The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 13, 1982, Page 10, Image 10
-entertainmen
Band comes
By Bruce B. Ritchie
Aftor turn uparc of nloirinn In nnn?U>
. ~ JV??ki ui piu; nig in iicai 1^ every
other bar in Columbia, the Corbett-Urquia
Band will play for the first time at the
Golden Spur tomorrow and Friday.
The Corbett-Urquia Band, named after
band members Jim Corbett and Susan
Urquia, mixes mellow rock 'n' roll with
high-energy heavy metal.
Urquia's vocals lend a soft touch on songs
such as "How Real Is Your Love?" and
"Love Will Still Survive," while Corbett's
energetic guitar playing gives the band an
overall hard-driving sound.
THE BAND received radio airplay this
summer with a song called "Friday Night
War," which was played on WNOK-FM and
WUSC-FM. The song is about the Falkland
Islands War between Argentina and Great
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oil tain, anu iea lures me sounds ot battle:
helicopters, missiles, bombs and machinegun
fire.
Those sounds are produced by the band's
synthesizers. Chip Cannon plays the regular
synthesizer and the clavinet synthesizer
while Corbett operates an Avatar synthesizer,
which is triggered by an electric
guitar.
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Guitarist Jim Corbett said he enjoys playing
in Columbia.
Comedy draw:
By Doug Bell
To those born too late to witness the initial
era of broadcast television, the comedy in
"My Favorite Year" may seem loud, oldfashioned
and simnlp-minHpH
But reruns of Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason
or Milton Berle variety shows reveal those
comedians relied not on subtlety and polite
domestic jokes, but on broad, obvious gags
just short of (and sometimes including) the
>A
The alcoholic, swashbuckling Alan Swann (Pe
Linn-Baker) for a wild ride in "My Favorite Yeai
; to Spur aft
'Anytime you play for a college
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You get people from all over the
cousitry; you get a good crosssection/
? Corbett-Urquia drummer
Steve Klinck
The airplay helped the band gain attention
in Columbia, C rbett said. "That lends a lot
of credibility to a band. Somebody could
have heard you before and liked you, but
then when they hear you on the radio, you're
immediately somebody (more important)
to them," he said.
All the members of the Corbett-Urquia
Band demonstrate a superior knowledge of
music, contributing to the band's diverse
sound.
CORBETT RULES his guitar, producing
a variety of sounds from George Thorogoodstyle
blues to reggae. He has full, clear
vocals, demonstrated on the sones
"Guaranteed to Please" and "Screamin' at
You."
Urquia can play all of the synthesizers,
I but only does so on a couple of songs. She
mainly plays rhythm guitar and delivers
polished vocal work.
Drummer Steve Klinck gives the band
good rapport with a crowd. He frequently
chats with members of the audience, urging
them to dance or to get rowdy.
Klinck solos on drums during "The Rest Is
Up to You," adding play on the chimes. He
also sings lead on several songs, including
"Damned If I Do," a song made famous by
the Alan Parsons Project.
"DAMNED IF I DO" begins with a
Corbett soln on the Avatar and is one of the
few songs performed by the band not
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The Corbett-Urquia Band also plays a pair
of original reggae songs, titled "Please Tell
Me" and "Off On the Roof."
The wide range of music played by the
group makes it difficult to classify into a
category such as New Wave or Southern
rock. "I hate to put a name on it because it's
us," Urquia said. "It doesn't sound like
anybody else."
The band has built a local following since
its beginning almost two years ago. Klinck,
Corbett and Cannon were members of the
Columbia bands Nappy Patch and Roadwork
in the late 1970s. When Roadwork split
up, uoroeu became interested in playing
original material.
COHBETT HEARD Urquia, who was
performing alone at the time. She was ins
style from e
pie in the face. They aimed for the belly, not
the brain.
"My Favorite Year" takes place in 1954.
The film, a boisterous backstage comedy
about the hectic days of live television, has a
style similar to early live TV comedy. Style
is one thing; laughs are another.
BENJY STONE (Mark Linn-Baker) is a
junior writer for the fictitious NBC
program, "Comedy Cavalcade." Young,
f
r
ter O'Tooie) takes young Benjy {Mark
r."
:er 2 years ii
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Jim Corbett and Susan Urquia, founders of t
Stridors. After two years of playing the Colum
the Golden Spur tomorrow and Friday.
vited to join the group, which became the
Corbett-Urquia Band in January 1981.
Since then, the group has grown from
playing for a dozen people at The Lobby last
winter to a successful three-night appearance
at Stridei s Concert Hall last week.
