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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1989)
Monday, February 27,1989 The Battalion Page 13 aide aking lakers i piers .cover top ary film making ing your film ssional, budget- lie money to fi lature. lapter, director Evil Dead,” “E- ues his experi- g from doctors, ^one who might t dollars” to ft- film, ‘The Evil , another inde- cer, talks as well iney outside of nake her film, a critically ac- e in a brothel, akers start out fision commeri- Irian Lyne (“Fa- ind Michael Ci- r Hunter”) are ilm makers who taking commer- lovies” includes discussion of mmercial indus- ‘Cast, Crew and >,”^0550 dis- ,vith those who and behind the ion includes an- from makeup i, who won an for his work on animator/special i Catizone, who ;epshow,” ‘‘Evil glit of the Living weakness to the Hint of attention rror film makers hose in other the rise in inde- fing has been es- I to the world of noted indepen- little more than (“Matewan,” ”) and the late are two exam- lint, how ever, is tring that in r, the book fea- ie cream of the 1m makers (Ro- ie Hooper), pendix features tracts for music , among others. ’ is highly rec- anyone with a and above all, to try making m completion of be surprised if If chomping at ur hand at film ull ‘iitary ily and loudly. Its bad style; it’s just ther Cigarette" p h i 1 osophical ter each one Cir- noke another ciga- lime comment on als with problems iroblems. or” is about how o lose sight of in- ; of success, and ‘‘Living in the e two songs about anguish in life, about an ordinary to more life left in is given everything land and children, through the mo- ark and being a ‘Anna, won’t you diains?. . . Anna, I :re.” 7 alley of Pain” pits alism against reli- :s a lengthy narra- >ung boy named who denies the ife because all he d hypocrisy, hically tells of the ough in his fight d against his par- :h. anything wrong!" can’t you let me eative niche?” He is to say, “Catholi- t and it leaves me rage!” It is a brutal agression is highly t of the songs are g in their presen- iod, but it could be tand would vary its . But it does not 11 has sacrificed in- ; of progress. Reviews ‘Hedda Gabler’ full of great acting Elliot Loevborg (Oliver Tull) confronts Hedda Gabler (Emma Reading) in last weekend’s performance of Hedda Gabler. ByCray Pixley ENTERTAINMENT WRITER The Aggie Players’ production of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler moves the action from the playwright’s na tive Norway to a post-Civil War city in the American South. Cruel, manipulative comments drip off the lips of the protagonist like honey on a June afternoon. Emma Reading, in the title role, plays Hedda as a repressed South ern belle fenced in by her social envi ronment. The refined accent and charming exterior hide a dangerous woman. Reading’s Hedda is a newly mar ried woman cornered into a power less and hopeless future as a wife and mother. Hedda’s living is done vicariously through others in her bid to have control over their lives. Her desire to shape a man’s des tiny ultimately destroys a former ad mirer, Elliot Loevborg, and then herself. As Hedda, Reading gives a vivid performance in which every nuance of the character is brought forth. She is at her best when violently shoving a pin into the hat of her rival Mrs. Elvsted, played by Eanell Pena, or when firing her pistol out the gar den door. Her life is only temporarily brightened by making vicious re marks to virtually anyone with whom she comes in contact. Hedda Gabler is a woman of vio lent emotions. She burns a master- work manuscript, plays the piano with fury and pulls hair during her storm of feelings. By her reputation, Hedda ap pears as a prize, adored and desired by all men. However, she lives life feeling she has no power over anything or any one and merely drifts through her existence. Hedda’s boredom is clearly re vealed by her restless movements within scene designer Jimmy Hum phries’ impeccable drawing room set. The attention to detail in Hum phries’ set fully transforms Rudder Forum into a beautiful 19th century parlor. From the furniture to the miniature pictures on the walls, the scene is authentic. The attractive surroundings belie the dark side of Hedda Gabler. The drawing room is the backdrop for all of Hedda’s obsessions and repres sion. The houselights are still up at the beginning of the second act when Hedda enters searching for some thing, anything, to occupy her time. The audience is given a peeping Tom perspective into Hedda’s dis pleasure. She investigates books, photo al bums and walls before finding solace in shooting her father’s old pistols. The three men in Hedda’s life are obstacles and tools in her grasp for power over someone. Hedda’s husband, George Tes- man (Jonathan Burke), provides her with little, if any, entertainment. Tesman spends the