Film festival tonight-CCPA announces line-up
Portlands first International
Film Festival is currently in prog
ress while here in Eugene there’s
a film festival of a different scale.
Seven or eight local filmmakers
are screening their individual
works under the collective title of
Filmmaker s Cinematheque. The
show includes film, 35mm slides,
video and multi-media works.
The Cinematheque was started
about three years ago by Phil Per
kins. When Perkins first came to
town, he was making films and
didn’t know anybody, so he or
ganized this ioose-knit group of
independent filmmakers, most of
whom work in similar fields such
as news cameramen and still
photographers. Perkins is a
VISTA volunteer specializing in
media work for L-COG.
Another filmmaker who’ll be
showing his work is Andy
Wayman. He has just finished a
twenty minute, 16mm suspense
film complete with a Hitchcock
soundtrack and Shelton High
School actors.
His current project has taken six
months to complete. First he
wrote the script, then found the
images to convey his intent. All the
direction, make-up and sound he
did. He edited it during spring
break.
One short scene in the film took
all day to finish as the camera
stops and the make-up changes.
It's the first film he’s made that
he feels is successful. His last film
was a dramatic western that he’d
conceived as a serious piece.
When he showed it at the Film
makers Cinematheque last year
the audience thought it was funny,
but that mis-calculated effect
doesn’t deter him in the slightest.
“Film is a series of environments,
all carefully controlled scenes to
produce a certain effect. The real
test, the final environment is the
theatre and the audience's re
sponse tells the filmmaker if he
has communicated. The western
was very melodramatic,” he
raises his arms like an orchestra
conductor, “and they thought it
was funny.” His next film is going
to be a comedy.
Filmmakers Cinematheque is
showing their works tonight at
7:30 p.m. at the W.O.W. Hall for
$1.
Where in Eugene may one go in order to see a batch of films by
local filmmakers, hear some high-gear, toe-tappin, sounds on one night
and traditional Latin music the next, and a Chippewa Medicine man on
the following night? Why, the Community Center for the Performing
Arts, 8th and Lincoln, of course. And the above line-up is exactly what’s
happening at the Center this weekend.
To begin with, tonight at 7:30 p.m. the Center will play host to a
showing of the films of several of Eugene's hometown filmmakers.
Included among the films is an animated piece by Phil Perkins, a video
tape entitled “Drawings” by Peter Kirby, “Marathon”, by Marlin Darrah,
which concerns marathon running in Eugene, a dramatic film by Andy
Wayman (see the review of this film elsewhere in this issue), Tom Cook
will do slide sequences and Ed Mellnik from OMSI will demonstrate his
video synthesizer All for $1.
On Friday, Wheatfield will bring its indigenous sound to the Center
for what promises to be more of their usual brand of good ole’ finger
snappin’, hell-clickin’ music. They start at 9 p.m. Admission will be $2 at
the door.
A group called Montuno will be bringing a little Salsa Music to the
Center on Saturday. Salsa Music is traditional Latin music and Mon
tuno is said to present it in a very lively and entertaining manner. They
also start at 9 p.m. with a $2 admission charge at the door.
And on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. *he Community Center for the
Performing Arts will present a talk by a Chippewa medicine man named
Sun-Bear. He will talk on the traditional Indian medicine of the North
west, herbal healing and natural nutrition. The presentation will also
include a healing circle and a pipe ceremony.
For more information on any of the above events at the Community
Center or on the Center itself and its new image, drop by 8th and Lincoln
or call 687-2746.
Turkey Run merged with Country Al’s Pals forming the
Goodnight Band plays at Murphy’s
By ERIC LEE
Of the Emerald
In the days of the early West
when cattle drives were rampant
and cowboys were a way of life,
Charles Goodnight invented the
a NEW
Chick Corea
and
Return to Forever
Music Magic
gun §hop
860 E. 13th
Chuckwagon and along with a
man named Lovin, opened up the
Goodnight-Lovin Trail. His con
tribution to music however was
not made until the late 1970’s
when a country rock band took his
name in vain and became the
Goodnight Band.
