-MB-;
Silos do the lineup shuffle again
Group’s music reflects changing locales, chemistry of musicians
By Sean McCarthy
Staffwriter
The Silos have gone through more
changes than David Bowie’s wardrobe
in their 12-year career.
The lineup, save lead singer and
guitarist Walter Salas-Humara, has
changed with every new album. They
are currently on their fifth record label
in the past 10 years.
And to top it all off, the touring
musicians are not the same as those who
recorded the Silos’ latest album,
“Heater” - a worthy feat, considering
12 musicians helped record the album.
In a phone interview from
Minneapolis, Salas-Humara said all the
changes the Silos have gone through
were just a natural growing process. He
said he was happy about the chemistry
of the current touring lineup.
The lineup features David Gehrke
on drums and Andrew Glackin on bass.
Even though Salas-Humara was essen
tially starting from scratch with a new
lineup, he said it didn’t take long before
a chemistry was established.
“Everything just sort of falls into
place,” Salas-Humara said, “It just kind
ofhappens.”
Tonight that chemistry comes to
Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 0 St., when the
Silos take the stage for a 21-and-over
show. The Silos have played the Ranch
Bowl in Omaha, but this show will be
the Silos’ first Lincoln appearance.
Salas-Humara said he wasn’t plan
ning on extensively touring for now. The
Silos are doing an exclusively
Midwestern tour through Thanksgiving.
So far, the band has played shows in
Illinois, Wisconsin and Kentucky.
“We just got done playing this
weird, little punk-rock club in
Louisville,” he said.
Punk rock is not the first adjective
that comes to mind when describing the
Silos’ style of music. While their self
titled album and their independent
releases are very much in the No
Depression vein of alternative country
rock, it certainly is not limited to that
Salas-Humara was born in Cuba,
raised in New York and has lived in Los
Angeles. All the sounds from those
cities seep through their releases, espe
cially in their latest album. “Heater,” the
first album on Checkered Past records,
which only took a month to record.
Unlike earlier works, Salas-Humara
said he wrote most of the lyrics to
“Heater” while he was recording. He
said he liked how that approach cap
tured a more spontaneous side of him
self as a songwriter.
“For the newer records, the lyrics
Courtesy Photo
LED BY SINGER, songwriter, produc
er and guitarist Walter Salas
Humara, the Silos describe them
selves only as an “American band.”
have been less personal and more fic
tional,” Salas-Humara said, “But it’s
impossible not to have personal events
creep in on some level.”
Tonight’s show starts at 10 with
opening guest Marlee MacLeod.
Admission is $5.
Omaha Symphony joins
celebration of Gershwin
By Liza Holtmeier
Staffwriter
Sometimes, birthday celebrations
improve after you’re dead.
Take George Gershwin for exam
ple. He died in 1937, but this year, sym
phonies and musicians across the
nation are preparing to celebrate his
100th birthday with concerts devoted to
his work.
This weekend, the Omaha
Symphony wants to kick in its own
birthday present to one of America’s
greatest composers.
Following on the heels of Maureen
McGovern’s Gershwin concert at the
Lied Center for Performing Arts and
the Nebraska Brass’s offering of
“Mozart, Gershwin and All That Jazz,”
the Omaha Symphony will present
“New York, New York.” The concert,
which runs Friday and Saturday in
Omaha, features a selection of works
by George Gershwin and his brother,
Ira.
Adam Branting, public relations
spokesman for the Omaha Symphony,
said Gershwin’s music has remained
popular because of its originality.
“It was the first classical music
made in America that was not based on
European music. It’s music by an
American based on American themes,
Branting said.
This weekend’s concert provides a
cross section of some of the brothers’
best known work, including “I Got
Rhythm,” “Nice Work If You Can Get
it” and “They Can’t Take That Away
From Me.”
While the concert is an homage to
the genius of George Gershwin,
Branting warns that Ira Gershwin’s
contribution should not be overlooked.
“You cannot have a George
Gershwin without an Ira Gershwin.
The one had music flowing out of his
fingertips, and the other one had words
and lyrics coming out of his. Together,
they were magical,” Branting said.
In addition to the Gershwin works,
the concert features Kurt Weill’s “A
Threepenny Opera” and Leonard
Bernstein’s “Fancy Free” ballet.
Hal France, artistic director of
Opera Omaha, will conduct the con
cert, while Sylvia McNair, a Grammy
Award-winning soprano, will perform
as soloist
The Omaha Symphony will present
the concert Friday and Saturday at 8
p.m. at the Orpheum Theater, 409 S.
