Arts & Entertainment
. . - ._^=l
Country yodels worth a listen
Patty Loveless, “If My Heart Had
Windows" (MCA)
“If My Heart Had Windows” is
pretty as a picture, feisty as a filly and
generally one of the freshest, most
sincere, most exuberant traditional
country albums I've heard in years.
Patty Loveless plays no instru
ments and writes none of her material.
Her voice, while powerful, expres
sive and versatile, is nothing to make
the history books. Nonetheless, on
this album the material is perfectly
welded to the artist’s talents to create
a delightful country confection.
The only thing surprising about “If
My Heart Had Windows” is its qual
ity. Loveless unapologelically sticks
to traditional country forms and
themes. She uses this familiar ground
as a solid base from which she uses
exuberance and simplicity to carry
the album into excellence.
Stand-out tracks include the al
most painfully happy “So Good To Be
In Love,” the closest thing to a rocker
on the album; the Patsy Clinc-fla
vored tear-jerker “If My Heart Had
Windows”; and “Baby’s Gone
Blues,” w hich is not a blues song, but
rather an atmospheric folk-tinged
piece reminiscent of Su/anne Vega,
and by far the album’s most uncon
ventional song.
For celebrity appeal Loveless per
forms Steve Earle’s kinetic “A Little
Bitin Love” and ably covers the Hank
Williamsclassic“I Can’t Get You Off
Of My Mind.”
For those who enjoy traditional
country music, but can’t tolerate the
commercialism and complacency of
the country top-40, “If My Heart Had
Windows” is a practically perfect
simple pleasure.
— Chris McCubbin
Randy Erwin, “Cowboy Rhythm"
(Four Dots)
Yodels arc funny. Literally. Hear
ing such a sound emitting from a full
grown human male w ill produce an
awed giggle in almost any circle.
Look at the friendly grin that
Randy Erwin, country’s new hut
unchallenged yodel king, sports on
the album’s cover, and it’s easy to sec
that he knows he’s doing something
amusing and doesn’t mind.
Nonetheless, Erwin lakes the yo
del very seriously. He knows he’s
preserving a historically rich and
almost extinct art form. And Erwin is
a master of his art.
“Cowboy Rhythm” is Erw in’s first
full-length album and is a worthy
successor to last year’s lively “Till the
Cows Come Home” EP.
Erw in is accompanied on one of
the album’s unnumbered sides by
fellow Texans Brave Combo, the
aggressively unconventional “nu
clear polka” band that’s a Zoo Bar
favorite and the spearhead of the
current accordion revolution in pop
music.
This side has a distinctly ethnic
flavor, featuring a song about Mex
ico, another from Mexico (“El Ran
cho Grande,” w ilh English lyrics by
Gene Autry) and the whimsical Euro
pean ditty “The Alpine Milkman.” It
also gives us the manic “Right Where
You Want Me” and “Cannonball
Yodel,” one of the most frenetic train
songs ever.
On the other side Erwin is backed
up by a more conventional country
ensemble. We’re treated to the stan
dard “Bring It On Down to My
House,” “Cowboy Night Herd Song"
by Roy Rogers and Jimmy Rodgers’
hilarious “In the Jailhousc Now.”
Randy Erwin is an authentic
American treasure, and his records
arc more fun than skinny-dipping.
This is a must-ow n album.
—Chris McCubbin
The Hood, “Cooler Than
Thou”(Ciant)
I only picked this album up be
cause of the beautiful Howard
Chaykin cover illustration, and 1
almost didn’t play it at all, thinking it
was just another piece of nouveau
disco junk.
The songs arc extremely dance
able and the music dix's seem to origi
nate entirely from a computer chip,
but “Cooler Than Thou’’ is an excel
lent album that completely tran
scends its superficial relationship to
disco. The Hood bears comparison to
Prince, Gang of Four and Was (Not
Was).
What sets The Hood apart from
other dance music is the atmosphere,
a palpable nimbus of film noir men
ace that is the antithesis of disco’s
clean-room emotional vacuum.
Side one is a mini-concept album
that extols the vices of the criminal
life. Gtxxl dirty fun, but not much
substance.
But side two takes off. “Cooler
Than Thou” is a tribute to a femme,
fatale. “The Book of the Law ” is the
album’s highlight, an absurdist, anti
metaphysical rant that leaves the lis
tener philosophically confused but
musically fulfilled. “What She
Keeps” is mysterious and beautiful
and almost a love song. The album
ends with “Stand Apart,’’asort of cool
person’s pledge that sums the album
up nicely.
