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8 FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1994 THE RICE THRESHER ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Rachel Rosenthal appears at the Heinen Theater using her own aging and disintegrating body as a metaphor for the Earth. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at Houston Community College Central, 3715 Austin. Fifteen big dollars. Call 22S0914 for information on this disgusting- sounding thing. Ezra Charles and the Works will haul their collective ass to the prestigious Taco Cabana at 6006 Westhetaier Sunday from 2 to S p.m. Come hear them for free, but don't drink the water without a notarized receipt and personal bodyguard. Art in the Park, featuring jazz and fashion, two great tastes that taste great together, runs today, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the SuperBlock in front of George R. Brown Convention Center. Would you pay for this? They don't expect you to. Wyndnwyre hits the Mucky Duck with their mix of Celtic, medieval and renaissance music. Starting Thursday at 8:30, the show costs whatever it takes to get into the Mucky Duck on 2425Norfolk. Call 528-5999and ladies, don't forget to wear your corsets. Wiess College sponsors mu ttiple Rice ^ ' bands (Stab, Bee Stung Lips, more) for a TG at 4 p.m. Free, obviously. Spinning Wheel and The Rooster bring out the dark side of Korean peasant life. $4.25 for both films, 7:30 and 9:30 at the Media Center. 9 Shepherd School Percussion Ensemble at 8 p.m. in Stude ^ A T concert Hall. Free. (See article, p. 9.) Chilsu and mansu and The Ago of Success at the Media Center, 7:30 and 9:30. $4.25 for both. ^I Syzygy: New Music at Rice li " " presents "Serenades and ^ ^ " Symphonies," with music of Schutz, Mozart, Boicom, more. 8 p.m. in Stude. Free. Guest artist Steven mJLmm Glaser, piano, joins T U E us from Texas Tech for a concert of heavy-duty keyboard pounding (Liszt, Rachmaninoff, more.) 8 p.m. In Duncan Recital HaH. Free. ym Raise the Red Lantern, a •" "provocative parable of Power ^ ^ ^ and its methods of self- perpetuation," was banned in China in 1992.7:30 at the Media Center, $4.25. HOLY GOAT Non-serial monogamy OK in 'Weddings' BY K R I S T I A N LIN Director Mike Newell's comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral starts out with Elton John's stylish rendition of Gershwin's "But Not For Me" on the soundtrack. Like most of the other joys in this film, it lingers pleasantly in the brain, unconnected to any memory you have of the film as a whole. Four Weddings is essentially fluff, but it's fluff of a very high order, and it's one of the funniest movies in some time. The pk>t revolves around Charles (Hugh Grant), a 32-year-old English "serial monogamist" who loves his girlfriends but can never commit to a single relationship. Then he meets a beautiful, free-spirited American named Carrie (Andie MacDowell) at a friend's wedding and spends the film trying to deal with his feelings for her. The script of Four Weddings and a Funeral is by Richard Curtis, known for his brilliant British TV sitcom "Blackadder." The film is loosely structured and, like a sitcom, relies heavily on punchlines and funny situations. But Curtis keeps a coherent storyline going, and even when he suddenly reaches for poignance in the middle of this affair, it's quite within his grasp. Newell seems to have found his niche in light comedy. He certainly deserves credit not only for maintaining his light touch, but for a small army of enjoyable comic performances from his supporting casL Even if, like me, you don't number yourself among Hugh Grant's adoring fans, you have to admit that the script is perfectly tailored to Grant's perennial uptightness. Curtis puts him in all sorts of spots that take advantage of this quality—at a wedding where, as best man, he forgets the rings; at a table comprised of his ex-girlfriends, who start comparing notes; in a room where a couple, unaware of his presence, is having sex. Grant's worried expression and oversized teeth carry him through. MacDowell has her share of moments, such as when she hides from a drunken boor in a lobby or runs through her sexual history for the benefit of an appalled Grant. But she never CROW TRACKS Lydia (Sophie Thompson), Bernard (David Haig) and ah oops grande in Four Weddings and a Funeral. emerges as a fully realized character. And here we have the one significant problem with the film: the casting of the romantic leads. It's not that we don't like them; we feel