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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1998)
Theremin virtuoso experiments with space-age sounds By Jason Hardy Senior Reporter To Jared Alberico, music isn’t necessarily something that comes from a piano or a guitar. To him, music comes from everything that makes sound. “I find music even in just every day life,” Alberico said. Saturday he’ll give Lincoln a cosmic illustration of what music means to him. Alberico, Nebraska’s self-pro " claimed theremin virtuoso, will per form Saturday night at the Wagon Train Project/7th Street Loft, 504 S. Seventh St. Also performing is Jack Wright and Mike O’Neill, an impro visational duet from Boulder, Colo. Alberico, who specializes in older electronic instruments, plays a unique style of music utilizing spacy sounds and odd rhythms. “I try to paint pictures of infinity with the two components of music, sound and silence,” Alberico said. “It’s everything from a whisper to a scream. I try to generate two or three moving patterns at a time, but some times there’s nothing going on, and the audience provides the entertain ment.” He said it was hard to describe his music, but the best way was to say how he made it. “I try to think of myself as like a tone scientist, and by combining dif ferent elements of sounds, I try to calculate equations and bring about some reaction from the crowd,” Alberico said. David Walters, a longtime fan, said Alberico’s music was a combi nation of many elements. “It’s a mix of rhythms and sounds and kind of space-age stuff,” Walters said. “It doesn’t really fit into a class.” He said he was a bit blown away when he first saw Alberico perform. “It kind of overloaded the sens es,” Walters said. “It’s quite a mix of sight and sound.” To create this unique mixture, Alberico uses some almost antique instruments - a theremin, which Alberico built himself, and a Moog synthesizer. “The theremin is the world’s first electronic instrument, and it’s the only one you don’t touch,” Alberico said. He said it was like a box with an antennae that creates weird sounds when a hand or body part gets near it. A Moog is an early synthesizer, and it puts out zany electronic sounds. Alberico uses these instru ments and a guitar when he per forms. He said he used the theremin, layered over a rhythm or sound from a Moog, to get the sound he wanted. “I use the synthesizer as more ol a background, sort of a pad to fill the sonic ballad, and I utilize the guitai and the theremin as more of the melody,” Alberico said. He said Saturday’s show would be a free improvisational perfor mance, which basically means there is no strict song format and the music comes out of the spontaneous emo tion put into it. “It’s when two or three people gel together and con verse, but instead c words, we use mu; Alberico said. “Generally, I just set up my instru ments and make su everything is worki and the music will le£ me where it needs t< go” He said he hopes people will come to his performance Saturday night with an open mind toward music. “What they’ll be seeing is th< commutation of the last 10 years synthesized down to one performance,” Alberico said. 4 borne people consider what I do random noise, but they haven’t been able to hear my development over the years to understand my arrival to this point, and I don’t i expect them to. I just hope /9 they come and hear some thing different for a ▼ ** change.” B Walters said “different” was the best way to describe Alberico’s performance. “It’s probably not for somebody PPPr” who’s looking for something ordinary,” Walters said. “It’s not for the faint of heart.” Saturday’s show starts at 8 p.m. and costs $5. Ska bands old and new combine forces onstage Courtesy Photo SKA LESEKDS the Skatalites will perform at Knickerbockers Saturday night. By Sarah Baker Senior Reporter This weekend the “godfathers of ska” are teaching the grandchildren how it’s done. The Skatalites, the band that found ed ska music, and the more recent Let’s Go Bowling, part of die newest wave of ska music, both will take the stage Sunday at Knickerbockers, 9010 St Shaun Tyrrell, an employee at Knickerbockers, said the show is a mix of both the old and new kinds of ska music. “The Skatalites were the first ska band ever; they have the Jamaican sound,” Tyrrell said. “Letfc Go Bowling have the new style of ska, which is known as the third wave.” The first wave of ska, which began in the early 1960s with the Skatalites, was a combination of jazz and Jamaican sounds. The second movement took place in Britain and was followed by a third wave in the United States. The third wave has hatched such ska bands as the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish, Tyrrell said. Tyrrell said this was die first time die legendary Skatalites have played in Lincoln. “We are expecting a lot of the older generations to come out for the Skatalites, and a lot of younger kids for Letts Go Bowling,” he said. Tyrrell said the audience also will get a special treat at this show. “The Skatalites have their original singer with them on this tour, so that’s something unique,” he said. He said they are expecting a large crowd for die show. “People will come out to see this show,” he said. “The Skatalites are leg ends in the world of ska music. They’ve been around for a long time.” The Skatalites and Let’s Go Bowling are playing Sunday at Knickerbockers. The show starts at 6 pjn. Tickets are $13, and the show is open to all ages. For more information, call Knickerbockers at (402) 476 6865.