"We've got a good following, and the kind
of people that come out to see us are really
good people," Urquia said. ' We really enjoy
our fans."
The band has hoped for an appearance at
the Golden Spur since last winter. "It's
exciting," Klinck said. "Anytime you play
for a college crowd, the audience is different.
You get people from all over the
country; you get a good cross-section."
CORBETT DESCRIBED the Golden Spur
as "a wnrlH nil tn iteolf" onrl ^" i?
^ ww >v? mai vu ivov/ii U11U OCllU UC 1UU1VD
forward to playing for students. "At other
places, people will come and stay in groups
to themselves. In the Spur, people mesh real
well," he said.
tarly days of li
odd-looking and boundlessly enthusiastic,
Benjy writes a sketch to feature his all-time
hero of the silver screen days, Alan Swann
(Peter O'Toole).
Swann, known for his dashing appearance
and eloquence, has succumbed by the 1950s
to his ravaging affection for wine, women
and song. Benjy's co-writers, particularly a
rasping, anxiety-ridden type (Bill Macy),
are aware of Swann's reckless reputation,
and they vote to drop the sketch.
Benjy resists, finally winning them over
by promising to steer the great star clear of
the booze during rehearsals and up to
showtime.
Swann, a graying charmer with John
Barrymore's celebrated appetite for booze
and sex, Errol Flynn's swashbuckling zeal,
and a sophisticated, cynical wit reminiscent
of George Sanders, grows quite fond of his
eager young wet nurse.
THE ALCOHOLIC idol and the ardent
i HaI o ? -
1Uv.ai?! aimit; many a zany scene: wrecking
a restaurant, breaking bread with Benjy's
outrageously silly family (Lainie Kazan is
the Jewish mother to end all Jewish
mothers) and dropping into a cocktail party
uninvited (by rope, via the roof, onto a
balcony).
All of this shows the film's comic style.
Much of it is really funny, but, on the whole,
it brought me more groans than laughs.
Some of it is horribly written. The scene in
which Benjy and his girlfriend eat Chinese
food and ramble about the art of joke-telling
should have been cut. Some of it is way, way
overplayed, even given the type of comedy
it is.
But what I find most distasteful about tho
? ' **
1S tne shallow, didactic moral tone set
i local bars
t Photo by Bruce Ritchie
le Corbett Urquia Band, perform at
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uiu our scene, ine nana will perform in
The band members disagree on the opportunities
for success in Columbia. Corbett
said he favored Columbia as a town in which
to start off, but Urquia said it was hard to be
successful here. "I've been here almost 10
years, and I've seen a lot of good talent in
this town, but I've never seen anybody go
anywhere with it," she said.
"The clubs here support their local bands
better than they do in most lareer cities hut
a larger city has more opportunity. There's
more chance that somebody with influence
or connections will hear you and pick you
up," she said.
The band has worked overtime rehearsing
for the past two weeks, since bass guitarist
Robert Kirkland left the band to move with
his wife to Oregon. Ken Mouzon will play for
the band at the Spur, but a permanent
replacement has not been found.
The Corbet t-Urquia Band will perform at
rk.orv ? 4 * ? * '
v.ov p.111. tomorrow ana F riday. Admission
is $2, with beer specials both nights.
ive TV
film review
by Linn-Baker's Benjy. Near the end of the
film, Swann balks on learning he is to appear
on live television ? meaning he must
accomplish his entire performance at once,
without re-takes. He threatens to quit, but
Benjy stops him in his tracks with a trite,
petty speech about heroism and responsibility.
THAT SPEECH, and most of Benjy's
moralizing, is jarringly out of tune with the
"
...... a generally rough rhythm.
Significantly, "My Favorite Year" is the
first directorial project of actor Richard
Benjamin, whose film persona in films such
as "Diary of a Mad Housewife" is strikingly
similar to Benjy/Linn-Baker's: tedious,
garrulous and sermonizing.
I've saved the best for last. Peter O'Toole
is the heart of the film. From the elongated
hack-cough he emits in his first shot to his
last gracious bow, he is a delight to watch.
His decadent, irreverent personality and his
ability to convey with utmost conviction the
opposite sides of human nature (arrogance
and humility, snobbery and generosity, a
touch of rogue and a touch of royalty), make ]
Alan Swann the most pnoauinn
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pealing performance in any movie playing. 1
While a year of movies like "My Favorite S
Year" would result in a far-from-favorite |
year for this reviewer, the film is a decent
diversion for one night.
By the way, to see what O'Toole can really
do, don't miss "The Stuntman," playing at
Russell House Theater Nov. 7. j