$ . t .1 .p :: : : $ . .ir e 's ? 1.~v a 2 ThMchgn aiy ,Tusa, Ocober Cheap portrayal elacks heroic themes By ALEXANDRA TWIN Heroes. Who can agree on how to define them? They come in all shapes (Barney) and sizes (Herve Villachez). Theycome frompoverty (JackKerouac) and from wealth (Edith Wharton). They come from all walks of life (hustler, soldier, movie star). They are famous (Bette Davis), and infamous (Al Capone). They are overlooked (Hal Hartley), and they should be overlooked (Bruce Willis). Regardless of your personal preferences, all heroes are relevant and inspiring o someone, no matter who they are and all deserve recognition. Yet, differing degrees of heroism require differing de- rees of acknowledgment. Some require Rudy two to three hour film epics made out of Directed by David Anspaugh; their lives (Malcolm X), some don't written by Angelo Pizzo; with Sean Rudy). Astin, Ned Beatty, Charles S. Dutton This is not to say that Daniel "Rudy" tuttieger, a small, big-dreaming, not very talented athlete, who pulled him- self up from the trenches and made it both into Notre Dame and onto its elebrated football team atalater age than most, isnotdeserving ofourrespect, admiration and patronage. This is not to say that Rudy's contribution to college football wasn't significant to many, particularly as a result of his unusual last game of the season experience. This is not to say that Rudy isn't "special." But, come on, there are a lot of "special" people, a lot of guys who worked their way through college and came out o.k. Are we to have two hour epics about all of them? "Pete," "Jim," "Ned," "Bob," "Yohann." This could literally go on indefinitely. It doesn't help the participants, or the alleged legend of Rudy, for that atter, that they are given both such a lousy script and such a lousy lead actor. ean Astin, who plays the title character, is this week's recipient of the Keanu Reeves award for consistently shitty on-screen acting. So he can muster up a tear or two. Big deal. He is as deep and emotive as a clump of watery tofu, and about as appealing. The rest of the cast manages not to embarrass themselves, even when uttering lines as banal as "You were born to wear that (Notre Dame) jacket," or "Don't give up, Rudy!" Particularly good are Ned Beatty, as his mill- working dad Daniel, Lili Taylor, as his girlfriend Sherry and Charles S. Dutton as Fortune, a man'who guides and befriends the tenacious, yet somewhat clueless Rudy, once he gets to school. * Yet, good supporting actors are not enough to save a film. Nor is it sufficient to hope that blaring, surging opera music will cover up hopelessly cliche dialogue and sentiments. The real Rudy may be a hero, but there's nothing heroic in this cheap and overdone portrayal of his life. Here's hoping that his legend both outlives and crushes this film's dubious box-office duration. Judging from the size of the audience, it shouldn't be a problem. "Vs.," the new album from Pearl Jam has some disappointing moments, but overall, Eddie Vedder and company still sound pretty dam good. PeVarl Jam's s. overcomes weaesses RUDY is playing at Showcase. fim Rose Circus Sideshow Jim Rose Circus Sideshow Video American Recordings Ranging from the silly (eating bugs) to the disgusting (lifting con- crete blocks with nipples), the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow is a pleasingly *ifferent from the mindless drivel people are generally required to un- derstand as the substance of a circus. An independent freak show, it travels to clubs and its performers amaze audiences with their feats of pain and humiliation while the Enigma plays eerie, tinkling carnival music on a synthesizer. While fairly well-known because f their spot on the second stage of ollapalooza '92, therehaspreviously been a noticeable lack of recordings of them. This video corrects this trag- edy. Presented are the five staple per- formers of the Sideshow: Jim Rose, Mr. Lifto, Torture King, Enigma and Matt "the Tube" Crowley. Each has their special way of inflicting pain on inself. Rose puts his face in glass, ifto lifts heavy things with hispierced body parts, Torture King shoves a meat skewer through his cheeks, Enigma swallows swords and Crowley puts a tube into his stomach, injects then sucks out a vile concoc- tion of beer, ketchup, Peptoandchoco- late sauce. Ah, the suffering! The backdrop of twisted carnival music and crazy fans simply adds to the #eird display. There is something unspeakably basic about the human desire to view suffering; this is a good place to view it. - Ted Watts iceburn Hephaestus Revelation 0 Could Utah be the next Seattle? Probably not, but grunge ain't dead yetfolks! In