Man or Astro-Man?
“Experiment Zero”
Touch and Go Records
Grade: B
Put Dick Dale in a blender, toss in
a few microchips and transistors for
texture, lightly season with vitamin B
movies, shake and place mixture in a
sub-space deep-freeze and within 24
hours you’ll have the unique, surreal
surf sounds of Man or Astro-Man?
ready to serve.
Better dressed than Devo and of
fering more B-movie sound clips than
Mystery Science Theater 3000, Man
or Astro-Man? has been an extremely
productive indie band with an almost
cultlike following which has developed
over the past four years.
“Experiment Zero” is the latest in
a series of tightly strung surf albums,
punctuated with odd sound clips and
whirling space sound effects. As usual,
few tracks bother with lyrics. Those
that do contain words are scarcely au
dible above the rapidly rising and fall
ing surf of punk waves crashing against
a frantic drum beat.
Along with a few capacious echo
Ozzy rocks
Lincoln with
old and new
OZZY from page 15
-ing the pep-rally friendly “Irotiman.”
He encored with “Crazy Train” and
“The Road To Nowhere.”
Glen Danzig, with his band of new
comers, incited more than a few mosh
pits and bodysurfers.
Also opening the show Tuesday
night were thrash bands Biohazard and
Sepultura.
The Brazilian act Sepultura
hasbeen around since 1985 in South
America, but did not get much recog
nition in the United States until their
1991 release “Arise ”
Tuesday was the band’s first time
playing in Nebraska, and if the re
sponse was any indication, it won’t be
its last. Sepultura is huge in Europe and
South America, recently heading a gig
with a crowd of50,000 in Indonesia.
But whether they’re playing to a
sold-out 100,000-seat soccer stadium
or at a.half-filled club in Ohio,
Sepultura still puts heart and soul into
each performance, lead guitarist
Andreas Kisser said.
“It’s great, we enjoy going every
where,” he said in a phone interview.
“We started with small tours in the
states and now we’re playing with
Ozzy.”
ing covers such as the The Bunnies
“Test Driver” and an especially expe
dient version of the Talking Heads
“Television Man,” Man or Astro-Man?
quickly zips out 13 of their own songs,
visions of their dedication to the mar
riage of surf rock and alien life forms.
A few of their tracks include “Evil
Plans of Planet Spectra,” a song un
covering the heinous plans of an alien
takeover through the hypnotizing pow
ers of earth music. “Cyborg Control”
opens with a Cyborg issuing threats to
possibly dangerous and pesky humans.
If you have ever caught yourself
getting involved in the plot of a movie
shown on MST 3000 or jammed to the
bubbly sounds of Dick Dale, the ex
periments of Man or Astro-Man? may
draw you in.
—Bret Schulte
Phish
“Billy Breathes”
Elektra Records
Grade: B
They’re pretty much replacing the
Grateful Dead as the biggest touring
production, but that doesn’t mean they
aren’t allowed to release an album here
and there.
Phish’s new release, “Billy
Breathes” is their first studio record
ing since 1994. Granted, they released
the two-disc set, “A Live One,” last
year, but you can only listen to a 34
minute track so many times.
The most instantly noticeable fact
about “Billy Breathes” is that it’s calm
for Phish, the band that brought us en
ergetic songs like “Bouncing Around
The Room” and “Sample In A Jar.”
Not like that means anything, mind
you. They sound pretty damn good this
way, too.
Songs like “Taste,” “Bliss” and
“Train Song” capture a resting time
for Phish. The band, instead playing
more of the extremely high power that
epitomizes its live show, has opted for
a more reserved approach to “Billy
Breathes.”
A few times on the record Phish
really cut loose and let some wilder
jams fly (“Free” and “Cars Trucks
Buses”), but for the most part “Billy
Breathes” is a little less up-tempo than
Phish fans are used to.
In some ways, “Billy Breathes” is
a breath of fresh air. The somewhat
restrained performances offer up a new
side to Phish.
However, an essential element of
any Phish show is the amount of “noo
dling” the band does. “Noodling” is a
jazz term used when musicians wan
der around a basic riff or melody, ex
panding and extrapolating.
With the band being as restrained
as they are on “Billy Breathes,” the
immediate reaction after a full listen
ing should be to put in “A Live One”
to counter the effect.
—Cliff Hicks
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NASA brings weather
from Mars to Internet
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
(AP) — Want to know the latest
weather cm Mars? Or tag along with
a Mars rover for close-up views of
the terrain, practically in real time?
Time in next year and you’ll get
all this and more.
“I would definitely term this the
first planetary mission in the full
blown Internet era,” NASA spokes
man Douglas Isbell said Wednes
day. “It’s vicarious exploration.”
NASA plans to post daily Mars
weather reports on the Internet once
the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft
lands on the Red Planet next sum
mer. The spacecraft is to be
launched in early December.
What’s more, users of the
Internet’s World Wide Web will be
able to see what the Mars rover sees
as it ambles along the rocky surface.
Expect a 20- to 40-minute lag,
though, for the time it takes the sig
nals to reach Earth.
“We hope to produce and show
the data that we obtain virtually as
it happens and show you, in fact,
not only what we did yesterday and
the day before in terms of the rover
traverse, but what our plans are for
the next day,” said Matthew
Golombek, project scientist for
Mars Pathfinder.
Mars Pathfinder will be the first
spacecraft to land on Mars since
NASA’s twin Viking landers in
1976.
Back then, there was no way to
share such wonders with so many
people, in real time or otherwise.
Even with the more recent planetary
probes, there’s never been anything
like this.
“There will be a virtual presence
on Mars, so everybody in America
and for that matter around the world
can participate,” NASA Adminis
trator Daniel Goldin said.
NASA plans to launch a Mars
orbiter, called theMareGfobal Sur
a
There will be a
virtual presence on
Mars, so everybody
in America and for
that matter
around, the world
can participate.”
Daniel Goldin
NASAAdministrator
veyor, on Nov. 6. It wilftake 10
months for the spacecraft to reach
its destination; once there, it will
map the planet from a circular orbit
for two years.
The color images will be posted
on the Internet within a day or two,
not as quick as the Pathfinder im
ages perhaps, but still pretty speedy.
The Mars Pathfinder is sched
uled to launch on Dec. 2 and land
on July 4,1997. If all goes well, the
Sojourner rover will study the rocks
and soil of Mars for at least a week,
possibly months, with scientists and
Internet browsers following along.
As for the Martian weather fore
cast, make it chilly and cooler. At
its equator, Mars is a brisk, minus
70 degrees Fahrenheit and gets
chillier the closer one gets to the
poles.
“I would hope that every news
paper would show the weather in
Timbuktu and why not on Mars,
too?” Golombek said. “It’s a little
chilly, but a nice pla’Ce to be?
Career Fair 1996
If you are interested in job opportunities in the claims
area, we invite you to stop at our table at the Career Fair on
October 22nd. We seek college graduates to fill our adjuster
trainee positions. A rural background and an aptitude in
building construction could be helpful. Candidates must
have flexibility to relocate in Nebraska.
These salaried positions offer an excellent benefit
package along with a company car. An excellent training
program is also provided.
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