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University Daily Kansan, September 21, 1982
Entertainment
True New Wave music gone, but spirit remains
Symphony to feature former resident
By SUSAN O'CONNELL
Staff Reporter
Christopher Oldfather, former Lawrence resident, will play a Beethoven piano concerta as a featured soloist for the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra. For audience quality chairman for the orchestra, said Saturday.
The orchestra will present the concert at 8 p.m. Sept. 25 in the Kansas Union Ballroom. Oldfather will perform "Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto in G Major."
THE ORCHIESTRA will perform Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valyrie," Johannes Brahms' "1st Symphony in C Minor" and Peter Hammond's "A Dream in Pocholowich Polka from the Age of Gold Ballet."
Alberta Stuhl, Oldfather's piano teacher while he attended West Junior High School and Lawrence High School, said, "Chris was a very good student, very easy to work with and v very
Stuhl said anyone who heard Oldfather took his future success for granted.
future success for grief.
He was very gifted and talented, she said.
He was very grateful and thankful. Casad said quite a few children born and raised in Lawrence were now making a living as professional musicians.
GETTING THESE PEOPLE to come back to perform was an idea the orchestra had been thinking about for a long time, she said.
"The Lawrence Symphony Orchestra is a
Louisiana performance." she said.
It is a combination of the University and the city, she said...
Oldfather said that he felt good about coming to play in the concert, and that he was looking forward.
"It will be nice to play a concerto; I don't do it often," he said.
Oldfather played the cello with the Midwestern Music and Art Camp for high school students when he lived in Lawrence 14 years ago, he said. He played in an honors recital with the camp in high school, but didn't really be performing until he was in college.
He said he also performed with a group in Boston called Collage, which played contemporary music. The player-managed group performs two or three introductory pieces written especially for them, or they perform pieces that no one has previously done.
At Yale, Oldfather holds a lectureship and is a pianist and a coach for the opera repertory, he said. At Wesleyan he is a visiting instructor teaching piano.
OLDFATHER IS NOW on the faculties of Yale and Wesleyan Universities, Casad said.
He said he had appeared in Boston and other cities with Phyllis Kurtin, a noted soprano.
will be out in November under the Composers Recording Institute label.
In New York, he played Leanard Rosenmann's "Chamber Music 5," which was recorded and
The symphony began in 1973 and is in its ninth season, Casad said. The fall concert is an annual event.
She said the orchestra also presented "The Nutcracker" in December, a spring concert and a Summer pops concert. These are also annual events.
"The Nutcracker," performed last year with the Kaw Valley Dance Theatre, was the first year for the December concert, she said. The second year will perform with the orchestra again this December.
Charles Hoag, professor of music theory, will conduct the orchestra in the concert, Casad said. He is returning to the podium after being on sabbatical leave last spring.
Hoga said that while he was on leave he gave concerts as a double bass player at 11 colleges.
He is looking forward to the fall concert because he thinks it will be one of the best, if not the best, concerts performed by the orchestra, he said.
As a guest composer he played new music concerts, including several of his own compost-
The orchestra has grown in quality, he said.
"The orchestra has always had the numbers, not the tunes," he said.
By VINCE HESS Staff Reporter
Next phase.
Any wave,
We still rock and roll to me.
Dance craze
For popular songwriter and singer Billy Joel, New Wave differs little from other musical styles in his song. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"
But according to local New Wave songwriter and singer Steve Wilson, the musical style of the Beatles was a blend of
HOWEVER, the spirit of New Wave seems to survive in such groups as Thumbs, which Wilson started, and the LeRoi Brothers, who are performing this week in Lawrence.
Wilson, who founded his own four-member group, Thumbs, in 1975 when he was a KU student, said that such individual groups started the musical style known as New Wave and are sticking with it, despite what he called "the style by many groups and record companies."
The New Wave style, Wilson said, is open-minded, exuberant and energetic. The style was formed by rock n'roll bands in the early 1970s when what Wilson called "emotionally authentic music" was played. The audiences had backgrounds similar to the band members'.
Wilson said that many groups that call themselves New Wave are boring bands with no original sound.
True New Wave groups start out with energy and new ideas but require several years to develop their sound.
Although they are New Wave-style groups, Thumbs and the LeKi Brothers play different music to different audiences. However, the groups share a similar origin and a similar New
Wilson described the Thumbs as a rock'n'roll band, while LelRo Brothers business manager Gary Rice called his group a rockabilly band. The Lawrence-based Thumbs play only locally, the Petrobrothers are based in Austin, Texas, and the petrobrothers in the Midwest but have a following in Europe.
Echoing Billy Jool's words, Wilson said
seconds, his group started out as a row of
rap roll bals.
"We all had a lifelong love affair with rock and pop music," he said.
WILSON AND A FRIEND, Kevin Smith, got together in 1975 with other friends and people interested in music in the 19-24 age group. The members had little performing or songwriting experience, he said, but found audiences receptive to a new group.
"After a while, we alienated the mainstream audience," Wilson said, because of the group.
However, the group survived several lean years and compiled an album in 1880, entitled "Thumbs," with help from a benefactor who was a wealthy businessman. "No Price on Earth," will be released next
month and received no outside funding, Wilson said, but the group thinks the favorable reviews would be a good sign.
ON THE OTHER HAND, the four members of LeRoI Brothers, all in their 30s, each have almost a decade of professional experience, business manager Rice said. The four became interested in music through listening to rock, pop and rap, as well as Ela Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, he said.
it's hard to classify Leitoi Brothers audiences." Rice said, because the group's fans include what he called "bikers, hippies, preps and street people."
