Concrete issue 043 08 February 1995

INCORPORATING

THE BIGGEST ISSUE EVER

Kiddles star and daredevil, Peter Duncan, talks about his latest theatre role •••• as a scarecrow!

concrete

comment

BY THE EDITORIAL TEAM

The Watedront will close within weeks, unless YOU vote for its survival later this month.

UEA students will be given the final say on whether the Union continues to run the city entertainment venue.

But if less than 300 students turn up for the meeting on Monday February 20, no decision 'Can be made and the venue will close. For good.

Since The Waterfront re-opened in Decmeber 1993, thousands of students and local people have enjoyed some of the best live music and most innovative club nights ever seen in East Anglia. 'fhe venue may not have yet reached the high standards it set when it first opened in October 1990, but considering the alternatives Norwich has to offer, surely it is worth keeping for us and generations of students to come- especially when the venue is now standing on its own feet financially too. Union meetings may not be the most exciting lunchtime pursuit, but this decision will really affect you, your friends, and thousands of students yet to reach UEA. Surely that's worth an hour of your time on a Monday evening?

Turn up to the meeting on Monday, February 20 at Zpm in the LCR and vote YES to keeping The Watedront.

•nun to page 21 to see why The Waterfront should stay...

ies eve., foftnight

lel: IOt&OJJ 150558

2

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

AS E I • Renting rooms for the week could soon be an OJ?.tion, sav. UEA chiefs CAMPUS residents may soon find strangers staying in empty rooms on their corridors ... if UEA bosses implement a new scheme to help balance the books.

For draft proposals made by Registry Accommodation chiefs outline the leasing of spare study bedrooms on a weekly basis to individualsorgroupsofuptothree students, who will be allowed to stay overnight and will have minimal access to kitchens.

Only rooms in the Village as well as Norfolk, Suffolk and Waveney Terraces will be used .

Those who will benefitfrom the scheme are believed to be mature students , many of whom have to make long journeys to get to UEA Said Accomodation Office Manager, Laurence Daly, "We are currently working on introducing a trial Study Space Hire Scheme, which we hope will be popular with non-resident students want-

By-----, Rebecca Curran

r----

ing their own space in which to study. " But Union Welfare Officer Jaz lhenacho described the plans as a "quick fix solution" to the University 's accommodation problems, which include an amount of unfilled campus rooms.

"We would advise the Accommodation Centre to look very carefully at the issue of security and safety", she said .

"An extra effort will have to be made to convince and then reassure the residents that there will be a minimal security risk in having 'strangers' use their flats ."

Laurence Daly acknowledged that comments received about the scheme are being taken into account, adding, "We are now nearing completion ofthe planning process and anticipate launching the

OTT

Quality Fish & Chips and Pizza

= -.

scheme with in the next few weeks. " Yet Jaz is urging Accommodation bosses to consider implementing the scheme at the start of next academic year.

She believes that locating rentable study rooms on the same floor or block would minimize disruption to permanent residentssomething only possible when allocating accommodation to new or returning students in September.

One criticism ofthe scheme is that university residences are often not the quietest places for study - Thursday nights may not be such a good time to attempt an all-night revision session . Whilst the initiative would benefit students by bringing in extra funds for the self-balancing residences account and therefore help in keeping rents low, Jaz lhenacho feels a better solution might be simply to lower rents and therefore fill more rooms permanently.

Individuals or groups of up to three students could soon be renting spare study bedrooms on a weekly basis

PHOTO: MOHAMEO HASSAN

UEA SCA LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS IF YOU consider yourself a community-minded person, then Student Community Action could be an option, writes David Hall.

SCA is a voluntary organisation which participates in a wide range of projects including working with schoolchildren, the elderly, the homeless and the disabled.

As a member of the SCA, you

could be helping chi ldren to read one day, and canoeing the next.

Joe Brannan, a spokesperson for SCA at UEA, said, "It's a society which gives you the opportunity to get out and about, helping people, and learning more about your surroundings."

He urged, "We need a lot of students to volunteer. Quite often

students take a lot out of the comm unity, but don't often put anything back in."

The society is free to join and as a member one can put in as much or as little time as is convenient.

SCA can be contacted through ' their pigeon-hole upstairs in Un- i ion House.

'a quality serv1ce with a difference• FREE

DELIVERY

on

orders

over

£5

otherwise

Pizza and delivery service only available Thu - Sat 5.30 - ..a.x.ll.!tiUII!:.,r.u• Delivery area UEA Campus, Village Site, South City Ar (South City deliveries - fish & chips only with a pizza

Delivery Menu INEW IMPROVED! Chips 60p 80p Plaice £1.30 SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN Scampi £1.60£2.35 2pieces +chips £1.95 Chicken Qtr £1.25 £1.40 Battered Burger 45p !BARGAIN BUCKET! £1.25 Cod 6pieces +3chips £5.50 £1.25 Rock )

Doner Kababs Jumbo Sausage Pies Spring Rolls

£1.95 TOP VALUE 55p SIDE ORDERS £1.00 65p Onion Rings 60p

Quarter Pound Burger in a bun all with salad and a dressing Chicken Burger £1.40 Cheese in burger 99p Beef 99

Garlic Mushrooms SOp 65p Coleslaw Garlic Bread £1.10 40p Canned Drink

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

No go for Graduation 1995being held in City HOPES for this year's graduation to be held in the City have been dashed by the powers-that-be at UEA,writes

Joanne Robertson.

Daniel Owen, the Union's Academic Officer, was keen for the event to be held in Norwich, but it is again being held in the Sports Centre.

"It is a tragic waste," he said, "not to use the facilities in one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the country."

UEA had its graduation off campus once in the late eighties, but there were problems with transport.

The argument is that an adequate venue is needed with seating for at least 850 people and as the students have studied on the campus for three or four years, the most-appropriate venue would be the Sports Centre.

Daniel is in the process of contacting other universities that are out of town to discover how they dealt with the problem.

"It would be a great, not to mention colourful way ofbringing UEA to the city ofNorwich," he said. "If there is a will, it will happen, but there is simply no interest."

It is too late to try and change this year's venue but every effort is being made for the 1996 graduation to be staged beyond the confmes of University Plain.

UNION Communications Officer, Phil Clegg, caused shock on the Executive when he announced his resignation last week.

Hisdeparturetakestheamount of resignations from this year's troubled Executive to a total of five.

Phil announced his intention to quit lastTuesday (February 1) in a letter to Mike Hogg, General Managerofthe Union.

In it he wrote: "I am formally writing to tender my resignation as Communications C'fficer... I have several reasons as to why I feel I can no longer continue in the post.• "I am no longer representing studentsinthemannerlintended when standing for election·, he explained.

"I have been accused of disloyalty to this Executive which to some members ... clearly comes before loyalty to students.· Phi I then added that he found himself unable to work with one

rnemberofthe Executive, whom he chose not to ide'ntify.

He accused this individual of •.. .jeopardising other people's work for the sake of personal vendettas or selfish goals", adding that he could never use his own work "to pursue any hidden agenda."

Concluding, Phi I expressed his enjoyment of the job and cited his "enormous respect• for the Union and its staff.

Senior Union Officers were quick to express their shock over Phil'ssurprise resignation, with Academic Officer Daniel Owen stating the "enormous regret" felt by all.

"Phil resigned because he no longer felt confident working with the rest ofthe Executive", he said.

"His resignation was very unexpected, and his contribution to the Union, andtotheworkof the Executive, will be greatly missed.

"While we feel his resignation

was unnecessary, we respect his decision, and wish him well in the future."

The Union have decided to hold elections for a non-sabbatical Commsotficertotakeofficeforthe rest ofthe year, and as a temporary measure have divided Phil'sformer portfolio amongst themselves.

ThernainpointsseeDanieiONen taking responsibility for liaison with University media; Finance Officer John Holmes assuming control of communicating with student media and Welfare Officer Jaz lhenacho looking after external media relations.

IJPhil Clegg was elected on November 3 at the second attempt, due to the postponement of the original re-election forComms Officer.

ThiswasduetoPollyKnewstub's resignation from the £7,000 a year post in October.

Phil's share of the vote was 57 per cent on a turnout of just over 900 voters -12 per cent of the total student body at UEA.

1994-5: AYEAR OF MISERYFOR THE UNION? IJJune 1994: Union Comms Officer, Jacqui Mackay,

an~ Comms Officer-Elect, Polly Knewstub fined for

an Incident' In the GSA Bar.

'

CJSeptember 1994: Polly Knewstub resigns.

CJOctober 1994: Non-8abbs James Tansey (Clubs

and Socs) and Jono Turtle (LGB) resign.

IJOctober 1994: Comms Officer re-election post-

poned on morning of vote by the Union's EJection Committee ONovember 1994: Oave Mannlngham (Internal Liaison) resigns.

CJNovember1994:Phll Clegg overwhelmingly elected as Comms Officer.

IJJanuary 1995: Phll Clegg reslgll$ on the eve of Union Awareness Week and the vote to keep The Waterfront open.

FIVE STAR TAXIS NORWICH CALL US FREE ON FREEPHONE

Which lemon hasn't got an Apple?

Do you know the feeling? Everyone else is out partying and you 're still hard at it.

Life could be so much easier with an Apple Mac from Norfolk's only authorised AppleCentre.

Call Nuala now on 0603 630252 to talk about special student rates. Then look forward to a few more nights out.

(or 664664)

NO EXTRA CHARGE AFTER MIDNIGHT

,_

tl. Jarrold AppleCentre,. Norwich No-one knows more about Macs.

Barrack Street, Norwich NR3 1TH Telephone 0603 630252 Applc:Ccnac is asaviccmarkol'Apple Computa U.K.Ltd.

Apple and the Apple lq:o ore uodcnwlu ri Apple Computer, Inc.

toUEA

UEA • to Stat1on

£3

£3.50

CITY

-

j

j

3

,_.-------- - - --

4

- -- -

Concrete , Wednesday, February 8, 1995

That's how you rated Concrete in camp_us media survey_ NINElY NINE percent of UEA ~~i::;;a students know t hey have a --:::-::::::7.!iti:>t!r"fllV campus newspaper and 98 per cent read it.

These were just two conclusions of a campus survey conducted last week, which gauged opinions on student and local media.

Over I 00 respondents were questioned in carefully selected points around UEA, which included outside Concrete - No. 1 on campus major schools and the library, caterHere, 90 per cent of those suring outlets and meeting places. veyed knew there was a TV station The survey found Concrete to be on campus, and 82 per cent knew it the most popular student media at was called Nexus liTV. UEA, with a 98 percent readership.

Only 52 percent had ever watched 90 per cent of those questioned any of the programmes broadcast knew of radio station Li vewire ' s by Nexus in The Hive, however. exi stence, although only 8 per cent Local newspapers performed of campus residents polled actually poorly in the survey, since despite listened to it. an impressive 86 per cent of stuResults for campus broadcaster dents being able to name one of Nexus liTV's were promising, con- Norwich's newspapers, only 27 per sidering its re-emergence at UEA cent admitted to reading a copy at over the last year. least once a week.

L. TTERY CASH COULD REBUILD CITY LIBRARY

LOTTER-ATURE could be coming to No r wich's bookshelves, if ambitious plans for the new central library get t he go-ahead,

writes Caroline Jenkinson.

Cash from the National Lottery could be used to fund a rep lacementforthe original library, which was destroyed by fire last August.

Library chiefs hope to take this opportunity to upgrade their services.

However, the insurance money is only expected to cover the costs of a direct replacement for the old building. lt could cost between £3 million and £7 million more to provide bigger and better facilities.

'

Concl'ele!s s selection · P of Lotter-ature

To ~ ~

-1..,..

V ~

~

Norfolk County Council has also been wa rn ed that if a perm anent library is not built by August 1997, itwillhavetopayanextra£300,000 a year- due to insurance money running out.

Hence they have decided to meetthe shortfall through funding from the Lottery.

_ _k

"V _k "

UNION Steward BemieAidis has started his fight against the flab for charity, as reported in the last issueofConcrete.

Bernie is hoping to lose three stone for charity, with the proceeds going to BIBIC (the British Association for Brain Injured Children},anappealadoptedbyUEA RAG. Due to problems in obtaining

sponsor forms, RAG have got together with Concrete, and we have reproduced a form below for th ose wishing to support Bemie's absolutely-flabulous quest.

•To sponsor Bemie in his spansored slim, simply return the completed form below to RAG or hand it in to the Steward's cabin in UH.

f!~;;io~;u~RA~8;~G;~

Salem•s Lot-tery.

Stephen king

1Skinny appeal the sum of 1for each KG Bernie manages to lose.

1 1

Great Expectation Char Ies Dickens · . S•

I I Signed I I Name (Printed) I I School I I Date·

I I I I I I I I

Prize and PreJudice.

Jane Austen For Whom the Ernest H Bans Roll • emJngway Day of the J ackpot • Frederick Forsyth

Year

~----------------~

OF UEA STUDENTS READ ·coNCRETE• Sour ce: Campus Media Survey, Febr uary 1995 I

I

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

5

._ 1

I

could never sound as bad again .•• thanks to Conctete and Breakers staff who have teamed up to upgrade the eaterie's jukebox.

For our 'Objects of Desire' col· umn in the last issue featured the jukebox, and panned the selection of music available.

Its owners, Brent Walker Leisure, were sent a copy, and it now seems that the bad publicity has done enough for the company to change its mind and consider modernising the jukebox's sounds.

Said a source on the Breakers staff, "Basically, thechoiceofmusic is terrible. I wouldn't mind the volume so much if they played decent stuff on it.

"I personally contacted the manager ofBrent Walker, the company who supplies the machines, and askedforsomenewmusictobesent But all we got was a Christmas compilation, which is still on there now.

"I complained once more and they sent The Pogues, Nirvana and The Who, which have now been played to death."

•Would you like the opportunity to choose the new albums which will go on the Breakers jukebox? Any requests sent to us will be forwarded to Brent Walker Ltd who will then update the selection available.

LUNCH TIME OPENING After a two week trial period, we have decided to continue lunchtime opening. The best coffee on campus is now available, and sandwiches and snacks will be on sale as soon as SASSAF reopens. So if you feel like a quiet lunch and cheap drinks, come up to the Grad Bar on weekdays between 12pm and 2pm.

ENTERTAINMENTS For the spring semester, we are planning a wide array of entertainments. We will have all sorts of bands and feature nights. Judging on the success of the Bums Night, we can look forward to some excellent entertainment.

