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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 1999)
A&Entertainment tube Zoo Bar 1 . ? . a a celebrated on series By Christopher Heine Staff writer Nebraska ET\ producer Sue Maryott said she probably wouldn't have done a series on Zoo Bar perfor mances if owner Larry Boehmer were a man of the times In a corporate era when most busi nesses seem to think bigger is better, the Zoo Bar is keeping it real by keeping it small. “There's a club in Omaha doing blues that is like a big shed." Maryott said. “1 saw James Harman there one night and then at the Zoo the next night. There w as hardly any atmosphere at the Omaha show. There wasn't anybody dancing, and the interaction betw/een performer and audience w'as non-exis tent. “Here, the performers are sweating on you.” It is this type of intimate energy that inspired Mary ott to produce four blues shows airing this month on NETV that were all taped live at the Zoo Bar. The series focuses on the Zoo Bar 25th anniv ersary music festival in June, w hich was attended by fans from as near as Bennett and as far as Pans. The city of Lincoln cooperated w ith Boehmer to hold outside performances on 14th Street to accommodate the large crowds. Still, the most coveted perfor mances were held inside the crowded summer-hot Zoo Bar. The hallway-like venue that holds around 125 patrons is obviously a unique treasure for a sparsely populated state such as Nebraska. Blues experts around the country have certainly been taking notice. The Zoo Bar won the 1993 "Keeping the Blues Alive/W.C. Handy Award” presented by the Kansas City Blues Society'. NETV first aired a feature on the Zoo Bar in 1983 and has periodically showcased the club singe? Maryott said. Boehmer said the NETV series has been helpful in promoting his club and blues in general. He said an airing of a show in October of 1997 featuring the late Luther Allison receiv ed a r 'table response. "People see the programs across the country." he said. "Eve had a few calls from Texas. California and somewhere down south in response to the Luther show.” This month's series commemorat ing the 25th anniversary' of the Zoo start ed Jan. 8 with an hour-long presentation of blues harpist Carey Bell's anniver sary-bash performance. This Friday the senes continues at 9 p.m. with James Harman belting out his unique style of 1950s and '60s harp-dn ven blues. “He's like a crazed 1950s bowling nut,” Boehmer said. "He's in the tradi tion of Muddy Waters or even Sonny Boy Williamson. In other words, you won’t be hearing any Stevie Ray Vaughan." Lil' Ed and the Blues Impenals will be the featured act on Jan. 22. And Kenny Neal will bring his Bayou-styled !I Courtesy Photo HARP PLAYER and blues musician James Harman is featured this Friday on NETV’s “Zoo Bar Blues” series. The show was taped live at the Zoo Bar 25th anniversary music festival. blues to the table on Jan. 29. All shows will air at 9 p.m. Maryott said the biggest challenge to recording the event was effectively incorporating the needed equipment into the tiny venue. Lighting, sound and camera equip ment could easily inhibit the usually smoky and free atmosphere that makes Zoo patrons feel at home, Mary ott said. “We w ere trying to be invisible," she said, “We didn't want to cut into Larry 's (crowd) or disrupt the flow of the evening too much. “We probably ended up bothering a few of the regulars." Maryott said the Zoo Bar has creat ed a knowledgeable community of blues fans in Lincoln and Omaha. “Many of the fans here get to meet the artists first-hand," she said. “The w'hole blues community is like a family, and I think that goes back to Larry keep ing the bar small ." “I had a guy from California call me after seeing our (televised) show with Luther Allison,” she said. “He thought he was a pretty big blues fan because he knew' w ho Stev ie Ray Vaughan and Taj Mahal were." “Zoo Bar regulars not only know the big names, but they also know who James Harman and Magic Slim are.” Boehmer said he has thought about moving into a larger space. “But that would mean we would have to book more commercial acts,” he said. “We don't have to do that if we keep the club small.” “Plus all