Arts ©Entertainment
Thursday, February 1, 1996 ' Page 9
Cliff A. Hicks
New series
introduces
odd stories
“Are there spots in a leopard’s eyes
also?” — Eric.
J. O’Barr created a man named
Eric. Eric was with his fiancee Shelly
when their car broke down. A gang
stopped, shot Eric in the head, and
raped and killed Shelly. The gang
never learned the names of its victims.
Eric, under the guidance of a crow,
begins his quest for vengeance. Is he
dead? Not dead? A spirit from the
other side? It’s not important. There
is simply a call for retribution, and Eric
must answer it.
This is the basis for J. O’Barr’s
masterpiece, “The Crow.” While the
movie with the late Brandon Lee was
great, it was not “The Crow” as cre
ator O’Barr saw him.
In the original Crow series, there
is never a moment when Eric slips in
his quest for revenge. Never that mo
ment, as there was in the movie, when
the audience doubts Eric. That was the
beauty Of“The CfoW.” It Was a' tale ■—
a tragedy from the beginning — driven
by the characters.
Laden with symbolism and imag
ery, “The Crow” was a black and white
spectacular, a blend of action and
thought-provoking commentary.
No matter how much laud I load
upon the original series, nothing can
ever really express how beautiful and
ugly a tale it is. Like life.
If you haven’t read it, go out and
buy the graphic novel. Now. It is noth
ing short of visionary.
Time has passed since the original
series and the movie. Another movie
is in the works, with a new character
unjustly killed. The plot is that Sara
has grown up and is living with Ashe,
played by French actorVincent Perez.
He gets killed during the Day of the
Dead festival. It’s called “The Crow:
City of Angels” and is set in Los An
geles.
But J. O’Barr has another Crow
series that is coming out. I hold issue
one of “The Crow: Dead Time” in my
hand. The series will run three issues.
The downside of the series? Well,
J. O’Barr is only providing the story
and covers, not the script or the art.
His knack for excellent shadowing,
smooth narrative and vicious dialogue
was a key part of the genius of the first
series.
There are almost three separate art
styles used in “Dead Time,” ranging
from the harsh cutting fine style pre
ferred by Jae Lee, to the details of the
dark Michael Zulli.
At first, the story seems slightly
chaotic, but by the end of the first is
sue, things start to clear up, much as it
did in die first series. I remember won
dering what was happening at the be
ginning of the original series, a feel
ing recaptured by the new series.
There are two issues left, so I hate
to pass judgment this early, but so far
it looks as though “Dead Time” will
be just as powerful as the original se
ries.
So what if the new movie’s com
ing out? I’ll worry about that when I
can see trailers and a release date.
Until then, I’m going to savor ever
minute of J. O’Barr’s new work, even
if he’s not drawing it all.
Hicks Is a freshman news-editorial and
English major and a Dally Nebraskan staff
reporter.
Ensemble shows African music
By Patrick Hambrecht
Senior Reporter
Wahoo High School juniors were
singing a different tune on Wednes
day — a three-part harmony of the
South African national anthem to
celebrate Black History Month.
The students were led by the
Sibikwa Players, a South African
song and dance ensemble.
The Sibikwa Players will appear
throughout Omaha and Lincoln in
the next week, including the Lincoln
Community Playhouse, 2500 S. 56th
Street, the Nebraska State Capitol
Rotunda and the Blue Bam Theater.
Amy Lamphere, director of the
Wagon Train Project, said she
wanted to bring the group to Lin
coln from the moment she saw a vid
eotape of their performance.
“It’s a whole different take on
what I would think of as African
music,” Lamphere said. “There isn’t
what we would we think of as tribal
drumming, yet there are sounds ab
solutely rooted in that tradition and
f
mixed with Philadelphia street sing
ing and traditional African music.”
Smal Ndaba, an actor and writer,
created the Sibikwa Players with
Phyllis Klotz in 1988 as an option
for young men endangered by the
violence surrounding Daveyton,
South Africa. The group is now on a
world tour, performing Ndaba’s
“D.E.T. Boys High” and “Kwela
Bafana.”
“D.E.T. Boys High” is a disturb
ing musical about Mingus, a high
school boy threatened with violent
bigotry because of his tribe’s cir
cumcision initiation into manhood.
The boy is confronted in the high
school bathroom, and the arguments
that follow are symbolic of the divi
sive problems facing the people of
South Africa.
