New Beatles
album fills
sonic void left
after the
White Album
■ 'Liverpool Sound Collage'is reminiscent of
the'60s, but fresh sounds and techniques bring
it to life.
BY NEAL OBERMEYER
There are basically two types of Beatles fans.
To put it simply, there are those who think that “Let
it Be" and “Abbey Road" were a fine end to a brilliant
career.
Then there are the rest who are still waiting - who
think that, blasphemy aside, those last two were a bit
boring.
The “Liverpool Sound Collage” will only accent
that dividing line. Some will hear an unfathomable
heresy. The others, however, will hear one of the most
sonically exciting albums of the year.
The story: Peter Blake makes collages, including
the cover to the Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band.” He put on a collage show in
Liverpool, including his own works, as well as a rare
work of John Lennon, amongst others.
Blake wanted music to accompany his show, so he
called on Paul McCartney, who then enlisted the aid of
the Super Furry Animals and ex-Killing Joke bassist
Youth.
lhe premise: to complement the visual collage
exhibit with a collaborative sound collage built from
Paul’s secret stash of Beatles tapes from the late 60s, full
of previously unreleased material The resulting music
was such a hit at
the exhibit that
Paul decided to
release it as an
album.
The test: Do
you have
“Revolver”?
What do you
think of
“Tomorrow
Never Knows”?
Loops, sam
pling-that was
some foreign whacked-out stuff in 1966, man. Not a lot
of people got it A lot of people still don’t
The Super Furry Animals do, though. It can’t be
expressed any simpler. The rest of the songs on this
album could be vomitous, and this would still be a 73
star album (They’d only let me give it four.) on the
strength of this one song and what it represents.
For a few years now, the Super Furry Animals has
carried on the original mission of sonic experimenta
tion within the vehicle of fine pop-rock songs.
They understand samples in the same way that the
Bomb Squad and Terminator X did. There is rhythm in
speech, and there is music in nature.
The first six minutes of “Peter Blake 2000” are noth
ing more than quickly cycled speech loops. Beautiful
nuisance. Cue Paul:
"The bit that John finally got... do whatyou wanna
do...”
And then "do what you wanna do” loops for two
minutes, slurring and distorting until you get this chill
when you realize that the entire song is going to build
on the rhythm provided by this one adorably deterio
rated Paul McCartney quote.
At eight minutes, the drums finally enter - so artifi
cial in their sampled and rearranged nature, yet still so
very Ringo. Cue the eerie little boys’ choir, some sam
pled ringing guitar and then somewhere around 10
minutes into the song comes the vocal hook: “Free now
...gotta be free now...”
It’s the same old hippie fluff we're used to hearing,
but basically what we’ve got here is a 16-minute long
new Beatles songthat lives up to the sonic expectations
that were never fulfilled after the white album.
Paul’s two contributions, “Plastic Beetle” and
“Made Up,” are near the same league. Snippets of
Beatles dialogue jump in and out with a steadily sam
pled Ringo underneath.
They seem a bit loose and unfinished, but unlike
Paul’s solo career of the past 30 years, they are charm
ing reminders of the fact that he was once one of the
most creative and imaginative men on earth.
The album’s weak spot is Youth’s contribution. A
collage in the weakest sense, this song is like calling a
bulletin board a collage. He loosely throws together the
required Beatles samples with a bunch of whoop
whrirly space noises. Samples are thrown together with
a somewhat haphazard AphexIWin sense of (absent?)
rhythm. But to call it the album's weak spot is to judge it
relative to the other contributions, which puts it more
in perspective.
“Rare, unreleased material” never sounded so
fresh and challenging. This is no “Free As a Bird” bunk.
This is the spirit that madethe Beatles great, channeled
through some old rockers and a pack of hairy Welsh
guys.
Treat this less like Anthology 4 and more like a
brand new Beatles album.
Theater student Katie Byrd refuses to let shyness
get in the way of reaching new heights in acting
i m
Editor’s
Note: In this
weekly
series, we
examine the
exceptional
work and
accomplish
ments of
individual
students in
art, dance,
music, acting
and design.
BY MELANIE MENSCH
Playing a role on stage is easy
for Katie Byrd.
Being herself is not.
"The hardest part of an audi
tion is introducing myself,” said
the senipr University of
Nebraska-Lincoln theater
major. "My first three years of
college, I left auditions crying
because it just terrified me. If I’m
told what to say in the lines... I
could talk for
hours.” __
the play, was the only under
graduate member to perform at
the festival and was in con
tention for scholarships.
Although she didn’t win the
$1,000 Irene Ryan Acting
Scholarship, Byrd, one of 287
actors who applied for the schol
arship, was as one of 15 finalists.
"It was a life-changing expe
rience,” she said. “My acting
changed. It was magical. I wasn’t
counting on external forces to
bless me and
_ make me a
This fall on
Howell Stage,
Byrd is quite
convincing as
the gentle
woman
Helena in
Shakespeare’s
“All’s Well That
PnHcWflll 99 Gut
‘The first time I saw
Katie act...I remember
thinking ‘God, she’s
really good.’ ”
Stephanie Dodd
junior theater major
good actor
anymore. The
confidence - it
just clicked.”
