Wednesday, October 6,1999'_Page 13
Novelist spins regional yams
The dictionary definition of “Plainsong” is: a story about a centuries-old subject
that is told in a plain, unadorned manner.
In many ways, the definition is descriptive of the Great Plains region. The land is
flat and considered by most people from outside the Plains boring and insignificant.
The atmosphere and its effects on people who live here have changed little over
the centuries. The winters are still painfully cold, and the summers are still blister
ingly hot. The people still deal with it.
Kent Haruf tells their stories.
“Everything I write about is located out in the northeastern corner of Colorado,”
Haruf said in a phone interview from his home in Murphysboro, 111. “It’s the part of
the world that I think of as home.”
Haruf, an author and professor at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, has
written three novels set in the High Plains region of northeastern Colorado. His third
piece, “Plainsong,” is the story of a number of different people, all coping with dif
ferent hardships in their lives.
While the setting is a visible part of “Plainsong,” Haruf said it wasn’t the focus.
His focus is on the people who are often overlooked.
“Living on the Plains makes you slow down and look at things more closely,
because there aren’t things like mountains and forests to look at,” Haruf said. “If
you’re going to see the Plains, you actually have to look at what you see there. Once
you do that, there is much to see.
“The Plains aren’t pretty, but they’re beautiful.”
He said the subtle nuances and differences in the people were often hidden
beneath the overall aura of the Great Plains. And rather than leave those characteris
tics —be they integrity or impurity - shrouded amid words of unwarranted warmth,
Haruf chooses to expose reality through fiction.
“I’m not trying to romanticize it in any way. Instead, I’m trying to be accurate,”
Haruf said. “What I describe in the Plains are concrete details, often unnoticeable if
you’re not paying attention, and I hope the readers would have a better notion of what
there is to see.”
Despite being an inhabitant of the Great Plains, Haruf is hardly provincial. He
graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University and worked a variety of jobs there
after. They included a stint in the Peace Corps and teaching English in a remote vil
lage in Turkey. He didn’t publish any writing until he was 41 years old.
“What those different jobs and different places I’ve lived have done for me is
helped me as a writer, because I’ve had a range of experiences with a range of peo
Faith in blues guitarist realized at Zoo
Despite slow start in Lincoln, singer-songwriter always had owner Boehmer’s backing
By Josh Krauter -
Senior staff writer
Zoo Bar owner Larry Boehmer
knew Coco Montoya was good, even
if the rest of Lincoln was a little slow
in catching on.
When the blues singer and gui
tarist first played at the Zoo Bar, the
crowd was small, and Boehmer lost
money on the show. But Boehmer
didn’t say good riddance to
Montoya. He immediately called
Montoya’s management and booked
him again.
“I knew he was going to catch
on,” Boehmer said.
Montoya did catch on and is one
of the bar’s most popular performers.
Fans can see him play two 75-minute
sets there tonight.
Concert Preview
The Facts
Who: Coco Montoya
Where: Zoo Bar, 136 n. 14th St.
When: Tonight 9:30
Coet: $8
The Skinny: Blues musician is equally good
at vocals and guitar.
Although Montoya has been
fronting his own band for only about
five years, he’s been playing blues on
the road since the early 1970s. He
started out as a drummer for blues
legend Albert Collins, who taught
him how to play guitar.
After his stint with Collins,
Montoya played guitar for John
Mayall. Montoya said in a press
release that his guitar playing
evolved quickly under Mayall
because of the pressure in being
Mayall’s guitarist.
Mayall’s three previous guitarists
were Eric Clapton, Peter Green, who
founded Fleetwood Mac, and Mick
Taylor, who later joined the Rolling
Stones. Mayall knew he had to be
good to compete with his predeces
sors.
Boehmer first saw Montoya play
when he was with Mayall, and he said
Montoya impressed him greatly.
“He just basically took my head
off,” Boehmer said. “He was that
good.”
Montoya went solo.after Collins,
who was dying of cancer, told him he
should go out on his own.
Since then, Montoya has released
three solo albums and toured world
wide.
tf
i ow/y a handful of current
blues guitarists that really get me excited,
and he s one of them”
Larry Boehmer
owner, Zoo Bar
He stops in Lincoln frequently,
Boehmer said, and sometimes it’s not
just to play. One of his songwriting
partners, Dave„ Steen, lives in
Lincoln, and Montoya sometimes
flies down to collaborate on songs
with him.
Boehmer said fans should expect
a contemporary, electric blues sound
with a touch of Santana-flavored
Latin rock from Montoya. He said
Montoya’s singing is just as good as
his gnitar playing..
“He’s certainly one of my
favorites,’’ Boehmer said. “There’s
only a handful of current blubs gui
tarists that really get me excited, and
he’s one of them.”
