8-- The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 4, 2000 ARTS SWEET Continued from Page 5 This fact is played off in as a slight nishap on Emmett's part, unable to face his competitor, who forever challenges him and relegates him to the second- greatest jazz guitarist in the world. Allen incorporates his usual mix of slapstick and intellectual humor, though it's sparse and overshadowed by the dra- matic feel of the film. Some scenes are notable, particularly one in which Mat- tie accidentally (Emmett doesn't like the idea) lands a starring role in "The Tomb of the Mummy." After dozens of takes on a kissing scene involving her and a :young Charlton Heston, she is left in a tupor and unintentionally walks into a thin sheet of glass that two men were carrying, leaving them befuddled while she continues walking dreamily. The richness of the story is also seen through the warmth of the glowing Iights in clubs and taverns, effectively manipulated by cinematographer Zhao Fei ("Raise the Red Lantern"). But undoubtedly the best aspect of "Sweet and Lowdown" is its music, a tribute to Django's songs and some newer versions of his performed by Howard Alden and Bucky Pizzarelli. Allen's love for the jazz guitar is respectfully displayed in "Sweet and Lowdown" to bring about a bittersweet story. Teen Moore bursts into bubble gum pop scene" The Washington Post The boys with pimples and the girls with braces are hanging around the hallways of MTV, hoping they'll see Mandy. They are shy. They feel unwor- thy. She is a goddess. Who just blew in from LA. to host "TRL" - "Total Request Live," where her totally awe- some video is No. 6 on the countdown. Here she comes in black leather pants and a clingy purple top - her teeth perfectly white, her hair lightened and feathered - standing nearly six feet in platform soles. A willowy girl- woman being fussed over by a coterie of imagemakers and product-placers. "Hey, guys," she greets her fans. She smiles radiantly; they smile back awk- wardly. She loves her fans and would love to chat, but - gotta go. She's flying back to L.A. to work on her next video and then host a show called "Mandy's Mountain." She is Amanda Leigh Moore of Orlando, Fla., a lovely piece of bubble gum now being inflated by the teen pop culture machine. As music for suburban kids - including the expertly manufac- tured sounds of Britnev Spears, Christi- na Aguilera and 'N Sync - soars in popularity, Mandy Moore is along for the ride. Four months ago she sang at a chari- ty cook-off in a Washington suburb, before a few dozen people. Most proba- bly had no idea who she was. Now Mandy has a hit single called "Candy" and a half-million-selling album, "So Real" (no irony intended). She is ubiquitous on MTV, which immediately seized upon her as a pretty new face for shows that appeal to the acne cream demographic. She's on the covers of teen beauty magazines and clothing catalogues. She's the official postergirl of the Wet Seal clothing line, and she pitches a new CD player for Sony. She just landed a global Neutrogena contract that will put her perfect skin - that lone little mole seems strategic somehow - on thousands of ad pages and billboards. There will be tie-ins and support from her label, Sony's Epic/550 Music, which expects to leverage the exposure into getting a second single up the charts. "We want to make sure every kid has heard of her," said Scott Carter; Sony's senior director of product marketing. Mandy has two official promotional Web sites. She is the object of debate, affection and ogling on more than 100 other Internet sites - including one that polls its readers on what part of Mandy's body they like best. She is 15. In the Viacom Building's cafeteria, Mandy, tray in hand, resembles a gang- ly sophomore, but her days in the Catholic school lunch line are so over. She left halfway through ninth grade, opting for tutoring so she could pursue her singing career, which has already included tours with multi-platinum acts N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. She started out doing musical theater, then sang at Orlando Magic games, performed at Disney World and acted in commercials. She's had an agent since she was 11. The stress, the invasion of privacy, the industry sniping that she's "Sony's version of Brittey Spears," the constant demands on her time - all that can be "overwhelming," she admits. "But it comes with the territory." And it's all worth it: "I'm so thankful to be doing something like this at my age." She realizes there's a force at work. It started building when she signed with the label at 13, and now it can't be stopped. "All these different types of things are starting to mesh now - all these ways of getting your music out and being seen," Mandy said, fidgeting. "It's like one huge force of, like, pub- licity. Of people seeing you and hearing you. It's .." She pauses, as if to make sure she will say the right thing - which she will, because she's getting to be pro at this. "It's very cool, though. It's cool to be in a world like that now. You know, where you get to try a little bit of every- thing." Mandy wants to be a multi-genre star