A&E
TN e CI ac I íamas P rint
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WedNEsdAy, J anuary 12, 2000
Tom Wakeling Trio shakes up Sharky's with jazz
KARL KATZKE / Clackamas Print
What’s really interesting is that
Wakeling is not only a top-notch
performer, having played in clubs,
restaurants, and parties around
the world, but he’s also a full-time
teacher at Clackamas. Who would
believe that someone can find
time to grade papers, lead all of
the student jazz bands, and work
with the athletic department to run
the Pep band? On top of that,
Wakeling teaches the History of
Music sequence, which includes
his favorite, “History of Jazz.”
Wakeling, like the other mem
bers of the Trio, have played mu
sic since they were in High
School. Versace is a jazz instruc
tor at the University of Oregon,
and if you ridé the Tri-Met bus
54, on Beaverton-Hillsdale High
way, you’ll probably recognize
Thomas.
“I work another job to make the
rent,” said Thomas.
The Trio’s been together in its
current form for just a couple of
years, but the members have been
playing together for quite a bit
longer than that.
“I’ve played for fifteen years
with Tom,” said Thomas. “We had
a steady trio gig at the Riverplace
Hotel for five and a half years with
a different piano player.
Wakeling regards Jazz as a chal
lenge - that’s why he’s chosen to
If you like jazz, then you missed
play it exclusively.
an excellent performance last
“The music we played tonight
week by one of Clackamas’
is a little far out... a little avant-
coolest instructors, and inciden
garde. One of the challenges is
tally, also one of its’ best musi
knowing the melody, and then
cians.
sliding away from it.”
The Tom Wakeling Trio per
Versace agrees.
formed last Saturday, Jan. 8 at
“The performances are a little
Sharky’s, 355 N. State Street.
different each night.”
Even though the crowd for the 8-
Wakeling’s favorite place to
11 p.m. performance was small,
play is in Europe.
Tom Wakeling on Bass, Willie
“It’s nice [in America] when the
Thomas on Drums, and Gary
audiences are involved, but
Versace on Piano played two sets
sometimes they’re not. We play
of some of Portland’s best local
because we love to play. If we get
jazz.
to play for an audience that’s
When you check out Tom
there to listen, it’s like a bonus...
Wakeling's next public perfor
European audiences are probably
mance, on Saturday, Feb. 12 at Ty
the best.”
phoon! in the Imperial Hotel on
When he’s not performing over
Broadway, I’d advise bringing an
seas, one of Wakeling’s favorite
old friend... maybe someone you
places to play is at Sharky’s, in
haven’t seen in a while... or, your
Lake Oswego.
favorite Valentine. It’s easy to let
“It’s not smoky,” said
the easy sounds of Versace’s pi
Wakeling.
ano and Wakeling’s bass guide
Sharky’s is a family seafood res
your conversation, and you’ll
taurant right on Highway 43 in
never miss the good parts -
Lake Oswego that features live mu-
Thomas’s drums will call your at
sic six nights out of seven. While
tention back to the stage just in
it is a smidge on the pricey side for
time.
students, with dinner entrees rang
ing from $9 to $30, the food is fresh
and expertly prepared. The service
is also some of the best I’ve found
in the Willamette Valley - and that’s
saying a lot. Sharky’s has live mu
sic on every day but Sunday, from
6:30-9:30 p.m. on weekdays and 8-
11 p.m. on Saturdays.
According to owner Patty
Dallal, Sharky’s live music has
gained a bit of a following among
college students in the Lake Os
wego area.
“We get a lot of students from
Marylhurst and Lewis and Clark...
every once in a while, we’ll get a
KARL KATZKE I Clackamas Print
Clackamas or Reed student.”
[Above] The Tom Wakeling Trio performs under a giant shark
Any night the Tom Wakeling
at Sharky's in Lake Oswego. [Left] Tom Wakeling, a music
Trio’s there, the music’s definitely
instructor at Clackamas, lays down a smooth bass line.
worth it.
KARLKATZKE
Business Manager
Cruise takes on unlikely role in three-hour Magnolia
ANGIE DASCHEL
A&E Editor
Bursting onto the screen like a
blast of fireworks, Magnolia un
folds the outrageous, alarming
story of a handful of seemingly
unrelated Los Angeles dwellers,
all teetering on the brink of huge
life changes. Unfortunately, in
spite of its color, electricity and
spark, like any firework, Magno
lia fizzles out in the end, leaving
the viewer unsatisfied and full of
disappointment.
Magnolia is the three-hour
creation of writer/director Paul
Thomas Anderson, the same
twisted mind who brought Mark
Wahlberg and his “13-inch
friend” to the big screen in
Boogie Nights. The premise is
somewhat Pulp Fictiifn-ish in
nature: there are about five plots
that start out completely sepa
rate from one another and end
up irreversibly intertwined.
This blending of plots and lives
is the delight of the movie, as
well as the quirkiness of the
characters.
Tom Cruise stars as Frank
Mackey, the painfully arrogant
creator of Seduce and Destroy,
a program designed solely to
help men get into a woman’s
pants. This role is about as far
away from Maverick as Cruise
can get. Mackey is conniving,
insincere and downright nasty
in all facets of his life, and Cruise
plays him surprisingly well.
Jason
Robards
plays
Mackey’s absent father Earl Par
tridge, who is now dying of can
cer. His caretaker Phil (Philip
Seymour Hoffman, Boogie
Nights} spends most of the
movie tracking down Mackey.
As Phil stays at home and
watches the old man die, Earl’s
trophy wife Linda (Julianne
Moore, Boogie Nights) rushes
around town in a Prozac-induced
frenzy, trying to tie up loose ends
and come to terms with her feel
ings for her husband.
On the other end of town, a quiz
show featuring an exploited child
genius (Jeremy Blackman) and an
alcoholic host (Philip Baker Hall)
are enveloped in their own sepa
rate dramas of cancer and child
hood confusion. Meanwhile,
bumbling police officer Jim
Kurring (John C. Reilly, another
Boogie Nights alum) answers a
routine disturbance call and falls
in love with cocaine-addicted
Claudia, (Melora Walters) the
daughter of the game show host.
Sounds confusing, right?
Magnolia plays like a party
where you know absolutely no
one, yet the stories and drinks
and people and problems just
keep coming at you, until you fi
nally sort it all out and realize how
everyone fits together. Once ev
erything falls into place, the
movie becomes an engrossing
ride of talented actors and inter
esting plot twists and turns. A
standout performance is given
by Robards, whose portrayal of
the last hours of cancer is so con
vincing that anyone who has ac
tually been touched by that dis
ease will be hit in the face with
grief.
Even though
the beginning
and middle of
Magnolia are
fantastic and
show an inno
vative style of
filmmaking, the
ending was a
complete let
down. Note to
filmmakers: if
you are going
to make a
Tom Cruise, left, confronts his dying father
three-hour
(Jason
Robards) in Magnolia.
movie (which
seems to be a trend in Holly
wood these days) take some
time and make the ending
count. This is the last impres
sion that the audience will
have of your movie, and if
they leave the theater with a
look of confusion on their
faces and questions swirling
around in their heads, that
usually is not good for you. William H. Macy (middle) takes his
Note to filmgoers: See Mag troubles to a barin Magnolia.
nolia, but leave after the first
two and a half-hours.