(Proppe<y^43
'80s teen idol, Corey Feldman,
to perform at Royal Grove
Corey Feldman, the young
actor famous for his roles in “The
Goonies” (1985), “Stand By Me”
(1986), and “The Lost Boys”
(1987), will be visiting Lincoln on
Thursday, but in a different, more
creative fashion.
Corey Feldman’s Truth
Movement band will be playing
an age 19 and over show at the
Royal Grove tonight. Tickets are
$15 and doors will open at 8 p.m.
Last year, the band released
an album on Vegas Records, a
punk/ska record label from
Orange County, Calif., but Corey
Feldman’s Truth Movement is
regarded as a psychodelic rock
group. After appearing on a num
ber of movies in die ’90s (includ
ing “Teenage Mutant Ninja
Unties m”, "National Lampoon's
Loaded Weapon 1” and “National
Lampoon’s Last Resort”) and bat
ding his way through drug addic
tion, Feldman created the band
he describes as the “Pink Floyd of
the ’90’s.”
"Still Searching For Soul,”
Corey Feldman’s Ttuth
Movement’s first full-length
release, is available at
www.VegasRecords.com, and tick
ets for tonight’s show are available
at all Ticketmaster locations as
well as at the door.
Samples bring unusual sound v
to KMerixxier's tonight
The Samples combine rock,
ska, folk and grassroots music for
a sound that has gained a huge
following for over a decade.
The band from Boulder, Coin,
will hit the stage tonight at
Knickerbocker’s, 9010 St
The Samples consist of five
down-to-earth guys that have
been making music for about 12
years. Lead guitar and vocalist
Sean Kelly and bass player Andy
Sheldon first played together
while living in Burlington, Vt.
After Kelly and Sheldon moved to
Colorado, they got together with
guitarist Rob Somers, keyboard
player Alex Matson and drummer
Sam Young.
The guys started calling them
selves The Samples from a time
when the members were suppos
edly surviving off free food sam
ples at local supermarkets. The
band played its first gig in 1987
and has produced eight full
length albums since.
The Samples’ members say
they are trailblazing a path for
other musicians with their unique
sound
The show will begin around
10:15 p.m., and tickets for the
over-18 concert are available
through Ticketmaster for $8-10.
Lee's'Bamboozled'is a scathing satire
BAMBOOZLED from page 8
for its racism, partially because
they didn’t get to be the in-house
band dressed in prison uniforms
for the “Mantan” shows. Pierre
has a father for a stand-up come
dian who never compromised
his ethics for Hollywood.
But none of them, not one
iota, blot out the blackface
scenes or the gut-wrenching pre
quels that show Glover and
Davidson putting on the makeup
in painstaking detail, as we get a
didactic explanation of the
process in Pinkett’s voice-over
narration. There are two movies
going on here; the satire stops
once the blackface becomes cen
ter stage.
It is, in no way, funny. And the
funny that ensues isn’t funny
because the viewer is still hung
on the blackface. Then, oddly,
Pierre seems to collect more
blackface artifacts, dolls and
trinkets than it seems possible to
own.
They stand and coo at him,
oscillating their oversized eyes
back in forth in racist exaggera
tion. At one point, Wayans starts
seeing things, imagining the col
lectibles talking back. A toy bank
of a blackface barker works with
out assistance. The lines are blur
ring.
Lee has tweaked the film to a
stunning effect Most of it is shot
in handheld, guerrilla-style
video, grainy and unclear. But
notice the minstrel show scenes,
which have been shot in clear
lucid film.
Lee did this purposely, but
for what, exactly? To better por
tray the clarity of the racism
going on here? To shock us even
more? When Glover, a Broadway
performer by trade, flashes this
crazy grin, the envelope gets
pressed. Looking away is easy.
Several critics have nailed
Lee to the wail for the use of
blackface, sort of like they nail
Leni Riefenstahl to the wall for
making a stunning film for Adolf
Hitler in “Triumph of the Will.” I
suppose it comes down to per
ception.
