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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1989)
Page 14 The Battalion Thursday, February 23,1989 Ole Reviews tO ! ‘Bird’ chronicles success, decline of trend-setting jazz saxophonist “Bird” Starring Forest Whitaker and Diane Venora Directed by Clint Eastwood Rated R By Shane Hall REVIEWER Probably no musician in the field of jazz has been more influential than alto saxophonist Charlie Par ker, nicknamed “Yardbird” because of his fondness for chicken. During the 1940s and 50s, Parker was an ac knowledged leader in the jazz movement known as bebop, a style that emphasized improvisation. In 1945, Parker recorded “Ko Ko,” a landmark recording that as sured Parker of musical immortality. Charlie Parker was a genius, but he also was a man beset by personal troubles. He was an alcoholic and a junkie. During the later years of his life, club owners became reluctant to book him as a performer, fearing that he would show up in no shape to play or not show up at all. In 1955, Parker died of pneumo nia at the age of 34. Doctors esti mated his age to be 50 or 60. Clint Eastwood, a life-long jazz fan and ardent admirer of Parker, brings the story of this legendary artist to the screen in “Bird.” Produced and directed by Eastwood, “Bird” stars Forest Whi taker as Parker and Diane Venora as Parker’s wife, Chan Richardson. “Bird” is a complex film that in cludes several flashbacks within flashbacks before returning to the present. The flashbacks return us to major events in Parker’s younger days, including a humiliating inci dent when he was 16 and forgot the chord changes to “I Got the Rhythm” during a performance. To get the young musician off of the stage, the drummer threw a cym bal to the floor. Unless you are pay ing close attention to what is hap pening, it is easy to lose track of events and when they are happen ing. The film jumps frequently from the 1930s to the ’50s, to the ’40s and back to the ’50s and so on. The portrayal of Parker by Eastwood and screenwriter Joel Oliansky is one that shows us the art ist’s troubled side. In many scenes, Whitaker is seen staggering down a dark New York street, drunk or high. We see a vivid dramatization of Parker’s 1954 suicide attempt in which he swallowed iodine. It is believed that Parker’s at tempted suicide was the result of de pression about his daughter’s death. That view seems to be the film’s con tention as well. Jack Green’s cinematography, with its frequent use of night scenes and dimly-lit interiors, visually heightens the film’s downbeat na ture. In addition to Parker’s personal demons, we also see the way many audiences rejected his music and later, the man himself. A segment of the film portrays a trip to the West Coast by Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in which the California audiences re jected bebop’s innovative, but un conventional style. Later in the movie, as Parker’s personal problems worsen, no club will book him. Even Birdland, the club named for him, declines to give A portrait of Charlie “Bird” Parker. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. him a; The^ffim is mostly accurate in its dramatization of Parker’s life, but it does contain some fictional el ements, particularly the character of Buster (Keith David), who is por trayed as a long-time rival. Buster later finds fame playing rock ’n’ roll while Parker is down on his luck and unable to find work. In real life, Parker had a mentor named Buster, Dallas musician Bus ter Smith. Perhaps it is Smith that the character of Buster is based on, but it seems unlikely. Smith was a friend to Parker; hardly the nemesis Buster in the movie is. Still, the choice of the name “Buster” for a ri val character is curious. The major problem with “Bird” is that in showing us Parker’s personal turmoils and devastating addictions, the portrait of the musical genius is mostly obscured. Although he is not a musician, Forest Whitaker is convincing as “Yardbird” and bears a striking re semblance to Parker. During perfor mance scenes, Whitaker mimed playing the saxophone. Diane Ve nora is memorable as well for her role as Chan Richardson. “Bird,” despite its shortcomings, is Clint Eastwood’s finest film as a di rector. The movie has its artsy touches, but mostly avoids heavy- handed direction. “Bird” is the finest jazz film since 1986’s “’Round Mid night,” and is highly recommended. Around Town Live Music Brazos Landing Brazos Landing is at Northgate. Everyone is admitted. Beer, wine and mixed drinks are served. For more information, call 846-3497. Thursday — Poi Dog Ponder ing. World folk. $5 cover. Friday — Shake Russell. Rock. $5 cover. Saturday — Freddy Steady’s Wild Country. Country. $4 cover. Cow Hop Annex Next to the restaurant at North- gate. Those 18 and older ad mitted. Alcohol s ''ed to legal drinkers. Call 846-1588 for more information. Thursday — XYZ. Heavy metal. $ 1 cover. Friday — Backtracks. Rock. Cover. Saturday — Backtracks. Rock. Cover. Wednesday — Singalong with Sneaky Pete. $ 1 cover. Emiliano’s In Bryan at 502 W. 25th St. Beer, wine and set-ups served. Call 775- 9539 for more information. Friday— Nick Villareal. Span ish. Cover $5-$7. Sunday — FandangoUSA. Con