Quasi : l
“Field Studies”
Up Records
Grade: B+
Quasi’s Sam Coomes has made a
career out of hating everything. Life,
himself, relationship, the music indus
try, work. Coomes isn’t too fond of any
of it. But he seems to take a perverse
pleasure in being chronically unhappy.
“Life is dull, life is gray/At it’s best
it’s just OK/But I’m happy to report, life
is also short,” Coomes sang on Quasi^
last album, “Featuring ‘Birds.’”
It’s the word “happy” in that lyric
that makes it work. Quasi songs take
great delight in their depression.
As on Quasi’s other albums, the
music on “Field Studies” is so buoyant
and bright, it makes the listener forget
how grim the subject matter is. Coomes
pens nursery rhyme lines with easy
rhymes that bounce up and down on his
classic pop melodies.
Imagine an alternate universe in
which a depressed Dr. Seuss hits rock
bottom and decides to end it all, his jar
of sleeping pills next to his bed. Before
he takes the pills, he decides io write a
children’s book about his suicide, lull of
the usual Seuss wit and humor. Quasi
albums sound like that imaginary book
set to song.
Appropriately for Coomes, a man
who manages to turn failure and misery
into happy little pop songs, the other
member of the band is his ex-wife. Janet
Weiss, who has a higher-profile job
drumming for critical darling Sleater
Kinney, is die counterpoint to Coomes’
bleak world view. She provides an ener
getic, upbeat tempo to Coomes’ slightly
lethargic voice, and her sunny har
monies contrast with, and even mock,
Coomes’ undying pessimism. Their
romantic relationship may have failed,
but their musical partnership works
because of the contradictions.
This contradiction shows up in the
sound of the music, too. In Quasi’s uni
verse, rock music can be traced in a
straight line from 1960s rock to indie
rock,asifneitherpunkrocknorstadhim
rock ever happened.
Quasi follows Rock tradition with a
capital R in songwriting. The words
rhyme; the harmonies and melodies are
catchy. Paul McCartney bass lines and
George Harrison guitar flourishes are
all over “Field Studies,” especially on
the four songs in which Elliot Smith, a
Beatle fanatic, plays bass. Even “It
Don’t Mean Nothing,” which sounds
like punk on the surface, owes more to
the Kinks and other ’60s garage rock on
repeated listening.
However, Quasi’s music also lives in
a 1990s indie-rock world where there
are no stars. The songs are simple and
deeply personal. This is what main
stream rock would have sounded like if
it hadn’t been preoccupied with plat
form shoes, smoke machines and $60
ticket prices. But the music is too frag
ile, too skeletal to resonate with MTV
audiences or rush-hour radio listeners.
And there’s that pessimism issue,
too. Quasi’s songs are too negative for
mainstream radio fans and too smart
and witty for doom-and-gloom obses
sives.
To be fair, Coomes is aware of his
shtick. “Don’t believe a word I
sing/Because it’s only a song, and it
don’t mean a thing,” he sings on “The
Golden Egg,” a beautiful piece of
melancholic pop. He also jokes, “I feel
much better when I’m under a cloud,”
on “Under a Cloud.”
Coomes knows it’s silly to be
depressed all the time, and his songs
work best when he pokes fun at his own
sad-clown persona. He even moves
beyond it on “Smile.” The song chastis
es a never-quite-made-it semi-loser for
always looking on the side of the fence
where the grass has died. He punctuates
these verses with the chorus, “Smile, it’s
not so bad.”
And he almost sounds as if he
means it
-JoshKmuter
‘Bone Collector’ breaks
no innovative ground
BySamuelMcKewon
Senior staff writer
“The Bone Collector” contains
nothing most moviegoers haven’t seen
before, including Denzel Washington as
a cop, because he’s a cop in almost
every other movie he makes.
But this time, Washington defies
convention and goes into the final fron
tier of pigland: paralysis. Of course, his
character, Lincoln Rhyme, is brilliant,
has written 12 books and generally has
an answer for every question asked of
him.
But a serial killer threatens his
genius by butchering New York citizens
and leaving them in grimy warehouses
and below underpasses. Lincoln needs
some help. He gets it in pillow-lipped
Amelia (Angelina Jolie), a NYPD beat
cop who’s about to take reassignment
with juvenile offenders.