fact, if this SaltLake City based outfit continues in this bizarre direction, it might expand the genre. Straight off the label run by John Porcell from the legendarv Youth of comparisons will be forthcoming, their original compositional style should attract some attention. Iceburn works best when it teeters on con- trolled madness. To document the twists and turns that this record takes would be impossible, so let's just say they're the Mr. Bungle of grunge. j Iceburn's compositions are origi- nal, but the overall moods of many of the parts are often reminiscent of Fudge Tunnel, Helmet and Primus. The lyrics, which are belched out by singer/guitaristGentry Densley, take aback seatto themusic andrightly so; they are poorly sung and either in- comprehensible or too "deep." This band sounds young and undoubtedly has not achieved their potential. How- ever, if you have an open mind and you'd like to hear something new and interesting, it's worth a shot. -Gianluca Montalti Dave Hole Working Overtime Alligator Records Contemporary blues fanatics, put down your Eric Clapton and Jirni Hendrix CDs for a minute. "Working Overtime", a screeching, whining slide-guitar creation from Dave Hole, demands attention from blues aficio- nados and guitar theorists alike. Hole, entering the arena of genu- ine honest-to-goodness blues music, has some enormous shoes to fill. Fol- lowing in the footsteps of traditional blues greats such as Blind Willie Johnson, Elmore James and Muddy Waters (he even covers Waters' "I Can'tbe Satisfied"),Holemerges rock and blues elements, a combination which exemplifies the modern blues movement, characterized by bluesmen such as Jimi Hendrix and, more re- cently, Stevie Ray Vaughan. In "Working Overtime," he dif- ferentiates himself from these giants with his screeching slide guitar tech- nique. However, that's where the dif- ferences end. He rarely strays beyond traditional 12-barblues theory, which, although it is the essence of blues, can become monotonous. While it is rare that blues lyrics venture beyond generic, plebeian themes Hole dnesn't even make an By TOM ERLEWINE Nirvana may have broken open the doors to the mainstream for alternative bands, but Pearl Jam made the music mainstream. With their clean, riff-oriented hard-rock, Pearl Jam had a sound that appealed to a broader base. And they have a Pearl Jam Vs. Epic Associated dynamically charismatic energetic frontman in Eddie Vedder. Without Vedder, Pearl Jam would never have achieved their success - he is the focal point for the band's occasionally meander- ing grooves. Paradoxically, Vedder's lyrics were not the driving force of the songs on "Ten;" on most of the tracks, he added his vocals and lyrics to pre-existing backing tracks. Combined, the music and vocals had an unstoppable force that connected with a wide audience. Because of the album's monster success, Vedder was viewed by the media as a new rock messiah, on the level of Bono or Pete Townshend - someone who could change the world. But the simple fact was, most Pearl Jam's audience couldn't care less about what Vedder was actually saying, all they cared about was the sound of the record. Why else would Stone Temple Pilots, a thoroughly medio- cre band by any measure, sell millions of records with the catchy, banal Pearl Jam rip-off "Plush?" The Top Forty audience is hungry for the sound of "Ten," not the message. Still, Vedder is fighting success, convinced the fans also view him as a god. Quite frankly, the rest of the band doesn't seemed bothered by their success. Yet it tears at Vedder, who has always considered himself a punk rocker. It is an act of denial on his part, because Pearl Jam has always been an original yet conventional hard-rock band, working off of the sound and structure of arena- rock; it was Vedder's angst and anger that made them an alternative rock band. While their second album, "Vs.," isn't as explicitly cynical or de- manding as Nirvana's "In Utero," it is clear that Pearl Jam (and Vedder in particular) are question- ing the roots of their success and asking their fans to follow them into unfamiliar territory. "Vs." veers away from the murkily elegant guitars of "Ten," preferring punchier, brutal chords to the big riffs of their debut album. "Go," "Ani- mal," "Blood" and "Leash" are throttling in their intensity, harder and more savage than anything the band has recorded before; the ballads are strong, highlighted with folkier guitars and mes- sages. Where the album starts to falter is during long, politically-oriented rants such as the mean- dering "W.M.A." and the silly anti-hand gun anthem, "Glorified G." Occasionally, Vedder's lyrics leave out important