_____— ------— --—, ■■
Jeff Randall
Web rocks
with music
information
Despite what some of the purists
may tell you, the World Wide Web
has fast become one of the biggest
sources of capitalist promotion that
the world, maybe the universe, has
ever seen.
The lack of spatial limitations on
the Web makes for a whole lot of
advertising. And one of the bigger
culprits of this electronic sales pitch
barrage has been the recording indus
try.
At this point in time, nearly every
band that has ever put pick to guitar
or stick to drum has some sort of
information site on the Web. (I was
surprised I didn’t find a page for
Funkernickel, my basement-bound
band from a couple years ago.)
But despite the inherently money
based foundation of these sites, a
wealth of information exists for the
curious music fan who is able to resist
the temptation to buy, buy and buy.
The majors are, of course, the cre
ators of some of the technically supe
rior and faster sites. Among the better
ones are Atlantic <http://atlantic
records.com/>, Capitol <http://
caprec.com/> and Reprise <http://
www.RepriseRec.com/>, all of which
boast links to individual artists and
groups.
Geffen Records <http://
www.geffen.com> has one of the best
sites, with a plethora of bands to
choose from, including such stellar
talents as Urge Overkill, Weezer,
Elastica and Sonic Youth. And if
talent isn’t an issue, you can check
out Jawbreaker and Veruca Salt, as
well.
But, as any true music fan will tell
you, the heart of all music resides in
the small and scrappy independent
labels that chum out high-quality, hi
fi sound by even the smallest bands.
The only problem is that some of
those labels are so small that finding
them on the Web is a nearly insur
mountable task.
No problem, all you have to do is
click over to the Indie Labels List
<http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/
T.Wicks/ill/labels.html>. Here you
can find hundreds of links to inde
pendent record company sites and
brief information on each label.
This A to Z indie source is about as
comprehensive as can be found on the
Web, and sifting through its contents
should chew up hours of valuable
study time, if you take on the whole
list.
But whe ever said you had to go to
the four comers to find good music?
There’s plenty right here in Lincoln,
and one of its main purveyors is none
other then Bernie McGinn and
Caulfield Records <http://
www.acton.com/bemie/>.
McGinn, a professional Web page
designer and bassist/voealist for Side
show, has set up a dandy little site to
let people all over the world know
that corn and cattle aren’t the
Comhusker state’s only exports.
So, if you’ve got music in your
blood and the band doesn’t look like
it will be getting together all that
soon, take a tour of the record indus
try on the Web.
Randall is a sophomore news-editorial
major and a Dally Nebraskan senior reporter.
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Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Gene Watson (Johnny Depp) tries to turn the tables on political assassins who have abducted his daughter in “Nick of Time.”
Time runs out on the shallow flick ‘Nick’
By Rainbow Rowell
film Critic
You can imagine how “Nick of Time” got
made.
A bunch of Hollywood types sitting around
the table. Wouldn’t it be cool if a man and his
daughter were kidnapped by strangers in a train
station, and the strangers say they will assassi
nate the little girl unless her father assassinates
the governor within 90 minutes?
Even cooler, what if you
filmed the movie in real time,
90 minutes for 90 minutes?
Coolest: Johnny Depp plays
Gene Watson, Everyman, and
Christopher Walken is Mr.
Smith, the Dangerous
Stranger.
Cool, in theory. In practice,
the makers of “Nick of Time”
never reached beyond cool idea
to good movie. The movie
never deepens beyond this premise.
It tries.
Depp tries. Hard. He consistently sweats and
looks desperate. For a whiles it’s-exciting- to- >
experience every minute of the predicament with
Watson, to wander around Los Angeles’ Westin
Bonaventure Hotel with him via director John
Badham’s hand-held cameras.
Watson looks at his watch. Ninety minutes.
Seventy-eight minutes. An hour. The audience
looks with him, sweats with him.
