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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1990)
Arts & Entertainment Dillon convincing in(Drugstore Cowboy’ By John Payne Senior Reporter Based on a true story, the long awaited “Drugstore Cowboy” takes a heads-up tour through the varying highs and lows of doper life, while solidifying Matt Dillon as one of the finest actors of his generation. It is a slick, searing film that is uncompromising in its honesty. Set in 1971, Dillon plays Bob Hughes, a crafty young junkie who - leads a loyal band of fellow addicts through the counter-culture under belly of Portland, Ore., in endless pursuit of more and more dope. And as Hughes explains, “Where’s the best place to go for drugs? Where they make drugs.” His accomplices, his equally ad dicted wife Dianne (Kelly Lynch) and a rookie couple (James Le Gros and Heather Graham ), assist the char ismatic Hughes in ripping off the pharmacies of the Pacific Northwest, stopping just long enough to fix. The four look more like children the morning after Halloween than they docriminals, dividing up the drugs as if it were trick-or-treat candy. Dillon is superb. With an long grin, the usually harmless actor ex udes the same sort of evil that Mal colm McDowell did in ‘‘A Clock work Orange.” And like that movie, the humor here — and there is a lot of it - is pitch black. When their friend, novice junkie Nadine (Graham), overdoses on some the gang’s more expensive stuff, Dil lon looks down at the pale-blue body of their comrade to deliver a kind of doper eulogy: ‘‘She must have taken a vile out of the truck when we were n’t around. That conniving little bitch.” Bob and Dianne’s relationship deteriorates throughout the film as well. They are so strung out on mor phine and pharmaceutical cocaine that they are unable to find a time when both are capable of making love. The parodox of their situation is well conveyed by Dillon and Lynch - and sad to watch. Dillon’s acting is especially good here, playing the nervous, denying young man who suddenly cannot control his situation. Director Gus Van Sant’s film has an unforgiving memory of just how the ’70s -- a decade most would pre fer to forget - looked. Right down to Dillon’s plaid bell-bottoms and grey suede Hush Puppies, it painfully re captures a time in our country that was, if nothing else, a fashion night mare. See COWBOY on 10 Courtesy of Sheldon Film Theater William Burroughs plays the defrocked drug-addicted priest who almost succeeds in luring Bob Hughes, played by Matt Dillon, back into the dark world of drugs in “Drugstore Cowboy. Minority activist hopes to raise awareness By Julie Naughton Senior Reporter Elbert Edward Perry Hill Smith has a goal that could benefit the Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln. “I’d like to raise awareness about the culture and contributions that minority organizations and people provide for Lincoln,” he said. The minority activist hopes to raise community awareness about the minority experience in Lincoln, pri marily through his radio work on Lincoln’s KZUM (89.3 FM). Smith is a guest presenter on KZUM’s “Reggae Only” radio pro gram, as well as the presenter for KZUM’s “African-Americans and the Law” information series. Both are designed to help raise community awareness, he said. “It’s wonderful to be a member ol the press,’ ’ he said. * ‘The experience is great.” Smith got involved with radio work last fall, when his friend Herbert Fultz, a KZUM presenter, convinced him that sharing his minority activist views could benefit the community. He said that having the “power of the pen’ ’ combined with the anonym ity of radio -- “no pictures” - is a great platform for his efforts. Smith, a self-proclaimed “inde pendent scholar, speaks French, Spanish, German and Japanese in addition to English. He often pro duces segments or entire raps in one or more of these languages, with reggae music as the background. “I create what I call ‘highly intel lectual raps’... often on community activist topics,” Smith said. A typical live broadcast perform ance for Smith is about eight minutes long after “eight to sixteen hours of research and other creativity.” He recites his scripts to the beatof reggae music. He comes up with an idea for a program — “by reading the Daily Nebraskan and keeping my eyes open’ ’ -- researches the topic with available people, writes a script “embedded” with the information and practices the script with his background music. Fultz has the final approval -- ‘ ‘to see if the segment is appropriate for the media.” If the segment is approved, Smith presents the program. Smith’s first and second “Afri can-Americans and the Law” seg ments covered the UNL College of Law and the National Black Law Journal. The third segment dealt with the Nebraska Unicameral, including interviews with State Sens. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, Don Wesely, Jim McFarland and Dave Landis all of Lincoln. He plans to do a series about the justice system, and is “hoping to inter view child services people, bailbonds men and judges. I came up with this idea after reading about how — ‘in volved’ — black men are with the judicial system.” During the month of February, Smith listed several dozen legislative bills “relating to minority citizens.” “I like to give members of the mi nority community the chance to pres enta more positive view of minorities than you see on the news,” Smith said. Smith said he hopes to provide a more positive presentation for all minorities -- whether they are black, Hispanic, Jewish or homosexual. “Any type of a m inority’ he said. Smith currently is lobbying KZUM’s programming committee for his own “Minority Community Af fairs” program. “There is a crying need for this type of a program in Lincoln,” Smith said. “The management at KZUM agrees; we’re all very optimistic about the possibility of the show.” Smith said that he has “paid his dues’ ’ for the program by volunteer ing at KZUM since last November. He still needs practice in interview ing, he said, and is working with KZUM personnel to polish his tech nique. One way that Smith plans to gain interviewing experience is by talking to minority community lead ers. He will then ask some of the leaders to appear on his show, he said. “I find that I only have a few more hurdles to surmount before — in all probability - getting KZUM’s pro gramming committee to okay a mi nority affairs program,” Smith said. Smith currently is appealing to minority community leaders to help him with this program. He said he See RASTA on 10 Post-cutting-edge science fiction book outlines basics of cyberpunk movement By Bryan Peterson Staff Reporter Semiotext(e) SF Various Authors Autonomedia "But the cyberpunk content is outrageous. One imagines them as crazed computer hackers with green mohawks and decaying leather jack ets, stoned on drugs so new the FDA hasn’t even heard of them yet, word processing their necropsychedelic prose to blaring tapes by groups with names like The Crucifucks, Dead Kennedys, Butt hole Suffers, Bad Brains — from the introduction to Semiotext(e) SF Semiotext(e) SF is a self-described “Einstcin-Rosen wormhole into anarcho-lit history,” a 400-page an thology of post-cutting-edge science fiction that can be a wonder to hold. Established SF writers like Philip Jose Farmer (“St. Francis Kisses His Ass Goodbye”), J.G. Ballard (“Jane Fonda’s Augmentation Mammo plasty”) and Robert Shcckley (“Amsterdam Diary ”) are among the 45 writers included. Anomalous "leaders” of the Cyberpunk movement (William Gi bson and Bruce Sterling, among oth ers)alsoare represented. And, justfor a little variety, conspiracy aficionado Robert Anton Wilson and longtime literary renegade William Burroughs are added. Dozens of lesser-known writers fill out the list of contributors to this collection, and all offer uniquely warped visions of things to come. Four hundred pages later, an idea of exactly what constitutes cyberpunk remains elusive, but it seems to thrive on human-machine interf ace and inter course in a not-loo-bright, none-too distant future. Words like weird and strange tell nothing of these stories; they come from beyond the fringe of the al ready- maligned (and misaligned) SF realm where the unimaginable be comes certain. A markedly dystopian theme runs through most of these stories - a concern with out-of-control state control, a disdain for the mindless masses and an alarming extension of current political and cultural trends into the future. The stories arc comic and cosmic, puritanical and pornographic at the same lime. Most are difficult; all are unsettling. An eerie realism pervades even the most fantastic offerings and adds to the unbridled impact of the book. Semiotext(e) SF is a trip into an other world, or into 45 other worlds, but any of these worlds could be our own. Only one piece — a travel guide calling on world citizens to “Visit Port Watson!”- portrays a noticea bly hopeful future. Port Watson lies on the island of Sonsoral, which has been developed into a libertarian/anarchist haven where theory is discarded, work nearly abol ished and life practiced. But all is not warm and wonderful in these futuristic wanderings. Fan tasy and nightmare are sometimes indistinguishable; often a twisted sense of humor emerges to unite the two. “Ralph settled into the rhythm of the freeway, glanced into the rear view mirror and said, with a straight face, "That was Nelda and Jacob. See PUNK on 10 Courtesy of Autonomsdla