I v
Q continues to thrive as dance club
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BYBI1YSMUCK
- Editor’s Note: This is another
in a continuing series of stories
on the dance club scene in
Lincoln and its corresponding
competition in Omaha.
If a patron were to ask co
owner Alan Thompson if his
Lincoln establishment, the Q,
was a gay dance club, he’d say
yes.
But the Q, 226 S. 9th St., has
been open to anyone of age for
the past five and a half years,
bringing a taste of the big city
into Lincoln.
“What we've tried to do is
bring a big city dub to a smaller
town,” Thompson said. “We’re
all from big cities ourselves and
thought Lincoln deserved to
have a good place to party.”
Nicknamed for the term “Q
Continuum” off the TV series,
“Star Trek: The Next
Generation,” the Q, open 8 p.m.
1 a.m. Tuesday-Sunday, plays
techno and house music for
dancers willing to pay the $3
cover charge, which increases to
$5 for spedal events.
Moderately priced drinks
are available from two bars -
one large long bar near the
entrance and another in a small
er, separate lounge area where
Jerome Montalto/DN
The Q, 226 S. 9th St, Lincoln's largest
gay and lesbian nightdub.
only hard liquor shots and beer
are available.
In the back is the dance
floor, which comfortably holds
about 60, as well as a stage
sometimes used for drag shows
and additional dancing.
Thompson is a disc jockey in a
booth off to the side of the stage,
and plays a wide variety of
music “in the dance realm,” he
said. The sound system,
Thompson said, is considered
the best in town.
Still, misconceptions exist
about the club because of its
connection to the gay commu
nity. Thompson said the stereo
types of some gay clubs - people
having sex and men in leather -
caused apprehension among
those unfamiliar with the Q’s
environment.
Thompson said that after
people enter the club, they’re
surprised at how normal it really
is.
“Their concept of what a gay
bar is changed,” he said. "They
no longer visualize something
that is different than what it
actually is.”
Greater tolerance of gays has
changed perceptions, as well.
“It's much different than it
was 10 years ago,” Thompson
said. "People are less concerned
with the sexual preference of
others.”
ur u one sex poses as anotn
er. The drag shows, which play at
least every Sunday, and some
times twice in a weekend, are
among the biggest features at
theQ.
One of the biggest attrac
tions is the monthly appearance
by the Dream Girls, who last
appeared Saturday night
The two-hour show started
at 9:30 p.m. and had two seg
ments featuring eight to 10 per
formers in two numbers each.
The overflowing crowd was the
biggest yet for the club, said bar
tender Jeremy Jaimison.
The crowd was probably a
60-40 split between gay and
straight as opposed to the usual
80-20 split when there aren’t
shows, Thompson said.
Former University of
Nebraska-Lincoln cheerleader
and Dream Girl Shannon Young
was the crowd favorite perform
ing to songs by Whitney
Houston and Tina Ttimer.
Young, who has been with
the Dream Girls since they origi
nated two years ago, makes the
eight-hour drive from Tulsa,
Okla., to perform.
I ve met my family away
from home," said Young, whose
nickname is Chocolat. “That’s
why I come back; I love my
friends so much.”
Thompson said that
although drag shows are a part
of the club’s business, that is all
they are.
“The drag scene is big in
Lincoln, and it is a part of our
business,” Thompson said, “but
we really are a dance club."
Part of what helps draw drag *
show business is its 19-and
older designation. Anyone older
than 19 also can go to the Q on
Please see Q on 6
Jerome Montalto/DN
The Q holds various theme activities during the week. Tuesday night, which is col
lege night draws a large crowd of university students.
■i - — .: itfijriijiffaggy. fr -... 1
Jake Gillespie/DN
'Happiness/where are you?
Solondz's 1998 tale of dysfunction is darly comic version of the hit'American Beauty'
BY SAMUEL MCKEWON
Flipping through Entertainment
Weekly’s annual year-in-preview issue, you
find the typical plugs for the loud-crash, big
budget movie fare that will push visual
candy over intelligent thought
I see the big "Pearl Harbor" spread on
pages 48 and 49 regarding Michael Bay’s war
epic and see Ben Affleck, pristinely grungy,
back lit by flames and Bay-typical red/pink
and think, “Oh, God, what has he done?" It
ought to have Terence Malick and Steven
Spielberg turning over in their tanning
booths.
But six pages back, in a smaller spread
surrounded by Seth Green’s "Rat Race” and
Ivan Reitman’s new drama /comedy
"Evolution,” is a couple of paragraphs about
Tbdd Solondz’s new, as-yet-untitled film, an
epic on the late-teen and college-age sex life,
complete with operatic presentation, sepa
rate stories and interlude.
