Arts ©Entertainment
Wednesday, February 1,1995 Page 6
Band’s folksy blend
no Small Potatoes
By Melissa Dunne
Staff Reporter
Small Potatoes will fry up
tunes from Celtic to cowboy-style
Friday at the Walton Trail Co.,
118th and A streets.
The 7:30 pan. concert will be
sponsored by the Lincoln Asso
ciation for Traditional Arts Inc.
Admission is $5.
The Chicago-based duo of
Jacquie Manning and Rich
Prezioso began touring within the
last year.
Manning is a vocalist who,
among other things, enjoys mu
sic from the British Isles and
yodeling. As a guitar player,
Prezioso is especially fond of
swing and jazz.
“They could never settle on
one type of music,” said Bill
Behmer, LAFTA president, “so
they do them all.”
However, Behmer said, all
their music has a folk, acoustic
feel.
Their performance should also
include many potato jokes, he
said.
“They have a definite sense of
humor.”
Small Potatoes is the first of a
three-concert series sponsored by
LAFTA. Curtis Teague and
Loretta Simonette will perform
at the Walton Trail Co. March
11, and Lou and Peter Berryman
will perform April 28.
Small Potatoes is also the first
LAFTA-sponsored concert to be
held at the Walton Trail Co.
“We were trying to find a new
place to do concerts, and we
stumbled across the place,”
Behmer said. “The Walton folks
are really interested.”
The Walton Trail CoM a bi
cycle and accessories shop lo
cated on the MoPac East Trail,
offers gourmet coffee, espresso,
soft drinks and sandwiches. It
also offers a warm, inviting at
mosphere, Behmer said.
The location’s only disadvan
tage isiconvincing people it’s not
that faraway, he said. The Walton
Trail Co. is only four paved min- ;
utes from 84th and A streets.
In addition to the concert se
ries, LAFTA offers acoustic mu
sic throughout the year, featur
ing both local and national per
formers.
Behmer said LAFTA’s goal
was to provide a type of music
that was traditionally overlooked
in Lincoln, a comfortable atmo
sphere and an affordable price.
“We’re a small organization
that, because no other venue in
town does folk music, decided to
take it upon ourselves to do it,”
he said.
Unlike the traditional bar
scene, he said, music is the pri
mary focus of LA FTA-sponsored
events.
“People are there to listen,” he
said.
A more personal atmosphere
also makes it possible to meet
and talk to the performers, he
said.
“It’s a different concert expe
rience.”
First-time director
succeeds in ‘Fresh’
Chad Johnson
Film Critic
It is rare for directors to make
a powerful impact on their first
attempt, but Boaz Yakin has done
just that. His gritty, realistic film
contains an almost living energy
that he skillfully marshals and
guides.
His film and title character is
“Fresh.” Fresh is a 12-year-old
kid trying to grow up on the tough
streets of Brooklyn. Like most
twelve-year-olds, he has to worry
about getting to school on time,
his 11 live-in cousins and his
interest in Rosie, the girl he has a
crush on. Unlike most kids his
age, he also has to worry about
being a runner for rival neighbor
hood drug kingpins.
After a henchman of one of
the dealers guns down two kids
on the playground over a basket
ball game, Fresh decides he’s got
to do something about it. Fresh
arranges a complex series of
events as intricate as the moves
he learns from his estranged,
speed-chess playing father
(Samuel L. Jackson). He sets out
to bring down the drug lords
Corky and Esteban (Ron Brice,
Giancarlo Esposito) and rescue
his sister, Nichole (N’Bushe
Wright) from Esteban and addic
tion.
The cast is excellent. Sean
Nelson makes his debut as Fresh
and holds his own with heavy
weights Jackson and Esposito.
Film: “Fresh”
Rating: R
Stars: Sean Nelson,
Giancarlo Esposito,
Samuel L. Jackson
Director: Boaz Yakin
Grade: A
Five words: Resourceful
kid outsmarts drug
bosses.
Jackson is his usual commanding
presence, drawing the viewer in -
regardless of how savory the char
acter is.
Yakin is the best young direc
tor out of New York since Spike
Lee. While Yakin has a way to go
to match Lee’s inventiveness,
Yakin takes a page from New
York “old school” directors like
Martin Scorsese, and conveys a
definite “Mean Streets” flavor to
his film with a bit of the old
ultraviolence.
“Fresh” is an interesting, com
plex film about a good kid in bad
circumstances. The refreshing
aspect of the film is that the kid
uses his head to get out of the
situation, even if he has to sacri
fice the pieces he likes best in
order to capture the opponent’s
king.
