Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1981)
arts Max loses edge Review By R.W. Greene Of The Print Lately I’ve been reading the memoirs of President Eisenhower, which have been exerpted in The Oregonian recently. He mentions in pass ing a disliking for most jour nalists, who, he says, violate the old adage, “Take your job seriously, but not yourself.” The majority of journalists, says Eisenhower, turn the thing around backward. The same could be said of most rock bands these days, in cluding The Edge of Max, which played Friday night in the Community Center Mall to an enthusiastic crowd. Although they would probably like to think otherwise, nothing in particular distinguishes The Edge of Max from the hun dreds and possibly thousands of bands across the country try ing to make it on the coattails of the heavy-metal renaissance. They have requisite array of nice, shiny equipment, com plete with Marshalls, matching SM-58’s, and about eight grand worth of keyboards; they have, the obligatory hip-shaker up front, and the duck-walking guitarist beside him; they have all those tunes which are resolutely rock-not a hint of funk or soul, in spite of the fact that they are, at least for now, a dance band, and not a concert one. All traits shared by thousands of hungry rockers across the nation. I don’t know how long The Edge of Max has been together, but a few things showed that it can’t have been very long. Vocals are the easiest to pick on; although'the lead singer seemed to have a fairly good set of reeds in him, he tended to be extremely slop py with his enunciation, a fault shared by most of the singers at one time or another. Har monies were weak, occasional ly to the point of disaster. A good rapport between drum mer and bass player is essential to the sound of a good band, and this seemed to be lacking Friday night. Most tunes~were rushed—one of my favorites, struts at noon-nvui concert. The Cars’ “Just What I Need ed,” clipped along like a fevered racehorse. The Edge needstp learn to lay back a bit more. The band’s set selection also needed some overhauling. Besides the lousy pacing, and the long silences between songs, some tunes were too obscure, and others were too old. “Cinnamon Girl” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” are a bit off the beaten track these days,, and as nice as album cuts are to play, it never hurts to throw in a current single or six. The sound out front was extremely muddy, and too loud. The Edge also suffered from an ancient rock disease— Keyboardophobia. The two guitarists were. competent enough as soloists, but all that blistering stuff can get tedious. Mr. Simmons seemed to be a competent enough player himself , arid I would have liked to hear him stretch out a lot more. In spite of all this, The Edge had things going for them. One is their energy. .That’s something you could recognize through all the other stuff , and the excessive numher of flyers I’ve seeri in Oregon City the last week or so shows that they’re not lazy, either] Another is their enthusiasm. They seemed to like what they] were doing, anyway, and that’s a lot more than you can say for] a lot of the jaded and burnt-out bands hanging on these days. It’s a valuable commodity, and I hope they keep it going. If The Edge was into advice, I’d tell them to learn some more and newer tunes, and work on the vocals. Knock off the histrionics, and concentrate oh The music. Take your job- entertainment—a bit more1 seriously, arid yourselves a bit less. Mystery entices Review By Amy DeVour Of The Print FINA CALCU & VIDEO GAM MAKER Today computers touch every part of ou have special applications for the studen *May be used as a terminal ‘Allow construction of persona atabases ‘Accomplish data collection and nalysis ‘Handle word processing for term pers, theses, etc. ‘Provide entertainment with a wide v iety of games And there’s never a question of access. Your oyvn co uter is available, at your fingertips, any time of the day or night. Fial Computer as Ohio Scientific Com- puters Starting at under $500. FIAL COMPUTER ST: The great granite pyramids in the Valley of the . Kings set the locale of the new riiovie, “Sphinx.” The story line begins in the year 1301 B.C., when a grave-robber places a curse on the tomb of a king shortly before his gruesome death. The story travels to the present after a succession of mysterious deaths of people who are in volved with the pyramids, and an exciting plot unfolds. A young Egyptologist, played by Leslie-Anne Downe, discovers a precious gold statue believed to be from the tomb of King Tutankhamen. The statue is stolen and many attempts are made on-’ the heroine’^ life because, she witnessed the murder of the statue’s previous keeper. She is offered shelter and a ticket home to the U.S? but refuses and begins to sletith on the whereabouts of the statue. Ultimately, she deter mines its hiding place and also stumbles upon a large quantity! of treasures stolen for black market trade. Toward thej climax of the film, the heroine finds herself in love with a man involved with the stolen aw tifaets.. The cinema-photography in this film is quite good and the 'audience is given a breath! taking view of the pyramids^ Ori the whole, the acting is well' dpn<? and entertaining] although Downe occasionally appears tired of screaming all the time. Frank Langella does a fine job as a leading character, a native Egyptian whose family iias a long but discreet history of black-market trade. The plot is adventuresome and thrilling. One cannot help but root for the Heroine and bod at the villains, of which there are many. The ^Sphinx" is currently playing at selected theaters. Learn the mystery ol . the Egyptian curse. arts briefs Nojrman Bursheim, chairper son of the Art Department, will present his first public lecture of the new year toriight in CC-117, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Bursheim’s approximate ly hour-long lecture will be a presentation with slides on the life and art of Vincent Van Gogh. Bursheim says he wants to clear up misconceptions about Van Gogh, “to present a more human image of him,” to break dowh the popular image ol Van Gogh as an ear-slashing maniac. “His work is not thatol a madman,” says Bursheim, “but rather that of an extraor dinarily sensitive man.” He ha a “special feeling” for Vai Gogh, but adds that anybodl who studies the man’s life art art cannot help feeling w same way. Clackamas Community Colleg«
