_ Courtesy Photo
SLEATER-KINNEY is (from left) Carrie Brownstein, Janet
Weiss and Corin Tucker. The indie-pop group from
Washington will be spending the night at Omaha’s Sokol
Auditorium.
Band inspired by audience, not critics
By Sean McCarthy
Staff writer
“Words and guitar.”
Sleater-Kinney’s got them.
That phrase, from the song of the same
name, helped the trio’s last album, “Dig Me
Out,” become one of the most critically
acclaimed releases of last year. It finished
just below the heralded albums from Bob
Dylan and Radiohead in the Village Voice’s
“Pazz and Jop” poll - the Pulitzer Prize of
rock-music polls.
Tonight, Sleater-Kinney brings its
intense, power-pop style to the Sokol
Underground, 2234 S. 13th St., in Omaha
along with Glance to the Sequel and Mercy
Rule.
While Sleater-Kinney has yet to break
into platinum superstardom, the band had a
taste of critical success last year. Drummer
Janet Weiss said she was happy to see the
band receive positive press but was reluc
tant to put all her faith in what critics say.
“We concentrate on the audience,”
Weiss said. “Their excitement is more
rewarding than seeing us in print.”
Speaking from her home in Portland,
Ore., Weiss put down the phone for a bit to
see if any of her utilities had been cut off.
It’s not that she doesn’t have the cash to pay
the bills; she just doesn’t spend that much
time at home anymore. Weiss had just
returned from England, where the band fin
ished up the final leg of its tour before the
new album comes out in February 1999.
Weiss is the newest member of the
band, having joined Sleater-Kinney a little
more than two years ago. Co-founders
Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein
formed the band in 1994. The group got its
band name from a road near Olympia,
Wash., where Tucker and Brownstein cur
rently reside. Sleater-Kinney’s self-titled
debut album and its follow-up, “Call the
a
We concentrate on
the audience. Their
excitement is more
rewarding than
seeing us in print.”
Janet Weiss
drummer
Doctor,” generated a huge critical buzz.
Mixing hard-edged melodies with confes
sional lyrics, the band created a sound that
was as abrasive as it was sweet.
Much of the lyrical and musical power
of the band comes from the chemistry
between Tucker and Brownstein. Both of
Please see SLEATER on 10
Scary tales
brew with
fresh coffee
By Sarah Baker
Senior staff writer
Most people wouldn’t expect to
spend a cool fall night just days before
Halloween with the likes of Edgar Allan
Poe, Anne Rice or Stephen King.
And although they won’t be there in
the flesh, their macabre works will,
ready to put some fear into the hearts of
a few coffee-drinking college students.
Fright Night, a presentation of horror
and Halloween literature readings, takes
place tonight at the Coffee House, 1324
PSt.
The gathering, which will include
readings of both original works and
those of more well-known horror writ
ers, is sponsored by the local chapter of
Sigma Tau Delta, an English honors fra
ternity.
Susan Serio, president of Sigma Tau
Delta, said the group has held literature
readings before, but this is the first one
they have had with a Halloween theme.
“We decided the best holiday stu
dents could get involved with is
Halloween,” Serio said. “We hope to
have readings ranging from ‘Dracula’ to
things by Anne Rice, or something you
did vourself ”
The 15 active members of Sigma Tau
Delta also sponsor an annual poetry
reading to celebrate the birthday of
William Shakespeare, but this year they
decided to expand after the popularity of
the original reading.
Joanna Findlay, also a member of
Sigma Tau Delta, said the group has been
promoting the reading across campus.
“We just wanted to have an open
reading in a coffee house, and one of our
members is a friend of the owner of the
Coffee House,” Findlay said. “I know
students at other universities have had
Halloween events, so we decided to do
one here ”
Since this event is the first of its kind,
Serio said she wasn’t sure how many
people to expect, but she hoped for a
good crowd.
“We have been talking to a lot of peo
ple in other groups that do readings,”
Serio said. “I think it will be a fairly good
turnout. People can just come to listen,
and we will also have stuff there to read.”
She added that people can expect to
hear numerous things at the event.
“Fiction, poetry, whatever,” she said.
Fright Night takes place tonight at
the Coffee House. The readings begin at
7 p.m., and admission is free.
For more information, call the
Coffee House at (402) 477-6611.
Opera is dream
come true for
music professor
By Jason Hardy
Senior staff writer
It’s taken 16 years, but this weekend Randall
Snyder will finally fulfill one of his lifelong dreams.
His one-act comic opera, “Divine Madness,”
opens Friday at Kimball Recital Hall and plays again
Sunday. Snyder, a professor of theory and composi
tion in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of
Music, said seeing his personal work evolve into a
full-fledged production has been a dream come true.
“When you’re younger you have dreams of great
ness,” Snyder said. “Most people rarely achieve the
goals they set when they’re younger, and though the
issue is still in doubt, I think (“Divine Madness”) is
going to work. I’ve been very pleased with what has
happened so far.”
While the act of writing and putting together an
opera is an enormous achievement in itself, Snyder
hopes to take his “Divine Madness” one step further.
“The real question is what the audience is going
to think, and I hope they like this and maybe go away
thinking that opera isn’t just for older people and seri
ous stuff- that opera can be a lot of fim,” Snyder said.
“I really designed this for a general audience.
When most people think of opera they think of some
thing really boring and old-fashioned, but in a way
this kind of pokes fim at those stereotypes’*
“Divine Madness” combines musical elements
from classical, jazz and other popular genres and
incorporates creative lighting effects with occasional
slapstick comedy to form a show fun for people of all
ages and tastes.
The story follows a would-be composer who is at
his wits end trying to create a masterpiece and real
izes that, although he knows enough to appreciate
great music, he simply can’t write it.
From there the despairing composer finds him
self in a number of zany situations, all the while
attempting to fulfill his dream of creating a musical
masterpiece.
While Snyder himself is a far cry from the melo
dramatic lead character of “Divine Madness,” his
quest to create the opera is an epic in itself.
It started in 1982 when Snyder first wrote the
words for the piece, which eventually turned into a
play. It wasn’t until 1995 that a local acting group
used the piece for one of its productions, and Snyder
became re-intrigued by the idea of making it an
_J
Dawn Dietrich/DN
JAMES HARDEN, who plays the part of the impresario in the play “Divine Madness,” tells the com
poser, played by John David DeHaan, to be quiet. “Divine Madness” will be showing Friday and
Sunday at Kimball Recital Hall.
opera.
From there he contacted his first choice for the
lead character, a former student and world-class
vocalist, John David DeHaan. He then enlisted the
help of William Shomos, associate professor of voice
and opera in the School of Music, to handle stage
directions.
Meanwhile, Snyder began writing the music.
While a good portion of the score was written
during the following year, Snyder said much of the
composition took place in intervals, sometimes with
breaks as long as six months between stints of writ
ing.
Even this week the piece wasn’t totally finished.
“It’s still being tweaked as we speak.”
Despite these last-minute anxieties and the
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