Page 12
Thursday, December 9, 1982
Daily Nebraskan
Arihs & EeteffSiminieinit
Go soak up some 'Cheers!9
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Photo courtesy of Sheldon Film Theatre
'Diva': Way of the camera
By David Thompson
The first shot in "Diva" is of a classi
cal statue. The face looks into the camera
with a marble dignity while waves of
? Movie
y Review
music wash by. The second shot is of a
motorcycle helmet. Untainted art punc
tuated by plastic commercialism - that
is the wit and charm of this eye-catching
film that opens at Sheldon Film Theatre
tonight.
It is difficult to explain what saves
this film from being knocked off as
another high-gloss thriller. Since it opened
in Paris in March 1981 , it has been praised
for its slick, lollipop surface, but there is
more to it than that. True, we don't
expect to find meaning - it would be
like reading James Joyce in a disco -but
when we do see something in there
among all the neon lights, it seems special
and is saved from being sentimental.
The film's surface was created by Jean
Continued on Page 13
Youth: Shades of Jackson 5
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Musical Youth
The Youth of Today
MCA
You can tell right away MCA counts
on big things from Musical Youth. MCA
has absolutely the worst album packag-
Album
Review
ing in the business, but the cover and
inner sleeves of the Musical Youths debut
album, while still nothing elaborate, cost
someone some money for a change.
That aside, Musical Youth still has a
steep hill to climb for success in America,
since the reggae music they play still is
regarded as novelty. No true reggae ar
tists have ever kicked up a storm on VS.
radio. But then maybe these are the five
kids who can do it.
Musical Youth consists of percussion
ist Dennis Seaton, 16; drummer Junior
Waite, 15: bassist Patrick Waite, 14; key
boardist Michael Grant. 13; and guitarist
Kelvin Grant, 1 1.
To make a long story short , you could
just imagine the Jackson Five in their
heyday singing reggae.
But that isn't a fair comparison since
reggae by nature is more thoughtful
and purposeful than anything the Jack
son Five ever did, and Musical Youth is
not merely kids doing reggae. Their music,
solid and enjoyable throughout, stands
on its own right.
Whatever the appeal, Musical Youth
has been a hit in their hometown of
Birmingham, England, since forming VA
years ago. They would have started earlier
except group member Junior Waite says,
"We had to wait for Kelvin's fingers to
get bigger so he could play the guitar."
Once that growth took place, the
group, which then included Junior and
Patrick Waites' father Freddie (who also
wrote the original material for the band)
was aired on a special radio program
featuring demos from unknown artists.
One of those who liked what he heard
was MCA executive Charlie Ayre, who
shortly after signing the band, replaced
the senior Waite on stage with Seaton.
Musical Youth is far from a Black
Uhura. as far as intelligence and intensity,
but "The Youth of Today" is loaded
with likable numbers, with messages
mature and popular enough to appeal to
your average soul and pop fan.
Ward Triplett
By Chuck Jagoda
If you want to know the truth, dear
reader, last Thursday night's "Cheers!"
was too good to write about. Or at least
to write during. I tried. I was sitting
there, pen in hand, waiting for the first
slack spot. There weren't any.
I managed to note the names of the
writer and producers, but once the show
S3
1
Television
Review
itself started I couldn't take my eyes
off it. I can't ever remember seeing a
TV show so tightly written and direct
ed. The acting wasn't exactly what you'd
call embarrassing either.
Even the editing deserves an Emmy.
The cuts contributed to viewer interest
without calling attention to themselves.
1 only realized how good it all was when
I noticed I was totally absorbed.
The show is a comedy of character
and situation. This means that the charac
ters have eccentric personalities and
share a given situation - in this case, a
Boston pub.
The owner-manager is a handsome
ex-baseball pitcher. His ex-coach, named
Coach, is the bartender. One waitress,
Diane, is a former philosophy depart
ment teaching assistant who came to
Cheers (the name of the bar) to meet
her professor-lover and run off with
him.
However, he decided to stay with his
wife, and Diane decided to stay on as a
bar waitress. She is witty and subtle.
