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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1989)
Arts & Entertainment Courtesy of Michefe Clement The Kronos Quartet nnovative quartet wins respect >y Mark Lage cnior Reporter nd Previewer To many who are only vaguely amiliar with the name Kronos Quar :t, the contemporary string quartet’s lain claims to fame tend to be Jimi lendrix covers, spiky hairdos and ther sorts of similar unconventional ly But through years of hard work, ironos is booming known for its lore substantial characteristics: ichnique, innovation, and thought ilness. The quartet was formed under the :adcrship of violinist David Har ngton in 1973, based on his desire to lay contemporary music on a regu tr basis. Early years for the quartet ere fairly lean, but large quantities f hard work and the firm determina on to stick to modern guns gradually on diem ever-increasing fame and aspect. The quartet had one major lineup change in the 1970s, and since then Harrington has been joined by violinists John Sherbaand Hank Dutt and cellist Joan Jeanrenaud. The quartet’s repertoire is simul taneously limited - it only plays 20th century works - and unlimited - it will play almost ANYTHING from this century. kimhall Established classical quartets by Bartok, more contemporary un known compositions, Jimi Hendrix songs, jazz pieces, and even a medley of ’50s rock tunes all are found in the quartet’s concert repertoire. And, perhaps most importantly, it plays many scores which have been com posed specifically for it. The quar tet’s continued presence in the music scene has helped inspire a new boom in innovative quartet writing, simply because composers now have some one to play the most cutting-edge pieces. Kronos Quartet’s show at Kimball Hall tonight will be made up of four pieces commissioned specifically for it; and all have been written within the last three years. The show will open with John Zorn’s “Cat O’ Nine Tails,” com posed in 1988. One of Zorn’s main compositional influences has been Carl Stallings, cartoon soundtracker for Warner Brothers. He equates Stallings and other cartoon compos ers with Stravinsky for their ability to create a piece from highly disparate elements. “Cat O’ Nine Tails” is Zorn’s only piece specifically inspired by music found in animated cartoons, music which Zorn has called “the great avant-garde music of America, in that it doesn’t make any sense.” See KRONOS on 12 Palestinian documentary subject to controversy By Gretchen Boehr Senior Reporter A controversial documentary on the Israeli-occupied territories of the Gaza Strip and West Bank aired Thursday night on Lincoln Public Broadcasting Service. Days of Rage: The Young Pales tinians,” was shot on location in the occupied territories. Its focus was on the Palestinians’ philosophies, tactics and impact on the uprising. The documentary focused on the crowded conditions of Palestinian refugee camps and hospitals. Israeli troops beating young Palestinians and firing rubber bullets into crowds were shown also. The two and one-half hour special opened with footage shot in Israel which presented the Israeli point of view on occupation. It ended with a panel discussion on the film and pos sible solutions to the current political problem in the territories. Members of the international Anti Defamation League of B’nai B’rith said the documentary was biased toward the Palestinian point of view. Information distributed across the nation by the league said the docu mentary by Jo Franklin-Trout seemed to present Israel at fault for the plight of the Palestinians. The league is one of the nation’s oldest human rights agencies. Founded in 1913, its purpose is to fight all discrimination and prejudice. PBS stations on a local level could choose whether or not to air the pro gram. According to a letter from Robert Wolfson of the ADL Plains States Region, people were encour aged to send form letters to PBS sta tions asking that the program not be shown. According to Ron Hall, assistar\ general manager of Nebraska ETV and journalism professor at the Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln, the documentary was fair. “We received about 10 letters from people and four of those were form letters,” Hall said. “And a majority of those were from Omaha and Lincoln.” Hall said it’s the responsibility of PBS to provide controversial pro gramming. “1 feel PBS has bent over back wards to present it in a fair matter,” he said. Hall said the documentary alone was biased toward the Arab point of view but the panel discussion and introduction gave the Israeli point of view. “I’m glad PBS has pul out these efforts to provide a sense of balance to the presentation.” Hall said the Arab point of view gets little attention in America. Members of the panel included Richard Murphy, former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; Alan Keyes, former Assis tant Secretary of State for Interna tional Organization Affairs; Walter Ruby of the Jerusalem Post; Sey mour Reich, International President of B’nai B’rith and James Zogby, director of die Arab American Insti tute. Midway has welcome twists Rides, food provide fun By Becky Tideman Staff Reviewer The midway is vital to the success of any carnival or fair, and for the 16th year Blue Grass Shows is pro viding the midway for the Nebraska State Fair. It supplies games, rides and freak shows that fill the