Jazz great will play in Omaha
Marilyn Maye will perform Frank Sinatra hits in tribute at Joslyn
By Christopher Heine
Staff writer
Jazz icon Ella Fitzgerald once said
that singer Marilyn Maye wps “the
greatest white female singer in the
world”
Johnny Carson called Maye
“Supersinger” and invited her to per
form a vocalist’s-record 76 times while
host of “The Tonight Show.”
The singer is famous among her
generation for her first hit single
“Cabaret” and another hit, “Let a
Winner Lead the Way,” which dominat
ed Lincoln Mercury car television ads
in the 1970s.
This weekend the internationally
renowned singer will perform only an
hour down the road at Omaha’s Joslyn
Art Museum, 2200 Dodge St., on
Saturday in its Witherspoon Concert
Hall.
Maye, who has performed in
Omaha several times in the past, said
the Witherspoon was “a wonderful the
ater.”“It’s just magical in there,” she
said from Dallas on Monday. “I do real
ly hope a lot of people come because it
will be such a super evening.”
Maye’s 6 p.m. cabaret performance
will pay tribute to arguably the greatest
male white singer of all time - Frank
Sinatra. “Her Way: A Tribute to
Sinatra, will showcase Maye crooning
47 of the late singer’s favorites arranged
in a five-medley, two-hour show.
“They are timeless standards in the
tradition of American pop music,”
Maye said. “And they’ll still be there
long after rap has given up.”
The song list includes 01* Blue
Eyes’ standards such as “The Lady is a
Tramp,” “It Was a Very GoodYear” and
“My Way.”
Sinatra and Maye never formally
met, but he once took time to catch her
at the legendary Las Vegas hotel, The
Riveria.
She said the two, despite a gender
difference, had similarities in vocal
approach.
“I think a good part of why this per
formance is working is that I’m a
woman, and people don’t expect that,”
she said. “But he and I both treat lyrics
as the reverent, most important part of a
song. The song should be sung to tell a
story.”
Maye started performing “Her
Way” last September in Kansas City,
Mo., with 13 shows sold out in
advance.
Carol Keller, president of “Joslyn
After Hours,” was inspired to bring
Maye to Omaha by one of those perfor
mances.
“She was just fantastic,” Keller
said. “There wasn’t a slow moment in
Concert Preview
He Facts i|V
Who: Marilyn Maye - *
Where: Josfyn Museum’s Witherspoon
Theater at 2200 Dodge St in Omaha
When: Saturday at 6 p.m.
Cost: $31.80 for main floor tickets, $15.90
for bakxxiey and $75 for patron seats
The Skinny: Renowned Jazz legend to
be in Omaha
the show. She sings with such emotion
that she leaves you hanging on every
word.”
The cabaret singer lives just outside
of Kansas City in Lenexa, Kan., and
has plenty of Nebraska ties. For
instance, Andy Hill of Lincoln has been
her bass player for 16 years.
Not to mention that Maye’s numer
ous Omaha performances, which gar
nered her many friends.
IWo of her favorites, sadly, have
recently passed away.
One was Omaha furniture-store
queen and cultural icon of the
American dream, Ruth Blumkin.
Maye said the Russian-Jewish
immigrant known as “Mrs. B” used to
come to the singer’s performances at
the now-defimct Club 89.
“I once dedicated a song to her
called ‘Yiddisha Mama,’ and she broke
down and cried,” she said.
•• The other person she’ll miss this
weekend is long-time personal Mend
Lee Bevilacqua. He was well-known in
the Omaha community as head athletic
trainer at Creighton University, a posi
tion he held for many years.
Maye said Bevilacqua was a serious
fan of hers, and of traditional jazz
vocalists in general. He flew to several
of her performances around the United
States, she said.
“I guess I’ll be dedicating the show
to two great Italian men, Lee and Frank
Sinatra,” Maye said.
* Proceeds from the show will go to
the Joslyn Museum. Seating begins at 5
p.m. with cash-bar cocktails offered at
the fountain court
Maye has recorded seven albums
and 34 singles for RCA Records. Keller
said the singer’s experience and inter
national stature made die show unique
for her organization.
“We’ve never done anything like
this,” she said.
Keller didn’t sound as if she
thought hard-core Sinatra fans would
be disappointed.
“She is like a female Frank
Sinatra,” Keller said. “It’s very moving
because of her emotion and the fact that
everyone knows all the songs.”
Film gets
twist from
local group
MONSTER from page 9
thesizer and various percussion
and wind instruments will accom
pany the dancers and film.
To preserve an improvisational
element, the dancers have seen the
film only once, and they have not
practiced yet with the quartet, nor
have they worn their fluorescent
makeup. «
“I would call
(Howlooseanation members) hard
core improvisationalists,” Perry
said.
_ The combination of four media
- film, music, dance and theater -
makes the project interesting, in
addition to the fact that those
media are combined to mesh with a
pre-existing piece of work, she
said.‘Tm personally very interest
ed in collaborating and finding dif
ferent ways to work with people in
a kind of nonhierarchical way.”
“I think experimentation is
always a good thing.”
And with a black-and-white,
expressionist film, blacklights, flu
orescent makeup and improvisa
tional, avant-garde music, “Der
Golem 1999” is made to order.
BEANIE
WEENIES
ARENT THAT TASTY ANYWAY.
Tan for a Can on Tuesdays
during February. Bring in a
canned food donation and
tan for free on Tuesdays.
All donations will go the
Lincoln Food Bank.
