Arts ^Entertainment
Monday, April 22,1996 Page 9
Cliff Hicks
Acoustic
groove hits
Ranch Bowl
Those of you who have read my
writings with any regularity (Mom,
pul your hand down) may recall that
last semester I wrote about today’s
lack of acoustic music.
I stand corrected.
A week ago, 1 sat in Omaha’s Ranch
Bowl and listened to some of the most
beautiful music 1 have heard in years.
Sean Kelly ofThe Samples, from Boul
der, Colo., was playing acoustically.
In a world surrounded by loud, dis
torted rock, acoustic music finds itself
lacking an audience, and that’s really
depressing.
bands like bush, ureenDay, Pearl
Jam and Alice In Chains continue to
sell tons of records with blaring gui
tars and screaming, squelchy voices.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I think there’s
more than enough angry music in the
world for now. Let’s get back to the
beauty of life.
I want to thank Sean. Not only was
he great to talk to before the show (and
gave me t he royal treatment), he put on
one hell of a show.
Scan and Rob Somers (his friend
and backup guitarist) played some of
the most beautiful music I have heard
in as long as I can remember.
The show ran about 80 minutes,
and I wished it could have gone on
forever. I was singing with the gentle
melodics of “On The Losing End of
Distance.” During “Stillwater” and
“The Last Drag,” I was too entranced
to do anything but listen.
The Ranch Bowl wasn’t too packed,
which was nice. There would have
been nothing wrong if the room had
been full, but there were chairs put out
for us and we could sit and enjoy the
music without getting tired of stand
ing.
The main thing was the music,
though. It wasn’t loud, harsh, grating
and everything else that the music I
hear on the radio is.
Music is a thing of beauty. Yes,
there is beauty that can be found in the
wailing,crunching guitars that inhabit
the airwaves now, but consider this
analogy.
There is a pile of diamonds and a
sapphire. Everyone gets to take a stone
from the pile and I am first. I’ll lake the
sapphire because everyone else has a
diamond, and I’m the only one who
has something that isn’t common, value
aside.
All forms of music are valid, but
acoustic music is too much of a rarity
in today’s world. If I ran the world,
there would be acoustic musicians play
ing good pop music of their own on the
airwaves regularly.
Maybe I’m the only one who feels
this way, though. I couldn’t get a date
to the show (I even did what Sean told
me to and said I was with the band)
and, judging from the crowd size, most
everybody else there had the same
luck.
Still, this is the time when everyone
gets the fair share of air time, and 1
think it’s about time we get more bands
who arc willing to play acoustically.
If you know of a band that plays
good acoustic music, please mail me a
copy of its stuff courtesy of the DN. I
honestly won’t believe it exists until I
hear it.
Thanks to Sean and here’s to hop
ing acoustic music will never die.
Ilicks is a freshman news-editorial and
English major and a Daily Nebraskan stafT
reporter.
Photo courtesy of Discovery Records
Too Much Joy (l-r: Tim Quirk, William Wittman, Tommy Vinton and Jay Blumenfield) will
single-handedly conquer the stage at Mudslide Slims, 1418 O St., Tuesday night.
Too MuchJoy ‘owns’ the stage
By Cliff Hicks
Staff Reporter
They were talking about oral sex
in movie theaters long before Alanis
Morrisettc was. They were sarcastic
-1 way before bands
Concert like Pavement am
Drairiaui GreenDay learned
rreview how to smirk.
lhey are Too
Much Joy and
they will “own”
Mudslide Slims’
stage Tuesday
night.
“You have to un
derstand, the
place may own the stage, but we rent
it,” said Tim Quirk, lead vocalist for
TMJ. “For the 90 minutes or what
ever that we’re on stage, it’s my
stage. I own it.”
TMJ is touring in support of its
new album “...finally.” The title may
seem fitting to fans of the band,
i
since TMJ’s last album, “Mutiny,”
was released in 1992, four years
ago.
When asked where the band had
been for the past few years, Quirk
responded with a dry chuckle. “In
the pits of bitterness and frustration
and occasionally poking our heads
out for a few moments of optimism
and joy.”
In those four years, a lot hap
pened. First, the band changed la
bels. “Mutiny” was released on Gi
ant Records, and “...finally” was re
leased on Discovery Records.
“It had everything to do with the
sales and general music business
scumminess,” Quirk said.
Once TMJ’s contract came up
for renewal with Giant, the label
offered to renew with changed terms,
Quirk said. TMJ refused and left the
label, hoping to be picked up by
another relatively soon.
Instead, TMJ found itself with
out a label for a bit longer than
expected.