16th St. Tickets range from $10.50 to
$34.50. For reservations, call the
Omaha Symphony Box Office at (402)
342-3560.
the season to polish yourstntte!
tversHy Health Center
Dental Office
veniently located on city campus
15th & U Streets
For an appointment, call 472-7495
^ABhjcPrcfarredProvidcjvAlotim Insurance fed.
3 TANS| |
Tan 3 TIMES FOR $3, AND GET
200 MINUTES FOR ONLY
Max Tan South $ 1 9.98! Max Tan west
40th & Old Cheney _ - West “O” st
420.6454__477.7444
Statistics show motorcycle enthusiasts getting older
MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) - It’s a
typical day at the California Superbike
School.
Young racer wannabes are stuffing
themselves into fluorescent leather
suits, eagerly awaiting a chance to climb
aboard the two-wheeled missiles that
accelerate quicker than any production
car and can top 150 mph.
Mixed in with the youngsters at
Laguna Seca Raceway just outside this
resort town on the California coast are
several riders who...
How to put this?
They’re geezers. Gray hair. Or no
hair. Bifocals. Guys who should be flail
ing at golf balls, not hugging motorcy
cles and dragging their knees around
asphalt comers at escape velocity.
Don’t tell that to Barry Ellman, a
53-year-old vascular surgeon from
Scotch Plains, N.J., who’s been riding
for 35 years. He has seen the damage a
lapse in concentration or a dozing
motorist can do to a motorcyclist, but he
still loves to ride.
“As a doctor, I’ve seen a lot of terri
ble things happen to people,” he said
while awaiting his turn on the track.
“I’m going to have as much fun as I
___ 99
can.
So, are bikers really getting older?
Keith Code, who runs the riding
school, thinks so. In that over-50 group
himself, he says the average age of stu
dents has risen from 24 in the early
1980s to 37 now.
“Baby boomers are the
biggest group in the population
now,” he said. “The kids are
gone, disposable income is up,
and when they get into bikes, they
want to do it right”
Bill Wood agrees. He’s the
managing editor of American
Motorcyclist, a monthly maga
zine published by the
American Motorcyclist ki
Association for its III
225,000-plus mem- //
bers.
“Yes, there’s
no question
about it, for bet
ter or worse.
Our sur
veys have
indicated
that
our --
membership s average age is now about
44,” Wood said.
“What we have seen is not necessar
ily people starting out for the first time,”
he said. “We’re seeing re-entry riders,
people who had motorcycles as teens or
young adults and got out.
“Now, their kids are in college or
married. And they are in a position to
enjoy some of the recreation they
enjoyed a long time ago.”
Other details of the survey: The
average member is married, has attend
ed college and has a household income
of more than $63,000. Seventy-five per
cent paid for their bikes in cash - no
mean feat when even the most basic
machine can cost $5,000 and top-of
the-line touring bikes are pushing
$20,000. Some 91 percent are men.
The most noticeable trend: The
average age of riders has gone up 5!4
years in the last eight years.
Another trend: More and more
women are behind the handlebars, as
shown by membership rolls of the
Harley Owners Group, a 15-year-old
club sponsored by the Harley-Davidson
Motor Co. in Milwaukee, with chapters
around the world.
“Once upon a time, HOG was pre
dominately a male-oriented group, but
that has really changed,” Harley
spokesman Chris Romoser said. “What
we are finding is members are coming
from all parts of ,
the demograph- ^
ic scale. Ten
years ago,
only 1 in
►sxr bSJK,.-,^.^, -~v
Haney/Dn
r > ^
iuu new Harleys were sola to women.
That’s up to 1 in 10 now.
“One way we look at it, our lives are
so time-compressed; a motorcycle is
something you can take a half-hour
vacation on,” he added. “That appeal of
independence and freedom is universal.”
Nelson Powell is another riding doc
tor, a head and neck surgeon at Stanford
University Hospital who admits only to
being in his 50s. Powell, wearing high
end leathers in orange and gray, drove to
the track in a vast blue-and-tan motor
home. He often uses it to take one of his
more than half-dozen bikes to a track,
although today he’s riding one of the
school’s machines.
“I love to ride things that go fast,” he
said, “but I like to do it in the safest pos
sible manner. I go to schools, and I learn
to ride with professionals.”
Powell is unusual in that he does
most of his riding at schools or open
track days. He owns a small fleet of
exotic imports that can’t be used on die
highway, like the Italian Aprilia, and he
uses them to test himself against race
courses.
“I don’t think much about crashing
anymore,” he said, “but I’ve learned
never to get rid of the fear.”
But he’s going to keep riding.
“I’m not the kind of guy to hit a golf
ball and then spend an hour looking for
It
- --L.
3
• ..-fra
I
