Arts@Entertainment
Nebraskan
Thursday, July 7,1994
New downtown coffee shop offers food, entertainment
Le Cafe Shakes
aims to be ‘hangout’
for under-21 crowd
By Joel Strauch
Staff Reporter
There is a new coffee and sandwich
shop downtown known as Lc Cafe
Shakes. Named after what can happen
when you overdo it with their quality
cofTee, this little cafe might give you
the shivers.
According to owncr/manager Reg
McMcen, Le Cafe Shakes wants to be
“asocial venue for the half of campus
that’s not old enough to drink.
“I want people to not think of this
as a typical all-ages, teenager hang
out,” McMcen said. “If there are a few
teenagers in here, come in anyway.
They’re not gonna bite.”
Shakes, run by Duffy’s Tavern,
opened its doors in May and have been
getting a lot of people through them
since, he said.
“We get the downtown business
crowd during the day and in the eve
nings we get the people who arc out
for a quick bite before the bars,” he
said.
Shakes serves up some rather
unique (for the Midwest) bagel sand
wiches. “The Big One,” with its un
limited toppings, is quite impressive.
“They’re catching on real big on
the coasts,” McMeen said. “We’re
just trying to keep up.
“We intended on a small tftenu, but
we ended up going to a full on sand
wich kind of menu.
“Bagels arc real versatile,” he said,
“They’re a good canvas to work on.”
Le Cafe Shakes has to be careful
that their foothold doesn’t get too
shaky with all the other coffee houses
and sandwich shops downtown.
“Hopefully, we’re striving for a
different market than the other coffee
houses,” McMeen said.
“And our handmade sandwiches
are far superior to every other product
around here.”
Shakes also has an entertainment
edge.
“We have a broad selection of live
music and try to ha vcone to two shows
a week,” he said.
“We can get more expensive shows
than Duffy’s because of a younger
crowd. We have a larger general audi
ence and no restrictions on alcohol,”
he said.
Shakes is adding to its ambiance
with wall decor from local artists.
According to assistant manager
Paul Engelhard, who has two pieces
up himself, “We’ve got mostly ab
stract works by UNL undergrads or
recent graduates.”
If you are in the mood for an unusu
al and tasty sandwich and a great cup
of coffee to wash it down with, check
out Le Cafe Shakes at 1418 O St.
Jason Levkulicn/DN
Le Cafe Shakes, a new sandwich and coffee shop, is at 1418 0 St.
Film documents Clinton campaign
Like the 1992 campaign that it
documents, “The War Room” starts
out slow and goofy, and ends up
fast and goofy.
Watching the film brings back
many memories from the cam
paign: how it began with in-fight
ing among the Democratic nomi
nees; how Ross Perot emerged on
the scene, dropped out, and then
came back; how Bush initially re
sisted participating in a debate;
and more.
The main figures in the D.A.
Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus
documentary are Clinton campaign
strategists James Carvillc and
George Stcphanopoulos. Although
Carviile and his wife Mary Matalin,
lately of CNBC’s “Equal Time,”
arc Washington’s couple du jour
—featured in a current Vanity Fair
magazine article — this film re
veals the working relationship be
tween Stcphanopoulos andCarville
to be more intriguing.
W hen Cl inton ’ s campa ign team
finds out that one of Bush’s sup
porters hired a Brazilian printing
company to produce campaign post
ers — rather than “buying Ameri
can” — Stcphanopoulos calls
Matalin, Bush’s Deputy Campa ign
Manager, to get a response. We sec
Stcphanopoulos tell ing Carville, “1
called Mary, and she said Ms this
bad?’” And we sec the two laugh
ing about it.
The film focuses, appropriate
ly, not on political rhetoric, but on
behind-the-scenes images, on the
comments made before and after a
speech. For instance, the sarcastic
lift of her eyebrows as she takes the
podium reveals more about
Gcnnifcr Flowers and her relation
ship with Clinton than anything
she actually said at her press con
ference.
