8A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 26, 1996 Lackluster'Twirling'no showdown By Eugene Bowen Daily Arts Writer When it comes to step shows, each historically black fraternity has ele- ments unique to that brotherhood. The Alphas have their golden bricks; the Q-Dogs have their barks and growls. Yet, when it comes to step-show props, perhaps none is more recogniz- able than the red-and-white canes uti- lized by members of Kappa Alpha Psi. About half the size of a normal cane, these brightly colored sticks give the "Nupes" a chance to either prove their untouchable agility or earn the humili- ation of having dropped too many canes. Saturday, seven individual Nupes and one Kappa duo competed against one another before a crowd of some 200 in the first annual "Kane (sic) Twirling Showdown." Shawn Reynolds and an unidenti- fied Kappa, both from Wayne State University, were first. Unfortunately, the first cane fell in the first minute. The duo recovered well with their vari- REVIEW - Kane 'twirling Showdown Michigan Union Ballroom Feb. 24., 1996 ous cane switches, but the error of re- peated cane drops was never completely cured. Iroc, from Grand Valley's Eta Tau chapter, put on one of the best shows of the night. Grooving to Kriss Kross' "Tonight's the Night," he was a master of cane spins, leg splits and body slides. With only two misses, Iroc put himself in a great position for victory. He did get a little competition from Breed Love (Gamma Beta chapter, Western Michi- gan) whose cane twirlings weren't all that but whose semi-strip show guaran- teed him a few extra votes. Omar Hall's (Gamma Sigma, Uni- versity of Arkansas) silky movement dominated his performance. He earned great props for his over-and-back-thrice neck control with the cane. Unfortu- nately, an unexpected arrival cut his show short. University Sigma-chapter Kappa Hillary had a highly relaxed feel in his segment. Unfortunately, his routine was filled with more twirls than throws, and this lowered his chances for victory. Nothing, however, could compare to what happened when Shannon Rembert (Eta Eta, GMI) competed. His cane- twirling was among the best of the night, but his throwing attempts were hit - literally. He couldn't catch one cane he threw in the air, and later the cane slipped out of his grasp and smashed into a woman in the crowd. When Cedric Steele (Delta Nu, East- ern Michigan) walked up blindfolded, the crowd spread out considerably. But Steele was no amateur, and he knew how to handle his cane. He showed a level of twirling speed and finesse that his competitors couldn't touch. With only two cane drops, Steele earned his respect. Which is more than can be said for the "Kane Twirling Showdown" as a whole. While it had its moments, the event was a letdown. Though it was supposed to start at midnight, it began almost an hour late. And it lasted barely 30 minutes. At a cost of $3 - that's 10 cents perminute ofcompetition-those who paid to watch were overcharged. There are Kappas out there who can put on a cane show out of this world. Sadly, none of them competed Satur- day night. A few showed hints of ability, but the result of their combined efforts was subpar, even if given the kind of curves physics 140 students receive on tests. It was nice being among all the black students seeking to squeeze whatever enjoyment was to be found in the com- petition, but in looking back, a night alone with Letterman seemed like the better choice. "Why are you so mad? All I did was adobo the chicken." 'Mary Rely spnms an old stor new By Kristen Okosky Daily Arts Writer Even if you've never read or seen a version, the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is enough a part of our popular culture that you probably already know it. "Mary Reilly" offers this familiar tale with a twist. At the start, Dr. Jekyll has completed his greatest experiment - a cure for his E REVIEW Mary Reilly Directed by Stephen Frears with John Malkovich and Julia Roberts At Briarwood and Showcase sick, divided nature that turns him into two separate people (representing the duality of human nature) - the intelli- gent, reserved doctor and his uncontrol- lable, violent assistant, Mr. Hyde. The story is presented through his maid, Mary. As she gradually gets drawn in, she uncovers his secret and is forced to share in his frightening experience. The film is interesting and unexpected. It has