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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1986)
backgrounds, Lippman says all of Notropis’ members are just in it for fun. “The band is kind of like a musical escape for us, ” Lippman explains. “It gives us a chance to really open up and create the way we’ve always wanted to. ” Notropis plays mostly in the local area, and its relaxed strains can frequently be heard drifting through the doors of the Sunset Grill. The band may not remain intact much longer with two members graduating, but Lippman believes that there will always be some type of jazz band around. “The way Notropis has worked is we’ve used any number of musicians in this town. The name might disappear, but the people won’t,’’ Lippman says. “There will always be something here. ” Lippman also plays with the Executives (described elsewhere in this issue), but does not see his involvement with the two bands as a conflict of interest. He says there really isn’t a great deal of competition between local bands, since each plays their own brand of music. “Each band has its own style. We all have our different fortes,” Lippman explains. “Our (Notropis) crowds come to hear jazz. Another crowd’s going to go to Morgenstern’s to hear rock ’n roll... it’s all different. I wouldn’t really call it competition. ” The lack of competition is largely due to the limited number of bands in the Bryan/College Station area. In larger urban areas, the situation is different. In Austin, for example, a band can be found on every street corner, and competition between the local groups is fierce. “That (competition) is the problem with Austin right now. Everybody and their dog literally has a band, ” Lippman says. “The pay there is terrible, and they’re fighting.” Lippman, for his part, works to encourage new talent in the local area. The Lippman Music Company, which he founded a year ago, sponsors a “jam session” every Wednesday night at Le Cabaret. The company provides a stage, speakers, and drums for anybody who wants to get up in front of the crowd and perform. “What we offer is an open stage,” Lippman explains. “It gives an opportunity for musicians who don’t have a band, or who have original stuff, or musicians who have no P.A. or have no audience yet, to get out there and play. ” Each band has thirty minutes to do their thing, and Le Cabaret provides free beer to participating band members for the duration of the evening. The audience, which is usually large, gets to hear a wide variety of music in a relaxed atmosphere. “The thing I like about it is you go and for four hours that night you get to hear not just one band but you can hear up to eight bands, or eight different acts,” Lippman says. You can catch the Lippman Music Co. Jam Session any Wednesday night at Le Cabaret. The first band usually starts cranking out the tunes around 8 p.m. —by Karen Kroesche The Executives As their name indicates, the Executives are professionals in their field. The Bryan/College Station area is home for this Top 40 band, but it caters to high school and college crowds around the state. The Executives’ sound is not original. Rather, they play what students want to hear — the commercial dance music that can be heard on popular radio stations. Bass guitarist Brian Lippman says the band’s primary goal is to satisfy its listeners. “They pay us (the Executives) to hear cover music,” he explains. “When they hear it, they want to hear it like they heard it on the radio, so that’s what we do. We copy it —sounds, voicing, everything. ” Lippman plays for both the Executives and Notropis, and says that there is a lot more involved in the Executives. For example, he explains, Notropis can go into a club, set up, and be ready to play within 15 minutes. The Executives, on the other hand, require a good three hours to prepare their equipment. “ (The Executives) is pretty major. When you pay for us, you’re getting a full show — the works,” Lippman says. “You get what you paid for. ” Guitarist Greg Phelps, one of