majority of his time caught between the pages of a new book or compiling research notes for his next stuffy book. Burke is accomplished as the be fuddled and sexually innocent scholar. His absent-minded profes sor’s personality is no match for the excitement-thirsty Hedda. Burke’s Tesman is oblivious to the lecherous presence of Steven A. Mc Cauley’s Judge Brack. The judge, full of sexual in nuendo, is extremely interested in relieving Hedda’s boredom in a manner she finds acceptable only if she remains in control. McCauley’s Brack is the only emo tionally detached character who is aware of Hedda’s marriage of dis pleasure. He is the sinister bystander prepared to capitalize on Hedda’s disastrous dealings with her pawn, Elliot Loevborg. Oliver Tull as Loevborg com pletes Hedda’s triangle of men. Tull gives a measured performance as Tesman’s rival scholar who puts both power and his life into Hedda’s hands. It is not giving anything away to say Hedda mishandles both. She fails to mold his destiny as she had envisioned, and as she perceives it, her life becomes worthless. Hedda’s role in Loevborg’s death places a tighter fence around her. Her amoral conduct must be pun ished and Brack pushes Hedda to her limit. Although Hedda Gabler would seem to provide for an unsettling night at the theater, and it does, the play did have a significant injection of humor. Both Reading’s stiff sarcasm and Burke’s fumbles provided a false lightness that offset some of the hor ror of Hedda’s actions. That is what is terrifying about Hedda Gabler. Hedda destroys oth ers and herself with a smile on her face. Hedda GaWer continues March 2- 4 at 8 p.m. in Rudder Forum. Tick ets are available at Rudder Box Of fice for $4 for students and senior citizens and $5 for the general pub lic. Family turns junk into country museum TRIMBLE, Mo. (AP) — It doesn’t have a curator, a budget or board of directors. But what the Ma & Pa’s Museum of Yesteryears lacks in pol ish and reputation, it makes up for in country charm. Eugenia and Willis McIntosh have converted an old barn into a reposi tory of memorabilia, collectibles and antiques, mostly their own, but some from friends, neighbors and rela tives. To a person who grew up early in this century, a stroll through the mu seum could be a trip down memory lane, past ice boxes and coal-burning cook stoves, hand-powered kitchen gadgets and farm tools. “Having it all together. . .it brings back memories of things we had when we grew up,” Eugenia McIn tosh says. From another perspective, the museum is the result of a lifetime of hoarding. “It’s stuff that we didn’t take to the holler,” Mrs. McIntosh says, ref erring to the hollow that was the ru ral dumping ground north of Platts- burg where both grew up. “No, we don’t throw anything away,” she adds. “We hang on to ev erything. I threw away some stuff once and a week later I needed it. I went back to the holler and got it. I’ve never thrown anything away again.” The Mclntoshes and their son, Gene, an inveterate collector, gath ered it all under one roof and orga nized it into thematic groups. Each is identified by a handcrafted sign, such as “Pa’s country store.” That’s in the loft, where a mannequin tends the cash register, a checkerboard game sits atop a pickle barrel and old-time products line the shelves. Another group, “Ma’s working tools”, includes an old apple peeler, food grinder, cherry pitter, coleslaw* cutter, cream separator, milk strainer, butter churner, lemon squeezer, sorghum mill, hand- cranked cider mill and a rat trap. Among “Pa’s working tools” are a banding iron, corn sheller, lard press and a 7-foot-tall Keen Kutter tool cabinet full of Keen Kutter tools. In “Yesteryear’s recreation” are old-fashioned ice skates, fishing equipment, a tricycle, croquet set and well-worn baseball gloves and foot balls. Then there is a collection of Coca- Cola bottles, barbed wire, yardsticks, post cards, license plates, more than 500 mounted pens and pencils with advertisements from area businesses and whiskey decanters shaped like cats from Katz Drugs. “We collect everything,” Mrs. Mc Intosh says. The Mclntoshes, both 74 and life long residents of Clinton County, moved to Trimble in 1957. McIn tosh is a carpenter and handyman for hire, and his wife w’as the school cook until she retired in 1984. They opened the museum on Me morial Day 1985. At that time Smithville Lake had just opened, and the 200 or so resi dents of Trimble, just west of the reservoir, expected a business and land value boom. It never materia lized. On Highway 169, north and south of town, the Mclntoshes put up signs advertising the museum, but the Missouri Highway Department or dered them removed. One sign still stands within the city limits. Attendance was good the first year but has dropped off since. A check of the guest book for 1988 showed about 