MT - M - t _. - E1..r _ QOtte mtcirn u Jw a tu Spring Is sprung and sung Spring is here, and the Arts Chorale will be celebrating tonight with a free performance at Hill Auditorium. Conductor Jonathan Hirsh will be leading the group through the two part show.. The first half will feature "Dies lrae" by early Baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Lully. The second half of the program will be the "Requiem"' by Maurice Durufle, a twenftieth century French composer. Throw on your spring clothes and come check them out! Page 5" Wednesday, March 29, 5995 i 'Exotica' is the ultimate tease March 29. 1995 By Michael Zilbemitan SDaily Arts Writer The title makes it look like the latest "Emmanuelle" installment. it's being ludicrously mismarketed as a sex thriller; people are already asking for tickets to "Erotica," which is a bad sign indeed. In reality, "Ex- otica" is a neo-noir study of loneli- ness and repression from the Cana- dian writer-director Atom Egoyan, whose previous work includes such 10 films as "The Adjuster," a story of a ,porn-obsessed censor, and the Ar- menian-shot "Calendar". While this particular offering, distributed by Miramax, might not make Egoyan a household name, its art-house ap- peal is undeniable. The action in "Exotica" is confined to a couple of sets, the principal being Exotica itself - a eseedy, yet oddly respectable strip bar specializing in table dancing. The slowly unspooling story cen- ters on one frequent visitor, Francis (Bruce Greenwood). Francis, a middle-aged tax auditor, struggles with the loss of his wife and daugh- ter by desperately shifting his fa- therly instincts to people surround- ing -him: Tracey (Sarah Polley, a dead ringer for an adolescent Uma *Thurman), a babysitter he still pays Tempest to spend time in the empty house, and ultimately table dancer Chris- tina (Mia Kirshner of the criminally Exotic ~Pzrctedby Atom Egoyan, with Bruce Greenwood an Mia Kirshne At Showcas underrated "Murder In The First"). Christina's dance is an exact reen- actment of vaguely incestuous fan- tasies Francis is hooked on reliving over and over: She appears on the stage dressed up as a Catholic school- girl, and her movements, choreo- graphed to Leonard Cohen's "Every- body Knows," are full of studied pseudo-adolescent awkward daring. Egoyan is a polite, patient voyeur: the film eventually allows a peek into Francis' grim private world, but not before presenting us, in Altman's tra- dition, with a slew of marginal char- acters. Among them, are sinister club DJ Eric (Elias Koteas), who looks like Trent Reznor impersonating Ed Sullivan, Exotica's pregnant man- ager Zoe, and pet store owner Tho- mas, all crucial to the plot at one point or another. If this doesn't sound like the stuff crossover hits are made of, it probably isn't. Egoyan's trademark narrative techniques further compli- cate the story, turning it from a moral- ity fable into an intricate puzzle. Now you know the technique of playing with the structure is big when a film like "The Jerky Boys" is told in a series of flashbacks, but few authors possess an ability to weave their tales as strangely and graciously as Egoyan. Barthes once wrote in his "Mytholo- gies," "Striptease.., is based on a con- tradiction: woman is desexualized at the very moment she is stripped na- ked." Egoyan knows it, and applies this reasoning to the story itself. The plot of "Exotica" unfolds tantaliz- ingly slowly, in unpredictable little jumps, and when some loose ends are left, they're not perceived as flaws: A stripper's G-string unavoidably stays in its place not because she forgets it's there. In some sense, the story's in- completeness becomes its dramatic high point. The general morals of "Ex- otica" have a lot in common with those of "sex, lies and videotape": a strip club is viewed as a microcosm of the world where people would rather imagine sex than have it. The para- 'Exotica' provides a good look at the seamy underbelly of life. doxical nature of the "look, don't touch" policy, in Egoyan's eyes, re- flects the most terrifying of modern tendencies: people distancing them- selves from each other via mediated images and carefully preserved fanta- sies, The movie has its flaws. At times, characters' paths are crossed just for the sake of further plot com- plication, and there's a gay subplot of questionable, relevance. The ending disappoints on the most primitive level - the entire movie was spent build- ing up to it, so something just has to blow up. As with any good tease, the movie denies us this orgasmic release of tension. But it's there, in the last reel, where "°Exotica"'s main pecu- liarity becomes its main flaw - the movie starts to look like a brilliantly calculated intellectual come-on. As a saying attributed to Chekhov goes, if there's a rifle on a wall in Act One, it must be used by Act Three. "Exotica" introduces an actual gun in its first ten minutes but the shots never follow. -_ Razor & Tie presents R&B res's mixes * orrison, mandol..ins By $heila Wisely For the Daily "Probably the trippiest show yoj' ll see all year," said director Pete Fletcher describing his Base- ment Arts production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest," run- ning this weekend at the Arena The- atre. Through this performance, Fletcher, along with assistant direc- tor Karina Miller, attempts to merge music with theater in creating a "brave new world" where no direc- tor has gone before. A bit ambi- tious? Perhaps. But unattainable - *:definitely not. "It was something that Jim Morrison dreamed about doing," re- marked Fletcher. "You can invoke certain ideas, open up new doors of possibilities - of imagination - with music and with words. Sepa- rate, they're strong, but together, they're even more powerful." In having musical accompani- ment with the University professor 0 Bert Cardullo/James Gardner adap- tation of Shakespeare's script, Fletcher