little of the gore or dramatic special effects that characterize horror remakes. Instead, it has a quiet, introverted terror. Filmmakers keep the familiar plot interesting by interweaving it with Mary's life and childhood memories of her father's sexual abuse. The stories provide nice parallels of the disturbing capacities of the human personality. Technique keeps the story visually en- gaging. Dark passageways, dead animals and disjointed body parts are symbols that give an ominous, unsettling feel to the film. I haven't read the novel by Valerie Martin, so I don't know if it is an adaptation of the literary symbolism, but it's very cinematically effective. The cinematography is moody with dark lighting and washed-out blue and brown tones. The film has a gritty dreari- ness rather than a glamorous, polished look that fits the sad, hopeless plot line. John Malkovich plays both Jekyll and Hyde. It's a little hard to buy that none of the servants can tell Hyde is really Jekyll with different hair. Pre- sumably, they have worked for him for years, while we, as viewers, can figure out the secret in five minutes. Oh well, suspension of disbelief and all that. Yet, with Malkovich as incredible as he is, it's a bonus to have him play m* than one role. As far as I'm concerned, he can play the whole cast, including Julia Roberts (Does anybody mind if I just refer to her as the lucky bitch who gets to date Chandler?). Actually, in all fairness, she is really good, too. It's nice to see her with a part that lets her capitalize on her acting skills instead of just her looks. Glenn Close also puts in an appearance as Mrs. Farraday, madame of the loc t brothel. I couldn'thelpwishingtheywouW forget themselves and accidentally launch into a scene from "Dangerous Liaisons," but, unfortunately, she and Malkovich don't interact very much. The film's only weakness is when it becomes a love story. The victimized servant girl drawn to the violent sexuality ofher master is a little old and, personally, doesn't do much for me. Luckily, it's not overdone, .and characters and the story have enou layers to keep the viewer involved. This new version of the old story definitely has something to offer. A competitor juggles canes at the Twirling Showdown WALKER VAN DYKE/Daily Jonny Polonsky Hi My Name Is Jonny American Records Jonny Polonsky is the 22-year-old protege of weird-pop genius Frank Black. Apparently, Polonsky inundated his idol Black with his tapes until Black listened to them. It worked: Black liked the tapes enough not only to get Polonsky a record deal with Black's new label American, but enough to also produce Polonsky's debut "Hi My Name Is Jonny." The result is a cute power-pop al- bum that shows that Black has good taste in fans. Like a more straightforward ver- sion of Black himself, or a grittier They Might Be Giants, Jonny Polonsky's sound is based on chug- ging guitars, noodling keyboards and power chords as well as power cho- ruses. Silly as the songs can be (titles like "Truly Ugly and Dead Too" indi- cate that this album isn't exactly mu- sical rocket science), Polonsky's love songs "Love Lovely Love" and "In My Mind" are genuinely affecting, as much for their tight songwriting as they are for Polonsky's youthful en- thusiasm. Polonsky walks the thin line between goofy fun and inanity with the greatest of ease on his debut album. "Gone Away" and "Half Mind" are instantly catchy but not annoying, and "I Don't Know What to Dream at Night" not only has a wonderful title but a fun, thrashy sound. Fans of They Might Be Giants and Frank Black's solo albums will almost Hi his name is Jonny. certainly find a lot of enjoyment in "Hi My Name is Jonny," even if Polonsky betrays too much of his influences. But hey, albums this enjoyable don't come along that often, even from the goof- pop greats. - Heather Phares GEORGIA Continued from Page 5A stops for about a second to get married (Max Perlich), and the audience gasps in horror. Astonishingly, the marriage almost works out. The singing career, however, doesn't, and Sadie is forced to move into Georgia's house. Georgia has found solace in her fame. She's happily married, calm and helpful - to the point of nausea, if we're looking at her through Sadie's eyes. Sadie's decadence at this point be- comes peculiarly decontextualized. In full riot-grrrl getup, framed by rural land- scapesSadie is achingly alien to Georgia's