Local concert jazzes up the holidays, big-band style
BY CASEY JOHNSON
Bing Crosby, Old Blue Eyes
and most Christmas specials
Elvis did always had Christmas
music with a big band orchestra,
and this year Lincolnites can
hear local musicians perform it
that way again.
The Nebraska Jazz Orchestra
will fill the Cornhusker Hotel
tonight with big band Christmas
cheer with a concert titled
“Christmas and All That Jazz,”
the orchestra’s first concert of the
2000-2001 season.
The lists of acclaimed musi
cians who have played with the
Nebraska Jazz Orchestra is*
impressive, and the orchestra
has produced many musicians -
including Rex Cadawallader,
Ryan Kaisor and Matt Wallace -
who have gone on to national
success.
Ed Love, musical director and
saxophonist for the orchestra,
said die reason the orchestra has
been so successful is because of
the members’ immense experi
ence.
"We are the only professional
big band in the area,” he said.
"Every high school around has a
big band, but we are the guys that
never stopped playing after high
school. So when people come to
see us, they are going to hear a
very high-quality product”
The Nebraska Jazz Orchestra
has a new home at the
Comhusker Hotel, 333 S. 13th St,
for this season; Love said the
location should help draw a bet
ter crowd.
“This is more centrally locat
ed and closer in proximity to
restaurants and things for people
to do before or after a concert,”
he said. “It gives people a better
opportunity to come out and
enjoy an evening.”
Pam Kalal and her husband,
Jim, will be performing with the
orchestra in the program.
Pam Kalal is a long-time pro
fessional singer who has sung
and appeared in hundreds of
radio and television commer
cials, she said.
She was the voice for the
“How do they make it taste so
good?” jingle on Robert’s Dairy
commercials. Her work includes
a long-time stint on Godfather’s
Pizza commercials.
“We are the guys that never stopped playing
after high school
Ed Love
Lincoln Jazz Orchestra
Perhaps some of Pam Kalal’s
greatest success has come from
singing background vocals for
nationally recognized artists
such as C.W. McCall and Chip
Davis from Mannheim
Steamroller. She performed with
McCall on the hit title track for
the movie "Convoy.”
Jim Kalal, who will be per
forming with her tonight, also is a
bit of a celebrity from commer
cials. He has appeared in televi
sion commercials for Paul
Gerber Auto Sales, Cox Cable and
the syndicated television show
“MAS.H.” on Fox 42.
But tonight’s show is not
about commercials - it’s about
the music. Pam Kalal said she
looks forward to performing with
an orchestra because it is some
thing she rarely gets to do.
“It is an honor to be asked to
perform with (the Nebraska Jazz
Orchestra) because they have so
Performance Preview
Christmas and
All That Jazz
-C Where: Comhusker Hotel
-333 S. 13th
—(When: Tonight @ 7:30
Cost: $15, $7 for
dents -
many great musicians,” she said.
“I have worked with some of
them before, but to work with an
entire orchestra is really quite a
thrill.”
Top films vie for attention on shelves at video-rental shops
■“The War Zone,'one of the
best movies this year, skipped
the theaters and went straight
to the stores. Other high
quality movies follow suit
BY SAMUEL MCKEWON
The video release of the sum
mer epic “Gladiator” is one of
those “raid the shelves” ‘
moments at your local movie
mega-rental store, where the 47
or so copies of Russell Crowe’s
glistening six-pack are swal
lowed whole by the barely-legal
to-drive set, who will freeze
frame the scene where Maximus
guts that Bengal tiger over as
many times as there are videos.
So woe the 11 p.m. video
hunter, who's most certainly
/ missed out on the prime cut of
Rome, and maybe oh the glut of
"X-Men” cassettes, too. But not
far from that metallic X is that
one copy of Hm Roth’s “The War
Zone,” stocked full as usual,
waiting for the discerning mind
to peruse its back coven
And even then that viewer
won’t discover that one of last
year’s best films is contained
inside, though it received zero
press outside the major cities,
much less a tiny run in the
Lincoln or Omaha metro area. •
There's a Blockbuster (or
Hollywood, or Audio-Visual) full
of movies toiling under such
obscurity, even on the new
releases rack, which mostly cov
ers 1999 and 2000 films released
theatrically, along with a few sex
minded straight-to-video selec
tions and pay-cable movies that
mainstream television audi
ences never tasted.
