Qnspm l)ally bmerold's Weekly Mum, Theater, Dance, Yulev and St^hthje (, iuide
"Hang the DJ
because the music
he constantly plays
says nothing
about my life..."
- Panic
The Smiths
By Katy Moeller
Emerald Contributor
"! am not Kathy l.eo Gifford 1
act like how I foul. When I'm
having a had hair day. I'm hav
a had hair day.' said M lissa
inis, th*> enorgotic host of the
lafe-night video show Panic that
leaped in Eugene.
m tnmc. named after a Smiths
nuiiKi mi i .uiiiuim.'i in ii.mi. mi
Fox-affiliated Kl.SR and features videos from cutting-edge
bands like Skinny Puppv. Nine Inch Nails, Mudhoney,
The Dogs of Lust and Faith No More
These bands fall into the increasingly popular alterna
tive music category. Unlike mainstream groups, al
ternative hands are less commercially motivated and
aren't necessarily looking for mass appeal. Daniels said
Daniels weeds out groups like Warrant, which she
refers to as a "hair band" that often capitalizes on crudity,
she said.
Daniels, a former telecommunications und film student
at the University, selects the videos, sells the advertising,
designs the set and does her own lighting and filming.
Having worked as a VJ, or video jockey, for the past five
years at KLSR. producing Panic comes naturally to
Daniels.
M'lissa Daniels (above, left)
hosts and produces Panic, a
late-night video show taped in
Eugene and broadcast on Fox
affiliated KLSR.
In 14)H7, she i ii hosliitl After
Hours with |ohn Napier At that
11mo M..SK was a 24-hour inii.su
video station Thu station,
owned by the Art tii: Slope Cor
. ■" - j11 »i <ii m * 11 in mn^Kii, n in in*
brainchild o( |<ihn Fluid and |nhn Mielke
Within twy years, the station expanded its program
ming to include shows in syndication and movies.
Daniels began hosting a show tailed Nighthvol in I OHM.
She referred to this lime period as "the horror days"
because she had to play pop artists like Deblne (iihson
and Paula Abdul Now she has complete control over
what goes on the air
Well, almost With the exception of editing for nudity
and satanic imagery, she dei ides whir h videos will play
and in what order She knows what her audience expects,
she said
"I make decisions on what goes on and if I make a mis
take. I get called on it." Daniels said.
Turn to PANIC, Page 10
Trucking the latest
The host always comes Iasi.
After suffering through (and reviewing) Madonna's
tired, old Body Of Evidence, and recovering from (and
reviewing) the catatonically boring Sex. a review of
Erotica would seem the all-too-easy-dis, but the blond s
music — unlike the dry film or the watered-down book
— cannot lie dismissed.
Poor Madonna must, in fact, be rescued from total and
easy public dismissal. No, Madonna doesn't have. nay.
the razor-sharp political savvy of a Hillary Clinton —
the smartest blond in America — but neither does she
lack true artistic measure, as say. Jon Bon Jovi — the
stupidest blond in America. Madonna's territory is the
sexual landscape, the human body her turf.
Erotica boldly goes where no male, no female singer
songwriter-producer has ever gone before, and she bull
dozes this terrain with sultry vocals,
provocatively-penned lyrics and powerfully underdone
production.
She is music's sexual conquistador, scaling moun
tains of taboos and carving through valleys of ignorance
Erotica
by Madonna
•CrCr&ft
I
while carolling out the never-ending joys
of sox. Erotica is her best work, and she J
deserves complete creative credit (versus I
current chart-topper Whitney
Houston, who’s never written a
word she's sunu.)
Erotica works because it's
erotic. It is an unrelenting, extended orgasm.
«
comprised of 14 songs. 14 multiples. Kroli- 1
at." the CD's premier cut. is slow as sin and
incredibly bassy. Madonna's whispery words
extend an introductory hand, ushering the lis
tener into her psyche.
The trio ot first cut* — hrotica. haver and
"Bye.Bye Baby” — form a formidable foreplay: earn are
tweaked, curioaity la piqued; it’s impossible to stop lis
tening now. "Deeper And Deeper.” "Waiting” and
"Thief Of Hearts" are pulsing erotic Rumbas, toe-curl
ing Tangos pulling us beck to Madonna's dance floor
origins. "Thief” — a seething, disco-dis directed to an
unnamed boyfriend-stealing girlfriend — ia especially
Review by D. Lee Williams
arousing. The Imir-pulimg. rmigh-aud-tuin
ble, (.at-fight lyrics recall the nll-too-quick
ly-forgotten glory days of fuinalti
muo-vv resiling
Further on, cuts liko
J "Words" and "Kain" umnlia
size the CD's underproduc
tion. No 24-track was used on any "Erotica"
rsong. I ho result, then, isn t the sharp and
crystal-clear sound of love, hut the dull and
noisy hiss of sexual reality. “Rain.” for exam
ple — with its storm noise and murky vocals —
is a satisfying, three-minute long, throbbing claus
tropnobic grind, a aweary, midnigm romp in the back
of a 68 Volkswagen.
The twin cult “Secret Carden" and "Where Life
Begins" pinpoint the flowery, physiological birthplace
of the artist’s ideas: Madonna claims body as inspira
tion. The growly noises Madonna makes in "Where Life
Turn to KROTOCA. Papa 10