nKkcrii,
Preview
The following list is a brief guide to
weekend events. Please call venues
for more information.
CONCERTS:
Duffy's Tavern, 1412 OSt
Sunday: Immigrant Suns, the
Mezcal Brothers
Duggan's Pub, 440 S. 11th St
Friday and Saturday: The Rockin’
Fossils
Knickerbockers, 901 O St
Friday: Blacklight Sunshine, Fragile
Porcelam Mice
Saturday: The Mediums, Saint
Surreal
Royal Grove, 340 W. Cornhusker
Highway
Friday and Saturday: Bossphilly
Zoo Bar, 136 N. 14* St
Friday and Saturday: LiF Ed and the
Blues Imperials
Sokol Auditorium, 13th and
Martha streets, Omaha
Friday: Semisonic, Guster
THEATER:
Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater,
12th and R streets
Sunday: “Character”
Lied Center for Performing Arts,
301N. 12th St
Friday and Saturday: “STOMP”
Howell Studio Theater, 12th and R
streets
Friday and Saturday: “Picasso at the
Lapin Agile”
7th Street Loft, 504 S. Seventh St
Saturday and Sunday: “The Wooden
\ Sun”
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery,
12th and R streets
Saturday: American String Quartet
GALLERIES:
Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge
St, Omaha
“Allure of the Exotic”
Burkholder Project, 719 P. St
“Color Me Christmas”
Gallery 9,124 S. Ninth St
Oil paintings by Laura Nothem,
Opening reception from 7 p.m. to 9
p.m. Friday.
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery,
12th and R streets
“Different Voices: New Textile Art
from Poland”
“The Latino Spirit: Hispanic Icons
and Images”
“Legible Forms: Contemporary
Sculptural Books”
“One Hour Smile” video perfor
mance
STOMP to bring
unique musical
brand to the Lied
By Sean McCarthy
Staff Writer
i ne swisnmg oi orooms, me clanging oi garoage cans ana me
sound of sinks draining will once again fill downtown Lincoln this
. weekend.
No, this isn’t the sound of Memorial Stadium being cleaned
out after last week’s stomping. This is a totally different kind of
^ ^It’s not like
‘Les Miserables ’
‘ M iss°Saigonf ’
where you have to do the
same exact thing
every night.”
— Henry Shead
STOMP cast member
5 1UMT.
This
weekend,
STOMP, the
internation
ally known
drum-bang
ing dance
collective,
returns to the
Lied Center
for five per
formances.
The phe
nomenon of
STOMP has
become so
popular wiin audiences tnat all tnree separate troupes tour con
stantly throughout the United States, while two additional troupes
also tour internationally.
Henry Shead, a member of the STOMP cast since 1995, said he
was reluctant to classify his role in the show as only a dancer.
STOMP isn’t a play, an opera, a musical or even a dance, Shead
said. There is no speech or dialogue in STOMP, making it hard to
classify, yet an extremely accessible piece.
Aside from clanging broomsticks, pounding on garbage cans
and clacking crates r
together, the perform
ers of STOMP mime
and show individual
characteristics.
“The chemistry of
STOMP is like a jazz
band,” Shead said, “The
structure is there, but
we’re free to impro
vise.”
Improvisation
comes fairly easy when
the instrument invento
ry includes such items
as wheel rims, mop
heads, oil drums and a
stainless steel sink. In
one week, the troupe
goes through 20
brooms, 30 pounds of
sand, 10 garbage can
lids and six ball-peen
hammer handles.
i uubc wuo caugru
the group’s performance at the Lied Center in 1996 can expect the
same type of energy this weekend.
STOMP was not something created overnight; it took a num
ber of years to become the success it is today.
In 1981, Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas formed a
street band in Brighton, England, which would later become the
basis for STOMP. Amassing 10 years’ worth of critical acclaim
and a successful Broadway run, STOMP opened off-Broadway in
1994.
Since then, STOMP has sold out in cities all over the world. In
1996, STOMP made “Brooms,” a short film that was nominated
for an Oscar.
The group also has performed on the Academy Awards, the
“Late Show With David
Letterman,” “The Tonight
Show With Jay Leno,”
“Mad About You” and
“The Kennedy Centers
Honors”
They also were fea
tured in a commercial for
Coca-Cola doing what
they do best: banging the
ice off of pipes in a rhyth
mic fashion.
Two new pieces will
be featured in this week
end’s performances. One
will include a piece
involving wooden boxes
and another will involve
plastic barrels that will be
assaulted by padded
poles.
---1 Shead said the physi
Photos Courtesy of Lied Center cal demands of the show
were extensive, especially
toward the end of the show. For the last number, Shead walks on
two huge oil drum canisters, each weighing 50 pounds.
“We’re on stage for one hour and 45 minutes straight, con
stantly going,” Shead said, “And you have to look like you’re not
tired.”
Though Shead admitted he does get tired toward the end of
the show, he said, he never gets bored performing, no matter how
many times he has done it. One reason was because the show
constantly changes every night.
“It’s not like ‘Les Miserables’ or ‘Miss Saigon,’ where you
have to do the same exact thing every night,” he said.
Please see STOMP on 14
i