of the old blues joints were real small." Traveling blues men such as Allison and Harman are a dying breed, Maryott said. * And that might be the most mtrigu ing reason NETV hauls expensive equipment into the tiny, smoke smelling club. Maryott believes the worth of these recordings will appreciate with time. And she has good reason for such think ing. “It turns out we recorded the last show Luther Allison did before he passed away last fall,” Maryott said. “That taping has really become invalu able'' Maryott. an admitted blues fan. said the importance of her work with the Zoo has revealed itself when she has traveled to blues festivals elsewhere. “One time I was at a festival in New Orleans, and 1 was weanng a Zoo Bar T shirt.” she said. “People were coming up to me and asking me. ‘What is (the bar) like? Eve always wanted to go there?” “All serious blues fans have at least heard of the Zoo.” Maryott believes Boehmer's contri bution to the local, national and interna tional blues community is admirable. “Everything he does with the bar goes back to his love of the blues,” Maryott said. “You know he isn’t doing any of it for money.” Sounds like a real blues man if there ever was one. COL'RTESY PH( ‘TO CHARLTON HESTON AND JANET LEIGH star in Orson Welies’ “A Touch of Evil,” which Welles claimed was butchered by Universal Studios back in 1958. The Ross screening features a re-cut version based on a written directive left behind by the late director. Eclectic films lead Ross spring season Lineup includes John Waters, Orson Welles By Jeff Randall Senior staff writer Poetry, pedophilia and “Pecker.” The Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater has that and more in store for unsuspecting audiences this semester, and theater director Danny Lee Ladely has compiled one of the Ross' strongest seasons to date. Amid the white-bread con sumerism of the majority of Lincoln's movie theaters and the sheep-like qualities of its audiences, the Ross has always presented films that are more experimental, auda cious and genuinely creative than typical big-screen fare. “A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries,” which opened 0the Winter/Spring 1999 schedule last rhursday. is another in the long line af Merchant-Ivory dramas, this time focusing on American novelist Bill Willis and his family. Although such films are somewhat commonplace m bigger theaters, 1998's “Soldier's Daughter" never made it to Lincoln aefore now. In the season's second film, the Ross will depending on one’s point af view - take a simultaneous down ward and upward turn. The latest film from John Waters, the king of trashy fetishes, opens Jan. 21. 'Pecker" stars Edward Furlong and tells the tale of a small-town photog rapher who becomes the toast of the New York art scene. Filled to the brim with Waters' usual gallery of affbeat characters and unnatural acts, “Pecker” should draw as many Please see ROSS on 13 Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater Winter/Spring 1999 schedule | “A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries” By James Ivory (USA, 1998, 127 minutes) Thursday, Jan. 7 - Sunday, Jan. 10 Thursday, Jan. 14 - Sunday. Jan. 17 ^’_ “The Governess” By Sandra Goldbacher (UK, 1998. 114 minutes) Sunday, Jan. 31 V _J ( “Western” By Manuel Poirier (France. 1998,121 minutes) Sunday, Feb. 14 I f h “Marius and Jeannette” By Robert Guediguian (France. 1998,102 minutes) Sunday, Feb. 28 V _ “Gods and Monsters” By Bill Condon (UK, 1998,105 minutes) Thursday, March 18 - Sunday. March 21 Thursday, March 25 — Saturday, March 27 l___ ) f---\ 26th Annual Student Academy Awards Thursday. April 1 - Sunday. April 4 v_y r i “Affliction” By Paul Schrader (USA, 1998,114 minutes) Thursday. April 15 - Sunday, April 18 Thursday, April 22 - Sunday, April 24 v_ y “Pecker” By John Waters (USA, 1998, 87 minutes) Thursday, Jan. 21 — Sunday, Jan. 24 ^ Thursday, Jan. 28 - Sunday, Jan. 30 - v “The Eel” By Shohei Imamura (Japan. 1998,117 minutes) Sunday, March 28 v_ r~ \ "The Inheritors” By Stefan Ruzowitsky (Austria, 1998. 90 minutes) Sunday, April 11 l___J . s “Nights of Cabiria” By Federico Fellini (Italy, 1957/ Restored 1998, 117 minutes) Sunday, April 25 V___/ Jon Frank/DN