Reginald R. Robinson Silver Jews
“Sounds in Silhouette” “Starlite Walker”
Delmark Records Drag City
Grade: B Grade: A+
If you think ragtime music is
best left in the past, you should
listen to Reginald R. Robinson.
“Sounds in Silhouette” might
sound 50 years old, but Robinson
makes sure his listeners know these
songs are all his.
It’s not a very comipon talent
these days, but playing ragtime
seems second nature to Robinson.
Right away, listeners are cap
tured by the bouncy harmonies of
the piano. “The Ragtime Pauper”
epitomizes the ragtime feel and
orients listeners to the specific
rhythms.
Ragtime is not just “The Sting,”
however, and Robinson uses many
techniques to update this old music
style.
“To Mimic” uses a series of
ominous steps to create a very melo
dramatic mood, while “Lake St.” is
a light and airy piece.
In a smooth tango style, “Dream
Natasha” invites the listener to just
imagine the lyrics, and is a con
trast to the march beat of “Holly
Hock March.”
One of the most astounding
tracks, “Swampy Lee,” brings back
the flavor of the old Charlie
Chapman movies with a many
layered rattling.
Robinson keeps a low-key, but
constant, tempo in “Little Dave
Blues,” a Chicago boogie-woogie
style song.
A Chopin influence is evident
on “Honor’e Chester,” and “Lonely
Marble” is as close to a ballad as
ragtime gets.
Robinson’s talents are truly top
notch. Other performers may be
able to play ragtime, but not many
could create in a genre this far
removed. His is a positively ex
traordinary talent.
—Greg Schick
While the boys from REM zig
zag the globe, parlaying their folky
roots into an electric monster, the
Silver Jews are saving southern
rock.
Tucked away in Eastely Record
ing Studio in Memphis, Tenn.,
“Starlite Walker” was born.
Flanked by Stephen Malkmus, Bob
Nastanovich and Steve West of
Pavement fame, frontman and
songwriter Dave Berman picks up
where “Chronic Town” left off,
merging it with mellow, melodic,
layered indie rock.
Their well-arranged versatility
is not surprising, considering the
contributions of three members of
Pavement, a troop known for its
dynamics.
Through the wanderings of
“Trains Across the Sea” and “Tide
to the Oceans,” the grooves left by
the acoustic riffs and mild basslines
are filled with the tinkle of pianos
and layers of synthesizers. Perhaps
one of the album’s most impres
sive attributes, most visible in “Pan
American Blues,” is the drumming.
That can be loosely accredited to
both Nastanovich and West, who
carry the rhythms with their foot
tapping beats.
While the band jangles on in a
way that makes you pine for the
deep forest pictured on the back of
the album, Berman weaves story
upon story filled with historical
references and witty rhetoric. When
his rich voice is excluded to make
room for the album’s two
instrumentals, his hooks remain.
’ “Starlite Walker,” driven by some
of the most talented musicians in
indie rock, doesn’t need the 1980s or
the city of Athens to successfully
paint the “Fables of Reconstruction”
a shimmering silver.
—Matt Kudlacz
IN GO THE BALLS, OFF COME THE CLOTHES!
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America’s favorite TV famiiy hits the big screen. Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
‘Brady Bunch’ a far-out flick
By Gerry Beltz
Film Critic
I liked it, so sue me.
“The Brady Bunch Movie” may be
yet another step on the long trail of
TV shows to hit the big screen, but
this one is a step in the right direction.
It’s fun.
The Bradys — with their bell bot
toms, lava lamps and groovy, far-out
vocabulary — haven’t changed over
the last 20 years. They are firmly
stuck in the ’70s, while the world
around them has moved into the ’90s.
The parents are as befuddled as
ever. Carol (Shelley Long) is still the
spritely, pouty mother that makes June
Cleaver look like Heidi Fleiss, and
Mike Brady (Gary Cole, “In The Line
of Fire”) is still a pillar of wordy
wisdom who hasn’t a clue what’s
really going on.
The kids are about the same, too.
Marcia is a self-absorbed teen-ager
who wears skirts that stop at the bot
tom of her butt. Jan is jealous of
Marcia and hears inner voices. And
Cindy is a tattletale with a mega-lisp.
Greg is really digging the groovy
chicks at school and writes songs that
make Paul Anka look like Pearl Jam.
Peter is having a rough time enduring
puberty. And Bobby doesn’t like be
ing a safety monjtor.
I
Movie: “The Brady Bunch”
Rating: PG
Grade: B
Stars: Shelley Long, Gary Cole,
Michael McKean
Director: Betty Thomas
Five words: 1970s family copes
with ’90s.
And Alice? She’s still gettingregu
lar meat deliveries from the butcher
Sam (David Graf).
