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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1980)
page 8 daily nebraskan tuesday, april 15, 1980 Academy Awards inspire strange films, tributes him then. Space Violators, Norma Rqe Goes Ilawai- Watch for other big hits coming your ian. The Muppet Sequel, and The Disco way soon-77te invasion of the Personal Syndrome. Regional work displayed at JoslynArt Biennial By Peg Sheldrick Well, the 52nd Annual Academy Awards are over. After all the previous, preshows and predictions, the contents of those little envelopes are yesterday's news and the hopes and fears of a handful of Tinsel Town's denizens have been realized or dashed at one fell swoop. humor As yesterday's glitter is swept into the dustbin and Price-Waterhouse fades back into obscurity for another year, only one question remains: How can we milk this ceremony for one more barrage of copy? The answer comes back: Easily. For example, one might discuss some of the categories that didn't make it to last night's awards show, such as Best Performance by a Former Charlie's Angel (no winner this year); most Redundant and Overpublicized Sequel by a Megalo maniac (Rocky II); and Best Performance by an Intriniscally Inanimate Object (a tie between Kermit the Frog and Richard Gere). Awards awards Or one might suppose a few awards for the ceremony itself, such as Best Perform ance by a presenter Who Would Rather be a Nominee; Most Out-of-Context Film Clip; and Best Extemporaneous Accept ance Speech Deriding the Academy or Some Political Group. The possibilities are endless. But the most appropriate post-awards discussion would focus on the films in the running for next year's race as well as the upcoming pictures inspired by this year's winners. Here are just a few of the movie masterpieces in the works that owe their existence to the films honored last night. New inspirations All Tliat Juice. Compelling, semi-autobiographical story of a forrmer Miss America's tumultuous career and the drive to succeed that led to her untimely humiliation at the hands of her enemies. Anita Bryant stars. (The pie-throwing scene may be too intense for some viewers.) Tlie Nose. At last it can be told. The story of Frank Zappa comes to the screen. Breaking Even. Offbeat, heart-warming look at one modern consumer and his crazy dream. Whimsical nostalgia. Not Being There. An inventive film that looks at the best thing about discus sing World War II, your senior prom, and the situation in Iran. Alumni Center Now. A group of de ranged men wreak havoc on a quiet Mid western university, when they try to take over a parking lot and create their own private domain. Kramer vs. AIL Flushed with success from a recent custody victory, a scrappy advertising executive decides to enter the boxing ring at the same time an aging champion is ready to come back and look ing for a worthy opponent. Manhattan, Kansas. In a sequel to last year's bittersweet comedy, an embittered New Yorker decides to try life in the Mid west and see if the Academy will notice By Martha Murdock Although it isn't a show of innovative, professional artwork like one might see in a New York City art center, the 16th Jostyn Biennial does give a good represent ation of strong regional art, according to an art judge. The 16th Joslyn Biennial, a competitive exhibition of painting, sculpture and graphics, opened Saturday in Omaha. The Biennial started in 1948 when only Nebraska and Iowa artists were represented in the exhibit. Now the show includes works from 20 states. The 100 works in the show, spanning a variety of styles and techniques, were selected from 1,549 pieces submitted by 569 artists. The preliminary judging was done by Biennial juror Dr. Jan Van der Marck, director of the Center tor Fine Arts in Miami Fla. He worked from slides of the pieces, and his choices were forwarded to the museum for final judging. "1 looked for quality and an original point of view," in judging the works, said Van der Marck. No particular style attract ed his attention. "There is good and bad in any style. I looked for what was well made and had an originality that immediately strikes the viewer. Director of museums Van der Marck, born in the Netherlands, is familiar with the international, profess ional art world. He has served as the director or curator of several art institu tions, including the Gemeente Museum in Amhem, Netherlands; the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; the Museum of Con temporary Art in Chicago; the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle; and the Dartmouth College Museum and Galleries in Han over, N.H. He