of stage and screen. She wouldn't mind being huge like Janet Jackson and Bette Midler and Madonna, who are among her heroes. Especially Madonna. Part of what created the Material Girl was blatant sexuality - the same car- nal trajectory that is propelling bleached-blond bombshells Spears and Aguilera to fame - but Mandy said Courtesy of the Washington Post The Mandy Moore marketing machine moves into a store or mall near you. B&W Copies Skewxe; 8.5 x IOnly; Expires 05/31/00 Dollar Dill +Ct:PY1NtG 611 Church Street Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (734) 665-9200 * (fax) 930-2800 she won't play that game. She doesn't like to show her midriff, she said. "i don't want to wear anything ... where I look like I'm 20 or 21." On one cover of the new teenStyle magazine, Mandy wears a cropped T-t shirt with "Candy" spelled out in red sequins across her chest. Her midriff isI showing.I She opposes breast implants: "I1 would never have cosmetic surgery," I she told teen publication Jump after it1 was reported that Spears had a boob job at 17. "Why rearrange yourself just to get attention or make other people hap- pier?" Her album doesn't lack for sexual subtext. The first words on her single are a breathy "Give it to me." Then she sings: "Body's in withdrawal every time you take it away. Can't you hear me callin', begging you to come out and play?" She didn't pen the lyrics, of course. The producers and the writers inter- viewed her for ideas. "Some of it is my life," she explained. "Some of it I haven't experi- enced. But I was really careful to make sure that everything I was singing about is believable for a 15-year-old, you know?" She wanted to keep it real. A FedEx man named Victor Cade discovered Mandy. A part-time talent scout, he noticed a bony 13-year-old cutting jingles in a small Orlando recording studio. Her singing voice was brightly polished. He also knew she'd be a looker. '"It's that model look, which I recog- nized when I first saw her," Cade recalled proudly. "I thought, This girl is going to beautiful when she grows, and she is growing fast.' "She was groomed to be a star-- she was well groomed by her parents," he added. He pushed tapes and pictures on his friend Dave McPherson, who signed the Backstreet Boys in 1993. Now an Epic senior vice president, McPherson flew to Orlando to hear Mandy sing. He looked deeply into her hazel eyes. "She really had a look of a 30-year- old person, in her eyes, even though she was 13," he remembered. "I was concerned about comparisons to Britney," McPherson said. But he sensed Mandy could handle what he calls this "treacherous" business. And Cade was absolutely right. "She just blossomed during the recording process into this stunning 5-foot-10 model woman that looked like she just walked out of the pages of Vogue mag- azine," McPherson said. "She's devel- oped into a full-fledged personality." Mandy is in front of a boisterous studio audience starting the day's "Total Request Live" countdown. The show, which airs at 3:30 p.m., a prime after-school viewing slot, allows callers and e-mailers to break in with comments as the videos unspool. The videos tend toward T&A and guys in their underwear. Great eye candy for the multi-tasking genera- tion. The unblemished face of a pretty teen singer fills the oversize moni- tor. She's got blond hair with just a hint of dark roots. It's . "... Jessica Simpson, who returns to the countdown with 'I Wanna Love You Forever,' " Mandy reads from the cue cards as a girl who might be her doppelganger shim- mies on the screen. Jessica is 18 another rising star in hip-hugger and a crop top. The new bubble gum pretty much sounds all the same, chewing over eternal teen themes - Is it a crush? Does he really love me? - but no matter. The market is so huge - more than 30 million American kids between 12 and 19 who collectively spend $140 billion a year - that to keep up with the demand, labels are snapping up younger and younger acts. Especially girls. Industry officials see them as a wholesome alternative to the bump and grind of hip-hop and the- screeching rebellion of metal-punk.... But they're also coveted because they appeal to other girls - who spend more than boys on music, not-- to mention cosmetics and clothing. - "Everything people are trying to sell right now has to have an ele ment of entertainment attached to, it," said Lori Lambert, Epic's vice president for strategic marketing and development. "It's about a big.. vision. It's making kids feel like that... person, that product, that service - that feels like me, that sounds like. me, that looks like me." In Novem- ber, Mandy Moore cried the first. time she saw her video on MTV, the-. network she'd watched with utter- devotion since she was 12. There she was lip-syncing-' "Candy," driving around with gal pals in a new Beetle. Of course, those were actors. Her. real friends were in summer camp. Actually, she wasn't driving -. not. old enough. The car was towed. around. "It's just like doing a commer- cial," she said, "except, like, I wa the product. Everyone was workin0 for my benefit." She doesn't have a boyfriend. It's too hard, being on the road all thes time, to maintain a relationship, she- said. Also, people gossip. But she knows the right guy will- come along and hopes that someday- she'll get asked to the prom. "If any ' body at my school remembers who C am!" She has a sunny, self-deprecat- ing laugh. She just can't wait until April HT, her birthday. She displays her new learner's permit, with an impossibly glamorous DMV photo. "I'm ready! to turn 16 -and drive!" ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _ J p Colored Peopk;, A celebration of African-American history - the struggles, contributions, humor and spirit - told through drama, with song and dance. By Leslie Lee Directed by Darryl V. Jones Feb. 10 - 12 at 8 PM - Feb. 13 at 2 PM Mendelssohn Theatre Tickets are $18 & $ 14 - Students $7 with ID League Ticket Office . Charge it! 734-764.0450 i..' - UM School of Music " Dept. of Theatre With generous support in part from the UM Credit Union. Latin sound shakes its bon bon out of Paris, heads to U.S. r - $5.50 with Student ID after 6pm $5.25 Late Shows Fri & Sat ' w|d200 o passes or Tuesday discounts Unlimited Free Drink Refills & .250 Corn Refills ALL SCREENS DIGITAL STEREO ALL THEATERS STADIUM SEATING HURRICANE (R) 1:00, 3:55, 6:45, 9:30 O SCREAM 3 (R) 11:00, 12:30,2:25,2:55,4:50,5:20, 7:15, 7:45, 9:40, 10:00 FRI/SATLS 11:55 O EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (R) 11:35, 12:55, 1:40, 3:05, 3:40, 5:45, 7:25, 7:50, 10:00 FRI/SAY LS 12:00 0 ISN'T SHE GREAT (R) 5:25, 9:40EFRI/SAT LS 11:40 ANGELA'S ASHES (R) 12:30, 3:25,6:30, 9:25 DOWN TO YOU (PG-13) 12:50, 2:55, 5:10, 7:35, 9:20 FRI/SAT LS 11:20 PLAY IT TO THE BONE (R) FRI/SAT LS 11:00 GIRL INTERRUPTED (R) 11:10, 1:30,4:20, 7:00, 9:35 NEXT FRIDAY (R) 1:05, 3:10, 5:15, 7:40,9:45 FRI/SAT LS 11:45 MAGNOLIA (R) 11:55, 3:35,7:25 FRI/SAT LS 10:55 CIDER HOUSE RULES (PG-13) 11:00, 1:30,4:10,6:55,9:30 FRI/SAT LS 11:55 STUART LITTLE (PG) 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:05, 9:00 GREEN MILE (R) 9:15 TOY STORY 2(G) 11:15, 1:15,3:15,5:15,7:15 GUN SHY (R) The Los Angeles 'imes The past couple of years have seen landmark collaborations between Cuban and American musicians scale the charts and sell into the millions in the United States, most notably the Buena Vista Social Club-Ry Cooder project and its myriad spinoffs and clones. Now a mini-wave of Cuban collabo- rations is rolling into the U.S. market- place - but they don't involve established American artists. Rather, they feature young musicians from Paris. Unlike the traditional Cuban record- ings that have done well here, the new offerings mix traditional and modern Cuban sounds with international alter- native, hip-hop, reggae and rap senti- ments. And while the more traditional Cuban offerings of recent years have showcased standard Cuban love songs from years gone by, the Paris-Havana collaborations boast edgier lyrics that speak of poverty, immigration and the search for justice. Two names have emerged as leaders of this wave of Paris-based alternative Cuban sounds, both of them members of the now-defunct Franco-Spanish punk-rap outfit Mano Negra, and both recording for Virgin France, distrib- uted in the United States by Higher Octave Records, a label based in near- by Malibu that specializes in "adult- alternative" and world music. One is Sergent Garcia, a Paris-born rapper, guitarist and singer of Spanish and French descent. The other is French dance music programmer Tom Darnal, who heads P18, a 13-piece orchestra named after an ethnically mixed neigh- borhood in Paris. Both have released debut albums in recent months. Indeed, the members of another Paris-based band, called Orishas, all are from Cuba. They rap about gangs in Cuba, among other problems there: Rakauskas says musicians in F have had an easier time than t musicians in keeping up with musical trends in Cuba over the last 40 years. In that time, U.S. citizens have been forbidden by U.S. law from traveling to Cuba, but French citizens have trav- eled freely on direct flights. Garcia, who got his musical start at age 15 playing in punk-rock bands, describes his music as a global fusion based on Cuban sounds - inclu g the older "son" and the newer, ener- getic "timba" - and U.S. funk, hip- hop and rap. He was in Los Angeles last week working on remixes with L.A. rap groups Delinquent Habits and Cypress Hill. P18's Darnal, also 35, echoes Gzr- cia's sentiments about Paris as a sortof global hub for pop music that fuses elements from many different cultures. P 18's debut album, "Urban Cub ' released in October, was parti y recorded in Cuba. The Paris-Havana collaborations speak to political issues, namely poverty and 'oppression, though Darnal and Garcia both say their messages are not aimed at any particular govern- ment or political affiliation. - Garcia says the song "Hoy Me Voy" was inspired by the difficult ties faced by immigrants all over the world d not just by the plight of those fleeing Cuba. And Darnal says P18's song "Somos el Futuro," which features a sample of a Che Guevara speech and a chorus of Cuban children chanting "We are the"future," is aimed at Cubans in Cuba and Cuban Americans m IN 14 1.