Warning: Look
after your toes

ty Larry Lean
F YOU SIT down and consider it,
there are few things in life that truly
make us happy. For some, it is a hap-
piness spring from traditional
ceremony, as when our offspring decide
to finally tie the knot; we are then
cheery both for them beginning their
lives as legally-bound creatures, and
for ourselves, free at last to galavant as
exparential-parents often do.
In other cases, we are happy that
"the tests" came out negative;
sometimes we are relieved to find them
positive.
Happiness can arise out of satiations
of all kinds. On a rare morning, Pop
Tarts might make us happier than
global peace; good grades please the
diploma-minded; even old-fashioned
holidays such as Christmas and Bobby
Sands Day may catalyze a torrent of
happy tears.
For me, happiness came in the form
of a toe, broken whilst dancing
furiously to the peppy beat of the dB's'
"Ask For Jill."
Yes, then I was new to the dB's. Their
unflagging spunk and gregarious gum-
ption had captured me like a fly in a No-
Pest Strip. After I bought their second
album, Repercussion, it played on the
turntable and in my head for weeks
following. This morning, I listened to
"Ask For Jill," gazed longingly at the
now-repaired little toe, and remem-
bered with fondness my trip to Health
Services, where I hummed the tune-of-
blame as the nurse wrapped my shat-
tered digit and lectured me on the art of
hroken toe care.
But I would gladly say it was worth it.
The dB's are the kind of crew it's worth
sacrificing your toes to. Since their in-
ception in 1978, they've been respon-
sible for a good 44 percent of all the
fractures, cracks, splits, snaps, dices,
breaks, and displacements of limbs and
appendages in the U-S-of-A alone.
Imagine what the world tally would be!
Even more astounding is the fact that
they accomplished all that while heing
signed to a small British
label-Albion-even though the original
dB line-up consisted of four down-home
youths from the wilds of North
Carolina: Chris Stamey, Peter Holsap-
ple, Gene Holder, and Will Rigby.
The initial dB outbreak was the
responsibility of Alan Betrock's tiny
Shake Records label, an American in-

dependent. "Black and White" was the
song, and it later appeared on the dB's'
debut LP, Stands For deciBels,
produced brightly by Betrock.
Featuring such gems as "B&W,"
"Dynamite," "Big Brown Eyes, ""I'm
in Love," and "Moving In Your Sleep,"
Stands For deciBels had the critics
breaking their toes in such abundance
that Blue Cross/Blue Shield premiums
hit an all-time high.
By the time Repercussion hit the
stores, most musical know-it-alls and
bone specialists were hip to the dB's.
The awe-inspiring second LP beefed up
the band's sound with nifty production
by Scott Litt, and outside contrtibutions
from Andy Clark (ex-keyboardist for
Be Bop Deluxe), and the Rumour brass
section. Even without "Ask For Jill,"
there were enough hot tracks there to
put the Woody Herman Orchestra in
traction for eons-'Happenstance,"
"We Were Happy There," "Amplifier,"
"Neverland," "Ups and Downs," and
"I Feel Good (Today)," Stamey's tip-
o'-the-fedora to the paisley-past and to
such guiding lights as Alex Chilton and
the Byrds.
Dissatisfied with the dB's, Stamey
departed to pursue his own ends and
record a great solo album, It's A Won-
derful Life. More swellness should soon
follow from the man responsible for my
favorite injury.
Ironically, Stamey left immediately
after the dB's secured a deal with Bear-
sville Records, who will be releasing
their third album, Like This, in mid-
August. This time, production credits
go to Chris Butler of the Waitresses
(and, originally, Tin Huey), an Ohioan
with vision. Replacing the fourth-per-
son void is Rick Wagner, bassist;
original four-stringer Holder now plays
lead guitar.
In commemoration of Like This, the
first stateside dB's LP, the band is
playing a limited college-town club cir-
cuit. Take the words outta my
mouth-that means it's the dB's at
Joe's, tonight, with Tetes Noires and
Map of the World holding openers'
honors.
It may be that happiness is (as a
great social theologian once coined) "a
warm puppy," but to me and all the
other dopes in casts and bandages-and
inadvertently to the doctors of the
world-happiness means the dBi's.
Come prepared to witness pop history-
in-the-making, and limp home knowing
it hardly gets any better.

Fantasia revisited
Actor Noah Hathaway poses with man's second best friend, the horse.
Hathaway stars as Atreyu, a young boy who ventures into the magical
kingdom of Fantasia, a mythical empire of fabulous beings in 'The Neveren-
ding Story,' a new Warner Bros. film which opened Friday at area theaters.

ClIair e
blooms
(ContinuedfromPage 10)
ber that she would become the other
character with just a tilt of the head.
Standing alone in her deep brown
dress, Bloom represented not only the
female characters she portrayed, but
the entire mood of each play. She com-
municated feelings with the honesty
and depth of emotion that makes
Shakespeare's characters so transcen-
dental, and proved that human nature
doesn't change, only names, dates, and
places.
In short, Claire Bloom is a performer
of solid credentials, quiet confidence,
and immense stage presence. The
University was truly honored by her
presence.
764-0558
1>7640558

I IVIDUAL THEATRES
1:00 P.M. SHOWS $2.00
SENIORS EVERY EVEN.$3.00
FRI. *SAT. *+TUES. 11:45 PM SHOW
TOP -
MON. 100 7 10 9 20
TUES. 1:00, 7:10, 920, 11:45 PM
SUN. 1:10, 3:10, 5:25, 7:10, 9:20
JAMES STEWART
DORIS DAY
IN
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S
THE MAN WHO
KNEW TOO
-MUCH

'Robin Hood' hits

mark with
(ContinuedfromPage 10;
The orchestra's reading of Victor
Schertzinger's score was captured with
a sensitivity and power that did far
more than just enhance the onscreen
action - it made it come alive.
Dennis James integrated his organ
perfectly, adding just the right
nostalgic texture. Perhaps the greatest
compliment I can pay the ensemble is
that they were so successful in their
performance I forgot they were even
there, they blended so completely as an

orchestra
element of the film.
The audience, all but a few scattered
seats shy of capacity, was absolutely
enchanted. Loud outbursts of applause
and cheering so frequently followed the
Fairbanks' exploits that even the most
energetic audience I've ever found
myself in previously seemed catatonic.
All the technical advances since this
film's release, from technicolor and
sound, to Panavision and Dolby stereo
cannot match the sole important
ingredient that made Friday night's
Robin Hood so special - heart.

MON. 1:00, 7:30, 9:40
TUES. 1:00, 7:30, 9:40, 11:45 PM
SUN. 12:50, 3:00, 5:15, 7:30, 9:40