has organized numerous exhibitions and written catalogs on leading artists, such as sculptor Jacques Lipchitz and painter Robert Indiana. In addition, he has pub lished books and articles about major artists and movements. He has worked closely with the artist Christo, known for wrapping large objects and geographical sites and for hanging cur tains across canyons and entire states. Van der Marck also was involved in th wrapping of Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the hanging of the Valley Curtain at Rifle Gap, Colo. Van der Marck compared that advanced work with the pieces being exhibited in the Biennial. ' Continued on Page 9 By Casey McCabe There seems to be some confus ion as to who Elvis Costello really thinks he is. For some reason, this English man, who could pass for Buddy Holly's black-sheep kid brother, has scared the hell out of radio programmers. The man never seems to make it over the air waves, de spite the fact that he indulges out rageously in the music that has dominated radio for the past 15 years. Mention Costello in the wrong W Y 1 m a Vet Happy' fails to cheer listeners , and he may be recognized as that cheap English punk". Back to the labels again. It appeared that Costello was the single figurehead, instigator and king of the late 1970s punkNew Wave invasion, hitting the scene about the time of the death of another Elvis, who was also occas ionally referred to as The King. If nothing else, he made a wonderful ly irreverent splash. Costello's no punk. He is just another burned, cynical psuedo romantic songwriter who happens to have an excellent ability for putting those emotions into lyrics. And, as seems to have become a prerequisite for New Wave material, he borrows extensively from mid '50s pop influences. Ironic album Then what seems to be the trouble with Costello's public image? The question won't be resolved with Elvis Costello and the Attractions' latest effort, Get Happy f! It's ironic to look at the title stamped over the bright pastels D(s)QflOi(D FCUEQUJ on the cover and then listen to its musical content. You can almost understand why this mysterious, unassuming figure perplexes the folks who compile radio playlists. On paper, Costello's music looks like the fun and lively, sad and ro mantic stuff that pop heroes are made of. But while listening to the music, one could be excused for wondering why they are not getting happy, or fail to feel profoundly moved by the truly classic lyrics. Punk posture Not clearing this last hurdle to perfect poprock stardom as we know it doesn't seem to be any oversight on Costello's part. He re tains a punk posture to ensure that no one would mistakenly view his work as harmless. While Linda Ron stadt can recognize the commerci al potential of Costello and capital ize on it, Elvis himself chooses to remain terse and vengeful in much of his vocal delivery. And, rather than involve the listener in his music, he often comes off more as a lecturing from the. wise veteran on who and what to watch out for in this big, nasty world. But Costello can temper his cynicism with a wry, if not witty, twisting of words. Once you under stand where he's coming from, he does have a lot to offer the listener. Get Happy!! contains 20 songs, enough for a double album, on a single platter. In the tradition of mid-'60s pop, most songs hover around two minutes. Some good tunes Though you could grow callous es by listening to 45 straight min utes of Elvis Costello, the album, has several catchy, driving and suc cessful moments. Among the best are "Love For Tender," a short, but not sweet up-tempo dance number. "The bnposter", is interesting for its background organ that sounds as though it were dubbed straight from a roller rink or hockey game. Finally, there are "Opportunity" and "Secondary Modern" whtch find Costello at his slow brooding best. Other brief but good examples of Costello's fine, sardonic song writing ability include "King Horse", "Motel Matches" and the especially effective "Black and White World." But, perhaps the album's best piece is "Riot Act". Slow and anguishing, it is another b'un chapter in Elvis' fickle ro mantic life. We almost hear him falling to his knees as his vocals gain an intensity unmatched elsewhere on the album. In a rare case on Get Happy!! he seems to be involving the listener. Costello has an unparalleled ability to mesh all the fun of past pop music ideals with the mechan ized hum of a corporate society. If he is the voice of future music as he's been touted to be these past three years, things are bound to be interesting, if not exactly cheerful, when he finally gets there.