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Dean
Sueltenfuss
Lifestyles Editor
Several
weeks ago,
Scot Walker,
the editor of
The Battalion,
shared with
you the
thoughts of
several A&M
students about
birth control.
Reader re
sponse was-
good, and a number of people called in or wrote let
ters, saying they were glad Scot had written the
column.
Of course, we might have gotten that reader re
sponse just because Scot’s column dealt with SEX
(you gotta put that word in bold and make it upper
case to draw the reader’s attention).
So OK, it could have been just the SEX that got
the response. Maybe it didn’t really matter what Scot
was saying about SEX, just as long as he was saying
something about SEX.
But this column isn’t about SEX. Remember, it’s
not about SEX at all. No SEX here.
So this column is not about SEX, but it’s about an
other issue that is important to most college stu
dents. It’s a subject that some people might not want
to read about, but it’s important nonetheless.
Frankly, the time has come to confront this ugly is
sue:
Brussels sprouts. Who eats ^em and why?
I already had prepared my brussels sprouts sur
vey and was planning to ask a few students to give
me their views on brussels sprouts (confidentially, of
course) when a friend of mine pointed out that the
average college student doesn’t give a hoot about
brussels sprouts.
“Brussels sprouts is stupid,” he said. “Damn stu
pid.”
So today’s column will not be about brussels
sprouts. Instead it will be about syndicated columnist
Dave Barry.
But befpre we get to Dave, I have a neat trick to
show you:
Take your copy of The Battalion and place it on a
flat surface like a desk or a table. Now press down on
the newspaper with the palm of your hand. (This
trick will work best if you have sweaty palms like I
do.) OK, now remove your hand from the paper and
take a look at your palm.
You can read that type right off your own hand,
can’t you? Amazing!
You won’t get reproductive quality like that from
the Chronicle or the Morning News. No sir, only
The Battalion offers its readers the chance to read
the news right off of their own hands. (The secret is
our patented E-Z Smudge® ink.)
Actually, we’re thinking about centering a new ad
vertising campaign around this concept.
“The Battalion: There’s always time for the news
when it’s printed all over your hands.”
But back to our topic for the day: syndicated col
umnist Dave Barry.
As you probably know if you’ve read any of Dave’s
columns, Dave is a funny guy. Damn funny.
He writes for a newspaper in Florida — the Miami
Herring, I think —and his columns appear in other
newspapers across the country.
The fact that Dave is such a well-known person
makes it difficult for me to say what I’m about to say,
especially since he works for an esteemed newspaper
like the Hairball. Dave, if you’re out there, just re
member that I didn’t want it to come to this, hut you
gave me no choice.
Frankly folks, Dave Barry has been stealing my
columns for several years now, and I’m just about
sick of it.
In fact, Dave, as I’m sure you’ll remember, I even
called you one time and tried to straighten out this
mess. Do you remember that call, Dave? Do you?
Well, good, because I recorded our conversation and
See sprouts/Page 7
Pogues blend rousing Irish tunes,
punk style in rollicking concert
By Eric Truax
and K. Diane Beil
Special to The Battalion
We knew this was gonna be great. The
Pogues back in Austin at the Opera
House on a Saturday night. Memories of
last year’s concert at Liberty Lunch lin
gered, images of people alternately
dancing, jumping and jigging to
punked-up Irish tunes, beer flowing
freely, losing themselves in ajoyful cele
bration of Irishness and rock ’n roll in a
hotter-than-hell concert hall.
Those of you who have heard of the
Pogues know that they are hard to de
scribe, a neo-punk/folk band that re
interprets the folk tradition with mando
lin, accordion, penny whistle, guitars
and even a backing brass section. Just as
important as the instrumentation is the
attitude and image, an image they seem
intent on perpetuating.
An image of eight drunken Irish mu
sicians gleefully and fiercely attacking
traditional Irish tunes in a way that de
fies any categorization. An image that
was not too far off the mark at last Satur
day’s concert and which carried over
with them afterwards, keeping us from
dismissing the image as a package sold to
the public.
In case you aren’t quite up on your Ir
ish Gaelic, the Pogues’ name comes from
the phrase “pogue mahone,” which
translated colloquially means “kiss my
ass.” This attitude is, it seems, Shane
MacGowan’s creed in life, apparent as he
walks on-stage wearing his Ray-Bans,
with a cigarette in one hand, squirt bottle
of unknown contents in the other, some
how managing to hold onto the micro
phone as he snarls incoherently the ly
rics of the opening song, “The Sick Bed
of Cuchulainn,” from their second al
bum Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.
But it makes no difference to the au
dience that MacGowan can barely stand
up, this is what we’re here to see, we al
ready know the lyrics.
The Pogues’ music is and has always
been rooted in a very Irish tradition of
enduring oppression, tragedy and mis
fortune, usually at the hands of the En
glish. On their new album Peace and
Love, on Island Records, this comes out
most vehemently on the song “Young
Ned of the Hill:” “A curse upon you Oli
ver Cromwell/You who have raped our
Motherland/I hope you’re rotting down
in hell/For the horrors that you sent/to
our misfortunate forefathers/Whom you
robbed of their birthright. .
Peace and Love is different from their
earlier, more “traditional” albums, in
that the songs are penned by all of the
members of the band, rather than just
MacGowan’s writings and the band’s
rearrangement of traditional Irish
tunes.