hopes to conjure images that will inspire audiences to think beyond what is put in front of them. Morrison learned that he could ap- peal to certain emotions in his audi- ences with this combination that neither poetry nor music could 'alone. ...Fletcher hopes to achieve a similar effect, but at the same time, maintains that this is not a mod- #ernization of the classic play. "We're taking the myths of the ages," he said, "and I have given (the actors) the bounds that liter- ally anything is possible, staying in the fact that I want them to communicate a message with what By Tom Erlewlne Daily Arts Editor With their recentR&B and soul com- pilations, Razor & Tie have cemented their status as one of the finest reissue labels in the country. What makes their recent discs so impressive is the fact that they have picked a set of important, yet neglected, artists (King Curtis, Don Covay, James Carr) and have given them their proper due. Of these three artists, King Curtis is the most widely-known, as well as the most widely-heard. King Curtis nearly defined rock 'n' roll and R&B saxophone in the '50s and '60s, as well as being afluentjazz player. As a session man, he performed on a literally innumerable amount of records, including theCoasters' "Yakety Yak"and ClydeMcPhatter's "ALover's Question." As a composer, he co-wrote the graceful "Soul Serenade" and Buddy Holly's "Reminiscing." By the end of the '60s, he became a star in his own right with his sweaty, soulful instrumentals. KingCurtis' career was going full-speed when he was stabbed to death in 1971. "Instant Soul: The Legendary King Curtis" illustrates how significant that loss was. For the farst time, the most essential solo tracks that King Curtis cut throughout his career are collected on one disc; the 23 tracks show the saxophonist's wide stylistic range, as well as his astonishing technique and vi- brant musical ideas. It's a long over-due tribute to a master of the sax. While his music was never as popular as King Curtis', soul singer James Carr was also a master of his craft. Carwas a powerful Southern soul singer with as much sheer vocal talent as Otis Redding; his recordings for Goldwax in the late '60s showcase a vocalist that could cry and shout with as much emotion as any other singer, regardless of genre. But where Redding was a phenomenally gifted songwriter, Carr never wrote a song- his talent lay simply in his voice, which left him dependent on the quality of his mate- rial. Two of his songs have become pop - E King Curtis The Legendary King Curtis James Carr The Essential Jamnes C'arr Don Covay Mercy Mercy.' The Definitive Don Covay Razor and Tie classics: "The Dark End of the Street" and "Pouring Water on A Drowning Man." Hundreds of artists have recorded these songs, yet Carr's versions remain definitive. Sadly, they were also among the most obscure, since Carr' s material has been out of print in America for years. "The Essential James Carr" is the first domestic disc of his materi al and it lives up to its title. Not all of the songs on the disc are first-rate, yet each one features a searing vocal from Carr. Without a doubt, he is the great lost soul singer. Similarly, Don Covay has been ne- glected by history and reissue labels. Con- sidering the strength of the 23 songs on "Mercy Mercy: The Definitive Don Covay," that oversight is nothing short of appalling. Covay was an R&P songwriter ofgreattalent; with his partnerJohn Berry, they wrotehitsforChubby Checker("Pony Time"), Little Richard ("I Don't Know What You've Got But It's Got Me"), Wilson Pickett and Fabian. Yet his best songs-thebbistering"BipBopBop"and the wonderful, gorgeous "Mercy Mercy" - he recorded himself. As a vocalist, Covay could croon, shout and rock - he could do it all. As a matter of fact, his singing was a major influence on Mick Jagger (the Rolling Stones recorded "Mercy Mercy" a year after it was re- leased). Covay never had that many hits, yet he managed to make the transition into the early '70s with the lush, soulful "I Was Checkin' Out While She Was Checkin' In." Over the years his reputation among R&B devotees has grown and this collec- tion should continue to expand his audi- ence; any fan of R&B and soul will find much to treasure here. Although the wait for these three reis- sues was inexcusably long, the results were well worth it - this music is time- less. If you have a strong 1 piano background, you are invited to audition to learn to play the BELLS3 Burton Tower for the 1I fail term Callifor an appointment 764-2539 they're doing ... to show people that Shakespeare speaks to them." Fletcher said that Shakespeare has spoken to him by giving him "so many insights on how to deal with emotions and the complexi- ties of life," and wishes his audi- ences to share in those insights while having a little fun as well. A BFA Theatre junior, Fletcher is making his directorial debut with this production. However, he is no stranger to the combination of music and Shakespeare. He appeared in a production of "Macbeth" which experimented with the convergence of the two, and later worked as musical di- rector in John Russell-Brown's production of "King Lear," after which he began attempting this approach in his own work. Now in his own project, Fletcher is taking the approach full scale. "The Tempest" will in- clude a wide variety of sounds, from live instruments such as the guitar, mandolin and flute to re- corded music. Even the African drummers whom we all know and love from Friday afternoons on the Diag will take part in the per- formance. So for all of you who've been looking for some trippy Shakespeare with a Jim Morrison slant to help make that mental transition from term paper writing to hash-bashing this weekend, look no further. Fletcher's "The Tempest" just may prove to be "the trippiest show you'll see all year." READ ~. BTTERNATE THAN NVER I l l'/ l 13l' AAl171 "T w w