Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1994)
ly • Novembers, 151 AP Photo :tion of over 40,C Lie quilt >ption was to have plastic plate installei ehead bone had been nothy's parents me n August. 3 brought in Zide, win nderson. The three de se Timothy’s own he bone they needed ti cranium. :h portion of his fore doctors made a sol opiate mirroring tin art and then scannei skull to locate an are; ir contours, ten removed the pietf led the forehead's con id sliced it inti and Noble $2,441 ii 3, for the trip butt! the company untilJtto rks for First Amen tank, 8*>id the^ched , of sequence with oti liths’ account, purchasing services adopted an ethics pol ild not accept gifts fit iating with. This residents, sident of marketing tified Smith visited ll jo, which was standi r a bookstore. Butf * ’uesday • November 8, 1994 Mgielife The Battalion • Page 3 MYSTERY "W"BUB ET I BB mar P HT u Quirky comedy show to blast into A&M today when the defer' sses. ION n chief 1EE, Opinion editor tILNE, Photo editor )ER, Sports editor i, Aggielife editor iann, Stephanie Dube, Amarf imith and Kari Whitley hah Islam, Tiffany Moore, SBl tacey Cameron, Blake Griggs, rson 1 and Haley Stavinoha a/ Diener, Stewart Doreen aw enderson, Erin Hill, Jeremy orge Nasr, Elizabeth Preston, atro Oakley I Michelle Oleson -iday during the fall and spring is (except University holidays! 1111 at College Station, TX 77840, McDonald Building, Texas Texas A&M University inti* inlism. Editorial offices are 111 DU. Newsroom phone miinkt 1 ir endorsement by The tiatlal** or classified advertising, call ? hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m (as A&M student to pick up! ster, $40 per school year3W nerican Express, call SIS#’ ■on CAN By Jeremy Keddie The Battalion “Mystery Science Theater 3000” will be bringing Adam West, star of the former Batman series, to the silver screen of Rudder Theater Wednesday at 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. in “Zombie Nightmare,” a 1986 Hollywood bust about a murdered teenager revived by a voodoo queen and slaughters his punk- teen assailants. “Mystery Science Theater 3000” began in August 1988 as a way to make fun of movies which never quite made it or just plain sucked. The characters are seen in the front row of a movie theater dur ing movies, and comment and crack on the films usually horrible dialogue. The actually format of the pro gram involves a human named Mike Nelson, and robots Tom Ser vo and Crow, who have been stranded in outer space by scien tists to monitor the effects of cheesy movies on the human species. The show is in the midst of a nationwide college tour, in which college students can see the world premiere of the show’s version of “Zombie Nightmare.” The show debuted in September 1988 on a Minneapolis-St. Paul UHF station. “Mystery Science Theater 3000” now appears on Comedy Central, an all-comedy network. However TCA Cable does not carry Comedy Cen tral and Wednes day’s showing will be the only chance for Texas A&M students to see the premiere. Since its beginnings, “Mystery Science Theater 3000” has been nominated for the Cable Ace Award for best comedy series, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstand ing individual achievement in writing for a vari ety or music pro gram. Partly responsi ble for these awards are Paul Chaplin and Mary Jo Pehl, two of “Mystery Sci ence Theater 3000’s” writers. Chaplin was per forming stand-up comedy, and the producer of “Mys tery Science The ater 3000” was in attendance at one of his shows. Chap lin said his perfor mance was terrible. “He admired my fortitude to go on even though the au dience kept leav ing,” Chaplin said. “By the end of the third act there was no one left.” Chaplin landed himself a job as a writer for “Mystery Science The ater 3000,” with Best Brains Inc., the corporation which produces the show. Helping Chaplin with the scripts is Mary Jo Pehl. She had also been doing stand up comedy and in February of 1992 began writing for the show. With the talent of these two writers and several others, Best Brains Inc. saves 24 movies a year from reaching their graves early. “The worst movies you want to do can be surprisingly expensive,” he said. The show has featured such cheesy movies