Tribute album smashes
Pumpkins' original music
■Album maker’s attempt to
salute the band does not do
justice for many of the songs.
BY MOOT SHOW
Tribute albums are hard to
execute, and Cleopatra Records’
attempt at remaking 13
ftimpkins songs shows the dark
side of tribute afoumfiaflure.
It’s been a matter of months
since the Chicago-based leaden
of the alt-rock movement threw
in the towel and already tribute
efforts have been organized by
various legions of fans around the
world.
A tribute concert dubbed Act
4 is in the works for July 7 at the
Metro in Chicago, the first and
final venue of the Smashing
Pumpkins Eig< acts wiB perform
at the concert, and all proceeds
will go to the Make-A-Wish
Foundation, a charity to which
the Pumpkins have been known
to contribute. Atribute album will
accompany Act 4.
But die first post-mortem
tribute album for the band is "A
Gothic-Industrial Tribute to the
Smashing Pumpkins,*” a collec
tion of sub-par recordings of
some of the finest rock songs ever
To passing music fans, the
Pumpkins may be considered a
goth-industrial hand, but that
perception is obviously only
based on their radio songs like
“The Everlasting Gaze,” “Bullet
With Butterfly Wings” and “Ava
Adore.” These songs all possess
the dark, pulsating beats of goth
industrial, but their popular
oftheir range of genres.
Unfortunately, to hear the
group's take on acoustic rock,
pop, dectronica and new wave
(the genre from which the
Pumpkins ewe born), one would
need to be dedicated to listening
to entire alarms, a concept which
is quickly eroding due to the
influx of MTV, pop radio and
Napster
Although some rtf the covers
on “A Gothic-Industrial Tribute”
are creatively constructed, they
pigeonhole the Pumpkins’ sound
into one widely rejected genre.
The recording quality on the
album seems low budget, and the
talent is waning. Most of the times
sound Hoe the groups are trying to
cover Marilyn Manson as he
would cover the Smashing
Pumpkins. The music gets lost in
the forced whines and screams of
the genre, and the intricate com
positions of the IHmrpkins’origi
nal versions get shaved down to a
couple of important riffs and
pooriy played drums.
Hat, die beauty of compilation
albums is that no matter how bad
some tracks are, there are usually
standout bands, and “A Gothic
Industrial Tribute” follows suit.
Godbox's remake of the obscure
Pumpkins’ tune "Frail and
BedazziecT stays true to tbe origi
nal, preserving the groove,
melody and intensity of the song,
while still adding their personal
touches, including industrial
electronic drums and a high
energy keyboard track.
Bands like Bella Morte or
Guenter Schulz and En Esch of
KMFDM fame force the goth
industrial sound, disregarding
die meaning of the lyrics or die
mood in which the song was
intended. 1ft fake sensationalism,
and it’s noticeable, which makes
*A Godnc-Industrial Tribute" less
than enjoyable for fans of the
Pumpkins.
'State and Main'gives
all the dirt on Hollywood
by mrmBM hansen
'State and Main* is a
Hollywood comedy about
Hollywood. It’s not about small
towns, itfc not about krve, and itfc
only sort of about statutory rape
(well get to that later).
When you slash off the trap
pings of this David Mamet film,
ultimate judgment comes from
its portrayal of the fictional
inhabitants ofTinseitown as they
travel a world away (small-town
New Hampshire) to make a
movie.
Luckily for moviegoers,
Mamet seems to have a unique
insight into Hollywood, possibly
because his theatrical roots
allow him to be at the place but
not of the place. He exploits this
insight for ironic smiles as you
realize that you've been had time
and time again.
This comedy is smart - a
crew member on the set of the
movie within a movie is too
scared of director Walt Price
(William H. Macy) to forcefully
askfbrtimeoffwhilehiswifeisin
labor: Instead, he wears a gigan
tic*!^ A GirT pin after the birth.
Hollywood tokenism at its finest
This comedy is fast-paced
Macy and producer Marty
Rossen (David Paymer) throw
out one liners at breakneck
State and Main
1-<★★★-&•)
speed while stealing the movie
from headliners Alec Baldwin,
Sara Jessica Parker and Philip
Seymour Hoffman.
The three stars hold their
own. Baldwin and Parker stay
within the confines of their roles,
Baldwin as megastar Bob
Barrenger, a nice enough guy
save for a fascination with
underage girls (“Hey, everyone’s
got to have a hobby,” he
explains.)
His tryst with scheming
teenager Carla Taylor (Julia
Stiles) eventually leads to a run
in with the small-town law and
provide the movie with an end
ing. Otherwise, director and pro
ducer could continue to play off
each other right through the pre
miere. Parker plays female lead
and total fake Claire Wellesly,
who begs to be treated like an
adult but, of course, loves to be
coddled like a child.
Hoffman hangs in the
dichdd role of quiet, naive
screen writer Joseph Turner
White on location to add some
finishing touches to his screen
play about an oMmilL Of course,
the screenplay needs some
major rewriting by the time
shooting actually begins, much
like the title of the movie.
Actually, all characters are
basically cliches - itfs the point
The only stereotypes that don't
totally resonate are Mamet’s
depiction of some of the minor,
small-town characters, whose
lives are inexorably changed by
the cast and crew of "The Old
Mill” descending upon their
sleepy town.
