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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1996)
By Cliff Hicks | Art of 90s Should reflect life’s rapture • When I was reading through a journal of poetry a friend sent me, I came across this poem, which the author has so kindly allowed me to quote in its entirity: “And so — I Die — Because—Life Sucks.” (There is a long pause as I de termine how to respond.) I want to go to this poet and show him the wonders of the world. I want to open his eyes to things around him. I want him to expand his life. A few weeks ago, I sat on a hill at night and overlooked the city for almost an hour. It was awe-inspir ing. I talked with a man about noth ing and everything. We compared Florida and Rome and shared sto ries of our voyages. I wrote a poem about it later. Last week, I had an extremely enjoyable conversation with a per son when I hadn’t expected one. It was just one of those things that you say to yourself later, “(Common expletive of shock!) That was cool!” Just when you think you know people, they do something unex pected. In fact, I even wrote a bit of prose about this. These little things in my life have made it worthwhile lately. We each have experiences such as these that we discard as trivial. We can no longer afford to do this. We need to capture this sense of joy in our art once more. | Life reflects art and art reflects life, so each one has to have an equal balance of light and dark, otherwise it could overwhelm us. In the ’50s the beatniks inspired everyone to write poetry for the world, hi the ’60s, hippies wanted |o share peace, love and harmony. Jn die ’70s, the Sex Pistols inspired everyone to go pick up a guitar and scream. In the ’80s, the electronic music movement spawned a million more bands. We’re over halfway through the ’90s, and what has it inspired? Power-walking, health food and the Macarena. Something has to be done (and quickly) or die ’90s will be an artistic void. What I want is every person who reads this column to write a song, a story or a poem, draw a picture, take a photograph, make a sculpture or whatever, and savor the fact that they are alive. Talk about love even if you aren’t in it, talk about hope even if you have none, talk about dreams even if you don’t dream—breathe ' some bit of joy into this world and maybe it will reciprocate onto you. I leave you with one of my con tributions to this task, ignore the fact that I’m a pretty bad poet: “I’m not a millionaire, but it could happen to me / I’m not in love, but in a minute I could be 11 am not immor < tal, but my memory will live on /1 won’t be here forever, but I’m never really gone.” Hicks is a sophomore news editorial and English major and a Daily Nebraskan staff reporter. / f Shop offers variety By Ann Stack Senior Reporter It’s been said that at the end of ev ery rainbow is a pot of gold. In some cases, it’s a coffee house. Betti’s Rainbow Coffee House, 4145 O St., is in the building formerly occupied by The Purple Moon. Betti Lund owns the shop, which opened about three months ago. The decor is simple — 12 tables and an assortment of mismatched chairs are scattered about the clean front room. In the back, there is a game room for chess, checkers and cards and another room with a coffee table and a long, overstuffed burgundy couch. A piano stands on a wooden stage in one comer of the front room. A scale weighing a pair of baby shoes against a statue of praying hands rests on top of the piano. Inspirational quotes and sayings, several containing images of rainbows, decorate the white walls. A change drawer in the side of the counter and a large white plastic jug serve as a cash register. A cup of cof fee drawn in black marker covers the ' jug, which holds bills. Snickers candy bars, Do-Biz cook ies and several brands of cigarettes blanket the display shelf. “I want the place to have a homey atmosphere,” Lund said. “A cash reg ister looks so busy. I want my colors to fed comfortable here” Colors are customers, Lund said— another way she tries to personalize her business. A chain smoker, Lund said she knows some of her colors don’t absorb smoke well, so she installed three air purifiers around the shop. “My colors are the most important thing—I have to give them what they want,” she said. Betti’s Rainbow Coffee House has live music every night from 9 to mid night. She’s booked through Decem ber, but the stage is always open from 6 to 8 pm On Saturdays at 2 pan, Lund holds swap meets, where people can bring in unwanted goods and exchange them for items such as coffee mugs. Every Sunday, she has poetry readings at 3 p.m. A recovering alcoholic, Lund started her own coffee house as a place where people could feel free to hang out as long as they wanted to order a cup of coffee. “I used to hang out in bars a lot, before I went sober,” she said. “It’s fun to hang out with happy people.” Betti’s Rainbow Coffee House opens its doors at 4 pm until 1 am. weekdays, and 1 p.m. to 1 am on weekends and holidays. Coffee costs $1 per cup, with 35-cent refills. She also sells hot and cold tea and soda. ‘To me, it’s very important to be open on holidays,” she said. “Those are the times when people are loneliest. People were there for me on holidays. And you don’t repay kindness, you pass it on. “That’s why if I ever start making a lot of money, I’ll lower the price of my coffee.” Aaron Steckelbrrg/DN Concert celebrates tuba players i - * *_ By Emhj Wray StaffReporter Sixteen tubas will grace Kimball Recital Hall’s stage Thursday night. But it’s not a Halloween prank. It’s Oc Tuba-Fest. Oc-Tuba-Fest celebrates tuba ca maraderie and playing the tuba, said Craig Fuller, assistant professor of music. Indiana University celebrated the first festival in 1973. Now, 25 or more colleges across the country have an Oc Tuba-Fest. This year marks the Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln’s sixth celebration. Thursday’s 8 pun. concert will in clude 10 tuba soloists. One of the larg est and best college tuba and eupho nium ensembles will complete the con cert, Fuller said. MIt’s a time of tuba activities,” Fuller said. “The main portion of the music is aural but the visual aspect of a tuba ensemble is also impressive.” The solos incltideawide Variety of pieces spanning all music periods over •• It’s a really unique sound. Some people say it’s akin to the sound of a large pipe organ because it has so many deep and powerful sounds.” Craig Fuller assistant professor of music a number of years, he said. Playing in the ensemble brings more challenges to the performers, since players usually only get to play the bass line from the back of an or chestra or band, he said. In the en semble, all students play the parts of melody and harmony. “It’s a really unique sound,” Fuller said. “Some people say it’s akin to the sound of a large pipe organ because it has so many deep and powerful sounds.” The ensemble’s main piece is “Tuba Musicale” by Rocco Di Giovanni. Other pieces are transcrip tions of pieces originally written for other instruments. Graduate assistant Dan Sodomka conducts one of those pieces, Fuller said. “I think that people will be im pressed with the sound of 16 tubas and euphoniums,” Fuller said. “The stu dents have worked really hard and ac complished a lot. I'm looking forward to the conceit because of their hard work.” 1 J A N.Y mayor accused of TV favoritism NEW YORK (AP)—A lawyer for the city asked a federal judge Tuesday to reject Time Warner’s contention that political favoritism was involved in the mayor’s effort to give Rupert Murdoch more cable access. Time Warner, the city’s domi nant cable operator, has asked U.S. District Judge Denise Cote to bar use of the public-access channels the city controls as vehicles for all news networks. The city offered to carry news | channels after Time Warner said it had no space for Murdoch’s new Fox News Channel, which is based i in New York. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani suggested Time Warner was trying to limit competition for its newly acquired Cable News Net work. Please see CABLE on 14