MAX TAN West See Store For Details. MAX TAN South
West “0” Street sea* Reaction. Apply 40th & Old Cheney
477-7444 ***” a'as~" 420-6454
Local group sponsors charity
By Jeff Randall
Senior staff writer
If you’re a good Catholic, you
observe religious holidays. But if
you’re a really good Catholic, you
might let Fat Tuesday pass you by.
Fat Tuesday, the last day before the
traditional beginning of Lent and the
annual Lenten fast, is one of the most
notorious and hedonistic of holidays -
particularly when celebrated New
Orleans-style.
But Lincoln isn’t New Orleans, and
for potential party-goers who don’t
have time for an 18-hour drive, the Zoo
Bar and social group, the Hobnobbers,
are offering a tamer alternative to the
bayou version of Mardi Gras.
Tonight, the Zoo Bar, 136 N.14th
street, will be transformed into a micro
cosm of the French Quarter with all the
food, drink and music one would expect
from the Crescent City.
The music is being provided by Big
Chef Zydeco, a four-piece Lincoln
band that employs the accordion and
vocals in both French and English.
Food will arrive courtesy of Charlie’s
Seafood and Grill, Crane River,
George’s Red Pepper Grill and Russ’
Market
But unlike the chest-and-crotch
baring revelers of New Orleans, all the
party people at the Zoo Bar will be get
ting down for a good cause.
This Fat Tuesday hoe-down was
organized by Hobnobbers, a philan
thropic and social networking organi
zation with more than 100 members.
The event will benefit Project Youth, a
sports program that places low-income
children in softball and basketball pro
Concert Preview
The Facts 'UPP
Who: Fat Tuesday Celebration
Where: Zoo Bar, 136 N. 14th St.
When: Tonight, 5:30
Cost: $3 cover charge
The Skinny: Music and food will help
move Mardi Gras north
grams.
The evening’s festivities will kick
off with food being served at about
5:30, and the Zoo Bar will collect a $3
cover at 6:30 p.m. for the show. All pro
ceeds from the cover charge and food
sales will go toward Project Youth.
Blues sons play own sound at Zoo Bar
BLUES from page 9
Boehmer said.
Little Slim commented that he did
n’t really have an interest in blues music
before that —
He nodded in agreement over the
dark wooden table as Manthey said, “It
took watching com grow to start play
ing guitar.”
“It made me understand how it was
supposed to be played,” Little Slim
said. He added that Lincoln definitely
had a musical scene, and a rich one.
Several years ago Little Slim and
Jeff Boehmer first played in a band
together at Duggan’s Pub during open
mic nights, where Lincoln residents
first saw the two play.
In those days Boehmer exploded
with an energy that seemed to come
from the wild hair shooting straight out
his roots. He shooktheneckofthatgui
tar until die chords hummed with what
can only be described as peaceful anar
chy. Little Slim echoed that charismatic
flow and engaged the smaller audience
of Duggan’s Pub.
About a year and a half ago, the
band, with Larson and Manthey, began
to jam together. What they knew of
each other in childhood began to
emerge in the music they played.
“Blues is so much of a feeling, when
you know the people you’re playing
with” - Boehmer pauses as he tries to
express himself - “when you know
what (the band) is feeling, when you are
all focusing on the same thing, it
clicks. I his is the childhood experi
ence, coupled with the maturing musi
cians, that the Lincoln blues scene
raised.
Today they show a patience in
learning, they realize there are twit
books to study, as Boehmer said, but
only to learn textbook-type stuff. Little
Slim and the Back Alley Blues Band
plays what cannot be captured on paper.
They take the blues and break it
down to the simplest element, and
begin to break it down from that,
Larson said, but they never really prac
tice how they’re going to play.
“Spontaneous,” Manthey said. “We
improvise.”
The band disperses from the rela
tive seclusion of the back table and
slowly begins to thread its way to the
stage.
Boehmer makes some final adjust
ments to the amp and die bass guitar.
He has cut his hair to a short trim. While
Larson picks up die drum sticks, splin
tered in the middle, Manthey steps up
to the microphone.
With a touch of joking pomp,
Manthey introduces Little Slim, who is
leaning against die wall, waiting for this
introduction.
Swinging his jacket over his shoul
der, he takes the Zoo Bar stage, the
same stage that his father Magic Slim,
took before him and the same stage that
Boehmer’s father built 25 years ago.
They jplay this evening with a sound
that is purely Lincoln. They sound
good; they sound tight; they play
together as they always have.
As they begin die set with “Shame,”
a beat permeates the room, energizing
the crowd. They play with the same
enthusiasm Larry Boehmer and Morris
Holt have showed for more than 25
years.
They show a respect for the blues,
and a respect for their forefathers.
“Even though we have that respect,
we’re still trying to find our own style,”
Boehmer said at the end of the night,
“We do it on our own.”
The band still teaches itself to set its
own mark. To watch the members
mature is to watch Lincoln’s music
scene grow. The sound they choose, the
music they perform, is a recipe gleaned
from the musical appetites of Lincoln.
They play the blues, the way the
blues sounds in Lincoln - hot, with an
energy that drives deep into your chest
until you, like the band, must explode in
a beautiful outburst. They play the blues
as they did through high school.
Tonight they play before a larger
crowd than all the high school parties
and impromptu jams combined.
Tonight they are “the epitome of
American youth: guitar players, blues
and freedom,” Manthey said at the
evening’s beginning, and it is this same
emotion that flows across die room.
Tomorrow they go back to their day
jobs, the {Minting jobs, die pizza deliv
ery jobs, the cleaning jobs and classes,
but tonight they sing the blues to the
beat of their own rhythm.
It does sound so fine.
