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