air with the sounds, colors and smells that we’ve come to expect every fall. (It’s not respon sible for all of the smells. The live stock does its best to contribute to the potpourri of tantalizing odors. This year. Blue Grass Shows brought 42 rides, 14 for children and 28 recommended for adults. Blue Grass has worked in conjunc lion with state fairs in Tennessee, Iowa and Mississippi. Betty Ascherbach, an admission secretary for the fair board said that on Sept. 1, 2 and 7 an $8 pass pro vided unlimited admission to all the rides. She said this type of “all day pass” has been a successful midway promotion in the past. The last day for the offer this year is Sunday Sept. 10. See RIDES on 13 When Harry Met Sally’ survives the summer garbage y Mark Hain id Becky Tideman aff Reviewers Becky Tideman: After disliking and sys matically trashing so many of the summer’s lm releases, “When Harry Met Sally . . as a joy. Before this film, I hadn’t formed an opinion •out Meg Ryan as an actress. 1 had seen her in vcral films, none of which allowed her to splay her abilities. I’m sorry, but a tcary-eyed >nversation with Tom Cruise in “Top Gun’’ fs not a dramatic actress make. But with this lc, I decided I liked her a lot. She played a wonderful Sally Bright, a cmingly nervous yet devoutly optimistic umalist who wraps herself in arbitrary, exter * rules in hopes of organizing her internal aos. Mark Hain: I liked Ryan too, and to my laying amazement, I didn’t mind Billy Crys either. Ever since he was a regular on “Saturday Night Live, he s been one of those celebrities whose very existence makes me want to pul my head through a plate glass window - in fact, I thought I would have preferred to drink a gallon jug of Clorox than go see “When Harry Met Sally ...” (am I making it clear that I don’t care for Billy Crystal?). But for an hour and a half, I managed to forget that I was watching one of my least favorite comedians. Instead, I was glimpsing at scenes from the life of Harry Bums, a neurotic, sensitive type of guy who masks his true self with a facade of bravado and humor. BT: This movie managed to take scenes far enough so that they were funny without losing a vital element of realism. Crystal explained the symptoms of a 24-hour tumor , gave a new meaning to “the cat’s meow,” and Ryan con vincingly simulated the pinnacle of sexual ecstasy in a crowded delicatessen, but in this film it all fits. MH: I also like Harry and Sally’s Yuppie new-age-babyboom friends (played by Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher in one of her first roles where I didn’t think “Oh Princess Lea!’’). BT: True, whenever they all got together I was scared to death they were going to bring out some room-temperature brie, wheat thins (baked, not fried) and a slightly chilled bottle of white Grenache. But even through this atro cious fear, I enjoyed myself. MH: It was definitely a romance of the 1980s. BT: Harry and Sally have a relationship that never used to exist -- an adult male-female friendship. Another realistic and modem ele ment of the film was the force that kept the two from being more than just a couple of friends. It wasn’t a long-distance romance, it wasn’t different social backgrounds, or their families, or money -- it was simply they themselves. They insulated themselves with past experi ences that wouldn’t allow them to fall in love without truckloads of trauma. MH: Early in the film Harry tells Sally that men and women can never be friends because of the complicating factor of sexual attraction. Throughout the film, Harry has to keep “amending” his position until he proves him self wrong. However, by that point, sexual attraction (combined with desperation and loneliness, and perhaps even a trace of affec tion) does indeed rear its ugly head to compli cate the relationship. Actually though, Becky, I don’t think I liked the film as much as you did. I might have liked it more if I was thirty-something. BT: So sue me. MH: At times I just didn’t like the charac ters, and the story line became a little indul gent, but there were some neat little tricks director Rob Reiner (of “Stand by Me’ ’ fame) used that held my attention even when I got frustrated with the characters’ whininess and lack of motivation. For instance, “When Harry Met Sally ...” made a usually trite and infantile film tech nique, the split-screen, fresh and amusing. BT: Long-time movie enthusiasts may have noticed this film’s many similarities to Woody Allen’s work, especially “Annie Hall.’’ Some say this was Reiner’s interpretation of a Woody Allen film: witty, sensitive and dialogue de pendent. MH: I agree that the dialogue was impor tant, but the visuals shouldn’t be overlooked. Another thing this film has in common with Allen’s work is a New York selling, and like Allen’s films, the beautiful scenes made me reconsider the Big Apple as more than just a dirty, unfriendly, overrated city. Also effective was the richly sensual use of color in the film. But the sights weren’t the only strong point. The soundtrack included several jazz greats’ covers of Gershwin classics, as well as featur ing newer interpretations by Harry Connick, Jr., the 21-year-old singer and pianist. BT: I think we generally enjoyed the major aspects of the film: actors and their perform ances, story line, Woody Allcncsque touches, and the music and visuals. Our one shared complaint involves the See CRUE on 13