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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 29, 1988)
6 Arts & Entertainment __ ____-—■ . .. .. ... About yea wide .. . Comedian Jerry Seinfeld performs to an enthusiastic crowd Thursday night at the Royal Grove. Nexus brings percussion up front rrom staff reports The percussionist group Nexus will perform Friday at 8 p.m. in the Kimball Recital Hall. The Canadian-based ensemble has performed around the world. Nexus consists of five musicians — Bob Becker, William Cain, Robin Engleman, Russel Hartenberger and John Wyrc, all having impressive academic and performance records. Three have graduated from or taught at the Eastman School of Music, and all five have performed with major North American orchestras and en sembles. Nexus pcrtorms technical ana artistic feats that make audiences forget that most of their instruments arc usually in the distant background of most music. Nexus is able to create compelling music, evoking a wide and dynamic range of sounds and beats with their many tools. In Steven Reich’s “Music for Pieces of Wood,” the only instru ments used are large, wooden dow els. “Rain Tree” has been described as having the same “shimmering effect as thousands of liny leaves scattering rain drops stored from a previous storm.” John Cage’s final percussive composition, imra eonstrucuon, is also one of the works on the pro gram. Closing the concert will be an arrangement of G.H. Green’s rag time music. Green, an Omaha native, was considered the world’s greatest xylophonist when he was still in his teens. The Nexus concert is made pos sible with support from the Mid America Arts Alliance, the Nebraska Arts Council, and the National En dowment for the Arts. A pre-performance talk will be given in room 119, Westbrook Music Building, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for Nexus arc $10 and $8. UNL students pay half-price. Dead Milkmen deliver fresh, cohesive show By Ken Havlat Staff Reviewer The Dead Milkmen performed to a full house Thursday night at the Ranch Bowl in Omaha, playing a mixture of old and new material. For a change, it was a relaxing evening for the audience, whether one was dressed all in black or in Foren/as. The crowd was intent on having a good time and the warm, sweaty atmosphere helped to make it seem more electric. The Milkmen delivered. Com pared with their Drumstick show of two years ago, they were a much tighter and cohesive unit this time out. Hundreds of touring dates since then have obviously paid off, and as drummer Dean Clean said, this is the third major tour in support of “Bucky Fellini,” their latest release. They did not tour in this area in support of the previous album, “Eat Your Paisley”. In all, the band did 24 songs, in cluding the more recognizable “hits” like“Tinytown ’’“Bitchin’Camaro” “Hippies” and ‘Instant Dance Club Hit,” plus five new songs that Clean said would probably be on the next LP. Rodney Anonymous (Cosloy) was in good form on vocals, maraud ing his way through the crowd, and being the spiritual guidance coun selor for the evening. Joe Jack Talcum’s guitar sounded responsive and propelling, and the PA sound was clear and sharp, providing good sound while not overwhelming the bass or treble or rattling the audience’s batteries. One of the secrets about keeping an audience interested in you. Clean said, is to keep making the favorites sound fresh to the band. Another is avoiding predictability. “We enjoy making fun of the left and right equally,” he said. “You can’t be loo one-sided when you’re doing the music that we arc. Some people take us too seriously and all that we are doing is taking a poke at everyday things. We do not discrimi nate.” Clean said the band will tenta tively be touring Europe in April and May, which could possibly be fol lowed by an Australian tour. It would be the first lime the band played in those areas. The Milkmen arc then scheduled to begin recording their next LP in late summer, with a re lease date scheduled for November. The band is hoping so much tour ing will not have lobe the norm on the next tour. Clean said they have an ongoing feud with Camper Van Beethoven to see who can play in the weirdest places and the most states. The show ended at about 11:30 p.m., which was earlier than ex pected, bulduc tothc largcamountof minors, not surprising, Clean said. He said the band actually prefers earlier shows, especially when they have to travel long distances the next day. Yuppie twist makes film an updated ‘Freaky Friday’ By Micki Haller Senior Editor In the words of the movie “Vice Versa,” this flick is a “Freudian nightmare” — “Freaky