Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 9, 1992 Hudson really is. somebody by Michael John Wilson O RLANDO - Ernie Hudson is not a great actor. He's appeared in lousy film after lousy film, from Penitentiary II to Space Hunter (in 3-D!) to episodes of Gimme a Break. His latest film, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, is certainly no exception. Even in his most well- known role as The Black Ghost- buster, Hudson can hardly be taken, seriously. But when you get to know Hud- son, all these apparent failures are put into perspective. He is, if noth- ing else, successful. Born into a poor Benton Harbor family, Hudson went for his dream and got it. He's not the best at his profession, but instead of leading a life of quiet desperation in an office somewhere, the 45-year-old Hudson can call himself an actor. In a recent interview, Hudson de- scribed some of the illusions he had to reject before he became an actor. "When you're about to graduate from high school, they send you all these brochures," he says. "The ones from the Army, Navy and Air Force were dull and green. But the one from the Marines had bright colors, and uniforms that were blue - and I thought, 'Yeah!' "The Marines were the nicest people. They were just so loving and kind. They put me on a plane, flew me to San Diego and when I got off the plane it was a nightmare. They were nuts. Really, those people are sick ... After nine weeks, I said, 'Christ, I've got to get out of here."' What enabled Hudson to leave the Marines was asthma, an ailment which coincidentally causes prob- lems for Annabella Sciorra's char- acter in The Hand that Rocks the As a mentally disabled man in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Ernie Hudson has to pretend to be really scared of evil nanny Rebecca DeMornay. Go ahead, laugh -but his job's cooler than yours. Cradle. But unlike the normal Hol- lywood talk show babble, Hudson critiqued how asthma was portrayed in his movie. "There was one scene where I thought, 'Wait a minute now ... she's breathing hard but her mouth is closed,"' Hudson says. "When you have asthma, you don't breathe through your nose. You want air any way you can get it." Suddenly remembering his job of promoting the movie, he adds, "I'm being critical here - I shouldn't be." It's that kind of honesty, along with an enthusiastic talent for sto- rytelling, that makes Hudson such an appealing person. While a plastic actor like Rebecca DeMornay tells how moving she thinks the film is, Hudson describes the most embar- rassing experiences of his impres- sionable youth. On the subject of asthma, he recalls an especially serious attack brought on by allergies. "I'm allergic to shellfish," he says. "I went to a seminar once where the guy was saying that we are all per- fect beings. God and the universe made us all perfect, and it's only our bringing the negative into the world that makes us less than the gods we are. If you believe you are one with the universe, nothing can hurt you. And it made sense to me. "I had always wanted to try shellfish, but I'd always been fool- ish enough to believe I was allergic to it. But I'm not, I'm one with God and the universe. So I went to dinner with a girl and ate some shrimp. Then I felt a tingling start in the back of my throat ... my eyes swelled up so badly that my eyelids couldn't go over the eyes. I was rushed to the hospital, and almost died." Like many people, Hudson went through a series of such illusions in his youth before he, in Ralph Ellison's words, "became his own father" and went out on his own. He tried to conform to his mother's idea of success: "I wanted to be something, whatever that is, to be somebody. My mother told me that you needed a good job. That was the key. "So when I got out of the Marine Corps in 1964, I got married - 'cause I'm a man - and my wife got pregnant - 'cause I'm a man - and I got a good job that paid a lot of money, where I got to wear a suit and tie. Now that's a really good job if you wear a tie every day. "I had a secretary and a company car, but I hated it," he remembers. Having taken some acting classes at Wayne State which he enjoyed, he decided to drop everything and be- See HUDSON, Page 9 Cher Love Hurts Geffen Cher is one of the few artists around who can never sell out. She doesn't write her own songs or play any music. She is pop - she knows it and loves it. The title track of her most recent album, Love Hurts, is Boudleaux Bryant's '60s classic made big in 1976 when it became a Top 10 single for Nazareth. Still, this leather and lace laden superstar has a knack for selecting songs that seem blatantly autobiographical. And info about this charismatic figure is what the public yearns for. This established, it follows that almost every track on Love Hurts follows the formula for a Top 40 Hit - introduction, chorus, agoniz- ing electric guitar solo, electronic dressing, fade out. "I'll Never Stop Loving You" is a perfect example of this, with cheesy lyrics and all. "God knows how hard I tried," Cher drones, "But it just ain't no use/ I thought I could shake you loose/ But I'm still torn up inside." To call the songs melodramatic is an understatement. Crashing drums and tortured guitar