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Local immigrant entrepreneur
takes pride in US. citizenship
AnNam Tea
House schedules
Independence
Day Music Test
By Holly Becka
AnNam Teahouse, 103
Boyett, is celebrating the
Fourth of July with a two-
day Independence Day mu
sic fest.
Wednesday features the
following seven local elec
tric bands: ARB, Black Mass,
Blood Oranges, Liouid
Wench, Phooey, Sister Moon
and X's for Eyes. The show
starts at 7 p.m. and cover is
$4.
Thursday features the lo
cal acoustic bands April Fire,
George Marshall, Glen Day,
Implications, Renaissance
Gypsy, and Ross Lambert
ana Lori Vail. The show starts
at 7 p.m. and cover is $4.
Teahouse manager T.C.
Nguyen says theatmosphere
will be "relaxed" and both
shows probably will last past
1 a.m. Music fest-goers are
welcome to come in through
out the evening, so if you
can't make the show by 7
p.m. it's no problem to come
later.
Call 846-2898 for more
information.
By Holly Becka
T.C.l
.Nguye
can who valu<
I /en is a proud Ameri-
ues the meaning of
Independence Day.
In fact, Nguy en spent five years
in Texas dreaming of becoming a
U.S. citizen before he actually could
call himself an American. He was
bom and raised in Vietnam, and
his family escaped from the wom-
tom country in 1980. They spent a
year and six days — Nguyen re
members this vividly — in a refu
gee camp in West Malaysia.
"There was not enough food
and water there for my family,"
Nguyen says. "We ate beans for
breakfast,
lunch and
dinner. To
this day
when I go to
a Mexican
restaurant, I
tell them to
leave off the
beans."
still live today. Of all his brothers
and sisters, T.C. is the only mem
ber of his family who continued
school and obtained a high school
degree. He learned English, got a
scholarship to Texas Christian
University and transferred to Texas
A&M in 1984.
It takes most immigrants about
five years to qualify to be a U.S.
citizen, but Nguyen says the wait
was worth it.
"The United States is a melt
ing pot— a lot ofdifferent kinds of
people came together to make this
country what it is today, and I
wanted to
be a part of
it," he says.
"It's good
to be an
A m e r i -
can."
It takes most immi
grants about five years
to qualify to be a U.S.
citizen, but Nguyen says
the wait was worth it.
A Catho
lic church sponsored the seven-
member family so they could leave
the refugee camp in November
1980. Nguyen, his two brothers,
two sisters and his parents, were
on their way to Texas.
The family arrived at the Dal-
las-Fort Worm airport only to find
no one was there to pick th
Nguyen describes
the most scary experiences of his
life.
"We didn't know any English
and everybody looked at us
strange," he says.
The Nguye
settled in Fort W«
To cel
ebrate the
United
States'
pyen's sec-
de, official
) pick them up.
this as one of
ens eventually
orth, where they
215th birthday, and N
ond year as a bona J
American, he is throwing an Inde
pendence Day bash featuring local
bands. Nguyen, manager of
AnNam Teahouse, booked seven
electric bands for Wednesday and
six acoustic bands for Thursday.
Shows start at 7 p.m. and cover is
$4.
"I wanted to have a big cel
ebration, and all the musicians
coming have performed here be
fore and are supportive of the
teahouse," he says. "I wanted there
to be a variety of music."
’Naked Gun 1 sequel
shoots for laughs
By Julia E.S. Spencer
The "Naked Gun 2 1/2: The
Smell of Fear" begins with a
CRACK!, an OOF! and a THUD!
as Our Hero, Police Squad leader
Frank Drebin, is honored at the
White House for his 1000th drug
dealer kill. Never mind that he
backed over the last two with his
car accidentally. Drebin is back
with a pratfalling vengeance,
making life in D.C. miserable for
the First Family and thebad guys
alike. By the time the familiar
intrusive police car title credits
roll, the laugh-o-meter has al
ready registered a pretty healthy
reading.
This enviromentally-
themed latest episode in "Air
plane!" production team
Zucker/ Abraham/Zucker's Po
lice Squad saga follows the
bumbling Drebin (Leslie
Nielsen) to the nation's Capital.
He is trying to implicate schem
ing industrialist Quentin
Hapsburg (Robert Goulet) in a
plot to replace the enerey ad
viser with a look-alike who will
persuade the president that the
country has no need for energy
efficiency or renewable re
sources. Drebin is also trying to
win back pert-and-sexy Jane
Spenser (Priscilla Presley), who.
since backing out of the wed
ding after the first movie, has
succumbed to Hapsburg's wily
charms.
Cop movie veteran Nielsen
manages to keep a straight face
while behaving like an untutored
five-year-old gone berserk, and
the ever-lovely Ms. Presley is
pretty dam good as the wide-
eyed heroine. Las Vegas fixture
Goulet is capably oily as Quentin,
and the goofy supporting cast of
O.J. Simpson and George
Kennedy is back again, mugging
merrily away.
As usual, the plot is second
ary, a mere framework for the
many sight and sound gags in
this very silly spoof of crime dra
mas and movie cliches. As with
any sequel, the burning ques
tion is, "How does it compare
with the first?" In one sense, it's
hard to say, since I saw the first
one on video, alone, and the sec
ond in a theater full of raucous
college students. Naturally, this
one seemed a lot funnier. Al
though the first had a few memo
rably hilarious scenes, the level
of humor was extremely child
ish, relentlessly vulgar and body-
function oriented. Calling "21 /
2" irreverent would be an un
derstatement, since a large num
ber of laughs come at the ex
panse of tne First Lady. How
ever, the vulgarity has been
toned down - just a tad, mind
you - and the slightly more so
phisticated humor is derived
from a somewhat wider variety
of sources.
