The Facts
Title: The Apostle"
Stars: Robert Duvall, Fanah Fawcett, June
Carter Cash, Miranda Richardson
Director: Robert Duvall
Rating: PG-13
Grade: A
Five Words: Realistic look at charismatic
Christianity
Film takes
real look
at religion
By Barb Churchill
Film Critic
Generally speaking, there are two
types of religious films: the heavy
handed. Bible-thumping epic and the
mocking, mudslinging parody.
Thankfully, “The Apostle” is nei
ther.
Written, directed and produced
by Robert Duvall, who also stars in
the film, “The Apostle” is a serious
and realistic look at the Pentecostal
religion.
Duvall plays Euliss ‘Sonny
Dewey, an evangelical preacher in
the throes of a midlife crisis. At the
movie's opening. Sonny’s personal
life has fallen apart even though he
doesn't know it yet. Sonny’s profes
sional life as a preacher, important to
him since age 12, will be challenged
and tested throughout this film.
Toni between his family and his
religion, Sonny often chooses the lat
ter. And while this decision may be
good for his soul, it becomes hell for
his marriage.
While Sonny is out converting,
praising God and preaching through
out the state of Texas, his wife, Jessie
(Farrah Fawcett), is sleeping with
Horace (Todd Allen), <the youth min
ister of Sonny’s temple. Jessie refus
es to feel guilty about this when con
fronted by Sonny, because Sonny
hasn’t exactly been faithful himself
over the years. In addition, Jessie has
taken control of Sonny’s church,
which Sonny built with his own
hands.
Enraged, and more than a little
drunk, Sonny goes to a youth base
ball game to see his children. Jessie
tries to keep him from seeing them,
and Jessie’s lover Horace decides to
intervene. Being thus blocked from
his estranged wife and children,
Sonny strikes Horace with a baseball
bat.
Almost immediately, Sonny real
izes that what he did no matter what
the provocation, was wrong. With the
help of trusted friend and longtime
churchgoer Joe (Billy Joe Shaver),
Sonny flees the area.
Sonny may be distraught, but he
is not stupid. He leaves behind all
traces of his identity, and even drives
his beloved Cadillac off an embank
ment. Sonny, now nameless, wanders
around for awhile trying to figure out
what to do next.
Sonny meets an old disabled man
while fishing. While meditating on
the Bible and baptizing himself,
Sonny realizes he is still called to
spread the word of the Lord. He asks
God if he may be an apostle. The old
man unintentionally witnesses this
rededication to Christ and believes
the Apostle (Sonny) needs to meet
his cousin, retired preacher
Blackwell (John Beasley), who is in
Louisiana.
The Apostle goes to Louisiana
Please see APOSTLE on 13
Dance club adds Latin night
Temptations promotes diversity by offering new tunes
By Sarah Baker
Senior Reporter
Mix up a little salsa and add
some lambada and you've got the
newest thing to hit Lincoln on
Wednesday nights.
Temptations Dance Club, 1600 0
St., brings a taste of Latin to Lincoln
tonight with its first Latin Night.
Mark Goldfeder, business man
ager at Temptations, said the orga
nizers hope the weekly dance night
makes for more than just a good
time.
“We aren't focusing on making a
quick buck here, and we want every
one to know this isn't a crazy
scheme,” Goldfeder said.
“Something like this really encum
bers diversity awareness, and we
want to bring that awareness to the
community."
Amy Castro, owner of Dance _
Sport USA, 237 S. 70th St., said A
she originally came to the own
ers of Temptations with the |^P
idea for Latin night.
“Lincoln doesn’t really JKjjj
offer too many varieties of JB||
dance,” Castro said.
“There is no partner danc- w ,
ing except for country, and
there are a lot of other vari- %j||
eties, like swing and mamba, ^
that the culture in Lincoln would
probably really enjoy.”
Goldfeder said he knew what he
wanted to do with the idea, it was
just a matter of achieving it.
“None of the bars in Lincoln
have anything like this, and there is
only one bar that I know of in
Omaha that offers anything like it,”
he said. “We wanted to appeal to the
Hispanic community in Lincoln,
and we thought this .
start.”
Goldfeder said the Latin Top 40
mix of music is going to be accom
nied by weekly drink
-ecials.
“Wp also thought
•ond
Melanie Falk/DN
idea because it will take place more
than just once a month,” Goldfeder
said.
Goldfeder said he thinks there
are numerous draws to bring people
out to Latin night.