Is it Lee’s job to nudge at the
horrors of racism and let those
themes grow and ferment in our
minds, or throw the whole bag at
the viewing public? He’s chosen
the latter. I question the respon
sibility of it. I don’t question the
power. It works to disturbing
effect.
Another question: Could Lee,
given he steak a lot from the clas
sic television satire “Network,”
have delivered the satirical point
without blackface, as “Network”
did?
Yes; he succeeds in the open
ing act, without the blackface.
That’s the less direct, subtle way
to approach it And in interviews,
Lee expounds on how modern
day rap videos are kindred souls
to minstrel shows, as they offer
the opportunity to mock and
shun a seemingly money and
woman-hungry black power
structure.
There’s very little of that com
mentary in "Bamboozled.” There
k a lot of blackface.
The scenes are so well-writ
ten, so intricate (notice the
“Mantan” call of
Hoooooooweeeeee!, which the
audience responds to with:
Hooooooowaaaahh!) that I was
left pondering the delicate sur
roundings of Sleep ’n' Eat mono
logue in a chicken coop than the
bigger picture. The closing
twists, meant to be painful
shocks, pale in comparison to
the wringer that they follow.
Maybe more interesting is
Lee’s assertion that an audience,
black and white, could or would
accept blackface if it was offered
as some effect of racial healing or
desensitization of the issues.
This catches Lee in a conun
drum: Just what is his purpose in
using blackface, if Pierre, face
tious as he might be about it, suc
cessfully defends it as satire? Is
the movie meant to be liked or
simply grimly understood?
The only adequate explana
tion is that Lee intends the traffic
; to stop in those extended min
strel scenes, purposely so, and
slowly pummel us with images
until submission. To repeat: I
haven’t a clue, once arriving at it,
what to do with that assumption.
The credits rolled, depicting var
ious racist dolls, while I slouched
stunned.
That’s what “Bamboozled”
does, rattle the brain chemistry.
I’m no virgin to Lee’s work, nor
unaware of the important black
films that followed his seminal,
race-changing film “Do The
Right Thing.”
This movie, in some ways,
represents Lee’s most ambitious
work since that effort; it's a hol
low pointed bullet right though
the vernacular of political cor
rectness that television bathes
in. It ought to say something
since Lee was hired after the
movie’s opening to develop black
dramatic television concepts for
one year.
Somebody at Douglas
Theatres in Lincoln ought to
throw the movie a two-week
bone -1 saw it in Omaha - at the
very least. College audiences
deserve the opportunity to view
it. The film will likely stop show
ing in Omaha this week.
Then it will disappear, to be
missed by the mass audience of
Americans who spent their hard
earned money for 94 minutes of
mindless drivel at Adam
Sandler's “Little Nicky.”
And we wonder why movies
like “Bamboozled” need to be
made. The blackface could be a
step too far. But it’s quite possible
that our movie mush culture has
done that already in much less
provocative ways than Lee’s sets
course upon here.
“Bamboozled” is the most
important film - genuinely, hon
estly important to something
beyond die medium itself - put
onscreen in years. It touches that
same dangerous nerve as “Fight
Club,” a movie I initially hated,
and still dislike, but admire for
purpose and effect
Like “Fight Club,” and even
more so, “Bamboozled” begs to
be seen. In a movie I cannot yet
comfortably grade, that admoni
tion should serve as grade
enough.
'Diviners'offers good, dean fun
DIVINERS from page 8
town of Zion, the play tells the
story of C.C. Showers (Brandon
Kennison), a preacher in a spiri
tual slump looking for work.
Showers meets Buddy
Laymen (Mickey Seiler), a boy
terrified of water, and the two
form a bond that is nurtured
throughout the rest of the play.
“This is a play about love,
friendship, family and commu
nity in a time when these things
were hard to find and even hard
er to hold onto,” Gilmore said.
