Performers find happiness in Lincoln after their 15 minutes of fame

"Remember my name

Fame

I'm gonna live forever"

- "Fame" from "Fame The Musical"

Inside the Taylor-Ore residence in southwest Lincoln is a picture of domesticity.

Mother Heidi kneads dough in the kitchen while father Jon browns hamburger for the night's evening meal of homemade pizza.

Three-year-old Kira races in, demands Cheerios and leaves with a handful of dough instead.

In the living room, Kira's older sister, Zoie, 7, lounges on the couch, watching television.

The scene contrasts sharply to the life that Heidi Ore, Jon Taylor and their former Mercy Rule bandmate Ron Albertson once enjoyed.

A life of smoky nightclubs, hot lights and amped-up guitars. A time when the punk rock band was on the fast track to fame.

"I tried the Google test," says Heidi Ore, as she moves onto the salad. Earlier in the day, she had typed "Mercy Rule" into the Internet search engine to see when the first reference to the band would pop up.

It was the first listing on the first page a link to a 1998 feature that appeared in The Reader about Mercy Rule's rise to stardom.

Of course, Jon says, "If you have to ask if you're famous, then you're probably not."

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This weekend, the musical "Fame" is at the Lied Center for Performing Arts in Lincoln.

Inspired by the 1980 movie, "Fame The Musical" chronicles the four-year odyssey from audition to graduation of a group of talented, dedicated students at New York City's High School of the Performing Arts.

Driven by the compulsion for "fame," the students experience common triumphs and tragedies along their journey toward immortality.

Similar real-life quests have played out everywhere, including Nebraska, where several performers are currently enjoying their 15 minutes - or more or less - of fame.

Marg Helgenberger of North Bend stars in the hit CBS TV series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

Lincoln's Matthew Sweet recently finished a tour with his band, The Thorns, and released a solo album.

And dancer Corbin Popp, also of Lincoln, is currently in the touring production of the Twyla Tharp-Billy Joel musical "Movin' Out."

But many more area performers have tasted fame and, for one reason or another, decided to leave it behind.

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In 1999, Melissa Marie Lewis of Lincoln starred as a soldier in the military action thriller "The Base 2: Guilty As Charged," which still airs occasionally on premium channel HBO.

It was her ninth major film since arriving in Los Angeles in the fall of 1996.

Prior to that, her experience was limited to the stage. After graduating from Lincoln High School in 1990, she opted to pursue acting rather than go to college.

After performing at the Lincoln and Omaha community playhouses and the Nebraska Theatre Caravan, she shifted gears and decided to try film and television.

So she and her husband, Randy Nuss, moved west.

"I thought I might be able to make good money in film and TV and still practice my art at the same time, but it didn't happen," she said.

Today, Lewis is back in Lincoln with her husband, who is an electrical engineer for Senior Technologies Inc., and their 16-month-old son, Landon.

On Thursday, she begins a three-week run in the Haymarket Theatre production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

On this bright, sunny afternoon, Lewis, 32, is relaxing on the living room floor while her toddler busies himself with big plastic trucks.

"What does fame mean?" she asked. "I got out my memorabilia and tried to figure it out.

"My goal in life always has been to be happy, whether it's in Nebraska, Chicago or wherever."

"Guilty" was Lewis' final movie before she and her husband moved to Chicago. They returned to Lincoln last fall.

While filming "Guilty," she tore the ACL in her knee. She was doing her own stunt, running down a hill with a high-powered gun, when she jumped and landed wrong.

"I don't think accidents happen by chance," she said. "In my mind, my body was telling me something was not right."

Those who know Lewis know she isn't a quitter, but she realized there was no career in film or TV for her. She hated auditioning, hated waiting to film scenes and hated that there was no rehearsal. She even let her Screen Actors Guild card expire.

"Money is not up there for me," she said. "Fame is not up there. It's OK if it is, but it's not for me. The creative high is the thing that is most important to me."

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Cary Twomey sips coffee in the kitchen off her studio, the Haymarket Pilates & Yoga Center.

After 10 years of living and dancing professionally in New York City, she and her husband Lee Willet returned to Lincoln in March 2002. Two months later, she opened her studio.