From the four corners of the
earth, from every profession im
aginable from Marion County to
Boston Mass, from Portland to
Eugene the members came,
bringing with them a multitude of
experiences and a passion for
music. At first they were destined
to play in different bands. One was
a Eugene band living in a red far
mhouse on Turkey Run road near
Creswell. They became known as
the Turkey Run band. While play
ing in Portland at the Earth tavern
they made friends with Country Al
and His Pals, another highly
touted but little known band. To
say they made beautiful music to
gether would be enough to give a
chicken cavities so let us simply
say that they played together well.
When the Turkey’ broke up in
the summer of 76 their gig at the
Renaissance fair went up for
grabs. Two of the members, Gary
Robertson and Tony DalMolin, in
herited the band’s equipment and
along with some of Country Al’s
Pals Towner Galaher, Alan Elstad
and David Brell, decided to do the
gig under a different name. One
late practice that ended in a mid
night repast of black coffee and
refried beans and became a
scene from Blazing Saddles, in
spired the group’s name.
The Goodnight band has been
together since Sept., 76. Half the
members live in Portland so the
other half does a lot of commuting.
“It’s worth it though,” says lead
guitar player Gary Robertson.
“I’ve never played with a group of
people more musically compati
ble.” With Tony DalMolin on pedal
steel and guitar, Towner Galaher
on drums, Alan Elstad doing bass
and vocals and David Brellon on
piano and vocals,the groups is not
lacking in versatility.
“Everyone in the band writes
music,” says Robertson, “and the
beauty of it is that we all write from
different musical preferences.
Towner is into ‘funk’, David likes
jazz and we’re all rock-n-roll and
bluegrass fans.”
With over forty original songs to
draw from, the Goodnight band
will be the only one in Eugene
doing seventy per cent original
material.
“It’s a frightening experience to
play a song that you have written
without knowing how people are
going to react to it,” says Robert
son. “But at the same time its an
incredible rush if they like it.
Commenting on the interaction
between musicians in Eugene,
Robertson says “I don’t think we
could do what we re doing now
without people like Don Ross and
John Powell and Other groups in
Eugene that listen to our music
and give us moral support.”
The Goodnight Band will play
this weekend at Murphy’s.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
opens tonight at Arena Theater
Tennessee Williams’ award-winning
tragedy “A Streetcar Named Desire" is
being staged this weekend in the Arena
Theatre.
The play won the Pulitzer prize, the
Donaldson Award and the New York
Drama Critics Award during its first year
onstage in New York.
It is Blanche Dubois' story as she
moves to New Orleans to live with her
sister and brother-in-law. Blanche (por
trayed by Carol Baker) is trying to leave
behind her tragic marriage and the
scandal she instigated.
Stella Kowalski, her sister, (played by
Kathleen Randall) is considerate and
accomodating but her husband Stanley
will have no part of it. Stanley (Bill Geis
slinger) resents her presence, exposes
her past and destroys her last chance of
ignoring the squalid misery of her life
“A Streetcar Named Desire" is di
rected by Ed Chambers who also di
rected the Northwest Players successful
version of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo
Nest."
The set and costumes were designed
by Nancy Hills who has worked with
Chambers before, assisting in the pro
duction of “Cuckoos Nest." Currently
she must be very busy as she has a
major role in “The Roar of the
Greasepaint...The Smell of the Crowd”
and she also designed the sets for the
Very Little Theatre s latest production,
“The Sudden and Accidental Re
education of Horse Johnson.”
“A Streetcar Named Desire” opens
tonight and runs Friday and Saturday
nights; curtain rises at 8 p.m. Admission
is free to University students with fee
cards and $1 to the public. If you can’t
catch it this weekend, it is also running
next Thursday through Saturday, April
14-16.
Dealing with people rather than issues,
‘Harlan Co.’ testifies to their courage
By DAVID COURSEN
Of the Emerald
Unless you still believe in the Easter Bunny, you have no doubt
deduced that an Academy Award is not always a mark of artistic
excellence. Even in a “serious” category like the documentary film, a
choice like last year’s The Man Who Skied Down Everest proved how
marginal a consideration quality can be. The film might have had some
value as a travelogue, but even that was ruined by tedious readings
from the diary of the man who, it turns out, fell down Everest. His writing
was no better than his skiing—sub-Rod McKuen banality, the sort of
“zen” philosophizing that should create new interest in Occidental
culture, and a macho posture that was equivalent to Norman Mailer with
a brain full of pc.int thinner fumes. Needless to say, it became a solid hit.