This is the movie. It breaks no
ground in terms of excitement, though
director Philip Noyce raises the gross
factor'in his depiction of the murders -
none of which are particularly sus
penseful after the first kidnapping,
where a rich industrialist and his wife
get trapped in a taxi driving nowhere,
t There’s a supporting cast, essential
ly drawn to help Lincoln and Amelia in
their search for a killer and then die peri
odically. Even Lincoln’s nurse (Queen
Latifah, who plays a nurse a lot) gets in
on the action. !
Washington has to act with only his
face, and he does well with it, but it is
Film Review ^
TIM Facts JP*
Title: The Bone Coffector”
Director: Philip Noyce
Rating: R (bloody murder, language,
Angelina Joiie's big lips)
Stare: Denzel Washington, Angelina
JoKe
Grade: C
TWo Words (that’s all It’s worth):
Nothing special.
really time for him to move on. His
character alternates between serious
ness and gallows humor at his condition
- this tactic gets old in 20 minutes.
Jolie, beautiful wonder that she is, is
good as the cop forced to be Lincoln’s
eyes and ears in gruesome situations.
She, too, will move on quite soon with
her acclaimed turn as a mental patient in
“Girl, Interrupted.”
The villain, a person who does not
seem physically capable of committing
the murders, is completely arbitrary to
the point of ridicule. For those who like
trying to guess whodunit - fiiggedabou
dit.
I don’t know. “The Bone Collector”
isn’t bad, just there. No risks. No great
performances. Just typical movie fare.
One thing: Do not view this movie
in hindsight. Trying to give this movie
the viewing grade it deserves is pretty
hard, considering the holes that perme
ate the whole story. Just see it and forget 5
it
Sheldon shuffles its art
By Danell McCoy
Staff writer
Most of the collection is usually
tucked away, but this month, about
80 works have been dusted off and
displayed in six gallery areas at the
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
The Sheldon, 12th and R streets,
is presenting a complete reinstalla
tion of its permanent collection,
emphasizing the diversity in the
development of American art.
Although many of the most
important works are on permanent
display in the gallery throughout
the year, Dan Siedell, curator of the
Sheldon, said some of them were
being sent to Massachusetts for an
exhibit. This meant reorganization
of the collection.
“We haven’t had much of a rad
ical reorganization until now,” he
said. “These spaces are spaces that
don’t get moved around much.”
“I remember that when I went
here for my undergraduate work,
the pieces where always in the same
place,” he said. “I always wanted a
more radical change.”
For the reorganization, the
Sheldon decided to bring in works
that haven’t been on display and
intermingle them with the regular
pieces on display.
The reinstallation consists of
«
I remember that when I went here for my
undergraduate work, the pieces where
always in the same place. I always wanted
a more radical change.”
Dan Siedell
curator of the Sheldon
six galleries. The paintings are no
longer arranged in chronological
order. Instead, they are organized
thematically. Each gallery presents
a different theme.
The first provides an introduc
tion to the basic themes within the
five other areas. It will contain only
18th and 19th century American art.
The other five will exhibit 20th
century art featuring the human
figure, still lifes, urban landscapes,
pastoral landscapes and animal and
plant life.
“By organizing the works this
way, they are more user-friendly,”
Siedell said. “It provides a continu
ity. These themes are broad enough
to allow for artistic interpretation,
yet narrow enough to show how
artists in the 20th century respond
to each theme.”
Siedell said the reorganization
also will allow viewers to see how
American art has developed over
the past few decades from different
stylistic perspectives. It also shows
the unity, as well as the diversity, of
American art throughout history.
Photography is included in the
exhibition and will be displayed in
correspondence with the themes of
the paintings and sculptures.
Siedell said although the reor
ganization of the gallery’s perma
nent collection was a necessity, it
_also allowed for them to work with
pieces many people may not have
seen before.
“Some of the works we have
brought up from storage have not
been seen before,” he said. “Some
of them have not ever even been on
display.”
I Artist’s pieces foster a family thread
ART from page 9
ings.
The subjects of many of her early
paintings focus on images of her
family’s restaurant when she was a
child.
She described the family-run
restaurant, which was a block from
where she lived, as the family’s psy
chological home.
