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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1990)
f Arts & Entertainment Clancy novel generates compelling film, By Julie Naughton Senior Reporter “The Hunt for Red October” is a thriller set in a time before perestroika and glasnost. The U.S. Navy and the Soviet fleet are locked in a deadly chain of events - • that take place in the air, on the ground and deep in the ocean — traveling through liquid space with the subma rine crews. The story is based on the best selling novel of the same name by Tom Clancy. When a renegade Soviet sea cap tain, Marko Alexandrovich Ramius (Sean Connery), and half of his offi cer ere w dec ide to defect to the U n i ted States - - and send a letter to the Krem lin informing them of that fact - all hell breaks loose in the Soviet Union. The United States is told that the crew has gone crazy and will launch a nuclear weapon on the United States. The U.S. Navy is asked to help the Soviet fleet find the Red October and sink her. The Red October (a reference to the Soviet October Revolution of 1917) is the largest and deadliest Soviet submarine. There is no American equivalent, and American radar has no way of tracking it. As the Red October heads west, an unprecedented chase begins. An in credible fleet chases the Red Octo ber, a fleet that consists of both Soviet and U.S. ships. Only one person sees that Ramius’ intention is to defect and not to blow up the United States. That person is Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin), the dash ing CIA analyst that is brought in to help with the case. Ryan is an analyst that writes books for the U.S. Navy. When he is called to help his country in a functional role, he learns about strengths he never knew he had. Baldwin and Connery, as the film’s most central characters, give first class performances. Baldwin, who also starred in “Working Girl,” “Great Balls of Fire” and “Married to the Mob,” brings a vulnerability and sweetness to what could have been a very hard-boiled character. The same can be said about Con nery’s performance as the self-con trolled, brilliant Ramius. Connery puts in perhaps his best performance ever in this film. Also starring in the film -- and excellent as well -- are Sam Neill and Tomas Arana.. Neill plays Soviet Captain Second Rank Vasily Borodin, See OCTOBER on 10 Courtesy of Paramount “The Hunt for Red October” stars Sean Connery (standing) and Alec Baldwin. Band addresses serious issues before enthusiastic audience Illustrator mixes rock with preachy message By Matt Burton Senior Reporter There was no sex, drugs or rock ‘n’ roll in the Centennial Ballroom Tues day night. Illustrator, dubbed a “celebrate life, anti-suicide, anti-drug” -oriental band played to a small but enthusias tic crowd of about 250 people last night. Concert-goers were urged not to miss the first seven minutes of the show, because of its supposedly dy namic, theatrical introduction. To say the least, those first few minutes were a disappointment. A large plexiglass cubicle, located on the nght side of the stage, was illuminated by a bright spotlight. Each band member made an entrance via the clear box one by one, gave a solemn look, and as sumed a position behind the band’s respective instruments. It came off more like ‘ ‘Stonehenge’ ’ in the movie “Spinal Tap.” Illustrator didn’t hesitate to start off with a strong message by playing “Help is on the Way,” which was highlighted by an off-tune keyboard. The musicianship, however, was not entirely bad. Touted as having more than $250,000 worth of equip ment, they had damn well better be able to play their instruments well. Unfortunately for Illustrator, they didn’t sound like they had over a quarter of a million dollars worth of equipment. Their best investment was the smoke machine. Helping Illustrator along the way was a sequencer which was the foun dation for all of their songs. The band would take a long period of time between songs, giving mes sages of good will and trying to in crease the audience’s self-esteem. “If you miss a question in class tomorrow, tell your professor it was because of rock ‘n’ roll,” Mark Mat thews, Illustrator’s bassist and lead singer, told the audience. To their credit. Illustrator addressed serious issues that cannot be ignored or argued with, such as child abuse and child molestation. “What you do to them/They’ll do to theirs/ It happens all over again.” For the most part, Illustrator was a very lazy band, remaining stationary behind their instruments for the entire performance. The show took an unexpected but still predictable twist when Illustra tor’s guitarist, who played hokey, plastic guitar solos, took the micro phone and told the audience “Once you’ve been loved by Jesus, it feels like you’ve never been loved before.” Then Matthews shed his bass for a saxophone, playing loud, piercing notes that went over well with the audi ence. Between sets, Sam Schmidt of the Nebraska football team addressed the audience, saying “praise the Lord” seven limes. The second set was much more preachy and featured songs off Illus trator’s recent release, “Somewhere in the World.” The guitarist whipped into his longest guitar solo of the evening. like a sort of Jesus Van Halen, on ‘ ‘At the End of the Line.” The highlight of the show was Kirk Allen’s long drum solo that came out of nowhere. The guitarist exclaimed ‘‘this isn’t drug power, it’s Jesus power!” Toward the end of the show, the mood became very evangelical, when Matthews spoke for 20minutes about accepting Jesus as Lord and personal savior and finally asked the audience to bow their heads in prayer. The audience responded well to Illustrator. The crowd consisted of mostly young people and had the atmosphere of a junior high school dance. Overall, the concert was about what could be expected by a band who is quick to point out that they have their own ‘‘scenic cruiser bus.” Second album possesses dreamlike quality Blue Nile's sound inspires imaginative listening By Julie Naughton Senior Reporter The Blue Nile “Hats” A&M The Blue Nile fell into their musi cal career almost by accident. And now, nearly five years after their “accident,” their second album is available. The wait definitely was worth it. This three-man band consists of three Scottish men, Paul Buchanan, Robert Bell and Paul Moore. They hooked up while all were enrolled at Glasgow University in Scotland, study ing everything but music. Buchanan was studying English literature, Moore was studying elec tronics and fine art and Bell was study ing mathematics - all respectable aspirations. The three started playing music together, not seriously intending to pursue music as a full-time career. But when a single that the three cut on a lark was picked up by RSO Records and given significant airplay, they seriously reassessed their musical goals. Their second album consists of seven songs, with a dreamlike, intro spective quality. This is languid pop with texture and feeling. It leans towards alternative pop. The first cut, “Headlights on the Parade,” has a slightly familiar sound. Lead vocalist Buchanan’s voice is soft and scratchy, reminiscent of ear lier British acts. The words and music almost are a Phil Collins-meets Howard Jones type of mix. "From a Late Night Train” is slow, somber almost, with a sad sound. The song almost is spooky in its slow tempo and introspective lyrics. Lis tening to it evokes images of travel ing through some Godforsaken place on a train at 2:30 in the morning, rain pouring outside. The album’s best song, Let s Go Out Tonight," is a peaceful piece of music with a passionate undertone, dreamily textured. Although Buchanan keeps repeating "baby, baby, let’s go out tonight,’ ’ he does it in an ambigu ous way that leaves the whole thing up to the imagination. One complaint with the album; it tends to repeat itself. The group will take one phrase - say, "Headlights on the Parade" — and repeat that phrase about 12 times, while playing pleasant background music. The group would do well to intro duce some diversity in their lyrics. "Hats" is pleasant, slow pop - textured and rich. It’s more suited to late-night talk background music than to a loud, obnoxious party. Unlike, say, R.E.M. or U2, The Blue Nile’s latest won’t make anyone want to get up and dance around the room. While listening to it, one may not feel like doing anything more strenuous than lounging on the couch. Listening to this album is like sitting by a glassy lake and staring into the water. It’s got that type of a quality. Courtesy of AAM