temporary/Spanish. Cover $5-$7. Frank’s Bar and Grill In College Station at 503 E. Uni versity Drive. All ages are ad mitted. Beer, wine and liquor are served to legal drinkers. Call 846- 5388 for more information. Saturday — Local Jazz. lazz. $2 cover. Hall of Fame In Bryan on FM 2818 north of Villa Maria. Those 18 to 20 ad mitted on selected dates. Alcohol served to legal drinkers. Call 822- 2222 for more information. Thursday — Lonesome Dove. $2 cover. Friday — Lonesome Dove. $4 cover. Saturday — Texas Fever. $4 cover. Kay’s Cabaret At Post Oak Mall. Those 18 and over are admitted. Beer, wine and liquor served to legal drink ers. For more information, call 696-9191. Thursday — Hank Townsend. Easy listening. No cover. Friday — The Band with No Sleep. Rock. $2 cover. Saturday — The Scroocs. Grate ful Dead. $2 cover. Cinema Three Located at 315 College Ave. in the Skaggs Shopping Center. Call 693-2796 for more information. The Fly II. Rated R. Showtimes are 7:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Who’s Harry Crumb? Rated PG- 13. Showtime is 7:20 p.m. Ends Friday. Tap. Rated PC-13. Showtime is 9:10 p.m. Ends Friday. True Believer. Rated R. Show- times are 7 p.m. and 9:05 p.m. Working Girl. Rated R. Show- times are 7 p.m. and 9:05 p.m. Opens Friday. Post Oak Three Located in the Post Oak Mall. Call 693-2796 for more information. Her Alibi. Rated PC. Showtimes are 7:10 p.m. and 9:25 p.m. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adven ture. Rated PC. Showtimes are 7:20 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. The ’Burbs. Rated PC. Show- times are 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Twins. Rated PC. Showtimes are 7:15 and 9:50. - ~ - Scrooged. Rated PC-13. Show- times are 7:05 p.m. and 9:35 p.m. Big. Rated PC. Showtimes are 7:10 p.m. and 9:40 p.m. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Rated PC-13. Showtimes are 7 p.m. and 9:25 p.m. Bird. Rated R. Showtime 8 p.m. Ends Friday. Night of the Demons. Rated R. Showtimes are 7:20 and 9:30. Plaza Three In College Station at 226 South west Parkway. Call 693-2457 for more information. Rain Man. Rated R.Showtimes are 7 p.m. and 9:35 p.m. Beaches. Rated PC-13. Show- times are 7:10 p.m. and 9:40 p.m. Three Fugitives. Rated PC. Showtimes are 7:20 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Movies All movies and showtimes are provided by the theaters and are subject to change. Schulman Six In Bryan at 2002 E. 29th Street. Call 775-2643 for more informa tion. The Accidental Tourist. Rated PC. Showtimes are 7:20 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. Physical Evidence. Rated R. Showtimes are 7:15 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Ends Friday. Manor East Three In Bryan in the Manor East Mall. Call 823-8300 for more informa tion. Mississippi Burning. Rated R. Showtimes are 7:05 p.m. and 9:40 p.m. Cousins. Rated R. Showtimes are 7:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Dangerous Liaisons. Rated R. Showtimes are 7:20 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Anecdotes provide great leisure reading By S. Hoechstetter REVIEWER Are you tired of reading cereal boxes and watching MTV during study breaks? Most college stu dents barely have time to read all of the required books for their classes, much less anything just for pleasure. But columnist Lewis Grizzard has come to the recue with his book, “When My Love Returns From the Ladies Room, Will I Be Too Old to Care?” Grizzard’s book is perfect for anyone who wants to take a break from textbooks and term papers. The book is a collection of one- and two-page commentaries, so you can read a few, but it is hard to resist reading most of the book in one sitting. Grizzard is a syndicated news paper columnist from Georgia who writes about everyday events and people in humorous and touching ways. Some of his stories are so funny that you will laugh out loud and all of them are thought-provoking. The variety in his writing makes each story a pleasant sur prise and entices you to readjust one more story, one more chap ter, until you are suddenly at the end of the book. The anecdotes’ topics range from college athletics to women shoppers. Grizzard takes the typ ical good ol’ southern boy stance in many of his commentaries. One of the longest chapters in the book is about women and how long they take when they shop or go to the ladies room. Grizzard says he thinks ladies’ rooms have male strippers and dress shops in them, which is why women take so long in getting out. I want to know the name of the wench who broke the female code of honor and told him this well-kept secret. He gives his reasons for oppos ing the high school no-pass, no play and college entrance exam restrictions on athletes. He also proposes a national apology to Howard Cosell and a crazy idea for a new sport for people who cannot afford million-dollar polo ponies: pig polo. Grizzard thinks soccer is the most boring sport in the world, and he emphasizes that point in several stories. “At least in bowl ing, you can always laugh at those silly bowling shirts and shoes the bowlers wear,” he writes. “The only thing uglier than a bowling shoe is Gloria Vanderbilt.” An article that college students might appreciate