as “Super Agent Su per Dragon” (1966), “Warrior of the Lost World” (1984) and “I Ac cuse My Parents” (1945). Pehl and Chaplin said writing for the movies begin several months before they are televised. All of the writers sit in and view the movies together, while taking down all comments made during the airing. Sometimes it’s too much humor to handle, Pehl said. “I have big bouts about spewing Diet Coke through my nose,” Pehl said. But things can become too dry Host Mike Nelson and robots Tom Servo and Crow. to handle after viewing each movie about six times. “If you’re having a bad day where nothing is funny, there oth er people in the room who will pick up the slack,” Pehl said. Admission to Wednesday “Mys tery Science Theater 3000” will be free with a student ID card. Williams' storytelling moves 'Loose' By Erin Hill TfE Battalion Victoria Williams “Loose” Mammoth Records *** (out of five) Remember your elementary school nusic teacher? The one that played he guitar and autoharp and sang Puff the Magic Dragon?” Well, Victoria Williams, a linger/songwriter from Louisiana, leems just like one, minus the auto- farp. Her songs are lessons and her toice the teacher. Even when her songs cover the tsual topics, namely love, relation- hips and family, she narrates with ncredible expression. At times Williams could pass for a lountry crooner, as on “Happy to Have (nown Pappy.” But “Love” and When We Sing Together” are pure oik tunes, the kind we haven’t heard since the days of Peter, Paul and ary. She can sing ballads too, like “Na me’s Way,” a duet with Dave Pimer Soul Asylum, and “Psalms,” a slow song with a spiritual message. Just when you’re convinced she is iust another female folk singer-Joni Mitchell wannabe, she breaks out with her rendition of “What a Wonder- World.” Considering she’s a young Caucasian woman she does a formida- hle impression of Louie Armstrong. Williams refuses to be categorized d enjoys teasing her listeners with wide variety of styles, genres and subjects. Her talent for writing songs with such different styles may be due to her experience in writing for a wide variety of performers. Pearl Jam, Soul Asylum, the Wa- terboys, Michelle Shocked and The Jayhawks are just some of the bands that have performed her songs. Those artists and many more re- tsed “Sweet Relief’ last year, a col lection of Williams songs as a fundraiser for emergency health care for musicians, a problem Williams un derstands since she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. “It was the greatest gift,” said Williams in a press release. “Hearing those artists sing my songs sounded really wonderful — and maybe that Save me a new-found confidence to wards doing another record.” That record is “Loose” and confi- Victoria Williams’ poetic style of music is featured on “Loose.” dent is a good way to describe it. From the laughter in her voice to the photos of her playing around with her dog on the album cover, it’s appar ent that Williams is having fun doing what she knows she is good at. At times her voice lacks maturity and it sounds like a little girl with a squeaky voice, but it is a little girl with an adorable smile and charming personality who makes you happy anyway. But Williams’ best songs are the ones where she sings likes a grown woman. Two of these are the folk rock ballads “You R Loved” and “Hitchhik er’s Smile” with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Mike Mills. When Williams is at her best the album moves along, demonstrating a remarkable range of styles and emo tions. When she isn’t, well, she’s still a good songwriter. This is Williams’ third album and it sounds like her most honest one yet. Williams said “I know that I had a better time making it.” With any luck, her fans will have as much fun listening. Black Crowes' 'Amorica' starts strong, ends weak album begins to darken with the album’s fourth track, “Cursed Diamond.” Begin ning with a somber mood, both lyrically and musically, the song depicts a person who is frustrated with his life. Robinson’s only escape from this wretched feeling is to get high. “I freeze myself / Rain on myself / OK, so I stone myself / And I might even find myself,” he sings. Robinson is a “cursed diamond” who wants to “shine for you” and