4
The Battalion
LIFESTYLES
4
Monday, March 5,1990
Lifestyles Editor Mary-Lynne Rice 845-33
Cult’s-set ‘short, strong, simple’
after over-hyped opening bands
By JOHN RICHTER
Of The Battalion Staff
Gothic smashers The Cult must
believe that great things come in
small packages.
Playing to a half-filled Summit in
downtown Houston Friday night,
The Cult worked smoothly through
a rapid, 13-song set. T he hour-and-
fifteen-minute show was largely a
greatest hits package that high
lighted most of 1989’s Sonic
Temple.
Opening for The Cult were the
Van Halen-styled Tora Tora and
Bonham. Bonham, a band founded
by Jason Bonham, son of former
Led Zeppelin drummer John Bon
ham, played just before 1 he Cult.
Bonham is yet another weak Led
Zeppelin ripoff. Their 45-minute set
featured most of their debut album
The Disregard of Timekeeping and
ended with a lengthy encore.
Jason began the encore by eu
logizing his deceased father (John
Bonham died in the late 1970s), be
fore Bonham pommeled into a le
thargic version of “Black Dog."
Sadly, the song drew the largest
ovation of the evening, a pitiful doc
umentation of how blind love can
Preview:
‘West Side’
tells story
of tragic love
By JOHN RICHTER
Of The Battalion Staff
, MSC OPAS will present “West
Side Story,” an version of Shake
speare’s “Romeo and Juliet”
adapted to the modern-day prob
lems of racial integration and ur
ban poverty, Wednesday at 8
p.m. in Rudder Auditorium.
Music Theatre Group, a
troupe from New York City, will
perform the two-and-a-half-hour
musical that features the work of
composer Leonard Bernstein and
is based on the Arthur Laurents
novel.
The setting of “West Side Sto
ry” is the racial conflict-torn
streets of New York City in the
summer of 1957. Two rival
gangs, the American-born Jets
and the Puerto Rican Sharks, are
involved in a feud over “turf’ and
the recent entrenchment of the
Sharks in the mostly lower-class
white neighborhood.
The Jets challenge the Sharks
to a rumble at the school dance
where Maria, the sister of Ber
nardo (leader of the Sharks) falls
in love with Tony (a member of
the Jets).
Both realize their love will be
fiercely opposed by the two
gangs, and especially by Chino, a
Shark chosen to wed the pretty
Maria.
The next day, Tony and Maria
meet again and decide they must
marry. Bernardo is furious about
Tony and Maria’s relationship
and kills Riff, the leader of the
Jets, at the rumble.
Tony, in a fit of anger, kills
Maria’s brother to avenge his
leader’s death. The fateful rum
ble sets the stage for the tragic de
mise of Tony and Maria’s love.
Music Theatre’s performance
stars Zachary Robbins as Tony,
Christina M. Pierro as Maria (a
role made famous by Natalie
Wood in the movie version of
“West Side Story”) and Johnny
Martinez as Bernardo.
All troupe members are pro
fessional stage performers and
veterans of “West Side Story.”
The Music Theatre’s adaption
is directed by William Westbrooks
and choroegraphed by George
Russell and Daniel Pelzig.
The sets, reproductions of
New York City streets, a
drugstore, a gymnasium, a bridal
shop and Maria’s bedroom, are
designed by James Bush.
Musically, “West Side Story” is
famous for its collaboration of
composer Leonard Bernstein and
lyricist Stephen Sondheim. The
play is fast-paced, highlighted by
the Fight/dance scenes where the
company sings together.
“One Hand, One Heart,” a duo
between Tony and Maria in the
bridal shop, and “Somewhere,” a
company song that pits the Jets
against the Sharks, la Michael
Jackson’s “Beat It,” are standout
numbers.
Tickets are on sale at Rudder
Box Office. For more informa
tion, call 845-1234.
distort an audience’s senses.
Another interesting aspect of
Bonham’s set was how loud Jason's
drum kit was miked. It was the first
time I’Ve ever heard a drum set
drown out a guitar. Obviously, Jason
’,o’b past us.
Which brings me to The Cult.
