Music school to present classic works
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Miss revives good old days
with familiar rock V roll
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MUSIC from page 10
ence.”
Bach mentions that the pieces are
intended for music lovers and connois
seurs, Ritchie said.
“One could make a case for this as
being the greatest collection of organ
music ever written,” he said. “He was
out to show what he could do, with
pieces as complex as he wrote for any
medium.”
Ritchie plays 12 of the 27 pieces
contained in the collection. Though the
works were not meant to be played to
gether in one setting as a performing
cycle, Ritchie said, they do fall into
certain categories based on German
Lutheran hymns.
Ritchie also enjoys the creativity
involved in working with different in
strumental colors.
“Because of the limited possibility
of the change of dynamics, creativity
comes in the rhythmic dimension,”
Ritchie said. “Where you place notes
in time gives the illusion of dynamics.
If you’re doing it right, the listener
hears loud and soft.”
Ritchie, who is recording all the
organ works of Bach, said that the
pieces performed in Sunday’s concert
will be released in May as part of a two
CDset.
The Flint Hills THo also performs
Sunday. The 1 p.m.free concert in
Westbrook Recital Hall features cham
ber music from the Classical Period to
the 20th Century.
Three professors from Emporia
State University make up the guest
ensemble. Clarinet player Priscilla
Balasa, a native Nebraskan, is profes
sor of clarinet, saxophone and music
education.
The Flint Hills Trio is named after
the Flint Hills of Kansas, where Em
poria State University is located.
Allan Comstock plays the bassoon
in the trio and is a professor of double
reeds and director of orchestras. Pia
nist Marie Miller is chair of the music
division at Emporia State University.
By Ann Stack
Music Critic
OMAHA—Few bands around
could get away-with the type of
show that Kiss puts on. They’d be
laughed off the stage and blasted as
a gaudy, overhyped production.
But this is Kiss, and Kisstory has
shown that this band can do what
ever it wants.
The sold-out show at the Civic
Auditorium Wednesday night had
an air of unrealism to it — like it
was a rockumentary unfolding right
before your eyes.
The big hair, the makeup, the py
rotechnics, the classic rock ‘n’ roll
all night, party ever day sentiment
— it was everything politically in
correct about die ’90s. And it was
fabulous.
The 11,000-plus tens that were
there thought so, too, judging by the
crowd reaction. There was plenty of
Kiss look-alikes, including Robert
“Paul Stanley” Paul of Fridley,
Minn., and his “Gene Simmons”
sidekick Greg Nelson of Pierre,
S.D.
The lipstictod, black-haired duo
recently began a quest to take in as
many shows of the reunion tour as
possible ■— Omaha was their sec
ond. The pair looked so much like
the originals (right down to the 7
inch spited moon boots) they drew
stares, whispers and gasps wherever
they went.
The duo also posed for pictures
for fans.
“They can say they met the next
best thing,” Paul said. The two are
also in a Kiss tribute band, Strutter
*79.
Royal Crown Revue opened the
show, to a less than enthusiastic
\ crowd response. But theyknew
what they were getting themselves
into.
“Stick with us for 20 minutes,
and then you’ll get Kiss,” lead
singer Eddie Nichols said. “Pretend
you’re watching an old movie.”
To their credit, RCR put on an
amazing show. They played to a
packed house at Duffy’s Tuesday,
and hopefully the reception they got
there helped to make up for the feet
that people cheered the loudest
when they announced the end of
their set.
Kiss took the stage shortly after
9 pjTL, playing “Duece” as the now
famous “Kiss” logo blazed in yel
low lights behind them. They
rocked as if 17 years hadn’t passed,
doing a set list that could’ve been
— and probably was — straight
from 1978.
One indication that things had
come full circle was an 8-year-old
girl with long brown hair holding
on to her mother’s hand and proudly
wearing dad’s Kiss “Love Gun” T
shirt.
Another sign of maturation on
the band’s part was Stanley’s ad
monishment against drunken driv
ing before launching into “Cold
Gin.”
