Courtesy Photo "
THE REVEREND HORTON HEAT’S lineup
includes (from left to right) bassist Jimbo
Wallace, guitarist/vocalist The Rev and
drummer Scott Churilla.
Reverend Horton Heat
“Space Heater”
Interscope Records
Grade: B+
After taking a short break from its
constant touring of the United States and
beyond, the Reverend Horton Heat has
released “Space Heater,” a new album of
16 songs that the band completed in only
16 days.
Lead vocalist and guitarist Jim “The
Rev. Horton” Heat said he wrote all of the
album’s tracks with a “devil-may-care
attitude” during those 16 days. The ses
sion marked the first time that he hadn’t
worked out the songs before going into the
studio.
During their recent concert at the
Ranch Bowl on Feb. 1, the Rev, stand-up
bassist Jimbo Wallace and drummer Scoff
Churilla gave Nebraskans a taste of the
songs on “Space Heater” for the first time
before the album’s March 24 release date.
The Rev and his mates are known for
their ability to capture their raw live sound
on tape, and at the Ranch Bowl they
played the songs with the same amount of
intensity as they appear on the album.
A former Texas pool shark and juve
nile delinquent, the Rev has always stuck
to singing about what he knows best,
whether it be preachin’, lovin’ or drinkin’.
And “Space Heater,” like all of the
Rev’s past efforts, never misses a beat. The
album kicks off with the instrumental
“Pride of San Jacinto,” a song about the
spot where the Rev’s home state of Texas
won its independence from Mexico. The
boys perform two more instrumentals on
the record: “The Prophet Stomp,” a nice
little two-steppin’ ditty, and the title track,
which helps heat up the end of the record.
Some of the songs on the album have a
south-of-the-border flavor, especially
“San Jacinto,” which sounds like it came
straight out of an old “Rawhide” episode.
The tracks “Mi Amor” and “Cinco de
Mayo” are a few more examples of this
Spanish influence. On these tracks, the
Rev spits out some crafty Spanish lines
that sound good even if you don’t under
stand the language.
On the “Jimbo Song,” the Rev repre
sents his good friend and loyal sidekick,
bassist Jimbo. A fun and catchy tune, the
“Jimbo Song” shows us a little bit of
Jimbo’s life. “Slap bass bones, Rock-a
Billy ultra cool, J-I-M-B-O, Nature Boy
Jimbo get in your pick-’em-up truck, go
cruise around with lady luck,” the Rev
sings.
The lyrics on “Space Heater” offer lis
teners a sample of what the Rev’s eyes see,
such as on the self-explanatory “Baby I’m
Drunk” and “Couch Surfin’,” a song
about the friend many people have who
always takes as much as he can get
There are still some of die Rev’s char
acteristic rockabilly lickjs on “Space
Heater,” but the album isn’t as thought-out
as die band’s previous four releases. The
band is still a step above the rest yet fans
of their music have come to expect more
than the album offers. ' '
- Jim Zavodny
^YOU
can expect
0 almost
v) any
^. j^J --
imagine. ”
- Dan Ladely
director of Mary Riepma
Ross Film Theater
'r
By Bret Schulte
Assignment Reporter
More than two weeks ago, the mem
bers of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences chose “Titanic” as the
year’s best film and crowned it with 10
other Oscars to boot.
But their work has just begun.
This week in Lincoln, the college
Academy Awards nominees go through
the first round of elimination.
Showing at the Mary Riepma Ross
Film Theater, 12th and R streets, tonight
through Sunday, these short films will be
free to the public, and will be judged by a
panel of local critics.
Rich Miller, the executive director of
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences, said the academy initiated the
program 25 years ago to encourage young
people to pursue the art of film.
“The academy felt it should be looking
toward the future and should devise a way,
to recognize excellence in college (film
making and encourage those filmmakers
to continue,” Miller said.
“It certainly has succeeded.”
Indeed it has.
Past College Academy Award winners
include Oscar winners Spike Lee and
Robert Zemeckis, along with "John
Lasseter, who directed the animated fami
ly fantasy “Toy Story.”
The program is divided into three sec
tions, and Lincoln has been the home of
the section-two preliminaries for 20 years.
The honor was bestowed upon the city
because of the Ross Theater’s ambitious
showing of independent films.
“The film program I
run is well*
known across
the country as
being the
best of its
kind,”
A said
Ross Theater Director Dan Ladely.
For a film to qualify for competition, it
must be made under a “teacher-student”
relationship, Ladely said. Because no
Nebraska school offers a program in cre
ating film, there are no Nebraska candi
dates among the 41 states in division two.
Division one includes most states from
the West and Northwest. Schools from
New York and Puerto Rico comprise divi
sion three.
The films are judged in four cate
gories: drama, documentary, alternative
(experimental) and animated.
Judges are discouraged from critiquing
on specific criteria but do follow a gener
al guideline.
“Entries shall be judged on the basis of
resourcefulness, originality, entertain
ment and production quality without
regard to the cost of production or subject
matter,” said Dorene Johnson, who is
helping to coordinate the event at the Ross
Theater.
Although dramaJ,£ historically the
most popular category' Lately siid he
enjoys documentaries the most. Last
year’s division-two documentary winner,
“Walk This Way,” told the autobiographi
cal story of a pilot who broke his back
during a tragic plane crdSh.
Chris Sheridan, who directed the film,
went on to win the grand prize in
Hollywood, receive the contest’s $2,000
prize and spend a week among famous
studios and directors, making contacts
and learning about the trade.
Although Lincoln won’t be flooded by
nopeiui 111m students tnis weekend,
Ladely said that many show up in Chicago
during the second round of the competi
tion.
From there the top handful of entries in
each field will be sent to Hollywood to be
viewed by the Academy itself.
But for once, Lincoln residents can
view a movie long before Hollywood gets
its hands on it.
The films are required to be less than
an hour in length. Screen times are
Thursday and Friday from 7 p.m. to
11:30 p.m.; Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5
p.m. and 7p.m. to 11:30 p.m.; and
D Sunday from 12:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.
and 7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Ladely said these low-budget col
lege efforts easily span the diversity
that Hollywood produces.
“You can expect to see almost any
thing you can imagine,” he said. “The sub
ject matter, the technique is all over the
board. There is always some good anima
tion and some interesting documen
//- tary films.
“You can expect all kinds of
stories in all kinds of ranges and
quality.”
MattHaney/DN
■IS