During the group’s tour in support
of Electric, lead singer Ian Astbury
was lifeless and removed, still en
trenched with his role as the mystical
Uust because one of these heavy-metal schlocks yells
something, doesn’t mean we must applaud ... After
shelling out twenty bucks, I want handstands and
broken guitars, not insults.
wants, to follow in his father’s foot
steps as top dog skin basher, but sub
stance must follow sound, Jason.
The band attempted every cheap,
heavy-metal crow 7 d gimmick possi
ble. Metal bands must believe that
their audiences are all of the alco
holic, brain-dead, hands-in-their-
pockets mentality.
Just because one of these heavy-
metal schlocks yells something,
doesn’t mean we must applaud. I’m
getting really tired of all the closed-
minded remarks, party rhetoric and
personal tales of superhuman sexual
prowess that these jerks try to snow
“wolf child.”
Friday night, Astbury dropped his
pretenses and thrashed and jolted
from start to Finish, long jet-black
hair flying, as he made great use of
his arena-perfect voice.
Unfortunately, Astbury, in his at
tempts at rapport with the audience,
chose to openly and frequently insult
the crowd. The most amusing point
of the evening came after The Cult
completed an hour set, when Ast
bury demanded the audience prove
they were worthy of an encore.
After shelling out twenty bucks, I
want handstands and broken gui
tars, not insults. But Astbury contin
ued to chide the audience from
there on, milking that act for three
encores.
The Cult were impressive when
they found the reception to their lik
ing. Opening with a well-placed
sound bite from Martin Scorcese’s
“Taxi Driver,” the band tore into a
hell’s fury version of “New York
City” from Sonic Temple before im
mediately breaking into “Li’l Devil.”
The high-energy tandem got Cult
fans on their feet and kept them
there for the rest of the evening.
The balladry of “Edie,” the funky
“Peace Dog,” from Electric , and a
jet-fueled version of “Wildflower”
(also from Electric) were highlights
of a short, but largely sweet set.
The biggest disappointment was
the band’s decision to neglect Love.
Aside from “She Sells Sanctuary,”
The Cult only performed the early
hit “Rain” from their classic release
of 1985. Outstanding tracks such as
“Phoenix” and “Nirvana” were for
gotten, as was “King Contrary Man”
from Electric.
But The Cult’s intent was short,
strong and simple. And that, music
fans, is exactly what it was.
^Thursday Night Live’ comics
involve audience in routines
ByTODD STONE
Of The Battalion Staff
An Aggie, a Sagittarius and an ex-
University of Texas student pro
vided plenty of laughs to a sold-out
audience at “Thursday Night Live”
comedy at Garlields.
Jason Porter, die Aggie, describes
his memory of First-round exams
and his future as an educator.
“1 hate the First round of exams,”
he complained. “I’m still bleeding
anally from them.
“I’m an education major, and I’ll
he teaching history and government
in high school, -so you *»an just call
me Coach.”
Kerry Awn followed Porter with
discussions ranging from his views
on TV evangelists to his most recent
heartbreak.
On Jim Bakker: “I love Jesus,”
Awn said, "I love God. It’s the mid
dlemen I have a problem with.”
On being a Sagittarius: “I’m half
man and half-horse,” he said, “You
can see my man half. I’m offering
pony rides to the ladies for a dollar.
“I used to live with a model,” lie
said. “Then it broke. There goes my
weekend. What 1 really like is blue-
haired ladies because they’re slow
and easy to catch.”
The highlight to Awn's perfor
mance was an imitation of Mel Tillis
doing a rap of a Whataburger com
mercial. His voice matched Tillis’
perfectly, and Awn declared Tillis
the first rapper because of his stut
ter.
Mike Vance, the headline per
former, spent most of his time
speaking with the audience and
drawing lots of laughs, despite his
admission that he once attended
UT.
“I was on the two-year all-you-
can-drink plan,” Vance explained.
Vance was quick-witted through
out the show, finding comedy in the
audience. He discovered one person
who Wfis from Los Angeles and vaca-
tionmg in College Station.