“Cooler Than Thou” comes dan
gerously close to being silly more
than once. If the music took itself at
all seriously the album would have
been a Hop. But as it is, “Cooler Than
Thou” has all the appeal of an absurd,
preachy and gorgeou s gangster movie
from the 40s.
—Chris McCubbin
Ringwald’s new flick proves redundant
and unrealistic to older movie-goers
By Micki llaller
Senior Reporter
“For Keeps” combines every teen
love, pregnancy, marriage, birthing
and skid apartment cliche in Ameri
can film cinema and manages to
squeeze in a few extra for good
measure.
Molly Ringwald yet again plays a
teen lluffball who gets to whine and
cry without ruining her makeup.
When 1 was a teen flu filial 1,1 could
never getaway with that,and I deeply
resent that she can.
Darcy (Ringwald's current incar
nation) has problems: She doesn’t
like her mother; her mother hates
Stan, her boyfriend; she’s been on the
Pill since she was 14 to regulate her
period; and her period is two months
late.
While her mother and her
boyfriend’s parents argue the merits
of abortion and adoption, respec
tively, Stan (Randall Balinkoff) and
Darcy decide to keep the baby.
Needless to say, this screws up
several dreams the 17-year-old sen
iors have. Sum has a g<x>d chance for
a free ride at Cal Tech, and Darcy
dreams of becoming a journalist.
The kids gel married in a little
white church out in the country by a
recent Asian immigrant. The bride is
resplendent in a floral flannel night
gown and black galoshes.
Naturally, the cliches now come
out in full force, with financial diffi
culties, pregnancy miracles and dis
comforts, the toilet in the middle of
the apartment, Darcy having to leave
school so her pregnancy won’t be
contagious, water breaking at the
prom, postpartum depression, a sick
baby, a bitchy cheerleader howling
siren songs at our hero and even a
brief stint living with the mother-in
law.
In the interest of space, I won’t
drone on about the countless other
episodes. Most people have already
seen them on television.
The movie’s fatal flaw is its unre
ality. No one can suirt life as a couple
on S927, survive on it for a few
months and still be optimistic. Par
ents drastically opposed to a mar
riage and a grandchild are not going
togctall gushy when the darling little
thing is placed in their arms. A
newborn 24 inches long is not going
lobe born by natural childbirth. And
most of all, a teen-age pregnancy and
marriage is not going to have a per
fect, happy ending. In fact, no mar
riage or pregnancy is going to have a
perfect, happy ending. It’s just not
the nature of the beast.
The movie, with its PG-13 rating,
should succeed with a younger audi
ence. They just aren’t old enough to
have heard the stories over and over
again. But older people are bound to
be bored and maybe just a little un
comfortable with this brand of senti
mentality.
Magic Theatre to present play series
The Omaha Magic Theatre will
present an eight-part scries featuring
the “Best Plays of the 60s” and “New
Playwrights of 1988.”
Jo Ann Schidman, artistic director
‘ for the Magic Theatre, said, “Audi
ences have demonstrated an appetite
for vital, new and challenging plays.
They like talking together and sharing
responses afterwards, and knowing
that tapes of this dialogue will be sent
lo the playwright, they have a part in
the creative process.”
The schedule begins Friday, Feb. 5
with “Why Hanna’s Skirt Won’t Stay
Down” and “Classics.” “Conse
quence” will be featured on Feb. 12,
“The Function,” Feb. 19, “Amtrak”
and “The Hunter and the Bird,” Feb.
26.
In March, the series switches to
Tuesdays with “Kitchenette” and
“New Age Romance,” featured Mar.
8,’’Baby Makes Seven,” Mar. 15,
“The Birth of Limbo Dancing" and
“The Bed was Full,” Mar. 15 and
“Nightclub,” Mar. 22
Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. A
series ticket can be purchased for $8
or $1 per performance. Seating is
limited, reservations may be made by
calling the Magic Theatre at 346
1227.
The Lincoln Arts Council’s “Arts
at Noon” lunch and lecture scries was
incorrectly identified as being on the
third Thursday of every month in the
Jan. 13 Daily Nebraskan. The story
should have said the third Tuesday of
every month.
The DN regrets the error.
