The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 02, 1989, Page 4, Image 4
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Sunny (Ellen Barkin) and .
Radio is relm
The Debs mo
By DAVID BOWDEN
Staff Writer
The Reluctant Debutantes is a
rising rock quartet that deserves
better publicity.
The talented band from Sumter
has a sound similar to the style of
REM and the Church, but it is
more appropriate to say that the Reluctant
Deb's music draws from
the same sources as their more popular
colleagues. They do not try
to imitate. Both the Debs and
REM play rock with strong folk
and country influences.
The Debs are quite simply an
excellent band that,-unfortunately,
is stuck on a minor-league label
based in Sumter. The only station
in Columbia that plays their music
at all is WUSC.
The Debs were in Columbia last
Thursday at Rockafella's. They
started playing at midnight after a
good show by their opening band,
Channel Zero. The mostly collegeaged
crowd was fairly large for a
Thursday night.
While the Debutantes' debut album,
Colored Songs from the
South is good, their live show is
even better. Although hampered by
technical problems such as excessive
feedback at first, they recovered
and put on an inspiring show.
The group played surprisingly
few songs from their LP, concen
trating more on newer songs. They
played at least eight original songs
that would ? and probably will ?
make a great second album.
As far as stage presence goes,
the word subdued comes to mind.
The band is not the type to run around
and have choreographed
dance movements, and there's no
room to do that at Rockafella's
anyway.
They are not the spandex-andmousse
type of band either. The
lead singer, Dwain Gambrell, was
the most dressed-up member of the
group with his red velvet tuxedo
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other members of the band dressed
like typical college kids.
Bass player Greg Hallidy was
the most vocal of the four. He
joked with the crowd between
songs, making several allusions to
Hurricane Hugo.
After a cover of the Robert
United W^u
of the Midlanas
tne
Four people from foi
backgrounds come togetl
a wonderful evening of j
and classical music.
i
Johnny (Mickey Rourke) in Jc
ztant to
re limelight
bona
Review
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Plant song "Big Log," Hallidy
- said, "The big log in the song is
the one that's now in my kitchen."
Lead guitarist Sean Herrington
and drummer Paul Kiger both gave
solid musical performances. Herrington
is a skilled guitar player.
He doesn't utilize flashy guitar
techniques that would detract from
the Debs' music.
Similarly, Kiger backs his
friends up with authoritative
rhythm. The group as a whole
played well together with no observable
musical gaffes.
As for the unusual name of the
group, it comes from their reluctance
to conform to the rigid
album-oriented rock format of
most stations.
Most radio stations will not play
new groups unless they sound exactly
like some older group, meaning
that groups with an original
sound such as the Debs rarely
break into the mainstream. Debs
fans can only hope that if they do
imitate REM in one way, they
succeed.
lacross:
l^ast uaii ror students
Meeting: Wednesday
Room 135
Center
Come ready
For more info call Scott'
I MINIMUM :
With EVERY donatior
Blood. Programs avail f
simple blood test is all t
if you qualify. Special
students.
Sero
2719 Mi
Serologicals Co1'
Monday, October 9,1989
Koger Center for the Arts
$5 students $10 public
8:00 pm
Tiese activities paid for, in part, by Student Activities Feet.
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Art junior Steve McCumby welds
Building as part of a class project. 1\
a larger-than-life man made of steel 1
>
E CLUB
; playing this fall.)
Oct. 4 at 4:00 in
of the Blatt P.E.
to play!
777-5261, 736-7657
(20 PAID
h Plasma & Whole
or all blood types. A
hat is needed to see
bonus program for
toxicals. Inc.
ddleburg Dr. Suite 105
jmbia, S.C. 29204
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"J >r H
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Johnny 1
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DAVID BOWDEN
iff Writer
Johnny Handsome is an uneven
iller from the director who has
de them his specialty.
Walter Hill has made some good
>vies (48 Hours, Crossroads),
t more bad ones (Extreme Prejuce,
Red Heat, Brewster's
llions).
As in most of his movies, Handne
has some great action scenes,
t it also has really slow" monts
that break up the suspense
1 irritate the audience,
fohn Sedley (Mickey Rourke)
s born with a birth defect that
torted his skull and made him
k grotesque. Thus, his buddies
knamed him Johnny Handsome,
grew up to be a convicted bank
Dber hanging around New
leans.
