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Page 12 The Battalion Monday, February 27, 1989 Reviews Kinison overloads on obscenities, misses humor in tasteless attacks By Keith Spera REVIEWER Certain comedians sometimes reach a level of success where their name recognition is so great, their fame and popularity so widespread, that they apparently believe that anything they do will be funny, even when it isn’t. Sam Kinison has reached that point. He is one of the country’s best- known comics. If any English-speak ing person does not immediately recognize his name, then they almost certainly will correctly identify a pic ture of the portly, long-haired come dian, or at least know his comedic themselves, “Man, this comedy guy rocks,” and then go buy the album. What a surprise when they play it at home and Mom bans it faster than the latest Slayer release. For indeed, unlike the video would suggest, this is not an album of fun rockin’ com edy — in fact, there’s very little com edy of any sort. Kinison has fallen into a trap that has snagged more than a few come dians before him — make the material obscene, make it outra geous, curse your brains out, and it automatically will be funny. At this point, the gimmick of Kini- son’s yell has worn off, and it no longer can carry its comedic weight. The jokes should have grown stronger to pick up where the yell Brilliant? No. Different? Maybe. Completely tasteless and downright offensive? Definitely... Kinison seems to enjoy basking in the dank light of his tasteless-guy reputation. NAME: SAM KINISON 008:12-8-53 AGE: 16 HEIGHT: 5’2" EVES: HAZEL HAIR: LIGHT BROWN WEIGHT: 120 lbs. SEX: M DATE MISSING: S 4-70 FROM: PEORIA, IL trademark — that gut-wrenching bello w of a yell. His fame shows no signs of abat ing. Kinison’s open-mouthed mug recently graced the cover of Rolling Stone and the video of his remake of “Wild Thing,” which stars Jessica Hahn, her recently enlarged breasts, and a dozen or so of Kinison’s heavy- metal cronies, has endeared him to legions of the MTV faithful. All this hype and publicity have catapulted sales of Kinison’s latest “comedy” album, Have You Seen Me Lately?, to the half-million mark. I suspect that many of these pur chasers had no idea what they were getting. A kid sees Kinison’s video on the same MTV countdown as his favorite rock ’n’ rollers. In the video, Kinison frolicks with a sexy, large breasted lady — a cool, rock ’n’ roll thing to do — while members of the reigning hard-rock elite egg him on. The tune itself contains some rude guitar, some aggressive drum ming, a bit of background-vocal shouting, and some Kinison-esque bitch-hating lyrics. The kids say to left off. Instead, they only have gotten more outrageous, and I don’t mean that in a complimentary fashion. Ki nison’s old routine about how his wife wouldn’t let him take his “thing” along when going out with the boys, even though “they’re all bringing theirs,” while not for every one, was still kind of clever, and not beyond the realm of good taste. Now, however, we get to hear about sneaking into a church and having sex on the altar. We also are treated to a “brilliant f-r-ing segue way,” as Kinison puts it, from a dis cussion of the Garden of Eden to a chat about anal sex. Brilliant? No. Different? Maybe. Completely tasteless and downright offensive? Definitely. Granted, comedy can take some liberties with language and subject matter. As Kinison has said, his jokes don’t have to be accurate, because “they’re not prescriptions, they’re jokes.” Sometimes the occasional verbal obscenity can be amusing. But Kini son seems to enjoy basking in the dank light of his tasteless-guy repu tation. He uses the phrase “Just when you thought it couldn’t get any sicker . . .” as an introduction to a story about homosexual necrophilia. Later he tries to justify all the dis gusting stuff with the offhand re mark “It’s my job.” That’s strange — I thought his job was to be funny. If that is his job, he didn’t even ac complish it at the concert he re corded for the album. The audience does not really laugh all that much. They respond to Kinison’s baiting remarks with predictable shouts and cheers. They roar an affirmative when Kinison suggests Jim Bakker should take his own life. They scream “NO!!” when of Sam asks “Do we like to wear rubbers, guys?” The crowd’s reaction, and Kini son’s predictable remarks, brings to mind Morton Downey’s talk show shoutfest. He, too, has a crowd of young white conservative kids who think he’s a really hip, kick-butt hero for the times, a dude who won’t take any crap from anyone. Attack all the right groups — homosexuals, reli gious fanatics, safe-sex — and the crowd will love you. For Mort, this is OK. After all, he is not a comedian by trade. Sam Kinison is a comedian; he should do better. Kinison does manage some funny lines. His discussion of the “Robo- Pope” is kind of humorous. His con tention that Rock Against Drugs makes no sense is sort of clever. Nowhere on this album, though, is there a string of material that could produce a good, long sus tained bout of laughter. A dorm room full of drunk guys might find this album’s