chords punctuate each phrase. This repeats on a variety of the tracks, including "Save Up All Your Tears," "A World Without Heroes," and "When Lovers Become Strangers." Yet there are a number of excep- tions on the album. "Love And Un- derstanding" sports an electronic wonderland throughout and an awe- some string section at the end. Simi- larly, "When Love Calls Your Name" is introduced with majestic piano and acoustic guitar strum- ming. The duet performed by Cher and Richard Page, "One Small Step," hits on something interesting in the form of a continual rolling guitar- drum combination with the lyrics delivered over it. This concept is improved upon in "Could've Been You." A marriage between Cher's vocals and the guitar is established that continues with variation throughout the song and repeats. But in most cases, even when a song hits on something unique, it formulaically climaxes into a corny chorus which leads to the obliga- tory electrical guitar solo sprinkled with synthesized sound effects. Love Hurts gives you what you ex- pect and what many people want "World" is a nice jangly pop sonr with a nice rhythm, but sounds like a Prince song - specifically th- Hindu Love God's cover of "Raspberry Beret," but Gerard Lan, gley's vocals aren't as unpolished as Warren Zevon's. What is evident from the rest of Beatsongs is that Langley has a mas- sive Lou Reed fetish. Langley's spo- ken, hence "beat," style is most reminiscent of Reed's work with the Velvet Underground. Langley's band, however, plays straightforward Brit pop songs un- der his "raps." Easy comparisons: faint Pogues' touches ("Colour Me"), a harsh Carter USM ("Huh"), a smattering of Beatles, and country, a tad of dance sensibility ("Aeroplane Blue,," "Jack Leaves/Back Spring"), the Stone Roses and Chapterhousq ("Cardboard Box"), and TV cop show themes ("My Hurricane"). Any good? Somewhat interest ing is more like it, but they do cover Paul Simon's "Boy in the Bubble,"- with Langley doing a David Byrne- like voice. Amusing? Yes, but Beat- songs as a whole is only OK. Devel- opment of a focus in the Blue Aero' planes' style would definitely equal improvement on future work. -Annette Petruso: Motley Crie Decade Of Decadence Elektra Guilty pleasures. We all have them, especially when it comes to music. No matter how hard you try, to deny it, there will always be those incredibly uncool bands/songs. that you just can't help but love. It could be an obsession with. Debbie Gibson, or an uncontrollable urge to passionately sing along with See RECORDS, Page 9. Cher a cauldron of slightly distinct love songs, perfect for incessant repeti- tion on VH-1, and a live recording of Cher swooning. -Kim Yaged The Blue Aeroplanes Beatsongs Ensign/Chrysalis The Blue Aeroplanes' track "Yr Own World" tipped me off. . .i Beices i Bet riesi TwnI-stIls-illon etPie nTwn etPie nTw!g MICHIGAN ? !~ire? use RECORDS WE ARE TICKET CENTER 1140 South University (Above Good-Time Charley's) Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Ph: 663-5800 Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Frl.-Sat. 9 a.m.-11 p.m. Sun. 11 a.m.-8 p.m Your Chol LURCH Continued from page 5 the feature was shot. And once I had seen that, I thought, 'Well, that Lurch got to do a lot more than this Lurch got to do,"' Struycken says. As a director himself, Struycken was able to contrast the techniques of the big names he's worked with. "Lynch directs in a very indirect way," Struycken says. "He just cre- ates this very overpowering mood on the set, and everyone becomes a prisoner of that mood, so the whole crew was kind of in an altered state. He would just say things like, 'Why don't you say that as if you were un- derwater?' "Barry (Sonnenfeld, director of The Addams Family) would usually just make sure we stayed in charac- ter. Especially with a part like the Lurch part, where you don't have any dialogue. The dialogue is usu- ally what sustains your character and kind of carries through, and when you don't have the dialogue, well, it's easy to kind of get out of character, so he would say, 'Well, that's not very Lurch-like.' "Barry saw (Lurch) as the more artistic member of the family, as the poet, as the one who reads books and paints and the one who plays the or- gan.' Didn't Get What You Wanted? Music Gifts: ON SALE And, according to Struycken, a sequel to the holiday hit is already in the works. "They were already talking. about it seriously even before the movie came out," he says. "The set is still there, and they're storing all that stuff, the costumes." Struycken, who currently lives in Pasadena, has many other inter- ests outside of film. He's currently trying to market an invention that he originally created for film edit- ing, a wall organizer that doesn't need magnets or pins. He also says that he's "using software to design interactive environments ... kind of like virtual reality." And what about his future as an actor? ,( "I'd like to do a bit more come edy-oriented things,"Struycken says. "Although I have a very wide definition of comedy. On the last convention, somebody asked me, 'What is your favorite comedy?' and the only thing I could come up with was Misery." 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