Vlickey Rourke is really starting
get type-cast. He and fellow acJames
Woods are cornering the
irket on scum-bags in the
vies.
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DONNJE CORNELUThe Gamecock
a sculpture in the Sloan Art
IcCumby's sculpture is to be
ods.
'
iandsome'
n plays goo
Rourke has played a sexual per- I
vert (9 7/2 Wpp\ck\ a serial killer ?
(Angel Heart) and an alcoholic \
drifter (Barfly). He certainly has
the credentials to play a character ?
such as Johnny Handsome. j
The movie opens with Johnny's 5
only friend, Mikey, begging him to ' i
help rob a coin dealer. Mikey has c
also recruited some other low-lifes
for the robbery: Sunny (Ellen s
Barkin) and Rafe (Lance I
Henriksen). >
Sunny is an ex-prostitute who t
bosses around her slightly stupid j
boyfriend, Rafe. She is totally evil J
and wants to keep as much money (
as possible for herself.
As Sunny, Ellen Barkin steals |
every scene she is in and really is <
the best thing in this movie. She is j
the best movie villain since Jack ]
Nicholson's Joker. 1
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and Mikey after the heist, killing
Mikey and leaving Johnny to be <
arrested by the cops. One cop,
Biography of1
creates well-wj
By The Associated Press I
"When I was a kid in Brooklyn
and told people I wanted to be a
writer, no one took me seriously," I
Irwin Shaw said some years ago. " 1
"No one there had ever met a wri- i
ter, much less had one in the i
family. <
"But I started writing when I 1
was 20, and I've been banging on 1
that typewriter for dough for 40 1
years now." i
Shaw was 60 when he said these
things, and indeed the words had i
come in a steady stream ? and, i
after a while, so did the money. He <
also said he had set aside plans to <
write his memoirs "because I
chickened out After all, I'm just <
60." ;
It's sad he didn't do the memoirs,
because Shaw had just
another 11 years to live, dying in
1984 at 71. He continued instead
to write the novels and short stories
that had made his reputation.
However, those interested in j
Shaw's life and writing career can
read Michael Shnayerson's recen- j
tly published biography, Irwin j
Shaw, a well-written, intricately <
detailed portrait of the writer. ;
Shnayerson does a succinct job of
summing up Shaw's contributions
to literature when he writes:
Shaw's "obituary appeared on
Have you thought about where
you buy your textbooks?
& v v#*** t4t
strange,
d villian
X Drones (Morgan Freeman),
vants Johnny to tell the police
vho killed Mikey.
Johnny does not cooperate and
Sets sentenced to five years in
)rison. Why doesn't Johnny turn
Junny and Rafe in? The simple
eason is that the movie would be
)ver a lot sooner.
In prison, Johnny is stabbed and
;ent to the hospital. There, a Dr.
*esher (played by Forest Whitaker
vith a really fake Southern accent)
relieves that by giving Johnny
elastic surgery and a new identity,
[ohnny will be a reformed member
)f society.
The plot goes downhill from
here, but it is not a long drop. The
characters in this movie do many
illogical things. There are very few
ikeable people in this movie, but
he main character is not one of
hem.
Those people that still want to
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jw una uiuviv van im?v? - ? wjrsui5
Valley Theaters.
writer Shaw
ritten portrait
the front page of The New York
Times, and if readers had time that
May morning in 1984, they noted
that the Brooklyn-born Shaw,
lenown to an entire younger generation
as the author of the bestseiling
Rich Man, Poor Man and other
commercial fiction, had had his
first success as a left-wing play,
wright in the 1930s, gone on to
write a string of lyrical, much-;
admired short stories for The New
Yorker, produced a World War II
novel heralded upon its publication
as a masterwork, and been considered
one of the finest writers of his
jay.
"At the time of his death, every
one of Shaw's dozen novels was in
print. Fourteen million hard- and
softcover copies. Twenty-five languages,
including, as Shaw had enjoyed
pointing out... Icelandic and
Macedonian."
Shaw began his productive car?f
radio soan nn.
cci as a winu w? ? ?-r v^,
>ras, devoting his spare time to
)lays and short stories. His first
)lay, "Bury the Dead," was pro*
iuced on Broadway when he was
23.
"It was a big hit," he recalled in
See SHAW page 5
1
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