We have a Jazz Night planned and UEA bands Ochre, Tufty's Nutbox and Wake will be playing, although some of the dates have not yet been set. We would also like some feedback on the introduction of a talent night, so if you have any comments or suggestions, then please contact Chris Coole.

Friday 17 Feb: Wake Friday 24 Feb: Music Quiz Friday 17 March: St Patrick's Night featuring the Irish band 'Celtic Spirit'

Concrete's Top Tunes for the Breakers Jukebox.

1H

'!e

The first GSA open night is Friday February 17 and features the return of UEA's most exciting in die band, 'Wake'. Everyone is welcome and 'Wake' T-shirts will be on sale. Your body deserves one ... they are almost as sexy as the GSA attire!

BEER

u

2: A:r;;~~';: Hot-Burger-In/ Kamoze e rrants ·Ace of Grease 3. Love Me for a Spud'bun - B oyzone 4· Cop Killer-Ice Tea 5. Alii Wanna Chew- Shervt C .,. row 6 L" · • . lvm On A Prayer- Bun Jov/ 7. Cheesy Windows- Tlna Tumer

Our new beer 'Golden Bitter' has rapidly become a favourite and with its unique taste and low price, #1 .20, it is definitely worth trying, if you have not don~ so yet.

APPLICATIONS We apologise to anyone who has been trying to get hold of an application form.

Our secretary has at long last returned and is the •man· to contact.

This section is written and paid for by the Graduate Students Association

~nooker...

,uho\e \o\ more\

/\nd a""

Your· 24 hour a· da·y, 7 doys a week club

•lw•y•

.• Hot a cold food avalla-.le • Satellite TV e: Llcenced Bar (nor1111cil hours) • 21 snook r ·t ables & 4 pool tables Plain OFF TOP OF: Duke Street lel627478·

----- --- ----- -------

---·-·--- .. -- ....--- ........-

6

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

• Heartless Accommodation bosses charge students for stolen toaster CALLING ALL YOU 905 MEN VALENTINE'S DAY approaches and single men outthere are crossing fi ngers, carrying rabbits' feet and donning horse-shoes, writes

DavidHa/1.

All this in the hope thatthey'll get lucky on February 14.

Well, here'sachancetoprove what a sensitive 90 s males they are.

Poetry Now is running a competition for men to puttheirthoughts about the "new man" image into verse.

What are the expectations of a 90s man?

How hard is it being a new man?

Is it hard to fight th e Neanderthal inside?

•Anyone with thoughts on the above can submit up to two poems, each no longer than 30 lines to : Poetry Now, 90s Man , 1-2 Wainman Road, Woodston, Peterborough PE2 7BU. •The ·closing date for entries is March 31 . Thosewantingthefruits of your labour back sho.uld enclose an S.A.E.

UEA OFFICIALS have charged 12 campus residents for a stolen toaster- even though t he Constable Terrace students say they weren't to blame for its theft.

The stunned licensees told how a broken door lock- which they claim was never properly fixed by University workmen - allowed a thief to simply walk in and baga£93 Dualite toaster.

The 12 students were then billed for its replacement, plus £27 for "labour and administration costs", bringing the total amount to a whopping £120.

They then complained to the Accommodation Office, stating, "Nobody has been to see us to explain the situation to us about which we are very unhappy, and feel that the way that the University has gone about this has been very under-

,....--- By -----.

Rebecca Curran hand."

But Accommodation Manager, Clive Winter, wrote back to them, refusing to admit that fittings in the house were at fault. "Doors are designed to be used as doors and windows are designed to be used to provide light and ventilation", he said.

"I find it quite surprising that you need to be reminded of this fact.

Indeed, I see no reason why this should be explained to you on a one to one basis, particularly given your

Stodent smashes £180 window A STUDENT allegedly under the influence ofdrinkand drugs hurled a large rock through a Constable Terrace kitchen window on the morning of January 27. He then launched himselfthrough the shattered glass and was taken to hospital suffering cuts to the hand.

UEA have estimated the cost of the window's replacement at£380, for which they will be billing the student concerned . Registry officials are currently conducting an investigation into the incident.

A man claiming to be God entered Cambridge 0 U offices with a goat and a 5ft cross, telling reception he was 'The Creator' and

A student in Swansea was knocked off his bike by an off-duty policeman. The copper, who admitted to driving without due care, was wearing slippers at the time ...

Hull University Union's Rugby Club has decided not to hold any more annual dinners, due to bad behaviour and food fights. Boys will be boys ...

A £93 Dua/ite toaster, as supplied to residences across campus undoubted intellectual capabilities.

"Under the circumstances I believe that negligence on the part of one or more of the occupants of House I was the actual reason for the theft and consequently this is why I have no intention of cancelling the charge ... I can't imagine

FAITH NO MORE will play at UEA on March 5, Concrete can exclusively reveal.

And if one is to believe the hype , it should be the biggest th ing to arrive in Norwich since the Normans invaded.

Union Entshavebookedwhat must surely be the gig of the year, securing the San Francisco stadium band for an exclusive date in the LCR. Much speculation followed

anyone being distraught by the prospect of an invoice amounting to £ 11.14.", he said.

Third years Lise Stoyell and Melanie Hewitt were reluctant to hold out on paying the fine, as any outstanding debts they may have would lead to the University with-

By---.

David Hall the announcement of a 'Secret Show'justafterChristmas, with suggestions induding REM,The Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Beastie Boys.

So in the face ofthese widespread rumours ,Concretedecidedtofind out who UEAstudents thought it would be with a snap survey in The Hive last week.

PHOTO: PETER HART

holding their degrees.

"It feels as if we're powerless", they said, adding that despite paying the fine, they will continue complaining to Mr Winter, who ironically said expecting students to pay the cost of a replacement toaster "may seem a little harsh."

lt found that 40 per cent of those asked were clueless, whilst 18 per cent agreed w ith the NME - hoping for the rejuvenated Stone Roses to drop by.

But 18 percent guessed correctly, naming the San Francisco funk metallers - all this despite a couple of suggestions that either The Beatles or Jimi Hendrixwould be taking to that famous LCR stage.

•Tickets for the gig go on sale on February 13, priced at£10.

7.30pm

£8.50

Thu 9 Feb £5 adv I £7 door

Dreadzone

Ion

+ Tribal Drift + Technova + D.l's Evolution clepthcharg

Sun 26 Feb 7.30pm £8.00

Thu 16 Feb 8.00pm £4

Courtney Pine J

Del·ri·

ntal

+ Bullyrag Fri 17 Feb 9-1.30am £3.50(£3 cons) door Wed 1 Mar 7.30pm £7.50

Belly + Colcl Water I

I

Globo Thu 23 Feb 7.30pm £7

Pato Banton & The Reggae Revolution Sat 25 Feb 9-1.30pm £3.50(£3 cons) door

Sun 5 Mar7.30pm £10.00

ow

Secret ISH

c

I

page 6)

Velo Deluxe + Fiel Garvie + Th Gift Mon 27 Feb 7.30pm £4.50

SI ep r + Blu Script Wed 1 Mar 7.30pm

Fri 10th Mar 7.30pm £9.50

Del

itri

Harry Hill Thu 2 Mar 7.30pm £6.50

Les Negresses Vertes Wed 8 Mar 7.30pm £5 Sun 19 Mar 7.30pm £10.00

StiH LiHie Fingers

Sensel ss Things + AC coustla + Mlnxus Wed 22 Mar 7.30pm £7.00

Wed 3 May 7.30pm £8.50

Charlatans

21.00 - 01.30 £3 ndie and a ative dance R&B and soul p$ lrs

7/2 Globo +

!lllllA'IPII

Radiohead + Marlon

8 Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

UEA Union leading the way A NATIONAL campaign to restore students' entitlement to benefits is being led by representatives from UEA, writes Joanne

DJ Owen•s •sarcastic• remarks lead to ban UNION Academ ic Officer, Daniel Owen, has been suspended from Livewire 945 after insulting a fellow DJ on air.

Daniel, expressing his frustra tion on fin ding the studio locked on the momingofJanuary22 ,launched a tirade ofabuse at colleague Andrew Savory, whose fault he bel ieved it

was.

"Everything else was locked up, because Andrew Savory had the keys", he said, adding, "Feel free to stab him or injure him in any way you like .. . be particularly rude to him because I fee l he deserves itOK?" Following a co mplaint from AndrewSavory, Livewire informed him that they had decided to suspend the £7,000 a year Union sabbatical from broadcasting until after the Easter break.

Station Manager, John Nicolaou, said: "Whi 1st we do not fee l that the

Robertson.

By---Caroline Adlem

r----

comments were libellous or intended as a serious physical threat, we agree that they could cause unnecessary personal offence to you. " We have spoken to Mr Owen about the matter and have informed him of his suspension from air, other than within the context of a news broadcast relating to a matter ofU nion and or students' interest."

Yet Andrew feels that a broadcast ban is not sufficient, and has called for the Executive to review Daniel's position as Academic Officer.

"This is not the sort ofbehaviour I would expect from any Livewire presenter, but I find it particularly grieving that it comes fro m the Student Union's Academic Officer, who should definitely know better", he said.

"Someone who holds such a po-

Andrew Savory - said DJ's behaviour was not fitting for a member of the Union Executive sition should be capable of displaying the level of responsibility and maturity that is called for.

"This has clearly not been demonstrated in this matter." But Daniel does not agree, stating, " I can understand why Andrew' s upset and I'm sorry about that.

"His complaint is valid up to a point but I think he's taken things out of proportion.

"What I said on air was obviously a bit irresponsible but at the same time it was also very obviously a

deeply sarcastic com ment."

And when asked i f he thought his co mments on air could threaten his job, Daniel said, "If Andrcw thinks that the one piece of sarcastic abuse that he experienced is more important that the work the Union is doing on academic affairs and student representation, I'm afraid I think he's mistaken." ''I' m happy to accept the ban on me broadcasting, but I think the issue is a lot more trivial than Andrew's making out."

DJ Owen - admits gaffe but thinks that 'things have been taken out of proportion'

JanetPeck, U nion Welfare CoOrdinator, has set the precedent in the fight, known nationally as ' The Ancients Campaign.'

Several cases involving severe student hardship have been taken to court in the past year, resulting inanumberofsuccesses, and later this month, Janet plans to take some cases to the Court of Appeal.

Jaz Thenacho, Union Welfare Officer said, " Students are no longer a category entitled to benefit."

"They are stuck in a Catch 22 situation where the authorities regard students as abandoning theircourseiftheytakeayearout and do not entitle them to any form of Housing Benefit or Income Support when they do come to University."

She added that the most worrying aspect of student hardship was the fact that debt might be enough to deter students from entering further education in the first place.

"Many students have either delayed coming to UEA or left altogether because they simply can't afford it."

I FEBRUARY

Sports S hop

Warm Winter Jackets .._C~9.95 £25.95 Quilted Check Shirts 51 !.9! £10.95 Sweatshirts ~1 0:93 £9.95 £1 3.9~ £11.95 Pure Art T-Shirts 15% off marked price {Penguins, Environmental, Zodiac) Fruit of the Loom Sweatshirts 1 0% off marked price Fruit of the Loom T-shirts 10% off marked price Hood pouch sleeveless tops -'17:95 £15.95 also ... gloves hats tights speedo swimwear uea baseball caps rucksacks squash tennis & badminton rackets sports shoes y e . . . .- . . . . ;c. . . s~..,i . . g

y e . . . c.ll y~c.r rc. . . . . cl

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

50p admission vJth any student ID B4 midnight

1 pints SMOKERS in The Hive would prefer to keep the facility's existing smoking areas, according to a survey carried By out by Concrete last week.

""

When presented with three choices forreviewingsmokingareas in The Hive, 82 per cent of smokers backed an option to have the rear of the LCR made into a non-smoking zone.

And 24 per cent of non-smokersagreedwiththemonthispoint.

Followingarecentsmokingban on the first floor of Union House, Union managers are now looking for ways in which to limit the smokingareasdownstairs-including The Hive, its foyer and the LCR. Theywouldprefertobansmoking from all the current seating areas in the Hive, and employ the back ofthe LCR as the only smoking area during the day.

But those who use The Hive on a regular basis disagree with such severe restrictions.

1Michele

du Randt

1

When given the choice, only 4 per cent of smokers and 36 per centofnon-smokersagreedwith the Union's plans, an average of only 20 per cent of students over all.

And 2S per cent of students would prefer to restrict smoking to the foyer area only.

"The foyer has got a higher ceiling, so the smoky atmosphere won't annoy the nonsmokers as much," explained one EAS student in favour of this option.

•Seating at the backofthe LCR is planned to be in place by Easter, when the area is partitioned, although any smoking restrictions are unlikely to be enforced until October.

GET CONNECTED WITH MERCURYI Telecoms firm launch Recent evidence shows students are increasingly turning to pagers to combat this problem, writes Adrian

Stee/e.

Mercury are the latest company to market a budget paging system aimed particularly at students, which uses a system of numerical codes to convey messages.

This latest product is priced from £79.99, its main advantage being that there are no ongoing costs such as rental charges.

In fact, all the costs are paid by those leaving messages.

When asked about the pagers,

students in general seemed to be in favour ofthem, mainly because they wanted to be more easily contactable.

"They 're quite smart," agreed one CHE student, "I'd definitely think about getting one."

But others decided a pager was "unnecessary", "embarrassing" and "simply a fashion statement."

One InS student said, "I can't see the need for them. I'd be embarrassed to wear one. When someone's mobile phone rings in the library, or during a lecture, people stare." eMore information on Mercury Minicall is available on FreeCall OSOO SOS SOS. Pagers can be obtained from high street retailers Dixons and Tandy, or direct from Mercury at no extra cost.

I

vJih any s1udent ID B4 midnight

latest budg~ p~g~ CAN YOU never get hold of the person you want? Are you constantly getting messages too late to do something about them?

FREE admiSSIOn I

£1.50 pints draught lager ,bitter I cider

You too could keep in touch with a Mercury pager. ..

9

10 Concrete , Wednesday, February 8, 1995

Wanted: Director for the V&A

Concrete's alternative view of campus life

Museum THOSE graduating this year should consider a job offer which appeared in The Guardian's Media tabloid last week.

For the Victori a and Albert Mu· seum are ad vertising for a new Director, to replace Elizabeth EsteveColl, none other than UEA's next £85,000 Vice Chancellor, who takes office in October.

