I ARTS The Michigan Daily Falk: Wednesday, January 9, 1991 Page 5 art or* reality? Tune In Tomorrow... dir. Jon Amiel by Brent Edwards ou have two days. In only two 0'ays, Tune In Tomorrow... will eave Ann Arbor and you will have missed an opportunity to see the 'funniest film since A Fish Called -'Vanda. The film was released two -4tionths ago but for some reason it never made its way to Ann Arbor ;until now (the president of the dis- &ibutor was probably Albanian - -see below). And now, you have just two days until you're stuck with +witless farces like Three Men and a Little Bitch again. Set in 1951, Tune In Tomor- .w.. takes place in the world of ra- -io soap operas at a variety of levels. Peter Falk plays the flamboyant and vulgar scriptwriter Pedro Carmichael who has just joined a sleepy radio station in New Orleans. Hilariously played over the top, Pedro takes over the station, New Orleans and the lives of the people around him. Pedro continually rants about art and reality - "When you're in a shitstorm and it's coming down hard, what do you reach for as an umbrella? Art!"- but he is actually a master at making the two interact. In creating the outrageous situations for his soap, he manipulates people to recreate his plots and then steals their dialogue for his show. In this way, he makes life imitate art to cre- , -te more art. Along the way, he also creates quite a shitstorm. The boundaries between reality and art disappear almost immediately 'when a radio deejay interrupts his show to read the opening credits of the movie, including the credit for his own role. Art becomes reality * throughout the film as we are fre- quently "shown" the soap opera as it 's being typed or read. Actors includ- ing John Larroquette and Elizabeth McGovern play the imaginary char- acters with the high melodrama and overacting necessary for their absurd Ween God Ween Satan: The Oneness Twin-Tone/Rough Trade Be ye wary against the brothers, Gene and Dean Ween. One shall wield a guitar whilst the other shall be carrying drums. They shalst try to sound like Zeppelin, Hendrix, the Violent Femmes and Prince, but shalst fail miserably. They shalst come from the East, from New Jer- sey and will be signed to a major in- dependent label. Beware the brothers and The Oneness, for they are the sixth sign of the coming apocalypse. "Common Bitch": "Common bitch/ Ma head itch/ Scratchit bitch/ Common bitch/ Common bitch/ Little girl/ Common bitch/ Wear good stitch/ Fetch it bitch/ Common bitch/ Common bitch/ Little girl/ Common bitch/ Papa's home/ No shit/ Common bitch/ Common bitch/ Little girl." Be ye wary of words of stupidity and misogyny. Guard ye well against the lyrics that maketh no sense. "Papa Zit": "Who's yo' papa?/ ?apa zit/ Who's yo' mama?/ Papa zit/ Lizen' to papa!/ Papa zit/ This is the shit/ Chew tobacco/ Papa zit/ Two chewbaccas/ Papa zit/ Who's yo' papa?/ Papa zit/ Where's yo' mama?/ Papa zit/ This is the shit." Guard thine ears against The Oneness for it soundeth as if it were recorded on a boom box in the Ween's garage. And I pleadeth with thou to be wary of the Daily's drawer of free CD's from which this jen was plucked. "You Fucked Up:" "You fucked up/ You bitch/ You really fucked up/ You fucked up/ You fuckin' nazi whore/ You dicked me over/ But now you'll pay/ You fucked up/ aaaahhh." Guard ye well against The One- ness and saveth thine money to buy plenty of canned goods and bottled water. -Richard S. Davis Terminator X "Wanna Be Dancin'/Buck- Whylin'" (12") Columbia The A-side of Terminator's first solo effort espouses the same dance- as-Utopian-community philosophy that Deee-Lite expounds on, only with a greater accent on boasting and the pleasures of the flesh. Once you're out on the dance floor and the "sweat is sizzlin' like bacon" and "butt cheeks are jumpin"' it doesn't matter if you're "Black, white or Ko- rean." Unfortunately, the commit- ment is in sloganeering only; Ter- minator's rhythms couldn't