Although
Byrd said her
shyness is still
present, it no
longer acts as
an obstacle in
Byrd said her
confidence as an actor doesn’t
always show.
"My shyness has gotten in
the way so many times,” she
said. “My mom wouldn’t let me
act when I was little because she
thought I was too shy to do it. I
could never order at restaurants.
I was so shy.”
While watching her older sis
tertColene audition for plays,
Byrd said, she caught the acting
bug, and even her shyness didn’t
stop her from pursuing the spot
light.
"I knew I could do it, so I
made the choice in high school,”
she said. “It made sense.”
Beginning her acting debut
at Mercy High School, the
Omaha native later performed
with the Omaha Community
Playhouse, Nebraska Repertory
Theatre and did public televi
sion announcements.
Even after winning an award
for best undergraduate actress
her acting.
“I am still shy in everyday sit
uations, but now I use it and
focus it into my work," she said.
That newfound confidence
shines through, and Byrd isn’t
the only one who noticed.
Although previously given
only roles as weak or abused
women, Byrd said, she has
recently been offered stronger,
more complex rflles. Her parts as
Rosalind in Shakespeare’s “As
You Like It” and Helena in “All’s
Well That Ends Well” are evi
dence of the change.
Although gaining confi
dence was an important step
toward stronger roles, becoming
comfortable with herself was
another.
“I’ve learned to live in my
body,” the lanky, 5-foot 9-inch
actress said. “I used to feel so tall
and all elbows and knees. Now I
use my body as a tool - not an
obstacle. I know now that I can
have grace.”
by William Inge. Elwell said
Byrd’s character flexibility
reminded him of Meryl Streep.
"Every role you see her, she’s
different, not just a different ver
sion of Katie Byrd,’’ Elwell said.
“What makes Katie a wonderful
actress is the variety of roles she
can play.”
Byrd said although acting
was called a “selfish profession,”
she hoped to one day affect
audiences with diverse, edgy
roles in modern plays for 20
something audiences.
Byrd said she’d like to start a
company of inspired, young
actors like the Chicago-based
Steppenwolf Theatre Company,
from which famed actors such as
Gary Sinise, Laurie Metcalf and
John Malkovich hail.
“They were just a bunch of
kids who started out in a church
basement,” Byrd said. “I want to
do that with
new, high
quality writing,
where we
direct each
other in plays,
where we cre
ate plays.”
Byrd also
discovered
she’s more than
just an actor -
she’s a good
“What makes Katie a
wonderful actress is
the variety of roles
she can play in.”
Jeff Elwell
UNL department chairman of
theatre arts and dance
director, too. So
good that she’s
submitting a videotape to the
American College Theatre
Festival this year of the one-act
play “Sex and Metaphors,”
which Byrd directed last semes
ter with UNL students Jill Dickey
and Tim Hammer.
“We’re re-staging it in
November, and it’s being held for
(the festival). Then they can take
it or not,” she said.
Byrd plans on stepping clos
er to her dream of directing,
7 am still shy in
1 everyday situations,
but now I use it and
focus it into my work. ”
Katie Byrd
senior theater major
————i
from the
Nebraska
Masquers,
a UNL stu
dent the
ater group,
Byrd still
lacked
c o n f i -
dence until
last
February,
when she
attended
the regional American College
Theatre Festival in Sioux City,
S.D.
The American College
Theatre Festival is a national
organization that annually
selects and recognizes college
theater communities through"
awards and scholarships in play
writing, acting, criticism, direct
ing and design.
Last February, the group
asked UNL students to perform
their adaptation of the Russian
play “Three Sisters” by Anton
Chekhov. Byrd, who was a part of
ner acting tuueagues !>ay
Byrd possesses more than just
grace and talent
John Wachter, a junior the
ater major, portrays Betram,
Helena’s love interest in “All's
Well That Ends Well ”
“Katie makes me feel like I
should work harder because she
works hard,” he said. “She gen
uinely cares about doing her
craft well.”
Stephanie Dodd, another
junior theater major, is also
working with Byrd this semester
as Diana in the fall UNL produc
tion.
“The first time I saw Katie act
was with the Omaha
Community Playhouse, and I
remember thinking ‘God, she’s
really good,’ ” Dodd said. “It’s
scary to act with her because
she's so natural. You can’t be
fake. You can’t just say your lines.
On stage, Katie makes you laugh;
she makes you cry. She makes
you feel honest emotions.”
Depending on her character,
Byrd takes audiences through a
gamut of emotional reactions,
including side-splitting laugh
ter, on-the-edge-of-your-seat
suspense and whimsical sighs of
romantic bliss, Dodd said.
Last summer, Jeff Elwell, the
atre arts and dance department
chairman, cast Byrd in “Picnic,”
playwriting and acting this sum
mer by moving to Chicago in
August with the person who first
inspired her: her sister Colene.
“I wouldn’t say she gives me
any pointers, but we do talk
about theater,” Byrd said. “We
give a lot of support and criti
cism, too.”
Byrd said film acting may
offer greater exposure and fame,
but performing in a theater per
sonally reaches the audience.
"Film bugs me because there
is always a star. The focus is all
on one person,” she said. “In
ensemble acting, you all have to
trust each other. I want to move
people in the audience, so I
make more sacrifices to become
better for the role.”