She helps people achieve their personal fitness goals, find balance and be free of chronic pain.

But she hasn't danced since returning to her hometown - she's letting her body heal, she said.

"You never get famous dancing, but you might be famous in the dance world," said the former principal dancer for Mark Jarecke Dance, a thriving NYC modern dance company.

She's right.

The list of big-name dancers and choreographers is short. Mikhail Baryshnikov, Bill T. Jones, Twyla Tharp, Ann Reinking are among the few that are universally known.

"But you can have a successful career even in a competitive market because so much is happening," she said. "You always can find venues to create."

Twomey, who is in her mid-30s, graduated in 1991 with a degree in dance performance and choreography from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Having visited New York City before, she decided it was the place to pursue her craft.

Create is what Twomey did. She danced for Jarecke and Amy Sue Rosen, another noted choreographer.

Looking to rehabilitate a dance injury, she studied pilates with Deb Lessen, a second-generation teacher in the lineage of Joseph H. Pilates, the founder of the movement-based rehabilitation system he originated in World War I to assist injured and bedridden soldiers.

It wasn't long before Lessen invited Twomey to join her. Eventually, Twomey opened her own Manhattan studio. Her clients included Sarah Jessica Parker, Edie Falco, Ally Sheedy and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon.

She still continued to dance. While working for Lessen, she took time off to tour and teach in Denmark with Jarecke.

After 10 years, Twomey and her husband decided to leave the city.

"We were really comfortable there," she said. "But we knew we wanted some different things in life. It's difficult to live there. It's high intensity and very expensive. We wanted a little more ease and a little more simplicity."

Does she miss dancing, the brights lights, the big city, the applause?

"My body doesn't miss the intensity," Twomey said. "I miss creating the work. I've been channeling (my creativity) into this space."

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Mercy Rule played its final gig on Halloween night 1999. It was a rocking good time at Duffy's Tavern in Lincoln.

About five months later, Kira was born into the Taylor-Ore household.

"It was clear it was time to move on," Taylor said. "We had no interest in turning (the band) into a hobby."

Mercy Rule formed in 1991 with guitarist Taylor, vocalist/bassist Ore and drummer Albertson after the trio's previous band, 13 Nightmares, broke up.

The punk band benefited from the grunge rock movement pioneered by Nirvana, and Mercy Rule started to come into its own.

A late-night (early-morning) performance at CBGB's in New York City caught the attention of record producers in the audience.

In October 1994, Mercy Rule released its second album, its first on a major label. Around that time, Rolling Stone recognized the band as an up-and-comer.

"We just kicked everybody's a--," Albertson said. "If you kicked everybody's a--, you were famous."

Fame for them meant having a van that worked, an attorney to negotiate with record labels, a booking agent and an accountant.

"We never thought we would take over the world and be a No Doubt," Ore said.

Zoie was born in October 1996, but the band continued to work. Taylor and Ore hired a nanny to accompany them on their trips around the Midwest.

But being on the road with a young child was getting more and more difficult for the couple. Quality time with Zoie was when she was awake in the van en route to another gig.

When Ore learned she was pregnant with Kira, the trio decided it was time to disband.

Today, Ore, 40, works for the state's foster care review board, a job she worked part time while touring with the band. Taylor, 39, is employed at Bedient Pipe Organ Company.

Ore hasn't touched her bass since Mercy Rule disbanded. Taylor occasionally plays with local bands.

"It's been a lot more fun staying at home and playing with the kids on weekends than driving to Columbia, Mo.," he said.

Albertson, 42, moved to New York City for three years and worked as an artist before joining the Liars as their drummer. He has since left the Liars and is back in Lincoln and is in "transition."

"People are going to read this and this and say, 'They just settled down,'" Taylor said. "Yeah, I guess â€- You find other things in your life you enjoy."

Things other than fame.

Final show today

The final performance of "Fame The Musical" is at 2 p.m. today at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, 301 N. 12th St.

Tickets are $45, $39 and $35; student tickets are half-price. Call 472-4747 or (800) 432-3231.

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@;journalstar.com.