Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 1991)
A Lifestyles The Battalion yJ Pages Dare to bare it all! Live Oak Ranch invites public to explore nudism By Yvonne Salce Even before Jim Butler became a nudist, he never liked to wear clothes. The tall, slender sportsman/ writer preferred to don just the bare essentials - maybe a pair of shorts while fishing. But in any case, he would have dropped his restricting, binding clothing in a New York minute. Now surrounded by bare bronzed bodies, Butler takes plea sure in feeling the cool country air breeze against his butt. "It's a liberating feeling to be so free," said Butler, as he escorted curious guests around Live Oak Ranch, a family nudist recreation center, during National Nude Weekend, July 13-14. Once a year nudist camps, af filiated with the American Sun bathing Association, open their doors to the outside world and invite non-nudists to explore what goes on behind these fenced in colo nies, innocently hidden in the coun tryside. Live Oak Ranch, located in Washington, Texas-about40-min- utes outside of College Station, had a tremendous turnout of visitors for National Nude Weekend. Larry Hilderbrand, owner of Live Oak Ranch, said about 800 people toured the camp each day. Hilderbrand views National Nude Weekend as an opportunity to open people's minds to social nud ism. "People love to talk about things they know nothing about," Hilderbrand said. "Therearenon nudists who look down their noses at nudists, but then refuse to come when I open my door for free. "Those non-nudists who do come out here, leave with a differ ent perspective." Whatever gets the non-nudist out to Live Oak Ranch - be it curi osity or an advegfrire to try new things - Butler finds that 98 per- Jenniter Wooten, 7, visits Live Oak Ranch with her family during National Nude Weekend. cent of newcomers do come back. "It's the greatest stress-releaser in the world," Butler said. "The people here are friendly and are like family. Unless you see it for yourself, you just can't under- Though the majority do have tanned bodies, not all nudists are sunbathers, Butler said. He added that a large percent ofnudists are conservative Repub licans, with careers anywhere from As far as this being a place where you have big orgies — that is definitely not true. — Jim Butler, nudist stand." Butler recognizes there are misconceptions associated with nudism. teachers to doctors. "And as far as this being a place, where you have big orgies - that is definitely not true," Butler PENNY DELOS SANTOS/The Battalion said. "Live Oak Ranch is not a swinging sex club. The camp is family oriented and promotes nude recreation as a family activity." Most everyone agrees the en vironment at Live Oak Ranch is asexual. Walking, playing volley ball and eating in the nude leaves little to the imagination, as com pared to a skimpy bathing suit or sexy lingerie. "Even still, the No. 1 question asked by men is," Butler said, '"What if I get an erection?' "Well tnat just doesn't hap pen. A bunch of people with na ked skin is not sexual." With women, their main con cern is "Do all the women have See NUDISTS/Page 6 Comedy, music show planned for Central Park on Saturday By Holly Becka Quips, shenanigans and tomfoolery will highlight the City of College Station's final concert in its summer series. The College Station Parks and Recreation Department will feature a comedy sno wcase with T.C. Hatter and Marcianne, Miguel, and Jeff Schilling from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday in Central Park. Park festivities actually get underway at 7:30 p.m. with a music concert by Eugene Eugene and the Solid Foundation Band. The comedy showcase begins af terward. Sheila Walker, comedy showcase coordinator, says the parks and recreation department "just had totrycom- e d y again" af ter last summer's comedi ans re ceived a good re- s p o n s e during the concert se- Comedy is an important element in everyone's life, especially so in the heat of summer. — Sheila Walker, comedy showcase coordinator nes. )rtant el ement in everyone's life, espe- 'Comedy is an import< jryone's life, cially so in the heat of summer. Walker says. Saturday's comedy show case is free. The concert series is funded through the City of Col lege Station budget to improve the quality of life in the local area and attract people from outlying towns to our commu nity. ; , Walker says the showcase is for everyone. Much of the co medians' material will be fam ily oriented. "I have a friend in Houston who owns a comedy bar, and she keeps in mind comedians who will be good for concerts in the park here," she says. "Some times it's hard to find comedi ans who can focus on family- oriented material, but I think we've found some good ones. These won't be acts you would see on cable comedy shows." T.C. Hatter, a performance artist originally from Minneapo lis, is a silent storyteller who uses hats and other props to get his messages across. T.C. stands for "the clown," and Hatter ob tains the full effect by wearing clown garb, complete with a red rubber nose. He is accom panied by nis wife, Marcianne, who adds t o Hatter's every move with clarinet music. Miguel, who goes by his first name, describes his style as "clean and to the point." In his press release, Miguel says his favorite comedians are Dennis Wolfberg, Emo Phillips, Brian Regan and Sinbad. He loves to humorous side of situations. Jeff Schilling describes See COMEDY/Page 6 Summer Heat Productions offer 'Orpheus Descending' By Julia E.S. Spencer Summer Heat Productions, a local theater group affiliated with Stage Center, has aptly cho sen Tennessee Williams' sultry 1957drama "Orpheus Descend ing" for its annual midsummer show, opening Thursday at 8 p.m. Williams' play, 17 years in the rewriting after a disastrous Boston premiere, opened on Broadway in 1957, and was sub sequently made into a movie called "The Fugitive Kind," star ring Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani and Joanne Woodward. The play's recent Broadway revival, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Kevin Anderson ("Sleeping With the Enemy"), was also filmed, this time as a cable movie for TNT. About a messianic young drifter whose arrival in a small Southern town is the catalyst for a tragic outburst of bigotry and