“Let me get this straight,” Vance
said, “you’re sitting under the sun at
Santa Monica beach and you’re
thinking, ‘This sucks! I need the
Brazos Valley experience.’ ”
Another hilarious Vance discov
ery was a Marine sergeant who is sta
tioned in College Station as a stu
dent.
Vance: “So do you get to carry a
gun on campus?”
Marine: “Yes.”
Vance: “What are you, the first
line of defense for fraternity takeo
ver?”
Vance also thanked his apprecia
tive audience.
“I want to thank the gentleman in
the back,” Vance said. “The highest
compliment for a comedian is laugh
ter, but when you blow beer out your
nose ... now, that’s appreciation.”
Although the comedians’ “vic
tims” might disagree, it was the abil-
Battalionfile photo
‘Red October ’ remains
generally faithful to
Clancy’s techno-thrillei
By TODD STONE
Of The Battalion Staff
Supported by a strong perfor
mance by Sean Connery, “The
Hunt For Red October” is a great
suspense-action thriller.
Based on the novel by Tom
Clancy, “Red October” combines
Clancy’s technical military de
scriptions with the action-packed
directing of John McTiernan (di
rector of “Die Hard”).
For fans of the hook, this film
is certainly an admirable visual
re-creation. The special effects of
the submarines are first-rate, but
McTiernan deserves praise for
earning more subtle accolades.
For example, much of the nar
rative and dialogue occurs among
Soviets. I won’t tell how, hut Mc
Tiernan smoothly shifts the So
viet dialogue from Russian to En
glish during the beginning of the
film.
With this deft transition of lan
guages in the dialogue, McTier
nan eliminates the need for sub
titles and justifies the illogic of the
Soviets’ speaking English among
themselves throughout the film.
That probably made life easier
for the English-speaking Conn
ery, who plays a Soviet naval hot-
shot, Marko Ramins. Ramius is
the commander of the Soviets’
first submarine that can avoid so
nar detection, the Red October.
Ramius suddenlv kills the polit
ical officer and takes the key
needed to launch nuclear missies
from the Red October. As a com
mander, Ramius already had one
of two keys. With both keys, Ram
ius can fire nuclear weapons at
will.
He then burns his sealed or
ders and announces to his crew
that the Red October will secretly
travel to the U.S. coast to prove
that the Red October can't be de
tected.
Meanwhile, the Soviets are try
ing to stop the Red October, and
they tell the United States that
Ramius is mad. Ajccordqig, to the
Soviets, Ramius is out to attack
the United States.
However, CIA analyst Jack
Ryan, played by Alet Baldwin,
believes Ramius wants to defect.
THE HUNT FOR RED
OCTOBER
Starring Sean Connery and A
Baldwin
Directed by John McTiernan
Rated R
He convinces the national seen
rity adviser to let him prove Ram
ius’ intentions.
Ryan joins the U.S. submarine
Dallas, commanded by Captain
Mancuso (Scott Glenn), whichhai
been attempting to track the Reo
October.
What follows is a chase agains
the Soviets to discover if Ramius
is a defector and to learn the se
crets of the Red October.
The performances of Connen
Baldwin and Glenn, as well as the
screenplay by Larry Ferguson
and Donald Stewart, develop the
memorable Clancy characters
well.
The combination of perfor
mance and dialogue is vital —the
characters and storyline were
competing against a strong visual
effort for the audience’s atten
lion. There is no winner to
race, as the film balances power
fill narrative with visual excel
lence.
Concerned Clancy fans mas
want to know' that the film follows
the book until the climax. At
point, however, the screen
takes a significant jump in time
and the actions of the finale area
hodge-podge combination of
events f rom the hook.
On the screen, that works, if
you’re willing to overlook a few
skips in logic. However, Clano
readers might not l>e pleased with
the changes and lack of detail in
the climax.
Still, "Red October" is alreads
two hours and 15 minutes of sus
pense and intrigue. Clancy fans
should he pleased with this cine
matic adaptation. Other movie
goers have aritexciting'iiew movie
toenjoyoloq V 1 ,i to ‘v.
For the j^ame Bryan-College
Station movie market, the ‘Red
October” is not just a solid movie,
it’s an event.
ity of all three comedians to incorpo
rate the audience into their acts that
made TNL so enjoyable.