they're very nice people who should be together. It's just that Grant and MacDowell come off as colorless compared with the other actors in the film. There's the nagging sense that a more interesting film might have been made about Charles' friends. That's a small complaint, though. Charles' friends are played by a fine bunch — Charlotte Coleman, James Fleet and John Hannah all give depth to their roles. Simon Callow has a great reaction to two folk singers who butcher "Can't Smile Without You" even worse than Barry Manilow. But the one whoU stick out in your mind is Kristin Scott Thomas, who's about as cool and elegant as actresses come, and who manages to be affecting when called upon to do so. Corin Redgrave, Jeremy Kemp and Sophie Thompson (Emma's sister) fill out bit parts, and Rowan Atkinson hasadevastatingly funny scene as a nervous clergyman performing his first wedding (he refers to "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Goat"). One of the magnificent little surprises in this film is the relationship between Charles and his deaf brother David (played by deaf actor David Bower). You can imagine most Hollywood movies dutifully introducing this character and then shunting him off to the margins of the story, but David gets to play a pivotal role in this film. Bower plays with the right amount of amused detachment, especially in his reaction to a woman who talks to him in imperfect sign language. The film that Four Weddings will probably remind you of is Kenneth Branagh's Peter's Friends (1992); but Four Weddings and a Funeral isn't as aggressively shallow as Branagh's film, and Newell's actors are even better at fleshing outsitcomroles than Branagh's marvelous cast In the final equation, what you get in Four Weddings and a Funeral is sharp, clever writing delivered by appealing actors you probably haven't seen before. That's as good a reason to see a film as any. Toon tracks, remix albums not all flops VARIOUS ARTISTS B Y J E R E M Y H A R T THE CROW ORIGINAL MOWN PICTURE SOUNDTRACK Oh boy. This movie looks like it'll be interesting, just from what little I've heard of the comic book it's based on and from the pictures in the soundtrack liner notes. I'm still skeptical, though — comics don't have a great history on the big screen. I'm not talking the Batman-blockbu sters; those were flukes. I'm thinking more of The Punisher — stay away from this horrible waste of film—and Captain America, which was so bad that I don't think they even released it in this country. Still, just the pictures for The Crow look gritty and "dark" enough to make me happy. We'll see. Anyway, if the movie is as good as the soundtrack (oh yeah, this is a music review), this should be an interesting movie. The album starts off with a new Cure tune, "Burn," and ooh, does it send chills down my spine. Well, sort of. I'm not a Gure fan — haven't ever had much exposure to goth music of any kind. From what I remember, the goth fans in my high school dyed their hair different colors every other day, had strange body parts pierced, hung around in a pack at the mall, and were ostracized as being weirdos because they didn't like Metallica, N.WA or the Pet Shop Boys (don't fret over this horrid example of high school closed-minded prejudice — they probably liked being outcasts). So I don't like the Cure. I do, however, like this. It's haunting, echoey and melancholy, but still damn danceable. Speaking of dark and gloomy, this whole album has a grim, depressing undertone to iL I mean, one of the coolest songs on here is, Nine Inch Nails doing a cover of Joy Division's "Dead Souls," with the subdued-but-threatening snarl of "they keepcal ling me/they keepcalling me..." If this song isn't a prelude to some kind of self-destruct sequence, then I don't know what to call iL Machines of Loving Grace tread the same waters, as well, turning in an unusual, slow techno-metal grind on "Golgotha Tenement Blues," complete with orchestral keyboards. Rage Against The Machine makes only a mediocre attempt at slamming political protest — okay, I take it back; it's not mediocre, it's just nothing really new. Sounds like their whole album. If that's your thing, go for it—Ijustdon't think screaming political protest comes across unless you're playing in front of an actual crowd of angry youth. Credit goes to the Rollins Band for an appropriate choice of cover tunes. Our pal Henry and Company do a bluesy punk-metal rendition of (I think) a Suicide tune, "Ghostrider." Imagine the Doors on amphetamines and steroids, singing