And the 1999 slate of films,
some of the best in a few
decades, still has a few quirky,
unknown titles that escaped the
mainstream despite of the suc
cess that artful, dramatic fare
that "Being John Malkovich” and
“American Beauty” enjoyed dur
ing their theatrical funs.
Here's a survey of the best
that never came to Lincoln’s the
aters, along with a star rating of
out of four for quality. Nearly all
can be found in any of the three
video stores listed above, though
they’re less likely to be available
for purchase. Go online to make
it a keepsake or gift
“The War Zone”
Actor Tim Roth’s directorial
debut is reminiscent of Swedish
genius Ingmar Bergman, and
that’s no faint phrase to throw
around without reason. But “The
War Zone” - a stunning, spare,
gut-wrenching drama of family
incest - is no faint film. Set
against the bare English coastal
countryside, it succeeds where
many movies concerning rape
fail - by transforming a morality
tale into something larger, with
implication and empathy
involved. Here is one convincing
portrait of an unspeakable act
It starts with a relocated
EngUsh family-a father, a moth
er, son and daughter - in search
of a “fresh start” as the matri
arch, played by Danish beauty
Tilda Swinton (of “Orlando”
fame). It’s never made obviously
clear what the fresh start entails,
only that it includes the birth of
another child into the family
quite soon into the film, which
occurs in a panic sequence cen
tered on a car crash.
It isn’t long after that the 15
year-old Tom (Freddie Cuncliffe,
awash in adolescent acne) dis
covers, through the back win
dow of the isolated family stead,
the last bit of an intimate, naked
act between father (Ray
Winsome) and 18-year-old
daughter Jessie (Lara Belmont, a
young mirror of Swinton’s physi
cality).
What follows is Tom's quiet,
building journey through the
gamut of painful emotion^, and.
the equally quiet steps Jessie
takes to stop the truth from
arriving, for her escape to college
is only months
Winsome plays his character full
of body and is caring and decent
except for his one basic,
appallingly indecent trait. We
sense he acts out in spite of his
better inclination not to.
That it plays so cold and
understated makes the scenes of
violence play more violently and
better illuminates the pain of
family rape. “The War Zone”
becomes exceedingly hard to
watch with feeling raw with hurt
for the situation; one particular
scene between Tom and Jessie is
a test for how much built-up
hurt an audience can endure.
Movies are rarely made like
this, and even more rarely do
they find
away, and there s
the boyfriend to
consider. And
beyond keeping,
the secret, Roth
does depict a fami
ly of fortunate rela
tions; early scenes
may as well be out
of a Rockwell por
trait. What Tom is
up against is not
only pain, but the
very keystone of his
nuclear structure
staying together.
Horrible things
have been done to
Jessie, and yet, Tom
observes, as do we,
that she seems to
have taken it in
some sort
of main
stream
audience.
And yet it's
small and
resonating
well after
the credits
have run.
Its straight,
simple
presenta
tion is
filmed
poetry
with a sad,
endless
soul of
hurt.
★★★★
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point where her casual nudity in
the presence of younger brother
is no worry. Which isn't to say
“The War Zone" has taken the
father's side in the matter; rather
it’s simply an honest portrayal -
JL lie LiUlICy
Before Steven Soderbergh
made “Erin Brockovich,” he
made “The Limey,” the best kind
of crime film, a stylish, smooth
action picture that features
Soderbergh's style of telling the
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story out of sequence. It’s a pic
ture a hard-boiled James Bond
might like: shaken and stirred.
Still tastefully dressed.
Terance Stamp, “Zod” from
“Superman 2,” is a Cockney ex
con named Wilson - a limey, as it
were, who flies to LA simply to
know who’s
Joseph's childhood with over
protective, neurotic French Julia
Child of a mother, feels more like
cinematic reactions, with
instant flash-forwards and back
wards, without change in film
quality. It's challenging, but
absorbing; the pieces come
together well
killed his
daughter, and
why. He
encounters
her ex
after the movie
ends.