Other characters patronize the bar,
and no one patronizes the viewers of
this show. The jokes and situations are
clear and well constructed, and their
writers aren't afraid to base their laughs
on language and literature.
And how has the "vast wasteland"
of TV produced such a pearl? Well you
may ask. It seems to have at least some
thing to do with production companies,
programming theory and corporate poli
ties, the three P's of commercial TV.
Grant Tinker, former chief of Mary
Tyler Moore Enterprises during the com
pany's production heyday, recently be
came president of NBC. One of his first
executive decisions was to make his new
network a home for "Taxi," after that
warm, witty, verbal and successful comedy
was dropped by ABC.
Tinker's next play was worthy of
Evers and Chance. He followed classic
programming strategy - but with a twist.
Traditional strategy calls for pairing
an already established show with a simi
lar spin-off. The spin-off follows the esta
blished show in the evening's schedule
and attracts a certain percentage of those
already watching the first show. I call it
the Established Lead-in to the New Spin
off Theory of Programming. I don't
know what they call it in Hollywood.
In this case, the theory would call
for "Cheers!," the new spin-off, to fol
low "Taxi," the established show. But
Tinker tinkered and slotted "Cheers!"
before "Taxi" - a sort of New Spin-off
As Lead-in to the Established Theory.
Tinker deserves credit for creative
programming. He also knew whom to hire.
He hired his own. The producers of both
shows are ex-writers and producers of the
early MTM years. Thursday night, Sam
Simon was the writer for "Cheers!" and
also one of the producers of that evening's
"Taxi."
The director of the "Taxi" episode
was one of the partners of Burrows,
Charles, Burrows, the "Cheers!" produc
tion company. Fellow MTM alumnus
David Lloyd is executive script consul
tant to both shows.
Some people call this nepotism. Some
call it corporate incest. I call it great tele
vision art.
'Shuttered' needs Fixx-ing
Q
Shuttered Room
The Fixx
MCA
The problem with any type of music re
view is that not very many albums arc
totally good or bad in and of themselves.
Album
Review
Such is the case with the "Shuttered
Room" album by the Fixx.
This band has jumped on the techno
rock bandwagon to some extent. Let's just
say they're attempting to jump on the
wagon. They haven't quite made it and are
only hanging on by their fingernails. The
five-member English group is obviously
synthesized, though not as excessively as
the Human League or Duran Duran.
The sound isn't unique to themselves
and isn't so much different from many
other bands today. It's just that the Fixx
doesn't use the sound as well as the other
bands. The main problem is that while the
Fixx attempts to be another band of the
'80s, they're not quite setting the job
done. They've taken all of the ingredients
to be a good group in today's market, but
forgot one.
The Fixx needs to find a direction and
go for it.
While the band seems to dwell on the
negative direction of the world, they leave
out a clear-cut statement of solution to
the problem. This is evidenced not in the
music itself but by the lyrics of the songs.
At best, the words are esoteric and filled
with hidden meanings and double
entendres.
On one song, the combination of ex
ceptional music and avant-garde lyrics
works very well.
"Stand Or Fall," the album's third cut
on the first side, is by far the best track
that "Shuttered Room" has to offer. The
haunting melodies and mysteriously
apocalyptic lyrics make the song a 1982
version of the Doors' classic "Riders of the
Storm." In the opening verse, the singer
begins:
Crying parents tell their children
If you survive don't do as we did
Vie son exclaims therell be nothing to
do too
Tlie daughter says shell be dead with
you
He continues with the chorus:
Stand or fall
State your pure tonight
It's for your own fear
It's for your own fear
This song is definitely a rose among
thorns. It's great, but the rest of the album
is pretty shaky.
A few reasons for buying the album re
main. You can go out and buy "Shuttered
Room" if y ou have some money left over
from buying all the good albums that are
out. You can buy it and try to figure out
the Fixx's message. Or you can look
around through the import section of the
store and try to find a "Stand Or Fall"
The choice is yours. Be forewarned.
Shuttered Room" by the Fixx is not for
everyone.
Randy Wymore