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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1998)
(Roses <*ni Lingerie tops shoppers’ lists By Bret Schulte Senior Reporter Certain images are typically asso ciated with Valentine’s Day: little pink hearts, red roses, the blushing Cupid and black leather crotchless underwear. In recent years chocolate candies and flower bouquets have given way to more intimate gifts for the lovers’ holiday. Priscilla’s, 2029 O St., specializes in adult films, toys, accessories and clothing. Store manager Audrie Sparks said sales jump during the Valentine’s Day season as lovers rush to make their holiday a memorable one. “We’re selling quite a bit of lin gerie and games,” Sparks said, motioning to a kit titled “Naughty-n Nice,” a sweetly wrapped box that includes handcuffs, various lotions and a whip. “Those are pretty popu lar,” she said. Sparks said there are a lot of new faces in the store around Valentine’s Day, mostly belonging to women looking for special outfits. “It’s mostly women buying their own stuff for Valentine’s Day,” she said. “The one-piece teddies are sell ing well.” While the teddies are light on the racks, Priscilla’s is heavily stocking accessory items as well. “We stock lots of lotions and oils along with the games and kits,” Sparks said. Gail Hohl, owner of Boog’s Rock ’n Roll Boutique, 122 S. 52™* St., said she’s seen many couples go through her racks looking for Valentine’s Day gifts. “A lot of older people come in and pick stuff up together,” she said. “They are looking for outfits to wear for the weekend. “The teddy is the most popular piece, and they are requesting corsets, too,” Hohl said. She recom mended garter belts and stockings to complement any undergarment selec tion. “We also sold out all our feather boas,” she added. Exotica Fashions and Gift, 443 N. 48th St., added lingerie to its invento ry just after Christmas and has enjoyed brisk sales this Valentine’s Day season. “One reason I tried to pick it up was because nobody else carries good, unusual exotic lingerie,” said store owner Phyllis Firoz. According to Firoz, a lot of guys have been asking for help for Valentine’s Day ideas. “Guys come in and they can’t fig ure out what to give their girlfriends,” « A lot of older people come in and pick stuff up together. They are looking for outfits to wear for the weekend.” Gail Hohl owner of Boog’s Rock ’n Roll Boutique she said. “If you point out lingerie they think it’s pretty neat. It’s some what unusual and kind of nice.” At Exotica, Firoz said, G-strings and Fundies (underwear built for two) are selling briskly along with “edible undies and vibrators, stuff like that.” While Valentine’s Day continues to become more expressive and inti mate, who’s to say there still isn’t a little room for old-fashioned romance? “I asked her what she wanted for Valentine’s Day and she said ‘hand cuffs,’” one patron of Boog’s Rock ’n Roll Boutique said, referring to his girlfriend. “I also ordered her a dozen roses.” Local celebrities vary in their V-Day plans * By Sarah Baker Senior Reporter Variety is the spice of life. Especially when it comes to Valentine’s Day. Most couples celebrate the day in a traditional sense, including dinner, flowers, candy and usually romance. Most Lincoln celebrities celebrate the day, but some go about it in an unusual way. Curt Ruwe, Association of Students of the University of Nebraska president, said he is planning a surprise for his girlfriend this year. “I can’t tell what my plans are because I am keeping them a secret I fp>m my. girlfriend,” Rttigp said. “But it is going t0O6%etthintic.” ^ ~ Ruwe saidhe decided to keep his plans a$e$rg£ff rmprqplhpgpjust^ the element of surprise. “I decided to keep it a secret from her because we really don’t get to spend as much time together as we would like to, and when we do, it is usually really planned out,” he said. “I just wanted to be more spontaneous and do something on a whim.” Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs James Griesen said this year he isn’t going to be in Lincoln for Valentine’s day. “I am going to be in a business meeting in Florida,” Griesen said. “But I am planning to surprise my wife in some way, even though I can’t be here.” Griesen said he hoped one of his sons could do something special with their mom on the day. Both Ruwe and Griesen said if there were no limitations, they would both take their significant others on trips. “I think my most romantic date would be to catch a plane and go see a Broadway show,” Ruwe said. “I’m not really that romantic of a person. What I would really like to do is throw a party for like 500 or 600 people. I guess that shows my personality.” Griesen’s idea of romance wasn’t as wild. “I would take my wife on another cruise,” he said. “We took our first cruise a year ago, and it was a fantastic experience. It was so nice to get away for 10 days and have some relaxing quality time together.” UNL’s ‘best-kept secret’ to perform Friday By Barb Churchill Assignment Reporter Secrets don’^ make friends, but Jay Kloecker has a secret with which he hopes to make a few fans. Kloecker, associate professor of music and director of bands at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, will help unleash that secret when he directs the UNL Wind Ensemble tonight at Kimball Recital Hall. The show begins at 8 p m , and admission is free. The ensemble, which Kloecker likes to call “the best-kept secret on campus,” was one of only five American bands invited by the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles to tour Europe last summer. Partly because of this 1997 summer tour, and partly because of past local and regional music conventions, the UNL Wind Ensemble has quietly built a national reputation. This improved reputa tion has culminated in foe honor of being asked to play not one, but two performances at this year’s Music Educators National Convention in Phoenix, Ariz., held in mid-April. As far as Kloecker knows, UNL is the only university asked to perform twice. Not bad for a group that has been in existence since only 1990. “I was very surprised when they called and asked if we’d do a general session, because it gen erally doesn’t happen,” Kloecker said. “It was a pleasant surprise, but it still was a shocker.” Kloecker said the last wind band group he recalled being asked to do two different perfor mances at MENC was the prestigious and well known Eastman Wind Ensemble, which places UNL in good company. Friday’s concert is entitled “Jazz Influences,” and features four jazz-inspired compositions. “This concert is extremely audience-friendly, and has something for everyone,” Kloecker said. “This is a good intro concert for people who have never heard our Wind Ensemble before. This is certainly not standard classical or ‘serious’ music, because we’re playing some very high energy movements here.” The Wind Ensemble is playing all late 20th century compositions on this concert The earliest piece, “Dance Rhythms” by Wallingford Riegger, was written in 1951, and there were two pieces written in 1996- Blue Shades by Frank Ticheli and “Storyville” by James Sykr. The other piece, “Three Dance Episodes from ‘On The Town,’” was written by the great composer Leonard Bernstein in 1944 and transcribed forwindensem bie by MariceStith in 1971. The “Storyville” piece is a story in itself. “Storyville” was commissioned by nine schools, including UNL, in a sort of “commissioning con sortium.” This won’t be the only time the UNL Wind Ensemble will perform new music written for this consortium, as one more piece is planned for this year and three more are planned for next year. “We’v^ been trying here at UNL to be actively commissioning new music for band, and ‘ Storyville’ is part of that commitment to expand ing the literature,” Kloecker said. Kloecker said the piece “Blue Shades” was the primary inspiration for the theme of this concert “(‘Blue Shades’) is a great piece, and I knew we’d want to perform it at the MENC concert in April. I’d always wanted to do ‘On The Town,’ and we had just received ‘Storyville.’ At that point, it was a matter of finding one other piece, and I felt the ‘Dance Rhythms’ fit nicely into the jazz influ ences format,” Kloecker said. Graduate assistant Dan Sodomka will conduct u “This concert is extremely audience-friendly; and has something for everyone ” Jay Kloecker director of UNL bands the “Dance Rhythms,” which suits Kloecker nice ty “We want to let (graduate assistants) conduct on every concert, because it helps them build a portfolio of pieces they’ve conducted. That helps the TAs in employment, anditbehBoiB'ensembles to play under different directors,” he said. One realty good dung about this concert is its timing - namely, Friday night This is the first time in recent memory that Wind Ensemble has drawn such a favorable time for its conceit “Having a Friday night concert really helps us, because more people will be able to attend our concert than usual because of the timing,” Kloecker said. RobbBlum/DN