Local group might just score
BYNEALOBERMEYER
Grading on The Local Curve:
it's when you say, “This is a local
band” and your friend says,
“Oh, they’re pretty good then!”
Well, every band is a local
band somewhere, and Drive-By
Honky is one of the forerunners
of Lincoln’s extremely healthy
music scene. If odds were
placed on local bands “making
it,” it’d probably be one of the
safer bets.
The trio, led by singer/ song
writer Dan Jenkins, boasts a
confident breed of up-tempo
strum-on-every-eighth-note
acoustic rock-pop.
Instantly familiar and sing
along friendly, Drive-By Honky
is a band whose strength lies in
the fact that, when you hear its
album, you can rest assured
that this is what the band
sounds like. It is not a product of
studio doctoring.
That being said, its new
album, “Thrift Americana,”
does not bear the tape-hiss lo-fi
brand of many local recordings.
Clear and professional, the
sound has been blessed by the
Mogis touch.
So you listen to “Thrift
Americana” and you are
impressed, right? Right.
Unless you've heard the
band before.
Around a year ago, these
guys released an EP called "God
Damn Berlin” that boasted
some of the finest pop gems this
side of the Nemaha. "Never
Better” and “Not Quite
Bernadette" are good enough to
retire and build a legacy on.
And while several of the
songs on this album are nearly
as strong as their predecessors,
the problem is that they are a
little too much like those prede
cessors.
Is it a product of having a
well-defined sonic identity that
makes a band’s songs sound the
same? Or does the problem lie
in writing songs that are the
same tempo with open fifth
chords and different words?
Problem or not, the attrac
tion is still there. Even though
it's a re-written karaoke version
of “Never Better,” “Song for
Innocents" is one of the catchi
est songs you will hear, local or
not.
It’s like Mandy Moore’s
“Candy” ripping off Robyn’s
“What It Takes” — if Mandy
Moore and Robyn were the
same person, would it really be
such a crime? Hmm, don’t
answer that.
"Engine Block Eggs (No
Idea)” and "The Ways and
Means” are two more insta-hits
that beg you to try to dig the last
album's finest moments out of
your subconscious.
The latter even features the
Ben Folds Remedy for Sounding
Too Poppy: say naughty words.
Clever Honky. If not for giving
two “shits,” that leadoff track
could have been the driving
with-the-windows-down hit of
the winter. On KRNU at least.
Other songs on the disc lack
that same brain-burrowing
brilliance, though, and you
know you’ve got a problem
when an 8-song album starts to
drag.
Grading on The Local Curve,
this would be four-star materi
. al. But giving a band an artifi
cially high rating simply
because it's an impressive local
band is like affirmative action
in a music review, and that's not
good for the Honky.
So if disposable, catchy gui
tar-pop is what you crave, buy
“God Damn Berlin,” and you
may rest assured that Lincoln
music is alive and well. ,
Then again, the band may
not rock your world outside of
the local context, but smile —
you're in Nebraska.
Civil War comes alive at state museum
qNIMAfrompageS
"Misery.”
Faling said “The Beguiled,”
showing March 4, is really a hor
ror movie starring Eastwood as a
soldier who seeks refuge from
the war in an all-girls school.
On March 11, the festival
ends with “The General," a 1927
film starring Buster Keaton.
Faling said NSHS chose the
Civil War as the theme for its fif
teenth annual film series even
though “Nebraska doesn't have
a substantial Civil War pres
ence.”
“It's a topic that everybody
seems to be interested in,” she
said.
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Maslowski called the Civil
War an "epic event in the history
of the U.S.”
“Many historians argue that
it made us a single nation,” he
said.
Douglas Theatre Co. is a
major underwriter of the film
series, something which sur
prised Faling.
She thought Douglas
Theatres would see the festival
as competition, but “(apparent
ly) they’re interested in people
going to movies and they’re
interested in history.”
.the DAILY
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The University Ballroom Dancing Qub learns how to swing Tuesday night at Mabel Lee Hall. Club members and visitors learn five
dances each semester.
Dance club hopes MTV movie
revives interest in ballroom
. n . •-* ■ ■ ./ - j
BY BILLY SMUCK
With “Save The Last Dance” topping the box office
charts as the No. 1 movie this weekend, it's obvious
that an interest in dancing is thriving amongst the
young adult community.
Past movies like “Dirty Dancing” that jump started
nationwide enthusiasm in dance created a frenzy,
sending people in droves to studios so they could
learn those fancy Latin steps.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln ballroom
dance club is certainly hoping for a similar effect
UNL economics junior and Vice President Gus
Shoemaker said the club was established three years
ago as a means to provide affordable partnership
dance instruction to students.
"This semester, we're changing our approach,”
Shoemaker said. “We’re trying to focus on being able
to use and apply the dances we’re taught”
Group outings are scheduled three times
throughout the semester to provide social dancing
opportunities. Ha Mor Ballroom, Prime Time’s Night
Club and Coconut Bay are some of the places the club
goes to.