The cast of ‘Moonstruck” includes (seated, from left) Nicolas
Cage, Cher, Feodor Chaliapin and (standing from left) Julie
Bovasso, Olympia Dukakis, Louis Guss, Vincent Gardenia
and Danny Aiello.
Cher showcases family
theme of ‘Moonstruck’
By John I*. Coffey
Staff Reporter
“Forgive me, Father, for 1 have
sinned. . . . It’s been two months
since my last confession. 1 took the
Lord’s name in vain twice, slept
with my fiance’s brother and
bounced a check at a liquor store.”
In the sophisticated romantic/
comedy “Moonstruck,” Loretta
(Cher) has a slight problem. The
man she’s in love with isn't the one
she’s about to marry.
Loretta, whose first husband was
killed in a freak accident, is now in
her upper 3()s and feels the old bio
logical clock licking. She wants a
family. And the only man seemingly
available is Johnny Cammarcri
(Danny Aiello). But before the two
can make it to the altar, Johnny must
fly back to Sicily to tend to his dying
mother.
Death is a major building-block
in “Moonstruck.” The characters
treat it as if it’s something that can
be avoided, something they have in
their power to manipulate and de
tain. They believe they have control
over any aspect of their lives. Call it
individual self-determination.
The opening scene, set in a fu
neral parlor, shows a dead man lying
in state. The mortician brags of his
makeover abilities, how he makes
‘cm look better in death than they
did in life. At the table, Loretta
slaves over something else the
mortician refuses to acknowledge as
any concern — his taxes. If the
death-and-taxes opening and the
man's non-acceptance of them are
any indication, you have a hint
where the film leads.
Loretta’s fiance relics on her to
patch things up with his only
brother, Ronnie (Nicolas Cage), to
whom he hasn’t spoken in five
years, and invite him to the wed
ding.
This is Johnny’s smaller effort
that builds the larger theme —
family. Throughout the film, every
thing is afliliated with the impor
tance and cohcsivencss of the fam
ily unit. It is the base from which all
else flows.
Before Loretta, Ronnie is a man
who has given up on life. Even after
they meet he’s not exactly instantly
resurrected. But with the help of the
film’s namesake symbol — the
moon — Ronnie is rejuvenated.
The m(x>n symbolizes the emo
tional/irrational drive that is associ
ated with love. Can the who, how
and why ol this powerful emotion be
explained? Only by the light of the
moon. The lunar body illuminates
their love.
Passion overwhelms the two and
they spend the night together. The
next morning, while Loretta feels
guilty, Ronnie’s in love. “Snap out
of it,” she commands. By the morn
ing light she demands that he do the
rational thing and deny this emotion
he’s feeling.
He begs her, if they just go out
together once, he will leave her
alone (ever hear that one, ladies?).
She agrees, and thus begins the
film’s Cinderella motif. Loretta gets
“Cinderclla-cd” up, complete with
hair style, new gown and slipjx'rs,
preparing to meet her prince at the
ball. Only here the prince is Ronnie
and the ball is the Metropolitan
Opera. The vehicle of the night, the
pumpkin that serves as the driving
force, is the moon. Midnight will
come when Johnny comes back
from Sicily to take Loretta as his
bride.
In the llccting scene alter me
opera, the classical philosophical
question concerning the rationality
of humans is addressed. Loretta tells
Ronnie she wants to take control of
herself and her life, to make it belter.
If we can’t do that, she asks, what
g(X)d is this life?
But her love retorts that it’s all
futile. He says we’re not here to
make things perfect. “Love doesn’t
make things right. It ruins every
thing and breaks our hearts. We’re
here to love the wrong things.... to
love the wrong people ... and die.”
Don’t get the wrong idea. In the
end everything all comes together.
Just like in Cinderella.
Cher does quite well as Loretta;
Cage adds a fine performance as
Ronnie. But most impressive was
the supporting cast, led by Vincent
Gardenia (who placed the shop
owner in “Little Shop of Horrors,”
another movie whose supporting
cast made the movie). John Ma
honey is a communications profes
sor who knows everything about
communicating in theory and noth
ing about using those skills in real
life. Wonderful performances by
Olympia Dukakis as Loretta’s
mother and Feodor Chaliapin as the
grandfather round out a solid cast of
mostly stage actors and actresses.
“Moonstruck” is playing at the
Stuart Theater, 13th and P streets.