The Michigan Daily- Friday, November 1,1991 - Page 9 Paleface does indeed have a pale face. Quick, let's do a word associati Paleface - Cro Magnon! Paleface - forehead! Paleface - pail face. Social issues get cu e In Curly Sue Curly Sue dir. John Hughes by Annette Petruso While Curly Sue is an innocuous, entertaining movie intended for a younger audience, one aspect of it is particularly disturbing. The plot focuses on Curly Sue (Alison Porter) and her surrogate father, Bill Dancer (James Belushi), who have been evading the law and living on the streets. Sue and "Dad" have unmussed, almost perfect hair styles, and fairly clean and neat clothes. For credibility, dirt seems to have been slightly rubbed on their faces, and Bill sports a worn flannel. The only physical hint at their extreme poverty is Sue's sneakers: a pair of high tops - one is canvas and the other is leather. The problem is not only that the duo doesn't look particularly des- titute. The word "homeless," or rather its conspicuous absence, is most bothersome. But director/wri- ter/producer John Hughes does go to great lengths to describe the pair's desperate life on the road. They are never able to settle down because Sue might be taken from Bill because he is not her real father. Though the pair refuse to beg, they do practice a bit of adorably exe- cuted (in a sick way) deception to get money for food. In a homeless shelter, an older, scraggly man with a five o'clock shadow and hard lines on his face steals Sue's ring and pawns it at a shop. This, the only authentic- , 1 _. , .:: Curly Sue (Alison Porter) is taken from the streets, and is now living the good life in a huge bathtub. Hm, we seem to remember another curly-haired, street-person who is plucked from poverty and lands in plush- bathroom heaven. Is Garry Marhsall getting royalties for all these knock-offs, or what? Paleface Paleface Polydor Well, this is different. These days, it's pretty hard to find one guy with one guitar playing whatever the hell he wants to play and not caring if he sings off key or if he plays out of tune. But that's exactly what Paleface does. He sings out of key and out of time as a general rule. And it isn't un- common for his guitar to get a little out of tune. But, you see, none of this matters. Because Paleface is cool. Paleface has soul. It says so right on the back of his guitar: "SOULIFIED IN LOISAIDA N.Y.C." And I'll admit, at first Paleface may be a little hard to get into, but it grows on you, just like Chia-Pet. Most of the 16 songs presented on Paleface are simple. About half of the songs are played by Paleface alone, who does vocals, guitar and harmon- ica, and on the other half of the album, he has guests playing everything from banjo to desert flute. Some of the songs are political, such as "Trouble in the Country" and "Stupid War Movies." Some songs are more *personal, like "She Was Talking To Me (Down on Ave. B)" and "Still I Want to See You." Some songs are just funny, like "Not Much of a Movie" and "World Full of Cops." But some of the best songs are the ones in which Paleface is bitingly sarcastic, like the aforementioned "Stupid War Movies." But the best song on the album has got to be "Burn and Rob," which sat- irizes all of the evil things that rock 'n' roll is supposed to make one do. I mean, with lyrics like "Burn and rob/ burn and rob/ rock and roll made me not believe in God" and "I bought a lot of drugs and I got my sister drunk and I stole the family car and I put her in the trunk and I drove it off the edge of a cliff and stood there laughing," you just can't go wrong! ,Paleface's songs can be a lot of things. They can be fast or slow, mellow or mean, funny or serious, but they're always imaginative and they're al- ways soulful and they're always good. -Skot Beal looking street person in a prominent role in the film, is shown in a negative light, unlike the actions of our heroes. He breaks the "good laws," Bill and Sue call them, the ones that prevent the infliction of pain on people. This pair bends the "bad laws" - ones they deem unfair to their survival. They would never steal or beg; someone has to want to give support to them. This conflict aside, Curly Sue marks an improvement in Hughes' films about younger people. Sue is slightly better than his last directo- rial work, Uncle Buck. Because of its young audience, Hughes must have felt obligated to make every- thing clear cut, either good people or bad people. Take, for instance, Grey Ellison (Kelly Lynch, Drug- store Cowboy), an appropriately- named, heartless power lawyer. Ellison is the target of one of Sue and Bill's schemes - Bill fakes getting hit by her car to get dinner and maybe some cash out of her. In- stead, as fate would have it, they touch her cold heart, and when she plows into Bill with her automo- bile a second time - for real - it's the beginning of a "beautiful" rela- tionship. Lynch's performance is very subtle, adding depth to a superficial character. She eloquently expresses confusion with her eyes. Ellison's decisions and inner tensions are always reflected in Lynch's nervous movements, especially as she dis- covers the pair's intense charm and sad tale (Bill says something to the effect of "most people go to the bar and get VD; I got a baby.") Ellison's slimy boyfriend, Walker McCormick, is played by John Getz, who amusingly did the same kind of condescending sleeze in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. Getz's