October 4. 2006
c‘!‘ |Jn rtIan b CObscruer
Page B3
Focus
Bringing SttSSy'
to the Symphony
heavy rotation on M T V .
Pointer Sisters
set to perform
three shows
For the first tim e in 12 years. The
Pointer Sisters w ill be perform ing
onstage in Portland. The female trio
o fR u th , Inetta and Issa Pointer w ill
perform alongside the Oregon Sym
phony many o f the pop hits that
made them famous, ineluding " I'n t
So Excited," “ Slow Hand" and "Neu
tron Dance."
T h e ir pop hits "S lo w Hand" and
"Jum p For M y L o v e " are instantly
recognizable, and they are the first
black female group to perform at the
Grand Ole O pry in Nashville, and
one o f the first acts to be played in
The group enjoyed early suc
cess in the '70s, but it was their 1983
album Break Out that went trip le
platinum and earned the group tw o
G ram m y Awards and tw o A m e ri
can M usic A wards. The single
“ Neutron Dance" was featured in
Beverly H ills Cop starring Eddie
M urphy.
The program w ill be led by Guest
Conductor Charles Floyd, w hoalso
conducted last season's S y m
phony performance w ith Chris Botti.
Prior to the performance by The
Pointer Sisters, the Symphony w ill
also be p erform ing several themes
from television and cinema, includ
ing The Simpsons, Star Wars and
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’ s
Stone.
Performances are scheduled for
Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m., Sun
day, Oct. 8 at 3 p.m. and Monday,
Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Arlene
Sch n it/e r Concert Hall.
Tickets are $29 to $80 and may be
purchased at the Oregon S ym
phony T icket ( Jffice, located at 923
S. W . W ashington. Tickets may also
be purchased anytim e online at
w w w .orsym phony.org or charged
by phone at 5 0 3 -2 2 8 -1353.
The Pointer Sisters will bring
their pop hits to the Arlene
Schnitzer Concert Hall on
Saturday to perform with the
Oregon Symphony.
Combs Expects Twin Girls
( A P ) — E x p e c ta n t fa th e r
K im Porter, is expecting tw ins.
he show ed me w h ile I s till have
Sean " D id d y ” C om bs is often
T h e y have an 8 -ye a r-o ld son.
a chance to e n jo y m y s e lf."
depicted as a ladies' man. His
C h ristia n , and C om bs has a 12-
C om bs says he "w o u ld love to
latest baby news, then, should
year-old son, Justin, fro m a pre
get m arried" but isn't ready yet.
com e as no surprise.
vious relationship.
" I 'm h a v in g tw in g irls ," the
3 6 -y e a r-o ld
"I d id n 't g ro w up around a
"P e op le say. to a so -ca lle d
m arried fa m ily , so it's taking me
h ip -h o p m o g u l
ladies' man o r w h a te ve r, that
a bit longer," he says. " A lo t o f
says in V ib e m agazine's N o
w hen yo u have g irls it changes
guys out there get m arried, and
v e m b e r issue, on new sstands
y o u ," C o m b s te lls V ib e . "S o I
they s till do th e ir ow n thing. I
O c t. 17.
was lik e . W h a t's G od tr y in g to
don't w ant to get m arried and
C om bs broke the news ear-
te ll me by g iv in g me tw o g irls ?
fa il."
lie rth is m onth that his lo ngtim e
W hen I pray e ve ry m o rn in g , I
g irlfrie n d . 35 -ye a r-o ld m odel.
thank ( io d fo r show in g me w hat
H is new album , "Press P lay,"
is slated fo r release (Jet. 17.
Sean "Diddy" Combs
Smooth Jazz Is Here!
Forest Whitaker, star o f ‘The Last King o f Scotland' arrives at a
private screening o f the film in New York.
Whitaker Stars in ‘The
Last King of Scotland’
Plays Idi Amin
in Oscar-worthy
performance
(A P ) -- W e 've seen Forest
W hitaker do this on one o f the best
shows on television, "The Shield."
As an internal affairs lieutenant
w hose methods are just as unor
thodox as those o f the rogue detec
tiv e squad he's in v e s tig a tin g ,
W hitaker has been mesmerizing in
his v o la tility. He can sidle on up to
you as the sweetest, gentlest giant
one minute, then fly into a vicious
rage the next. He makes both sides
o f this complicated figure feel fright
eningly real.
And so on the big screen, his
emotional depth and range are even
more stunning in one o f the year's
best movies, "The East K ing o f
Scotland."
T his is not hyperbole. This is
how good W hitaker is: He actually
makes you feel sorry fo r Idi A m in.
The suggestion already has been
d uly bandied about so we may as
w ell acknowledge it here, as w ell:
His performance is nothing short o f
O scar-worthy.
Under the direction o f Kevin
Macdonald ( " Touching the V o id " ),
making his feature debut. W hitaker
gets plenty o f room to demonstrate
the vastly contradictory facets o f
the larger-than-life Ugandan dicta
tor.
Macdonald uses many o f the
same technical tactics from hisdocu-
mentary background, making you
I
feel as i f you are there, showing you
how easy it m ight have been to be
seduced by this charismatic char
acter who also happened to be a
cold-blooded kille r.
F u n c tio n in g as o u r g u id e
through this shadowy w o rld is
James M c A v o y , starring as N ick
Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor
who becomes Am in's personal phy
sician, then his captive adviser.
L ife at the palace is good, a non
stop orgy o f women and d rin k, a
celebration o f wretched excess with
A m in as its charm ing, generous
host.
The proxim ity to power becomes
intoxicating, but Nick also gets close
enough to A m in to see his weak
nesses, h is insecurities. Ins para
noia — and at times become the
victim o f them. The man w ho u lti
mately w ould be responsible for
the deaths o f 300.000 I Iganilans in
the 1970s often comes o ff as noth-
ing more than an overgrown child,
throw ing a tantrum when he doesn’t
get what he wants.
W hitaker v iv id ly shows us this
element o f A m in's personality, as
w ell, as he trembles and sweats in
his ornate bedroom, his eyes bulg
ing w ith fear. It’s a far cry from the
man who's arrogant enough toclaim
he knows exactly when he's going
to die, and how.
"The Last K ing o f Scotland." a
Fox Searchlight Pictures release, is
rated R fo r some strong violence
and gruesome images, sexual con
tent and language. Running time:
121 minutes. Three and a h a lf stars
out o f four.
Portland's Only Smooth Jazz Station
kijz.co m
I