reading is tailed “Too Old to Drink?” Grizzard considers that maybe there should be a maximum legal age to drink alcohol instead of the mini mum age of 21. “Older people have a lot more reason to drink than younger people,” he writes. “1 drink more now than I did when 1 was 20. That’s because when I was 201 hadn’t been through three di vorces and the Nixon presiden- cy.” When he suggests that making it illegal to drink after a certain age is unfair Grizzard says, “We did that to young people, didn't we? We picked what sounded like a good number, twenty-one, and we said: Don’t care if you’re mar ried, a parent, a soldier, what ever. Be 21 or be gone. “You know what practically ev ery kid says at least a million times? ‘It’s not fair,’ that’s what they say. And, sometimes they're right.” The man is a die-hard South erner with a capital S and he lets the reader know this by devoting an entire chapter to comparing Yankees to southerners. Grizzard says Americans are experiencing various degrees of culture shock as they move around the country in search of their fortunes. But he also thinks some benefit arises from that phenomenon: “If we all spoke the same, dressed the same, acted the same, thought the same, then this country would not be the unique place that it is, would not have the benefit of our spice and variety, and everybody would be in the Rotary Club...What we all need to realize is the more diverse we are, the stronger we are,” he writes. Grizzard loves to point out our differences and find the humor in life- One qfjiis stories is .almost entirely composed of televangel ist jokes. Other topics, ranging from ordinary to serious, that Grizzard writes about are guys with earrings, girls with neckties, Colonel Qaddafi, condoms, his childhood, airplanes and comput ers. The list seems endless. “When My Love Returns From the Ladies Room, Will I Be Too Old to Care?” is great for anyone on a college monetary and time budget. Its humorous, easy-going style provides welcome respite from tests and studying. HUMIRA, M \fartenz doesn’t an outcast; he say He sold his ggy a year ag about $400. I lathed truck, ibandoned his Jenim overalls pair of jeans an vertising Cargil lives alone, wit , on a tiny I of the conservat oite colony whert “It makes me ate so closed,” ’ in? Spanish car cup of tea bouse. “They ki very, very closed Martenz expr wing the tra< Mennonite Chu over the Mexict 15-year-old son player — a stric Sve Mennonite he can carr God without the sect. He ca Tarahumara Neighbors \ lorn upon. The reclusiv hemselves a clot le homestead ( tys to savor ( ;e Dutch shoi hoeolate cake. Tom between irces of traditic if surviving in a feed society, N |y represent an numbers of donists living younger gene members w closed circle” ears of self-impc Like the plai ional dress, M painted in th implicity and h [olland during nation of the lennonite faith on that renour iliv jew Ik. sect Indian living bark si Players present Ibsen tragedy The Aggie Players will present Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler in Rudder Forum at 8 p.m. Feb. 24 and 25 and March 2-4. Hedda Gabler is the portrait of a cold, tragic, hateful woman who sets out to charm others and then de stroy them. Ultimately, however, she destroys herself. Hedda Gabler marries the uninspiring George Tesman solely to attempt to escape her insecurities. She destroys the masterwork and life of her old lover Elliot Loveberg# eventually is blackmailed by Brack, who holds damning evide® of her role in Loveherg’s death. Ibsen portrays Hedda Gabler as. woman who presents an exquisite n terior to the world that hides neurotic monster of her true pers® ality. Tickets are on sale in Rudder H Office. Tickets for student a nior citizen seats are $4, and genefi public tickets are $5. Animate Draw nued from page 13) (Continued from page 14) cartoons, although some have be come exactly that. But because Ja pan’s censorship laws are more lax than the United States’, they aren’t always suitable for a young audi ence, says Daralyn Wallace, program adviser for Cepheid Variable, A&M’s science-fiction/fantasy club. Some films are simply inappro- E riate for children, she said. “There ave been times when I just walked out on a film because it was too ris que,” she said. U.S. and Other Animators The United States has produced some outstanding animation re cently — Japan does not own the in dustry. The film Who Framed Roger Rabbit by Roger Williams and the television series Mighty Mouse by Ralph Bakshi are examples of U.S. animators’ skills. For the last 23 years, Williams has labored to produce a film called The Thief and the Cobbler, an animated feature film based on the story The Arabian Nights. So far, he has pro duced only 15 minutes of film, and he estimates that it will cost at least $10 million to finish. Hundreds of other animators in the United States and other coun tries produce work seen rarely, if ever, by the general public. Artists like Nedeljko Dragic and Borivoj Dovnikovic of Yugoslavia create po litical animations and comments on social condition, Halas writes. “I had four characters in the film that worked toward a parody of of some of the things that were hap pening in Japanese animation at that time,” Collier