Tuesday, November 26, 1985
Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
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'Suzanne Vega'
By Chris McCubbin
Staff Reporter
SingerSongwriter Suzanne Vega
sounds tired. That's not surprising
since she's in the last couple of weeks
of her first grueling national tour.
But she's charming on the phone.
Unlike many performers, she's as lucid
and articulate in conversation as she is
on vinyl. But talking to some faceless
kid from Nebraska who can't think of
anything to ask that she hasn't already
heard a zillion times since her first
record came out last April, she some
times can't help but let the fatigue
show.
Vega, 25, is a New York City native
and graduate of Barnard College with a
degree in English. She also was a dance
student, a swimmer and quite possibly
is the best thing to happen to folk
music in five maybe 10 years.
Her album, "Suzanne Vega" cracked
the top 100 this summer and is still on
the charts. The video for the single
"Marlene On The Wall" was in light
rotation on MTV for seven weeks. She
was dressed up like Marlene Dietrich
and acted sexy. She said it was fun.
Newspaper and magazine articles
about Vega have one thing in common:
Driven by the music critic's mysterious
need to categorize everything, the wri
ters always include a mini-catalog of
musical influences. Vega never gives
the same list twice. Today she's admit
ting to Simon and Garfunkel, Laura
Cheesy gift tasty,
.By Chris Welsch
Senior Editor
There are few things in this world
more disgusting than pre-Christmas
hype. Especially if it comes before Dec.
24.
I cringe when I hear Christmas
Musak downtown or in the malls; I turn
my head to avoid seeing the lights and
plastic Christmas trees; I shred the
Christmas advertising inserts in the
papers.
There ought to be laws against such
crass commercialization of Jesus
Christ's birthday.
Dining Review
But when my editor offered me $12
and a free box of cheese if I'd review a
Christmas present idea, I threw my
ideal to the wind. Money is money and
cheese is cheese.
The university's department of food
science and technology has some cheese
and sausage gift boxes for sale. The
cheese is made in the food pilot plant;
students learn by helping make the
stuff. The sausage is made in the
department of animal science, also in
conjunction with research and teach
ing programs.
The prices are reasonable, the pack
ages attractive, and the product is
Springsteen and Wham!
take top video awards
By The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES Bruce Springsteen's
blue collar pathos and the pretty-boy
teen appeal of the British band Wham!
won top trophies during this year's
second American Video Awards cere
monies. The hour-long show broadcast Friday
was the second American Video Awards
trophy handout in 1985. The 3rd annual
show was in April.
The National Academy of Video Arts
said a contract with ABC forced it to
change the show date. The academy's
awards compete with the MTV video
awards, held this year in a lavish and
well-tended affair at Radio City Music
Hall in New York City.
Nyro and Lou Reed, who's always on her
list.
Vega doesn't always sing her songs,
sometimes she talks them. "Cracking"
has been called "The first folk-rap
fusion song." Rap is not a conscious
influence, she said, but growing up in
Harlem and Spanish Harlem rap was
always there.
Old movies pop up in several of
Vega's songs. She said she didn't watch
much TV as a child and it was a big
thrill when she finally discovered the
movies of the '30s. She said she loves
the ones where the woman plays a clas
sic character.
Vega said New York City is an impor
tant influence. She said it gave her her
dry, unsentimental sense of humor.
You also never run out of things to
write about "it's right in front of
you."
"Suzanne Vega" was co-produced by
Lenny Kaye, the former lead guitarist
for Patti Smith and patron saint of New
York punk, and Vega's long-time friend
Steve Addabbo.
Kaye just happened to be moving
toward an acoustic sound as she was
moving towards a more electric sound,
she said. They seem to have met in the
middle.
Kaye and Addabbo gave "Suzanne
Vega" a slick edginess that's rare in
folk music.
Vega started writing songs at 14 and
performing at 16. She first played New
York's Folk City club at 20 and stayed
there five years.
delicious.
I tried the two-pound gift box with
summer sausage, Husker mild cheddar
and sharp cheddar cheeses. It cost
$7.99, $9.99 if delivered by United Par
cel Service.
The cheeses come in an attractive
box, embossed with the university seal
and lined with plastic Easter grass,
which adds a festive feel to any gift. A
friend and I ate most of the cheese at
one sitting over a six-pack of Shaeffers,
the white wine of beers. I recommend
real white wine to complement this
cheese or maybe even a fruity bottle
of California Noveau Beajoulais.
No, I don't hate California, but I do
hate wine-cooler commercials. The
white wine of beers is better than wine
coolers, especially with this cheese.
A trend quickly became apparent.
The beer and Husker cheese disap
peared first. Husker cheese has a dis
tinctive, mellow flavor and sensuous
consistency that made it our favorite.
The other cheeses were good, but not
extraordinary. The sausage was spicy
maybe a little too spicy but it
went well with the cheeses.
After the last saltine and cheese
hors d'oeuvre slid down my gullet, I felt
much less like a sellout. Surely J. C.
would understand t.heneed for nour
ishment on a cold November night, and
this also helps a good and needful
cause: The poor U of N, when I thought
Springsteen won two awards, one for
best male performer and the other for
best pop video of his song "Glory Days."
Best performance by a duo or group
went to Wham! for "Everything She
Wants," and the group took a second
award in the best home video category
for a production titled "The Video."
Comedian and rocker Eddie Murphy
won the best urban contemporary video
category with his "Party All the Time"
video with singer Rick James.
The best female performance went
to Aimee Mann of the Boston quartet,
'til tuesday, for "Voices Carry."
Ricky Skaggs won the best country
music video award for "Country Boy"
and Sade won in the category of best
new artist.
h
as rare,
She said college was hectic, and
included two jobs, not counting gigging
at Folk City and the swim team. She
had to take an extra year. She said she
always wanted to be a singer, but her
parents wanted her to have an educa
tion, and she enjoyed school.
