Photo courtesy of the Lied Center
THE KODO DRUMMERS off Japan will bring their high-energy
blend of music and nature to the Lied Center for Performing
Arts on Feb. 11.
Warm up to Lied’s spring lineup
By Ann Stack
Senior Reporter
The temperatures may be plum
meting outside, but this season’s
schedule at the Lied Center for Per
forming Arts is sure to heat up Lin
coln.
January B
The spring season kicks off Jan.
24 and 25 with the Moscow Festival
Ballet performing “Giselle.” Directed
by dance and artistic legend Sergei
Radchenko, the ballet is comprised of
a company of 50 dancers from the
Kirov and Bolshoi ballets, including
prima ballerina Lubov Kunakova of
the Kirov.
The company has toured exten
sively since forming in 1990, selling
out London’s Coliseum and playing
to audiences worldwide.
On Jan. 28, the Warsaw Philhar
monic Orchestra returns to the Lied
after a sold-out 1993 performance.
Conducted by Kazimierz Kord, the
orchestra is celebrating its 95th anni
' VersarY'sCason. Featured selections
will be Mozart’s “Piano concerto No.
19” and Beethoven’s “Eroica Sym
phony.”
February^
As part of the New Voices Scries,
17-year-old violist Nokuthula
Ngwcnyama will be in residency ^
JJNL the week of Jan. 27.
; “She’s a prominent up-and-com
ing artist who won the Young Con
cert Artists Competition and who’s
played at Carnegie Hall,” said Lied
public relations director Norah
Goebel-George.
She’ll follow her week of residency
with a performance Feb. 1.
Another night in the New Voices
series follows a week later, on Feb. 8,
with jazz bassist Christian McBride
and tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano.
McBride, 23, has been hailed as
one of the most sought-after bassists
in the business. His debut album,
“Gettin’ To It,” was released in 1995
to critical acclaim. Lovano, a 1994
Grammy nominee for best jazz small
group album for “Tenor Legacy,” has
worked with jazz greats Woody
Herman and Charlie Hayden.
McBride and Lovano will each
appear in his own quartet and join to
gether for a jam at the conclusion of
the performance.
Another group Goebel-George
touts as one to watch for is Kodo, a
group of young drummers from Japan,
performing Feb 11. These men com
bine music with nature — literally.
“The biggest drum they have is a
900-pound base of a tree turned into a
drum,” she said. “They’ve been here
once before, and it was almost a sell
out show.”
Kodo uses the taiko, the traditional
Japanese drum, in addition to the
shamisen, bamboo xylophone, gong,
bamboo flute and wooden clacker.
They also use mime and dance in their
high-energy performance.
Mummenschanz, a Swiss mime
troupe, will perform Feb. 15. This
group is unique in its use of props and
characters.
“They’re special because there’s
only three members in the group,”
Goebel-George said. “But you’d never
know that by looking at the stage be
cause of the largeness of the costumes
and presentation.” One of the mem
bers of the group, John Charles
Murphy, is from Stuart, Neb.
On Feb. 22, the Lied sizzles with
some south-of-the-border music by
Conjunto Cespedes, a 12-member
Please see LIED on 17
Photo courtesy of the Lied Center
MUMMENSCHANZ, the world
famous Swiss mime troupe,
will perform at the Lied
Center for Performing Arts on
Feb. 15.
Hustle to theaters
to witness antics *
of pom publisher
By Jeff Randall
Film Critic
Larry Flynt — as he would no doubt tell
you — is the most perverted and tasteless man
in America.
And as the publisher of Hustler, one of
America’s most perverted and tasteless porno
graphic magazines, Flynt has spent a large por
tion of his life in courtrooms defending the right
to be perverted and tasteless.
Some call him a hero, others call him a
shameful example of the abuse of the First
Amendment. And in “The People vs. Larry
Flynt,” it is this debate that fuels the undeni
v ably interesting story of Flynt and the people
who surrounded him.
Directed by Milos Forman, who won fame
and Academy Awards with both “One Flew ’
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus,” this
film manages to straddle the delicate line be
tween sympathy and character assassination
with a grace that few film biographers achieve.
Forman simply tells Flynt’s stoTy, casting
him as both a saint and a sinner, but mostly as
an extraordinarily complex human being.
Woody Harrelson’s portrayal of Flynt plays
a major part in this approach. Flynt says ex
actly what’s on his mind at all times, but his
Photo courtesy op Columbia Pictures
WOODY HARRELSON, starring as Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, discovers the
true meaning of a gag order after he makes a barrage of offensive remarks to
■ - a Judge In the MHos Forman flm, “The People vs. Larry Flynt.”
motives become blurred as he becomes more
entangled in the American justice system. And
Hafrelson’s charm shines through in every
moment, forcing the audience into a love-hate
relationship with his character.
Flynt’s wife, Althea (played to near perfec
tion by Courtney Love), maintains an equally
challenging relationship with the audience.
Love has received much-deserved attention for
her performance, and she is already a near-lock
for an Academy Award nomination (she might
even win if the voters don’t think she’s only
re-enacting scenes from her own life). Althea’s
descent from strong-willed lo drug-addled is
as painful for the audience to witness as it must
Please see FLYNT on 17
By Jeff Randall
A&E veteran vows
to improve perusal
When I first took this job as arts and
entertainment editor at the Daily Nebras
kan, I had no idea what to expect.
With literally no editing experience
under my belt, I proceeded to dive into
the section headlong and, in the process,
made my share of mistakes. I emerged
from that semester feeling a lot older, a
little wiser and visibly shaken.
But that was last year.
It is now 1997, and I am ready to re
claim the oft-ridiculed position I held so
dearly in the spring of 1996.1 am ready
to edit the stories, design the pages and
answer the phone calls. And, above all, I
am ready to learn even more.
So why should you care?
Well, I’m here to tell you that you
should care, because as a reader of the
Daily Nebraskan, you may have noticed
that the arts and entertainment section
hasn’t exactly been up to the standards
set by the rest of this newspaper’s sec
tions. It was like that before I took this
Please see SIATE on page 17