“Journey” is
uncommonly
flush and green,
boytriena,
Terry
Valentine, a
showy record
producer on
his decline
(Peter Fonda),
along with an
assortment of
acquaintanc
es and bag
men. Let it be
said that
Wilson quietly
makes his way
full of wide
shots and
abstract pres
entation. And
yet it feels quite
small, as Joseph
quietly "nices”
his way into
Felicia's life,
making up
phony dead
wife stories,
becoming her
boarder in his
elaborately
Lip U1L luUUvl
of knowledge, all the way to the
top.
Can a movie capture
California any better? No, proba
bly not, which makes Stamp's
fish-out-of-water presence even
better. like Lee Marvin in “Point
Blank," his Wilson just wants a
few answers, not too many, then
he’ll be along. If only they'd offer
the answers...
Soderbergh is one of best
directors going, and his exceed
ing talent to cast and shoot gor
geous women of any kind - in
this case, a beachy, California
daydreamer who hangs around
as Terry’s girlfriend - shows
again here. It’s not just the story
fool, but the style, and
Soderbergh’s got dibs on it, again
and again. There’s a crime pic
ture this year any sweeter than
this 90-minute smoothie, not by
a shot long (that's Soderbergh for
long shot). ★★★★
“Felicia’s Journey”
Atom Egoyan made a film
much like "The War Zone” with
his 1997 effort "The Sweet
Hereafter,” about the aftermath
of small-town school bus crash.
His follow-up was last year’s
“Felicia's Journey,” a provocative,
lush study of an Irish girl (Elaine
Cassidy) who has run out of
spurned loves and places to go
and a serial killer Joseph (Bob
Hoskins) who lives his day hours
as lead chef at an industrial fac
tory and quietly becomes her
mentor and suitor, videotaping
his exchanges with Felicia, just
as he has other girls before her.
Egoyan has a specific talent
to tell a story in fragmented time,
rather than chronology, which
works as a sort of mental frame
work operating outside the
action events of the films. It is
conventional to be viewed
straight ahead, and yet
"Journey,” which spends a large
amount of time doting on
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home. It works to a fine conclu
sion, staying honest with its title:
The movie is a journey, the key
the girl, the killer, played with
devilish understatement by
Hoskins, a traveler within it. It
helps make the conclusion come
together. Pleasure for the entire
film lasts much longer. ★★★ Vz
"Liberty Heights”
Barry Levinson is an accom
plished director with two sides:
the big budget showman
(“Toys,” “Wag The Dog,”
“Bugsy”) and the smaller, more
personal films he makes about
his hometown of Baltimore
(“Diner,” “Avalon”). “Liberty
Heights” released around last
Christmas, is in the latter catego
ry, a story set in the 1950s, chron
icling the love life of two Jewish
brothers (Ben Foster and Adrien
Brody) who choose separate
paths toward love.
Ben (Foster) seems taken
with the outwardly forbidden
love of a black girl (Rebekah
Johnson), the daughter of a
wealthy, prominent doctor who’s
no more pleased than Ben's par
ents (Bebe Neuwirth and Joe
Mantegna) are upon discovery.
Van (Brody) veers in another
socially unacceptable direction
by courting the debutante beau
ty, appropriately named Dubbie,
played by fashion model Carolyn
Murphy in an uncommonly
good acting debut.
While it isn’t Levinson's best
film, or his most entertaining, it
contains the typical intelligent
wit of a fine script and uses long
period set pieces (a James Brown
concert is particularly good) to
fine effect. And Frank Sinatra
lovers will find a kindred spirit in
“Liberty Heights.” ★★★
“The Minus Man”
A peculiar, strangely attrac
tive drama about serial killer
(“Rushmore” screenwriter Owen
Wilson, in a fine dramatic turn)
who works his way into small
town life and murders almost
randomly, and without warning,
by way of a small vial of poison
he pours in a victim’s drink.
Try to fit gloves on this movie,
which co-stars Mercedes Ruehl,
Brian Cox and Janeane Garofalo.
Directed by Hampton Fancher
(writer of “Blade Runner"), the
movie seems at times shot delib
erately bright, so the movie takes
on almost a TV-movie quality.
Many scenes, especially those
that show the killer working as a
mailman, seem almost hyper
real, as an odd jingling music
plays on the soundtrack. Wilson
is good, unassuming in his per
formance; he seems as unper
plexed at his popularity as we do.
And when he stumbles into
troubles that might be beyond
him, he conjures up fictional
detectives, both his saviors and
deepest critics. Weird, but it
works. ★★★ Vz