"The Trustees of the V&A are looking for someone with suitable qualifications and experience ... with the vision and purpose needed to guide the V &A into the 21st century", runs their ad . lfMrs Esteve-Coll has managed this demandi ng task for seven years, then she'll have no problem handling her new role at UEA. Especially if thejob'sassimple as Ted Nic ld of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals makes out: "Traditionally, being a vice-chancellor is a bit like being sheepdog. You have to get everyone moving in the same direction, but you do it by chivvying fro m behind, as opposed to holding a banner at the front."

Maybe UEA should be th inking of renaming one of their new teaching blocks, ' The John Noakes School of Shepherdry' .. .

REVEALED: WHAT HAPPENS TO UEA GRADUATES•••

IT'S BEEN said that the job market is like one huge battlefield.

Not a problem if you 're a UEA graduate, it seems ...

A story appearing in the paperslastweek revealed how the boss of Saddam Hussein 's secret germ-warfare operation actually studied biology at UEA for five years .

According to UN weapons inspectors , Or Taha Rihab , who won her doctorate on plant path ology in 1984 , has now gone on to master a germs project

which employs anthrax , botulism and gas gangrene to cause mass suffering .

Dean ofUEA's School of Biological Sciences , Or Ian Gibson , said : "Who knows what our exstudents get up to when they leave here. ! have her thesis here and it's fine . Harmless stuff."

Indeed, you havetoagreewith him that UEA students are a strange lot.

And the y go on to be an even stranger lot when they graduate . Maybe it' s too much fresh Norfolk air which makes them go

weird .

So what, you may ask, happens when they move to an even bigger, even more open space , like Canada, Australia or New Zealand?

Well, if Ian Chappell is anything to go by , then the prospects are quite worrying .

Whilst still a student, Ian appeared on TV in the sixties as one ofthe team representing UEA on the BBC's quiz show University Challenge.

And after graduating , he moved abroad and has recently

HAVE FAITH NO MORE EVER HEARD OF UEA? THAT'S THE question we wish we knew the answer to.

What exactly will the San Francisco rock-band think of our humble little LCR when they play UEA on March 5?

Let's face it - they ' re used to playing in stadiums ten times the size of Union House, let alone a lowly common room in Union House, albeit a rather newly refurbished lowly common room.

For all we know, the venue has been kept as much a secret from them as their gig has from us.

Maybe all the lads know is that the 'Secret Show' they 're playing is (a) at a university known by its

initials, and (b) near a place called California.

UN say UEA grad headed Saddam 's germ warfare dept become the Wizard of New Zealand, where he now apparently invents spells and teaches wizardry for a living. 'Spose it makes a change from McDonalds ..

It doesn't take much to work out that the obvious answer must be UCLA. Little do they know that California also happens to be a small village on the Norfolk Coast, and the University OfEast Anglia also happens to be widely known as UEA. Almost...

Sorry to disappoint you lads.

1st CHOICE EAST ANGLIA'S LEADING PC MANUFACTURER OF IBM COMPATIBLE PC'S OFFERING THE COMPLETE COMPUTER SERVICE FOR BUSINESSES &HOME USERS

PRINTERS CONSUMABLES COMPONENTS

•SOFTWARE •NElWORKS •REPAIRS

ALSO SUPPLIERS OF AMIGA, ATARI &SEGA FOR HOME USE

FOR IMMEDIATE AnENTION CALL TODAY ON

0603 404001 OR VISIT OUR SHOWROOM ON AYLSHAM ROAD

155 AYLSHAIIIOAI, IOIWICH 113 2RI Fll: 0103 404 410

Whether you are a full time or part time, home or overseas student the Union's Advice Unit provides a free professional and confidential service.

• Licensed to give money advice.

• Expert advice on student benefit entitlements.

• Provide free legal advice (Tenants rights, employment rights etc ).

• Information on grants (mature students, fees, discretionary etc ).

• Advice on immigration law.

We can be found upstairs in Union House

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

Concrete•s bits and bobs page

No 2: The Antique Vending Machine in Union House A~o known as: 'That frustrating thing With the metal spirally bits that go round and round and ~topjust before yourTwix falls and crumbles mto five million bits , O~igin: Probably some dodgy ~ublic swimmmg pool which had to close down years ago

~dsel!offevel)'thingascheaplyaspossible.

Like Ritzys before it became a top nightclub for example. ' Age: Unkno~ al~ough it was probably the first one of Its kind in the country d possibly ~ the century, for that matt~r~ Who ~ses Jt?Recent sightings include Bernie the Uruon Steward (who's supposed to be off chocolate an.d crisps for his sponsored slim), ~ople. passmg through Union House and HIVe Kids too lazy to walk to the Paper Shop man... ' ":'hat kind of snacks does it seU? Everyheart (or rather your stomach) desires, like crisps, Mars Bars and Gal axy Caramels.

thi~g YOt_rr

Er, bold on, did you say 'snacks'?

Yes, the sort of things you'd find in a proper newsagent's shop.

Are you sure? Hardly. It sells things you'd n~ver dream of buying from any shop, like Ritz (or was that Ritzys?) cheesy crackers and Jatfa Cakes. '

Is it easy t~ operate? Yes, an absolute doss. Not l . - - . - - - - .- - - - - - a bag of cnsps. They didn't do that in Star W . magme havmg to key m a code number each time you want Worst insult possible· Putting a £! · · arsth ...

Wb • tb • com m e slot y s at then? 'Cos it can't cope with de . al : cun comage. Try something from the reign ofGeorge V...

Our new column for those who've got something to sound off about This issue, Sarah Fisher bemoans those who don't know who Phil Ocks actually was ...

In Concrete's last issue (Jan 25) Nick Amies commented that Billy Bragg made the "classic quote• concerning who he would have liked to have seen at the Norwich Sound City '92.

His reply: "I'd like to have seen Phi I Oakes up there .. . but unfortunately he's dead."

Was there not a single Billy Bragg fan out there curious enough to figure out who Bragg's hero, Phil Oakes, was? lt was actually Phi/ Ocks, the leading genius of the 60s topical song folk music movement.

He wrote superbly written lyrics on such timeless topics as black rights, the anti-war movement, workers' rights, capital punishme~t, police brutality (in his great sarcastic song, 'I Kill Therefore I Am ), student rights, poverty, freedom of speech, the evils of the black-list, the draft, and hypocritical social/political leaders etc. in such songs as 'Too Many Martyrs', 'I'm Going To Say lt Now' and 'Draft Dodger Reg'.

Phil was never afraid to criticise and make fun of the obvious crap of politics and society of his day, not even after America's FBI kept tabs on him and tapped his phone.

He was a tireless activist in almost every area of human rights, constantly fighting for the hopes of a better society.

By the early 70s depression and pessimism overcame Phil - he began to doubt that society could ever change.

By 1974, Phil stopped writing; he thought that no one cared about him or the state of society.

Perhaps he was right.

Today we can't even spell his name correctly, and most of his songs are still as relevant today as they were 30 years ago.

In 1976, with his belief that the world was dead, Phil took his own life.

Billy Bragg's "classic quote" of '92 should instead be remembered as the saddest quote that Concrete may ever publish.

When the thunder of oppression roars and crackles I'll be there And when those who would be free are wearing shackles I'll be there For the day is going to come When they'll throw away their chains Lift their hands and raise their anns For the struggle that remains.

And let me tell you I'll be there!

(Phil Ocks: "I'll Be There") May the spirit of Phi I Oakes always live on ...

GOTSOMETHINGYOU'DREALLYLIKETOSOUND OFF ABOUT? WHATEVER THE SUBJECT, USE OUR 'SOAPBOX'.

WRITE TO: 'SOAPBOX', CONCRETE UH, UEA, OR PHONE 250558.

11

~------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- ~-

l2

-

-- ~

-- ---

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

Leffers

~L · ,.., .~ . · . ~J .~ \

· -~1 ,- ~ .· I ~r, ~::r ~. ~"7 y"'?

:'1'1( ·

8 .·· %,\

.

comment Why_Y,ou should vote 'Y,es'

Concrete welcomes your letters on any subject. Whether it is something we've written about and you want to take issue with, or you just simply want to make a point, we want to hear from you. Write to us (before 1pm on February 15 to have your letter published in the next issue) at the address below or via our postboxes in Union House, marking your correspondence for the attention of the Editor. Anonymity will be respected but you must include your name and address in the first instance.

This issue, our front page editorial marked an unprecedented step in Concrete's history- that of putting an opinion on the cover.

This decision was taken to reflect our belief in The Waterfront, and to fumly lend our support for a vote in favour of its survival.

It should be made clear that our editorial, as well as the feature on the venue inside the paper, had no connection with any hidden agenda over the survival of The Waterfront.

Rather, we simply believe that the partnership between the Union and Norwich City Council in operating the venue should continue.

We feel this to be in the best interest of everyone, including not only students, but also the local community.

Norwich would hardly profit if the venue was forced to close.

Thafs whv Concrete's backing the Union and The Waterfront.

Room to manoeuvre Accommodation bosses are investigating the possibility of leasing unfilled campus rooms on a weekly basis.

They say students may find it useful in being able to book rooms for study sessions.

Perhaps they could invite their friends, as long as there aren't more than three of them.

As long as they don't try and get in the kitchen too often, or make too much noise when they ' re coming or going ...

The reason behind this initiative - still under discussion - is the pressing need for UE.t\. to balance its accommodation books. This is all well and good, but those existing campus residents paying the full wack are already doing their bit to " balance the books."

And ifs their basic rights -comfort and safety - that shouldn't be overlooked.

/

The big issue ... or is it?

Phil Clegg's resignation came as a surprise to most people, not least to Concrete.

So why, it could be asked, has our coverage of this latest setback for the TJnion Executive not made the front page~ Why has Concrete not attempted to get to the bottom of the story?

It's quite simple really.

We feel The Waterfront's survival is an issue that affects more people in more ways than do petty recriminations over the departure of a sabbatical from what Phil himself referred to as ''a troubled Executive."

Perhaps the Exec should bear in mind its duties to the Union' s members, and not to themselves.

As long as the bars stay open and there are still gigs and LCRs to go to, most students aren't really too bothered what they do.

-t~-

I

Cf5

Cartoon by To ny Lansdowne

UEA COPPING OUT OVER MARY CHAPMAN COURT

he s ituation at Mary Chapman Court isn't merely "unsati sfactory".

It is an utter disgrace .

At the beginning of this academic year, I vo lunteered to meet new first years and show them arou nd.

Having lived there last year, I felt I would be able to give them a va luable insight into life at the City residences.

As the day progressed, I felt more and more guilty about the

T

Dead on your feet ....

.r· ·.

to the railings with a D-Lock and to top it all - to find that you r mate's car has been draine d of petrol and had its stereo nicked.)

"Mary Chapman Co urt is set in really nice surroundings. " (S ure- it's only two miles from campus - so once yo ur bike has been thieved, you'll have to fork out sixty quid for as bus pass AS WEL L as paying the same amount of rent as those on campus.

O h - an d yo u'll probably be on the receiving end of verbal

abuse from those inhabiting the co uncil pro perties.)

Come on UEA, what does it take for something to be done?

The statistics may we ll reveal that crime rates have dropped but what about theft? Indecent expos ure?

As sault?

C riminal damamge?ls it an environment we as students s hould have to endure?The s imple answer is "No".Financial restrictions and lack of resources aren'tjustification. They're a COP OUT. Me/anie Levene (LAW2)

..

..lllil~-------

COTICTEYI'e UEA'S Independent Student Neurspape• INCORPORATING

Dead worried.

crap I was coming out with. " It~· really great living so near the pubs and clubs. " (Erm, just don't wa lk back on your own, it 's not lit, there aren' t any sec urity cameras and there's usually a co uple of unsavoury characters wandering around.)

"Its nice to get away f rom camp us after a hard days wo rk. " (It's always nice to return home to find a burglar in your bedroom, to discover that yo ur bike has been stolen despite being locked

The event PO Box 410, Norwich NR4 7TB (01603) 250558

-~inent

•Editor: Niall Hampton •News Editor: Michele du Randt •Features Editor: Mark Austin •eoSports Editors: Nik Davy & Jane Horner • Screen Editor: Caroline Jenkinson • Stage Editor: Joanna Stubbington •Music Editor Peter Hart eSpecial Projects Editor Caroline Adlem •Picture Editor: Keith Whitmore •Chief Cartoonist: Tony Lansdowne •Chief Screen Writer: William Neil •Assistant Music Editor David Hall •Chief Music Writer: Sa m Richards •Editorial Contributors: Sarah Morris, Tom Geoghan, Bob Scott, Alastair Cushion, Nick Amies, Olivia Si m mons, Jo Gill, Jake Aust, Joanne Robertson, Caroline Bowken , Mohamed Hussan, Adrian SteeleChief Photographer Sam Jary •Photographers: Mohamed Hussan , George Brooks •Proofreaders: Eric Cantona, K Mulligan eSpecial Thanks To: UH Stewards, Errol and the other bloke in China Black •Advertising Manager: Simon Mann •Production Manager: Stephen HowardeOTP Assistants: Niall Hampton, Peter Hart .Concrete is published by the Union of UEA Students. Opinions expressed are those of the Contributor and not necessarily those of the Publisher or Editor. Use of the name The Evenf appears by arrangement with the copyright holders, Planet Zog Ltd. No part of this newspaper may be reproduced , stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, technotronic, mechanical, channel tunnel, agricultural etc. ef'rinted by Eastern Counties Newspapers, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, Norfolk, Great Britain • Concrete is printed on recycled paper using biodegradable inks . © 1995

---~

---

---- - --- -

--------13

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

Letters

WE ARE BEING AQUESTION OF.CONSCIENCE REPRESENTED... I W

e are writing in re sponse to Andy Woodard's letter ('Are We Being Represented') published in the last issue of Concrete regarding student representation and the role of our student union.

Mr Woodard complains that the Union is funding societies who take part in what he calls "playschool politics".

Perhaps he feels that the Union should only give money to societies that are apolitical or maybe it is just sour grapes that the Conservative Society, whose beliefs he seems to share, has failed to attract enough members to be entitled to any funding from the Student Union.

He tells us that the Union should provide facilities for students and spare us the " bullshit that contaminates the real world."

Perhaps he is unaware that for most students this is the real world.