house, and that alienation, absurdly, ren- ders her a romantic hero. Georgia, who's always there to help when Sadie DOESN'T need her, suddenly becomes the villain-feeding off Sadie's instabil- ity, as if having this lipsticked ball of neuroses around the house is the ultimate confirmation of her own success. Halfway through the movie, we get to an open confrontation between the Floods. Fittingly. it occurs in the form of a song. The sisters duet in a bar, trading lines back and forth (Georgia is doing her little sister a favor). It's another subtly twisted sight -like Courtney Lovejamming with Joni Mitchell. The film presents us with a choice between Georgia's streamlined, comfortable delivery or Sadie's howling curse, and then makes sure that the latter seems more respectable. We've stumbled upon the paradox of rock'n'roll credibil- ity: It has nothing to do with quality, making sincerity a virtue by itself. Leigh creates Sadie out of emptiness, composing a unique endeavor, tone of voice. When she sits in Georgia's house singing a twisted lullaby to Georgia's child (it takes a second to realize that it's "Take a Walk On The Wild Side," with Lou Reed's lascivious "baby" as a tender call to an actual infant), it's the best one- shot encapsulation of a character I've seen in years. Sadie is the final product of rock'n'roli. She's screwed up and pitiful, and somewhere in there, she manages to remain sexy: In rock culture, the ultimate sexiness lies in artfully crumbling down. Which brings us to Sadie's climactic eight-minute performance of Van Morrison's "Take Me Back." It's less a performance than a nervous breakdoo set to a beat; it's also an apotheosis ofour culture's bent on self-expression. Al- though her singing is awful, Sadie creates an ultimate performance: She's unravel- ing the song as she's being unraveled by it, choking on a tunelessmantra"Takeme way way way way way back," unknow- ingly infecting it with meaning. The fact that the song itself might not be worth it, only adds ironic drama. Speaking of irony, the recent screeni@ showed that "Georgia" can play as a straight comedy for some audiences. Af- ter the initial shock, however, I suddenly came to the conclusion that it's exactly the way it should be. In its pop-schizo- phrenic way, "Georgia" is theequivalent of a good rock song: It either breaks your heart, or you can just dance to it. W INEGARDNER Continued from Page 5A multiple perspectives. Winegardner acknowledged the diffi- culties of this technique, citing one chap- ter narrated by Maria Felix: "You can imagine what it's like for a 32-year-old white guy to try to project himselfinto the body of a 70-something Mexican diva. Nothing one does lightly. But it was also the fun of the book, and the challenge." It was also a technique he enjoyed as a reader. "I just love those moments when a character says, 'Everything you know is wrong - here's what I think."' He discussed the book's context in 1946 America: "There are all these so- cial-upheavals in the book that take until the '60s to explode. There were-morerace riots in '46 than any year in American history, more labor strikes." The book sheds light on recent sports history, discussing Danny Gardella, who attempted to sue major-league owners. "Ifhe would've pushed his lawsuit, there's a fairly broad consensus that- he would have won; we would have had free agency in baseball in 1950. You can see the seeds. of what's gone wrong in baseball." Given a novel that encompasses so much, readers will no doubt wonder how much is truth and how much fiction. "The frame ofthe story is all essentially accurate," Winegardner said. " tried whenever possible to make the story,4 curate - all the baseball stuff is very close- but I was also nevergonna letthe facts get in the way of a good story." One such story is of Babe Ruth's last at-bat, which seems too like fiction to be true. He explained, "Nobody evertoldthe same version ofthat story. So I had to say, nobody's ever going to agree on this - here's what should have happOned." That, more than anything, sums upt novel as it turns historical facts intcW wholly absorbing work of fiction. As this novel shows, the things that should have happened always make the better story. We're outta here for a week due to Spnng Break! The Classifieds Department will be closed March 4th through March 8th. We will reopen on March 11th. m r rrw rw.r A&& a!\/r !\r too