Arts@Entertainment Friday, March IF, 1FF3
UFO movie takes fresh angle
: Hi
In a 1990 survey, roughly 14 percent of
Americans said they had seen a UFO. The
survey’s respondents included such luminaries
as Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, John Lennon
and astronaut Gordon Cooper. Increasing num
bers of Americans also believe they have been
abducted by extraterrestrials and band together
in support groups.
While the support-group notion may strike
some as downright lunacy, after viewing “Fire
in the Sky” (East Park 3, East Park Plaza Mall),
one has to wonder.
On Nov. 2,1975, Travis Walton (played by
D.B. Sweeney), an Arizona logger, was ab
ducted by a UFO in the White Mountains of
Arizona. Fiveco-workers stood by and watched;
then they fled the scene.
Walton disappeared for five days, then was
found naked and huddled in an empty gas
station by his crew boss and brother after he
made a phone call telling them where to look for
him. Initially he remembered nothing; the par
ticulars of the abduction returned to memory
slowly. In the meantime, his co-workers were
suspected of murdering him.
“Fire in the Sky” is based on Walton’s book,
“The Walton Experience.” Itcan’t beclassified
as SF in the tradition of “The Day the Earth
Stood Still” or “Close Encounters,” both of
which were first-contact stories. Neither is it in
league (thankfully) with the television movies
made on the subject.
The focus is not on the science or the aliens
— we don’t even find out until near the end of
the film exactly what happened to Walton
while in the spacecraft.
The actual abduction sequence is the film’s
most powerful moment, approaching the terror
of “Alien.” It may even be scarier since we can
imagine ourselves in Walton’s shoes—a deni
zen of 20th-century America taken prisoner
aboard a craft completely beyond our under
standing for an unknown purpose. The medical
procedures are definitely not for the squeamish.
“Fire in the Sky” takes a refreshing ap
proach, telling the stories of Walton’sco-work
ers and a small Arizona town’s reaction to the
inexplicable.
Robert Patrick (“Terminator 2”) plays
Walton’screw boss and best friend,racked with
guilt about leaving Walton at the scene. Craig
Sheffer ("A River Runs Through It”) gets a few
laughs as the smart-aleck bad apple of the
Sheldon Gallery
to host concert
by Eroica Trio
The Eroica Piano Trio will perform as pari
of the Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music 1992
93 season today at 8 p.m. in the auditorium of
the Sheldon Art Gallery.
Each member of the trio is an accomplished
and recognized musician in her own right.
Violinist Adela Pert a has appeared as a soloist
with the English Chamber Orchestra and the
Caracas Symphony, cellist Sara
Sant’Ambrogio’s solo work earned her a 1991
Grammy, and pianist Erika Nickrenz has per
formed as a soloist and chamber musician in
festivals like Marlboro, Tanglewood and
Spoleto. They have performed together offi
cially as a trio since 1986, earning attention and
praise from all quarters.
The program for tonight’s performance in
cludes Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C minor. Op.
1, no. 3: Martinu’s Five Short Pieces for Piano
Trio; and Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor.
A reception for the artists will follow the
conceit.
The Eroica Trio will also conduct a small
Masterclass with the School of Music at 10:30
a.m. today.
Tickets for the concert are available through
the Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music. They
are $18 for non-students and $5 for students.
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Travis Walton (D.B. Sweeney) gets beamed aboard an alien craft in Tire In
The Sky.”
bunch, and Henry Thomas (“E.T.”) also stars.
Perhaps the best performance is turned in by
James Gamer, of “Maverick” fame, as a state
investigator brought in to solve a murder; even
after Walton returns and the crew passes a
polygraph, he still docs not believe them.
Directed by Robert Lieberman, with a script 1
by Tracy Torme, “Fire in the Sky” may con
vince you; at the very least it will make you
think the next lime you’re out on a clear, starry
night.
— Sam Kepfield
Courtesy of Eroica Piano Trio
Eroica Trio: Pianist Erika Nickrenz, cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio and violinist
Adela Pefka.
ir"T ■ .■ .■ * 1 ■■ ■ , _
Festival set
to celebrate
vegetarianism
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The second annual Vegetarian Aware
ness Festival will be this Saturday at the
UNL Culture Center, 333 N. 14th St.
The festival features a vegetarian lunch
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The meal is all
you-can-eat and costs only $3. Tickets
are available at the door.
“Diet For a New America: Your
Health, Your Planet” will be shown. The
premises of this remarkable film are star
tling and its arguments are compelling.
The festival is a yearly event spon
sored by the Nebraska Vegetarian Soci
ety. The food at the group’s gatherings is
always delicious and there will be lots of
opportunities to pick up free recipes.
The-celebration is part of “The Great
American Meatout,” a national annual
grass-roots campaign.
Live music will be provided by Emer
ald Fyre, a local Celtic band.
Door prizes will be given away as
well.
For more information on the NVS,
contact the Nebraska Vegetarian Soci
ety, P.O. Box 30631, Lincoln, Neb.68503.
—Mark Baldridge
Charity concert
s
The Millions, Love Cabal, Cryin’ Heart and
the Perv Tones will play S unday at the Zoo Bar,
136 N. 14th St, from 5 to 10 p.m.
All proceeds will be donated to the Lincoln
Action Program’s (LAP) Education Outreach.
Education Outreach assists low-income,
nimarily minority, junior high youth who are
it risk of dropping out of school.
Services include tutoring and career coun
seling. The program served over 130 kids dur
ing the 1992-93 school year.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at
Twisters, The Mill, the Zoo Bar or Way Home
Records and Gifu.
Door prizes will be raffled off.
This weekend in the Big City stretches
into a week for UNL students on spring
break.
If you’re stuck here, you mightas well
get out a little.
Friday and Saturday: “TheCrucible”
plays at Howell Theatre.
An AC/DC laser light show tears it up
at Mueller Planetarium.
Saturday: Don’t miss the 20th anni
versary retrospective of “Monty Python ’ s
Flying Circus” on NETV at 11:10 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: “Rocco and
His Brothers” shows at the Mary Riepma
Ross Film Theater.
The Jew ish Cultural Arts Council hosts
the annual Kallah Weekend, featuring
Professor Eytan Gilboa of the Hebrew
University as guest speaker. .
Sunday: “The Hobbit" debuts on the
Lied Center stage, brought by the Thdatre
Sans Fil (“Without Strings”) using life
size puppets.
Phil Collins is up in lights at the plan
etarium.
The 48th annual Scsostris Shrine Cir
cus goes all-out at Pershing Auditorium.
t 0
There’s lots to see and do in the Big
City; don’t let it get you down. Florida’s
probably rainy anyway.