Shoemaker, who is working on a Web site for the
club also emphasized the effort being made to get the
word out about it
Meeting Monday, Tliesday and Wednesday nights
in Mabel Lee Hall Room 304 from 9-10 p.m., the club
covers five dances per semester. There are beginning
patterns on Mondays and Tliesdays, followed by an
intermediate lesson on Wednesdays. Shelly Brackhan
of Brackhan Dance Directive on 27th and O streets is
the instructor and founder of the club.
UNL business administration sophomore and
President Jill Pollard said she was hoping to get a bet
"Ballroom dancing isn't limited to
just fox-trot, tango, and waltz. It
extends further than many
students realize.”
Lucas Sabalka
UNL mathematics major
ter showing and re-spark some interest in the dub.
Pollard, who has been involved with ballroom
dancing for the past two years, felt the term “ball
room” is a tum-off to many students.
“Ballroom scares people off," Pollard said. “We
want people to understand it's for beginners and that
it’s a calm and comfortable environment”
UNL math junior and club member Lucas
Sabalka said that in addition to the intimidation factor
of not having previous experience in ballroom danc
ing, there is also a misconception of what ballroom
dancing actually encompasses.
“Ballroom dancing isn’t limited to just fox-trot,
tango, and waltz,” Sabalka said. “It extends further
than many students realize.”
Sabalka said how the Latin dances such as cha
cha and merengue are covered as well as East Coast
swing.
“We have formatted it now so that people can
jump in on any week and get the dance,” Sabalka said.
“Newcomers are welcome any time during the
semester.”
Students may attend the lessons for either $5 per
week or $50 for the entire semester. Membership does
include discounts to dance clubs and clothing stores.
'Girl Thing'premieres on Showtime
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - The title
notwithstanding, is the
Showtime miniseries “A Girl
Thing" also a boy thing?
Sure it is, said Lee Rose, the
writer and director. She figures
her film, a four-story anthology
performed by a stellar cast, illu
minates conflicts faced by every
one.
But women definitely own
center stage in “A Girl Thing,”
and Rose isn't apologizing for
that.
“Everything is always about
men — from their point of view,
their feelings, their situations,"
said Rose. “This is one of the few
times where it's all about what
women think and feel."
“It’s about time we have the
platform, thank you very much.”
In other words, consider “A
Girl Thing” testosterone dis
placement therapy.
The film, showing in two
parts on consecutive Saturdays,
Jan. 20 and 27, at 8 p.m. EST,
offers a quartet of dramas.
Stockard Charming plays a psy
chiatrist who’s the single link;
her patients are the focus of the
stories.
Elle MacPherson’s Lauren
has a fear of intimacy that's not
helped by a really bad blind dou
ble date with Bob (Brent Spiner),
Casey (Kate Capshaw) and Frank
(Bruce Greenwood). An unex
pected romance with Casey,
however, brings a change of per
spective.
In the second hour, sisters
(Glenne Headly, Rebecca De
Mornay, Allison Janney) find
their mother playing family
peacemaker from the grave: She
challenges them to get along or
lose their inheritance.
Lynn Whitfield, Mia Farrow,
Linda Hamilton and Scott
Bakula star in the tale of a wife
who enlists her husband’s girl
friend to make him pay for his
infidelity.
The film concludes with
Camryn Manheim as an angry
woman who snaps after seeking
counseling from Charming, put
. ting her and other patients at
risk. S. Epatha Merkerson, Peta
Wilson and Margo Martindale
co-star.
The tight shooting schedule
- 34 days - brought out the best
in everyone, said Rose, a veteran
filmmaker whose recent TV
projects include “The Truth
About Jane" and “An Unexpected
Life.” She has worked repeatedly
with Channing, Hamilton,
Whitfield and others.
“These women who are used
to being pampered and fawned
over and taking their time hit
the floor running and did every
thing I asked them to do,” she
said. “They left any ego they had
at the door and they were team
players.”
Joked Whitfield: “I probably
would have had my arm broken
if I hadn’t done the project." The
actress said she was thrilled to
“Everything is always
about men ... This is
one of the few times
where it’s all about
what women think
and feel.”
Lee Rose
writer and director
work with Farrow for the first
time and reveled in improv
scenes with her and Hamilton.
So what’s a girl thing, in her
opinion?
“Whatever a girl wants it to
be is what it is," Whitfield
replied. “It's the wonderful and
crazy and hard and harsh and
complicated things that we are.
Whatever a girl thinks it should
be for her.”
While television has long
catered to female viewers, it’s
still rare in Hollywood’s heavily
male hierarchy for women to
creatively own a project both
behind and in front of the cam
era.
“A Girl Thing" has drawn
some accusations of male-bash
ing; Rose’s voice rises to mild
levels of annoyance in contem
plating the criticism. To view the
film that way, she said, is to mis
interpret an emphasis on
women as a slap at the opposite
sex - an attitude she routinely
finds in public discourse.
Appearing last week on Bill
Maher’s “Politically Incorrect,”
Rose was asked about the story
pairing Capshaw and
MacPherson as lovers.
“Maher said, ‘Don’t you
think women became lesbians
because they’re quitters?' I told
him, ‘Why is this all about you
(men)? This is not about you.
People make choices not based
on you.’"
Speaking of choice, will men
choose to watch so blatant a
chick flick?
“If they do, I think they’ll be
happy they did,” Rose said. “We
get windows into their world
every other day.”