This fact changed the topics and the
feel of the songs. They write about what
they know best — what it’s like to be in a
band. Jem Finer wrote the song “Misty
Morning, Albert Bridge,” a disturbingly
sad tune about being on tour and being
separated from the woman he loves by
an entirely too large ocean.
“Cotton Fields” by MacGowan is about
having post-drink paranoia involving
crucifixion by critics — the ones at home
and the scarier one residing in his own
head. “Gartloney Rats” apparently is
wishful thinking by the Pogues about a
legendary band who could drink until
morning but still stay sober. One of the
best songs on the album is the haun-
tingly desperate love song “Lorelei,” by
Philip Chevron. Listen to it and you tell
us what it means.
What this meant for the concert was
See Pogues/Page 7
Photo by K. Diane Bell
James Fearnley of the Pogues plays the accordion at their concert last
Saturday in Austin.
Shallow Reign to play at Texas
Star Tavern Saturday night
By John Righter
Of The Battalion Staff
From the inner depths of Deep Ellum
comes Shallow Reign, a guitar-oriented,
‘60s-influenced band from the popular Dal
las art district.
But Robert Englund, the band’s represen
tative, is quick to point out, “Shallow Reign is
not just a copy of the ‘60s’ sound, they have a
definite alternative outlook combined with
some powerful Zeppelinesque guitar crunch.
The sound is very accessible.”
They will be performing Saturday night at
the Texas Star Tavern, marking their sec
ond appearance in College Station.
Shallow Reign has played together in its
present form for the past five years, releas
ing their second LP Strange World earlier
this month. Strange World is currently the
rave of the Dallas critic circles, reflecting a
satisfaction in Shallow Reign’s broadened
tastes.
“The new album is ten times better than
the first one (Shallow Reign). The style is
much more indicative of Shallow Reign’s di
rection, a more accessible AOR (album-
oriented rock) sound that at the same time
doesn’t shoot for big time FM airplay. It is
very much their own unique sound.”
Besides their two albums, Shallow Reign
has also appeared on a compilation of the
Dallas music scene entitled, The Sound of
Deep Ellum, contributing a track entitled “P-
aint The Flowers All Black.” The band is also
featured in the upcoming Tom Cruise film,
“Born on the Fourth of July,” in which they
perform a version of Credence Clearwater
Revival’s “Born on the Bayou.”
Englund cites the commercialism and new
found popularity of the Deep Ellum section
as a great boost to Shallow Reign’s success,
one that has enabled them to tour nation
wide and open for successful bands like The
Cult, The Alarm, Green On Red and The
Dream Syndicate.
“All the money coming into this section
has enabled the poor kids to get a break. It’s
been a tremendous boost for bands like Shal
low Reign who have worked so hard and
paid their dues. We no longer have to live in
a wharehouse.”
Shallow Reign is comprised of lead vocal
ist and guitarist Bob Watson, bassist Mark
Thomas, drummer Brad Robertson and gui
tarist Kit Chambers. The band intends to im
press their listeners. In fact, if you’re plan
ning on listening to them this weekend, keep
in mind that when they played in Denton last
month they not only blew out the PA system,
but also the lighting and electrical systems.
This won’t be a problem for the Texas
Star Tavern, but be prepared, these boys
come to play.
‘Sea of Love’ sexy
thriller for Pacino
By Todd Stone
Of The Battalion Staff
In this barren desert, otherwise
known as the Bryan-College Sta
tion movie market, “Sea of Love”
is an ocean of relief that will cool
the hottest movie-goers’ desires to
see a good film.
“Sea of Love” is a smart, ro
mantic, mystery-thriller that has
interesting characters and a sur
prise ending that won’t insult
your intelligence.
A1 Pacino returns from a four-
year film hiatus in “Sea of Love.”
The performance should re-es
tablish Pacino as one of Holly
wood’s leading male stars.
Pacino plays a New York detec
tive, Frank Keller, who is an alco
holic who is suffering through a
mid-life crisis. He is alone, drinks
to make it through the night, and
his ex-wife is now married to his
partner.
Frank has been a cop for 20
years, but won’t think of retiring
because he has nothing else in his
life. Then he meets Helen, played
by Ellen Barkin, and he falls in
love. The only problem is that
Helen is a suspect in a murder
case that Frank is investigating.
The deeper he falls in love dur
ing the movie, the more of a sus
pect Helen becomes. Not only can
she break his heart, but she can
take his life, too. Who said love
was easy?
The story goes back and forth
from murder mystery to ro
mance. “Sea of Love” is most ef
fective when developing the ro
mance between Helen and Frank.
The romance is interesting be
cause Helen and Frank have been
hurt before and are defensive,
but still vulnerable.
Pacino and Barkin have an on
screen chemistry that gets your
attention, keeps you involved and
makes you want their relationship
to work.
Barkin, who gained attention
for her steamy performance in
See movie/Page 7
Live Jazz • No Cover
Thursday & Friday: Memorandum
Saturday: Don Pope & Friends
(Live Broadcast on KAMU-FM)
9:30-12:30
Happy Hour I I a.m.-7 p.m.
SEAFOOD & STEAKS
505 E. University • 846-5388