This is our world, and student unions have a duty to represent us as well as to provide facilities.

They must provide us with representation in the same way that other organisations such as the Institute of Directors or the TUC represent other groups in society.

If our Union, and through it the NUS, does not represent us and lobby on our behalf then who will?

It is students who understand what affects students and it is our duty to make sure that our voice is heard.

We are the minority in Britain; we are given the chance to educate ourselves about the issues that affect everyone, both through studying them and through the support of our Student Union.

University is the first opportunity that many of us have to meet people with views and opinions that differ from our own through which we can develop and

extend our beliefs.

The Union has an essential part to play in this, both through the organisation of events such as the LGB Awareness Week or the Multicultural Week and through supporting the various clubs and societies from Race Awareness to the Alternative Music Society to SWSS [the Socialist Workers Student Society].

It was thanks to the existence of the Union that we were also able to hear speakers such as Chris Mullin MP last term, or Norman and Jean Turgel from the Holocause Educational Trust this week.

Although, in our opinion, many of the actions and decisions taken by the Union Executive leave a lot to be desired, their existence as a democratically-elected student voice is essential.

It is up to students to use and define the activities, role and policies of the Union.

Mr Woodard seems to think we do not live in the real world and should not worry about the issues that concern us.

At what stage should we consider ourselves qualified to think about these issues?

Is it only those who actually have a degree who are allowed to consider social issues? lfMr Woodard wants to be free to have a quiet life without any of the "bullshit", he should take advantage of the Education Act and opt out of UEA's Student Union.

Maybe then he can finish playing his "playschool politics" and leave those of us who be live that our Union is a vital tool in improving the lives of students to do so.

Joe Hemington (SOCJ) Josh Ka/dor-Robinson (SOCJ) David Lain (SOCJ) Rosie Melior (EASJ) Iona Wakely (SOCJ)

~ a week is a Ion~ tim~ in. poli t1cs, a year at uruvers1ty 1s an eternity.

Some incidents however, remain engrained on the memory as though they happened yesterday.

Last Autumn, during a rally in The Square, a representative of the Tory students took hold of the microphone.

He then proceeded to tell those gathered that student loans were a net increase (in funding] and that students have never had it so good.

He was not only ensuring that he would never had any friends with the exception of the odd slug maybe - but he was demonstrating that he was truly part of the 'Thatcher Youth'.

I

am writing to express my sympathy with the views contained in Andy Woodard's recent letter to you.

Up and down the country we hear student unions complaining of lack of involvement in the issues that seem so important to them.

The penny never seems to drop that there is only going to be minority interest as long as they devote most of their energies to minority groups and issues.

If you look at the Union's "Dates to Remember" list for January to March you will see what I mean.

That must have been put together by a PC fanatic .

It seems that if you are in a majority and relatively normal, you are beneath contempt these days.

Where are the slots for ' Men 's Week' and 'Hetrosexual Week'?

They're conspicuous by their absence I may say.

Oh but of course I've forgot, men are of no interest unless they are bisexual or gay.

I also agree with Andy about students banging on about how hard done by they are.

The tighter things get, the more it is likely that people going into Higher Education will be there because they really want to rather

gether (both of them!!). ~he protest was ~alled by the

of Concrete, without a doubt the best laugh I've had in ages.

Sec?ndl~, e.xcuse me for ~l.ng a touch 1deahsttc but wouldn t 1t be

Fehxstowe an.d ~pSWICh groups of the SWP [Soc1ahst Workers Party]

However, I would like to take issue with him on a couple of points . . .

Firstly, about all the "smpmg and complaining" ofSWSS and other groups that contribute at Union meetings when students are

nice to leave univer;>ity with h_oth a first clas~ educatiOn and w1thout the nat1onal debt of Cuba to my name.

Someofusstillbelievetheworking class kids can be smart if not smarter than other kids from Eton,

who didn't want a bunch of Tories polluting the town of Felixsto:-ve..

Norw1ch JUSt went down to deliver a greeting from Norwich SWPthatwedon'tlikethem much here either.

broke, living in. shite conditions on the Village site, being bled dry by the University's accommodation fees and facing increased at-

Rugby, Windsor or Harrow and that access to university shouldn't depend on whether you can afford to get into massive debt.

SWSS will continue to be vocal in Union meetings and elsewhere because we need a fighting Union to defend us from vicious Tory

tacks by the Tories in the form of Grant Cuts, I feel justified in a bit

Finally,onhiscriticismofSWSS [the Socialist Workers Student

cuts.

As for "how revolutionary",

of sniping and complaining.

I wonder if Andy Woodard goes

Society], I am a memberofSWSS and was present at Felixstowe for

you ain't seen nothing yet.

Andrew Osborne

to bed on a mouldy mattress, or

the Young Conservative get-to-

than because Mummy and Daddy wanted them to, or because they couldn 't think of anything better to do.

In reply to the question posed as to whether the Union should create another sabbatical post, the answer is definitely not.

The Union should stop empire building and spend the ma~ jority ofits time representing the majority of its members before

they get any more disillusioned.

How about better subsidisation of the supermarkets and bars, for instance?

And what is this nonsense of charging students £2 to get into their own disco on a Thursday night?

Really, get it together up there in your ivory tower.

Nick Batten (LAW PG)

re:;·i·n,:·niii.···i !:Z: l'lll:E PRINTS! ! :..._..

I

rJl

N COM P NI LAI G. t:J I :z: 0 goes into exams on an empty stomach and feeling like death. .

left of mine in the last edition of Concrete.

Perhaps it should have been to the right.

Whilst endeavouring to seem neither sarcastic, pedantic nor cruel, I feel compelled to make a few points.

For some inexplicable reason, his letter makes me think of the restaurant scene in 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'.

You know the one, where the animal, who can apparently talk, says to the bloke: "Why not choose me sir, choose me, I'm very tender, it's quite alright, I'll just nip out the back sir and shoot myself, don't be sentimental, enjoy your meal, sir!"

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND...

HERE•s ANOTHER VIEW

=:

am writing to Andy Woodard for his letter in the last issue

don't have such problems, being devoid of one.

Why doesn't the University spend the same money which goes on glossy pamphlets on books?

It would no doubt cost the same to actually be as wonderful as they say they are.

The idea of constantly competing with inner-city ex-polytechnics is probably to blame.

Why try? They have an urban charm of their own which UEA, due to its very pleasantness, could never offer in a million years.

Tony Crush (HIS2) PS. I couldn't help noticing the letter from Andy Woodard to the

Selfishness, greed and a certain viciousness seem to be the stock in trade.

Unfortunately, those of us who don't think like that at all are encouraged to be so, at times.

The book shortage is a case in point.

Who can honestly say they risk renewing a book needed for an essay?

We all know, only too well, that the staff don't let us if someone else has put in a request.

So we selfishly and viciously deprive another student of it then happily pay the fine, despite the grant cuts.

We have to wrestle with our conscience in order to so this.

Young Conservatives of course

Bonusprint is tbe only Norwic:b =:

photo shop to oiler a free bigb quality replat:elllelllli/111 1. _,.~. iJ fb JUHI tl and free a 1ree ulSp. ~ 11. Ulll • eltlra set olp.rmls every llllle - ollly with Ibis vout:ber!

I I 1 I

I

I I I I 1 I I

I I 1 I

e:Q

I I

1 II I •

I

I 1 I

OBerCoDditioD8:0ffervalld with this voucher only (no photocopies) on one hour service only. Only one film per voucher. Excludes Tripleprint, Regular and Compact services. Expires 30th March '95

I

3 While Lioa Street Tel 616831

II

(J·ast 2 minutes walk from the market) I •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

crete Rob Crane , How low does your ginger grow?

Miss A Bremin (Chem Ill)

Angel Hart: I know what you like. And I know you want more. G rowler.

Hello Steeeeve! Can we ketchup with your antics? Perhaps, if we 're notfeeling too dim . Luv

Steven Esmond , Your eyes shine like Stars in the sky and like shooting stars you 've fallen straight into my heart.

Fancy it up the garage??!! Yours fora pint, Jenester Sellman xxx (EASIII)

Sitting in a cold dark room , With asolitary flame , With my special kind of loneliness, my comfortable pain .

G

To the women of my desire your sensuous curves send me wil d!

Purrrr! I never recovered from that night I spent stroking you - I wanted more the very mention of your name , Judith, sends me into ecstasy. ! yearn for you!

Paui(SYS I) My Love Sprocket, Bite me. Toothless xx H. Stockdale (HIS) My little linx, one year to dreamland my friend .

R.Tt.nJ To the little glove puppet, Let me stick my hand up you once more .

Hamsterman Arnie , -Of all the hearts in all the world , you walk into mine. Love, always Jo. your curvy one .

Dearest Tonti, you're so fine I only wish that you were mine But all you do is Rubber G love when all I wanted was your love Tonti baby it's plain to see I maybe a man but lloveitupme. Fromyour bunnyk i ns lngy .

Step hen lnglis (LAW Ill) Daniella : Can't wait to see you again , my little love socket ! load sa love, The Plug.

I want every member of the House Posse to be my Valentine! You can put potato prints, all over my body any day! Paul Collins(EURI)

T o the little dwarfy man down below, let us have your room keys (we'll be good- honest) lots of love, !:=xploited.

Top DJ. Thatsyerlot, but we still all love you. See you Thursday for more (anddon'tforgetlive in the Hive).

To our cuddly Captain Birdseye. lfyou 'ad the time, you could come round to our plaice anq show off your codpiece . Love from your shoal of little kippers XXX To our fluffY Chinchilla.

We know you smell , but we still loy~ you more than Ebeneezer Scrooge; don't despair! Love a Ginger-nut and Stroppy S XXX ·

so

Ben.lfyo)Jdqn'tplaymy radio song on your guitar, l'llbelosingmyreligion. Love Michael Stipe's pants.

Heartbrea~ happens

onlyonce,What's Shattered Can't be Saved , A tear, once shed, Cannot be hidfrom him , whose love I craved.

J.G. My love is like a juicy peach, upinthetreeand out of reach. But if you shake my branches hard, love lessons to you I'll teach . Love a fruity girl.

TomyJungleWarrior, M. it's about time you put downyourbongosand came to hunt me down .

I'll be watching you dance at the LCR -I know you can . Love and tiger kisses, from a PK nutter.

Photo man:- Whip out your zoom lens and see what develops. Some day our prints will come, so to speak. Love, the

Anton , A wright mate?

Love MRS p.s . Happy Valentines Day. DebLee (DEVI)

team.

My darling Me I, with love on Valentine's day and always. Your loving boyfriend Mark xxx

Caroline J . You may be feeling rather sad, you may be feeling silly, but be assured, that 's better girl, than feeling Peter's leg . Hoho. Love C .

Angelica, Lick ,i,y love pump,'Peruonsterx Teapot- not a train station, tfd I will return for you , I promise, Thehomepride man.

BE MY VALENTINE Mr. Grumpy . You're tro!Y. truly scrumptioys! with all my love, your Pumpkin x lan Nickoll ; For all the .birds I've love9 befpr~ Love special friend "'""*

Dear Dot, fnacy a fag , we oldies have to stick together , Yours Jurassic.

Reginald B . Kisses are red , but bruises are blue, the next time I fall , it'll be in love with you . Luv Theodore XXX My hope , my flame , warms nothing now, it's cold light burns in vain .So I find Comfort in the darkness, Strength within my pain .

(To a specialkindofboy, from an old queen who j ust can't afford the Mascara any more).

.

~

Geoff, stop w9rking & start playing- with me.

You're playing far too hJJrd to get cu~y! .

;;:,:.,...

.

~:r>"

Dearest Jim. in flat20A, Whenweseeyou , you make our. day, we9eed your charm in abundant mea~ures, withJ9ts of love frQfT\ .Y$Ur little \reasures xxxx To Liam, Lets get it on big boy, Lovethe -Yankee bird .

Louise Duffy~ You are a babe • Dance the nights away with me forever.

You .know who lam! !!;

~~·

To Meoko, I enjoyed Saturday night so much, let's do it again, The Love Machine , liam Crellin (SOC 11)

Dear House Possee, We are four strapping lads in vests and hat's? Every possee should have it's counterpossee, and we are yours! Only to you will we reveal our identities . Meet us on Waveney Hill on Valentines evening at midnight ??

My darling Tigger, Let's keep bouncing in our love lie a shower , I see - together as one! Love Mr Baileys xx

To Matt, Since you left SWSS , I've run out of Fizzz, come to the revolution I'll qe your solution. ' j

To the Hell of all Hells, I lovS'your knickers xxx To NorfolkD02: This isn~ really a V -Day message, but sod it. Thanks for being a truly brilliant floor for the one token (pizza -loving) American! l'lllet you know when the brownies are ready ...

Carin ' Dear Uzzy, Will you be myM.P.fotgetdauseiV ifs you I adQre ~ Harvey- ~ou in ther~!?

I knew you'd be. Did I ever ~11 you what I was li ~nl;;i§'? Col!)e over and help m~ with my pinning skills -I promise '{lotto invite the ~agulls .

They're horrible houseguests. Love ,

~avis .

Yo~ are my H~len of Tray, So come on don't be coy, Let's get in my car, ~pd elope after the

Lqf wd

Dearlsobel, I've admired you from a far, and now would l!ke to get close .

Rod Edgerton (EAS I) )

'

This one does count, lt will end in'li mount. TLFE Dear Joe, your name's not Flo, but my cats name

Betty cleaner- we love the way you w ash our pans , ou r c ups and dishes too, you can clean our showers anytime , cos all we want is YOU! Wrth love from House22, Constable Terrace.

Dear Josh , What a lot of TOSH , you're not so POSH , you're in the labour club .

Helen you are you, And I am me, My loveforyou, Stems like a tree.

To the Pembroke Jim , Why don't'you wear your combat jacket anymore ? Yours forever? ..-'\.

Dear James , You think you're tame, but underneath you're an animal.

We thi nk you're great especially the plastic trousers.

T o Iona , Your name's not Fiona, you haven't got a motorolla . But I don't suppose you care.