about everybody's favorite flameheaded comic book character and you'll be close. Fellow heaviness kings Helmet and Pantera also make appearances here, with "Milktoast" and "The Badge," respectively. The Helmet tune just isn't harsh enough for my taste, though still pretty good (melody from Helmet? Interesting). Pantera's is an anti-police tirade that sounds much more punk than metal to me. For Love Not Lisa is new to me, but I was fairly impressed with "Slip Slide Melting," a ripping, distorted slam-dance rock gem, the best dance-thrash this side of Therapy?. The Jesus and Mary Chain introduce us to the surf-rock, what the Beach Boysmight've written instead of "Good Vibrations" if they'd grown up on punk and leather rather driving daddy's car around all the time. A cool highslung bass groove and screaming feedback, and bam, damn good driving music. When I listen to movie soundtracks, I try to match the movie to the music in sequence — don't ask me why, I just do. In this case, I can see it working, believe* or not The final two tracks on the album are a denouement of sorts, lifting the listener up from the dark depths of the Cure, Helmet and Nine Inch Nails for some shivery-sweet guitar, drifting back and forth in a mist of melodic, beautiful shoegazerpop, courtesy of Medicinewith Time Baby III." The last tune is the clincher, though. Jane S'iberry's "It Can't Rain All The Time" manages to evoke a feeling of both melancholy and triumph with Siberry's beautiful Kate Bush/Tori Amos-ish vocals and melodies. The sparse beauty of her half-whispered chorus just catches. The perfect lost-love theme song. From the almost suicidal depths of the beginning to the closing triumph, this album deserves some serious attention. I only hope The Crow itself is this good. JACKOPIERCE BRINGING ON THE WEATHER Blame it on my little Brother. It's his fault this album pisses me off. I'm the older brother, right? I'm supposed to hand him a tape, say, This is cool," and hell love it It's my privilege. Or not. I am a bit pissed off, though, at myself for blowing my little bro off when he tried to get me to listen to these guys months ago. Jackopierce is two soft-hearted guys (one named Pierce and the other named Jack-something; uh, creative name, I guess) who know every painful inch of small-town life. They strum and sing with husky sincerity, reminding me of nothing more than a male, more Texan analog to Georgia's Indigo Girls. Countryish folk, with touches of rock and pop blended into quiet, sharply-accurate stories about pain—pain of separation, pain of love, of almost any kind of loss you can imagine. From the melancholy pop of "Late Shift," a tale about a "Dear John" letter, to "Jacob,'' to a song about a child caught in the fftiddle of a divorce, the songs on this album are well-told stories, Springsteen-style. Jackopierce has an amazing feel for the "quiet country life." It's refreshing to listen to music that's personal and down-to-earth and not country. The only downer on here is when they drift a bit too close to mainstream rock a la the Counting Crows with "Anderson's Luck," but they make up for that quickly enough with the reminiscing of "Witch In The Old Man" and the jangly groove of "Get To Know Me Better." What can I say? I screwed up by trying to be an older brother. Craig, I owe you an apology. SEE SAMPLER, PAGE 10
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY. APRIL 8, 1994 9 POPCORN PAIN The Newsies grew up — and they should have stayed kids B Y K R I S T I A N L I N "I know you're a newspaperman. I can smell 'em off a mile away. Excuse me while I open a window." — Ben Hecht script for Nothing Sacred (1937) Director Ron Howard turns to an old genre, newspaper comedy, to produce "The Paper, an old-fashioned piece of entertainment that's well-engineered enough to overcome its flaws. The film follows one unusually hectic day in the life of the New York Sun's metro editor, Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton). Henry is hot on the story of two black teenagers accused of the racially motivated killing of two wealthy businessmen. He thinks they're inno- cent, and chases down the story while trying to placate his neglected eightand-a-half-month pregnant wife Martha (Marisa Tomei), the paper's cost-cutting managing editor (Glenn Close), and the editor of the stuffy New York Sentinel (read: New York Times), who offers Henry a safer, more respectable job at a paper that doesn't almost fold every six months. Don't expect a hard-hitting expose of tabloid journalism from this