“There are a lot of student orga
nizations on campus that are always
looking to improve on their diversity
and awareness issues,” he said. “Our
philosophy throughout this whole
thing became to look for the oppor
tunity to promote awareness.”
He said Temptations sent fliers
to many University of Nebraska
Lincoln organizations, including the
Residence Hall Association and
some of the greek houses.
Castro said she thought Latin
night will be the start of something
new in Lincoln.
“It could always lead to the pos
sibility of more nights like this,
nights with all types of music, where
you have the option to learn some
thing new,” she said.
Goldfeder invited everyone to
come and check it out.
“This can really be a lot of fun,
and if you give it a fair shake, you
can’t go wrong,” he said. “People are
really going to have a blast at this.”
Temptations dance club begins
Latin night tonight with doors open
ing at 9 p.m. for people 19 and over.
Admission is $2 or $1 with a valid
student ID.
Latin dance lessons will be held
every Wednesday at 9:30 p.m.
Wednesday night there will be a spe
cial Latin dance demonstration at 10
p.m.
For more information, call
Temptations at (402) 477-3888.
UK band experiences life in U.S.
By Bret Schulte
Assignment Reporter
Everclear may be the best thing to
ever happen to the British rock group,
Feeder.
“I like them a lot,” singer and gui
tarist Grant Nichols said about the
group that headlines their American
tour. “I think their stuff is really good
and Art (Alexakis) is a good song
writer.”
Elektra recording trio Feeder joined
Everclear’s tour about a month ago.
Tonight both groups visit Nebraska for
the first time, where they have already
sold enough tickets to fill Omaha’s
Sokol Hall.
Formed in London five years ago,
Feeder has devoured the United States
in a few' months, traveling from
Portland, Maine, to Miami and ending
up in San Francisco by early April.
The group has had “a few brilliant
nights” in America, Nichols said, whose
travels in the United States were once
only a childhood dream.
“We are excited about playing
everywhere (in the U.S.),” he said. “It’s
always been a dream of mine. I like to
say ‘Eve been to America and traveled
... (though) Eve had enough of the fast
food - that was good for a week.”
Immensely popular in the United
Kingdom, where the group has played
in festivals with more than 70,000 peo
ple in attendance, Feeder is a densely
structured three-piece combo that its
publicist likens to a mix of fellow
British group Bush and American
muses Smashing Pumpkins.
Its single, “Cement,” currently
receives regular air play on KGDE-FM
101.9 “The Edge” and is expected to be
followed by a second release, “High.”
Despite the song’s title, Nichols would
n’t confirm its possible reference to
drug use.
“I'm going to pass on comment,” he
said. “I don’t want us to lay everything
out in black and white. I'm not saying
it’s good or bad to take anything, (but)
I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t
experimented in my life.”
Experimentation hasn’t hurt the
band, however. Unlike many British
acts, which rely on moody musings or
angry punk, Feeder blends its pop
melodies with deeper human themes - a
style that has earned them the label
“alternative ’90s Cheap Trick.”
Dealing with the destructive proper
ties of love and obsession, “Cement” is
a song based on a close friend of
Nichols. The single was a hit in the
United Kingdom, and the group hopes it
enjoys similar success in the United
States.
So far, it looks like it will. Nichols
said that aside from a few slow starts,
American audiences have been over
whelmingly enthusiastic, a sharp con
trast to the relatively cynical British
audience.
Along with impressing American
audiences, Nichols, Japanese bassist
Taka Hirose and drummer John Lee
have spent some time taking in the land
of the fruited plain.
“It is a vast country,” Nichols said.
“We thought touring at home was a
killer.”
In the month since Feeder joined the
Courtesy Photo
BRITISH ROCK GROUP FEEDER is currently on its first American tour,
with native acts Everclear and Jimmie’s Chicken Shack. Feeder’s
lineup is (from left to right) guitarist and vocalist Grant Nichols,
drummer Jon Lee and bassist Take Hirose.
I
Everclear tour, Nichols has lost $50 in
Las Vegas (he hit the roulette wheel),
played at Johnny Depp’s Viper Room
and stayed in the hotel where “Spinal
Tap” was filmed.
But the American experience that
has most impressed Nichols hasn’t been
the smoke-filled lounges, the Vegas
I
neon or the brushes with fame - it’s been
the climate.
“One of the most bizarre things is
the weather changes.”
Tonight’s concert, which features
Everclear and opening acts Feeder and
Jimmie’s Chicken Shack, starts at 7 p.m.
The show is sold out.