details, robbing such songs as "Indifference" and "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" of their potential power. Such lapses strengthen the im- pact of "Daughter," "Animal," "Dissident" and the stunning "Rearviewmirror." Even though it is an accomplished, exciting album with a number of high points, "Vs." is bound to disappoint many fans of "Ten." By and large, Pearl Jam has abandoned the big rock & roll of their debut for a brighter, rawer sound. It doesn't sound like a different band; all of their trademark musical elements - the loping fretless bass, free-form guitar jams and riffs, Vedder's fiery vocals - are out in full force. Some of the experimentation falls flat and some of the hooks and melodies are slightly below par - there is nothing that carries the sheer weight of "Black," "Evenflow," "Alive" or "Jeremy." Yet the album stands as a cohesive whole, with many satisfying songs and moments. "Vs." is a transitional album, with the band trying to see if they can indeed fulfill their fans' expectations as well as their own. And the best moments on "Vs." -"Daughter," "Ani- mal," "Dissident," "Go," "Leash" and "Rearviewmirror" - prove that they can. Debt: Poems Mark Levine William Morrow If incoherence and sustained con- fusion are tenets of modern poetry, Mark Levine may be the Robert Frost of the '90s. In "Debt," Levine's first full-length poetry collection, the poet sparks up a few good fires, but he often loses the reader in the smolder- ing ashes of his bizarre poems. Levine's poetics achieve the best results when he writes of his Jewish background. In the poem "Occupied Territory," he writes, "I'm looking for remains. A body. I'm looking for bodies." This seems to be his thesis in the section of poems about his heri- tage. Levine is looking for the re- mains of the Holocaust, looking for what's left of what he identifies as being Jewish. Levine suggests that being Jewish is no less condemned than it was in the days of Hitler. "Each of us holds / the other's starred birth papers. / My God, what we've got on each other" closes the poem, "Notes on the Pyramids (II)." These poems ring true with the authority of some- one who knows all too well the sub- ject about which he writes. The other poems are generally in- coherent, though Levine does create some startlingly original images. He tells how his "daughters grow preg- nant like envelopes," and describes a man as "once trigger-happy; now, a as our reflections." This line conveys a powerful image that gives the reader pause for consideration. But the next lines read, "like people gripping the wing of an airplane / waiting for the airplane to stop." From one line to the next, Levine shifts from the poetic to the pedestrian, able to hit great image or line, but seemingly unable to main- tain it. Levine also lights up his poems with some terrific dead-pan humor.. In "Intervention," he writes, "I am, at bare minimum, a two-headed mon- ster." The problem is that whi!- this line is funny taken by itself, the con- text in which it appears makes it seem more like a plea to the reader to go along with the senseless mess of poem that the line inhabits. In "Warrant," Levine tells the reader that "Everything sounds the same / when it burns, like newsprint, like the telephone book..." This anal- ogy works in the poem, but fails to describe Levine's poems as a collec- tion. The Jewish heritage poems and a few others burst into fiery light on the page and draw the reader in. Un- fortunately the other poems leave the reader wondering why these great images and lines of humor were left smoking on a pile of otherwise un- burned lines. -- Matthew Thorburn SeinIaniuage after him on NBC. Seinfeld plays a limited role in the show as a stand-up comedian, but his co-stars - Jason Alexander (George), Julia-Louise Dreyfus (Elaine) and Mike Richards (Kramer) - have helped make the show a success. His new book, however, has abso- lutely nothing to do with the televi- sion show. Instead, "Seinlanguage" is entirely about Jerry Seinfeld and his comic mind. It offers a chance to focus on Seinfeld's own talents and to see exactly how funny he can be. The result is a hilarious look at life and everyday situations with which ev- eryone can identify. "Seinlanguage" consists of hun- dreds of short stand-up routines used by Seinfeld in concert and at the be- ginning of his television shows. The routines deal with relationships, en- tertainment, travel, sex and all sorts of aspects of the human existence. Of course, Seinfeld's unique blend of sarcasm and insight make for excel- lent laughs. For example, in the sec- tion on friends, Seinfeld writes, "My See BOOKS, Page 8 I Im