;
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Lineup change magical for Baby Jason \*
By Sarah Baker
Senior staff writer
“Baby Jason” Davis believes that
everything happens for a reason.
Including die breakup of his blues trio,
Baby Jason and the Spankers.
Lucidly for die band’s adamant follow
ing, Davis also believes in magic.
And “magic,” according to Davis, is
exactly what happened when the new, and
maybe even improved, lineup of Spankers
met for the very first time.
“The first time we practiced, it was
painfully obvious that I had made die right
lineup choice,” Davis said. “Bigger and
better things are coming.”
The original band plays its final show
as a trio tomorrow night at the Zoo Bar,
436 N. ;14tk Saturday night the
Spankers take the Zoo stage yet again, but
this time as a newborn quartet.
Davis said the search for the new line
up wasn’t as easy as he thought it would
be. He searched for musicians he clicked
with musically and psychologically, rather
than the most technically skilled or talent
ed.
Although the process was frustrating
at times, Davis believes it was worth the
search and that die new band is something
special.
“We are really into a groove,” he said.
“We have a great connection. A lot of tech
nical bands do wild stuff but it’s totally
dry. It’s like cereal with no milk.”
The new lineup consists of Brian
“Pickle” Gerkensmeyer, former bassist
for Lincoln’s Ripple Effect, Max
Thomoson on guitar and 18-year-old
Ryland Steen on drums.
The new band plans to start where the
old one left off, and, according to Davis,
there will be nowhere to go but up.
Steen said he was looking forward to
being able to play with his new band
mates.
“I’m really excited,” Steen said. “It’s
something I’Ve been working for and I’ve
always wanted to do it, and it finally hap
pened.”
The former trio has played at venues
across the United States, and last year
played over 180 shows.
“We aren’t just a local band,” Davis
said. “You would be surprised at how !
many people don’t realize that.”
Even though he’s starting anew, Davis
said he never really considered changing
the band’s name. lij
“Every time I started a new band, I was
back at square one. I am tired of starting
over,” he said. “It’s me and my band and I
have worked too hard to get the band’s
name recognized to change it.”
The band’s former lineup - drummer
Danny Lee Irvin and bassist Jeremy
“Warhead” Woemer - decided to give up ~x
the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle to pursue other <
career paths.
Irvin plans to seek full-time employ
ment while Woemer hopes to enroll in
school.
Irvin and Woemer were the third
rhythm section to play with the Spankers,
and Davis said they had played with him
the longest, and the musicians accom
plished a lot while they were together.
Unfortunately, the wear and tear the
musicians suffered on the road proved to
Please see SPANKERS on 13
Contemporary Polish art reflects social unrest
■ A new Sheldon exhibition
explores the cultural and histor
ical thanes of Eastern Europe.
ByLizaHoltmeier
. Staff writer
If art imitates life, then the Eastern
European art community must have experi
enced just as much upheaval as their govern
ments this past decade.
This weekend, die Sheldon Memorial Art
Gallery will open an exhibit of contempo
rary Polish textile art indicative of the influ
ence of change.
“Different Voices: New Art from
Poland” is an exhibition of 28 pieces orga
nized by Wordy Weiss, associate professor
of textiles, clothing and design at the
University ofNebraska-Lincoln. It opens
Saturday.
The exhibit originated from a 1992 trip
Weiss made to Poland. Weiss attended a
Weavers’ Emporium to view the new trends
in Polish textile art Poland produced a vol
ume of important textile art in the 1970s
~ after Magdalena Abakanowicz - known for
her innovative use of form, texture and mate
rials —burst into the fiber art world in the
1960s.
“I was just really blown away by what I
saw. I’d never seen anything like it before,”
Weiss said. “I perceived that there was a dif
ferent sensibility, a different use of materials
and a different sense of aesthetic than what
we’re used to seeing in America.”
Enamored Of the Polish works, Weiss
discussed die possibility of organizing an
exhibit with Jolanta Rudzka-Habisiak, one
of the artists featured in the exhibit. Rudzka
Habisiak supervised the organization of die
exhibit, while Weiss arranged the showing of
the exhibit at the Sheldon.
This is die first time the Sheldon has
worked with a UNL faculty member to
arrange an exhibition.
“It’s an opportunity for us to participate
in the university community in an important
way,” said Dan Siedell, curator of the
Sheldon. “It is also an opportunity for our
audience, which sees mainly 19th and 20th
■ u—
Courtesy Photo
BROUGHT TO THE SHHJMM By DM. associate profanor
Wendy Weiss, “Different Voices: New Art from Poland”
is a textured display of 28 pieces of modern art from a
country struggling with stability.
At the same time
we ’re looking at
people looking at
their traditional,
folkloric roots, we’re
seeing the
experience of the
current situation of
the individual in
Poland.”
Wendt Weiss
associate professor
i
century American art... to see
Eastern European art.”
Siedell said the Polish textile art
emphasizes die relationship between
Polish folk traditions and sophisticat
ed western fine art traditions.
‘Textiles occupy this very fine
space between the two,” Siedell said.
Weiss said the works, like
American textile art, utilize an exper
imental approach to materials. The
artists use man-made materials, such as
paper and polyester, to refer back to nature
as often as they use branches or leaves.
The work also comments on the political
and social change that has occurred in
Eastern Europe. %
“At the same time we’re looking at peo
ple looking at their traditional, folkloric
roots, we’re seeing the experience of the cur
rent situation of die individual m Poland,”
Weiss said. “While the works contain a more
avert expression of the figure and a sensitivi
ty to nature, there is also a historical theme.”
Siedell added that the tension between
the functional (e.g. a blanket that keeps you
warm) and the artistic (e.g. a blanket that is
hung on a wall for show) provides another
dimension to the show.
The exhibit takes up three galleries at the
Sheldon. The first gallery features a variety
of three-dimensional work using imagery
from nature. In the second gallery, highlights
include a carpet of pages tom from the
Yellow Pages in a work called “The Dead
Sea”
Weiss said she hopes die exhibit influ
ences area artists, particularly students. In
November, Maria Tyniec, another artist fea
tured in the exhibit, will present a series of
workshops discussing her use of non-tradi
tional materials. Tyniec works with large
scale environmental space constructions.
“Different Voices: New Art from
Poland” will open this Saturday with an invi
tation-only reception at the Sheldon, 12th
and R streets, from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibi
tion will then be open to the public at 7 p.m.
The Sheldon will show the exhibit until
Dec. 6. The exhibition will then travel to
Chicago and Topeka, Kan., and eventually
arrive in New York at the millennium. For
more information, call the Sheldon at (402)
472-2461.