film. The script does its best to avoid thorny issues of ethics and the increasing sensationalizing/tabloidizing of mainstream media (like the New York Times). Henry Hackett keeps affirming the principle of journalistic in teg- PEA-SPIKED RICE rity, but nobody really challenges him on it Screenwriters David and Stephen Koepp seem to delight in piling obstacles onto the script just for the sake of piling them on. Of course Martha will go into labor before the movie's over, and McDougal (Randy Quaid), the paranoid columnist sleeping in Henry's office, will run into the man he claims is trying to kill him Don't expect a hard-hitting expose of tabloid journalism from this film. It might seem they're going a bit far. Does Martha's pregnancy have to developcomplications? Doesthe5««'s editor-in-chief (Robert Duvall) have to have prostate cancer and problems with his daughter? Another problem is Glenn Close's character, the same corporate superbitch that we've all seen in the movies. The Koepps make some attempts to humanize her, but their hearts aren't in it Guys, couldn't we have some successful working women in the movies who are also sympathetic for a change? There are enough of them out here in the real world. Ron Howard isn't a great artist and certainly not a great innovator, but he has an unfailing sense of what works. He maintains the film's breathless pace and only falters slightly when the script bogs down in sentimentality. He has a real feel for the newsroom's pressure-cooker atmosphere. One of the film's biggest laughs comes at a point where everyone is in Henry's office complaining and McDougal finally shuts them all up by firing off his gun. Michael Keaton helps matters enormously. A more cerebral actor might have made this character's vir- COCKTAIL HOUR tue insufferable; Keaton just lets it fly. He gives you the sense that he's in control even when the whole world is collapsing around him The supporting cast gives him room to work, too. Close and Duvall are given the shaft by the script, but they play off Keaton nicely. Tomei sparkles with the right mix of irony, bubbliness and hardscrabble intelligence. Quaid brings along his familiar quirks, while Jason Robards, Catherine O'Hara and Jason Alexander get juicy smaller roles. And yet, with ail this talent in the cast, an actress named Amelia Cook runs off with the film's emotional high point She plays a novice news photographer who wades through hell to get pictures of the two accused teenagers, only to find all but one of the pictures out of focus. Her reaction is theonly thing in this picture that makes you feel like cheering. The Paper sets out to be a popcorn picture, light on depth and high on laughs and thrills, and achieves that end in ruthless fashion. It has all the immediacy of today's newspaper, and winds up being just as disposable. Ensemble puts out exotic sounds BY T RIC I A GlESBRECHT SHEPHERD SCHOOL PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 8 P.M. STUDE CONCERT HALL FREE This year's final Shepherd School Percussion Ensemble concert will be an evening of jazz, Brazilian, Caribbean and African music. The ensemble's first all-jazz concert, the program covers fifty years of jazz. From the roots of jazz, heard in a suite arranged by guest artist Alafia Gaidi, it moves to standards such as Indian spice, rice abound at Shiva Restaurant offers chance to try something new, light a fire in your mouth SHIVA 2514 TIMES 5 2 3 4 7 5 3 B Y A N N A B E L LUNCH: 11:30-2:30 MONDAY-FRIDAY, 12-3 SATURDAY, 11:303 SUNDAY DINNER: 6-10 NIGHTLY I love mom-and-pop type restaurants. Especially when mom and pop have names that I can't pronounce. Shiva Indian restaurant in the Village is one of the second type. The scarf-festooned ceiling, pink walls, sitar music and incense-filled air don't exactly remind me of my own home, but I enjoy them even more. And the food at Shiva is simply to die for. Eastern Indian food is not for the timid, but on a recent trip, I had a delightful dinner. All sorts of exotic flavors and spices dazzled my taste buds. The meal started with complementary crispy wafers and two fiery chutneys for dipping — the Asian equivalent of the requisite chips and salsa at Houston's many Tex-Mex joints. I munched and let my eyes water as I read the extensive menu. Shiva offers a variety of appetizers, but I was quite content with my wafers, so I moved on to other choices. menu — to soak up the last drops of Tandoori dishes — meats marinated the succulent sauces. And wonderful and grilled in a traditional Indian