He said the most attractive
quality about “The Diviners” is
its mood.
"It’s a warm play that has a
hymn-like quality,” Gilmore said.
Leonard said the honesty of
the characters shines through
during the production.
“These are good and simple
people,” Leonard said. “They
have nothing but the best of
intentions.”
Though Gilmore felt it was
important to specify the details
of the play itself, he wanted to
emphasize the overall theme.
“It allows people to look past
their indifferences and accept
each other and realize we’re all
human,” he said.
Gilmore and Kennison, both
theater majors at Union College,
envisioned a program that was
developed and run by students.
They were both frustrated
with existing drama clubs and
disappointed with their student
dropout rates and lack of suc
cess.
Through their efforts, their
vision has become a reality and
the company is starting to make
its presence known in the
Lincoln area.
“We’re a small school and
haven’t made a big splash in the
past,” Kennison said. “Now our
company is making a name for
itself amongst Lincoln’s theatri
cal community.”
Audiences have enjoyed the
shows, Kennison said.
“The feedback we’ve gotten
so far has been very positive.
People have really enjoyed our
shows”
“I think a big part of that is
because the performances are
clean and of good quality. You
won’t see us putting on a produc
tion of the ‘Vagina Monologues.’ ”
Both Kennison and Gilmore
are proud of the company's repu
tation and approach to theater,
which is a feel-good one and is
suitable for all audiences.
“We try to stay away from
doing risqud stuff,” Gilmore said.
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Please recycle your
Daily Nebraskan.
Incubus new release
gets a mixed review
BY ANDREW SHAW
Incubus has the munchies
for your hard-earned cash, and
“Fungus Amongus” is their
newest trap.
“Fungus Amongus” is a col
lection of the first recordings
from the drug-induced hard
rock band. Recorded from 1993
to 1995, the album showcases a
band who was unsigned with
good reason.
These early recordings of
Incubus do not show the con
trolled side of the young band
who is instead painfully erratic
and musically immature.
Incubus has been working
hard to keep their name in the
spotlight as long as they can.
Earlier this year they released
“When Incubus Attacks, Vol. 1,”
an EP featuring acoustic ver
sions of songs from their latest
full-length release of new music,
“Make Yourself.” They have been
featured on MTV's show “The
Return of Rock” and the accom
panying soundtrack, as well as
the compilation “Loud Rocks,”
which features hard-rock bands
covering popular rap songs.
Although Incubus has creat
ed good music on their last two
full-length releases, “Fungus
Amongus” shows that the band
has not always been a creative
and original band.
“Psychopsilocybin,” one of
album’s most intriguing tracks,
explodes with Red Hot Chili
Pepper influence. Layers of a
choked guitar riff, funk-rap
vocals and a bass solo halfway
through are pulled directly off of
die cutting room floor of “Blood
Sugar Sex Magik,” one of the
Peppers’ funkiest albums.
The first track of this re
released album, "You Will Be A
Hot Dancer,” most resembles
the band in its current state. A
steady and funky guitar riff clips
by throughout the song, and the
lead vocals switch off between
[Incubus
★★ of 5 stars
choppy and screams. Part way
through the medium groove, a
djembe - a traditional African
drum used by Incubus in later
recordings and concerts - floats
to the surface. The tune ends
with a chorus of children singing
“nah-nah-boo-boo.” The inclu
sion of a children’s theme is also
carried out through the band’s
later releases, sampling music,
toys and videos marketed to a
young population.
Unfortunately, “Fungus
Amongus” is rather one-dimen
sional. Each song sounds very
similar to the previously one.
The vocals are fun to listen to but
don’t seem to carry a theme or
message. The music doesn’t
seem to have a direction but has
a great deal of potential.
Perhaps that’s the greatest
effect of “Fungus Amongus.” It
shows that the band has pro
gressed, that they have done
their time in the annals of
insignificant rock and are mak
ing their way out of it, even
though they still have room to
grow.
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