Arts & Entertainment
Album succeeds
Singer lives up to comparisons
By Julie Naughton
Senior Editor
She’s barely 22 years old, but al
ready folk-pop singer Tanita Tikaram
is being compared to luminaries such
as Joni Mitchell.
Such comparisons are often hard
to live up to. But in Tikaram’s case,
they’re not out of line,
Tikaram’s third album, “Every
body’s Angel,” is filled with the ethe
real. meaningful music and throaty
voice that appeared on her first two
albums. Again, Tikaram has written
songs that deal with issues and has
provided the vocal power to drive
them into every listener’s conscious
ness.
However, while this album is fine
work, it just misses the five-star mark
of her first two albums, “Ancient Heart”
and “The Sweet Keeper.”
There are no bad songs on this 14
song compilation, but some stand out
over the more ordinary.
“Hot Pork Sandwiches,” with a
combination of odd lyrics and odd
instrumentation, turns up as the al
bum’s most intriguing song.
“Baby, you can take me home/
Because dinner is/ Dinner served
alone,” Tikaram sings slowly and
softly, suddenly exploding into a
playful “Now, who wants hot pork
sandwiches/ Wrapped in foil/ Cor
ners are laced with gristle/1 trust it’s
Tanita Tikaram
“Everybody’s Angel”
Reprise
Rating: 4 1/2
Ratings are 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent).
been freshly boiled.”
The song’s rhythms, with Tikaram
on vocals and lead guitar, Rod Argent
on hammond, David Hayes on bass
and Mark Crcsswcll on guitar, will
have those listeners not headed to the
kitchen on their feet dancing.
Also excellent is the album’s first
cut, “Only The Ones We Love,”
Tikaram’s duet with Jennifer War
nes. The song’s rhythmic drum beat
and soft piano mesh perfectly with
Tikaram’s lead vocals and Wames’
harmonies.
“And they’ve seen something which
I’ll never see/ But I dreamed some
thing when you fell for me/1 dreamed
something which soars above/ For
we’re only the ones we love,” Ti
karam sings, effortlessly building to a
smooth crescendo as Wames sings
soft harmony. It’s an inspired combi
nation.
Both arc destined to become Ti
karam classics, in the tradition of her
past “Good Tradition” a"d “Twist in
My Sobriety.”
Also on the road to classic Ti
karam is the melancholy, pensive “I’m
Going Home.” A string orchestra,
including violins and double bass, is
combined with a guitar and bass to
back Tanita as she tells a story of love
gone wrong.
“My love could not stand all "»f
this/... But I won’t be taking no sweet
silence ‘round here,” she softly chants.
If Tikaram did a video of this song, no
doubt it would be in the Sinead O’Con
nor “Nothing Compares 2 U” vein —
with the singer standing with a tear
running down her face as the vocals
rip painfully from her throat.
The danceable beat on “I Love the
Heaven’s Solo” and “Mud in Any
Water” will have listeners on their
feet. On these two cuts, Tikaram is
living proof that folk-pop can be every
bit as danceable as driving rock ‘n’
roll.
Tikaram has staying power, like
the luminaries she is presently com
pared to. Her songwriting, instrumen
tals and distinctive vocals lift her far
above the crop of young aspirants that
continually appear. No doubt, in 20
years, the newest talent in this genre
will be compared to Tikaram. Run,
don’t walk, to buy this album.
Piano wildman gives Zoo crowd
honky-tonk, Jerry Lee Lewis style
By Robert Richardson
Senior Reporter
When Jason D. Williams took the
Zoo Bar stage Wednesday night, the
standing room only crowd — which
paid $8 a person lo sec the piano
player — was not disappointed.
Williams’ band started out the hour
and 45 minute set and then guitarist
George Lowry introduced Williams.
As he vaulted on stage, dressed in
a black cowboy hat, white boots and
jeans, Williams immediately began
an assault on the piano.
His high flying, wild-armed, accu
rate style coupled with his lightning
fast fingers made Williams a spec
tacle of the music he loves to play —
honky-lonk.
Right away, Williams acknowl
edged that his style parallels that of
Jerry Lee Lewis.
“Some people want to compare
me to Jerry Lee Lewis,” he said. “He’s
one of the greatest entertainers in the
world.”
That was all he needed to say. His
style was similar to Lewis’, but Wil
liams definitely established himself
as a piano man, on his way to being
great.
While wiggling his butt, Williams
played the piano with more than ten
different parts of his body. He ripped
through songs that showcased his “I’ve
never taken a lesson” piano ability as
he coaxed the large crowd onto the
small dance floor.