lips, always kind of half-open and dopey, make Mc- Cormick look as stupid as he is. The showstopper, and intended centerpiece, is Curly Sue. Porter car- ries off the sass and the smartass better than Soleil Moon Fry ever did in Punky Brewster. She's cute, BILLY Continued from page 8 Bathgate. But like a flashy merry- go-round, the film is an exciting ride to nowhere. Wow. A Po Wow. by Peter Meyerhoff Five-hundred years after Columbus' "discovery" of America, Native American culture still lives. At least a thousand people are expected to gather at the Bowen Field House on the Eastern Michigan campus this weekend, not for football, but for a Native American Pow Wow. Pow Wows originally functioned as a cultural center, a gathering place for tribes to exchange news, present dances and songs, and barter goods. The EMU Pow Wow, which takes place tomorrow and Sunday, will offer dances, songs and social customs from various Midwestern tribes. In addition, visitors will be able to buy art, jewelry and other Native American goods. Native American dandes and songs, contrary to Western stereotypes, went far beyond stereotypical rain dances and war chants, according to EMU sophomore David Trusty, a Cherokee who is helping to organize the Pow Wow. "The songs tell stories and myths. They're about pride, about oneness with God," he says. Trusty said the Pow Wow represents an attempt by Native Americans to regain some of their lost past. "It gives us a chance to watch our culture in action. It's a very spiritual thing if you're a Native American," he said. The Grand Entries, or parades, of the EMU POW WOW will begin at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, at the Brown Field house. Admission is $5, $3 for students. Call 487-2379 for more info. funny and knows how to be charm- ing without overacting. Sue is streetsmart and possesses. many survival skills, but, as Ellison, finds out, has never been to school and cannot read. Illiteracy, the other Important Social Issue/sympatheic device in Curly Sue, is glossed oet just as simply as the whole issue of homelessness, but at least tho - word is spoken. The Heart-Warming Ending - in which Bill and Ellison get together after some trauma in- volving Social Services - shows Curly going to school. This proves all is well in the world. Most real life stories don't end as nicely, but kids don't need to know that yet, right? See CURLY SUE at Briarwood and Showcase. WRITE FOR TH E DAILY! 764-0552 r rI CRYSE(PG) 10:0012:00 2:00 4:15 700 90011:15 FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (R) 10:0012:152:30 4:457:15:50 12:00 LITTLE MAN TATE (PG) 10:00 12:00 2:00 4:15 7:00 9:0011:1 THE BUTCHER'SWIFE(PG-13) 10:0012:10 2:20 4:357:00 9:15 SHATTERED (R) 10:1512:302:454:457:309:3011:35 OTHER PEOPLES MONEY (R) 10:1512:30 2:40 4:45 7:30 9:4011:35 THE FISHER KING (R) 10:151:004:007:009:4012:05 ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (R) 11:30 PM HOUSE PARTY 2(R) 5:007:009:30 YEAR OF THE GUN (R) 5:00 7.00 9:45 NECESSARY ROUGHNESS (PG-13) 5:00 7:159:45 PEOPLE UNDER THE STARS (R) 5:00 7:159 30 a * a. aa BILLY BATIIGATE is playing at Showcase. 'If you can't get to Chinatown, Dnersty brings Chinatown to youl' Mon - Sat Sunday 11 am - Midnight Noon - 10 pm 241 East Liberty Carry Out 998-0008 i I EMERSON Continued from page 8 good fortune. The Emerson String Quartet has done benefit concerts for good causes, from nuclear dis- armament to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. One of the benefits coming up is for an experimental theater in New York, which brings classical theater like Shakespeare and Ibsen to kids in the inner city. The EMERSON STRING QUAR- TET performs tomorrow night at 8 p.m. in Rackham Auditorium. Tickets are $14-$26. Student Rush tickets will be available for $7 tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Burton Tower. Call 764-2538 for more information. The University of Michigan SCHOOL OF MUSIC t The members of the Emerson String Quartet are four cool dudes. They took their name back in the Bicentennial season, when they were looking for a promising American name associated with culture. "None of us is an expert on Emerson," confesses Drucker. Ahk THE MICHIGAN DAILY 764-0552 Thu. Nov. 7 Thu.-Sun. Nov. 7-10 Sun. Nov. 10 r-- University of Michigan Campus Orchestra Cindy Egolf-Sham Rao, conductor Xiang Gao, violin soloist Stravinsky: Firebird Suite Tchaikovsky: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Hill Auditorium, 8 p.m. University Players Lorraine Hansbury: Les Blancs Tickets: $12, $9, $6 (students) (764-0450) Mendelssohn Theatre Thu-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. French Classic Series John Vandertuin, Larry Visser, Marcia Van Oyen, Leslie Wills, organists Nicholas deGrigny: Mass Blanche Anderson Moore Hall, School of Music, 4 p.m. E4 Wednesday, November 13,1991 10:00 am - 4:00 pm Michigan Union Graduate School and MBA Day Meet with recruiters to investigate advanced degree options Compare costs and content of programs across the country CHILI PEPPERS WITH SPECIAL GUESTS SMASHING PUMP NS 8c PE~AEL JAMV Conference Highlights Graduate School: The Forms, The Funds, The Focus Michigan Chamber Players George Shirley, William Bolcom, Yizhak Schotten, Donald Sinta, Katherine Collier, Paul Kantor, Stephen Shipps, Hong-Mci- Xiao, Sarah Cleveland, Miriam Bolkosky Swenson: A Melville Cycle Hindemith: Trio Schinher Verklirte Nacht On 4