Wednesday, March 6,1996 Page 9
the glassy eye
Brian Priesman
‘Days’ plot
beautifully
unrealistic
“Just like sands flow through the
hourglass, so are the days of our 1 i ves..
Ahh ... the soap opera. That often
ridiculed but ever-watched creation.
Where else can you see people defy
death and fall in love with their ex
brother-in-law’s sister’s mother’s
cousin’s best friend?
Soap operas have been around for
years. They originally started on radio
and got their name because soap com
panies were their main sponsors.
Now the soap opera is a strange
beast. Actors come and go, characters
die and return years later, and time
doesn’t always flow at a normal pace.
In my humble and biased opinion,
“Days of Our Lives” is the best soap
opera on television. It’s the only one
that has thrown reality completely out
the window.
On “General Hospital” a character
dies from AIDS in a touching, realistic
scene. In “Days,” a character dies in a
huge explosion where the body is lost,
only to return years later with a differ
ent face, voice and»-history.
On “Another World,” religion is
dealt with subtly, quietly and realisti
cally. But on “Days,” it deals with
religion by having people possessed
by the devil, and a former cop/priest/
jewel-thief performs an exorcism as
the helpless woman floats 3 feet above
the bed with green eyes glaring.
Don’t you see why “Days” is so
much better?
Anyone who watches soaps will tell
you that they are completely unrealis
tic and implausible. But “Days of Our
Lives” is the only soap opera that seems
to have admitted it to themselves.
On “Days,” one of the heroes, John
Black, has no idea of his true identity.
He knows he was bom Forrest Alarnain
and was once a priest and a jewel thief,
but he also was brainwashed into be
lieving he was a former hero, Roman
Brady. But then the real Roman es
caped from the jail, where he was
being held in by the evil Stefano
DiMera, and returned home to reclaim
his life. So now John/Forrcst/ex-Ro
man is trying to find out the truth about
his life, but probably never will.
Wasn’t that confusing?
That’s what’s so fun about “Days.”
Nothing makes sense, the writers keep
forgetting character history and actors
keep leaving only to return 10 years
later.
That’s what happened with Hope.
In the ’80s, Hope and her husband, Bo,
were the “hot” couple on daytime tele
vision. But Hope was kidnapped by
one of those evil villain types and held
captive in a cage above a lava pit. But
the cage exploded, and Hope’s body
never was recovered.
Now, Hope has returned. But Bo
moved on with his life and had a new
wife. But Hope’s return meant his
marriage tohisnew wife, Billie, wasn’t
legal, because he had never officially
ended his marriage with Hope.
Gash, “Days” is fun!
You see, daytime soaps are cheesy,
they’re unrealistic and they’re implau
sible. But at least “Days of Our Lives”
is willing to admit to that.
Priesmaa Is a freshman news-editorial
and theater major and a Dally Nebraskan
staff reporter.
Bushwhacked
Travis Heying/DN
Gavin Rossdale, lead singer for the band Bush, sings in front of a sold out crowd Tuesday night at Pershing Auditorium.
No Doubt and the Goo Goo Dolls opened the show.
Band mixes polka, rock for brave sound
By Brian Priesman
Staff Reporter
Perhaps one of the most unusual
_bands to play Lin
Concert “>ln; .®ravc
Combo, willcon
Preview elude a two-day
stint here tonight
at the Zoo Bar,
136 N. 14th.
The Grammy
nominated polka
band has been
described as “the
wedding band
from hell” (New York Magazine),
“an alternative to all alternatives”
(Contra Costa Times) and “one of
the world’s ultimate party bands”
(St. Louis Post and Dispatch).
But docs it live up to that image?
According to Larry Boehmer,
owner of the Zoo Bar, the band
does.
Brave Combo was formed 16
years ago by Carl Finch with the
goal of becoming the hardest-rock
ing polka band on the planet.
With its latest album, “Polka for
a Gloomy World,” the band has
proved again that it is just that!
“They’ve been playing here for
about 10 years,” Boehmer said.
Brave Combo’s style is more than
typical polka. It includes rock ‘n’
roll, cha-cha, tango, ska, limbos,
bubblegum pop ...just about every
thing possible.