Also, Ann Black (Rebecca
Pidgeon), Hoffman's eventual
krve interest, comes off as angel
ic and all-knowing as a small
town bookstore owner. She
doesn't fit in with the rest of the
cast
Overlook these flaws and
pick your theme - the imper
fectibility of man, the innocence
of small-town folk or, most
importantly, the place in which
Hollywood types operate in, a
place which none of us are famfl
iat
The opinion here is that with
whichever you pick, Mamet digs
out the bile inherent in each and
holds it up for viewers to see.
Especially Hollywood.
"State and Main.” Directed
by David Mamet Starring Alec
Baldwin, Sara Jessica Parker
and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Rated R for adult language.
Playing at the Mary Riepma
All-female cast
takes on males
PUff from paged
quite so funny.
“It really opens your eyes,"
Holmes said. “It's funny, but it’s
not*
Artistic Director Steve
Barth said “The Club” was a
very unique musical diversion
that told a very poignant story.
This kind of show, Barth
said, was set apart from many
Main Stage performances
because the Theatrix program
was granted flexibility to be
more experimental.
Barth said the production
was a milestone for Theatrix
because the performance was
their first musical, making it a
bit of a risk.
Theatrix has had a lot of
success in the past, and as a
result, they're doing some
things differently and trying
new things, Barth sahL
Managing Director Daryn J.
Warner agreed with Barth.
Wuner said that Iheatrix prid
ed itself on trying new and dif
ferent things that challenged
its student artists.
*It's exciting for student
produced work to be moving in
this direction,” Warner said.
In “The Club,* the six men
are part of the elite upper class
who discuss their finances,
sing about women and wine,
puff on their cigars and tell
racy Jokes as their testosterone
levels feed off each other.
Displaying their masculini
ty in a cabaretlike style.
Holmes said. The cast had to be
careful not to present the men
as one-sided, despite their
behavior, she said.
“The men appear to be
one-sided in what they're say
ing but not in what they're truly
thinking and feeling,* Holmes
said. “They're actually more
rounded in their opinions.”
In fear of being seen as
weak, and seeking to gain
approval from their peers.
Holmes said the characters,
like many men, hide the fact
they actually care about the
women in their lives.
Holmes said the audience
was able to sense that about
the men, although they didn't
see that outright
r
1
TtS the kind of show
that is like a tasting a
sweet piece of candy,
and after you’ve
swallowed it the taste
stays with you."
UNL graduate student
There really Is more depth
to their feelings about women
they choose not to show when
'they're out with the guys,'
Holmes said. They are trying to
maintain a social image that is
more popular.
Holmes said as much as
they try to hide it, these men
valued the women in their
lives.
'If women really were that
unimportant to them,” Holmes
said, 'if they actually cared so
little about women, would they
talk about them so much?
'I hope we don’t come
across as caricatures of men
but real human beings with
many sides and levels of emo
tion.”
»
Monkeybone's bad dream
should remain comatose
—PWgfiom pageS
“Monkeybone,” to the masses. In
tow is his girlfriend, Julie (Bridget
Fonda), jiik before Stu can enjoy
tame, he gets into a car accident
that renders him comatose - a
great metaphor for the film as
As doctors try to revive Stu, he
is plunged into a purgatory-like
land called Downtown. The set
work for Downtown is amazing.
It is there where Stu encounters
Cyclops, beasts and monsters.
The Downtown scenes look like
the acid-drenched lounge scene
from "Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas.”
It Is in Downtown that Stu
finally meets his cartoon cre
ation, "Monkeybone.” The feisty
monkey got his name from an
embarrassing incident that hap
pened to Stu in the first grade.
Left Just say the event involved a
first grade teacher and a lot of
books and call it good.
In the real world, Julie tries to
fight off Stu’s sister (Megan
MuDaly, doing a sleep-walk per
formance of her Karen character
on "WiD and Grace”) from pulling
the plug an her comatose broth
er lube discovers a way to awak
en Stu - by giving him a huge
dose of “nightmare juice,” a drug
that induces bad dreams
Stu tries to get back to the liv
ing world by trying to persuade
lAUDITIONS
Saturday, March 24, 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
University of Nebraska, Licoln NE
Mabel Lee Hall, Room 304
Seeking: endmiastic performers/musicians,
especially IWnmannk^ Samjihnnkw,
Staging Guitar Pfapem. Also seeking: Singers,
Dancers, Adore, Costumed Characters,
Technicians and Specialty Acts.
Fuilime Positions with Awesome Benefits
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Eqwl Opportune E«piojwM/F/D/V
BbkIi Gadeatiia drug tee wodpiace.
Death (WhoopiGoldberg) fora
pass back to the living world.
However, Monkeybone out
smarts Stu and wins a pass to the
real wodd, where he Inhabits the
bodyofhis creator just before the
plug is pulled.
- Fraser now has the daunting
task of acting out Monkeybonefe
homy persona. While movies
such as “Beetlejuice” and “The
Mask” did a great job with having
cartoonish diameters with run
away IDs, they also had script
and character development.
Monkeybone is basically a
boner-spewing joke machine.
The entire movie, based on
Kaja Blackley's graphic novel,
"Dark Town,” had promise, but
never capitalized on the talents
of Fraser and Kattan. Fonda and
Goldberg seem downright
depressed in their roles, probably
thinking the best roles of their
careers are behind them.
“Monkeybone.” Directed by
Henry SeHck. Starring Brendan
Fraser, Bridget Fonda, Chris
Kattan and Rose McGowan.
Rated PG-13 for partial nudity
crude language and sexually
suggestive content. Playing at
the Plan 4 and die Edgewood.
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