brazen, macho swagger mildly amusing, but other than that, the album Have You Seen Me La tely? is best left unseen and defi nitely unheard. Aggie Cinema preview: two French stories of anguish make excellent entertainment “Jean de Florette” “Manon of the Spring” Starring Yves Montand Directed by Claude Berri ★★★★ V2 By Suzanne Hoechstetter and Shane Hall REVIEWERS If you find yourself craving a truly cultural experience go see “Jean de Florette” and “Manon of the Spring” Tuesday night in Rud der Theater. The two-part award winning French saga will be shown back-to-back as part of the Aggie Cinema International Film Series. Both films are in French with En glish subtitles, so the beauty of the language and expression is not lost in dubbing. The films, directed by Claude Berri, were nominated for eight French equivalents of the Academy Awards and won four British film awards (the equivalent of the Oscars) in 1987. After viewing them it is apparent why critics all over the world have been praising this bittersweet saga of love, anguish and revenge. The story begins with “Jean de Florette,” the simpler of the two tales, set sometime around World War I. We are introduced to Cesar Papet Souybeyran (Yves Montand), an aging farmer in the French coun tryside, and his nephew Ugolin Souybeyran. Ugolin decides to plant carnations but knows that he will need more water for irrigation. The Souybey ran property is next to Marius Cam- oins’ farm, which has a spring that Ugolin could use for irrigation. So the scene is set for a nice little Euro pean version of what Texans call a range war. When Marius refuses to sell even an inch of his property to the Souy- beyrans, they send him to his maker a little earlier than he had planned and decide to buy the land so they can use the spring. But dead land owners seem to al ways have relatives to claim their rightful inheritance. Jean Cadoret is the relative who appears on the scene to claim his grandfather’s land. His mother was Florette, which explains the film’s ti tle. Jean, a hunchback, is a tax collec tor from the city who brings his wife and little girl, Manon, to the coun try, where they plan to farm and raise rabbits for the rest of their lives. The only thing Jean knows about farming and breeding rabbits is what he has read in books. He knows there is a spring on his land but he cannot find it because the Souybey- rans plugged it up with cement. As the movie continues, we see Jean and his family struggling to get enough water to keep their farm, and hopes, alive. Jean runs himself and his mule ragged in the process, but retains his optimism and ideals, refusing to give up. Sadly, his strug gle is to no avail. The story continues in the second part of this saga, “Manon of the Spring.” In this finely-crafted sequel, we see Manon as a young woman liv ing on the property, raising goats. During “Manon of the Spring,” we see the story slowly unravel much in the form of the ancient Greek tra gedies of Sophocles, such as “Oedi pus Rex” and “Antigone.” Ugolin sees Manon one day while he is walking in the hills and in stantly falls in love. He makes a fool out of himself by shouting his love for her. He becomes obsessed and sews one of her hair ribbons to his chest. She is repulsed by his show of af fection because she knows he is in part responsible for her father’s death. Manon finds her way to fight back for the injustice when she discovers the underground source of the spring. She seizes her opportunity for revenge by blocking the flow to Ugolin’s carnations and the rest of the village. Since nobody can get water, the crops are damaged and Manon com pletes her revenge by exposing the Souybeyrans’ deceptive acts. The end makes seeing both parts of this saga well worthwhile, but we won’t ruin the experience for you by giving it all away. This is something you just have to experience to be lieve. It is a story of anguish and sorrow. Some cruel twists of fate give the tear-jerker saga a surprise ending. “Jean de Florette” and “Manon of the Spring” will be shown Tuesday at 7 p.m. Both films can be seen for $2.50 with a student I.D. Singer gives insight into making her debut album Tanita Tikaram Ancient Heart Reprise Records ★★★ By S. Hoechstetter REVIEWER Few people know exactly what they want to do with their lives. Even fewer know what they want and how to do it by the time they are 19. But 19-year-old Tanita Tika ram has her act together. She knows what she does best and has proves it on her debut album, An cient Heart. This young musician fuses an interesting combination of folk and jazz to create a style all her own. On a promotional tape for her new album, Tikaram dis cusses people who have in fluenced her work and her phi losophy about songwriting. Otis Redding, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles were some of her favorite artists, Tikaram says. “They had a knack for choosing great songs,” she says. “I discovered Otis Reddine in my father’s record collection and my mother hated him because he has such a rough voice,” she says. “She was very much a Sam Cooke fan and I like Sam Cooke, but Otis Redding has just so much soul . .1 was terribly impressed. ‘ Even as a kid you know when somebody’s got it.” Tikaram seems to have it, too. She has a deep sensuous voice and knows how to make the best of it by letting it seemingly float without effort over mostly guitar and piano instrumentals. “Valentine Heart” clearly shows how the album is made be cause the song is orchestrated around what she plays on the gui tar, she says. “When I write a song I never think about where it’s going to end up,” she says. “But when you live with a song for a bit you ob viously want to do something with it and I find that if you have to add instruments, it can take away sometimes if you’re not handling it properly,” Tikaram says in her clipped British accent. She seems sure of what she is doing and aware of the power in her art. Although her songs focus on gathering hope and strength, most of the lyrics are somewhat ambiguous, but they contribute to the mysterious effect she seeks. “You never know where your next song is coming from,” Tika ram says. “It’s always a surprise to me, because I never understand a song until about two months after I’ve written it, which is a very per verse thing. “There’s no reason why my songs should mean anything to anybody else,” she says. “It’s a very peculiar thing but the fact that they do is still a mystery to me.” The song “Twist in Sobriety” is melancholic, but Tikaram ex plains that she got the idea for the song when she was studying po etry. A poem raised the question of leaving an ordinary sober life for one of chaos. Just knowing you can leave allows you to stay in the ordinary life, Tikaram says. The chorus paints a picture of a life so ordinary that the person living it is almost nonexistent with lyrics like, “Look, my eyes are just holograms, look your love has drawn red from my hands/From my hands you know you’ll never be more than twists in my sobrie ty” Many of her songs come from personal experiences or people she has encountered. “Some of the songs obviously come from personal experiences,” she says. “There’s always a part of you in a song.” Perhaps that was her message in “Good Tradition,” a peppy tune that seems to embody some of Tikaram’s philosophy. She not only includes part of herself in her work, but she also tries to maintain a certain level of integ rity to give each song her best ef fort. “The thing about the Beatles was that they were very keen to do the best for each song,” she says. “They had no overall view on anything. They were just keen to bring out the best in each indi vidual song.” If Tanita Tikaram continues to demand the best from herself, she may become a good musical tradition in her own right. Author provides guide detailing movie making for aspiring film-makers By Shane Hall REVIEWER The 1980s have been the great est decade since the ’60s for inde pendent film makers. The rise in Hollywood production costs and the VCR revolution are just two factors contributing to the in crease in movies made by film makers working outside of the Hollywood system. The independent producers have become home for some of the most daring, creative work in movies today. Newsweek once proclaimed, “The day of the American independent movie is at hand.” John Russo, who wrote and co produced the 1968 horror classic, “Night of the Living Dead,” has written a definitive work on the fascinating world of independent film making in his book, “Making Movies,” published by Dell Pub lishing. “Making Movies” is a complete how-to guide to independent movie production and covers vir tually every subject from how to finance and distribute films to what kind of equipment to buy. The book also contains inter views with people working in va rious divisions of the film indus try who have gained measurable success as independents. Russo’s interview subjects range from di rectors of cult classics (Tobe Hooper, George Romero) to Aca demy Award winners (Dick Smith, Oliver Stone). Russo writes in an optimistic and personal style, often using second-person form, he ad dresses the reader one-on-one. His basic message to aspiring film makers is that they can find success if they have the drive. “Sometimes getting there can seem like an impossible dream. But I want to put some flesh on your dream. I want to clothe it in reality,” Russo writes in the book’s introduction. After reading the entire book, Russo comes across as sincere rather than as someone making a cheap sales pitch. The combina tion of Russo’s own writing and the anecdotes from others makes for fascinating, entertaining reading, whether you are an as piring movie maker or a die-hard movie buff. Russo begins the book with the story of how he and George Ro mero, after years of sleeping on floors and doing films of wed dings and babies, finally suc ceeded with “Night of the Living Dead,” still one of the most suc cessful independent films ever made. Subsequent chapters.cover top ics such as necessary film making equipment, making your film look more professional, budget ing and raising the money to fi nance your first feature. In another chapter, director Sam Raimi (“The Evil Dead,” “E- vil Dead II”) shares his experi ence of borrowing from