150 visitors, some from as far as Fairbanks, Alaska. B.B. King’s latest work obscures his blues skills B.B. King King of the Blues: 1989 MCA Records *i/ 2 By Shane Hall REVIEWER When B.B. King wrote his big gest hit, “The Thrill is Gone,” in 1970, he easily could have been describing the music he has re corded in the past decade. King has long been acknowl edged as the king of the blues. His very name is virtually synony mous with blues. His recordings of “The Thrill is Gone” and Low ell Fulson’s “Everyday I Have the Blues,” among others, are prime examples of his legacy. Unfortunately, King’s more re cent efforts have not lived up to the standards of earlier accom plishments. During the 1980s, King has made a concerted effort to give his music a contemporary sound that will have broader ap peal. Usually, that means con forming to this age of music by computers and other high-tech gadgets. It is not to say that King can’t use contemporary styles and de liver a good song. “When Love Comes to Town,” his collabora tion with U2, is a fine example. On that song, King stole the stage from Ireland’s favorite musical sons. But “When Love Comes to Town,” sadly, has been the excep tion rather than the rule. King of the Blues: 1989, on MCA Records, is King’s latest al bum and one of his worst. On the 10-song album, he uses a formula that carries over onto most of the tracks: ballads with heavy use of synthesizers and drum machines, female back-up singers and occasional horn tracks. The result is less than sat isfying. “(You’ve Become a) Habit to Me,” the album’s first single, sets the pace for what is in store on the remainder of the record. The song’s use of electronic drums and funky bass lines is promi nent. Songs such as “Drowning In the Sea of Love” and “Go On” are examples of the ballad form. Not even the work of guest musicians A1 Kooper (who also produced some of the songs) and Bonnie Raitt can save them. The worst, song, however, is “Change In Your Lovin,’ ” on which the electronics are so over used that one suspects King is try ing to get a song into the dance clubs. His blues roots are all but obscured. “Business With My Baby To night” and “Standing On the Ed ge” are little more than tolerable. Here, King’s musical roots are more apparent. “Business. . .” features a full horn section that includes Alan Rubin and Lou Marini (a member of the Blues Brothers band) and makes for a listenable, but far from great, iece of modern rhythm and lues. “Standing. . uses another re spected horn player, jazz saxo phonist Tom Scott, and King plucks some bluesy licks on his beloved guitar, Lucille. Aside from these and one or two other songs, King of the Blues: 1989 is a lackluster effort. Modern musical technology is not something that cannot be used effectively in rhythm and blues music. Malaco Records, based in Mississippi, is a blues la bel that has released albums mak ing use of synthesizers. Many Malaco recordings have even used string sections. T he re sults have often been pleasing. The artists on Malaco, however, are trying to make rhythm and blues music. This is what distin guishes their work from King’s on this album. Unfortunately, King of the Blues: 1989 demonstrates that B.B. King is not what the album’s title claims. Waco to purchase collection of Old West’sfamous weapons WACO (AP) — The city of Waco is negotiating to buy some of the most famous guns that won the West. Former banker and cotton bro ker Gaines de Graffenried, the unpaid curator of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Mu seum, is glad the collection may be kept intact. “I knew I couldn’t take it with me,” de Graffenried told The Dallas Morning News. About 75 percent to 80 percent of the 3,240 rare and historic guns and artifacts displayed in the city-owned Ranger museum are part of the collection owned by de Graffenried and his sons, Tommy and Flem, both of Hous ton. Most of the other artifacts in the museum — including a Bowie knife and other Western weap onry — have been donated by people who fell victim to de Graf- fenried’s good-ol’-boy charm, or his ability as a trader. “I never found much stuff I wanted that 1 eventually didn’t get a hold of,” de Graffenried said, pointing to a 1920 saddle on display. “I stayed on that thing 20 years before I finally got it,” he said. “He’s the only curator we’ve ever had, and we’ve never paid him anything,” said former City Manager David Smith, who is ne gotiating the purchase of the guns. “He’s acquired a lot of col lections down there. “We started looking at what be longed to him down there, and looking at Gaines’ age and we thought, ‘Now what are we going to do when Gaines is gone?’ ” De Graffenried won’t reveal his age, but admits to being more than 80. Smith approached de Graffen ried about ha!ving the city buy the collection of guns, art and histori cal documents displayed in the museum. When the family agreed last summer to sell most — but not all — of their items in the museum, Smith took the pro posal to Waco City Council. Despite a murmur of dissent, the council voted to sell bonds to finance various capital im provements — and to provide up to to $1 million for purchasing the artifacts de Graffenried was willing to sell. All that remains is settling on a price, to be negotiated after two expert appraisals of the guns and another appraisal of the art and other memorabilia. The first ap praisal began in early January; the sale is expected to be com pleted by March. In a telephone interview from his Connecticut home, the collec tion’s first appraiser, firearms au thority Larry Wilson, described de Graffenried’s collection as “most impressive” and “very im portant to the history of Texas and the Southwest.” Wilson had not totaled the itemized list he prepared for the sale, but he said the most valuable appraised piece is a $65,000 Colt revolver, one of the four 1847 Walker models now in the mu seum. “It’s the gun that Sam Colt de signed with Texas in mind, the one developed for the (early) Texas Rangers,” he said. Two sawed-off shotguns owned by outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are in the mu seum, along with the pistol Bon nie slipped to Clyde in 1930 to help him escape from the McLen nan County Jail in Waco. Articles owned by the late Frank Hamer, the former Ranger who ended their spree in 1934, are there, too. Fhe most valuable appraised piece is a $65,000 Colt revolver, one of the four 1847 Walker models now in the museum. Two sawed-off shotguns owned by outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are (also) in the museum. Japanese go crazy over latest fad: fancy designer vegetable boutiques TOKYO (AP) - Wait a minute. Cucumbers growing to the strains of Mozart? Eggplants in a boutique? Tomato as a name for a bank? Only in Japan, where money flows freely for the latest fad. “These are times of plenty, and la tely we’ve been seeing customers looking for a change, something out of the ordinary,” says Masashi Ozura, produce manager at a de partment store in Osaka, Japan. “They want brand names, vegeta bles produced in a special way or of a special variety,” Ozura says. He also says shoppers are willing to pay the price, which may be triple that for the garden variety. So the department store, Umeda Hankyu, sells cucumbers and other vegetables that are organically grown and pampered with music. “Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi are what we usually play, but most classi cal music will do,” says Yoshito Otani, a spokesman for the farm where the vegetables are grown in greenhouses rigged with record players. Yoshihisa Tsuchiaki, owner of Ka- nesho, a vegetable boutique in Kyoto, says: “We thought it was about time for people to start dis criminating between good vegeta bles and average vegetables.” Kanesho’s produce, “Kyoyasai,” is a sought-after brand, but Tsuchiaki says the produce owes most of its popularity to tradition. “Kyoto is an ancient city with thousands of years of history,” he says. “Vegetables raised here were part of the imperial family’s diet.” Tsuchiaki says his goal was to cre ate an attractive, fashionable atmo sphere for the shop, breaking with the drab grocery store image. At his boutique, vegetables are labeled with bits of Kyoyasai history and cooking hints. One designer eggplant sold re cently at Kanesho for $4, about five times the price of an ordinary egg plant in suburban Tokyo. “I don’t think there has been any basic change in how people think about vegetables,” says Shigeru Na kamura, editor of Dime magazine, which follows Japanese market trends. “But in the past few years vegeta bles have been caught up in the trend toward luxury goods and brand names.” At the forefront of the trend is a bank in southwestern Japan. It has chosen to shuck stuffy tradition and change its name to fit the times. Hajime Yokoyama of the Sanyo Mutual Bank of Okayama, soon to be the Tomato Bank, says public re sponse to the name change has been favorable. “The media made quite a fuss and overall gave us good coverage, which might have helped people accept the name,” Yokoyama says. “There have been a few negative letters, but the majority have expressed support.” According to a news release an nouncing the change, the bank de cided tomatoes are “beautiful, cute, pure, delicious,” and something that people feel good about. “This is a name that can be under stood in Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, London or Paris,” the release said. The Japanese name for the juicy red vegetable is the same as in En glish, pronounced on the toMAHto side of the toMAYto-toMAHto di vide. 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 For all the inf.ocall Coy Kouba @ 260-5996