After theGcnnifer Flowers scan
dal breaks, Carville accurately de
fines it as a turning point. He says
to the Clinton campaign staff,
“Whenever anyone with new ideas
comes along, they try to ambush
him. If they win this time, then they
willwu,.cvcrytimc.”Clinton,sabil
ity to survive subsequent scandals
shows the truth of Carv illc ’s proph
ecy.
The documentary also reveals
the surrealism of American poli
tics. Watching TV cove rage of Perot
dancing with his wife as the voice
over announces that his by-then
failed campaign cost him over
$60,000,000,Carville terms Perot’s
campaign “the biggest single act of
masturbation in history.”
Or we sec a rally, “Poultry Work
ers for George Bush,” crashed by
someone dressed in a chicken suit
holding up a sign reading “Chicken
George Bush Won’t Debate.”
Despite all the rhetoric of this or
any campaign, one thing that comes
through is how comm itted and gen
uine the people behind the cam
paign are. WatchingCarvillc thank
the staff near the end of the movie
is almost as painfully emotional as
watching one’s father cry.
Our view of Clinton becomes
distanced as the film progresses.
An early scene shows an extreme
close-up of him in a hotel room,
drinking coffee and joking with his
staff. By the end of the film, we only
see him as the staff watches him on
TV, or imagine his words as the
stafT talks to him on the phone.
Carville — an opinionated,
down-to-earth Southerner, almost
a Democratic version of Perot —
emerges from the film as a potential
future candidate with grass-roots
appeal.
Clinton, Hillary, Chelsea — in
the few glimpses of them we get—
come across as dorks, just as do
most, if not all, of the contemporary
political figures in the documenta
ry. BuMhe viewer is left almost with
a sense of affection for them: these
arc our dorks, damn it.
“The War Room” is showing at
the Mary Riepma Ross Film The
ater this weekend.
—Jim Cihlar
New videos shelves full
of mostly obscure movies
By Gerry Beltz
Statt^ Reporter
It’s another one of those weeks
where hardly anything on the new
release shelves played in Lincoln. We
have one hilarious hit, a bomb and one
film that had both good and bad re
views, but did little business at the box
office. The pick-of-the-weck is an
excellent sci-fAirama from a few years
back. All new movies were released
on Wednesday.
Grumpy Old Men(PG-13)—Jack
Lemmon and Walter Matthau team
up yet again for yet another laugh-riot
hit, this one taking place in a small,
cold town in Minnesota.
John Gustafson (Lemmon) and Max
Goldman (Matthau) arc childhood
friends-turned-encmics in a feud that
has lasted for 56 years and comes to a
head when Ariel (Ann-Margaret)
moves to town and they both compete
for her affections. Burgess Meredith
also stars as Gustafson’s father, a role
that proves to be quite hilarious.
It’s side-splitting comedy from
beginning to end (including outtakes
during the credits). It’s worth going
out of your way to find.
Sugar Hill (R) — Rumor has that
this one was so bad, the distribution
company pulled in almost all the cop
ies from the theaters after one week of
release. It never played in Lincoln
(pulled before it got here). The movie
stars Wesley Snipes, concerning a
drug lord who wants to quit the busi
ness. Catch a rerun of “Matlock” in
stead.
Romeo is Bleeding (R)—a movie
that received either really good re
viewsor really bad ones. Thisonc also
did not play in Lincoln, which is un
fortunate considering some of the star
power in the film such asGary Oldman.
Roll the dice for this flick.
PICK-OF-THE-WEEK — Jeff
Bridges (currently starring in the cx
trcmely-averagc thriller “Blown
A way”) did some of his best work back
when he starred in “Starman”, a story
about an alien who crashes on Earth,
and with the help of a widow named
Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), he at
tempts to avoid the various authorities
and malignant situations that arise.
Bridges garnered an Academy
Award nomination for Best Actor for
his performance in “Starman”, and it
was well deserved. The movie itself is
very solid, with a comfortable mix of
comedy, adventure, science-fiction and
drama.
Go find it.