Lamphere said the play included
“violent language and situations,”
and was less suitable for children
than the song and dance revue
“Kwela Bafana.”
“Kwela Bafana,” meaning “Move
Boys,” will showcase a mix of
HSF ^11^ 1
American ballads and Daveyton
town songs delivered with an inno
vative mix of tribal and western
dance styles. Boy Ngwenya, a
former member of the African 1950s
band, the Woody Woodpeckers, will
back the singers with lively, pound
ing piano music.
The Lincoln Community Play
house will show “D.E.T. Boys High”
at 8 p.m. on Thursday, followed by
“Kwela Bafana” at 8 p.m. on Friday.
Transportation is available from the
Nebraska Union’s west parking lot
to the theater, and those interested
should call the Wagon Train Project
at 435-5592.
On Saturday, the Blue Bam The
ater will feature “D.E.T. Boys High”
at 7 p.m. and “Kwela Bafana” at 10
p.m.
Also, thrifty African music fans
can see the ensemble at a free State
Capitol drum concert in the Rotunda
at 11:30 a.m. and meet them after
wards at Crane River, 200 N. 11th
Street.
7--"mmmmmmmM
Comedy
Central
arrives
From Staff Reports
In a move guaranteed to cut down
on the amount of time that many
college students spend studying,
Lincoln CableVision will add Com
edy Central to its basic cable lineup
today.
The network will run on channel
52.
Featuring classic comedy pro
grams such as “The Benny Hill
Show,” “Saturday Night Live” and
“Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” as
well as original programming such
as “Politically Incorrect,” Comedy
Central has become one of cable
television’s most popular networks
in recent years.
Today’s addition of the channel
to Lincoln CableVision marks Com
edy Central’s Lincoln debut.
. ^^I III ■III 1
Photo courtesy of Orion Classics
Theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore performs in concert during the 1920s in the Steven M. Martin documentary, “Theremin:
An Electronic Odyssey.”
Instrument inventor’s life documented
Theremin
finally gets
notoriety
By Mark Baldridge
Film Critic
He was the original mad scien
tist. Hailed as the “Soviet Edison ”
he might just as well have been
called Frankenstein.
- In his day he
Movie was a celebrity
of sorts, toe in
RGVIGW vent nr nf the
first electronic
musical instru
ment.
Today, hardly
anyone remem
bers the name of
Leon Theremin.
•Dui a uocu
mehtary, “Theremin: An Electronic
Odyssey”—showing this weekend
only at the Mary Riepma Ross Film
Theater — is out to change all that.
Through interviews with associ
ates and admirers of Theremin —
and a surprise appearance by the
great man himself — “Theremin”
attempts to correct the mistake of
history that has left the grandfather
of electronic music out of the lime
light.
Theremin invented proximity
controls, which electronic devices
activated when conductive material,
such as metal or human flesh, passes
through a magnetic field.
Using such high-tech wizardry,
he developed musical instruments
that need not be touched to be
played, dance platforms that allow
dancers to produce music by their
actions and even a form of color tele
vision — all of this as early as 1930.
His most famous instrument, also
called the Theremin, has appeared
in movie soundtracks and rock ‘n’
roll songs, including “Good Vibra
tions” by the Beach Boys and Led
Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.”
And Theremin’s Theremin in
spired Moog’s Moog. As a young
Film: “Theremin: An
Electronic Odyssey”
Director: Steven M. Martin
Rating: PG-13
Grade: 13
Five Words: Jump-starting
20th Century Music
man, Robert Moog constructed doz
ens of Theremins; as an adult he
would create the original electronic
synthesizer.
The rest, as they say, is history.
But Theremin’s place in that his
tory has been occluded for some
time, no doubt because of his long
absence from the scientific and mu
sical scenes.
In 1938, at the height of his ca
reer, Theremin was spirited away by
agents of the then-Soviet Union —
where he slaved for years behind the
Iron Curtain, producing sophisti
See THEREMIN on 10
Virtuoso
to perform
at Ross
By Mark Baldridge
» Staff Reporter
You already have heard a
Theremin; you just don’t know it
yet.
The Theremin, a pioneer elec
tronic musical instrument invented
by Professor Leon Theremin in
1920, has had a long but obscure
career in the soundtracks of spooky
movies.
“The Day the Earth Stood Still”,
“The Bride of Frankenstein,” and
Alfred Hitchcock’s “Spellbound” all
feature the eerie tones of the world’s
first “touchless” instrument.
And this weekend, you can see
one played.
See DEMO on 10