xenophobia, "Orpheus" is a play that producer Jimmy Schooley feels is a "perfect statement for right now." Citing the Ku Klux Klan's recent march in Hearne as evi dence of continuing racism in this area, Schooley says that the play's anti-racist message preaches tolerance for people of different ethnic and racial back grounds, and is still timely to day. Director Rick Landmann agrees, saying that the play, which contains a kind of Greek chorus of Klan-type bigots who call themselves the "Mystic Crew," speaks toward the issue of prejudice in an accessible and meaningful way. When handsome Valentine Xavier (Michael Gonzales) comes to town, he meets Lady Torrance, (Cathy McWhorter) the40ish Italian-American store keeper, whose demanding hus band Jabe (Donnie Wilson) is slowly dying of cancer. Val be gins working for Lady in the store, and soon they are carry ing on a clandestine affair. Their liaison turns dangerous, how ever, when the town folk inevi tably find out. The women, who are also attracted to Val, are jealous of Lady, and the men, who resent the effect the young man has on their women, are jealous of Val. This sexual jealousy, coupled with their prejudice against Lady, who as an Italian immi grant is a "furriner" in their eyes, and Val, who is an outsider, rises to a fever pitch, with tragic re sults. The cast also includes new comer Juliette Bouchard as Carol Cutrere, an embittered civil rights worker turned party girl, and Chris Wilson as painter Vee Talbot, the child-like, visionary wife of the Sheriff. The original play was in three acts, so Schooley did a con siderable amount of rewriting to reduce it to two and clarify the dialogue, which was writ ten in a freauently incompre hensible "hillbilly vernacular." In the process, he added some scenes which underscore the work's relationship to the Orpheus myth, an aspect which Landmann wished to empha size. (Val is guitar player wnose last name, Xavier, suggests the word "Savior," Schooley says.) In the tradition of the myth's Bacchae (a cult of women who worshiped Bacchus, the god of wine), the local women get drunk on wine in one scene and gossip about the scandalous nature of Val and Lady's rela tionship. In re-working the dia logue, Schooley decided to put the "f" word into Jabe's mouth, not so much to shock the audi ence, but to convey the foulness of the man's bigotry. This production marks the debut of the rebuilt Milton Franklin Furniture building as a theater space, Schooley says. The Summer Heat crew cud most See ORPHEUS/Page 6 ’Boyz in the Hood* mimics Lee’s films about racial tension in inner-city neighborhoods by Timm Doolen In a manner similar to Spike Lee, the director of "Boyz N The Hood" analyzes the problems of theblack race as it exists in America today. But where Lee concentrates on New York City, young and upcoming writer-director John Singleton focuses on South Central Los Angeles, drawing from his own expe riences as a youth. Because of this, the movie is more autobiographical than Lee's, and althougn the story is supposed to be fictional, there is a feeling that the main character Tre Styles (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is in fact Single- ton. The story begins in the early '80s with Tre in his pre- teen years. As a youth he en counters the normal child hood adventures, such as dead bodies by the railroad tracks, sheet fights, gang vio lence - normal fair for South Central Los Angeles. Shortly a fter Tre's friends are introduced into the storyline, "Boyz" jumps to seven years later, when Tre is a senior in high school, and childhood buddies are ex- cons and drug dealers. But life is not all bad - Tre's best friend Ricky is a talented football player with a good chance at a scholarship from the Uni versity of Southern California. And Tre's stem but lovable father is a solid, guiding force in his life. The director maintains this story is not about violence, but ra ther a group of neighbor- Tre Styles (Cuba Gooding Jr.) clings to his girlfriend Brandi (Nia Long) shortly after being harassed by two Los Angeles police officers, one of them black. hood (’hood) boys growing up in the '80s and '90s, and coping with the problems of being a black youth in modem civilization. Many oth ers, including critics of the film, claim the movie is predominantly about violence and how Singleton unintentionally promotes violence in an attempt to condemn it. In truth this movie has many facets and is more com plex than either of the views noted above. And to combine the ideas, one could say that it is for the most part a story of how a group of boys can grow up in a neighborhood in the face of an extremely violent world. As such, it is an intelligent and thought-provoking film, but not on the level of Lee's "Do The Right Thing." In fact, Singleton isn't half the writer or director that Lee is, and Lee has better actors in his movies than those in "Boyz." One part of the movie that was disturbing was when Tre's father. Furious Styles (Larry Fishbume), makes a speech about how white men are hy ing to get black men to kill themselves and in the mean time are stealing money from them. I really wanted to be lieve that Singleton was put ting this in as a sarcastic state ment in the movie, but every thing else led me to believe that this was to be taken seri ously, as Furious is the most respectable man in the film. Despite acting flaws and a few a wKward scenes, I would recommend this movie to al most anybody just on the ba sis of seeing what all the contro versy is'about. As a film, it is above average, and as a first film from such a young direc tor (Singleton is only 23), it is an incredible achievement. Though it should be warned that this movie is not for those who will be offended by four-letter words ora little gratuitous violence. Hopefully in his future films it will be easier to see whether there is some genuine, long-term talent in Singleton or whether "Boyz" was just a lucky break based on his memories of growing up in a rough "'hood." H e L- it g •r a .s rt >r I to rsial ina- ed a tany sion :e in rom aard vlar- vote rtic- bian spe- tn a all ha- vith ents rlier ions >eak mda sase per ling rna- r se- t an ring per itain »en- imi- lege also lild- >res- ver- ents lean >tate ver- Uni- en a ) the " he pec- ably a gO/ end- em- ; re- em- ke a ter is cus- its age 4