jack the most inveterate of beat-hypnotized club goers. "Wanna Be Dancin""s military omniscience doesn't invite anyone inside of its music, it alien- ates and intimidates, which is why Public Enemy is as great as they are. Which, in turn, brings us to why you'd want to buy the 12" anyway - Chuck's appearance on the flip side, "Buck-Whylin."' Quite simply, "Buck-Whylin"' is the "Bring the Noise" for a younger generation of new jacks raised on Bell Biv DeVoe and a clandestine copy of As Nasty as They Want to Be; that is, of course, dependent on Black radio's willingness to play it over the air. Placed in a more revolutionary context by Sister Souljah's exhorta- tions to create a Black army than "Bring the Noise," "Buck-Whylin"' is hip-hop's definitive statement of purpose. Based on an urgent sense of community that characterizes all African derived musics from mbaqanga to gospel, Chuck acts as the archetypal preacher leading his congregation into a holy war of righ- teousness. This holds true not just for P.E. and related endeavors, but for "Boogie Down, Stetsa, Ice T, Big Daddy Kane, Sir Mix-a-lot, 2 Live Crew and MC Lyte" as well because Chuck, with Terminator's help, is able to express the latent messages and images that are buried underneath rap's fragmented surface with a pointed eloquence. The production, by Terminator and Carl Ryder, hearkens back to Yo! Bum Rush the Show and its Rick Rubin influenced fusion of de- humanized metallic power chords and "jeep beats." The Assault Techni- cian's rhythms are framed by a frightening guitar drone that is remi- niscent of "Sophisticated Bitch." Meanwhile, Terminator's scratching is a typically pithy statement of rage at white ownership of African Amer- ican cultural forms. When Termina- tor drops the bass and treble, "the place is in trouble" indeed. -Peter Shapiro The Fuzztones Creatures That Time Forgot Skyclad Avoiding the Jack the Ripper fan- tasies that most of their lysergic garage punker compatriots and ances- tors indulge in, the Fuzztones, with groovee ditty titles like "Fabian's Lips" and the presence of a girl (still not woman though) guitar player, put the genre's collective fetish with bad orgasms aside and produce a grungy straight-ahead four/four con- cerned with reproducing the parame- cium-like hallucinations and quasi- mystical visions of a psilocy- bin/peyote/ mescaline buzz; in other words, great toonz to smoke clove cigarettes and fuck furiously to (by). --Peter Shapiro Cabaret Voltaire Groovy, Laidback and Nasty Parlophone/EMI Hey, look! Look at the wagon pass by. It goes "Boom, Crack, Boom, Crack, Boom..." at 124 beats per minute. Oh, and look who's on it, New Order and.., and Madonna! Look who's driving - Technotronic - Aaaaaarrrggh! Oh look who's trying to climb on it now - Cabaret Voltaire. Can they make it?... Can they make it?... Uhp!... No. It looks like they've missed the house bandwagon. Don't get me wrong. I like house music as much as the next person. But I prefer my dance music to have some kind of a bite to it. I want the bass to pick me up off my seat, slap me around and guide my feet closer to the speakers. When I hear the first few measures I want to feel com- pelled to shove people out of my See RECORDS, Page 7 Peter Falk, sans cigar and trenchcoat, with similar style to his most famous role as Columbo sports a mighty fine toupe?!? situations (even outdoing today's soap actors), and their action coun- terpoints that of Martin (Keanu Reeves) and Julia (Barbara Hershey), the people Pedro are manipulating. Martin, a young and naive newswriter at the radio station, falls in love with his unpredictable Aunt Julia when she comes to New Or- leans for a visit. The aunt is earthy, experienced and exudes sex with a single look, which is probably why Martin falls in love with her. Reeves' disappearing Orleans accent gets annoying at times, but Hershey is endearing as the love-weary Aunt. Although the film centers on their developing