Vega's songs can grow from an idea,
a line, a chord, a mood or a title, she
said. She used to write them in an hour
or even a half hour. Lately they have
been taking as much as a day.
"Undertow" is her most controver
sial song. One writer said it was about
ravenous sexuality. It's not, she said.
She said she was wondering what the
undertow would say if it had a voice.
Every person has a little undertow in
him, she said.
"The Queen and the Soldier" is
Vega's most political song, she said.
It's also more of a story than her other
poems. It's a very cinematic song, she
said. When she was writing the song it
was like she was right there: Watching
the idealistic soldier confront the young
queen. She said if she was less realistic
she would almost call it a vision.
Vega is going to finish her tour, take
a break, and then start work on her
next album. She said she's going to
stay with her semi-electric (she herself
only plays acoustic guitar) band on the
next album and she said the next
album will be less subdued. It might
have some dance songs.
Vega, who has never been to Neb
raska, said she'd like to visit maybe
on the next tour.
helps NU dairy program
about it, it reminded me of the story of
the poor little match girl, freezing to
death in the cold. I only hope frail NU
has a similarly painless death. By buy
ing this cheese, you help the university,
and if you think of NU as a poor, shiver
ing match girl, it'll make you feel
benevolent, too.
'Ninth Configuration' unusual;
'Bitten' 'suprisingly unbad'
By Tom Mockler
Staff Reporter
"The Ninth Configuration,"
now showing at the Plaza 4, is one of
those films that appears without a
warning, departs in a similar fashion
and makes you ask: "What's going
on?" I may be confused, but I swore
at the end of the film it had origi
nally been released in 1979. So what
is it doing here now?
Movie Review
Well, perhaps it is partially be
cause of the emergence of main
character Stacey Keach as a semi
star,, It also provides an interesting
parallelcontrast with "Rambo."
"The Ninth Configuration" is the
brainchild of William Peter Blatty.
He wrote, produced and directed it.
I really know nothing about him,
but it is interesting how his style
mirrors the Vietnam pictures of the
late 70s, although this film was
probably too intense for mass appeal.
The film ranges from metaphys
ics to an orgy of violence, so it is
somewhat difficult to pin down
without explaining too much.
Like many such films it begins in
a loony bin. I would say "psychiatric
asylum," but that would not be
quite accurate.
During the later part of the Viet
nam War, the narrator tells us, there
'slic
.-w f t-;iv':'
The prices on the gift boxes range
from $4.99 for a 1-pound box to $21 for
the 6-pound Smoke Haus Box. The
boxes can be gift-wrapped for an extra
buck. You can buy them at the univer
sity DairyStore at 38th and Holdrege streets
on East Campus. You should probably
call and order ahead, although a few
was a dramatic rise in psychotic
behavior on the part of servicemen.
It was not known whether the psy
chosis was true "combat fatigue" or
faked.
A number of centers were set up
around the country to examine such
patients to answer this question.
Center No. 18, a German castle
transplanted to the Pacific North
west, is the setting for this story. Its
work is more experimental than
others.
Enter Col. Cane (Keach) who, we
assume, has just been assigned as
the new director. His behavior is
just plain strange. In some ways
stranger than his patients. The twist,
as we find out later, is that he is a
patient.
Much of the story revolves around
Cane and Lt. Cutshaw (Scott Wil
son). What makes Wilson so inter
esting is his uncanny resemblance
to "Easy Rider" star Dennis Hopper.
I would almost swear he was his
younger brother. The resemblance
is not merely physical, but in their
simultaneous neurotic and spacey
mannerisms, speech patterns and
characters.
In any case, there is a lot of talk
about God and human goodness and
the lack thereof. Cane is the propo
nent and Cutshaw the devil's advo
cate. It's really heavy, man.
Blatty is basically suggesting the
odds of life on this planet are so low
that it becomes easier to believe in
a God than pursue a scientific
explanation. Although some ele
Cn
k edginess
if -v v .
ft I
Courtesy of A&M Records
Vega
boxes were on hand Friday when I
picked up mine. The cheese hotline
number is 472-2828. Orders will not be
taken after Dec. 22.
Now I'm full of good cheese and hol
iday cheer. I'll be more tolerant for
pre-Christmas mumbo-jumbo. Ho, ho,
ho. I'm off to use my pay for presents.
ments in this story line are a little
hokey, the film holds up pretty well.
I recommend it.
"Once Bitten: a Tasty
Comedy" falls into that gray zone
of formular comedy that is neither
good nor bad. It simply exists.
This film revolves around a vam
piress (Lauren Hutton) in search of
virgin blood to preserve her youth.
The catch: She must find it by mid
night Oct. 31. By this, we can see
that the release of the film was ill
timed. It should have been released
at Halloween.
The story is basically "The
Hunger" meets teen-age sex comedy.
An earnest youth frustrated by his
"good" girlfriend goes to a singles
bar in Hollywood with his friends
and, well, meets Hutton.
Actually, the film is surprisingly
unbad. Jim Carrey, the earnest youth,
is pretty good in both comic and
straight scenes, although this film
is unlikely to catapult him into the
Brat Pack. Hutton is sufficiently
sultry as the vampire.
A pleasant surprise is Karen
Kopuns, the suffering girlfriend who,
, instead of playing the sweet-but-dull
type, is really pretty sexy in her
own right. She is clearly a match for
Hutton.
The teen-age sex comedy aspects
are refreshingly ungross. Still, the
film never really aspires to be any
more than a factory-produced stu
dio comedy. I'd pay $1.50 to see this
film, currently showing at the State
Theater.