l'âge 4 - I he Portland Observer -August 8, 1990
■■■■■■■■ Portland Observer
ENTERTAINMENT
NAJEE
Tokyo Blue
:é ^ '
Spike Lee's Mo' Better Than Ever
With Latest Film and Book
By Angelique Sanders
Slumped on the front porch,
gentle jazz-en tertain in g ,y , not dis-
tractingly, loud-spilling from the house,
ignored burning cigarette in the
ashtray...that is the way to approach
Performing at the
Starry Night
into perspective; rather it enhances your
understanding o f how the actors tried to
personify the script, their relations with
one another, and how and why the crew
went about effects in the ways that they
did. It also, and m ost importantly, gives
you a feel o f who Spike really is. The
book is no substitute for the movie (a
view er understands Spike two minutes
into his first scene); it is simply a good
supplement. If you have the opportunity
to read it, w ait until after you’ve seen the
movie so the outcom e is a surprise:
otherw ise, it’s as frustrating as sitting
homcslice with a ditzy French girlfriend.
A lot o f “ free tim e” was
splashed into the flick, scenes that didn’t
build the plot or characterization, but let
the audience sit back and laugh; unnec
essary subplots such as a quick listen to
Friday, August 31,1990
Don’t miss an evening with Jazz/R&B Artist NAJEE!
Tickets will be available at:
g .I.
Joes
One Stop Records
Call for Info: 282-1734
Desert Rose Band
to Rock Albany
A B e n e fit F o r
PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE
7:30 pm FRIDAY, AUG 17
H en ry W e in h a rd s
P riv a te R e se rv e
FABULOUS
THUNDERBIRDS
Presents....
MITCH RYDER
And The
" "■
DETROIT WHEELS
CURTIS SALGADO
And The —— —
— —
STILETTOS
MEIER & FRANK
(The Oregonian
119^
by Angelique Sanders
The D esert Rose Band is a
Southern Californian band that racks in
the praise and acclaim everywhere they
perform, its members dubbed by R oll
ing Stone some of “ A m erica’s m ost tal-
ented-and overlooked-m usicians’’.
W ith three album s and eleven
sin g les-ftv e of which hit number one on
the country music charts--they are rising
even farther to the top with the January
release o f their album Pages o f Life.
Pages is already proving its superiority:
the first release off the album jetted to
number two on the charts, while the
second found its way to the top ten. In
1989, the D esert Rose band became one
o f the five finalists in the Country Music
Awards under the category “ Vocal Group
o f the Y ear” . Variety says they are,
“ without doubt among the top ten rock
or country bands playing today” ; the
Los Angeles Times asks their readers “ is
there a better country-rock band around
today?”
They aren’t your typical “ woe
is me, my love is lost’ ’ country boys...in
fact, many o f their songs carry an a-tra-
ditional sense of social conscience. Chris
Hillman, the leader o f the band and
former mem ber of The Byrds and the
Flying Burrito Brothers, describes their
music as “ good old hillbilly rock ‘n
ro ll” .
If you’d like to sample the Desert
Rose Band’s work, you can catch the
tour in its Albany, Oregon stop on August
9 at M onteith River Park.
Denze, Washington as Bleek
Gilliam, a trumpet player
blind to the non-music world
Spike Lee’s latest book, Mo' Better Blues.
Though the book is not solely
written by S p ik e -it is co-authored by
Lisa Jones, and contains many personal
accounts as perceived by co -w o rk ers-
everypagebreathes “ S pik eL ee” , from
movie clip photos, to actors’ recounts o f
on-set relations. The p ictu res-all 150
of them-similarly are of the Spike mood:
self-contained, cooly reflective, sym
bolic. Each conveys an intense human
em otion, and in the Spike tradition, that
mood is generally not oblivious happi
ness. For example, a photograph of
Denzel Washington and Cynda Williams
(two members of a four-way love rela
tionship: W ashington, W illiams, Joie
Lee, and W ashington's trumpet) em
bracing, shows W ashington holding his
trumpet symbolically between them. An
other, of W ashington-” Bleek Gilliam” —
onstage, is not taken from the traditional
vantage of directly in front o f the band,
but from among audience m embers, to
heighten mood.