But accordingto Boehmer, “They
play polkas as well as anybody in the
world.
“They’re polkas and more.”
Brave Combo’s success came
from what Finch cal led “a barrage of
incongruous elements.”
“If Brave Combo can do one
thing,” Finch said, “we’d like to
destroy people’s misconceptions
about what’s cool to like in music.”
With covers of popular classics
like “Stairway to Heaven,” “Sixteen
Tons,” “People arc Strange,” “Fly
Me to the Moon” and “Satisfac
tion,” Brave Combo is breaking
down the barriers of music and prov
ing that polkas aren’t just for your
grandparents.
As Boehmer said, “They’re real
unique.”
Tonight’s concert starts at 9 at
the Zoo Bar. There is a $7 cover
charge.
‘Heavy Metal’ back in theaters
Abstract
art to be
on display
Fear not, math haters, the
new exhibit at the Haydon
Gallery, 335 N. Eighth St.,
requires no algebraic skills
whatsoever.
But “Geometric Begin
nings,” which opened March
1 and will run through March
23, covers a number of artistic
styles and mediums, all linked
by the artists’ abstract geo
metric approach to their work.
The exhibit features work
by Carol Thompson, Marjorie
Mikasen, Kale Leonard and
Frank Barham. Still-lifes,
landscapes and abstract pieces
will be just a few of the forms
on exhibit.
A brown-bag gallery talk
will be given this Friday at
11:30 a.m. Because seating is
limited, reservations are rec
ommended.
—Jeff Randall
By Gerry Beltz
Senior Reporter “
After 15 years, “Heavy Metal” is
coming back to the big screens na
tionwide.
One of the most popular mid
night movies of all time, “Heavy
Metal” will return with new prints
Friday night in 39 U.S. and Cana
dian cities, this time around with
Sony Dynamic Digital Sound.
“It’s always been the most popu
lar rental title from our library,” said
Fritz Friedman, vice president of
worldwide publicity for Columbia
Tristar Pictures.
In the past, prints of “Heavy
Metal” have come back in shreds,
said Brian O’Neal, publicist for Co
lumbia-Tristar Pictures.
“It would play at midnight mov
ies until the prints would literally be
falling apart,” he said.
All existing prints were removed
from midnight screenings for revi
talization over the past six months
or so, O’Neal said.
“They were pulled so fresh prints
and new sound could be added to
make it louder and nastier than ever,”
he said.
“Heavy Metal” is based on a va
riety of talcs taken from the maga
zine of the same name. With vivid
animation of such intensity, it al
ready has made the Fdm a classic,
Friedman said.
“It iscxciting, thrilling and imagi
native” he said, “and certainly the
extraordinary visuals coupled with
an outstanding soundtrack have
made it into a classic.”
Rochelle Dvorak, manager of
Comic World, 233 N. 48lh St., said
she wasn’t surprised by the re-re
lease and sustained popularity of the
film.
“It was one of the first full-length
animated pictures for adults,” she
said. “It’s an adult tale with a good
story line.”
The style and uniqueness of the
animation also have helped the film
achieve its classic status, Dvorak
said.
“The colors are richer,” she said,
“and the background detail is some
thing not seen on Saturday morn
ings.”
Although released in 1981,
“Heavy Metal” never has been offi
cially released on video, though the
film has been heavily bootlegged in
the past, O’Neal said.
“Hopefully, it will be officially
released before the end of the year,”
he said.
Obtainingall the rights to “Heavy
Metal” has been the most difficult
part of renewing the film, O’Neal
said.
“It wasjusta longarduoustaskto
get all the rights cleared from all the
components of talent in the film,”
O’Neal said. “The music was the
final hurdle, the same hurdle faced
by the compact disc.”
Although the closest location to
see “Heavy Metal” for the Lincoln
Omaha area is Kansas City, Mo.,
plans are already in the works for
wider release of the film, O’Neal
said.
“There will be prints circulated
to other cities eventually,” he said,
“but as to where, it is too early to
tell.”
Friedman said the future circula
tion of “Heavy Metal” would de
pend on the audiences that see the
restored film in the next few weeks.
“We’ll just have to see what the
response is,” he said.
