Page 8-The Michigan Daily- Tuesday, November 17, 1992 C Only 'Traces' of a decent plot The Chorale not taken Sick of all those damn European composers? Check out Arts Chorale's 45th Fall Concert tonight at Hill. Directed by Paul Rardin, a teaching assistant with the School of Music, the Arts Chorale is composed exclusively of students who are non-music majors -but don't let that scare you off. The program includes Charles Ives' "Circus Band," as well as pieces by Aaron Copland and Irving Fine, among others.- The idea is to show some of the diversity of American music," RarIin said. And diversity they'll' give, not to mention accessibility.' One of the pieces, "Frostiana," by Randall Thompson, is based on texs by Robert Frost; you can't' get much more American than that. Love it or leave it. Admis- sion is free and showtine is 8 p.m. Call 763-5460 for informa- tion. the next Allen wretch We're glad to hear that at least one University grad has a job. Comedian Eric Champnella, a 1988 graduate of the Communi- cations department, makes his iumphant return to campus Wednesday with a show at the U-, flub. He's been seen recently on MTV, A&E and the late-night filler "Roggin's Heroes"; bigger, Tim-Allenesque things are sure to follow. Showtime is 10 p.m., tickets are $3. Call 763-1107 for ?ifonnation. by Alison Levy It seems as though whodunit thrillers are on the rise lately. "Traces of Red" is the latest entry in the batch. The movie starts out slow and has some major flaws, but in its second half, "Traces of Red" turns out to be a sneaky suspense film with lots of surprises. For those who can ignore the gaps and hold on until the second half, the movie is two hours of sun-drenched mind candy. OK, here is the briefest synopsis I could provide on this very confusing film. It begins with dead Palm Beach homicide cop, Jack Dobson (Jim Belushi) narrat- ing the story of his death, as he lies, a corpse, on a surf- board. "Sunset Boulevard" anyone? Anyway, Jack is receiving death threats from some- one he's hurt, always sealed with a kiss. So he and his partner Steve (Tony Goldwyn) lock up the stalker right away. Problems arise when a beautiful waitress with whom Dobson had a one-night stand wakes up dead, butt-nekked, with red lipstick all over her mouth. Traces of Red Directed and written by Andy Wolk; with Jim Belushi, Tony Goldwyn and Lorraine Bracco. Ooooo! Still with me? The catch is that Jack is also sleeping with jealous black widow, Helen Schofield (Lorraine Bracco). Let's get to script problems. Three words: overkill, overkill, overkill. First of all, this film is a giant sex- fest. It's like a home-made porn, but at least skin flicks aren't pretentious enough to attempt a plot. Jim Belushi has affairs with at least two women at the same time and there become hints of several more. (Yes, this must be a movie.) Senator Dobson is sleeping with all of Jack's squeezes and several campaign volunteers. Even Tony Goldwyn ("Ghost") cheats on his see-through- dress, thong-wearing angel of a wife, Beth. No wonder lelen walks around in just a bra all the time; she's too busy hopping in and out of everyone's bed to put on a shirt. Next, absolutely everyone becomes a suspect. By the time the twentieth suspect is named, the audience starts laughing because it's just too much. Also one of the main points in the film is that the lipstick on all the vic- tims is Yves Saint Laurent Ruby Red. And, it just so happens that every woman in Palm Beach - make that Southern Florida - owns a tube or two. Please. I have spent many an afternoon in Hudson's make-up depart- ment, searching endlessly for the perfect shade of red to complement my complexion, hair color, life-style, etc. There is absolutely no way in hell that YSL Ruby Red Jim Belushi is boring and wishy- washy as Jack. Personal note to Jim: try to make it look real. His flirting sounds like bad jokes from the Improv. is the exact match for every female in Palm Beach or that they just casually breeze up to the counter and say: Just give me red. Any red. This is where Donald and Ivana used to live for God's sake. Jim Belushi is boring and wishy-washy as Jack. Personal note to Jim: try to make it look real. His flirt- ing sounds like bad jokes from the Improv. Jim: "I've gotta go baby, I've got to be in court." Morgan: "Did you break the law?" Hee Hee. Morgan: "I'm stealing your shirt." Jim: "Hey, you're under arrest! Stop it! Stop it!" IHis brother John would be so disappointed. Tony Goldwyn actually does a good job portraying mid-life crisis Steve. His performance is even and he carries over a lot of sweet-sleaziness from his "Ghost" character. (Do you think the fact that the film was made by his grandfather's studio had anything to do with him getting the part? Just wondering.) The most depressing performance is Bracco's. 11er voice just doesn't seem to fit in the sunshine culture, and her flat character is only concerned with sleeping with everyone in town. She is more comical than seductive. Despite these problems, "Traces of Red" actually got to be entertaining half way through. The last act is excit- ing and you'll never really know who did it, even though you always think you do. There are two endings and the picture would have been pretty nice if they stopped with the first one which is a major surprise. The second one is a little too neat and contrived. TRACES OF RED is playing at Showcase. Grave You'll Never See... Century Media I don't know much about death- metal, but I can tell you that Grave's version did nothing to inspire my further exploration into this genre. Grave becomes annoyingly repeti- tive as it attempts on eight songs to scare the crap out of us. Is this singer using a voice-distorter, or does the poor guy just sound like Freddy Krueger naturally? And what does this guitarist think he's doing? The main objective seems to be play as hard and fast as possible. Oh, never mind how it sounds. Death is a common theme of the