|hntertainment
Tuesday, September 21,1999_ Page 9
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Tragedy doesn't strike up blues
for enduring Omaha theater
By Emily Pyeatt
Staff writer
The creation of the Blue Bam Theatre, one of
Nebraska’s most influential artistic and theatrical
bouses, is a tale of trials and survival.
The Blue Bam Theatre in Omaha began in the
late 1980s with a vision from three graduates of the
Professional Theater Training Company at State
University of New York at Purchase.
Their goal was to create a theater transcending
the constraints of New York City’s traditional mar
ket.
Thus, the Blue Bam began as a not-for-profit
organization to promote artistic collaboration ot
national and local artists.
In 1990, the three graduates, Kevin Lawler,
Hughston Walkinshaw and Nils Haaland, joined
forces to renovate an abandoned building in
Omaha’s Old Market. The Blue Bam opened offer
ing Omaha’s first coffee house, a unique theater and
a home for acoustic musicians.
In 1997, the Blue Bam Theatre was forced onto
the road and out of their Old Market location when
the building they were using was sold.
Despite adversity, the theater thrived with the
creativity and innovation of diverse locations.
Please see BARN on 10
Where; Okf Market, 1207 Howard St
Omaha, NE
When: Sept. 25 & 26
Time: 8 a.m. - 9 p.m
What: Fire: A Blue Barn Benefit
featuring Dark Townhouse
Band
Where: Dazy Maze, 521 S. 13th St.
Omaha, NE
When: Oct. 2
jSAvaH lime. ci.du p in.
_ __ Dark Townhouse Band
Lmllnylmi^lKHl Cost: $5
■■■■■■HP* "-;
SHACK
“H. M. S. Fable”
London Records
Grade: C
SHACK’s 1999 release, “H. M. S. Fable,” is
an exhibition of British rock of the past decade:
catchy, cliche and difficult to call a “hit.”
The band is a straightforward guitar-bass
drums outfit spiced with lackluster string
arrangements, a concept the music industry has
been overrun with in the 1990s.
SHACK is headlined by two brothers who
have been rummaging through British rock
since the ’80s, looking for a chance at the
charts. Michael and John Head’s first band,
Pale Fountains, dissolved in the middle of the
’80s, and SHACK was bom.
The first album by the new incarnation of
:he Head brothers, “Zilch,” was poorly received
in the commercial world.
In 1991, they recorded a sophomore album,
“Waterpistol,” which landed in the lap of bad
luck for four years. Soon after recording
“Waterpistol,” the studio where the master
tapes were supposedly stored burned down.
One tape survived but was left in a rental car in
America.
The brothers released an album in 1998
under the name The Strands, which received
decent reviews.
Now, John and Mick have returned as
SHA'CK for another half-hearted pursuit at
fame. “H. M. S. Fable” sounds more like a trib
ute to other British bands than an honest effort
at originality.
The final track, “Daniella,” is a simple
acoustic guitar and high-register vocal song
that could have been found in the trash behind
Radiohead’s latest recording session.
The third track, “Pull Together,” is an
Oasis-esque composition featuring spacey
vocal tracks and a straight rock beat that could
put a rhythm machine to shame. And where
would a Liverpoolian musician be without rip
ping effects off of Beatles’ recordings?
On the positive side, SHACK’s lounge
style song “Reinstated” includes a fittingly
effortless trumpet track and a lazily flowing
string section that create the most colorful tune
on the entire album.
Besides that lonely track, the rest of “H. M.
S. Fable” should have been released four years
ago.
- Andrew Shaw
John Popper
“Zygote”
A&M Records
Grade: B
Alexis De Toqueville once proclaimec
“Music is freedom, freedom is music, so leave m
the hell alone.”
John Popper proudly reflects upon this idea i
his debut solo album, “Zygote.”
Popper attempts to discover this freedom in a
album filled with peppy little ditties, cheesy lyric
and the same ol’ harmonica riffs that distinguis
his place in modem blues music.
Popper, member of Blues Traveler and cc
founder of The H.O.R.D.E. Festival, has playe
with bands and artists such as Ben Harper, Phisl
Lenny Kravitz, Jerry Garcia and Rusted Root. Y<
“Zygote” is Popper’s first recorded solo work.
Popper has released six albums with Blues
Traveler and plans on releasing another at the turn
of the millennium. Selling more than 12 million
records and winning a Grammy for “Runaround,”
Blues Traveler’s has always has simple goals. One
was simply to play in all 50 states.
This style of simplicity represents the band’s
free-spirited blues tunes and eventually led to the
creation of The H.O.R.D.E. Festival. The
Horizons Of Rock Developing Everywhere
Festival idea originated in 1992, rivaling summer
tours such as Lollapalooza. Mainstream acts such
as the Smashing Pumpkins and the Dave
Matthews Band were paired with solo artists and
smaller bands for a festival celebrating the diver
sity in American music.
It is only normal for an artist to stray from a
band to try out a solo career, but Popper’s
“Zygote” (a title fitting a beginning) falls short of
his music with Blues Traveler.
Of course, the album allows Popper the free
1, dom to discover new styles, yet those discoveries
e are not very strong or successful.
The track “Home” provides a ballad similar to
i Blues Traveler’s “Mountain Wins Again,” but
with a cheesy Barenaked Ladies-type rap thrown
ti in the middle: “Build a home, welcome home,
s feel at home, ’cuz it’s your home.”
i Tracks toward the end of the album attempt
the harmonica-drenched tunes familiar to Blues
- Traveler, but lame lyrics and some sort of psyche
i delic trippy guitar riffs are thrown in, leaving
i, Popper and his “Zygote” with a disappointing
it debut.
-EmHyPyeatt
