Jerky Boys’ acting is lacking
By Joel Strauch
Film Critic
“The Jerky Boys” are a laugh riot
with prank calls, but they should hang
up their acting desires.
Johnny B and Kamal, who rose to
infamy with their comedy albums of
illicit phone calls, try to bring their
unique brand of humor to the big
screen with this film.
The film has its funny parts, but
the dialing duo re-use a lot from their
two albums. If the movie contained
more original material, it would be
worth staying on the line for.
The plot is nothing new, except
for the interesting angle of the prank
ish pair calling all the time.
Two “lowlifes from Queens,”
Johnny (Johnny Brennan) and Kamal
(Kamal), have been unable to hold
down decent jobs because of their
practical-joking attitudes.
Meanwhile, their childhood rival
Brett Weir (James Lorinz) has found
success with his mob connections.
“The Jerky Boys”
Rating: R
Grade: C
Stars: Johnny Brennan, Kamal,
Alan Arkin, William Hickey
Director: James Melkonian
Five Words: Fruitcakes should
stick to phones.
Johnny decides to call the local
mob boss Lazarro (Alan Arkin) as
one of his characters, Frank Rizzo.
Rizzo intimidates Lazarro into show
ing The Jerky Boys a night on the
town.
Of course, Johnny calls back and
Rizzo pushes it too far. The Jerky
Boys end up fleeing from the mob
and have to use their wacky talents to
save themselves.
Unfortunately, most of the funny
lines have been heard by fans of The
Jerky Boys many times before. Even
Lazarro and other characters use parts
of old Jerky Boys calls in the movie.
People seeing the movie also were
prepared to use their knowledge of
Jerky Boys lore as they viewed the
film. One apparently intoxicated
member of the audience amused and
annoyed with a constant barrage of
drunken mumblings of famous Jerky
Boys lines.
The acting is nothing to call home
about. Johnny B and Kamal are mas
ters of audio humor, not visual.
But special appearances by Tom
Jones, Ozzy Osbourne and Helmet
liven up the film a bit.
' The show’s music is very impres
sive. Featuring Helmet, Collective
Soul, Tom Jones, House of Pain,
Green Day and L7, this soundtrack is
well worth a listen.
If you’re an ardent Jerky Boys fan,
you might need to see the movie. But
if you’re not, go buy their comedy
albums instead, sit at home and laugh
‘til you’re blue.
Renowned poet visits UNL I
ByJeffRandall
Staff Reporter
Hayden Carruth has spent most
of his years writing outside of a
university setting, but this week he
is making an exception.
Carruth, a world-renowned
poet, essayist and critic, will dis
rcuss his work and give a poetry
' reading this week at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Greg Kuzma, a UNL English
professor and five-year fan of
Carruth, coordinated the writer’s
visit to Nebraska with financial
help from the Nebraska Humani
ties Council and University of
Nebraska-Lincoln’s Research
Council, English Department and
Arts and Sciences Department.
Kuzma said Carruth's success
could be attributed to both basic
and more complicated aspects.
“He’s good, and he’s a very
committed writer,” Kuzma said.
“But he’s not just committed to
himself, as some writers are. He’s
committed to people. He reaches
out to others and their own work.”
Carruth’s writing career is ex
ceptional, Kuzma said, simply be
cause he has been able to make a
career of his writing without rely
ing on university support.
“He is very passionate about
what he does,” Kuzma said. “He
thinks being a writer is important,
even though America doesn’t tend
to reward writers.”
Carruth’s UNL activities will
include a discussion of his work
tonight in Andrews Hall and a po
etry reading Thursday in Love Li
brary. Both events take place at
7:30 p.m.
Kuzma said Carruth’s appear
ances would do more than help
people understand his poetry; they
would encourage others to write.
“He inspires everyone who is a
writer to think that what he or she
is doing is useful ” he said.
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Music festival
tickets on sale
From Staff Reports
Tickets are on sale for an
event being bi lied as Nebraska’s
largest Christian music festi
val.
Spiritfest ’95 will be held
July 8 at Omaha’s Ak-Sar-Ben
Coliseum. It will feature award
winning Christian superstars DC
Talk, Steven Curtis Chapman
and Audio Adrenaline. Also
performing will be Phillips,
Craig & Dean, Point of Grace
and Newsong.
Larry Schweinsburg, concert
director, said he expected the
8,000 tickets to sell quickly.
To charge by phone, cal1402
449-2830. To order tickets by
mail, write: Grace University
Concerts, Ninth & William
streets, Omaha, Neb., 68108.
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Artists’ rainbow brushes make splash
By John Futwider
Staff Reporter
Jay Miller, director of the
Haymarket Art Gallery, has a soft
spot for pastels.
The gallery, 728 Q St., is featuring
“Hard & Soft in the Haymarket Art
Gallery,” a month-long exhibition of
pastel and ceramic art by regional
artists.
Featured pastel artists are Barry
Monohon, T. Parish McGaffm, Donna
Barger, Linda Benton and Linda
Meigs.
Ceramic art is on display from
John Dennison, Ervic Dixon, Gary
Martin, George Sample and Mem
McConnell,
Each artist has something unique
to offer through his or her work.
Miller said Lincoln artist Barger’s
use of color made her work stand out.
“Donna has a really strong sense
of color,” he said. “She’s not afraid to
use different mixtures of color.”
Monohon, another Lincoln artist,
does pastel art as well. He uses strik
ing brush strokes reminiscent of the
French impressionists, Miller said.