album, with songs like "Morbid Way to Die," "Severing Flesh," and "Brutally Deceased." Basically, if you've heard one Grave song, you've heard them all. If you've heard Grave, my condolences. -Kristen Knudsen The Supersuckers The Smoke of Hell Sub Pop Now that post-punk (not to men- tion punk itself) has become a lethargic medium of testy old men (read late 20s, early 30s), another savior comes from Arizona. Sub' Pop's latest next big thing has to be the Supersuckers, a band that re-en- ." ergizes the "underground"'s long ' drained batteries. Remember what it was like to , hear the Ramones, or 'the Dead Kennedys, even Soul Asylum for the first time ? The Supersuckers have captured the essence of the brief, breathless punk tune, while remem- bering humor is essential for the ; bite. Song titles like "Ron's Got the.. Cocaine," "Sweet 'N' Sour Jesus," and "Alone and Stinking," even the Stray Cats parody song "Hell City, Hell," give "The Smoke of Hell" a Cramps-ish campyness. All in all, "The Smoke of Hell" seems too short - mostly because it covers 14 songs in under 28 minute - leaving you. wanting more crunchin' chords and crusty words, Now name how many other current$ releases actually seem too brief. Exactly. -Annette Petruso Ugh, another Next Big Sub Pop Thing? With The Supersuckers, believe it. Y , Gillian Gaar's 'Rebel' without a point . *,. by Annette Petruso "She's a Rebel" reminds me of this summer's smash movie "A League of Their Own." I was a seri- ous baseball fanatic as a kid, and this obsession was surpassed only by my enthusiasm for rock music. But like "A League of Their Own," Gillian Gaar's history of women in popular music disappoints. The book does little more than chronicle the fact that women exist in every facet of the music industry from making the music, to working in the studio, on the road and in the record company, and so on. This isn't to say the fact that women have been so thoroughly in- volved in the business - yet in so few numbers or with little recogni- tion - isn't important. It's just that "She's A Rebel" doesn't go beyond the cataloguing of dates of personali- ties: the lists of everyone's real name, date of birth, a bit of back- ground, and how they got involved in music drag the book into a mire of information rather than analysis. To be fair, the last quarter of the book which deals with contemporary artists, engineers, light designers, managers, etc. picks up because Gaar doesn't feel obligated to dwell on who these women were - she seems to assume we are more famil- iar with them. She does expand her basis to include choppy discussions of sexism and being a woman in such a male-dominated industry. Still, for all her thoroughness Gaar says little, for example, about rock journalists; Celia Farber of Spin is the only named source, and hardly typical. She also belittles publicists, referring to the position as the only one women dominate, instead of looking at their contribu- tions as a positive stronghold. She mostly quotes publicists who broke out of record companies and started ouui n~ii., jucJU 1' 11 \'olrun teers are needed b1w the I fliVCIritV o - 434-I) L R\1 \Iondav - lridav 8:{O a.m. Cu 5:0(1 p.m. - ___ Unversity of Michigan - = = Medica Center their own firms. In this sense, Gaar1 seems to have an agenda to match her format: prove that women are' She's a Rebel: The History of Women a in Rock & Roll Gillian G. Gaar Seal Press -, present, always have been in some way or another, but mostly held down in powerless positions. "She's a Rebel" could have been more than an encyclopedia of women in rock and what they do. It could have been an insightful jour= ney through time, using the- contributions and positions of women as a springboard for greate understanding of where women in music are today. "She's a Rebel" got only halfway there. SWEATERS SWEATERS SWEATERS Sweaters ALPACA Sweaters HANDKNIT Sweaters FISHERMANKNIT Sweaters COTTON Sweaters WOOL Sweaters COLORFUL With Every Purchase of a HANDKNIT SWEATER At our LOW LOW prices 1 FREE PAIR OF HANDKNIT GLOVES FROM TURKEY OR AFGHANISTAN with Student ID ELLE SILVER FOX 21 1 S. State Ann Arbor, MI 3 13-741-0555 Ann Arbor's Largest Selection of Sterling Silver Jewelry at affordable prices ~0 ON SALE TODAY ONLY!! 8:30 AM - 9PM CROATIA Continued from page 5 Several of the posters express a message of Croatia seeking help; for instance, in one created by the artist Ranko Novak, the letters "S.O.S." catch the viewer's eye. Strengthen- ing the impact of the artist's plea for help is the familiar red and white checked pattern (symbol for the shield of Croatia) that seems to be bleeding. Another poster sending a similar message was designed by Nenad Dogan, and it features the words "Help Croatia while there's still time" imprinted over the image of a morgue. Another poster, which was de- signed for a TV spot, chronicles the evolution of Croatia from 1990 to 1992. As an image for Croatia 1990, the artist placed two red squares in the "o," symbolizing the ruling democratic party that was elected in that year. Croatia 1991 looks as if blood is spilling out of it, signifyin the bloodshed and loss of the war. For 1992, the "o" is replaced by circle of yellow stars which refers to the European Community, indicating hopes for the future. Panich explained why she orga= nized this event. "(It was) because of my own conscience," she said. 10 think that every person should pay his or her dues to the nation ... .I cannot say that I was not affected by the war, but on the other hand when I think of these people who are sit- ting in refugee camps with no money, no food, and no place to go, I realize how lucky I am." THE CROATIAN WAR POSTERS EXHIBIT is one of many events in-9 cluded in "Reflections on Croatia; Croatian War Posters Exhibit and Workshops on Croatian Heritage" which will run from November 12 tq December 11. 'I t s THE LONG AWAITED NEW CD FROM ICE CUBE 11.79 or less WE GUARANTEE LOWEST PRICES!! -;I _,- l I, r