Arts^Entertainment
Courtesy of Sub Pop Records, Seattle
Aaron Stauffer (left) and Clint Werner are two members of the band
Seaweed, scheduled to play Thursday at Amnesty International’s benefit at
the Culture Center. Other members of Seaweed are Bob Bulgrien, John
Atkins and Wade Neal.
Seaweed to give students
a taste of punk rock of old
By Glenn Antonucci
Staff Reporter _____
Sub Pop recording artists Seaweed will stomp
through Lincoln Thursday night, toting their
old-tradition Pacific Northwest punk and tour
beaten instruments.
While “old tradition” may be too Jurassic a
term for the youngest band on Seattle’s infa
mous Sub Pop record label, Seaweed undoubt
edly possesses the no-nonsense, melodic, in
your-face punk rock of old.
The band’s third and latest album is “Four,”
released last September. Singer Aaron Stauffer
said the album was his favorite.
And with the escalating attention and expo
sure the band is receiving, it seems rock music
fans agree with him.
“To a punker it may be less accessible,” he
said, “but to the average alternative radio lis
tener, it’s probably more accessible.”
Moreover, “Four” is entirely homegrown,
recorded in the band’s practice space in the
basement of a house in native Tacoma, Wash.
Guitarist Clint Werner set up the cellar
studio in the house owned by his parents and
engineered the project, while the band pro
duced.
Stauffer said the inside job allowed the band
to spend more time recording, which, in Sea
weed’s case, meant all of five weeks.
“I like this album best because we did it on
our own time,” guitarist Wade Neal said. “Be
fore we had three days to record, racing against
the clock in a big studio.”
Stack on top of the new album near-constant
touring in the U.S. and elsewhere, plenty of
radio and MTV airtime for“Four’”s first single
“Losing Skin” and another vidcojust in the can.
Seaweed’s time may have arrived.
Shortly after the release of “Four,” the Sea
weed touring machine started up again.
Tour Promoter Suzy Davenport said the
band was happy to tour so much because the
members were “young and durable” and friends
since boyhood.
Stauffer said touring was what sold records
best.
“We’re into the touring, working-class ethic
Were into We touring,
working class ethic of rock.
—Stauffer
Seaweed singer
-ft
of rock,” he said.
With one U.S. tour already notched in the
band’s belt since the album’s release, Sea
weed’s Lincoln stop will precede another tour
that begins Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C., with
Quicksand.
Overseas, the band recently played at Sub
Pop’s Lamcfest in Japan, with two shows in
Tokyo and one in Osaka.
Unlikely place for all-American punk rock?
Not really.
“It was killer,” Stauffer said. “The crowd
sang along to all the songs, danced... they were
as responsive as they could possibly be.”
Also on the bill were Seattle bands
Supersucker and the Fastbacks, plus Japan’s
own Suoersnazz.
But Stauffer said it was good to get back to
the United States.
“I’d like to go back, but being in Japan is tike
being in outer space,” he said. “I had to think
more about things like money, language and
food. I like to think as little as possible.”
Since they’ve been back home in Tacoma,
the band shot a video for Kid Candy, which
Neal said took place in part at an abandoned
mental hospital and in part at a kid’s* funplex.
He said the video was stocked with teenage
punk kids,“a blowtorch, an arcade, long stringy
hair and AC/DC shirts.”
Ah, the props of a rock band from T acoma on
its way up.
If Seaweed’s time hasn’t come quite yet. at
least they’ll never be called lazy.
Seaweed’s Thursday appearance at the Cul
ture Center, 333 N. 14 St., is sponsored by
Amnesty International.
Omaha bands Ritual Device and ClayTace
will open the show, which starts at 7 p.m.
Admission is $5, with proceeds going to Am
nesty International.
‘Wrinkles in Time’ brings cosmology down to earth
George Smoot and Keay Davidson
“Wrinkles In Time”
William Morrow & Company Inc.
The origin of our universe is a fast, beau
tiful billion-year ride, as told in “Wrinkles In
Time” by George Smoot and Keay Davidson.
Not to be confused with Madeline
L’Englc’s young-adult classic, “A Wrinkle
In Time,” this non-fiction work will enter
tain you.
George Smoot is hot offthe lecture podi
um, where he spoke of his latest success, the
1992 discovery of “cosmic seeds.” His re
search has added new validity to the Big
Bang and Inflation theories.
Smoot combines with Davidson, a popu
lar science columnist, to write the story of
cosmology’s history in terms of his own
experiences. The result is a lively and fasci
nating narrative, even for readers who
couldn’t make it through “A Brief History
Of Time” by Stephen Hawking.
“Wrinkles In Time” makes difficult con
cepts, like antimatter and cosmic background
radiation, exciting by presenting them as
characters in Smoot’s life. The book allows
the reader to sec a scientist grappling with
abstract ideas and Spectrophotometers, turn
ing what would normally be jargon into a
plot device.
As a text, “Wrinkles In Time” could
propel a University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
astronomy class into involved participation
and would interest even the seasoned sky
scanner.
The real strength of “Wrinkles In Time”
is the beautiful description of cosmological
theories and our universe. From a “boiling
sea of neutrons and protons” to a “primordial
cloud of dust and gas,” Davidson’s writing
communicates the poetic imagery ingrained
into the scientific theories of past and present.
The only literary downfalls in “ Wrinklcs
In Time” arc Smoot’s odes to the machinery
he used in his search for cosmic seeds,
particularly his chapter on microwave radi
ometers. While his love for his mechanical
apparatuses is earnest, no amount of enthu
siasm can make 20 pages of cosmic ther
mometers fun. But these bulky sections can
be skipped and should not deter anyone from
reading an otherwise flawless book.
—Patrick Hambrecht
Courtesy of William Morrow & Company Inc.
Courtesy Interscope Communications, Inc /Nomura Babcock & Brown Unit One Film Partners
Charles Gitonga Maina (left) and Kevin Bacon in ‘The Air Up There.”
Heroic sports film about more
than slam-dunking basketballs
“The Air Ud There” son”)
Not just another sports film, “The
Air Up There” is an entertaining tale
of life, basketball and culture shock.
Assistant college basketball coach
Jimmy Dolan, played by Kevin Ba
con (“Flatlincrs,” “A Few Good
Men”), journeys to Africa to recruit a
power player for his team.
He finds Saleh—played by Charles
Gitonga Maina in his film debut — a
6-foot-10-inch Wanabi warrior who
is more interested in helping his tribe
than playing college basketball.
Dolan uses charm and bribery to
attempt to win over Saleh and his
stubborn father Urudu, played by
Winston Ntshona(“A Dry White Sea
uoian cnus up joining the Wanabi
to help save their land from a power
hungry rival tribe. Not surprisingly,
the climax is a close basketball game.
But the game is played in a small
village in Africa, not a modem col
lege court.
This film deals with stronger is
sues than just sports. Dolan finds out
who he is in a dramatic and not too
cliched entry into the Wanabi tribe.
The Wanabi themselves are changed
by Dolan and his sports-ccntcrcd ide
ology.
Director Paul M. Glaser, who
played Starsky and directed “Starsky
and Hutch,” has added another suc
cessful film to his list that includes the
hits “The Cutting Edge” and “The
Running Man.”
Joel Strauch
