ARTS
Page 9 Wednesday, Ma 2, 99

'What universe? Has a Klingon
entered that we don't know about?'
- Jim Mullen of Entertainment Weekly,
on the Miss Universe Pageant.

Gouging and gushing from Oderus

onic Youth
perimental Jet Set, Trash
nd No Star
DGC Records
Maybe thinking up the unwieldy
itle for this album exhausted Sonic
Youth's creative resources. After all,
their best albums have had at most
two words in the title: "Evol," "Sis-

By Ted Watts
There are plenty of happening
things in space, but there is nothing
else quite like Gwar. Played by a
bunch of fiendish art school dropouts
(and graduates, including a master
sculptor), Gwar is a metal band with
attitude and foam latex. On their new
album, "This ToiletEarth," they pum-
mel the listener with themes as varied
as the necro-pedophiliaof "Baby Dick
Fuck" and the tyranny of the eviler-
than-Gwar Skulhedface on "The In-
sidious Soliloquy of Skulhedface."
The music is pretty stylish, as
well. Some tantalizing horns layer
"Saddam A Go-Go" to something
quite a bit higher than speed metal,
and the inclusion of a bit of cartoon
composer Raymond Scott's work
shows Gwar to be more than just
another bandinto bestial sodomy.And
of course, it's all just an act anyway.
Maybe.
"To tell you the truth, Ireally can't
tell anymore (whether or not I'm in
character)," says vocalist Oderus
"Dave" Urungus. "It's pretty much a
schizophrenic existence at this point."
He proves this by slipping in and out
of character throughout the rest of the
interview.
Perhaps it would be best to let
Oderus tell you about his early back-
ground. "I am from the planet
Scumboggia, Syntho Womb #5. My

moldy warframe was purloined bit by
bit from various violent ghettoes
across the solar systems and is com-
posed of all that is bad, naughty and
overly sexed, as far as aliens are con-
cerned." As you surely know, he be-
came part of Gwar, which was even-
tually banished to Earth by the Master
of All Reality, where they were im-
prisoned in ice in Antarctica until
they telepathically manipulated hu-
mans into making hair spray, which
caused global warming and released
Gwar from their southerly prison.
So, having released five albums,
four videos and a graphic novel on
Last Gasp documenting the rampag-
ing, thing which is Gwar, one must
wonder what their plans are. "By the
end of this Gwar tour," explains
Oderus (sounding like Donald
Sutherland), "this world will be a
burning nub of rubble in outer space
as Gwar returns back to the galaxy,
and getting the fuck out of Dodge, as
it were, once and for all. Yes, I'm
sorry, the human race is pretty much
history at this point. So get out there,
share some needles, don't use
condoms, eat wild mushrooms, have
sex with animals and all those other
things you wanted to do but people on
TV told you (that) you couldn't. Just
go ahead, it's OK."
Oderus explains what one can ex-
pect at the epicenter of the coming

ov "'yu, youuiuv Uwar, you're a nappy purple scar...

destruction, otherwise known as their
stage show. "Hacking, bashing,
smashing, killing, crushing,
whomping and stomping at the big
No. 6 dance. It's all a big part of the
show this year. I'd have to say that it's
the most elaborate, most incredible,
most violent, most spectacular and
most smelly show we've ever done."
And as for fluids? "Oh, geez, so many.
Multicolored, too. Plus, the projec-
tion rate is greater than ever. 30-40
feet easily. Burp. Of course the gal-
lons of blood is usually measured by
the amount of people who go to the

show, but if you make me admit that
it was just a bunch of hydraulic tanks
backstage, I'd have to admit that it
was more than 150gallons. Of course,
that's a total lie."
Oderus leaves you with these
thoughts: " If you're as smart as you
think you are, you'll be at the show,
and we'll see you with arubber mallet
upside your head."
Gwar's "The ShitHitsthe Fans"tour
hits the State Theatre Saturday, May
28. Showtime is at 7and the Ex-Cops
open. Call 961-5450 for details.

ter," "Daydream Nation,"and"Goo,"
for example, were all short on title
and long on great music and incred-
ible guitar technique, but had good
songs of substance to hold together
onic Youth's famous style.
On "Experimental Jet Set, Trash
andNo Star" (phew!), theactual songs
are missing for the first time, as are
the noisefests that embellish them.
"Winner's Blues" sees the band go
acoustic and sounding too close to
Dinosaur Jr., and "Starfeld Road,"
"Androgynous Mind," "Screaming
Skull" and "Tokyo Eye" are all plenty
noisy yet lack the logic that sets apart
e band's previous output. That there
no Lee Ranaldo songs is another
strike against the album, but as usual
Kim Gordon elevates the coolness
quotient and the quality of this album
and shines on "Bull in The Heather"
(by far the best song), "Skink," and
"Bone."
Does this mean sonic death for
Sonic Youth? Probably not. "Experi-
mental Jet Set, Trash and No Star" is
W a bad album at all, but somehow
does not seem up to the standard that
the band has set. Maybe the next al-
bum will better show off the band's
"star" potential.
- Heather Phares

'Trek' ends when Enterprise leaves television

By John R. Rybock
"All Good Things..."
The title for the last episode of
"Star Trek: The Next Generation"
(tonight, 6 p.m. on Channel 50) is
perfect. "ST:TNG" is a good thing,
whose television form of existence is
coming to an end. Yet the phrase is
not finished, suggesting more tocome.
Indeed, as the final epi-
sode airs, the cast and
crew of the most
successful
syndicated -A
series are .--,-
working on their
first big screen effort, "Star Trek:
Generations."
The fact that the film is due out
around Thanksgiving, only a couple
months after the new season would
have begun, has not kept me from
falling into a funk. The movies will be
able to do things which the television
show couldn't. Namely, a bigger
screen means bigger sets, bigger bud-
get, bigger effects.
But it won't be the same. And I
don't mean that in a good way. The

fact is that the emphasis in the movies
is quick action, quick satisfaction for
the audience. It's like the "golden
age" of movie musicals. For many,
the song needn't be very good, the
production just had to be big.
While we can look forward to
nearly everything in the movie being
bigger, it won't all be that way. Time
c o n -
straints
be the
death of
"Star Trek" on the silver screen.
My motherused tocall "ST:TNG"
"that space show." Mom was wrong.
"ST:TNG" was a space show in the
same way "Hill Street Blues" was a
cop show. They were settings in which
very real stories about the characters,
how they interacted, reacted and
evolved, were told.
The center piece of any good Trek
episode was itscast. Gene Roddenbery
put together an outstanding group of
actors to fill an eclectic assortment of
roles. And so far, I have not come up
with an absolute favorite character

(though I do know who I'd like to see
die. Sorry, Troi). It switches from
story to story, as characters continue
to evolve.
Data? The android who, in the
pilot episode stated he'd give up all
his amazing abilities to be human, yet

who seems to have realized that it's
not the goal of being human that mat-
ters, but the journey.
Worf? The Klingon, the warrior,
raised in the human world. Over the
courseoftheseries,he's grown, learn-
See ST:TNG, Page 10

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