Arts
if *
Fair offers
appraisals
of antiques
BY MELANIE MENSCH
In the spirit of the PBS televi
sion show “Antiques Roadshow,”
the Nebraska Art Association will
hold its own antique extravagan
za this weekend.
Sponsored by the Nebraska
Art Association, the Art and
Antiques Fair2000welcomes bar
gain hunters and treasure boun
ties alike to the two-day event
First, a reservation-only din
ner and a live auction conducted
by Richard Francis of the world
renowned auction house
Christie’s will be held Friday night
at the Hillcrest Country Club,
89010 St
On Saturday, Oct 14, the gen
eral public is invited to hear
Francis speak on “The Auction
Market and Collecting at Auction”
beginning at 10 a.m. at the
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
Then, in the main gallery, local
experts will appraise visitors’
items until 5 p.m.
Kathy Piper, the association’s
executive director, said the fair
gives visitors an opportunity to
appraise valuables.
“Wp hnvp a nptwnrt nfpvnprk
to give people verbal evalua
tions," she said. “Most appraisers
charge up to $50, so this an inex
pensive first step to find out the
value of your things.”
Visitors pay $15 for each
portable item appraised by one of
13 experts from Lincoln and
Omaha. While oversized items are
not allowed into the gallery, visi
tors can bring photos of their
items instead.
Diane DeVriendt, a Lincoln
appraiser and fair coordinator,
said the event’s goal was to raise
$10,000 to benefit the Sheldon’s
acquisition fund and building
maintenance.
“There is a tremendous inter
est in the value of things people
inherit,” she said. “Heirs are very
excited to learn what their stuff is
about”
Mary Neksky, event publicist
said the association expected a
“healthy turnout” on Saturday.
“People always think they’re
going to find buried treasure in
everyday things,” she said. “It has
widespread appeal because ’
antiques are a link to our past”
DeVriendt said the goal of the
event was to raise $10,000 to ben
efit the Sheldon’s acquisition fund
and building maintenance.
Delan Lonowski/DN
‘1
I Pumpkins post album online
BY ANDREW SHAW
In the last moments of the 1980s, The Smashing
Pumpkins helped usher America and the world into
a new era of rock music.
On Sept. 5, months after announcing their
imminent breakup, the Pumpkins made another
step to drastically change the face of the music
industry.
The Pumpkins have recently released an album
which, though wholly illegal, can be received by any
Internet user. The fans’ reception has been extreme
ly positive.
“Machina II/The Friends and Enemies of
Modem Music," the latest and apparently last offi
cial album by the foursome, has taken the World
Wide Web by storm.
According to an e-mail from Eric Agnew, the
Webmaster of the Smashing Pumpkins Fan
Collaborative, www.spifc.org, and friend of the
band, only 25 copies of “Machina II,” a set of 3 vinyl
EPs and 2 vinyl LPs, were made.
These 25 copies were given to prominent sup
porters and fans of the band with the intent to circu
late the music to all Pumpkins fans worldwide,
Agnew said.
The night following the album’s distribution, the
25 songs were converted to MP3 form and placed on
various sites on the Internet.
There are no plans to officially release "Machina
II” in any other format, Agnew said.
A frequently asked questions file on the Agnew’s
Web site concludes that this action was taken
because Virgin Records, the former record label of
the Pumpkins, refused to back the sequel to the
band’s February release, “Machina/The Machines of
God.”
The first installment of “Machina” completed
the Pumpkins’ contract with Virgin, but the agree
ment included a covenant not to compete, which
prohibits the group from releasing any recorded
music for one year.
The album, which contains previously unre
leased material from the “Machina” era, was
released under the Constantinople record label,
owned by front man Billy Corgan.
Dave Asselin, a friend of the band and curator of
one of the largest collection of live Pumpkins'
recordings, said the album is not technically legal.
“But if and when Virgin takes them to court, it
can be shown that there was no financial gain on the
band’s part, thus no profits to share,” Asselin said in
an e-mail.
The Pumpkins have become frequent users of
the Internet in the last year. On March 9, the
Pumpkins participated in an on-line chat before
they performed live on MTV At the same time, they
Please see PUMPKINS on 6
r /
New Pumpkins album not for novices
BY ANDREW SHAW
It’s over, but not how you
imagined. No smoke, no lights,
no advertising and no press
release.
The final album by the alter
native-rock architects The
Smashing Pumpkins has been
released in a non-traditional
way.