So what is Kiss' appeal, after all
these years?
The answer is simple. People
like the escape, the theatrics, the
magic. They want it.
Kids not even bom when Peter
Criss and Ace Frehley left the band
and the makeup came off could sing
all the lyrics perfectly.
Kiss’ show is arena rock at its
finest. The appeal is in the show it
self — the spitting blood, the fire,
the bombs — it’s as raunchy and
hardcore as it was 20 years ago, and
probably just as much fun.
For their first encore, they sang
“Detroit Rock City.” Then Peter
Criss came out and sat on a stool
on stage, towel around his neck, and
sang “Beth,” simply and sweetly.
Lighters blazed, tears fell, and
it was easy to understand why the
band never did the song after Criss
and Frehley left. They finished two
hours after they started amid explo
sions and lights to “Rock and Roll
All Nite.”
Here’s to hoping it doesn’t take
them another 17 years to come back
this way again.
Band opts to splash into Omaha
BLOWFlSH from page 9
“Cracked Rear View.”
“Oacked Rear View” went on to
sell more than 13 million copies and
won the band twoGrammys—one for
“Best New Artist,” and one for “Best
Pop Performance by a Duo or Group
With \focal” for die song “Let Her
Cry”
On top of all of this, “Cracked Rear
View” spent eight weeks at number one
on the national album chart, and a to
tal of 55 weeks in the top 10.
In October 1995, the band had been
on tour for almost five years; instead
of taking a lengthy break, they opted
to rush into recording their next album.
“Fairweather Johnson” was re
leased earlier this year, and Rucker said
that the album was darker than
“Cracked Rear View.”
“It’s just how it came out,” Rucker
said. “It (die album) turned out to be
what it was.”
Rucker said when he sits down to
write lyrics to swigs, they frequently
change into something else.
“Usually, you think about some
thing, then listen to what you said and
realize you weren’t talking about what
you thought were talking about,” he
said.
Hootie & The Blowfish recorded
30 swigs for “Fairweather Johnson”
and whitded it down to the 14 that are
found on the album.
Rucker said he was sure the other
tracks were “recorded and still in the
vaults somewhere.”
«--—
We loved Omaha. It was one of those
places that when I saw it wasn't on the
summer schedule, I asked why it wasn't
there."
Darius Rucker
lead vocalist for Hootie ft the Blowfish
On “Fairweather Johnson,” not
only did the band play a song with Toad
The Wet Sprocket, it performed a song
with singer Nanci Griffith. Two other
songs with Griffith eventually made
their way to “Sweet Relief II: The
Songs of Vic Chestnut.” ■'
Rucker said that both Toad and
Griffith were pleasures to work with.
“She (Griffith) is the sweetest,
greatest, most beautiful person I
know,” Rucker said.
A few weeks ago, the band played
with Toad the Wet Sprocket again—
this time in Santa Barbara.
“It's funny how two bands can
sound so different, and be such good
friends,” Rucker said. “It's always fun
to work with them.”
The band's current tour takes them
through the United States, then back
to Europe and Japan in December.
When that leg of die tour is finished,
Rucker said, the band will take a break.
“We're going to take like two years
off. We’ve got homes. I'd like to see
mine,"Rucker said.
Opening for the band Saturday is
They Might Be Giants, who have
achieved relative underground success.
Their best-known singles are “Particle
Man” and “Istanbul „(Not
Constantinople).”
Omaha’s Civic Auditorium is a
change of pace for Hootie & The Blow
fish, who have been used to filling
much larger auditoriums. Still, the
Civic is a far cry from the small clubs
the band played at the beginning of
their career.
“They both have their good things,”
Rucker said. “Small clubs where
everyone’s up in your face are great,
but we do that so rarely these days.
They’re both fun.”
Even after six years of touring,
Rucker said the band still savors play
ing live.
“We just want to have fun,” he said.
“We always do.”
Saturday’s show will begin at 8 pm
Tickets are available for $28.
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