said. “There really wasn’t a storyline. The film was an experiment for me to learn how to make the characters move on film.” Collier worked with a meager budget and a pile of typing paper he used for his drawings. His studio was a floor in his broth er’s house and his assistant was a friend with an 8mm camera. After the artwork was finished, Collier arranged the drawings on the floor and began shooting pic tures. The film then was projected onto a screen and videotaped. “I was working at a rate of about 12 drawings per second of film,” he said. “When you put it on film, it takes about one or two frames for each picture, and the film usually runs 24 to 32 frames per second. This is what makes the picture move. “Animation is not difficult to do with whatever equipment is avail able,” Collier says. “It (film) doesn’t look as good as what could be made in a professional studio, but it was well worth the other, but he does intend to make a longer film in the future. “I’m in the process of being torn between aerospace (engineering) and trying to become an animator,” he says. “The only drawback is that it (an imation) doesn’t pay much money because professional studios can’t af ford to pay animators well. Conven tional animation is very expensive as it is.” Meanwhile, the drawings will con tinue to pile up until he decides the time is right for another try at an imation. “I know it may sound like a really horrible hobby,” Collier said, “but I sit around drawing all day.” Rattto headline triple-bill concert, inject performance with spontaneity By Keith Spera such as “Round and Round,” “Lay It Down,” “You’re In Love,” and “Dan- REVIEWER practice. Making the film cost Collier about $50. Since his first feature film, Collier says he hasn’t had time to create an- Graphic by Tim Collier The rock group Ratt will headline a three-band concert at Sam Hous ton Coliseum in downtown Houston Sunday night. The show will contain a twist that is rarely found in today’s technically complex and completely scripted concerts — spontaneity. Ratt is doing something unusual on this tour — they are performing a different set of songs at each con cert, says Matt Schulte, PACE Con cert’s director of publicity. Not having a set playlist is unusual because many major bands play the same songs, in the same order, night after night, which can leave perfor mances sounding stale and mechani cal. While Ratt will perform songs from most of their new album, as well as many of their past hits, they will change the order the songs are played in, and vary their selection of older songs. “This keeps the performances fresh,” Schulte said. “They’ll be playing, and feel the time is right to play a song, so they will. This helps keep Ratt on top of the game.” Ratt will be able to choose songs from a list that includes past hits Their Houston concert is part of a tour to promote their fifth and latest album, Reach for the Sky. The album, on Atlantic Records, has gone gold (sold more than 500,000 copies) and has yielded the single “Way Cool Jr.” Appearing on the bill with Ratt are the bands Britny Fox and Kix. Britny Fox has released one al bum, self-titled, but it already has been certified gold. Britny Fox has produced two hit singles, “Long Way to Love” and “Girlschool.” Opening the show is Kix, a “new” band that actually has been around for 10 years, playing clubs across the country. They have released ft bums on Atlantic Records. Their most recent release, My Fuse, has yielded two whose videos have been highly it; quested on MTV — “Cold B1 and “Blow My Fuse.” Schulte said that Kix recently out a show they played at Houston* Backstage music club, and are"( ‘ an exciting band.” Tickets for the concert are available and cost $17.50. The show will begin at 7:3 half-hour before concerts usual 1 start, so all three bands can perfoif without the show ending latent# usual. Schulte pointed out that “thisals allows Aggies to get back home It fore it gets too late.” ,s^ HEY AGS! % Want to meet new people and see new places -- and have a blast at the same time??? Then travel w/ALSG to Europe this summer! 8 day trip leave in May, June July HENDERSC Valdjawan De< murky Florida ing alligators i carry on a famih The swamps Choctaw India gator wrestler, palm leaves he ness of build kees,” or huts. Deer and h Souto, recentl first chekee in homeofT.C. C The hut rise Ige of a lake erty, providinj tropics on a chil ‘These thing of being in a f own back yard it’s cheaper thai That’s the come to discuss Deer and ! four days on using a mach bark from cypr ess that keeps from rotting. Then, using meticulously v roof from n< leaves — an from Deer’s then “It’s a bit li on the side of a "You start at th the top.” The busine small panhand] allows Deer t< and three chil three full-tim< hires some part- Clement hin chekee in Hen some of Deer earlier trip to FI Deer has bu as California though Clemc built in less tha worked on job: to complete. Some peopl want a hut foi Others seek I build a bar or re Souto, Deer’ hardest part of into the swam] trees and carry by one. The vs main alert for Jnd other c swamplands. Deer is tea now to build cl that the art will You can p swamp with r Sa y s , and we ca For all the inf.ocall Coy Kouba @ 260-5996