I II——^^
Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema
Susan Sarandon and Sam Shepard star in “Safe Passage.”
Film portrays harsh realities
By Joel Strauch
Film Critic
“Safe Passage” isn’t carried by
an action-filled plot, but the story
line packs a powerful punch.
The story revolves around Mag
Singer (Susan Sarandon), the
mother of seven boys. Most of the
boys have grown up and are living
away from home, leading Mag to
have a mid-life crisis about a pos
sible career.
As she faces this dilemma and
thoughts of separating from her
husband Patrick (Sam Shepard),
her most troubled son, Percival —
who left the family to join the
Marines and enter the Gulf War,
may be among the dead in a bombed
barracks.
The rest of the sons arrive one
by one to help their mother through
this trial. Each remembers Percival
in his own way and feels guilty in
his role in Percival’s decision to
leave the family and flee to the
service.
Mag relives her younger days
through her talks with the girl
friend of her son, Alfred (Robert
Sean Leonard). Alfred’s girlfriend,
Cynthia (Marcia Gay Harden), is
older and wiser than him and gives
Mag someone with whom she can
share her feelings of disparity and
motherhood.
“Safe Passage”
Rating: R
Grade: B+
Stars: Susan Sarandon, Sam
Shepard
Director: Robert Allan
Ackerman
Five Words: Family bond
can’t be broken.
The family, together again for
the first time in many years, has to
smooth over their many rough
edges before they can again find
comfort with one another.
^ Well-made flashbacks abound
during the film, giving the audi
ence an excellent backdrop to view
the many brothers and their cur
rent relations to the family.
The stories of the younger years
vof the family add a lot to their
rivalries and comraderies of this
average, but somehow much dif
ferent, family.
The acting is quite exceptional,
especially by Sarandon. She cap
tures the essence of the ultimate
mother figure, constantly display
ing worry and guilt about her sons’
safety.
Sarandon once again brings to
life the story of a powerful woman.
Mag is a strict and overprotective
mother, but she would die without
a thought (and almost does) for
any of her children.
Shepard is also great as a hus
band who is confused by the many
changes his wife is going through.
He is also afflicted by temporary
episodes of blindness.
Most of the sons have superfi
cial roles, but Alfred plays a sub
stantial part in the film.
His rfo-nonsense attitude,
learned from his mother, is com
promised by the rest of the family.
Leonard does a great job portray
ing a young man who is frying to
enter adulthood on both feet.
And Harden is also very solid as
a contrasting mother figure to that
of Mag.
Director Robert Allan
Ackerman -shows that a movie
doesn’t have to be filled with vio
lence and nudity to make it on the
big screen.
If you want to catch a movie
that deals with the harsh realities
of everyday life, take a trip to see
“Safe Passage.”
Zoo reels in blues great Catfish
Iowa bluesman
Catfish Keith
back at the Zoo
By Jeff Randall
Staff Reporter
Lincoln resident Charlie
Phillips is hoping to catch a pretty
good catfish tonight. But he won’t
be visiting the usual local fishing
spots.
He will be sitting in the Zoo Bar
at 9 p.m., listening to Iowa-based
bluesman Catfish Keith. Tonight’s
$4 show will be Keith’s third ap
pearance at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar,
136 N. 14 St.
“I’ve seen him every time he’s
come to town,” said Phillips, a
f —
full-time sales representative and
part-time amateur blues guitarist.
“He puts on a hell of a show.”
Many others seem to agree with
Phillips’ sentiment. At the ripe old
age of 32, Keith has toured the
United Kingdom and Europe and
has appeared on the covers of ma
jor European blues magazines, in
cluding “Blueprint” (United King
dom) and “Blues Life” (Germany/
Austria).
Keith’s album “Jitterbug
Swing” was nominated for a W.C.
Handy Award, the blues world’s
equivalent of a Grammy, in the
Best Country/Acoustic Blues Al
bum category.
His reputation as a world-class
acoustic blues musician is well
deserved, Phillips said.
“He is definitely one of the
best,” he said.
Bom in East Chicago, Ind.,
Keith began playing guitar at age
15. He has been earning a living as
a solo blues musician since age 18,
after he graduated from high school
in Davenport, Iowa.
“Cherry Ball,” Catfish’s fourth
and latest album, is being touted
by many critics as his finest work
to date. It is a solo effort, recorded
in one night into a two-track re
corder with ji^st his voice, guitar
and tapping fefet.
“That album is one of the rea
sons I’m excited to see Catfish
again,” Phillips said. “I want to
hear these songs live, the way
they’re meant to be heard.”