“We were damaged goods. It was
like we were in medieval times and
we’d already been married. No one
wanted to (expletive) us, which is
strange, because the music industry
thrives on (expletive)-ing bands,”
he said.
“We could’ve put out the new
record at any time on a dinky little
label, but we real ly wanted it to be in
malls.”
Besides changing labels, the band
also changed bass players. Sandy
Smallcns, the original bass player,
picked up a job at Atlantic Records
and eventually left the band.
“For a little while he was at At
lantic and in TMJ,” Quirk said. “It
became unworkable, trying to play
shows and schedule rehearsals.
Sandy eventually said, ‘I don’t get
the thrill I used to.’ It was the pro
verbial split.”
See TMJ on 10
Crowd unmoved by Cajun beat
By Lane Hickenbottom_
Music Critic
When BeauSoleil took the stage
again tor an en
core perfor
mance, it was the
first time the
Cajun musical
group’s music
made sense.
It was proved
. Saturday night
that Cajun mu
sic belongs no
where near the
Concert
| Review
Lied Center. The upbeat style of
Michael Doucet and BeauSoleil be
longs in a place where dancing and
feet st ompingisa likely probability.
After two sets of music,
BeauSoleil left the stage to a half
hearted ovation. Returning for an
encore, Doucet told the crowd to
keep standing. Finally.
The members of America’s pre
miere Cajun band were for the most
part peppy and upbeat, except for
Acadian accordion player, Jimmy
Breaux, who didn’t move a muscle
or crack a smile the entire night. Just
getting paid appeared to satisfy him.
The Lied Center audience mem
bers associated best with Breaux—
they would have rather been trap
ping alligators in the mosquito-in
Tested bayousof southern Louisiana
than stand for the duration of two
encore songs.
The music was indeed great.
Doucet can play a mean fiddle, and
the rest of the group knew what it
was doing as well. Only the groups
would have been better to see at an
open-air, open-floor,not-so-conser
vative venue.
All in all, the night was like going
to a Bush concert where the vast
majority of conccrtgoers were on a
field trip from a retirement home.
There were a few among the audi
ence who were happy to be there,
but for the large remainder,
BeauSoleil was just too damn loud.
‘Substitute’
predictable,
' acks plot
By Gerry Beltz
Film Critic
It ain’t “Lean On Me.” Not even
close.
On the heels of such “classroom
feelgood” films as “Lean On Me”
and “Dangerous Minds,” director
Robert Mandel takes a different ap
proach with “The Substitute.”
No rewards. No candy bars. Just
the subtle things in life, such as a
Wjistlock and dislocated fingers.
Shale (Tom Berenger) is a sol
dier of fortune with a conscience, so
he is having a problem finding work
for himself and his team.
His schoolteacher girl friend, Jane
Helzko (Diane Venora), is attacked
and hospitalized on the order of gang
leader Juan Lucas (Marc Anthony),
one of her students.
Shale forges teaching credentials
and goes after the gang members
responsible for her pain, but soon
finds himself hip-deep in drugs and
corruption, as well as dealing with
the cop-turncd-principal-running
for-mayor Claude Rolle (Ernie
Hudson).
Uooooo. ine tension. 1 can t
(yawn) fight it.
Anyhow, the film boils down to
armed, stupid gangsters against
Shale and his band of better-armed
testosterone junkies battling it out in
the halls of the high school.
Predictable? Somewhat. Fun?
You betcha.
This film also has more B-movie
stars than you can shake a dead
rhino’s butt at. Cliff DeYoung (“F/
X”) shows up as a weenie ... well,
he’s just a weenie, and Glenn
Plummer (“Speed”) plays the ideal
istic teacher who wants to help the
kids and wholeheartedly believes in
the administration.
(Yep, he’s got “Star Trek Secu
rity Officer” written all over his
body.)
It’s surprising this Hick didn’t go
straight to video, considering the
simplicity and execution of the plot,
but throwing it into theaters on the
heels of films like “Dangerous
Minds” was a good marketing strat
egy
Bercnger always has fun in the
tough-guy roles, and this role
amounted to a lighthearted version
of his role in “Platoon,” complete
with the battle scars.
Director Robert Mandel (“F/X,”
“School Tics”) keeps the action go
ing, while providing some laughs
and drama at the right times, and
sometimes even overlapping them.
A worthwhile effort overall, but
not worth more than a matinee price,
“The Substitute” shouldn’t be ig
nored.
Film: “The Substitute”
Stars: Tom Bercnger, Ernie
Hudson, Diane Venora
Director: Robert Mandel
Rating: R (language, violence,
brief nudity)
Grade: B
Five Words: Mercenary goes
back to school