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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1990)
Page l\Jol?rJickan 12 Arts & Entertainment Wednesday, November 7,1990 Courtesy of Xena Madia Manipulations Nik Fiend and Mrs. Fiend Horrifying Alien Sex Fiend will crash-land in Lincoln ay rvocnaei ueeas Senior Editor England's monstrous Alien Sex Fiend, rock ‘n’ roll’s most ghoul ish creature, will crawl into Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 O St., Sunday night as part of the band’s first North American tour in seven years. Alien Sex Fiend is a horrific musical entity that offers 2 1/2 live hours of pure insanity, comprised of a dangerous crossover of muti laied, brain-smearing noise and mind-blowing visual confusion. A European cult god, Alien Sex Fiend is made up of Frankenstein couple Nik Fiend (vocals), and Mrs. Fiend (keyboards/bcat box/fuzz guiiar/backing vocals). The two arc accompanied by Igor-typcs Rat Fink Jr. and Dr. Milton, who lake turns on guitar, percussion and beat box. The Fiend is touring in support of “Curse,” which was released in October on Sinclair Records. A special highlight of the lour is the marvelous introduction of Nik Fiend, art behemoth. In addition to the wild stage set that he designed, two mini-an exhibits were held on Oct. 28 at Limelight, New York City, and Oct. 31 at Manray in See FIEND on 14 ‘Don Pasquale’ provides sitcom for opera lovers By Julie Naughton Senior Reporter The UNL School of Music’s inter pretation of Gaetano Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale,” might have its composer twitching in his grave, according to the school’s special projects and pro motions coordinator. “Don Pasquale” is “like a contcm tJiealsfeZ porary sitcom,” John Whiteman said. The opera is performed in the “corn media dell’arte” style, a comic style of 16th and 17th century Italy, he said. The opera, to be performed in English, tells the story of Don Pasquale, a rich, crotchety landowner, and his nephew and heir, Ernesto. Ernesto wants to marry a woman named Norina, but Pasquale is against the marriage. Norina enlists the aid of a friend, Dr. Malatcsta, in making the marriage to Ernesto happen. Ernesto fails to hear of the plan and confusion ensues. “It’s not a meaty plot — just a light, fun comedy,” Whiteman said. The strength of the opera is in its comedy, Whiteman said. “Our performance tries to capture all of the fun and excitement of this theatrical style, and although Don izetti might twitch in his grave at our commcdia interpretation, he would have to be reminded that his 1834 audience did not accept it as a sit com,” Whiteman said. The opera premiered in 1834, when people went to the opera for enter tainment, Whiteman said. The cast includes visiting assistant Pasqualc and recent University of Ncbraska-Lincoln graduate Tim Konvalin as Dr. Malatcsta. UNL graduate students arc included in the cast: Crystal Rook and Shan non Stoddard as Norina and UNL graduate student Daniel Kurck as Ernesto. Whiteman said that faculty is added to the opera’s cast because it is hard to find an opera perfect for only stu dents. “It’s tough to find an opera perfect for every student, ’he said. “We try to use students as much as possible, but we do add faculty to round out the cast. “We try to find operas that will showcase the students.” Whiteman said that students will enjoy the opera because the charac ters are “fun to watch.” “The characters arc mischievous, witty comic figures,” Whiteman said. “At some points the comedy is almost slapstick, but it is very light and fast moving.” The School of Music stages a fall and a spring opera each year. Past productions included “Die Flcdcr maus” and “The Consul.” “Don Giovanni” will be performed this spring. The UNL production is directed by David Bartholomew, UNL associ ate professor of music. Bartholomew directed the production at the New England Conservatory. The costumes are by Judith K. Hart, and the lighting is by Laurel Shoemaker. Tickets still arc available for the production. They are S10 and S8; half-price for all students. Tickets arc available at the Lied Center for Per forming Arts Box Office. Colombian nightmare shown through painting sculpture BOGOT A, Colombia (A P)- his a slill life of sorts: a baby's crib made of tightly bound strands of metal and a little cloth. It is a square cage in which nothing goes in and nothing goes out. Artist Doris Salcedo sculpted this work about a woman who continually washed her dead baby, who had been killed by death squads in northern Colombia. She bathed the infant’s cadaver, applying creams and oint ments. The crib symbolizes the mother’s desperate acts, which Salcedo called “useless, but dignifying.’’ Bombs, massacres, kidnappings and disappearances arc causing angry Colombian artists to illustrate their country’s nightmare in paintings and sculptures. These artists paint scenes of army soldiers hovering above dead bodies, animals devouring other animals and bleeding women crying out for help. Sickened by Colombia’s trauma, they say they want to wake people up to the country’s bloody reality. “I want to sensitize people to the violence we’re forced to live in,’’ Salcedo said. Many of her sculptures contain membrane material (cloth made from the lining of animal intes tines) because she wants people to perceive the pain “at skin level,” she said. Tens ol thousands of Colombians have died in the past decade in vio lence ranging from peasant massacres to bombings by the Medellin cocaine cartel. Much of the bloodshed has been blamed on right-wing death squads, leftist guerrillas and drug traffickers. Colombia also has a long history of strife between political parlies. A war between the country’s two biggest parties, the Conservative and the Liberal, took at least 250, (XX) lives in the early 1950s. Atrocities in that war were com mon, such as spilling live captives from a dump truck over cliffs. Many artists who illustrate violent themes must make their living by teaching, or rely on pri/e money. Their works don’t sell. Enrique Jaramillo set up a display See VIOLENT on 13 ‘Sibling’s’ plot so thin, one could blow nose in it By Sean Green Staff Reporter “Sibling Rivalry” has all the ele ments of a mystery, a comedy and a love story. The movie starts out as a mystery, but the plot is so simplistic it falls apart. At the same time, it tries to be funny, apparently to keep the audi ence from realizing the plot sucks. Finally it tries to pass itself off as a love story, seeming to say, ‘WcM, it doesn’t matter that you didn't laugh at that, or that you knew what was going to happen, because love con qucrs all, right?’ Wrong. Not love, not laughter not anything could have saved this movie from being the disaster it is. The movie revolves around Kirslie Alley, who plays a frustrated house wife who takes the advice of her free living sister and has an affair. But the man she chooses to sleep with has a heart attack, and dies after having sex with Alley. Granted, there arc probably worse ways to go. Unfortunately, all hope for a movie with an interesting plot die with Al ley’s lover, because the rest of the show focuses on Alley running around hysterically, and not hysterically in the sense of too funny for words. The story twists when a window blind salesman stumbles on the body --- # --— | in the hotel room. After dropping a curtain rod on the corpse, he thinks he has killed the mystery man. He finds Alley’s wallet, which she conveniently dropped in her hurry to leave the hotel, and together they come up with a plan to make the whole thing look like a suicide. The olficcr investigating the hotel death turns out to be the brother of the window blind salesman. Whileon the ease, he meets Alley’s sister and they fall in love. 1 hen Alley discovers that the man she killed with kindness is her hus band's brother who was expected to return from his travels around the world and have dinner with Alley’s in-laws. Obviously, the movie gets its name from the contrived idea that each of the main characters involved in a bi/zarc turn of events is the sibling of one of the other mam characters. ' i • » * \ # f •* *, The plot is so contrived and pre dictable that viewers should consider themselves slow if they can’t figure out where the whole movie is going by the time the opening credits are over. Alter each new discovery or reve lation, Alley goes into one of her trademark fils of whining and reeling Irom the shock while the only surpris ing revelation for the audience comes in lmding out their tickets are not refundable. The movie does have a few good See SIBLING on 13