Step hen lnglis , You are so pretty, with a lovely face , In the queue for good looks, You won th e race, With a gorgeoussmi~ . Andbody

to match, at the UEA, You are the greatest catch .AII my love Jen Sellman(EASIII)

ToCyril, (the lonely man To ourfavouritegrumpy that wanders roun9 in a tarty pants: You make white t-shirt holding a us laugh, we want your pint!): Roses are red, autograph. Butifyouthink ~ V iolets are blue, I love your parting , and I love we like you too, you'd you , from Victoria better 'ed for London Whitfield (Ef\S fll) Zoo . Love Conkers Bonkers, cos we are Sirnon, Miles might keep XXX. us apart today but you are near in my heart JO. Peter Simon met a anyway. I want you to pieman , going to The know you make me so Hive. He found out you happy, even though I'm were waiting there, and usually dappy! But one ran away to hide. Love day I'll be saying -1 DO simply because I LOVE YOU I Hugs & Kisses To Kim, Be my valentine Angela xx and you'f~aiWays be on MY rugby team , Love?

SIMON, happy anniver-

c

""

Dear Vera , I cant count the number of ways I love you, I just know I'd love to count your money, TheTaxman .

Dear Ad am, I'll be your Madame . Meet in the Belle Vue, I'll be waiting for you .

Dear Miss Poet (who loves the blackjeans) I'm slightly faded, but I'm yours if you (still) want me . Yours (briefly beforeChristmas)XXX .· Dear Hippyshit, I dream of wibbling away the night with you, sexy S's

To the Labour Goddes ses . Red rose gripped between the teeth and with the flick re of enticing eyes you shudderthe petals of my heart. Torn between you , yet empty without.

Love, Not Bambi.

Valentine's Day one year on , you graduated, I am still wearing my brains off.lmissyou,Tom. And lloveyou . Elena.

To my worly Levi's Bum. lloveyou! Staywithme forever(eventhough I'm a pain!) All my love,Weef

XXX

Huggles, Ipromise to stop jiffling in bed ifyou promise to show me soma. thingbettertodo! love you forever, Mt,~shy .

26? Thanks for everything (so far), it means a

lotto me. Thingscanonly get better? Together?

Tigress, suck my lozenge , 1wantto fun you .

Partyman.

His Royal Gingerness, every time I think of your northern ways - your whippet, pigeons, flat cap and checkered slippers, I am filled with intense desire to enter the coalmines of your heart.

If you do not return my love, alii have left to do is follow the beacon of your gingerness. GINGERJOHN-INEEDYOU!!

sary !! Thanks for a wonderful past year!! I hope you enjoyed yourself in the hotel as much asldid , (can'twaituntil you book the next one!!), I love you loads, loads of BIG hugs and kisses , Em - there's a worm at from your HONEY x x x the bottom of my garden, xxp.s. have you worked_ and his name is out where we're going Wiggerly-Woo. Apoloyet? gies for high falsetto voice and wigglyness.

To my two knights in Don'tcallmefat. shining armour. Thanks for all the love, support Hey Mickey, you 're so and Hive hot chocolate. fine, you're so fine you Cxxx blow my mind . But I'd search the world over Mister C. Jangle, jangle, for a star like you, young jewellery,jewellery. You Peter. Love a rather dark. move my mountain with country in Asia. yourLSI. Rave on!

- you can smother me in your baps anytime.

Who says the biggest ones are always in The Hive? Luv ???

To Fattie C -I knew you could do it, and you've made me proud. Have a fab weekend , I know I will . With love always,

P. N - When we've done our training do you fancy some horizontal jogging?

Whistle while you work., that's what I say. J .

How do! And I think I'd like to know how you do what you do to me ... If only your engine were as big as the puff of steam you come out with. Love from a secret admi~,SCMHXXX

BILLYVYYI Can we get ittogethersometime and see what happens?

Unchaperoned , of course ... Love little Miss FrillyKnickersXXXXXX To my little hacks and hackettes . You're the best, and I'd love to get you all over a big long press ... Love Ed and it's Route 44 for us ...

To a bosum that defies gravity. So when are we going to call DO for a Ham and Pineapple pizza then, honeybunch?

Love, Cadbury'sand DC, Eidelweiss XXX Cilla'sontheboxtonight, with blind dates up for grabs. But she doesn't know it's you I want, her little bimbo babs. Love, a secret admirer XXX To my whoopee cushion, you can lean over my bed in your boxers anytime, love Jungleman.

ToHB, Sorryitdidn'tallfit

"'"''"~

Darling James, friend of Mr. Po-Ba, I think you're wonderful and you know you are , you've got a nice butt even when I'm drunk, and of your body I'd like a BIG chunk' To Sam Taylor, I love you and your large muscles (excluding the vital one!) Love Sproggy .

Dearest DJ . Lets have a roll in the hay .Moo

To Liz;'You're a whiz, Has your drink ran out of fizz, or am I j ust sad ?

The lonely page five fell a.

I wish you'd makeyourselfknowntome-1 can't forget what happenedlove from Hilary XXX. ToEd, you're great and we love you lots. Love from the team.

No we don't- rest of the

team.

Huggles, I promise to stop JijJ&ng in bed if you promise to show me something better to do: Love you forever, • Mushy.

Come up to the Concrete office in Union House this week to collect your prize - a bottle of best Ritzy's bubbly -don't forget -we know who you are!

r--- - -- - - - - - - - - - -- ----- - - - - -- -- - - - - -- - - -- -- -- ----

~

-- --- --

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

15

=-~~~~~~~--~~~~----~~~~~--~----~~~ · Features

UEA:.THE ·T-ME OF MY LIFE •caroline Ad/em talks to Radio Norfolk.presenter Carol Bundock about her three years as a student at UEA NAME": CAROLBUNDOCK YEARS: 86..S9 HOW USEFUL HAVE YOU FOUNDYOURDEGREEINTHE WORKPLACE? Invaluable, particularly as a mature student, it gave me a lot of confidence and taught me to question things in an informed way. lt was also extremely good fun .

HOW DO YOU REMEMBER YOURTIMEATUEA? I have extremely fond

memories. I was frightened at first, especially as, being a mature student, I had to juggle family life etc. But, I remember it all with immense fondness , I've forgotten the essay deadlines and I only remember the good things.

people said to do. Making my own decisions , which was scary at first. Meeting people I wouldn't otherwise have met.

WHAT NON-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES WERE YOU INVOLVED IN? Mostly drinking and eating! I also came to a few gigs and films .

WHAT ARE YOUR BEST MEMORIES OF UEA LIFE?

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WISH YOU'D DONE?

In general, being able to do what you want, not what other

I wish I'd done that secondary reading!

"'I O-rl-l s-.-~~-.-s F~It::>~"Y"' FE;ES~LJ~~"Y"' C> LJ 1'1-r~ "Y"' ~-.- C:II'IE;l\11~5 ~C:~C>SS -rl-l e;

c:

- -- - - - - - - - - - - - --

-- - - · - -

16 Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

E" I

•Successful novelist and ex-Reith lecturer Marina Warnervisited UEA last week. Sarah Morris caught up with her

M

arina Warner is passionate about myths and fairy tales. She is es pecially interested in the idea of them as the expression of "muted groups", such as women and children, those whose voices have been disregarded for one reason or another.

"I try", she told the audience of her reading on Monday January 30, "to listen through the loud raised noise and the laughter that dominates .... to other sounds and voices that are busy underneath .... voices carrying common knowl edge, a lot of common beliefs, a lot of common hopes and fears ."

This definition is Warner's touchstone for her writing, the reason why she perceives her fiction and non-fiction as "one of a piece".

They are just "different methods of raising questions and listening to possible answers ."

At the reading , Warner illustrated an overlap between her scholarly and creative work and

her conviction that fairytales cross into people's everyday life.

Introducing her novel 'Indigo', she suggested that it was constructed in the same way as fa irytales.

In the extract she read, Sycorax (the foul hag of The Tempest) comes back from the land of the dead as a kind of ghost mother for the living.

Warner went on to read From the Beastto the Blonde: Fairy Tales and Their Tellers, a book which roots tales firmly in their social history.

The extract she read traced the legend of the Queen of Sheba, making keen play on old speculations that the Queen had deformed feet or, according to "more genial accounts", hairy legs.

The heroine's legs in a present day story from The Mermaids in the Basement are equally fetishised in a throw-back to Sheba.

Marina Warner had been interested in writing from school age.

Starting off with poetry, she ended up in journalism but soon realised that fiction wa s her rea l love.

In her twenties, she wrote a novel which she states was not any good but was important because "it broke the back of the task of writing something that was full length."

Curiously enough, she believes being a woman empowered her to take the risk of being a writer.

"I didn't have to have a profession that was really going to earn my living .. .it wasn't something that was totally expected even though l'dgone to university .... Had I been the eldest son, my father would have made me take up a career."

In stead , in the seventies, Warner went with her husband when he was posted to Washington.

Whilst he worked long hours , Warner, lonely and bored, wrote her book Alone of All Her Sex: the Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary.

Thu rs 9th 7 .3 0pm

TOTAL ECLIPSE O F THE HEART Is th ere an answer to th e needs of the human hea rt?

Ve nue: LT2 Speake r Pete Woodcock Tues 14th 7.30pm

EVERYTHING s GONNA BE ALRIGHT. DEFINITELY MAYBE 1

We all base our lives on something, but wh at do we do if that something fails us?

Venue: LTl Speaker Geoff Ca rr Tues 21st 7 .30pm

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU! Is God real or imaginary, impersonal force or emotional being, grumpy old man, sweet baby Jesus?

Venue: LT4 Speaker Pete Gilbert Thurs 2nd 7 .30pm

... AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! One in one people die, its a fact. So what happens next and will it be any better?

Venue LT2 Speaker Simon Kirby

She spent her time in the library of Congress , devouring materi al about the Virg in Mary , sometimes reading fo r fourteen hours a day.

Nowadays, she thinks she has a more modest capacity for reading but she does not, like some fiction writers, shy away from the creative work of others.

She told me she sometimes finds it inspiring, "If I want to do a certain scene I will look at writers I like and see how they tackled such a thing .

"And I also like to look at writers to get a sense of their rhythm and their sentence structure . "it's a varied group. "it's not imitation but it gives me points of orientation ."

Warner has recently started to write in her own study.

As she mentions this, she gives me a delightful image of herself working in the presence of ages of novelists and poets.

She often jumps up to look at a poet like Emily Dickinson; lately she has been looking at Milton's Paradise Lost.

"I do actually feel that they're there." she says "these books are my friend s."

Animated, she adds, "I like to be in the Eng lish lang uage.

"I like to be swimming in that water.

"I love to feel these words and the images and the sounds of it around me ."

Such a love of literature and a diverse knowledge of it makes it difficu lt for Warner to pinpoint any possible influences upon her work.

She often forgets those books which have been tremendously important to her, books tha t are now a part of her psych e.

At the re ad ing , however, she paid tribute to writer Angela Carter wh ose work, includ ing The Bloody Chamber, showed her thatthe common literature of the nursery and the old wife's tale "could carry an extraord inary imaginative charge .'

Warner had previously worried about the validity of that material ; Carter "gave (her] permission to enjoy that ."

From worrying that material was "too feminine' , Warner came to see it as a reflection of women's experience and their anxieties.

She senses an engagement with misogyny which has nourished her work.

Speaking of 'From The Beast To The Blonde', she said , "I tried to tackle the hard places, not the stories that are self-evidently wonderful but the ones that have difficulties in them- the ones that forbi d fe male curiosity ... or the

ones that turn agai nst women or stigmatise them."

Of her work in general, she assents, "I tend to write into the places that I fear rather than in to the places of pleasure. "Maybe I should chan ge that a bit."

Although Warner read ily admits she was drawn to fairyta les as the expression of a muffled female voice, she accepts that they also have a lot to say to men tod ay. it's not easy, she believes, being a you ng man nowadays ; they fin d themselves in a "predicament. ... now they are no longer generic humans .

"They also have a constructed sexuality and they kn ow they have and they need to work that out.

"And they haven't had so much help because they haven't had a femini st movement for 300 years ."

She cites 'Beauty and the Beast' as one example of a story about masculinity- about being a sexual male - wh ich has been mainly explored in terms of the heroine .

She points out that most of the famous fairytales about men are problematically concerned with heroic action - with various ordeals, the killing of giants, cutting down beanstalks and stealing treasure .

She suspects that the tremendous worldwide corpus of stories probably has much more to offer about men's anxieties and may also have interesting comments to make on bisexuality and homosexuality.

Marina Warner does have a son who is now 17.

As a ch ild, she was anxious not to tell him stories that always ended in marriage.

For a woman that believes that fa irytales (told by parents and others) en code the social expectations of the family, this is important.

She speaks from her own experience- her own ideas of what she would make of her life did not tally with those of her parents.

"I did rebel against the catholicism very strong ly.

"And I did rebel aga inst the conventional idea of being a married woman of a respectable kind."

She la ughs: "I am a married wom an, and I'm quite res pectable now. But I didn't expect to be."

Accord ing to Marin a Warner, we need to retell old stori es, to reclaim them for our own lives .

"I suppose that one oft he ideas that I have about them is that they exist as scripts of possibility ."

Sh e stresses that these scripts of possibility are by no means passive: "People are not by any means passive consumers of the stories .

"They articulate them in a different way. They make them work for the kinds of problems they have to face .

"They lampoon and satirise people in authority. The giants are thin ly disgu ised bosses etc.

"The stories work to make life more bearable and so every country , every group , every tradition needs them because , in spite of the electronic super highway, we are still a basically literary and print cultu re."

----------------------------------------------- ----Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

17

Features

• Concrete reaches into the Internet with 'Hype' -a new column by Tristan Roddis. So what's in store?

R

iding high on the huge wave of hot air that sur rounds all things Internet comes Hype- a brand new column that'll deal with the joys of computer networks.

Like it or not, the future's going to be digital, and it's Hype's self-appointed task to find out just what it's going to look like.

The Internet currently boasts over eighteen million residents (yes, you have been

included in this tally) .

Optimists herald it as an unfettered, uncensorable and empowering communications medium. lt will , they say, not only render physical distance meaningless but also oring humankind together in one tremendous global renaissance .

Net-sceptics , however, maintain that it will evolve into a billion-channel vehicle for home-shopping and

Patt of the World Wide Web in action: This screenshot is from an offshoot of the American magazine Wired'

advertainment , and can only serve to accentuate the restrictive power structures and other inequities that currently divide society.

The reality will probably lie somewhere in between, but is as yet unwritten.

But what of Hype's own future?

We will not only bring you this sort of idle philosophising on net-related issues such as censorship , privacy and the impact of commercialisation .