It was such a major part of her
family members’ lives that the work
ers in the restaurant were considered
a part of the family, she said.
Her strong connection with this
place gave her vivid memories to
draw on.
“I had something to say but did
n’t know what I wanted to say. Art is
what I wanted to say,” Wong said.
This need to express herself also
brought her to mixed media installa
tion work using common materials
surrounding her.
“Mixed media means I use
everything from my children’s old
rocking horse and vintage suitcases
to the more traditional pencil and
paints to create my works,” she said.
“I use a lot of nontraditional materi
als.”
The materials she integrates m
her work include rice, Tice sacks and
suitcases.
She is an installation artist
because she often makes the space
her work is in part of her work.
She said wh6n she is asked to
show her work, she will go look at
the place it is being shown and see
how it fits into the site. Then, she
uses everything from the floor to the
ceiling.
Her unique way of using com
mon materials and integrating them
into their surroundings has earned
Wong much recognition.
She received the 1997-98
Installation/New Genre Award from
the arts council in Silicon Valley.
She also received the 1995
President’s Award on behalf of the
national Women’s Caucus for Art
and has numerous other awards and
grants.
One recent honor was her accep
tance as a resident at the Bemis
Center in Omaha, which brought her
to Nebraska for the first time;
It was here Wong fell in love with
Nebraska and its people.
She was thrilled the Bemis: was
located in die Old Market of Omaha,
but what impressed her most was the
u
/ /zarf something to say but didn’t know
what I wanted to say. Art is what I wanted
to say.”
Flo Oy Wong
artist
■••• .V- .
geographical differences between
Nebraska and California.
“The geographical changes were
just stunning,” she said. “The sky in
Nebraska is just awesome.”
Not only did she fall in love with
the geography, she also developed a
bond with many of the people she
met.
“I didn’t realize I would run into
such interesting people,” she said. “I
was accepted with open arms.”
She said coming in as an artist
allowed hei; to blend into the com
munity immediately and make many
deep attachments with families in
the community.
She said she has become good
friends with Asian faculty and staff
members in Lincoln and has become
acquainted with many of the city’s
Chinese restaurant owners.
She described Nebraska as hav
ing lots of culture and says the peo
ple and students she works with are
very receptive to her.
“Nebraska now has very much of
a presence in my work,” she said.
In Nebraska, she has entered a
visual art world and what she
described as two of her comfort
. zones, teaching and art.
In Lincoln, she has done work
shops with students at all levels.
Lea Worcester, an assistant for
the artist-in-residence program, has
had an opportunity to see Wong
teach her classes.
“It was remarkable to see her
working with the students,”
Worcester said. “She gets 200 per
cent out of the students.”
Worcester talked about the arts
and humanities project Wong is
doing with sophomores and juniors
in high school.
Worcester said Wong starts with
a slide show, which gives the kids a
focus on what she will be talking
about.
The photos in the slide show are
of her parents’ Chinese village.
“They get a feel of why her par
ents wanted to leave their humble
village,” Worcester said. “They had
no electricity or plumbing, and one
photo shows a tree with a spot of
missing bark. The village people had
to eat bark because they were so hun
gry”
The next phase of her workshop
involves students writing in journals
about profound family experiences
they have had. They are then asked to
collect photos from their home.
After the journal writing and
photo collection, they are asked to
fashion their art into a collage in a
case.
“It was very interesting to see
how these kids took off once she got
started with them,” Worcester said.
“She really knows how to tap into the
students and get them to look inside
themselves.”
Wong also has students working
on a rice sack flag for a project she
has been developing for two years.
The flag will be put on display on
Angel Island, off the coast of
California. Angel Island was an
interrogation center for incoming
Chinese people in the first part of the
century.
Wong is teaching children to tell
a story through their work because
she describes herself as a visual sto
ryteller.
“I like to tell stories but don’t like
to have a final product in the form of
a book,” she said. “It comes out in
forms of art projects.”
Wong’s stories are 40 years of
built-up feelings and thoughts com
ing across in paintings and mixed
media work.
“My whole purpose is to make
art and talk about issues that are
important to me. I talk about family,
community and culture,” she said.
“There is a strong universal
thread that weaves through what I do
that allows me to touch other cul
tures and make them understand.”