relationship, it is Pedro's behind-the-scene manipulations that drive the film and Pedro himself who provides the comedic highs. Pedro's wit, quirks and fury are extravagant. Pedro wields his insults like Rambo does his Uzi. At the forefront of his attack are Albanians whom his soap characters make fre- quent references to: "You're driving like a stinking Albanian with crabs" and "All Albanians are breast-fed un- til the age of ten." This, of course, infuriates the Albanian community and creates lots of, as Pedro puts it, impacting reality. With his role here and in Wings of Desire two years ago, Peter Falk is making his own surprising impact in the movies without the help of his trenchcoat and cigar (hopefully, Hollywood won't take this as a rea- son to make Columbo - The Movie). In Tune In Tomorrow..., Falk has created one of the most memorable characters of the year and you'd have to be a drooling Albanian sadist not to enjoy him and this film. TUNE IN TOMORROW... is being shown at the Ann Arbor 1&2. NIN gets way deep down in it by Richard S. Davis Nine Inch Nails Latin Quarter Dec. 31, 1990 New Years Eve seeing Nine Inch Nails, oh boy, oh boy. Geez, it's really cold out here. Is Jsomeone's grandma checking I.D. or "somethin'? Oh, nope, it looks like some guys with muscles on their muscles. They should really have someone look at those. Finally, inside. Yep, me, the smoke and about a thousand black leather biker jackets (including my own). When is this puppy gonna Mart anyway? My eyes are starting to burn. 10:15 p.m. and Die Warzau is opening. These guys jam. Two drummers = Beats, beats, beats. They kind of sound like a hip-house Nitzer Ebb. An excellent version of "Strike to the Body." The lead singer seems to be rightfully concerned about the coming war, 'Do not reg- ister for the draft... Involuntary con- scription is unconstitutional!' Wow, techno with a conscience, new for '91. Excellent. 11:20 p.m. and Nine Inch Nails begins. "Terrible Lie." Good choice, good choice. Sounds great, I just wish that I could see the band. Oh yeah, I almost forgot I'm in the Latin Quarter, where they don't care if there's light on the stage. "Something I Can Never Have," "Ringfinger" - oh the angst, the angst of it all. Trent is a man in pain, but the crowd doesn't seem to care. Hundreds of people jumping up and down and all around. 12:07 p.m. (oh yeah, Happy New Year). The crowd is really whipped into a frenzy. Go Trent, Go! The finale, "Head Like A Hole (The Many Guitars Mix)". YIKE! 4 guitarists! Is his Aunt Betty going to come out with a guitar next? Overkill? Sure, but who cares? I'm satisfied. I feel like I've just eaten a good steak. 12:20 p.m. and the house lights are on. Only an hour long show. Oh well, that was still the most intense New Year's Eve I've ever had. 1 11 CAPITALIZE On Graduate Opportunities At The American University Washington, D.C. You have an impact on public policy and gain a sense of accomplishment for yourself through graduate study at The American University in Washington, D.C. Graduate programs in the School of Public Affairs offer you the opportunity to learn new management and research skills and prepare you for careers in a wide variety of government agencies and in private research, policy advocacy, and professional organizations. For more information call (202) 885-6201 or return the coupon. r----------------------------- Please send information on the following School of Public Affairs programs: Q Public Administration M.P.A. Q Procurement Management M.S. 0 Political Science M.A. Q Human Resource Development M.S. 1 Public Financial Management Ph.D Programs: Justice, Political M.S. FnnilMngmn Science, & Public AdministrationI NEED TH ESEM FIND THIS o SHELF TAG Fall 89 REQUIRED o TITLE* AUTHOR:_ PUBL"___ _EDITION___ 0 0 Course, Course Number o ~Section 0 HERE! - Michigan Union Bookstore 1 ,1 i. Q1 ii,,cirp M.S. Undergraduate Degree Programs I I-- V FU.Alt- : 1VI.0- 1- 2 ..aJ- 7LU I I