However, the Brady family
wouldn’t be complete without a cri
sis. Due to some mail mix-ups, a
$20,000 property tax has gone un
paid, and if the Bradys don’t come up
with the money within a week, the
unscrupulous real-estate agent next
door, Mr. Ditmeyer (Michael
McKean), is going to demolish the
house and build a mini mall.
Don’t worry about the plots and
subplots; it’s rather obvious what the
outcomes will be. Just sit back and
enjoy the TV characters from our
childhood, who have been uncannily
remastered, trying to mingle with the
people of the ’90s.
Especially hilarious are scenes with
Marcia dealing with an overamorous
date, Jan visiting the school counse
lor, and Ditmeyer’s wife flirting with
Peter and Greg.
Several TV Brady problems are
brought to the big-screen. Greg tries
to be someone he’s not, Jan hates her
glasses, and Marcia breaks her nose.
Look for original Brady perform
ers who pop up throughout the film.
A school coach, a music producer and
Grandma Brady should all look fa
miliar. If you can’t figure out who the
truck driver is, you shouldn’t be al
lowed out of the house without a
leash.
Director Betty Thomas had a rather
easy job, doing a movie about the
bunch. We all grew up watching the
show, so she just brought what she
remembered to the screen. The show
didn’t require any acting talent, but
the movie needed actors to get the
behavior and subtle nuances of the
original characters down to a science.
That is what is so uncanny about
this film — how perfect everything
is. The clothes, sets and lava lamps
would all be rather simple. But mas
tering the manners of everyone from
Mike to Cindy was tough, and it all
comes across wonderfully.
“The Brady Bunch” is a bunch of
fun for everyone.
-1
Ross Theater to feature Ta Chasse’
By Jeff Hampl
Staff Reporter
After working in Chicago and
New York City, former Lincoln
resident Christopher Cartmill is
coming home to present his new
play “La Chasse” (“The Hunt”).
The play’s theme is the eternal
struggle between love and art. It
revolves around nineteenth-century
artist Eugene Delacroix and his rela
tionships with his lover Alise Morrell
and his cousin Josephine de
Lavallette, the baroness de Forget. *
Cartmill plays the protagonist
Delacroix. He is joined by another
Lincoln native, Mary Mares, who
plays Morrell.
The concert reading^ performed
by professional actors, will be Fri
day at 8 p.m. in the Mary Riepma
Ross Theater. A champagne and
truffle reception for the cast will
follow the performance.
A concert reading differs from a
typical play in that it has no props
other than the actors’ costumes.
Instead of props, the background
for the scenes will be projected
slides of paintings from artists of
the Romantic era. The performance
will be accompanied by the music
of Mendelssohn, Liszt, Mozart and
Chopin.
“La Chasse” is being brought to
the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln because of a sponsorship from
Sheldon at Six, said Kathy Piper of
the Nebraska Arts Association.
Further funding has come from
Ellen Baldwin, a member of the
NAA Board of Trustees and a friend
of Cartmill.
Cartmill’s name might be fa
miliar to Lincoln residents. His
play “Light in Love” was performed
last August by a professional cast
at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
“The Light Before Darkness” was
performed as a fall play by students
at Lincoln Southeast High School.
Both plays are part of a series of
“Light” shows written by Cartmill.
The series is named for its
protagonist’s surname.
“La Chasse” was written by
Cartmill with a commission from
the Chicago Art Institute. The play
was performed there in January of
this year.
“It’s very experimental — very
exciting,” Piper said. “The play re
ceived excellent, excellent reviews.”
After its performance at UNL,
“La Chasse” will be performed in
New York City and Virginia.
Tickets are $10 for NAA mem
bers and $12.50 for non-members.
Camelot
Continued from Page 9
ters’ energy.
However, whenever an extra or
chorus member had an individual line,
the audience could hardly hear it,
even in the first few rows.
The main characters all had micro
phones, so they were never forced to
project much. This seemed a bit bi
zarre, almost like an easy way out. In
the good ol* days, everyone had to
project and actually act without the
luxuries of modem technology.
Nowhere was this onstage mum
bling more evident than in the crowd
scene, “Guenevere,” where King
Arthur decided to bum his wife at the
stake. There was so much going on
that it was impossible to follow the
action, even if you had memorized the
script.
Costumes, however, were nothing
short of spectacular. Each character
had four or five changes of clothing,
and the realm of medieval splendor
was great. The women, of course,
wore the best garb: gold lame dresses,
capes and hats. The men wore tights,
laced boots and tunics with flared
sleeves. Couples matched, and every
thing seemed carefully planned.
The vocal score was performed
well, but only by certain characters.
Lancelot (Narducci) had the best bass,
which boomed through the rafters,
with or without a microphone.
Constance Curtis, who played the
role of Guenevere, did an acceptable
job. Her trilling soprano was just there,
not really memorable.
But she performed her part well,
and her romance with Lancelot seemed
genuine.
Despite a few downfalls, the cast
performed a difficult, long script well,
admirably finding the mystical and
magicaPniches.