While everyone else is pointing then
lasers at the Pearl or lim Burton's “Planet of
the Apes” remake (an admittedly cool
endeavor), my enthusiasm runs highest for
Film Commentary
Solondz’s next picture. If you don't know
who Solondz is, well, you don’t know much
about “Happiness” quite the way I do.
A1998 release, “Happiness" escaped the
eye of the mainstream public, for good rea
son. It is an adults-only type film, and at
that, only for the type of adult that can stand
away from an artistic pursuit, eschew its
depravity and regard it for its purpose. That
is not a particularly easy task to take on.
“Happiness” is funny, but pitch black. It
makes another contemporary urban satire,
"American Beauty,” look pale by compari
son.
And now you're mad because there’s a
phrase, said about several films since
“American Beauty” came out last year, that
you’ve heard over and over again. Darker
than. Funnier than. More precise than.
“Happiness” is these things, and it is better
film, too, though not as enjoyable and cer
tainly not as far reaching.
“American Beauty” made its hay
It is an adults only type film, and at that, only for the type of
adult that can stand away from an artistic pursuit, eschew
its depravity and regard it for its purpose. That is not a
particularly easy task to take on. “Happiness" is funny, but
pitch black. It makes another contemporary urban satire,
“American Beauty,” look pale by comparison.
through a type of stereotypical liberalism
that most of us adhere to once in a movie
theater. Even conservatives dive into it,
yearning for the snappy, direct close that
would otherwise anger them in a political
mindset “Beauty,” among other things, is a
libertarian take on a liberal utopia that wed
rather have in place of our slave-like devo
tion to the “stuff” Kevin Spacey keeps
bemoaning.
In “Happiness,” that stuff is love, a
quenching of a longing, lonely thirst, and
the liberalist critique on America is sup
planted by throwing an honest caring mir
ror on the subtly deranged aspect of our
humanity, which Solondz, who also wrote
the film, asserts exists right among us.
- The setup is rather soft and enjoyable.
Joy Jordan (Jane Adams) tries nicely to break
up with a sad-sack boyfriend (Jon Lovitz),
which gets turned on its head, especially
after he buys her an ashtray as an gift. It
(almost) makes her want to start smoking.
Then we are introduced to Joy’s sisters,
Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle) andTrish (Cynthia
Stevenson), who are both far more finan
cially comfortable and claim to be romanti
cally happy, as llish is married to psycholo
Please see HAPPINESS on 6
Symphony
celebrates
Copland
BY CHRIS JACOBS
American composer Aaron
Copland’s music brought togeth
er a diverse crowd and elevated
the status of music.
Tonight the Lincoln
Symphony Orchestra will cele
brate him in a performance at
Kimball Recital Hall titled “A
Century of Copland.” Tickets for
the 7:30 p.m. performance are
priced at $32, $26 and $20 each
with half-price tickets available
for students.
“I find Copland to be one of
America’s musical treasures,” said
Edward Polochick, LSO's music
director/conductor. “He integrat
ed themes from popular culture
and the folk wo rid into a sophisti
cated and classical sound.”
“His music ranges from jazz to
the classical concerto,” Polochick
said. “It's very audience pleasing.”
The orchestra will perform
the composer’s “Suite” from his
opera “The Tfender Land” and his
“Concerto for Clarinet and Strings
with Harp and Piano.”
Polochick said the audience
can expect magnificent soloing
from LSO principal clarinetist,
Carmelo Galante.
Galante will be the featured
soloist on the Concerto, a work
that was written by Copland espe
cially for the late Benny
Goodman, a phenomenal com
poser in his own right
Galante has held the position
of Principal Clarinetist with the
Omaha Symphony since 1988,
and with die Lincoln Symphony
Orchestra since 1989. His appear
ance in the upcoming Copland
concert will mark his third per
formance as soloist with the
Lincoln Symphony.
Following the Copland works
and intermission, the full orches
tra will return to the stage to per
form Anton Dvorak’s “Symphony
No. 8 in G Major, Opus 88.”
Polochick said he chose the
Dvorak piece because its style was
similar to that of Copland’s.
“Although Dvorak composed
in Czechoslavakia almost 100
years earlier than Copland, they
both approached music in the
same way,” Polochick said. “They
had classical training and studied
music both formally and struc
turally. They both incorporated
the tunes of their respective eras.”
Copland, for many, is synony
mous with American music, and
seemingly everyone, from the
most educated concert-goers to
the youngsters of America who
stay glued to the television set, has
heard his music in some form or
another, whether it is his regal and
stately “Fanfare for the Common
Man,” his opera “The Tender
Land” or that portion of his ballet
“Rodeo” that has become synony
mous with the “Beef, it’s what’s for
dinner!” slogan.
“There shouldn’t be a soul in
the audience who won't be
pleased with the performance,”
Polochick said.