The trailblazers of loud, dis
torted, guitar-heavy rock are
calling it quits, and “Machina
II/The Friends and Enemies of
Modern Music,” an album
available free via the Internet, is
the last of their studio releases.
The songs on “Machina II”
are from the same batch that
produced "Machina/The
Machines of God,” the
Pumpkins’ official release earli
er this year. In fact, many of the
same songs are present on both
albums but in different forms.
But it’s not simply leftovers.
In July, after touring extensively
in the United States and
Europe, the Pumpkins returned
to the studio to touch up the
songs found on “Machina II.”
Twenty-five songs make up
this collection of moody, some
times outrageously crunchy,
sometimes psychedelically
cerebral but always captivating
selections.
This album is not for every
one, though anyone could find
a great deal of inspiration and
thought-provoking material
from studying the Pumpkins’
music.
V
At this time, “Machina II” is
only available in MP3 form on
the Internet, including their
Please see REVIEW on 6
Nearly700dancers expected for annual clogging event
IIThe eighth annual Clog
Your Socks Off workshop
draws dancers from across
the country to Lincoln to
display the newest steps in
the art of clogging.
BY KEN MORTON
OK all you dance enthusi
asts, it’s time to get out your
clogging shoes.
The 8th annual “Clog
Your Socks Off” workshop
and competition kicks off
Friday at the St. John’s Gym,
7601 Vine St., and organizers
expect anywhere from 650
700 participants this year.
The Capital City Cloggers,
who put on the event, expect
cloggers from Colorado, Iowa,
South Dakota, Kansas and even
Minnesota to travel to Lincoln
for the event.
rGeri Lorenzen, publicity
NateWagner/DN chairwoman for the Capital
City Cloggers said the club
started in 1988 with only eight
members.
“It’s grown to about 350
members now,” she said. “We
usually get 10 to 15 new lesson
takers a year."
The workshop, slated to
take place all day Friday and
Saturday, will include several
instructional classes run by two
nationally known cloggers:
Chip Woodall and Scotty Bilz.
Lorenzen said both will con
duct classes at different times
and said she appreciated the
assistance of two high-caliber
cloggers with the event.
The festivities on Friday
night will be capped off with a
freestyle competition where
any of the workshops’ atten
dees can compete for trophies.
On Saturday morning, the
Capital City Cloggers will have a
free breakfast for participants,
followed by another day of clog
ging clinics. On Saturday night,
the cloggers will hold an exhibi
tion along with several other
groups.
Lorenzen said the number
of participants in not only the
i
“Clog Your Socks Off" event but
the Capital City Cloggers as well
has shown no signs of slowing
down.
“We start them at 3 years
old,” she said, “and most stick
with it for a long time.”
Lorenzen said the advent of
new kinds of music used with
clogging has broadened the
scope past traditional bluegrass
and country.
“We’ve got kids clogging to
modern music and jazz now,”
she said. “I think it’s a good way
to keep the young ones interest
ed.”
Susan Phillips, marketing
director for the National
Clogging Organization, said the
change in music is simply a sign
of the times.
“Cloggers are always look
ing for something different,”
Phillips said, “whether it be new
music or new steps.”
New dances, like the
Canadian step dancing, have
also infiltrated clogging,
Phillips said.
“A few years ago, the
‘Riverdance’ steps were popular
“We’ve got kids clogging to modern music and
jazz now. I think it’s a good way to keep the
young ones interested.’’
Geri Lorenzen
publicity chairwoman
and now it’s the more modern
Canadian steps,” she said.
Clogging started in the rural
areas of the Appalachian
Mountains in the 1700s. The
English, who controlled most of
the colonies, wouldn’t allow the
lower classes - mainly made up
of immigrants - to dance the
formal English dances.
These classes instead creat
ed their own form of dancing
and evolved much like country
and bluegrass music did: by
taking pieces of traditions from
different cultures and molding
them together into a uniquely
American dance tradition.
Because clogging borrows
from cultures like the Irish,
V
English and even the Russian
gypsies, Phillips said the assim
ilation of new steps is simply a
continuation of this “borrow
ing” tradition.
Lorenzen said the new steps
give clogging a fresh appeal,
and although she prefers the
more traditional clogging, she
does like to see the new steps
from doggers every year.
“I’m excited to see what
people came up with this year,”
she said.
The National Clogging
Organization, which runs sev
eral competitions nationwide,
has now split its events into
Please see CLOGS on 6