even “sparkle too.” The album picks up a little after “Cursed Diamond,” but regresses to a somber tone again with “Ballad In Ur gency.” Dealing with the same inward ap athy that is evident throughout the al bum, “Ballad in Urgency” offers nothing new and exciting for the listener. Like “Cursed Diamond,” the song is definitely a downer. Albums need a het erogenous mixture of high and low. But the latter seems to dictate the last half of “Amorica,” which is a shame for an album that starts out with such a bang. By Drew Diener The Battalion The Black Crowes “Amorica” American Recordings **1/2 (out of five) The Black Crowes’ latest musical com panion may not shake your money maker. “Amorica,” the Georgia group’s third LP, is an interesting follow-up to “Shake Your Money Maker” (1990) and “Southern Harmony and Musical Companion” (1992). On the album’s opening tracks, lead singer Chris Robinson’s scratchy voice adds spice to an already impressive con glomeration of instrumentation. Robin son’s lyrics deal with traditional themes like bad love, deception, depression and confusion. While these themes may not be origi nal, the sound of the music combined with Robinson’s irresistable crooning make each of the album’s first five songs a plea surable listen. The album’s first track, “Gone,” possesses a sam pling of the various instru mentation and sound tech niques featured through out the album. A funky percussion sound reminis cent of the underlying beat of War’s “Lowrider” en velopes the listener imme diately. The percussion soon combines with the guitar, bass, drums and Robinson’s voice, thus striking a potent crescen do. Robinson sings “Save me from this season’s dead air / Take me blind, naked, and scared.” Obviously depressed, the music offers a strange juxtaposition of moods. The music, eliciting a feel ing of ease, dominates words that appear to rep resent the antithesis of such feelings. Even the manner in which Robinson sings “Gone” boldly con trasts the mood of the lyrics. The upbeat feel of the The Black Crowes are back with “Amorica.” Stones still rockin' after all these years By Belinda Blancarte The Battalion It’s difficult to imagine our fathers stirring up enough energy to rock-n- roll like a teenager, but one group of middle-aged men never seems to slow down. The Rolling Stones rocked the Alam- odome in San Antonio Saturday for a sold-out crowd of about 50,000 fans. With an elaborate eight-story ^ high stage that included a fire breathing cobra overhead, the Stones kicked off the show with “Not Fade Away.” Along with new material jg :; A from “Voodoo Lounge, such as “I Go Wild,” Mick Jagger and the boys played their memorable hit “Satisfaction” as the crowd went wild. Other “Voodoo Lounge” selections in cluded “You Got Me Rock ing,” where the audience joined in with their screams of “Hey! Hey!” To slow things down a bit, the Rolling Stones played the “Some Girls” al bum’s hits “Beast of Bur den” and the rarely played country-sound ing “Far Away Eyes,” with the screen showing them in black and white. Keith Richards sang “The Worst” from “Voodoo Lounge,” in ad dition to the 1970s hit “Hap py” from “Exile on Main Street.” And as an other favorite, “Honky Tonk Woman,” brought people to their feet, the screen pictured past film stars such as Shirley Temple, and other fa mous women like Queen Elizabeth II. But the best performance of all be gan when huge inflatable images of such things as a skeleton, a goat, Elvis and the Virgin Mary swayed in the background as Jagger, decked out in sunglasses and a fuzzy, leopard-print ed top hat, sang the ever-popular words, “Please allow me to introduce myself...” from the hit song “Sympathy for the Devil.” And Jagger, now in his mid- 50s, wouldn’t disappoint the crowd without doing some of his trademark dancing of sudden jerks and turns. Although the Stones would leave without playing such favorites as “Ruby Tues day” or “Paint It Black,” the band returned for an encore per formance of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” And after fireworks lit up the stage, Charlie Watts, Ron Wood, Richards and Jagger walked to the front of the stage arm in arm and took a bow. The Rolling Stones are currently on tour supporting their hit “Voodoo Lounge” album. f