Do not confuse the book as an
attem pt to re-cap the movie and put it
next to a vocal person w ho’s seen it. The
book will be released A ugust 12.
The m ovie will be a flashback
to Spike’s past three successes only in
the sense of characters and the crew:
everything else about this innovative
film breaks the Spike mold o f films
about racial injustice. This film is not as
powerful in plot as it is in characteriza
tion: it’s m oving in that Spike has cap
tured a true slice o f Black life, som e
thing so rare to find. 'H e is unafraid to
use non-Blacks, but he realizes the need
for a film that African Americans can
relate to.
The m ovie was slow to “ get
going ’ ’ but this time was needed to build
the em otion. Characterization was prac
tically autom atic, due to the skill o f
Spike and his understanding o f Black
life. W ith help of flawless costum ing
and S pike’s tradem ark, liberal ad lib
bing, the actors had no problem s illus
trating the characters. Everyone could
laugh at and relate to the stereotypical
m anager/best friend/crook G iant (Spike
Lee); the crooked owners o f the club
(which was symbolically named “ Be
neath the U nderdog” ) which were hu
man echos, neither ever saying anything
o f substance. Shadow (W esley Snipes)
was the saxophonist trying to steal the
show, hogging anything from solo time
to money to fem ale attention. The pian
ist, Left-Hand Lacey (G iancarlo Espos
ito, whom you might rem em ber from
D o the Right Thing) was a whiney
Spike Lee, as Giant, best
'riend and manager of Bleek's
and a compulsive gambler
B utterbean’s comedy or Spike Lee tell
ing a ridiculous story about childhood
loosened the overly taught mood. The
photography was extrem ely experim en
tal, but am azing: an argum ent scene
found the cam era whizzing between the
arguers, rather than being shut o ff and
on; a bicycle-riding scene found the
camera bumping along as if on a bike;
the confusion o f a fight scene was cap
tured by a staggering cam eram an. The
sound effects were similarly effective:
C larke’s voice in one scene fades out to
nothing in relation to music, as if repre
sentative from within Bleek’s mind; cha
otic, tense jazz enhanced a fight scene.
The movie m ight not have
measured up to 1989’s D o the Right
Thing in intensity or in its effect upon
society, but the m ethodology and qual
ity still was terrific. It is a powerful
Black film in a white market, but it will
succeed because o f its strength. The
m ostly white audience that made up my
fellow viewers were all m oved, demon
strating once again that quality is qual
ity, regardless o f race.
ENTERTAINMENT TIDBITS
VOICES O F SARAFINA follows the
young South African acting troupe
performing the Broadway hit "Saraf-
ina!" The program weaves interviews
with cast members with scenes from
the play and images from South A fri
can townships.
PLA Y S on August 15 at 9:00 p.m. on
PBS.
A longtim e fixture on the local music
scene, C R A IG C A R O T H E R S ,along
with his band T H E N E R V E , are on
the verge o f releasing a new ten-song
cassette entitled "Greenhouse FX". The
album features band members Gregg
Williams, John Bunzow, and Tim Ellis,
along with Carothers and a host of
guest musicians.
A M A Z IN G G R A C E with Bill M oy
ers, premiers W ednesday, Septem ber
12 at 6 p.m. on PBS. It tells the story
o f one o f the most popular songs in the
English laguage through the experi
ences o f people who sing, including
folk singer Jean Ritchie, gospel singer
Marion W illiams, and the Boys Choir
o f Harlem.
Willamette
H e O I O
Tickets are $18 plus service charge available at
Powell’s Travel Store and G.I. Joe’s Ticketmaster outlets
CALL 222-7425 FOR MORE INFORMATION
A Public Service of the Downtowner.
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