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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1991)
McLennan’s ’Watershed* too original for reviewer By Rob Newberry G.W. McLennan Watershed Beggars Banquet G.W. McLennan’s no stranger to the music scene. After projects like the Go- Betweens and Jack Frost (a team up with Steve Kilbey of the Church), McLennan has plenty of experience making music. But Watershed shows quite clearly that experience isn't all it takes to make a truly good album. Music Review Watershed on the whole is, well, rather plain. I never thaought I would complain about sad lyrics about broken relationships, but McLennan’s approach misses the point. He tries very hard to keep from sounding trite - nothing on this album could be consid ered cliche, by any means - but he takes it too far. His lyrics are too vague; they don't get the sad, fa miliar message of love gone awry across as good as they could. It's hard to complain about it; they're are some very good tunes on the record. "Haven't I Been a Fool" is a very different represen tation of the desolation felt after a broken relationship: "Tell the fu neral man I don't like powder in my face." But, like I said, the feel ings transmitted are somewhat ob scure - you really have to dig to figure out what the real problem is behind the sad songwriting. The most accessible tunes on the disc, which tie as my personal favorites, are "Just Get That Straight" and "Dream About To morrow." "Just Get That Straight" is the most "straight’-forward bro ken heart song McLennan can come up with, and "Dream About To morrow" provides vivid images of the depressing state the world’s into these days. "Black Mule" is also a catchy tune, though a little less clear than the other two. Wading through the story told reveals McLennan’s hope for something greater than See McLENNAN/Page 6 Mexican cafe makes a switch to wholesome, healthier food La Taq changes to Planetary Grub and Organic Juice Bar By Holly Becka The bad news is that if you've gone down Church Avenue lately, you've surely noticed La Taqueria and Tortilla Factory -homeof love, peace and tacos - has closed. The good news is the restau rant is imdergoing renovation and will open late next week as the Planetary Grub and Organic Juice Bar, featuring mostly vegetarian food. "The name is kind of stupid, I know, but we got tired of looking for one," says Don Anz, owner of Planetary Grub, the Deluxe Burger Bar and Cafe Eccell. "Our experi ence with health food restaurants and people who espouse eating the 'right' thing and thinking the 'right 7 thing is too serious for us. The name pokes fun at that." The "we" whom Anz refers to he and his wife, Cheryl. Anz de scribes he and his wife as entrepre neurs - Cheryl is handling the de sign of the new restaurant and he is concentrating on the menu and kitchen end of things. Planetary Grub will have a dif ferent look than La Taq, Anz says. Crews have been working for a week and a half to give the restau rant a paint job and new kitchen. The only remnant of La Taq will be the patio. On the other hand, the menu's offerings will be an extreme diver gence from the nourishment at the former Mexican food restaurant. Planetary Grub's mostly vegetar ian menu contains goodies such as the wholistic burger, a patty made of lentils,brown rice and sunflower seeds, topped with alfonso sprouts, lettuce and tomato on a whole wheat bun; and Eric's casserole with mushrooms, yellow and chay- ote squash, potatoes, poblano pep pers and zuchini simmal in a spicy tomato sauce served with black beans and brown rice. Grilled chicken is also on the menu, as is all-natural, U.S.D.A. residue-free beef for burgers and burritos. Organic carrot, orange and apple juices, and banana, strawberry and papaya juice smoothies will be available to de light the palate. Prices seem like they might be a little more expen sive than La Taq's, but the menu is PENNY DELOS SANTOS/TTte Banakon Don and Choryi Anz, owners of the former La Taqueria, are remodeling La Tag’s building for the opening of Planetary Grub and Organic Juice Bar, set to open on August 8 or 9. still being worked on. "Everything will be fresh. The soups will ha ve all-vegetable stocks and we'll only use olive and canola oils. All the bread will be baked at Cafe Eccell," Anz says. He says he and his wife haven't completely switched over to the vegetarian way of eating, but they decided on a mostly lower-on-the- food-chain type of menu to re spond to where people are head ing in the '90s - less meat and low- fat foods. "We didn't want to get carried away with the sprouts and crois sants set," Anz says. "But I think it'll fly here. We're pretty confi dent there's a market here for this type of food from the things we've been hearing. Our only concern is we hope the vegetarians aren't a vocal minority. But the food is good, and good for you, whether you're a vegetarian or a steak-and- potatoes kind of person." The Anzes had been thinking about shutting down La Taqueria for several months prior to its July 21 closing. Sales had been declin ing and the couple had debated refurbishing La Taq, but decided instead to find a niche that "no body would copy for four or five years," he says with a wry smile. Anz is targeting Thursday or Friday for the opening of Plan etary Grub and Organic Juice Bar. Mostof La Taq's employees stayed on to help with the renovation and opening. Ideas for restaurants come when Don and Cheryl travel around the country looking at dif ferent types of restaurants and the kinds of places other college cam puses offer. "The only fun thing about owning restaurants is coming up with new ideas and opening the restaurant up," he says. "There's grea t satisfaction when people like your restaurant or look forward to an opening. The rest is just work." Anz says he hasn't given a lot of thought yet to Planetary Grub t- shirts, hats and coffee mugs, but "we'll probably do that like be fore." So maybe we'll see Planetary Grub and Organic Juice Bar em ployees and faithful fans sporting "love, peace and veggies" shirts in the near future. Aggie Players pull off top-notch performance in Tump Boys and Dinettes’ By Julia E. S. Spencer "Pump Boys and Dinettes" is a high- energy roots-rock musical revue, being presented by the MSC Dinner Theatre and the Aggie Players, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Rudder Forum on the TAMU campus. Theater Review Set in the South, on Highway 57, some where between Frog Level and Smyrna, the two-act show's characters are the four pump boys - mechanics at a gas station, and the two dinettes - waitresses at the Double Cupp diner across the road. The good-natured pumpboys - Eddie, Jim, L.M. and Jackson - lounge around, saving their get-up-and-go for singing abodut fishing, drinking, women, and ways of avoiding any more work than is absolutely necessaiy. Theperky dinettes, sisters Prudie and Rhetta Cupp, are somewhat more indus trious, but are always willing to take a "Pump Boys and Dinettes" is a high-energy roots-rock musical revue. break, socialize with the boys, and sing about sisterhood, being treated right on dates, making pies, getting tips and going on vacation. This country-fried comedy's main asset is its down-home sense of humor and clever song lyrics, aided by the bound SONDRA N. ROBBINSmie Battalion Meghen Sharp, Scott Kelly, and Suzanne Shaw sing in the Aggie Players' production of "Pump Boys and Dinettes." less exuberance and verve of the cast, the peppy choreography and the strong sup port of a crack three-piece band (Eric MacGilvray on piano and acoustic guitar, Kenny McAllister on bass, and Jacob Lowe on percussion.) Act-openers "Highway 57" and "Pump Boys" were spirited and funny crowd pleasers that got things off to a roaring start. "Drinking Shoes," a swing ing number featuring a nimble tap dance by the Dinettes, was also lots of fun. As L.M., Scott Kelly's bluesy "Serve Yourself," featuring automotive-themed lyrics like, "I may be a retread, but I ain't no spare," and the rambunctious "Farmer Tan," sung with the Dinettes, were equally witty and rousing. Mark Antony Sterling, who was so memorable as the down-and-dirty voice of man-eating plant Audrey II in "Little Shop of Horrors," was also in fine form here, making beautiful music with the rest of the crew, and especially on "Mamaw." As Jackson, Jamie Martinez enthusi astically conveyed the bliss of a wicked crush on "Mona," that "gum-poppin',be- boppin', heart-stoppin' dime store queen." The multi-talented Jimmy Humphries aptly portrayed Jim with lots of good-ol'- boy charm, as he sang about his all-too- brief encounter with country music leg end Dolly Parton. Unfortunately, at last Friday's perfor mance the band, particularly tne drums, tended to drown out the singers, making many of the lyrics difficult to understand! Due to the larger number of men and their more powerful voices, their songs, espe cially tne ensemble numbers, suffered less, although the words to "Mamaw" often escaped me. The women on the other hand, fre quently overpowered by the accompani ment, did not fare so well. When Prudie (Suzanne Shaw) and Rhetta (Meghen Sharp) went into the audience during their first-act solos "The Best Man" and "Be Good or Be Gone," the words, sung to specific audience members, were often lost on the rest of us. Sharp's voice was the stronger of the two, and like Shaw's, fre- quendy sounded lovely when solo on the slower songs. In the excitement of the up-tempo numbers, however, both seemed to lose track of what key they were in and go gratingly flat. Their struggle to achieve the correct pitch was most apparent on "Sisters," a ballad whose harmonies most discordantly revealed the singers' vocal weaknesses. Otherwise, this production was emi nently professional-looking. Humphries' sets were marvelous, as usual, and Bob Wenck's direction kept things moving. The cast certainly seemed to be following the Aggie Players' motto and having lots of fun; their infectious spirit quickly spread to the audience. If you're not a stickler for musical perfection, you're guaranteed to have a nostalgia-flavored good time as well. Tickets are $20 for dinner (burners, hot dogs, shakes and fries) and the show, $17.50 for students. Show-only tickets are $7.50. There is door prize drawing during the show for dinner-ticket holders.