Thursday
Byrne-ing down the house
With a new solo album, David Byrne finds
a way to rock you intelligently. PAGE 9
PULSE EDITOR: BEVIN CAFFERY bcaffery@gladstone.uoregon.edu
Not a little Pixie
Courtesy Photo
■ Frank Black has transcended his roots with
The Pixies, but he’s still saving rock ’n’ roll
By Dave Depper
Oregon Daily Emerald
He may be bald, chubby and 36 years old, but don’t
just dismiss Frank Black as a has-been. You owe this man
a huge debt of gratitude for saving rock music.
You see, Black (real name: Charles Thompson) was
once in this little band called The Pixies. In the late
1980s and early 1990s, The Pixies fought the good fight
against ’80s hair metal and synth pop with their twist
ed surf songs about UFOs and monkeys. Never a huge
commercial success, the band called it quits in 1993,
but not before releasing a body of material that has
since had a huge influence on everyone from Nirvana
to David Bowie to Weezer.
While you may know The Pixies, you might not know
that Black has had quite a solo career, with six albums
under his belt. He even has another band, The Catholics,
who just released their third album, “Dog in the Sand.”
With its twangy guitar crunch, its country pedal-steel
licks and its funky Wurlitzer/piano vibe, this CD rules.
You should pick up a copy immediately. Black’s former
Pixies cohort Joey Santiago even shows up on three
songs.
Frank Black and The Catholics will grace the WOW
Hall next Wednesday. It should certainly rock, and ex
Pixies drummer David Lovering will be opening the con
cert — with a magic show. Black describes Lovering’s act
— dubbed “David Lovering’s Scientific Experiment” —
as “weird... he blows stuff up with his powers of mental
ism.” Pixies fans take note: On past solo jaunts, Black has
steadfastly refused to play any songs by his old band.
However, on this tour, Black has taken Pixies classics
such as “Where is My Mind?” and “Gouge Away” out of
the mothballs.
I managed to talk with a groggy Black at his hotel in
Lawrence, Kan., and immediately realized to my horror
that the phone call had woken him. While polite, Black
sounded pretty tired, so his answers were rather short
and to the point.
Pulse: May I call you Charles?
Frank Black: You may.
P: I read in a recent interview that the WOW Hall is
one of your favorite places to play. What do you like
about it?
Turn to Black, page 10
A play on plays
■ uurang/uurang consists or tour
short plays made to attack the
pretentiousness of theater
‘Durang/Durang’
Arena Theatre
★★★★☆
By Mason West
for the Emerald
The purpose of theater is to cure the nau
sea of life — or so playwright Christopher
Durang would have us believe. His play
“Durang/Durang,” which opens in the Are
na Theatre today, is a vicious assault on pre
tentious theater and playwrights.
Being an insider himself, Durang’s blows
go right for the jugular, daring playwrights to
be “deep” so he can point out how shallow
they really are. The show goes four rounds,
with four short plays having nothing to do
with one another except their abuse of the
theater. The purpose of theater mentioned
above starts the barrage and comes from the
opening monologue, in which Mrs. Sorken,
an eccentric older woman, talks directly to
the audience about her take on the perform
ing arts. “Drama,” she says, “comes from the
Greek word ‘dram,’ meaning ‘to do,’ and the
English word ‘drain,’ which means to emp
ty totally.”
If you didn’t get that joke, you have not
done theater. Durarg wrote a play mocking
his peers and his craft, and it is most appreci
ated by those with similar knowledge. The
next two plays poke fun at “The Glass
Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams, “Lie of
the Mind” by Sam Shepard (who also wrote
“True West,” performed earlier in the Pocket)
and they also get in a jab at David Mamet. In
the spirit of the moment, senior actress Jackie
Jacobus even throws in a reference to the Uni
versity’s presentation of “Electra.”
It seems that along the way, Durang forgot
that he was trying to combat pretentious
ness. But these plays aren’t required reading
for enjoying this show. It also speaks to any
one who has been dragged to a theater and
left questioning what the hell just happened.
In the third play, “A Stye of the Eye,” the
protagonist starts by telling his mother that
he killed his wife for being a pretentious ac
tress. It only gets crazier from there and will
have everybody’s head spinning.
The funniest moments in the play for the
non-connoisseur will be focused around jun
Courtesy Photo
Connor Dudley, right, plays an incoherent nun being analyzed by an eccentric psychologist, played by Katie
McClatchey, in ‘Durang/Durang.’ The play runs today through Sunday and May 17-19 at 8 p.m.
ior Connor Dudley. He brings a wonderful
physical and vocal comedy to the play. His
acting would be over the top, but it isn’t pos
sible to take Durang too far. However, Dudley
ends the play in a more reserved role just to
show that he isn’t all about antics.
The cultured theater-goers will appreciate
“A Stye of the Eye,” as they will pick up Du
rang’s well-placed references. But they just
as easily might fall for Dudley too.
This show was not written to be under
stood. Anyone who tries to think about
this play will have a terrible time and then
Turn to Durang, page 10