Friday” with a yuppie twist. Judge Rcinhold plays Marshall Seymour, a busy, divorced depart ment store executive who doesn’t have enough lime for his son, Char lie, or his girlfriend, Sam. An officious jerk, he runs his ca reer and his home with meticulous energy. His current campaign is to bring an Oriental flavor to the depart ment store. On a trip to Thailand with his girlfriend, who is also his business associate, Marshall unwittingly smuggles a religious relic (stolen during an Indiana Jones-style open ing sequence) to the states for a pair of unscrupulous art collectors. On his return, he must take care of his son, played by Fred Savage. Marshall isn’t a real great parent type to begin with, expecting his apartment, and his life, to be unclut tered with an 11 -year-old around. Charlie, of course, isn’t a model son. An underachiever, his rock-star dreams interfere with his schoolwork. “Music is my life, Dad,” he whines when Marshall refuses to take him to a Malice concert. Charlie also sneaks a frog into his dad’s antiseptic pad and to a fancy restaurant. The frog escapes, anil Marshall is furious. This is the last straw. “Do you realize 1 can never go to that restaurant again?” he screams. “Slop dumping on me, dad!” Inevitably, the kid picks up the relic, father grabs it and they both wish to trade places. And they do. And now, the predictable chuck les can begin. Marshall, as Charlie, goes to school, aces tests and alienates friends. Charlie goes to work despite his father’s orders, charms everyone with his ingeniousness, enchants the girlfriend and is generally cute. See VICE on 7 suspense movie; parallels Hitchcock By Trevor McArthur Suit Reviewer Roman Polanski has finally put his appreciation of Alfred Hitch cock to a profitable use. 1 don’t know how big a love he has for the master of suspense, but “Frenzy,” er, “Frantic,” Polanski’s latest film, is a pretty good imita tion. He has obviously seen a great deal of Hitchcock’s work. Harrison Ford stars as a doctor who goes to Paris with his wife to give a lecture (to whom and on what is never explained, but this is not an important point), but at their hotel they discover they have taken the wrong suitcase in the airport. The incident is la’ighes^off until the good doctor's wife disappears. The the movie gets its title, as the doctor races around a strange, for eign city, first to alert die authori ties, who won't listen, and then to find his wife on his own. The trail leads him into the underground, a world of drugs, crime, smugglers and spies. The owner of the other suitcase, a French smuggler named Michelle, joins him m the search. All she wants to do is get the money owed to her for bringing into France whatever im portant item was in her bag. Plot summaries of this type of film are difficult since talking too rnxh could destroy an important deception, and therefore, a surprise (or, in Hitchcockian terms, the McGuffin). If not taken too seriously, this is a fine mystery thriller. Certainly not a classic, but fun enough. The story is not totally original but has a few surprises for its audience. It is also fairly believable and, at times, humorous; suspension of disbelief may be necessary, but it is more believable than James Bond pic tures, even in its light and funny moments (a few scenes, such as Michelle opening fire on the doctor and some American embassy offi cials with a can of mace, are actually hilarious). The comparison to Hitchcock films is unavoidable. Much of it may be superficial, but all of it is too suspicious to shrug off. There’s the one word title, a lot of climbing around and nearly failing off roofs, kidnapping, mistaken identity, the previously mentioned spies (or spy like people), even a death by the Statue of Liberty. The movie doesn’t fare nearly as well if this is the league it aspires to. It is a decent movie ai d it s made competently enough, but certainly no classic. If the comparisons with Hitchcock are ignored or invalid, it can be said to be fairly successful in its aims at entertainment. But if compared to Hitchcock, it fails. The movie is put together well technically, fail it lacks outstanding photography (for a film trying to outright copy Hitchcock, there weren't many of corny faux-Alfred angle shots). The cast does a good job, too. Ford once more proves himself to be a great and underrated Victor Polanski has made better films than this one, and there are belter films out right now. On the other hand, there are worse movies out right now. “Frantic” is recom mended for people who love thrill ers, but die movie has some short comings. “Frantic” is playing at both the Plaza Four and East Park Three Theaters.
