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.
