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because of his homosexuality. Since that
time, he has been unable to understand
homophobia and still feels like a victim.
Displaying incredible control of his
own fear and hatred, Dong has deliber-
ately chosen men tried and convicted for
homophobic hate crimes, asking each
directly, "Why did you do it?"
Dong's interviews of seven of these
men is interwoven with a taped police
interrogation of a homophobic mugger
who had just been arrested for stabbing
someone 27 times (he only seems to
recall five). The documentary is both
irresistible and hard to watch. There are
very graphic crime photos, and the film
hits close to home for many homophobic
men. Moreover, just by hearing these
men explain why they did what they did,
one is forced to include the criminals in
humanity, however much one may hate
them and their actions.
This documentary's only real flaw is
that its title only applies to Donald
Aldrich. Of the seven interviewed, he
was the only one who felt he had a pub-
lic mandate to commit his crime.
Aldrich did not regret his crime, only
for his defense strategy. "My crime came
to what it was because I knew how the
police felt about homosexuals back in
Tylei ... it was supposed to help me o
But because of the new hate crin
statutes, it backfired on me."
The documentary isn't about Aldrich's
claim that police look the other way
when hate crimes agaiinst homosexuals
occur. Dong may be saying that hoimo-
phobia gave these men a license, or a
motive, to kill, but "Licensed to Kill"
isn't public advocacy of these crimes but
about criminials' own view of them
this week's installment of "PON
which was not available for review,
comes from director David Zeiger. "The
Band" is about Zeiger's son Danny's
high school band while also paying trib-
ute to the loss of his other son. "Licensed
to Kill" and other "P.OV" films are
often available for private ownership and
for public screenings. The PI3S webpage
(www.pbs.org/pov) offers contact
addresses and a chance to respond to the
documentaries. One can also send a
video letter, which may be aired in a see
ment called "Talking Back" that will fol-
low future documentaries.
So the next time someone proudly
declares "I don't watch TV' tell them
that it's okay to be uncultured, and that
maybe they should sit down every
Tuesday over the summer to see what
"Must See TV" really is.
Slayer proves metal
is still going strong
By AdHn Rosil
For the Daily
All media music indicators are say-
ing that Heavy Metal is a rotting corpse
replaced long ago by Ska, Electronica
and anything else one can stick an 'a' at
the end of.
Well, someone forgot to mention
Heavy Metal's demise to the sold out,
3,000 plus crowd at Harpo's on June 9
who was there to see Slayer.
Supporting bands were label-mates
System of a Down and Clutch. System
of a Down got
the crowd in the ye
right mood with:
its harsh and
hard 30-minute Slayer
set of Middle
Eastern-flavored, Harpo's
mosh-inducing June 5, 1998
music.
The momen-
tum started by
System of a
Down was
m oment a ril y
stalled, however,I -_
when Clutch
took the stage and plodded through its
boring brand of retro-metal. Even
Clutch's singer looked a little bored
throughout the set.
This temporary loss of momentum
was quickly remedied by about 10 p.m.
The lights were dimmed and the open-
ing, pre-recorded strains of Slayer's
"Hell Awaits" started blaring through
the speakers.
Dark silhouettes took the stage, the
pre-recorded music stopped, and the
thunderous sound of power chords
swallowed everything within range.
Slayer had arrived, and the crowd went
insane.
Slayer blasted through a set filled
with crowd favorites, playing every-
thing from "Reign in Blood" to its
recently released "Diabolus in musica'
The crowd sang along (it you cai
call it "singing along") to "War
Insemble,"' "Captor of Sin" and "Jesus
Saves," while still managing to keep
the mosh pit looking like a brewing and
boiling cauldron.
SingerTom Araya's crowd conversa-
tions were very minimal and kept to the
bare "thank you for coming," and
"Are you having fun?"
But Slayer is not really a band th,
needs much crowd interaction anyway.
Its career has already spanned 17
years, and its following is insanely
loyal, unfazed by trends or band line-
up changes.
Dhe crowd was there for Slayer's
brutal form of music, and Slayer knew
all the right moves to please its fans.
One had to be there to experience the
sheer feeling of connection between
the crowd and the band, as well as the
eerie, supernatural atmosphere creat
by Slayer's performance of "South of
Heaven" midway through its set.
After a false show ending, the band
resirned to the stage for an encore and
ended its set on a high note with
"Chemical Warfare" and the eagerly
anticipated "Angel of Death."
Singer Tom Araya then thanked the
crowd and asked everyone if they
would come see Slayer again ne
time it played in Detroit. Not surpri,
ingly, the crowd erupted ina massive,
chorus-screaming "Yeah!" and
proved that if Heavy Metal music is
supposed to be dead, it's a musical
Lazarus.