We will also demonstrate how you , as a student of the University of East Anglia , rank among the best connected citizens of this planet.

We will accomplish this modest task by explaining , in simple and patronising terms , the amazing feats that can be accomplished using only the computing facilities provided by the good ol' UE of A. Every fortnight, you'll also be supplied with a highly biased guide to the whereabouts of trendy and interesting places on the World Wide Web .

Watch this (cyber) space.

But, I hear you cry, if Hype is so convinced of the wonder of electronic communication, why am I reading this on a scruffy sheet of newsprint?

What is the Internet?

This is where we come to our final promise - to go virtual before the end of the month .

Hype has its motley crew of techno-drones beavering away feverishly in order to create a fully-functioning World Wide Web site for your delectation .

There is a catch , however.

To produce anything that's worth accessing , we're going to need feedback , and lots of it.

We have the technology now tell us what you'd like us to do with it.

Hype also wants to expand its editorial team , hence the plea for help in this debut issue .

Define the digital future before it defines youl

Hype-appeal Hype urgently needs:

•Creators and experimenters.

Can you see potential in a medium that can flawlessly combine text, images, sound and video, as well as providing an infinitely flexible way to link each part together?

Tell Hype your ideas and we'll provide the platform.

•Technical gurus.

Can you tell a GIF from a JPEG? Would you know what to do

with one once you had?

•Programmers Hype requires HTML !iterates to help provide the tastiest online facility to hit Norfolk.

Whether you've got content that needs a context, or viceversa, Hype could be the place for you!

• Trlstan Roddls starts his regular 'Hype' column In our next Issue. E-mall him at t.roddis @uea.ac.uk; Internal mail Concrete, UH, UEA or by post to 'Hype', Concrete, PO Box 410, Norwich, NR4 7TB.

0

T

he Internet all started back 1n the late Sixties Then . a team of Amencan computer sc1ent1sts were asked to develop a way to.link military computers together The1r a1m was to retain the potential to bomb the hell out of the comm1es even 1f half of the US had already been reduced to rad1oact1ve rubble Nuclear Armageddon fa1led to matenalise but they found themselves left w1th a h1ghly flexible and VIrtually 1ndestruct1ble computer network If any one link 1n the network was knocked out. the 1nformat1on would JUSt learn to route 1tself another way

Th1nk of water flow~ng from a h1gh to a low place learn~ng to travel around obstructions Or 1mag1ne a dash1ng V1ctonan stage-coach dnver crack1ng h1s wh1p over a team of fnsky horses whilst crymg The 1nformat1on must get through' ConceptualiZe 1t how you like the po1nt IS that 1t works Nowadays the military has rellnqurshed control to the unwashed masses and the Internet compnses many m1llions of computers What determ1nes whether a computer IS on the Net 1s the way 1n wh1ch 1t communicates Th1s means t11at anything from a ZX Spectrum to a Cray supercomputer can ga111 access to

1t (although you can have more fun w1th the latter) The serv1ces that are available range from the sens1ble (e-mail) to the pathetic (unag~nary places where sad-cases slay v~rtual dragons) In general consensus IS the operat1ve factor not rules be~ng 1mposed by any one authonty Surf 1t and be glad Pros the Internet constitutes a vast repos1tory of free speech Cons at the moment about 80 per cent of 1ts users are male or Amencan or both Th1s means that much of the vast repos1tory rsn t worth t11e effort of clrckrng your mouse

\. ·l--1-

1

LOOKING FOR A DES RES? Attractive urn. UEA stu edrooms in pleasant surroundings, close to UEA and city, full gas c.h .. All Mod cons, bills inc. No deposit required, available immediately! Contact the Accommodation OHice or tel: (01603) 593208, 592092, 592949 for more details.

l

1 1 lI I

I

1

i

l

l

[

18

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

Features

W

e are all apathetic , non political people living as individuals, only interested in our own gain. Disenfranchised , depoliticised and just not interested . We let others run the country because it's really nothing to do with us is it? Statistically, half of the people reading this didn't vote in the last General Election , and quite frankly why should we?

Government and politicians are corrupt, self-serving , self interested , out of touch and unaccountable.

Thatcher had her way, creating a "society• in which the heady heights of power and decision making of Parliament no longer seem relevant to ordinary citizens.

And as the Government gets increasingly mired in political sleaze and corruption the reasons to care at all diminish further.

Why then do we tolerate all this ?

Effectively disenfranchised, the running of this country is not something we have any control over, so why bother trying?

What we have essentially is an alienation of the public, combined with a mistrust of politicians that has increased beyond all expectations.

With no independent body to oversee the conduct of politicians it appears they are happily lining their own pockets and furthering their own careers.

The Nolan committee , established after the "sleaze factor· was seen to permeate Government, has recently been sifting through the unsavoury evidence of politicians' self-serving use of public office, alongside the spate of sex and sleaze scandals, houses-for-votes stories and rise of unaccountable, unrespons ive quangos.

Lord Wakeham should give them something to chew on , it just having been revealed that only six months after having helped formulate privatisation plans he finds himself a non-executive director of one of the companies involved in advising the Government.

Still the House of Lords has a Tory majority and with the hiving off of previously politically accountable bodies such as the Child Support Agency and the prisons the Tories kill two birds with one stone.

Not only can they cry not our fau lt when things inevitably go wrong , they can create lots of jobs for all their Tory friends .

Michael Howard is a prime example of this.

'Not I' was the response when the CJB was being protested against, 'Not I' when prisoners riot and escape, 'Not I' when clashes between live calf exporters and protesters become increasingly violent.

•In the wake of the animal rights protesters' victory at Shoreham port, Polly Knewstub asks whether pressure groups could represent the only effective way for the public to have their say in the political process

I 'S

MY

FUiUR£

ro 0 Father and child make their view known Well, like the Little Red Hen who did it herself, the British people , sick of a Government that doesn't respond or listen to what it wants, are doing it themselves.

Increasingly, "individuals" are working collectively and in recent years we have seen the rise of protest once more.

On Friday January 30, Shoreham port authority announced that it was pulling

out of the live export trade.

While there are many other ports that continue to do so, it is certainly a decisive victory for the protesters and animal welfare groups who braved the elements to register their objections to the export of live animals.

While protests are by no means a new development, the nature and effective-

PHOTO: ROB HARDY

ness of these demonstrations are.

The true blue of middle class England has arisen , acknowledging at last that the police mentality that many had been complaining about for years is actually a reality.

And perhaps it is because it is not the young and traditionally mistrusted that form the majority of these crowds (rent-

a-crowd, though present, by no means initiated or dominated the outcry) that these forms of protest have been effective and described as a "new phenomenon" .

The "good and decent" citizens, once on the side of the law, have found themselves to be criminals, attacked by riot police and suddenly on the other side of the thin blue line of the law enforcers.

These people are not criminals and have no interest in violent police clashes but just want their voice heard in a political world in which the wishes of ordinary citizens have little or no part to play in the political process.

While this is a victory, it is a one-off.

After all, the Criminal Justice Bill became an Act after a lengthy and broadbased campaign ; the mines were shut down ; and numerous unpopular and widely opposed policies still exist.

So perhaps it may be premature to announce a new dawning in Britain's political culture, but perhaps we could herald a shift in the political mentality of millions of Britons; that we do have a role to play in society; and that our actions may actually achieve palpable results in the political realm.

What it also heralds is the rise of single issue politics.

Perhaps people never renounce their political power or interest. lt is possible that this was just transferred, namely, to pressure groups.

Pressure groups have always existed in British politics.

Variously deemed to be either a vital part of any democratic society or a troublesome strain on the bureaucratic process of political policy formation , they are nonetheless hugely popular in today's society.

Citizens may not vote but they are members of Greenpeace, Amnesty International and Outrage.

Whether active or just a subscription payer, the numbers of people involved are vast when compared to membership lists of political parties.

Indeed, there is a direct correlation between the rise of the former and decline of the latter.

Depoliticisation then is not a reality, only our interests are transferred to narrower singular problems while widescale societal ideology is abandoned , we satisfy our consciences with fighting simplistic causes.

Virtually every interest in society is represented in a complex constellation of groups, all of whom compete to influence policy and governmental thinking.

These include trees, roads, animals, human rights, business interests and community policing .

In reality though, there are not multiple access points to power and those with the loudest voices are often dispro-

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

19

Features portionately represented.

Trade unionists for a while commanded this privileged access, but with Thatcher's attempts to break the unions being partially successful, it is the CBI who nowadays has the fortune of whispering in the Government's ear.

Pressure groups strive for respectability in order to get closer to the apex of power, usually the civil servants, but where the real problem arises is when interest groups are lucky enough to employ an MP to represent their patch.

One such example was the presence of Dame Angela Rumbold MP on the directors board of Decision Makers, a parliamentary lobby group with big business interests.

So what emerges then is that there is a possibility that pressure groups, rather than freeing people from traditional sectarian party political faith, allowing them to "pick and mix" their brand of politics, actually recreate the very situation that their rise is aimed to compensate.

Alternatively, that while it appears that multi-interest involvement enriches our democratic process, in reality the access to power remains as it was - not in our hands, but those of the privileged few.

What needs to be encouraged now is a re-emergence of faith in a belief that we actually have a role to play, not only in protesting against measures in society, but in helping to shape it.

Responsibility for this lies with us, but also with the political parties.

We have reason to be cynical.

This combined with the retreat of traditional voting patterns has led to a very different political picture in Britain.

With the blurring of classbased political affinities, the parties of the day and in particular the Labour Party are going to have to recognise the extent to which millions are effectively disenfranchised.

The way to do this is to demonstrate the links between voting and political involvement.

To bring back some kind of faith in the institutions of government and in politicians.

To redress the injustice inherent in access to power and to stop the rot and corruption inevitably linked with parliament today.

The demoralisation of long term unemployment and economic instability effectively

More proteaters on the march disempowers "individuals and their families•.

What of the homeless who don't participate in the mainstream of economic and political society?

This, when compared to the comfortable lives of politicians, who repeatedly refuse to take responsibility for their actions and policies, seems laughably remote and clearly leads to disaffection. • We no longer see any point in participating in a process that doesn't uphold social or economic justice.

What we need is a democratisation of Britain's political experience. We need a sense that justice is being done, whether it be in a nondiscriminatory work-place or in

open, accessible, accountable government.

This needs a taxation system that is both fair and progressive, less unemployment and an erosion of the sleaze factor in British politics.

While pressure groups should have helped to counter the rise of the abuse of power in a Government that has been in power so long that it has become alarmingly complacent, in reality they have had little effect. As a result of this powerlessness the British people have begun to fight back, through direct action that makes headline news, rather than the back pages.

Perhaps this will lead to a rise in the faith we have in the political process and institutions, but at the very least it gives people an outlet for their convictions.

Resident Tutorships 1995/6

1 ~

Applications for Resident Tutorships for the academic year 1995/96 are now invited from suitably experienced students and members of staff. Students who will be abroad during 1995/96 may also apply now for appointment in September 1996.

L• I

.,

· ~ ~ ' IL C.~

t ·J

.'

,.

I

Resident Tutors form the vital base of a pyramid providing for the welfare and good order of students in residences. The system demands that students take a · good deal of responsibility for their lives on a day-to-day basis, but provides and extensive network of welfare and support services to protect the rights and interests of both individuals and of the community of which they are a part.

The closing date for applications is Monday 20 February 1995.

• "'

l

1

Further particulars are available from the Dean of Students Office (Room 0.1 08, ext 2890).

t.. ' t

j

1

~

I 1

Il

l

j

PEPPERMINT PARK NIGHT CLUB ROSE LANE NORWICH TEL: 764192 Feb95

!

~

I f f

! ~

~

t

I i i

f

f t

._ _ _

-

-

1995

21

•

s1n

The Concrete team look$ at what your local venue has achieved since it was reopened by the Student Union fourteen months ago...

I

ou might have only been to The Waterfront once.

And you might argue that your life wasn't changed dramatically by the experience.

But for hundreds of people every week The Waterfront is the place to go for a good time.

Some may be going down to see a local band, for just a couple of pounds. And some may be going to see a national band - next month, for example, Senseless Things, Radiohead and The Blue Aeroplanes play the venue. Others will be going for one of The Waterfront's popular club nights.

For example, there's Saturday's alternative Meltdown night where, for just £3, you can get the best in indie, cha:1 and dance, with another floor of music in the Studio.

Here you might find anything from New Mod to The Thatcher Years (80s!), or live bands (both national and local) to the popular new 'Allsorted' night which features pure pop and chart dance.

And on alternate Fridays there's the groundbreaking night from Milky Lunch. They brought the first late licences to Norwich early last year, and now regularly hold events until four and six in the morning (the next is on Friday February 24). They've also showcased some of the country's best DJs in Norwich, including the likes of AI Mackenzie, Sasha and Jon Digweed.

Other Fridays have featured the multisensory overload that only Globo can provide, and last week saw the sell-out event 'Leave My Wife Alone', featuring the best in jazz-funk.

Even Punishment Farm was premiered at The Waterfront, before it moved on to its regular slot at the Manchester Hacienda...

Since UEA's Student Union took over the running of the venue in December 1993, The Waterfront has also put on more than a hundred gigs,from some of the

Y

world's top artists... and Tony Hadley. Perhaps you went to the sell-out D:Ream gig, which came to the Waterfront just as the band hit the number one spot with 'Things Can Only Get Better'. Or maybe St Etienne was more your scene (you'll remember how the band wrecked a campus kitchen after the gig, even if you don't remember the gig itself).

The Waterfront even hosted East Anglia's fiTSt Megadog club night, featuring the likes of Banco

vate parties.

At the start of next month, the Waterfront breaks new ground, turning into a comedy club, to host comedian Harry Hill.

We're not being paid to tell you this. Thls page isn't an advertisement by the Student Union. We're writing this simply because we believe The Waterfront is too valuable to be allowed to close.

But as our unprecedented cover opinion points out, The

~ We ' re writing t his . simply because we believe The Waterfront is too valuable to be allowed to close De Gaia, the Aphex Twin and MC Teabag.

And it got involved in the Broadland FM Battle Of The Bands c.ompetition, holding the fmal.

Other events at the versatile Waterfront have been many and various. On the first Tuesday of each month, the venue hosts First Out, one of East Anglia's only monthly nights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and their friends.

