Liliput CD
shows off
'Pop Thing'
BYNEALOBERMEYER
Rumor has it that the pur
pose of punk music was to get
back to the basics of rock roll.
Everyone insisted that at the
core of it all, punk artists were
stripping away the pomposity
that drove 70s guitar gods and
prog rock. But stripping down to
what?
Answer me this: What do
Rick Astley, Tom Jones, the Sex
Pistols and the Backstreet Boys
have in common?
In spite of their uncanny sex
appeal, all four understand the
importance
of die secret
Pop Thing -
that beast
that can transform any song into
a gem of a timeless ditty, that
basic element of rock and roll.
Anyone who knows me has
undoubtedly heard a sermon on
the importance and elusive
nature of the Pop Thing, but that
understanding is what divides
bands into legends and losers.
Swiss punks Liliput had a
firm grasp on the Pop Thing.
That grasp made them eligible
to be one of the punk legends,
but their accompanying cre
ative spirit is what solidified it
Emerging in Switzerland
under the name Kleenex (a law
suit changed that) in the late
70s, the legend tells that they
didn’t even know how to tune
their guitars.
Sporting an all-female line- ’
up, they laid the blueprint for
the “riot grrrl’’ scene - a scene
that took about 10 years to
develop in their wake.
I know that when I was a kid,
I didn't understand punk music.
Unless you hate your parents or
have the right cool friends, I
think it’s pretty common to grow
up with the attitude of "If you
can’t sing or play youf instru
ment well, you’re not very
good."
As you get exposed to more
and more music and see how
elaborate people’s efforts are to
build the perfect radio hit, you
become amazed that people still
waste the effort of making a 2
minute atonal chalkboard
scratch of a song.
Often, you will say, “This is
crap. I could do this in my sleep."
But as you listen to these 2
minute atonal chalkboard
scratches more and more, you
realize that they burrow into
your brain, inspire some sort of
primal, dirty passion in you and
secretly make you want to listen
to diem again and again.
On liliput’s new double-disc
“Complete Recordings” compi
lation, you get a heaping collec
tion of just that - some of the
most infectious post-punk
music ever made.
Think of the grating guitar
and bass-driven energy of Gang
of Four but, without the politics.
Mix that with the pop genius
and dissonant chords of Wire
but without the occasional over
artiness.
That’s Liliput..Only they
have girls singing. In other lan
guages.
Not all of the songs are post
punk perfection. Some, like the
one that sounds like sawing and
the one with the weird whoop
whoops, are kind of annoying.
But you know you've got a clas
sic on your hands when you’re
charmed by the annoying ones,
too.
This music seizes you in the
lower abdomen, and depending
upon your disposition, inspires
you to get up and dance stupidly
and without coordination or
grab a guitar and some friends
and rock steady.
But you can’t do this in your
sleep. To make this kind of
music, you have to be wide
awake in full sensory capacity
and soaking with the kind of cre
ative psychosis that makes you
twitch and annoy your friends
because you can’t shut up or sit
down.
Listening to this makes you
enjoy sounds. Listening to this
makes you proud that some
body made this music.
Listening to this makes you
annoyed with most of the post
punk bands out there who have
had 18 years since the demise of
Liliput and still refuse to be this
inventive with their raw rock
power.
That makes me madder than
areal punk.
Liliput "Complete
Recordings” Kill Rock Stars
Jerome Montaito/DN
The crowd dances the night away from 8 p.m. • 1 a.m., Thursday through Saturday. The dub has a different theme every night
Clubs atmosphere appeals to many
■ Alexandria 2112 continues to bring
wide range of clientele despite not
being directly on 0 street
BY CASEYJOHNSON
With dance music conquering the
world again and everyone in town throw
ing some form of a night club together,
one might think that Alexandria 2112 is
just another juke joint that slapped an
address on the back of their name.
Not so. The club that sports this par
ticular address has forged ahead with a
demographic that no other bar in town
has-anybody.
“We are trying to offer a nice safe envi
ronment for older clientele and younger
clientele to come and dance and party in
the downtown area,” said Charles
Phillips, co-owner of Alexandria 2112.
The staff of Alexandria 2112 prides
itself on being a no-nonsense kind of club
where people can come and have a good
time without being hassled.
“They can come down and party and
dance, and they know that there is
nobody who is going to say anything
about them or try to mess with them,” he
said.
“That is one thing we try to offer as far
as dancing'that other bars don’t seem to
be able to keep control of.”
With a casual and fun atmosphere like
that, it is no wonder that Alexandria 2112
can bring in good crowds despite being so
It’s kind of funny because
we are off the beaten path,
but that’s why we like to call
ourselves a destination bar,
because when people come
out to our bar they
generally come out for the
whole night.”
Charles Phillips
co-owner
far away from the glitter of the main 0
Street scene, which is a location that
Phillips said may help more than hurt
them.
“It’s kind of funny because we are off
the beaten path, but that's why we like to
call ourselves a destination bar because
when people come out to our bar they
generally come out for the whole night”
With a capacity of 400 to 450 people,
that means a whole lot of folks can dance
the night away in the basement of the
Golds Galleria Building where Alexandria
2112 is located.
When the club is full, it could be
because of the wide variety of music that
is played, something that club goer and
Lincolnite Amy Lorenz definitely agrees
with.