At this point, Williams had the
sweaty alcohol-tainted crowd right
where he wanted it. And just when the
audience thought Williams could do
no more, he did.
With sweat dripping off his nose,
Williams produced a classic mix that
contained rock ‘n’ roll from Lewis,
The Beatles and “The Exorcist” theme,
“Tubular Bells.” Williams ended his
medley by singing “I’m buying a
stairway to heaven.”
His slow, jazzy version of “Great
Balls Of Fire” teased and disappointed
the audience — and then Williams
gave it what it wanted to hear. He
See ZOO on 9 ,
Singer-songwriter Tanita Tikaram
Films demythologize Soviets
By Jim Hanna
Senior Reporter
Regardless of political ana eco
nomic turmoil within the Soviet
Union, Glasnost continues to open
doors for Soviet artists, including
the filmmakers currently featured
at the Sheldon Film Theater, said
William Gleason, professor of
Russian history at Doane College.
Gleason, speaking at a panel
discussion Thursday night, said that
Soviet filmmakers from the U.S.S.R.
southcentral republic of Kazakhstan
are helping to demy tholog ize west
ern perceptions of Soviet life.
“The (act of the matter is, and
what comes through in at least a
couple of these films...is that the
Soviets have their own dose of
drugs, of crime, of unemployment,
etc. and this is what Glasnost has
revealed,” he said.
Gleason was joined on the panel
by University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
faculty members James McClel
land, associate professor of his
tory; Jerry Petr, professor of eco
nomics and Lev Palci, a citizen of
the U.S.S.R. and a doctoral candi
date in economics at UNL.
The films discussed by the panel
are all from a “new wave” of direc
tors from the Kazakhfilm Studios
in Alma Ata, the capital of the
Kazakhstan Republic. The repub
lic has a long history of oppression
at the hands of the Soviet govern
ment, including the forced collec
tivization of farms under Stalin
which led to a slaughter of the
Kazakhstani people, McClelland
said.
As the Soviet system is thrown
into turmoil and the economy ap
proaches stalemate and stagnation,
there is a corresponding liberaliza
tion of Soviet life, of which these
Films are a product, Petr said.
Gleason said the current
Kazakhstani Film movement is
contrary to the long history of
Socialist Realism, the predominant
artistic guideline for the past 70
years.
Socialist Realism produced
movies that supported the govern
ment system. Soviet movies were
primarily depictions of the inevi
table socialist revolution and pro
moted “partyness” among soviet
people, Gleason said.
The Kazakhstan Film movement
breaks that trend. Kazakhstan is
the leading republic in terms of
change, Palei said.
The Films will continue through
Sunday. Specific schedules can be
obtained at the Sheldon Film Thea
ter, 12th and R streets.
'Guilty by Suspicion successful, serious flick
By Julie Naughton
Senior Editor
“Guilty By Suspicion” aims to be
a serious movie, with a capital S.
It succeeds.
The movie combines a talented
cast and a compelling story to outline
one of the most grim chapters in re
cent American history.
The story opens in 1951 as gifted
director David Mem 11 (Robert DcNiro)
is reluming from Paris, where he is at
work on a film. Film is Merrill’s life;
he is at the top of his career and
everyone wants to work with him. His
marriage to the lovely Ruth (Annette
Bcning, in an excellent performance)
has fallen apart because he neglects
nearly everything except his films.
One thing Merrill missed when he
left to work on his film was the activ
ity of The House Un-American Ac
tivities Committee (HUAC). The
group, which in real life was com
mandeered by Sen. Joseph McCarthy,
is in full swing when Merrill returns
from Paris, accusing many film people
of being Communists.
A blacklist is created; studios and
executives will not work with any of
the names listed. The accusations of
the committee destroy the lives of
many of the film’s characters — just
“Guilty By
Suspicion”
Starring Robert
as happened in reality.
Merrill is blacklisted, falsely ac
cused of being a Communist. He is
told that he can save himself and his
suddenly faltering career—all he has
to do is “purge” himself before the
HU AC, naming publicly the friends
and associates that gathered with him
at the few, scattered leftist meetings.
The idealistic, gentle-natured, in
tense Merrill is forced to make a
choice, one that will change his life
forever.
The story of Merrill’s choice is
greatly enhanced by the superb cast
that director Irwin Winkler has as
__
See GUILTY on 9 |
wamammA_in mm n iiiwiiiimi i _— maamm
Courtesy of Warner Bros
At the House Un-American Activities committee hearings, David Merrill (Robert DeNiro) and
his ex-wife Ruth (Annette Bening) face reporters’ questions in “Guilty By Suspicion.”