And just this month it has been used as the venue for a drum clinic, so local players can get tips froin some of the best in the business - the likes of M People's Andy Gangadeen, and Courtney Pine's Mark Mondesir.

It even served as a meeting place for Norwich City supporters. And many local groups, from Theatre Royal -~'S~"'"":: casts to the

Waterfront will close- and become a carpet warehouse or council offices - if you don't vote for its survival.

And yes, we know it's not perfect. Even some of the above events haye not occurred without some bitches. You might complain you couldn't see at the D:Rearn gig (although the management have now taken steps to rectify that), you might complain you had to queue at one of the club events, you might be unhappy at the time you had to wait to be served at the bar (or, like many, you might be critical of the fact that the bar has to shut at lam, even on a late licence night).

At Concrete we believe the Union should take steps to rectify these problems if it is to take on

St Etienne (left)and Radiohead, both seen at The Waterfront

The Waterfront as a concern for two years.

Management structures and staffing should also be reviewd and changed if necessary.

But what won't change is the fact that because The Waterfront is being run by your Union, students will always come first.

Staff will always be looking out for your safety (compare the number of fights at The Waterfront with those at some other city venues), and there will always be a certain number of student concessions.

Where else will admit you for £3 on a Satu r-

day night, and charge £2 for a pint ofStella (or £1 for a pint of Heineken before 10.30pm)?

The Waterfront is now making an operating profit - more than £10,000 a month in a good month, so the venue isn't even costing the Union anything.

In fact, it is profits like these that allow the smaller, more events to hap-

pen: There simply isn't any reason for the venue to close - but the shame is that unless the Union meeting on the Waterfront is quorate (that is, enough people turn up) then it will close.

Even is you don't feel strongly either way- isn't turning up and voting "yes" worth it for your friends, and for the thousands of students yet to arrive in Norwich?

Once again, that meeting is at lpm in The Hive on Monday February20.

See you there.

Concrete, Wednesday, ~ebruary 8, 1995

22 Cgncrete, Wednesday, February Bl 1995

23

Features

Features

Big Thunder Mountain ... eeek/

A

~::::e~::

Noooooool Simo n, the · music i a n bloke from China Black, is ups i de down on a rollercoaster... and he's having the time of his life.

Errol, the singer bloke, who got us all humming along to his Michael Jackson-esque vocals on 'Searching', one of the smash hits of last year, isn't quite so happy.

In fact he's resolutely sitting on firmer ground, still feeling just a bit queasy after the teacup ride which he protested he didn't want to endure. The . big girl!

But it's generally been quite a good day all round ... now we've all woken up.

Personally, I'm knackered, but then I was up at Sam, having woken every hour during the night because I was terrified I 'd sleep through the alarm and miss the plane.

Then it was on to the tube for an hour's journey to Heathrow, and a rendez-vous with China Black and their press officer at 7.30.

She's therA to look after the

band and to ensure that I'm happy with everything that's going on.

(You see, this venture has been contrived for BBC kid's mag, Fast Forward, so we're getting treated well (that's me and FF photographer, George Brooks).

So now it's about 7.45am and we're sitting in the cafe of Heathrow Terminal One, tucking into breakfast.

At least, that's the idea but Errol's actually just managed to cover his swanky designer hat in melted butter, and he's furiously trying to sponge it off.

Doh! it's a hard life being an early morning pop star.

Simon tells me that they've both been working hard preparing for the release of their new single (it came out at the end of January).

Having recently completed the video, they've been doing gigs galore, including the AIDS benefit Concert of Hope and a prestigious support for Bump N Grind man, R Kelly none-the-less!

Mere minutes later we're all seated aboard a small tin can that someone's trying to tell me is a plane. Whatever happened to the luxury Eurostar train I was promised? Still, I can't really grumble... these tickets were nearly 200 quid themselves, and the breakfast is good. The view, however, is

fantastic.

Once we're out over the channel, all thoughts of wet and windy London disappear as small French fields, and even smaller French sheep appear.

And then there's Paris - a beautiful city to fly over (although not quite such a beautiful one to live in, so I'm told).

All the way there Errol is talking to me like I'm a lifelong friend; laughing at the

in-flight magazine, looking forward to our offering me some of visit , but wishi ng we his breakfast, pointing could just fall asleep. out various things through We've missed the bus the window. to Disneyland Paris Simon is a bit more re- (yes, it was formerly served, but quite affable any- Euro-Disney but think way. why they changed the Fifty-five minutes later we're name) so it's a short on French soil, pretending drive for us... in two of the plushest taxis you've ever seen. But even we're really ~~----~~!~"'---,:~ ......-"!:::iilf' two smart taxis should not cost £70 EACH! Oops, we've been ripped off good and proper, but there's nothing we can do about it as our drivers have mysteriously forgotten all the

coaster - ·and to a fantastic haunted English words they've just been using all the way there in the cars! Never mind, the bill's on Polydor records, so we're not too stressed!

Two shakes of Pluto's tail later, and we're in the park, having an exclusive meeting with the one and only Mickey Mouse!

"I think it's a girl," confides Simon , commenting that Mickey's so small only a child could fit into the costume.

Meanwhile, Errol is doing what he's threatened, and is munching on poor Mickey's ear! Squeak!

He laughs when I ask what he thought of Mickey. "I thought he was going to be a big, butch, Mickey ofthe '90s."

No luck there then, mate.

But this is certainly a Disneyland for the '90s.

Forget all you've heard about it being

cold (okay, it was) or crap, because this is a fantastic theme park (and no, they didn't pay me to write that). Attention has been paid to absolutely every little detail. In Frontierland (the Wild West) the concrete path is littered with horse-shoe prints, in Adventureland the safety-railings are made of bamboo Harrison Ford style.

And wheras some lesser parks might have peeling paint or shut-down rides, everything is in tip top

winter.

Plus, the

Paris and employs an amaz ing 10,000 staff! This sure ain't no ordinary playground!

Our lunch ain't no ordinary nosh-up, either.

With smoked salmon for starters (coming in at £10 a head) followed by chicken and some dodgy French pud, the bill is

of us.

Some celebritystyle feedthanks, Disneyland!

Lunch gives Simon some time to buttonhole me about the band's debut album, which is out this month.

'We' re very excited and looking forward to the release," he says, in between mouthfuls of salmon, •so hopefully people cM hear more stuff that we're about: that there's some kinda reggae stuff, some soul kinda stuff, some kinda hip-hop stuff, some acoustic kinda vibes .. . all kinds of stuff!"

Our post-lunch trip round the park takes us to Adventureland - where Simon discovered that roller-

ghosts were so real they were spooky!

Then, at 4.30, came the event we'd all been waiting for: Minnie's tea-time!

Down a shopping street of olde-towne shops, lit by tiny white lights, came a 1930's coach packed with all your favourite Disney characters!

Pinnochio was there, along with Chip 'n' Dale and Captain Hook, plus some newer additions, such as the evil Jafar, Princess Jasmine and Aladdin himself.

And waving at the front of the coach was Minnie herself and, of course, her boyfriend , Mickey.

But at Spm on the dot it was time to wave goodbye and to use our depleted expenses to get a bus back to the airport.

As we pass the six Disney hotels outside the park, Errol and Simon have both fallen asleep, and are oblivious to the strains of 'Searching' on French radio.

Phew! it's a hard life being a pop star...

• Thanks to British Midland, Polydor, Fast Forward and China Black. But biggest thanks of all to all the Concrete staff who've had to put up with incessant tales of my day jealous lot!

-

-Union W ee k Ad ve rti sing Fe atu re ... Union W ee k Adve rti si ng Fe ature ... Union W eek Advertising Fe ature ... Union Week Ad ve rti sing Feature ... U n i o n

Thursday 16th Feb 8pmLCR Tickets only three pounds including admission to the LCR disco.

~"

.!

ts ava~la~le fo~m the ticket ...offn~c:J upsta1rs 1n Un10n House.

DEBATE ··what role should a student union have in the lives of students•• Jim Murphy

Andrew Reid

President of Chairman of National Union of Students Conservative Students Representative of the Socialist Workers Party Involving issues like...should a _s tudent union be political .., ''should a . student union demonstrate anymore..

All those who are interested in participating or. listening come along: Bill Wilson Room, 1 pm Monday 13th February

Union Week Advertising Feoture ... Union Week Advertising Feoture ... Union Week Advertising Feoture ... Union Week Advertising Feotur e .. . Ur110 il

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Your Union is holding a week of events to convey the extent of the Union's activities and to encourage people to get involved. The events are diverse in nature and hopefully there is something for everyone, and hopefully it will be recognised that everything that is organised

•

• ••

•

• •

Monday 13th Feb Debate lnvolvlng:Jim Murphy, President of N.U.S. Andrew Raid, Chairman of Conservative Students.& a Representative of the Socialist Workers Party on the role that student union's should have:1 pm In the Bill Wllson Room In Union House

Tuesday 14th Feb Mini-Societies and Sports Mart In the LCR providing you with the opportunity of joining all those clubs & societies that you didn't get around to joining at the beginning of the academic year.

Also a Media Mart In the Hive where you can find out all about Concrete, Llvewire and Nexus and how to get Involved.

Wednesday 14th Feb Old you know that the constitution of the Union Is now changing? Could this be the end of UGM's as we know them.

Could there be a 5th Sabbatical for Sports? Find out more and see what Is being proposed.

11111

within the week originates from one source, YOUR Union and that everything is controlled in one way or another by its democratic structure. This means that you can get involved at all levels, from becoming a full time sabbatical officer and becoming a director of

• There Is• also • • • an opportunity to find out about the full range of services provided by SUS, your Student Union Services, which Includes The Post Office, the Paper Shop & the Supermarket, as well as the Bars and Ents.

Thursday 16th Feb Rally and handing In of petition against the University's management of Accommodation.

1pm In the Square outside Union House and the Chaplaincy.

Are you disgusted about the University's handling of the Village Site. Are you disgusted about the lack of Security provided for residents at the VIllage and Mary Chapman? Are you disgusted about the fact that the University charges the same rent for VIllage as they do for Nelson and Constable, If so then please come to the Rally In the Square. Even If you do not live In residences, please come along and show your support for those who do.

On a brighter note...

The Union Is proud to announce the

Student Union Services, or by coming to Union General Meetings and voting for a particular Union policy which will define the way we, as a Union, act in the future.

We hope that you get involved in the week and take part in some of the events.

•

first Mr. UEA and MS UEA competition.

This Is not a beauty contest, but rather a contest based on style, flair and Intelligence. All those who hold themselves well and convey a compelling personality will impress the judges.

The aim Is for a fun competition, and not a pouting contest.

Each of the winners will receive two free tickets for a weekend In Paris. If you want to support friends who have entered, or who just want to come along for a laugh then Its on at 8pm In the LCR. Tickets are on sale from the Union Ticket Office upstairs In Union House.

V

•

Friday 17th Feb How often do you refer to the Advice Unit or the Education Unit? Did you know that they exist?

Well both units are providing a series of of events during the day to Inform you of their activities and to state In what way they can help you with any problems that you may have, either academically, financially, legally etc.

So look out for there events In and around Union House.

llllii liiiiiUIII

MULTI-CULTURAL WEEK .

The aim of Multi-cultural Week is to celebrate the diversity of cultures that study and socialise at UEA, combined with encouraging greater cultural understanding.

Monday 6th February Talk with slides by Peter and Diana Beckleyon their recent mission to former Yugoslavia1-2pm in the Bill Wilson Rm. Union House

Tuesday 7th February Screening of "Schindler's List" 7pm Lecture Theatre 2. £1.50 including a free ticket to Wednesdays speakers.

Wednesday 8th February Guest speakers from the Holocaust Education Trust.

Mrs. Turgel was in the Belsen concentration camp at the time it was liberated and her husband was part of the British Army that liberated the camp.

Lecture Theatre 2. Price £1.

9pm there's a pub quiz in the

back bar.

Thursday 9th February Clive Needle Nolfolk's Euro M.P. talks on Britain's Role in Europe Also there will be reduced rates for all those who turn up to the LCR disco in national dress.

Friday 1Oth February International party, with free disco, food and drink 8-11 pm in Rm. 1.33 in Union House.

The process for electing new Sabbatical's for the 1995-6 academic year begins on Feb. 16th when nominations open for the posts of: Academic Offirer Communicatic!ls Ofi.cer Finance Officer Welfare Officer Nominations close on the 23rd Feb. with campaigning running from the 2nd of March and the actual elections being on the 9th March.

If you wish to find out more then feel free to ask Daniel Owen (Academic Officer) any questions.

......--

- - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - ---- r:"""':-- ... " " . . . - - - - - · · - - ~ ..... ----,..,_.r-'f"or'""'ll"!""

';1".- . . . . . .

--

----~r,...--...--~-

---

.......... ,_.._.'T....,.._ ____________

~

---.-·-·.

---~---

~.)!'-\-..,.... -~~'

.. ~

~-.a

.4

• --

0

-

•

·'·-·

Union Week Advertising ' fecitur·e. : .~nioe:' Week, Advertising 'feat':'re •.• Un!on:·Week Adverti~ Ln~ ~eature .•• Union Week Advertising Feature ... Umon

I t

5

6

7

18

19

20

21

25

26

27

28

1

2

3

4

8

9

10

11

15

16

17

22

23

24

I

Malcolm Malone, Tina Wilsea, Mary Partke, Pam Read,Gav Hudson, Janet Peck, Vanda Turrell, Rachel Johnson, Jo Reeson, Tom Balls, Val Baker, Julia Orpin, Paul lngleby, Nick Rayns, Di Anderson, Chris Weir, Cathy Leveridge, Gary Laidlow, Vera Dye, Bill Rhodes, David Hooper, Mike Hogg, Steve Sadd, Bernie Aldus, Colin Chapman~MC Domski, DJ Dallas.

Rules: No present or past members of the Union Exec, Concrete's editorial team or Union staff, or anyone else who should know the answers can apply. To enter hand your answers in at the Information Office upstairs in Union House, making sure you give your name, school and year. In the event of a tie complete the following "The membership benefits from its Union because ..... ". Twenty words or less, by February 17th.Judges decision is final. No purchase necessary.

-

Union Week Advertising Feature ... Union Week Advertising Feature ... Union Week Advertising Feature ... Union Week Advertising Feature ... Union

Survey shows lack of support for new system by Union Academic Officer

8

efore Christmas , the Union's Educa tion Unit undertook one of the biggest examples of research into student opinion ever at UEA. Over a period of just two days, over 5,500 blue questionnaires were printed, folded, labelled and delivered to every undergraduate student.