As a film buff, I relished the
clever jabs a t movie-making con
ventions, from the continuity
jokes and '40s-era rear projection
film visible through the car win
dows, to allusions to "E.T.,"
"Casablanca," and "Dirty Danc
ing." Zsa-Zsa Gabor appears in a
cameo, and if you look fast, you'll
see Mel Tonne.
Although I found this movie
amusing enough to yank me out
of a veiy bad mood, the afore
mentioned enthusiastic audience
helped considerably in papering
over the weak spots. The humor
is also extremely topical - lots of
political jokes about the current
administration and its policies,
although writers Pat Proft and
David Zucker show admirable
restraint in sparing Dan Quayle.
"Naked Gun" takes a page out of
Dana Garvey's book with its
George Bush impression, (Bar is
a gem, too) playing like an ex
tended, very elaborate Saturday
Night Live skit. Ultimately, the
shelf life of this film can be mea
sured in months; John Sununu
may not seem so funny come
December.
It's hard to say whether it's
worth five bucks or not, but if
you like this kind of scattershot
humor, a crowded matinee with
a group of friends couldn't go too
far wrong. As always, listen and
watch carefully, or you're liable
to miss something, and don't for
get to stay through the credits -
all the credits.
f «■; • *» ...» ' , . . ■ t : " < . •• • it
Costello's latest 'Mighty Like a Rose' paints gloomy picture
by Timm Doolen
Elvis Costello's latest album,
Mighty Like a Rose, is another in a
long line of great albums from one
oftne most underrated songwriter-
performers of our times.
depth and complexity to the songs.
The best song on the album is
"The Other Side of Summer," with
some cryptic (and critical) lyrics.
For instance, it's hard to decipher
whether Costello is criticizing or
praising the late John Lennon wnen
ne sings, "Was it a millionaire who
said 'Imagine no possessions?"'
In this outing, we see a more
polished sound than in his early
albums, much more like the sound
ofhis last album, the phenomenally
successful Spike (phenomenalcom
pared to the rest of his work, that
is).
But unlike most of Costello's
earlier work, this album has a bleak
and ominous tone to it that in one
repsect almost hurts the generally
good music but in another respect
makes it all the better by adaing
But other lines make it clear he
is down on some areas of our soci
ety: "The pale pathetic promises
that everybody swallows/ A teen
age girl is crying 'cos she don't
lookukea million dollars/ So help
her if you can/ 'Cos she don't seem
to have the attention span."
This album contains more slow
songs than usual for Costello, in
cluding "Sweet Pear," "Broken"
and "So Like Candy," which was
cowritten by Paul McCartney.
Another collaboration with
McCartney, "Playboy to a Man,"
shows that Costello-McCartney
will never become a Lennon-
McCartney partnership. The songs
are OK, but not as good as the ones
that appeared on Spike or
McCartney's Flowers in the Dirt.
These are not the
kind of songs you
listen to when you
want to cheer up in
the morning.
Drummer Jim Keltner helped
write "Hurry Down Doomsday
(The Bugs are Taking Over),"
which foretells the day civilization
will crumble and a swarm of in
sects will take over the world.
The better songs on the album
are the faster and/or jazzier ones
like 'Invasion HitParade," another
bleak picture of civilization: "A
woman works the tunnel in the
middle of the night/ Picking up
every lost object in sight/ Hand
bags, toupees, lost legs and finger
nails."
These are not the kind of songs
you listen to when you want to
cheer up in the morning. But they
are by ail means far more complex
and meaningful than the average
fare these days and are surpris-
ingly well done for Costello, who
has always been a superb crafter of
lyrics.
Despite the dark tone of the
lyrics, the music is genuinely good
and even upbeat m many of the
songs.
Overall I highly recommend
this album, especially for anybody
who even remotely appreciates the
work of this nigly talented
songwriter and musician.
MEXICAN CAFE
Open
24 hrs
Happy Hour
2-7 p.m. M-F
$2.95 pitchers
Ask About Our Daily
r i
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i Tacos & yet drink* i
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■
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■PeSOS * Alcohol not Included PeSOS*
SNEAKY PETE
ALL Summer Long
Sundays 9 p.m.
Lunch Specials!
Buy Any Item*,
Get One of Equal or
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(Value up to $5.00)
(One Coupon Per Person)
Tw0 Expires 8-31-91 TWO J
Pesos * Alcohol not Included Pesos®
846-4135 Walk-In or Drive-Thru
303 West University Dr. College Station
SALE • SALE • SALE • SALE • SALE • SALE • SALE • SALE
< CONTACT LENSES
0 >
.. o3 . ONLY QUALITY NAME BRANDS ^
(Bausch &. Lomb, Ciba, Barnes-Hydrocurve)
$
69
00
Pair
For Standard Clear or Tinted
FLEXIBLE WEAR Soft Contact
Lenses
(Can be worn as daily or
extended wear)
*Eye exam not included
Call 696-3754 for Appointment
Tiii i I niih hum i'll,
SALE EXTENDED TO JULY 26, 1991
Charles C. Schroeppel, O.D., RC.
Doctor of Optometry
707 S. Texas Ave.-Suite 101D
1 Blk. South of Texas Ave.
& University Dr. Intersection
College Station, Texas 77840
SALE • SALE • SALE • SALE • SALE • SALE • SALE • SALE
4
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LONDON
$375
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Language Learning Centers
Councilfravcl
1-512-472-4931 —
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