And then ... Watson looks at his watch again
and again... and again. Badham wastes precious
time with lengthy montages of every clock in the
hotel and lingering shots of Watson’s Seiko.
Badham’s action scenes are mildly exciting.
But watching Mr. Smith chase Watson through
the hotel and its famous glass elevators just
reminded me how much better the location was
used in “In the Line of Fire.”
In desperation, Watson enlists the help of a
reluctant, but kind shoeshine man (Charles S.
Dutton). There follows a not-so-ingenious plot
in which the hotel staff help Depp escape his
damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situa
tion.
Huey the shoeshiner is amusing, but his char
acter is sketchy. Like all the other characters,
f
Film: “Nick of Time”
Stars: Johnny Depp, Christopher Walken,
Charles S. Dutton
Director: John Badham
Rating: R (violence, language)
Grade: C
Five words: Depp can’t save in time
there just isn’t enough information about his
personality or history to make him interesting.
The acting is fine. Depp shows he can play
desperate. Marsha Mason is OK as the governor/
target, and Courtney Chase, 7, is cute enough
that you don’t want her shot.
Walken’s Mr. Smith and his assistant, Ms.
Jones (Roma Maffia) are probably the most
interesting characters. Walken fans will enjoy
the insanely violent Mr. Smith.
“Nick of Time” isn’t a waste of time, but it
isn’t much of a movie, either.
Extravaganza
‘Nutcracker’ adds twist with Joffrey Ballet
oy rauia Lavigne
Senior Reporter
The fantasy of a Christmas tradition will be
spiced up with the fame of the Joflrey Ballet
-—-when the Chicago company
DailCe i°*ns Ballet Omaha this week
^ endtopresent“TheNutcracker
Ballet Suite.”
Omaha’s Orpheum Theater
will be one of three stops for
the touring production. The
others will be in Los Angeles
and Washington, D.C.
The performance will be
the largest, most extravagant
production in Joffrey’s history, Ballet Omaha
Co-Director Derrick Wilder said.
The Joffrey Ballet performed its modem-rock
ballet “Billboards” at UNL’s Lied Center for
Performing Arts in September 1994.
Wilder said the “Nutcracker” partnership
came about because the Ballet Omaha artistic
director, Ann Mane DeAngelo, recently became
the Joffrey Ballet’s associate director.
“It’s allowing us to present dance in the
community at this time that we were unable to
perform ourselves,” he said.
Monday night, only three days before the first
performance, was the first time the two groups of
dancers met. s
“The children are thrilled,” Wilder said, ‘hut
I think the parents are the most thrilled. Calming
the parents down is the hardest part.”
When ticketholders who haven’t been to the
“Nutcracker” in many years see the production,
they’ll be in for a surprise beyond the addition of
the Joffrey dancers.
After years of performing to recorded music,
the Tchaikovsky score will be delivered live by
the Omaha Symphony.
While the score and the basic storyline stick
to tradition, the audience will see a different
“Nutcracker” because Ballet Omaha updated the
1850s version of the dance and set it in the
swingin’ 1920s.
t il i.. . .... .
Little Clara and her friends are at a movie
audition instead of a Christmas party, her magi
cal uncle is the movie producer, and the snow
scene is styled like a Las Vegas show review,
Wilder said.
“The story’s the same no matter what the set
lodes like,” he said. “It’s the same old same old.
But people who know the Joffrey through its
jazzed-up “Billboards” production shouldn’t
expect the same of “Nutcracker.”
The holiday tradition retains its classical
appeal, he saia, but is polished off with a new
twist.
“Joffrey is known for its variety and cutting
edge kind of dance,” he said. “You have the
traditional, pure classic ballet mixed with con
temporary.
The “Nutcracker’s” run begins in Omaha
tonight at 8. Additional performances are Friday
at 8 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and 8 pjn. and
Sunday at 1 p.m. Tickets are $15, $25, $30 and
$40 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.
