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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1995)
Arts ©Entertainment Friday, February 24, 1995 Page 9 Residents can catch the Urge By Dawn Brunke Staff Reporter Lincoln residents with an urge to hear an unusual brand of hard rock music should catch the Urge at the Hurricane Saturday night. The St. Louis band features two trom bones and a saxophone. The band has played in Lincoln before. It opened for 311 at the Hurricane, 1118 0 St., last fall. This weekend’s show makes up for a date members missed in January be cause they were snowbound. The Lincoln crowd was very recep tive last time the Urge was in town, said drummer John Pessoni. “I loved the club, and the crowd was great,” Pessoni said. “It was better than the Omaha show.” But Pessoni said audiences shouldn’t expect the same show the band gave with 311. The band will play a longer set and a few songs that Lincoln has not heard before. “Our best set is if we keep it to the hour or so because everything is so fast we are about ready to collapse after that,” Pessoni said. While in Lincoln, the Urge hopes to spark interest in the release of its new album, he said. The album is recorded, Pessoni said, but the band is thinking of re-recording most of it in March with producer Mike Blum (Infectious Groves). “We are really trying to change things around, trying to ditch some of the ska,” Pessoni said. “Most of the more recent songs are more hard rock.” The band likes to get close to fans, he said. Sometimes members jump into the mosh pit. “There have been shows where band members have gotten hurt worse than the kids.” After the album is released later this spring, the Urge plans to do more ex tensive touring, Pessoni said. “We will be probably be returning to Lincoln then, too.” Pessoni said he hoped many Lincoln residents would give the Urge a chance. “There is no way anyone can go to the show and be bored or not have a See URGE on 10 JayCalderon/DN Mel Bucklin wrote and directed “The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters,” a documentary about Reynold Brown, a 1950s movie poster artist. ‘Monsters’ mix of fame, fortune By Gerry Beltz Senior Reporter In northwest Nebraska, on Highway 20 between Chadron and Crawford, film pro ducer Mel Bucklin met fate. It was Thanksgiving several years ago. Bucklin, 38, said she learned from friends in the Chadron area that Reynold Brown, a movie poster artist from the 1950s and ’60s, lived in the nearby Pine Ridge area. “I guess I kind of slipped into it,” Bucklin said. For Bucklin, fate turned into film, a film titled “The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Mon sters,” a documentary on Brown. The film premiered at the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater earlier this month, but will be shown on Nebraska Educational Television Monday at 7 p.m. and March 5 at 11 a.m. Brown’s most recognizable works are movie posters for films such as “The Crea ture Among Us,” “The Incredible Shrink ing Man” and “Tarantula.” As it happened, Brown retired to Nebraska in 1981 and lived less than 10 miles away from where Bucklin was at the time. “I thought that it was unusual to live that far out, but that he had so much to do with the motion picture industry, I thought it would be a compelling film.” After years of research and interviews, Bucklin’s film on Brown — entitled “The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters” — was finally a reality. Although the film is about Brown’s life, Bucklin said no interviews with the man made it to the final print for both profes sional and personal reasons, she said. “We did many filmed interviews and put them all on in the film. However, it gradu ally donned on us that scenes of him at work would speak much more for him than cut ting in a slice of an interview. “Also, he had suffered a stroke and had congestive heart failure,” Bucklin said. “This left him breathless and had slow speech. “Although his commentary was full of interesting material, it would be deadly to a television audience.” The choice to do a documentary on Brown was greatly based on his work, both its quality and its era, she said. “His work really does stand out; he was such a prodigious artist. His ability to ma nipulate the figure or architecture, or any setting, costume or prop was extraordinary. “His excitement and exuberance contrib uted to him being a profound example of an See BUCKLIN on 10 Play: Arty gals need good gigs By Sean McCarthy Theater Critic Headline: Three women suffer through a summer of tragedy wor thy of a good soap opera pilot and find strength through their trials. Presented by Theatrix, the play “Bright Girls, Stupid Lives” fol lows the story of Helen (Shannon Marple) and Suzanne (Ruth Briese), two women who try to fix the pathetic life of their friend, Allison (Colene Byrd). Allison strives to write something mean ingful, but she is stuck in her me diocre, dead-end job. To help tell the story, an off stage narrator provides “head lines,” news flashes that explain what the characters are up to. Allison writes crossword puzzles for a tabloid paper. She has not had one of her serious works published for more than a year. That lack of recognition is taking its toll on her at the beginning of the play. This discouraged crossword writer falls back on her friends, Suzanne and Helen, to fix her di sastrous life. While relying on them to make her decisions, she is jeal ous of their successful lives. ' Wearing ragged jeans and a striped shirt, Byrd plays Allison to perfection. Her mouthy snaps and glares to make her look even more burned out. When not appearing in a soap opera, Helen makes maxi pad commercials. She is a success ful actress, but Helen has her prob lems. Gordon (Dana Wall), her boyfriend, has just returned from a theater stint in Chicago. Poor and broke, Gordon moves in with Helen and drives her insane. Marple’s performance is solid. When she bears her soul to the only person she trusts, a columnist, the audience sympathizes with her. Though Suzanne also appears perfect in Allison’s terms, she takes her life to dangerous extremes. At first, Suzanne is a workaholic. While Helen and Allison figure out their lives, Suzanne figures out accounts. Suzanne soon yearns for some thing livelier. Tossing offher work schedule, Suzanne dates and sleeps around with New York City’spopu lation. Briese does great as Suzanne. Without appearing cheap, Briese lets Suzanne’s buried sexuality flow during her wild period. “Bright Girls” works best when the characters confide within them selves. The play stalls when such additions as news flashes on the character’s lives interrupt the flow of the play. Aussie movie portrays adolescence accurately By Gerry Beltz £ilm Critic Even though adolescence is a thing of the past for (most) college students, the topic is still a good topic for a film, or in this case, two films. “Flirting” is a 1990 Austra lian film featuring Nicole Kidman as one of the stars. Di rected by John Duigan, it is the sequel to his 1987 hit “The Year My Voice Broke.” Noah Taylor also returns as the central char acter, Danny Embling. The year is 1965. Danny is at a boys’ boarding school in rural Australia. Although he is a bit of a rebel, Danny is the frequent butt of several cruel jokes per petuated by the other boys. By chance, during a visit from the local girls school, Danny meets and falls for Movie: “Flirting” Rating: R Director: John Duigan Stars: Noah Taylor, Thandie Newton, Nicole Kidman Grade: A Five words: Charming Australian film on adolescence. Thandiwe Adjewa (Thandie Newton), a Ugandan girl who is looked down on by most of her snobbish classmates because she doesn’t do or like the same types of things they do. See FLIRTING on 10