Porter, who continues to improve
as a comedian, added a local per
spective. Awn’s eccentric ways were
oddly amusing. Vance was simply hi
larious, showing why he has ap
peared twice on Showtime comedy
specials.
Vance and Porter will perform
March 28 at the Sigma Chi Derby
Days charity fund raiser. Porter will
continue to be the opening per-
fomer at TNL. For more informa
tion about Thursday Night Live at
Garfield’s at call 693-1736.
Nantucket residents accept
ghosts as real phenomena
NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) —
Maybe it's the bleak setting of winds
wept beaches, brooding moors and
gray, weatherbeaten houses. Per
haps it’s all the ships lost off the
coast, carrying terrified souls into
the stormy Atlantic.
Whatever the reason, there are
ghosts on Nantucket. Just ask the
people with stories to tell.
“One person I knew thought it
Sovietjazz pianist gainingfollowing in Dallas club
DALLAS (AP) — Monday night
jam sessions at D’Jazz club draw an
eclectic crowd, from haute amateurs
to veterans of the Dallas jazz scene.
There’s a dentist who regularly
files his plane down from Luisa to
jam for a few hours. Saxophonist
Marche! Ivery, dean of the local
scene, might drop by, or Tim Alex
ander, accordionist with the coun
try-swing hand “Asleep At The
Wheel ’
But this Monday night is special.
All the way from Moscow , just three
days off the plane, a very nervous
Gregory Slavin sits down at the pi
ano. Every eye in the room is on
him.
He’s going to play the jazz stan
dard “Green Dolphin Street” — that
much has been established. But no
body’s sure yet what key he's going
to play it in.
Slavin doesn’t know any English
and the other musicians don’t know
any Russian.
Within a few bars, everybody iti
the noi th Dallas club agrees that Sla
vin may not know English, but he
sure speaks the language.
The language is jazz, and Slavin
has been speaking it since he played
Gershwin as a Moscow teen-ager. He
learned it from the black market
Charlie Parker records, passed along
the Moscow' underground, and from
jazz broadcasts on the Voice of
America.
“He would stand in front of the
music stores and ask if anyone had
any records to trade,” says his
friend, Lev Zaltsberg, translating.”
It was Lev Zaltsberg who brought
Slavin here — to Dallas’ D’Jazz Club.
“He’s my best friend,” says Zalts
berg. a food-service manager for a
retirement home.
“I’ve known him since we were 8-
year-olds in Moscow. We sat side by
side in school.”
Eventually, Slavin went on to con
servatory training, and in 1976 Zalts
berg emigrated to the United States.
“The chances were we’d never see
each other again,” he says.
But a little over a year ago, when
Zaltsberg’s aunt came to Dallas to
visit, she brought a message from
Gregory.
Zaltsberg called his old friend in
Moscow, and the two began writing
thinking of leaving the Soviet Union.
“I told him I have limited facili
ties,” Zaltsberg says, “but I would
love for him to come here and 1
would do my best for him. I told him
that Texans were very friendly.”
Although not a jazz fan himself,
he set about Finding a club where
Gregory might at least get .ac
quainted with the local jazz scene
When he spotted a new spaper ad for
D’Jazz, he phoned the manager and
Slavin says he is amazed that, in
the face of such difficulties, the mu
sicians remain so dedicated to jazz.
But his biggest surprise has been
the warmth and openness with
which the other musicians have ac
cepted him.
“The second day he was here,”
Zaltsberg says, he felt like he knew
everybody.”
Slavin doesn’t know any English and the other
musicians don’t know any Russian. Within a few bars,
everybody in the north Dallas club agrees that Slavin
may not know English, but he sure speaks the
language. The language is jazz, and Slavin has been
speaking it since he played Gershwin as a Moscow
teen-ager.
Since his debut, Slavin has been
here almost every Monday night. In
the meantime, word has spread
through the jazz grapevine and local
musicians have been dropping by to
listen,and to play with him.
Sanders has offered to open the
club during the day while she works
in the office, so he can practice on
the club’s big Steinway.