ALL THESE KINDS of audiences like the group's music, which ranges from rock, punk and blues to country-western songs by Johnny Cash and George Jones, Rice said.
And, according to promotional material, the group members "are known to beat on their instruments and upon one and another with enal zest."
The life of a New Wave musician is enjoyable. Rice and Wilson said, but not carefree or luxurious.
The Thumbs practice only newly written material, Wilson said. The group rehearses old songs about once a year, when members are changing the musical arrangement to create variety. Wilson said that to keep the group loose, they should not use instruments one day during a performance. The other group members do not know what the songs or order will be until performance time.
Rice said the LeRoi Brothers were based in Austin because of the musical atmosphere. About 30 clubs in the city have live music every week. The group competes for these performance dates.
"You've got to be good to make it here," he said.
The LeRoI Brothers are full-time musicians, but the members of Thumbs have other employment. The difference in job status helps explain the groups' touring policies.
Wilson said that the Thumbs had played only in the Lawrence area because of travel restrictions.
However, he said, the Thumbs might travel to Wichita, Chicago or other cities after the release of their second album, but the group's priority is to head to the center such as New York City or Los Angeles.
"Stay home and paint the house unless you can play somewhere really hot," he said.
THE LEROI BROTHERS, however, play throughout Texas and Louisiana and recently toured both coasts, Rice said. The group, which also will be releasing its second album this fall, has received attention in France, West Germany and Norway from its name and T-shirts that some American fans evidently took to Europe, be said.
Rice said the LeLoit Brothers members had no problems because they had been through it.
The group, which performs tonight at the Lawrence Opera House, 2 E. 7th St., and appeared last night at the Off-The-Wall Hall, 7th St., is now making a tour of the Midwest. Rice said
Similarly, members of Thumbs have no illusions about fame or fortune from their music.
"New Wave wasn't something that you did for career day."
On campus
TODAY
CAMPUS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP will have a Bible study and fellowship at 7:30 p.m. in the Kansas Union.
STUDENT SENATE will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Big Eight Room of the Union.
CONTINUING EDUCATION Adult Development Colloquium will be at 12:30 p.m. in Alcove
CAMPUS CRUSADE for Christ will meet at 7 n.m. in the Big Fight Room of the Union.
GERMAN CLUB will have Stammittis
observed day or lunch at 11:45 a.m. in the
German Club Room.
A BIBLICAL SEMNAR on "Mark and Nucleus Arms" will be at 8:30 p.m. at the Akron Theater.
Bluegrass a hit at KANU
Few radio stations in Lawrence can fill requests for "Hiking Boots Woman," by Martha Haechl, "Did Jesus Have a Baby Sister," by Dery Pervin, or having an Breakdown, "by the Bee Bags" by Bluegrass 45.
But KANU's "Flint Hills Special" bluegrass music show takes requests for bluegrass music and Irish tunes from 7 p.m. to midnight on Sundays, John Heuertz, program announcer,
Rick Deskow, Kansas City graduate student and co-amouncer for the show, is planning to computerize the record library of KANU, Heegtz said.
"He is adopting a program for our use. The idea is to play requests more efficiently. We can key in the artist's name and read to the caller of the songs we have in the library." Heuztz said.
Singer Dan Crary, KU graduate, started the show 10 years ago. Crary is now a well-known bluegrass guitarist. Heuztz said.
"The show isn't really reorganized," he said, "it's just better organized. We are doing what we always do."
Recently, the show has undergone some organizational changes, Heuertz said.
"It started as a half-hour, bluegrass music show," said HuetZen. "Now, we have a five-hour program and an artist of the week, our group, p.m. and have no problem filling our program."
program. Bluegrass has its American origins in Kentucky, Desko said. It is an American form of music that started in the '30s and '40s, he said.
UNIVERSITY FORUM will feature Charles Stanisier, professor of Latin American studies, discussing "Cuba: A Personal Commentary"; at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center.
TOMORROW
Bluegrass is entirely acoustic, Desko said. The
BOARD OF CLASS OFFICERS filing deadline for candidates' applications in 5 p.m. at the Bureau of Public Safety.
CHRISTIAN CARE Group will meet at 4 p.m. at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center.
music is played without drums or any electrical amplification.
"Using electricity in bluegrass music is a sin." Heuerz said. "It is OK to amplify the music by microphone, but you can't amplify the instrument itself."
"Both forms of music have it in common. Bluegrass was brought to America by immigrant farmers, and both are the result."
Heuertz said, "Bluegrass has its European roots in Ireland. That is why the program features an hour-long segment called 'Ballads, Bards & Bacines.'
The five-hour show is divided into nine sections, featuring old-time bluegrass music, newer bluegrass, live performances by local musicians, a trivia contest and an hour of Irish folk music.
"Cotton-Eyed Joe," an example he is used, a civil-President who abused a slave. A disease was epidemic in the slave population at that time that caused the victims' corneas to turn white. A popular segment of the show features bluegrass trivia.
Biography made me realize gospel and slow love songs, he said.
A typical bluegrass band consists of guitar, violin, mandolin and upright bass, Desko said.
CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER Session will be at 7:45 a.m. at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center.
Many bluegrass songs have interesting stories behind them, said Heuertz.
"I would say the popularity of bluegrass is "launched off from the early 1920s." Desko said
MARION ARCHIBALD of the British Museum staff will speak about Viking coins at 3:30 p.m. in the Spencer Research Library Auditorium.
"Last week's question was 'Who is Bill Monroe's banjo player?' Deskalek said. "That was a good one."
Rick Desko and John Heuertz, KU graduate students in physics, broadcast bluegrass tunes Sundays from 7 p.m. to midnight during the KANU Flint Hills Special.
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