The new Australian comedy "Love Serenade" continues its run at The
Michigan Theater. Check out this quirky tale of two sisters who, out
of boredom, vie for the affections of a sexy new neighbor. Hilarity
ensues when the all-too-neighborly chap isn't too keen on monogamy.
Directed by Shirley Barrett, the film won the Camera d'Or for Best
First Film at Cannes. Today at 7 and 9:15 p.m. $5 for students.
Wednesday
October 1, 1997
5
Hard-working folk star Dar
Williams takes to the road
By Stephanie Jo Klein
Daily Arts Writer
It's rare to meet a musician who enjoys touring. After a
ile, it all seems the same - ragged days on the road stretch
with no end in sight. Another bar, another jam session,
another day closer to the next album's recording session ...
Folk-rocker Dar Williams has done the tour route and she
knows it's tiring. But this time around, experimenting with the
presence of a band, she says she's learning from each new
twist and turn.
In a recent telephone interview,
Williams said that touring for "End Of
The Summer," her third album, has put P.R
her more in tune with her perfor-
nces. Thursd
It's a real learning curve," she said.
"I'm used to being a writer who sets
her words to music while on stage.
Now (with a band) I'm a musician and I have to be a good lis-
tener and groove. It's a lot of pressure."
After a summer hitting the stage at the Newport, Falcon
Ridge, and Boulder Folk Festivals, and even two shows of the
Lilith Fair, Williams has been making a name for herself, with
a young grassroots following cheering for her nationwide.
The older generation is also singing her praises. On her lat-
est album, folk-goddess Joan Baez recorded two of Williams'
gs, "If I Wrote You" and "December," giving her friend a
professional nod. The two have performed and toured togeth-
er numerous times since they first sang together one night at
the Bottom Line in New York City.
At the Newport Folk Festival this August, the two brought
a unique combination to the stage with Williams' poignant
and appropriate "You're Aging Well." Instead of looking like
musical mother and underling child, the two were more like
sisters, Williams' strong vocals complementing Baez's gentle
guitar strum.
E
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Jay
B
Now good friends, Williams said she was cool when meet-
ing Baez.
"Your ability to appreciate a flower or a cloud or a leaf is
the same thing that allows you to appreciate this is a historic
moment," she said, adding that meeting an idol really isn't a
status thing. "It's more of a heart thing, a moment to touch
your past with the present. It's intense, but it's not a star kinda
thing, you know?"
Pop, folk and classical stars whose albums turned up in
Williams's parents' record cabinet colored her future musical
style.
Somewhere along the way, after hearing
V I E W countless records of Judi Collins, Paul
ir Williams Simon, the Mamas and the Papas, Jim
at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Croce, the Beatles and Joan Baez, she said
The Ark she fell in love with finding melodies and
oth shows sold-out. keeping them in her head to write them
out.
Her gentle but energetic style is evident on songs like
"Teenagers, Kick our Butts" and "Are You Out There," with
little dips and growls alternating with smooth vocal silk. And
underneath the drum beats her band provides, she says, there
is a message to her songs that she wants people to hear.
"Folk music is kind of analogous to Star Trek in the '60s
and '90s," she said, pausing for a moment. "Star Trek in the
'60s was the bridge which represented all these different
countries and nationalities, with Uhura, Scottie and a Vulcan.
The new Star Trek is about all the aspects of the psyche and
finding common ground, the id and the empathetic emotion-
al side. They've got that shrink."
In the brand of music she strums, as with Star Trek, "there's
a lot of finding the kind of inner peace that makes you a less
militarized, standardized person."
Fans are conscious of the environment and social issues
evidenced even in the simple acts of buying hemp t-shirts and
jewelry.,
Dar Williams appears at the Arlo tomorrow evening to showcase songs from her new album "End of the Summer."
"They're hip to the fact that it's slightly subversive to get
away from your celluloid and your Westinghouse TV station,"
she said, noting that she digs deeper than the average popster
in her writing.
Not that she thinks mainstream pop doesn't have value as a
social critic.
"I've heard songs by Counting Crows and The Wallflowers
that instead of celebrating female suicide, lament them sensi-
tively and show this more sensitive side," she said. "They
show a side of the music world that's changing. I think pop
culture can mirror something that's going on"
In that vein, at the Lilith Fair, with performances by cele-
brated women artists like Sarah McLachlan, Fiona Apple, and
the Cardigans, female pride united audience and artists over a
common cause.
"It was all about bringing out the best in people," she said
"The new tide of (fan) enthusiasm ... has its politics and at
the heart of that are teen-agers. We're seeing some of the first
teenage feminists. They band together at concerts and scream
because they can. They can celebrate with lyrics about
strength and about them"
As Williams takes her own strength on the road, including
a stop tomorrow night at The Ark, make sure you don't miss
it. She's working hard.
'To live and die in 'L.A.': Reincarnated 'Fame' won't make it forever
By Sangeetha George
For the Daily
Last Saturday marked the premiere
of "Fame L.A.," a weekly hour-long
show, which for the purposes of drum-
ming up interest had an initial two-hour
screening on Sept.
22. Life is too
short to waste like RE
this!
"Fame L.A.' is
a reprisal of the
'80s film and
show set at the
School for the
Performing Arts, in New York. In the
new souped-up version, all the so-
called action takes place at a
club/restaurant place called "Who's
Who?' It involves the lives of several
up-and-coming artists who take acting
classes from the owner of the club -
David Graysmark (William R.Moses).
Bill, what were you thinking?