“He’s an excellent player,” says
her husband, Robert Clayton Sand
ers, who plays piano and recorder
and organizes Monday ’s jam sessions
at the club. “It speaks to his classical
training.”
regularly, taking up their friendship
where they had left it 13 years be
fore.
Slavin had built quite a career for
himself, as careers go in the Soviet
Union. He was teaching improvisa
tion in a Moscow' conservatory, per
forming concerts and playing in a
chic nightclub, “The Prague,” right
next to the Kremlin.
The concerts paid well, he says,
but the repertory was controlled by
the Ministry of Culture, an agency
not known for venturesome tastes.
At least the “Prague” patrons were
willing to listen to some jazz along
with a steady stream of 1960s-era
Russian and American popular
songs.
Not surprisingly, Slavin had been
asked if he could bring Gregory in.
There is an irony in all this. Dur
ing the years Slavin was scrounging
for records, for any scrap of infor
mation on jazz, the music was be
coming an endangered species here
in the land of its birth.
One by one, the old Dallas jazz
clubs dropped by the wayside,
pushed out by the business of rock.
D’Jazz is one of the very last places in
the city where the faithful still
gather.
“It’s very tough to make it here as
a jazz musician,” says manager Mich
ele Sanders. Most of those who show
up to play Monday nights work reg
ular eight-hour jobs before they
come to the club. Few earn then liv
ings as musicians.
It also speaks to those years listen
ing to scratchy jazz records.
“You can hear Bud Powell in his
playing,” Sanders says.
“His improvisation is good,” says
Mark Magilow, a corporate attorney
who plays alto sax. “But he’s a good
product of w hatever records he has
been able to get on the black market.
Magilow 7 has given Slavin a copy
of the “Real Book," an unof ficial and
unauthorized compilation of Ameri
can tunes and songs that is every jaz
zman’s companion and bible.
“I’m trying to find him a happy-
hour job playing the piano,” Sanders
said, “something I feel he can do
where he’s not going to have a lot of
requests ’’
In the meantime, there are Mon
day nights at D’Jazz.
hail something to do with the m«
lure,” says Blue Balliett, who cot
piled 23 ghost sightings from ill
tiny island off the coast of CapeCt
and put them into a book. “1 do:
know what it is, but there are a loi
ghosts on Nantucket.”
Peter Benchley, author of lf|
book “Jaws,” spent a summer
Nantucket in the late 1960s. Held
Balliett that one afternoon he woi
from a nap to see a fire burning
the fireplace.
A longhaired old man, dressed
18th-century clothing, was slo>'
rocking in a rocking chair in Iron!
the fire. A moment later, the i®
and the fire had disappeared, a«
the rocking chair lay still.
Out on the island’s windswe]
eastern coast, normally level-headf
Coast Guard officers keeping rf
over the 140-year-old Sankaty li;
house say a spirit haunts tW
nearby dormitory.
Petty Officer Doug Clark saystk
ghost scatters pots and pans overt! 1
kitchen floor, opens locked doc:
and spooks the dorm dog.
But the Coast Guard men do
put up with too many ghostly gags
“We’ll hear it making lot
thumps at night. We just yell, Kno
it off,’ and it does.”
Joanne Shaw, a Nantucket ret
dent since 1972, recalls when s!
and her family lived in a 19th-cf !
tury farmhouse in the center oftf !
island that was haunted by the git®
of a little girl they called Emily.
“She came down the stairs of
day, right in front of me,” Shaw sat 5
“She was about 10 years, with ad®!
covering her face. I watched her! 1
a minute, and then when I starie
getting scared she disappeared.
The girl stayed mostly in a thid
floor bedroom in the house. Sheaf
peared to Shaw and her son, Jinrtf'
at various times for about two years
Then came the day Shaw wasia!
ing a nap and felt the weight
someone getting into the bed next
her. She was frozen with fear fot
moment, then jumped out of ^
and screamed, “Get out of heft
The ghost never returned.
The hauntings sometimes f
real estate deals on the isla®
though agents are loath to admit®
“A lot of people won’t even look*
a house with a reputation for beii®
haunted,” agent Gary Winn said
“But we don’t have any haunt?-
listings at the moment.” he added
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