This is in contrast to Barger, who
traditionally has used softer, blended
strokes in her paintings, he said.
Dennison, of Omaha, has two kinds
of ceramic art on display: functional
glazed bowls and pots and masks.
Miller said Dennison made the bowls
for profit and the masks for artistic
expression. Miller compared
Dennison to cartoonist Matt
Groening, who draws “The
Simpsons” for a living and “Life In ~
Hell” to express himself.
Raku pottery by Mike Bush, a
former Lincolnite now living in Okla
homa, can also be seen at the gallery.
Miller said raku was an Ameri
canized style of Chinese pottery. It’s
a process of firing that yields a wide
variety of colors. The raku artist never
knows what colors he will get. A
primitive, textured look also distin
guishes raku from other styles of
pottery, he said.
PFR
“Great Lengths"
Vireo
Grade: A
Almost immediately after PFR
released their Grammy-nominated
album “Goldie’s Last Day,” their
fans began praying, “More PFR,
more PFR!”
Now their prayers have been
answered by the three-man band
formerly known as “Pray For
Rain.”
PFR’s latest, “Great Lengths,”
is even better than their sopho
more effort, “Goldie’s Last Day.”
Sure, it seems unlikely. Three
singles from that album shot to No.
1 last year on the Christian music
charts, and “That Kind of Love”
was Christian radio’s No. 1 single
in 1994.
But it’s true. “Great Lengths” is
an enormous achievement for the
rock band composed of Joel Hanson
(vocals and guitar), Patrick An
drew (vocals and bass) and Mark
Nash (drums).
The album’s most appealing
quality is its genuine, insightful
lyrics. The lyrics are also very
personal, especially on the title
track, written by Andrew.
Hanson displays his songwriting
ability on “The Love I Know,”
about how human love sometimes
fails but God’s never does.
“She bet all she had upon the
lo,ve/now she’s holding her cards/
And lost her turn ... Could true
love have fled so easily/Leaving
both broken from the fall/ Not the
love I know...”
Musically, the album is refresh
ingly diverse; songs range from
PFR’s blues-rock cover of Keith
Green’s ‘Trials Turned to Gold,”
to the distorted-guitar grind of
“Last Breath” to the slow piano/
acoustic guitar melody of “Life
Goes On.”
About the guitars ... Hanson
and Andrew aren’t spectacular
guitar players, but they are good.
They manage to make one chord
sound great in “Merry Go Round,”
even though it’s played over and
over (and over and over) again.
There’s only one problem with
the entire album. Effects are used
excessively. Electronically echoed
lyrics give an artificial feel on
“Great Lengths” and “Wonder
Why ” detracting from the overall
clean sound of the album.
But that shouldn’t keep people
from wearing out their stereo play
ing it. And you will wear out your
stereo playing it.
— John Fulwider
Sunrise
Continued from Page 9
Ethan Hawke does an adequate
job of portraying the cute, “ugly
American.” His “but hey, I'm charm
ing” demeanor works within the
framework of the film.
Delpy performs admirably con
sidering the script calls for her to use
volumes of American slang, and she
has some difficulty spitting it out.
Fortunately, she brings consider
able presence to the film. She con
veys emotion with her eyes, which
draw the viewer into the action' and
assist Hawke, who struggles at times.
For fans of Linklater’s first two
films, “Slacker” and “Dazed and
Confused,” “Before Sunrise” is a dis
appointment. It appears that another
promising, young director has jumped
onto the money bus, leaving his fresh
ness and inventiveness behind in or
der to join the mainstream.
In that respect Linklater does a
good job using his key players in a
story meant to rake in the big bucks at
the box office.
The film’s saving grace occurs, of
course, at the end. After a ponderous,
conversational two hours, the sequel
door is left wide open. The closing
scenes are beautifully filmed with all
the emotion the rest of the film lacked.
The final scenes are so strong, they
are almost worth the wait.
Austin
Continued from Page 9
that first shift for The Blaze was not
an ideal first time out.
“My first night sucked. I made so
many mistakes. It was unbelievable.”
He was just nervous, he said.
“There’s a lot of people listening
here,” Austin said.
After 16 months at The Blaze,
Austin said he was enjoying himself
working up to three shifts a week,
usually the overnight weekend shift
from midnight to 6 a.m. But his odd
hours don’t annoy him.
“The overnights don’t bother me,”
Austin said. “It’s hours that wouldn’t
be used for much else, so I can use
them to make some money and get a
little experience in case I choose to
do this later as well.”
The strangest part of the job is
some of the phone calls, Austin said.
“You get calls from people once
in a while that you can tell are pretty
well-baked,” Austin said.
There are also a few irritating
phone calls, Austin said.
“The occasional annoying ones
who call every five minutes to hear a
certain song, or girls that will call to
ask you to come over after work.
They’ve never met you, don’t know
you, and don’t know what you look
like.”
Austin is also a Sony college mar
keting representative, representing
Sony at KRNU and music shops fre
quented by college-aged students, as
well as handling promotions for Sony
sponsored bands that play locally.
Although he would prefer to move
up in the world of Sony, Austin said
he isn’t planning on leaving The Blaze
any time soon.
“Barring getting fired. I’ll be here
till I graduate at least. If I get a better
job with Sony, then I’ll move on
posthaste.”
Austin said he couldn’t hope for
an easier job.
“I come here, play music and talk
a few times an hour.”
Amid all the fun and experience
his job at The Blaze has brought him,
Austin singled out one great benefit.
“Lots of cool t-shirts.”