As the inspiration for the youngsters,
Graysmark, himself, is a not-so-suc-
cessful actor who failed to achieve the
fame he seemed destined for at school
in New York. There were several cliches
strewn across the show in terms of how
David cannot face his fears in front of
the camera, blah blah blah. For an actor
who has in real life achieved a few
m
El
1
14
C
accolades for his roles in television and
films, he should have kept well away
from this fiasco.
As the main protagonists who want
to find fame, there were several
wannabes who by the looks of it won't
ever get there. For
starters, Heidi
VIEW Noelle Lenhart, a
starlet who was fea-
Fame L.A. tured briefly in
NXON, TV 20 "California Dreams"
before she disap-
saturdays at 6 p.m. peared off the face of
the Earth. It has to be
said that as a struggling singer/song-
writer, her voice did her justice, but for
her acting, Heidi, honey, dream on.
Among the others, the thespian style
was not much better, and the stereo-
types were just excruciatingly obvious.
There was the failing songwriter junkie
who decides to end it all; the fresh-
faced novice eager for the bright lights,
big city treatment; then there was the
blonde, big-chested bimbo, who wants
people to look at the real her; the sexy
Latino dancer; the list goes on.
In fairness, the majority of the actors
did seem to be quite talented at their
respective skills in the show, but the
script and direction was as uninspiring
as the acting.
Plotwise "Fame L.A." does not score
many points, either, with overused sub-
plots such as a commercially famous
singer stealing an unknown's song, a
younger brother trying to get his wor-
shipped elder brother off drugs, an
unsuccessful actor being jealous of his
former girlfriend's fame: Another end-
less list, as a result of having relied on
an all-too-familiar format worn out by
previous shows.
A different approach to "Fame L.A."
could be what is needed to appreciate it
in its full glory, well some type of glory,
at least. For instance, when seen as a
comedy, "'Fame L.A." will just blow
you away! Disregarding the
distinctly unfunny
scenes featuring"
the aspiring
comics of the
club, there
was many an
amusing turn,
including Brent
David Fraser's per-
formance as Brent
Legget. Now here is a star.
Almost every scene that he was in sim-
ply changed the whole tone of the show
to an unbelievable pastiche of hammy
acting. Moving swiftly on to his brother
in the fame game, Ryan, played by
Christian Kane in his professional
debut. Christian, mate, you shouldn't
have bothered. From one labored
expression to the next, it seemed as
much of a trial for Christian as it was
for the viewer, or this viewer at least.
Perhaps this was done on purpose to
expose the frailty of the show's premise.
Having bad actors play struggling
actors does not exactly generate a con-
fidence in the show.
Will "Fame L.A." be a hit? Probably
not, as there is no reason for it to be.
'Fame' was a show that was original for
its time. It managed to blend music and
dance with decent plots that were not
patronizing or insulting t
the audience's intelli-
gence.
There did not
\I seem to be
any need for a
revival or a
rehash of the
show's idea, and
considering the job
that was done here, the
title "Fame" was used just an
excuse to depict a bunch of"good-looki
ing" airheads running around full of
angst and stress, while their careers
went nowhere.
Isn't it strange how life imitates art?
The cast of "Fame" needs to learn how to fly if they're gonna make it to heaven.
Martini shakes up readers with 'List'
The List
ySteve Martini
tnam
What would you do to have a book
on the bestseller's list?
In his riveting masterpiece of sus-
pense, "The List," bestselling author
Steve Martini reveals just how writing a
best-selling novel can cost you your
life.
Abby Chandlis is an attorney by day
d novelist by night. After years of
writing books that don't sell, she has
finally created a red-hot thriller that
can't miss. But knowing that it often
takes glamour, not talent, to sell books,
she decides to not only write under the
manly pen name of Gable Cooper, but
also to have a male face pose as the
phantom writer.
Jack Jermaine has looks that could
,11. Though specially trained and occa-
sionally employed by the military,
Jermaine's obsession is to write a
blockbuster novel. Unfortunately, he
severely lacks the writing talent.
With publishers and movie studios
pounding on her door to produce a face
to go with Gable Cooper's name, Abby
is forced to feed Jermaine to the oublic.
has hit the bookstores in a long time.
The Hitchcock of suspense-thriller
writing, Martini delves the into superfi-
cial industries of book publishing and
filmmaking, showing the impact of
greed by weaving an compelling story
with suspense at every corner.
This, laced with the military, roman-
tic and action themes, makes "The List"
an intense book that is enthralling on
many levels. After reading this master-
piece, readers will feel as though they
have just finished watching the most
exhilarating and heart-pounding movie
of their lives.
Extremely well-written, its thrilling
effect of terror and suspense is one that
will hold the reader until the last page,
and haunt the reader long after.
-Julia Shih
Being Asian bilingual is your ticket to success.
Interview with the world's top companies at the Pan-Asian job Fair, including:
Adobe Systems, Exxon, Fidelity Investments, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and more !
Oct. 17.18,1997*
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
6SS West 34th Street N.Y.C.
-Ot Iis Onsey far Jipai spawln bhngu*
November 7, 1997
Navy Pier
600 East Grand Ave.
Chicago. Illinois
To register or get more information, contact
International Career Information Inc.
Phone: 1-800-859-8535 - http:llwww.rici.com/acw - e-mail: jfinfo@rici.com
China - Hong Kong * India e Indonesia " Japan *Korea + Malaysia * Philippines Singapore - Taiwan Thailand * Vietnam
PANASIAN 1 JBFAIR
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