RhythmaiBVIBWS
FRIDAY. JANUARY 30. 1998
‘Three Tall Women’
Edward Albee ’s' Pulitzer Prize
winningplay is now on stage at
the Lord Leehrick Theatre
Emerald
PAGE 8
Music showcase
The French duo Air is featured
in the KWVA Top 10 this week
PAGE 9
Volume 99, Issue 86
■ The Lane Coun- '
ty Music Show
case tonight at 8
will feature the
Metropolitan
Saxophone Quar
tet and local
artists Brain
washers and The
Vipers.
The show will be
performed in the
Agate Auditorium
at 18th Avenue
and Agate Street.
Tickets are $4 for j
students, $5 for
the general public, j
• Tibetan
inspired works
are among the
vessels, jewelry
and sculptures by
Lin Cook at the
Jacobs Gallery in
the Hult Center.
The display is free
and open to the
public, but today
is the last day to
see the artwork.
■ Storyteller,
bluesman and
folk artist Greg
Brown will per
form two shows
at WOW Hall on
Sunday, Feb. 1 at
4 and 7.
Brown's music
mixes country,
blues, gospel,
rock and jazz.
Tickets are
$12.50 In advance
or $14.50 at the
door.
■ Up-and
coming funk band
Galactic is tour
ing in support of
their album,
‘Coolin'Off.'The
group will per
form at the Wild
Duck Music Hall
on Feb. 4 at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $5 for
students and $6
for the general
public.
NOTHIN’ ON
CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald
By Evan A. Denbaum
j Entertainment Editor
So I’m in my off-campus apartment,
chatting with the TCI guy as he in
stalls my cable, and he asks me if I
| know that the very first cable wired in the
I United States was in Astoria, Oregon. I
j tell him that I’m an East Coast native and
L
| Evan A.
j Denbaum
mat i nau iiu mea mat
was the case. The guy
seems to be quite
proud of the distinc
tion Oregon holds, and
he gives me a little les
son about the history of
cable and goes on to
explain just how old
the wires were running
through my apartment
complex, i tnougnt it
was all pretty cool at the time. I don’t
think it’s so cool anymore.
1 wasn’t thinking of the distinct possi
bility that old wires meant outdated wires
— ones that had been degrading for years
and couldn’t carry the number of chan
nels 1 had grown accustomed to back
home in New England.
I certainly wasn’t thinking that with a
premium cable package in Eugene I
would receive only 37 channels, some
with sketchy reception. I mean, Bruce
Springsteen released the song "57 Chan
nels (And Nothin’ On)” back in 1992, and
we’ve only got 37 here in 1998!
And I wasn't thinking that so few chan
nels would mean cable staples would be
left off the lineup: the culty Comedy Cen
tral and the sports junky paradise ESPN2
(affectionately called “The Deuce”), just
to name a couple. I was also surprised to
see that other mainstays such as Lifetime
and Pay-Per-View vanished, only to be
replaced (as far as 1 could tell from watch
ing) by networks such as Animal Planet.
And I know this may offend, but I’m
more interested in watching a PPV prize
fight than a female locust bite off its
mate’s head. (Then again, recent prize
fighters have been doing their fair share
of biting, but I digress.)
Anyway, this couch potato was natu
rally thrilled to hear that TCI was at
tempting to make amends by introduc
ing digital cable in our area. As of
yesterday, local TCI subscribers can up
grade to the new technology, which of
fers 36 more channels, nifty new features
and more reliable service.
So now, 1 thought, all those who criti
cized TCI for killing Lifetime would be
avenged. All the fans of the cult-phenom
enon “South Park” can close their Quick
time bootlegs of “The Spirit of Christmas"
and watch die real thing on Comedy Cen
tral. And all the sports fanatics such as
myself will get their double dose of bas
ketball and hockey on The Deuce. I mean,
with three dozen new channels, TCI
couldn’t possibly fail to add those most
obvious of choices, could they? Well, the
answer is, “Oh yes, they could.”
For one reason or another, all of the
above have been excluded from TCTs new
digital package. The main reason for the
oversights is that the digital system is part
of a nationally launched campaign to fend
off the surge of 18-inch satellite dish sub
scribers. The digital channels are the same
everywhere, and because most areas al
ready get far more channels than Eugene
subscribers, little old Eugene loses out be
cause of that attempt to avoid overlap.
The second major reason for the exclu
sions is because of network trepidation
over making the move to digital. The
Turn to TCI, Page 9
New digital cable
TCI is offering a new service to
bolster the weak lineup of local
analog cable and to combat the
popularity of 18-inch satellite
dishes.
■ FEATURES: 36 new video
channels, including Bravo, Clas
sic Sports Network and Pay
Per-View, 10 audio channels, a
nifty navigator screen and more
reliable, node-networked ser
vice
■ PRICE: An extra $10 a month
on top of normal cable costs,
plus $3.30 a month to rent the
digital cable box, plus a one-time
installation fee of $12.95
■ AVAILABILITY: Available to
Eugene subscribers now
Lorca’s ‘Blood Wedding’ opens in Robinson Theatre
With other
than-human
elements and
a great deal
of symbolism,
the play
features
Death as a
primary
character
By Tammy Salman
Oregon Daily Emerald
Passion, deceit, murder, poetry.
“Blood Wedding,” Federico Garcia Lor
ca’s haunting account of deception and
death, contains all of these elements and be
gins today at Robinson Theatre.
The play, which premiered in 1933, tells
the tragic story of a bride who runs away
with her lover on her wedding day, only to
end up losing both her lover and her hus
band to Death, a character in the play.
Lorca, bom Fuente Vaqueros in Granada,
Spain, was a poet, playwright, artist and
musician. He was murdered in 1936 by na
tionalist partisans not long after the start of
the Spanish Civil War.
“The play challenges a theater company
to develop an acting style and visual ele
ments to match the intensity of Lorca’s po
etry and passion,” said director Jack Wat
son, head of the theater arts department.
“Lorca’s poetic vision of this fated love is
not lyrical, but rather fierce and visceral,”
he said. The pervasiveness of violence and
the urgency of death are the compelling
forces in this play, he said.
Melanie Moseley, a master’s degree can
didate in theater arts who plays Death,
agrees with Watson.
“The play is extremely symbolic,” she
said. “It is certainly not realism. You have
to let the music and imagery flow over
you.”
According to Watson, the play introduces
elements other than human and makes
them human, which is why the character
Death is featured as part of the main cast.
Turn to PLAY, Page 10
n_mwmm am.m. i
WENDY FULLER/Emerald
The Bride and Bridegroom sit unth Death
in the play Blood Wedding.'