doctors, dentists and “anyone who might have a few extra dollars” to fi nance his first film, “The Evil Dead.” Lizzie Borden, another inde pendent film maker, talks as well about raising money outside of Hollywood to make her film, “Working Girls,” a critically ac claimed look at life in a brothel. Many film makers start out working on television commeri- cals. Directors Adrian Lyne (“Fa tal Attraction”) and Michael Ci- mino (“The Deer Hunter”) are two examples of film makers who got their start making commer cials. “Making Movies” includes an informative discussion of working in the commercial indus try. In part three, “Cast, Crew and Co-Conspirators,”* Russo dis cusses working with those who work in front of and behind the camera. This section includes an ecdotes and tips from makeup artist Dick Smith, who won an Academy Award for his work on “Amadeus,” and animator/special effects artist Rick Catizone, who worked on “Creepshow,” “Evil Dead II” and “Night of the Living Dead.” If there is any weakness to the book, it is the amount of attention Russo gives to horror film makers compared to those in other genres. Granted, the rise in inde pendent film making has beenes- recially beneficial to the world of torror, but some noted indepen dents are given little more than casual mention. John Sayles (“Matewan," “Eight Men Out”) and the late John Cassavetes are two exam ples. This complaint, however, is minor, considering that in looking at horror, the book fea tures some of the cream of the crop of horror film makers (Ro mero, Raimi, Tobe Hooper). The book’s appendix features some sample contracts for music and partnerships, among others. “Making Movies” is highly rec- commended for anyone with a love of movies and above all, those who yearn to try making them. In fact, upon completion of the book, don’t be surprised if you find yourself chomping at the bit to try your hand at film making. Band’s debut LP full of political commentary The Toll Price of Progression Geffen Records ★ ★★ By S. Hoechstetter REVIEWER Raucous and political are the first two words that come to mind when trying to describe The Toll’s new al bum Price of Progression. This rock- n-roll quartet combines wild, pas sionate music with harsh political commentaries. Lead vocalist Brad Circone has a loud, coarse voice that he takes to ex tremes. He shouts or whispers to emphasize some political or social statement. In “Jonathan Toledo,” a severe criticism of the suffering and perse cution Native Americans have had to endure, Circone shouts, “The reser vation, oh it still survives/Do not close your eyes!” Then he gives a long Indian whoop. “Take my hand across this land, to some promised sand,” he sings. At the end of the song he shouts again, “This is the culture of sham bles!/ This is the culture of hypoc risy!/ This is the culture of shame!” He is talking about the white man — not Indians. Except for lyrical content, most of the songs are the same. The Toll are not particularly diverse. They write all of their songs, so maybe they just write what they know they do best. They have a definite style that they follow in most of the songs. The songs start out loud and wild, usually featuring guitarist Rick Silk and drummer Brett Mayo. Greg Bar- tram joins in later on bass. The songs all follow the same for mat. Circone makes a political com ment before he actually begins to sing. The music slows down later in the song. Circone shouts something else followed by a short instrumen tal. It ends suddenly and loudly. It’s not necessarily a bad style; it's just predictable. “Smoke Another Cigarette makes deep philosophical statements and after each one Cir cone whispers, “Smoke another ciga rette.” It is a sublime comment on how the world deals with problems by creating more problems. “Word of Honor” is about how undignified it is to lose sight of in tegrity for the sake of success. “Anna-41-Box” and “Living in the Valley of Pain” are two songs about the sorrow and anguish in life. “Anna-41-Box” is about an ordinary woman who has no more life left in her because she has given everything to her selfish husband and children. She merely goes through the mo tions of housework and being a mother and wife. Circone asks, “Anna, won’t you break you servile chains?. . . Anna,! know you’re in there.” “Living in the Valley of Pain” pits art and intellectualism against reli gion. Circone gives a lengthy narra tive about a young boy named Jameson Rain who denies the church early in life because all he sees in it is fear and hypocrisy. The song graphically tells of the pain he goes through in his fight within himself and against his par ents and the church. “I haven’t done anything wrong! he shouts. “Why can’t you let me carve my own creative niche?” He even goes as far as to say, “Catholi cism imposes guilt and it leaves me with insanity and rage!” It is a brutal and bitter song. The Price of Progression is highly political, and most of the songs are thought-provoking in their presen tation. The album is good, but it could be a lot better if the band would vary its sound a little bit. 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