But, Eugene also has the Academy to thank for the deservedly
wide distribution of this year’s winner, Harlan County, USA, a perceptive
and moving chronicle of a thirteen month coal miners’ strike in Ken
tucky. The film’s producer-director-sound recorder, Barbara Kopple,
and her crew developed an extraordinary rapport with the strikers, and
the result is an exhilarating testament to the courage and resilience of
people sharing the burden and the challenge of a common struggle.
With political films, one often has the feeling that “the workers’’
exist merely to prove ideological arguments. An abstract feeling for “the
masses" may conceal a profound distrust of people as individuals.
Here, however, the rhetoric may be that of the labor movement, but
Kopple’s real concern is always for the people, rather than the issues, in
front of the camera.
At times, the film seems almost casual in the way it examines the
strike. Historical explanations are clear and concise, if not particularly
profound, but there is almost no feel for the details of the strike itself, of
the physical layouts of the various confrontation sites, or of the passing
of time and the gradual, cumulative growth of tension and frustration.
We are as surprised as a bystander when the soundtrack informs us
that the strike has been going on for ten months.
But Harlan is not really intended as a political treatise at all, but is,
rather, an act of faith—in film as a medium of communication, in the
resilience of the miners and, particularly their wives, and in the nobility of
their struggle. The political issue is little more than a pretext for describ
Photo Courtesy of Ananda Marga Society
"Lenny" starring Dustin Hoffman will be shown on Satur
day, at 7 and 9:30 p.m. for $1 in 150 Geology.
ing the intense difficulties people can endure and, finally, overcome.
The making of the film itself was a complex and difficult task;
Kopple must have spent enormous energy securing the various forms
of assistance that are acknowledged in the final credits. It may well have
taken the same kind of tenacity and resourcefulness to make the film as
to win the strike. In addition, the filming itself involved sharing some of
the dangers the strikers themselves faced, particularly in a chilling
night-time confrontation. This may explain, in part, the extraordinary
empathy the film has for its subjects.
It would have been easy for Harlan to condescend to the
strikers, dwelling on the pathos and degradation of life as a coal miner.
Instead, the strikers, particularly the women, accepted the film-makers
and came to trust them completely; in response, the strikers are them
selves treated with affection. They are seen as people—of sadness,
and anger, often of eloquence, and almost always possessing a fierce
dignity and sense of human worth.
Kopple consistently focuses on the things that are common to all
people, ratherthan those that separate them. Even when she interviews
a strike-breaker, presumably one of the villains of the piece, the en
counter ends with an exchange of nervous laughter. Only spokesmen
for the Company are treated without compassion; presumably it was
hard to connect with the human feelings of an institution that would
admit it provided its employees housing without hot water or indoor
toilets and make no apology for the fact.
Perhaps the most charming vignette in the film is also the most
revealing. Several strikers have gone to New York to picket Wall Street
and warn potential investors that a company with labor troubles is a
risky investment. A policeman casually questions a picketer about the
strike; soon, the two working men are comparing wages, benefits, and
working conditions. Not only does the cop express sympathy for the
strikers, but he also insists that miners are more underpaid than they
realize. The sequence is amusing rather than funny, but its presence in
the film is significant. Much earlier, police were used to attempt to break
the strike, and the addition of the New York footage suggests that is only
circumstances that make strikers and police enemies.
This is Kopple’s underlying belief: humankind is indivisible—if cops
can join with workers, strikebreakers, too, may one day do so. If that can
happen, surely there is nothing that cannot be achieved.
1
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1639 East 19th Street
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Open: M,W,F 10-8;
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CHINA BLUE RESTAURANT
879 E. 13th St. (upstairs)
343-2832
Serving the Most Popular Northern Chinese Dishes Nightly from 5 p.m.
^Gourmet Delights • Individually Prepared
Chef's Suggestion;
BUDDHA’S FEAST • $3.95
Most famous Chinese Vegetable dish.
Black Mushrooms, Dry Bean Curd,
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BEER TASTING
April 15 7-10 p.m.
“Over 30 varieties of
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Free popcorn
Glass 350 Pitcher $1.50
Entertainment By
Gila