“It’s upbeat. It’s not a lot of the Top 40
teeny bopper music; it’s some hip hop,
Jerome Montalto/DN
Mitch Sallinger (far right), a.k.a. DJ Steele, (left to right) co-owner and master of ceremonies Rusty Frazier
and Don Sanders, a.k.a. Dr. Pulse, excite the crowd for the final set of the night. Alexandria 2112b located
in the lower level of Gold's Galleria, 1033 0 St.
but it's more dance music, and they do
play rock, which I like,” she said.
Although the dance floor appeals to a
mixed crowd, most of the staff is the same
age, which University of Nebraska
Lincoln graduate Amanda Holland, a bar
tender at the club, said makes it easy and
fun to work at Alexandria 2112.
“I’ve worked here since it opened, and
the employees hang out together and are
about the same age, and so even though
we are working every weekend, it's kinda
like you are having fun at the same time,”
she said.
Alexandria 2112 is open Thursday
through Saturday from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Business partner blames media stigma
for Guitars & Cadillacs'demise, closing
BY CRYSTAL K.W1EBE
Jack Hanrahan said he
hopes a media-induced stig
ma doesn’t hamper the suc
cess of a new night club set to
open in the old Guitars &
Cadillacs location.
Hanrahan, a business
partner in the Guitars &
Cadillacs chain, said two
groups are currently interest
ed in reopening the 5400 O
St. club that closed last
November after a parking lot
shooting.
He blames the media for
the demise of the club that
opened in October 1993.
In the few months fol
lowing last fall’s shooting,
Hanrahan said Guitars &
Cadillacs’ revenues dropped
60 to 65 percent
He attributed the drop
off to “huge... articles in the
paper about violence in vari
ous night clubs throughout
the country.”
“Mass media is such after
a shooting that it can destroy
a business. That’s what hap
pened to us,” Hanrahan said.
Although no one was
injured in the shooting and
the club had no history of
similar incidents, Hanrahan
said “people got nervous.”
Hanrahan said the club’s
popular teen nights particu
larly suffered. Parents
became overly concerned
about their children’s safety,
and increased police pres
ence turned away college
students who found it “no
fun to pull into a parking lot”
with patrol cars, he said.
Having traveled to night
clubs around the country,
Hanrahan said he is con
vinced that "shootings can
happen anywhere,” no mat
ter how tight the security.
“Random acts ofviolence
in parking lots are just
becoming part of life,” he
said.
Guitars & Cadillacs had
security guards inside and
outside the club, but
Hanrahan said the incident
could not have been prevent
ed.
“It's easier to hide a gun in
a car,” he said.
If the location reopens,
Hanrahan said it will no
longer be affiliated with the
Guitars & Cadillacs chain,
“Mass media is
such after a
shooting that it
can destroy a
business
Jack Hanrahan
business partner
and may be open within the
next two months.
The new club will have a
different name and format,
Hanrahan said, straying even
farther from Guitars &
Cadillacs’ original country
music theme.
"We weren’t really coun
try the last couple of years,”
he said.
University of Nebraska
Lincoln freshman Sarah
Kolymago said she went to
Guitars & Cadillacs about
twice a month because
“there was nowhere else” she
knew of to dance at, and
downtown’s Studio 14 was
not yet open.
The political science
major said she hopes the new
club will be like Studio 14.
System hurts more than art
■The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery's
HVAC system may be preventing other
museums from loaning exhibits.
BY MAUREEN GALLAGHER
While the NU Board of Regents
gave the green light for the installation
of a $2 million heating, ventilation and
air conditioning system for the
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery this
summer, it might be too late to reverse
damage done to individual art pieces.
Sheldon Director Jan Driesbach
said the current HVAC system was
malfunctioning well before her arrival
in September; staff estimates put the
problems at “a couple of years.”
“The climate in a gallery or muse
um needs to remain stable, and right
now our HVAC doesn’t function ade
quately,” Driesbach said.
If it were, the ideal museum condi
tions of 70 degrees with about 50 per
cent humidity would remain the same
regardless of the temperature outside.
But recent years have shown danger
ous fluctuations in both - especially in
humidity, which causes the artwork to
expand and contract unnaturally.
"If the heat and humidity change,
there is a potential for damage,”
Driesbach said. “The humidity can
also encourage the growth of molds.”
There have also been problems
with extreme heat, such as “when the
sun shines in on our windows in the
summer.”
Sheldon Curator Dan Siedell said
he has seen the damage to paintings,
the most noticeable of which is
Edward Hopper’s "Room in New York.”
“I have witnessed buckling in the
canvas that changes on a daily basis
with the climate outside,” he said.
Siedell said that paintings on can
vas and paper are the most susceptible
to damage. Whatever damage occurs is
irreversible, but with a stable environ
ment, damage can be minimized.
Driesbach said that she can see the
effects of the Sheldon's inadequate
HVAC system in other ways.
“When we contract exhibits from
other museums, we are asked for
information about our HVAC system,”
Driesbach said. “Currently, we run the
risk of losing some exhibitions
because of that."
“Project HVAC,” as it is referred to
by Sheldon staff, will begin sometime
late this summer and will take between *
12 and 18 months to complete.
Before the project can begin,
though, a considerable amount of
planning must be done. It is the
Sheldon’s intent to reduce disruption
caused by the project.
“We might have to close galleries
for short periods of time, but we will
try to minimize the impact,"
Driesbach said. “This won’t be a terri
bly destructive project.”
