temporarily filled by Lemon, who is
leaving after this semester.
Performances of “Postcards from Nebraska”
will be at 8 p.m. each night Thursday through
Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Tickets are $6 for students, $7 for faculty, staff
and senior citizens and $9 for the general public.
They can be purchased at the Howell Theatre box
office.
MacLeod performs tonight
By Cliff A. Hicks
Staff Reporter “
Despite two years between records, filled with
“stress, love and death,” and a move from Geor
gia to Minneapolis, Marlee MacLeod found time
to record her second album, “Favorite Ball and
Chain ”
And she brings her music to Mudslide Slims
p j I tonight.
• 1SP®®- “Favorite Ball and Chain,”
PrGVieW released Oct. 10, is a large de
parture trom her first album,
“Drive Too Fast.”
“We downplayed the coun
try influence this time,”
MacLeod said in a release.
“Making that more of a subtext
*,f|I " tnan a tocus.
111- When “Drive Too Fast” was
recorded, MacLeod was living in Athens, Ga.,
and there she eventually hooked up with the local
band Dashboard Saviors, who helped her on
“Favorite Ball and Chain.”
After “Drive Too Fast” was released, she kept
busy with various things.
“I had a band for a while, then I didn’t have a
band,” MacLeod said.
“I played many shows in various places, in
cluding one in a bank last New Year’s Eve. This
was part of an entertainment extravaganza that
also included hermit crab races.
“I spent two very enlightening weeks working
in the world of food service. I almost got a real v
job. I was detained and almost arrested in Canada,”
MacLeod said.
She now lives in Minneapolis, home of her
label,Medium Cool/TwinTone.
Despite all her trials and tribulations, “Favor
ite Ball and Chain” was eventually released.
“I’m pleased. We all worked hard, and I for
one am busily preparing for whatever the coming
months have to offer.”
MacLeod plays tonight at Mudslide Slims,
1418 O St. The show starts at 10.
Grad students’
art exhibition
opens today
By Gerry Bettz
Senior Reporter
An exhibit of the works of 19 UNL students
currently enrolled in the Department of Art
and Art History master’s program opens to
day, running through Jan. 28 at the Sheldon
Memorial Art Gallery.
This biennial exhibition comprises47 works
of art in various forms — including photo
graphs, paintings and ceramics — that have
been selected by Sheldon Gallery Chief Cura
tor Daphne Deeds.
Lari Gibbons, a Master’s of Fine Arts stu
dent and graduate instructor in design and
See EXHIBIT on 10