clay they were. Many Indian restaurants oven (around $10) — looked tempt- serve greasy naan, but Shiva's was ing, as did the various incarnations of light and tasty. I could have made a chicken, lamb, beef, shrimp ($9-10), meal of the bread. rice ($8-9.50) and vegetables ($6.50). The bread also serves to cool the All dishes other than the vegetar- fire, but my mouth was still flaming. ian options come with a yummy pea- Fortunately, Indian cuisine provides spiked rice. Another side order of rice its own cure. A lassi is a sweet, cool goes for $2.50. yogurt drink—an Eastern milkshake, Indian food is so wonderfully spicy, and Shiva's mango lassi ($2) is the even die-hard carnivores can find best I've had. Sweet but not too sweet plenty of flavor without meat I ended or creamy, it's a great counterpart to up with Aloo Zeera Punjabi (saut6ed our wilder concoctions. potatoes spiced with coriander, mus- Another "homey" touch is the hot tard seeds and cilantro), Navratan-E- damp towels our waiter brought after Bahar ("nine jewels of India" — sea- . the meal to wipe my hands. After the sonal vegetables, nuts and raisins in a dipping frenzy, they proved most use- tomato sauce), Sham-Savera (spinach ful. balls stuffed with masala and cheese Shiva's service began wonderfully and simmered in a light, spicy gravy), — lots of refills and checking on our and Karahi Murgh (chicken pieces progress. But as the restaurant filled cooked in "a host of herbs and spices" up, the waiters were less attentive. with bell peppers and tomatoes). They were quite busy welcoming other I can't begin to identify the spices new diners, but I had to wait far too that flavored the food, but they were long for the check and finally asked perfectly balanced and delicious with- for it. out overwhelming the vegetables they Even though Shiva is not terribly accompanied. speedy or inexpensive, it is a wonder- I ordered some extra rice and naan ful dinner spot that, if you want to go ($1.75 serves two) — the "traditional that far, will pay back penniless col- leavened white bread" from the aptlylege students for weeks and more of named Wheat Wonders section of the skimping on stale crackers and water. FAIRFAX J HEALTHY MALES WANTED AS SEMEN DONORS. l airtax Cryobank nerds young men as semen donors. • 1 \( client compensation • Help Infertile Couples • Confidentiality Knsiired • A^es 1 8 to } r > • Call 7W-9 ( M7 • Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll" to the contemporary "Senior Mouse" by Chick Corea. It is largely through their experience in this ensemble that Shepherd School percussionists acquire tricks of the trade which are not normally encountered in classical art music. Each semester the ensemble studies a new area of percussion technique. Larry Slezak, director of the Rice Jazz Ensemble, was guest instructor for this semester's emphasis on jazz vibraphone and the various styles of jazz. On the program for Saturday night are several jazz standards arranged by ensemble members themselves. The arrangements are for five mallet instruments, rhythm section and optional horns. Among these are Victor Feldman's "Rio," arranged by Erich Loftis and Wayne Shorter's "Foot- prints," arranged by Douglas Card well. Other members of the ensemble are Paul Cox, Nathan Davis, Joanna Nelson, Frank Ronneburg, Michael Sharkey and Joe 1 Stcin.The ensemble is directed by Richard Brown. These regular members will be TH* Best Piru In Town... complemented by Shepherd School students Lisa Waters (flute), Don Immel (trombone), Gabriela Frank (piano) and bassists Bob Rohwer and David Murray. Larry Slezak is a featured soloist on the saxophone, clarinet and flute, performing music of Duke Ellington, "Fats" Waller, Cole Porter, "Dizzy" Gillespie and Irving Berlin. Tropic Envoy, Houston's wellknown steel drum duo, will also join the ensemble for Ken "Professor" Philmore's "Pan by Storm" and other Caribbean music. Additional authentic ethnic instruments will be featured by Alafia Gaidi, founder of D.R.U.M., Houston'spremier African percussion ensemble. Although this concert will be held in the beautiful and formal Stude Concert Hall, the program seems to fit perfectly well in a night club setting with a two drink minimum. Now is your chance to leave your concert etiquette at home. If you are swept away — and you will be — by one of the fastest renditions of "I've Got Rhythm" that you've ever heard, feel free to applaud in the middle of the piece. It's that kind of show. CATHY A. 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