The issue that needed resolving was that of the structure of the academic year.

This may not be an issue that many students think about a great deal from day to day, but the impact that proposed changes would have on the Common Course Structure, and consequently on every student at UEA, made it essential that your views were heard. Within the University, debate had been growing around the structure known as 12-12-6: twelve weeks of teaching before Christmas, followed by twelve weeks of teaching after Christmas , and then six weeks of exams and assessment after Easter -a system used by University College, London for some time.

The issue became contentious , as many Deans gave their support to 12-126, against the resistance of the Vice-Chancellor. When I came into office last August, the debate was already well advanced , and increasingly complicated . At the same time, the University established a Working Party to review the implementation of the Common Course Structure, and make recommendations to improve the system. On the agenda was 1212-6, and it was hoped that some definitive answer on the structure of the academic year would emerge in the Working Party's discussions.

By November, the demand grew from the University for a clear view of student opinion on the subject.

Although I had consulted with

your representatives on School Boards, I could not say with any certainty what your views were - not only had the University not asked you, but they hadn't even told you they were talking about it! With student opinion now so significant, it was essential that your views were informed .

The aim of my survey was to let you, the students, guide me- not the other way around. I tried to be informative without being biased or leading. I can't say how successful I was - I am grateful to both staff and students who offered constructive criticism , and it is clear that what I produced was not perfect. To increase the response, I made the survey quantitative , rather than qualitative - with exams on your minds, I knew it would be easier to ask you to tick boxes than write paragraphs.

This forced me to reduce to a minimum the number of questions I needed answered, and simplify the issues into what I hoped were opposing statements.

You were presented with only the two most likely options being considered by the University: 12-12-6, or staying with the present system; I didn't raise such other options as the staggered start, the November start , the January start, or even a return to three terms , all of which have been floated as ideas. 554 responses came in: roughly 10 per cent of undergraduates. This was far more than I had expected . I was particularly pleased that the response came from all Schools, with no part of the University being left out.

The result was quite clear. As you can see from the figures, there is a clear majority (roughly 2-1) against 12-12-6. Reinforcing this figure is the 5-2 margin in favour of preserving two peri-

ods of exams per year. Also clear, is that most students do appreciate the benefits of what I referred to as 'portability' - the self-contained nature of modules derived from having assessment at the end of each unit, rather than at the end of the year.

Most students would not object to taking courseworkonly units in the Autumn semester to preserve portability, although I believe this says more about students ' preference for coursework over exams ,

than about the relevance of portability. There was a clear majority in favour of preserving post-Christmas exams for the first semester, although the support for this was very uneven, with some Schools favouring a change.

This issue remains a problem , since many students do have obligations (such as jobs or family) which prevent them from revising as much as others. Finally, it was clear from the questionnaires, that students would like to see the present system settle down, before

taking on any more radical changes. Any changes that are made, must be given adequate thou~ht and planning before being implemented. lt is clear to me that there is no substantial support for a change to 12-12-6 from students at UEA. I believe that a further change of this magnitude needs to promise a very significant improvement in the student experience at this University before it is implemented ; I am not convinced that 12-12-6 would be so beneficial as to justify its introduction.

The CCS Working Party has recommended that 1212-6 not be introduced for the academic year 1995-6.

Because of your response to our survey, it is my position that 12-12-6 should not be introduced unless the details of such a system are worked out, and it is shown to make a positive difference to the students at UEA. Thank you for your responses - good luck in the next semester.

Daniel Owen, Union Academic Officer

RESULTS OF 12路12路6 SURVEY ~ QUESTION 1 159 I would prefer to have one period of exams per year, at the end of the year.

380 I would prefer to have two periods of exams per year, one at the end of each semester.

QUESTION 2 287 The 'portability' of units is important to me.

254 The 'portability' of units is not important to me.

QUESTION 3 323 To preserve portability, I would be happy to select more units designated as courseworkonly in the Autumn Semester.

191 To preserve portability, I would object to having to select more units designated as coursework-only in the Autumn Semester.

QUESTION 4 208 If there were two exam periods per year, I would prefer to have the Autumn exams before Christmas.

345 If there were two exam periods per year, I would prefer to have the Autumn exams after Christmas.

QUESTION 5 185 The structure of the academic year is in urgent need of change, and any changes that are made should be implemented as soon as possible.

292 Whether or not any changes are needed, any further change to the academic year would only be further disruption for students, and should therefore be put off for as long as possible.

QUESTION 6 177 Based on the information given, I would prefer to change to the 12-12-6 system.

358 Based on the information given, I would prefer to remain with the present structure of the academic year.

I

.

28 Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

I!Vent~

113HMV '' •-se an sea,,

•n: ' "'"'

I

I

i I

~

I

I I._

n the year when 'Parklife' and 'Definitely Maybe' dominated the album charts and the press were falling over themselves to talk to Blur's Damon geezer and the moaning Gallagher brothers, Suede quietly released a masterpiece to indifferent acclaim.

After their explosive debut onto the British music scene, Suede were hailed as the saviours of us all and were awarded the mantle of 'best band in Britain (since the last one)'. They were flamboyant, they were sensitive enough to appeal to the foppish indie kids who had lost their current heroes to thug culture, but they had the rock 'n' roll lifestyle of excess and controversy which would be enough to make legends of them all.

The debut album was full of stories of sex, drugs and the darker side of human nature and it hit the spot. In the climate of the music industry at that time , 'Suede' was a courageous album which began the resurgence of British bands who were actually quite good.

Tracks like 'So Young' , 'Animal Nitrate' and the classic 'Metal Mickey' woke everyone up from the coma they had slipped into after the demise of Madchester.

Suede gave the people a choice ... the press couldn't get enough and when the extravagant 'Stay Together' was released , the British press went ballistic and practically hailed Brett Anderson as the new messiah .

Then the headlines were dominated by a different Suede angle. Guitarist and resident genius Bemard Butler had quit after a series of 'artistic disagreements' with his songwriting partner, Brett. This was a new concept - bad press for Suede.

Many bands in the past had imploded under less strenuous conditions and after less acrimonious departures. How would Suede survive without the man who gave them such power and shape? The world waited for an answer. And waited ... lt was a year after the debut album had been released and the musical rollercoaster that Suede had started on its way had been hijacked by Ladpop.

No floppy fringes and waif like bodies clad in leather trousers and thrift shop shirts, it was the time for a new hybrid to flex it's commercial muscles and the mouthy bower boys in their retro sportswear were the new geezers on the block.

Suede's response to the country's return to thug culture was to release an album so beautifully crafted and written that it was, on the whole, overlooked as an also ran compared to the Cockernee banter of Blur and the Mancunian motormouths of Oasis.

Maybe the pressure to make an album to compare to such a

•With 17 year-old Richard Cakes now an integral part of Suede, the band's bassist, Mat Osman, told 'Concrete's' Nick Amies that things can, ahem, only get better. Dog Man Starry-eyed: Peter Hart.

Brett discovers he's got a dodgy ticker, or something... stunning debut was too great, maybe it was an impossible task. Maybe?

"No, I don't think so. it's not hard to make a second album. Anyone with a bit of sense can do it. The pressure is manufac-

lured, it's all press speculation but you don't make the music for journalists, you make it for yourselves and the people who buy your records. I think 'Dog Man Star' got a great response. I think it's harder to live up to your

own expectations. We've got pretty high standards," says bassist, Mat Osman.

He is convinced that the Suede bubble has not burst. The pressure does not seem to effect the band so much now, not as

What we thought E

xpectations were high for the return of Suede to Norwich . A sellout crowd had the newly refurbished LCR heaving and in danger of bursting it's banks.

A Suede arrangement, 'Introducing the band', played through the foggy blackness as one by one, Matt, Simon and Richard (to massive applause, screams and knicker wetting) strode onto stage. The anticipation heightened as the band launched into the first number. Where was he? Brett strode onto stage and the place exploded. Smiling broadly behind his fringe, he prowled the stage lapping up the atmosphere and returning the compliment with hip shakes

and arse slapping a-plenty.

They powered their way through most of the tracks from 'Dog Man Star' and the crowd ebbed and flowed, mesmerised by the sheer spectacle of the performance in front of them .

Old favourites like 'Pantomime Horse' saw Brett camping it to the limit as he whined ,' Have you ever tried it that way?' over and over until the songs orgasmic climax and other classics like 'Metal Mickey', 'Animal Nitrate' and 'So Young' blew the crowd away as Brett and Co. threatened to undo all the Union's 'good' work by taking the roof off the LCR. Most peoples eyes were on young Richard

~---------- - - -- -------- -------------~---~--- ---

- - - - -- - - -- - - - -

Concrete, Wednesday, February

--

8, 1995 29

IDiMV

much as when people were unaware of their existence altogether.

"There's more pressure when no one has the chance of listening to your records.• "lt's a pretty standard thing for bands to make crappy second albums. The first one is a culmi-

be assassins to tu m their knives on themselves. Mat is quick to praise 'the new boy'.

"He can cut it as a songwriter, no problem. That was one of the reasons we took him on. He came along with a demo tape of some acoustic stuff which was really unpretentious compared

"Richard can cut 1t as a songwriter, no problem. That was one or the reasons we took him on. He came along with a demo tape or acoustic stuff which was really unpretentious." nation of about 25 years on the planet and then the second one is made up from eighteen months in hotel rooms and on aeroplanes. Record companies think it's sensible to spend two years touring an album and six weeks writing the next one."

Bemard's departure mid way through the 'Dog Man Star' recordings could have been a major disaster but Mat is quick to stress the professionalism shown throughout the crisis.

"We were all really tight as a band and we all got on well. lt has been made out to be more tragic than it really was.

Bemard had a different lifestyle from the rest of us, he has a wife and wanted to spend more time at home. The rest of us have no ties but he had family ties. The album even profited from his departure in a way because Bemard would normally mix everything as well but after he left, we mixed it together and took out the unnecessary layers of guitar and made the album simpler and tighter. I love the new album.· Bemard's departure left a helluva gap in the Suede sound.

So when they announced that they had recruited a 17 year old guitarist who had dropped out of college to play with Suede, the air of expectation was drowned out by the sound of more knives being sharpened.

Recent experience of Richard Cakes playing live and on record should force the would-

to some of the exotic demos we'd had. We actually forgot it was an audition once we started because he just fitted in, it was more like jamming with your mates. I think it comes from

the fact that he's a fan as well, the first gig he went to was a Suede gig, he's probably one of the few people who ended up playing for one of the bands that influenced them.· Richard's arrival has totally rejuvenated Suede and the feeling of a new beginning for the band is felt throughout.

Even Brett looks a new man, trading in the camp pantomime dame act for a more 'in yerface' attitude.

He laughs and smiles on stage like a man who got what he wanted.

"Richard is actually interested in the band, not about being a guitar hero. And that's great for the rest of us because you need to know the others are there for you on stage and that we're all one up there.• So the

new Suede are back and straight into the firing line of Messrs Alba m and Gallagher.

"We're constantly getting slagged off by them. lt happens.

I don't give a sh*t about them really.

"Try and find an article where we slag them off. I mean, we don't move in the same circles as the rest ofthat 'scene' so we get slagged off for not being beer swilling lads. Trouble is, we are, but not with them. I mean, between them, they've made some good records and the material is all that matters to us, not the people.· "You should make great records because great records need to be made, not to piss someone off who lives two streets away." lt seems like great records need to be made and Suede will be making their next great record in the summer of this year.

Wrth a tighter line up and a stronger, developing style, Suede will still be doing their stuff when Damon & Co. are back on the buses.

Hey Mr Tambourine man (arfl)

UNION PAPERSHOP

Richard struts his stuff

of the Suede gig Cakes as the question of whether he could fill Bemard Butler's DM's hung on everyone's lips.

Head down, fringe flying, Richard went hell for leather in every song.

Suede are obviously a tighter, more disciplined unit now with a strong line up where as before there always seemed to be a competition between Brett and Bemard to be the big star in the band. Now they are all big stars.

The crowd seemed entranced by what was happening. The first Anderson/Oakes collaboration, 'Together', seems to be the taste of things to come with Suede showing a harder edge.

After 'We are the Pigs' and 'The Wild Ones' had

reverberated around the LCR, Matt and Simon left the stage for Brett and Richard to perform the final number 'Still Life'.

In a scene which almost mirrored the first public screening of this song (Brett and Bemard unplugged on Naked City), Richard sat draped over his acoustic as Brett hit all the high notes and the right notes. Not a dry eye in the house.

And then they were gone. No encore, a bit of Suede's previous perversions carried onto the latest incarnation. They left everyone exhausted but never disappointed. If I died today, I'd die happy.

Nick Am/u

Open 7am- 6.30pm weekdays, Barn - 4pm Saturday & Sunday

-

30

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

BVent. _~ ~

~HMV Id +p

I3

J.,()-1~1

Yes! Now you, too, 1/18 can be a 'top' DJ! ~

The basements ot . be lo-fi as an .

S me would descr~ d middle -Amer~ca . o . t corporate grunge an an ction aga~ns An inevitable rea lternative scene. te a true a d attempt to crea . . b nch o~ college r op. . that ~t ~s a u other v~ew ~s . their hands . · much t~me on outs w~th too . si.c? Pavement (argua bly Who plays lo-fJ.. mu b ~oh Beck, Guided By it's all their fau~~) , sSeR~yal , Trux.

Voices, Palace Bro erd, like? Poorly recorded What does i t soun . t . be arsed' vocals, 'can't qu~ e 1 scratchy guitars , to the complete y the obscure . . f lyrics rang~ng rom nt of weirdo mess~ng ' bl a large amou incomprehens~ e, . f folk or country · 1 smatter~ng 0 b t around, poss~b y a lodies to kill your es and more often than not , me

. from?

Where does J.. t come

friend for ·

.

What do lo-fJ.. enthus

iasts look like? Not

t for short, unkempt but look ou . really discernab 1 e , . nt Slint T-sh~rt. and an anc~e . d hair, geeky specs dance? Have you ever tr~e

And how do they dancing t o the

.

?

Palac;h~~t;~~; re listening to

How do you know· twill come ~. n the form of a lo-fi? Because ~ . le and you wil l

I d 7 " US import s~ng hand-package . . h Trade records . s · ? Then t nd~ng ~n Roug probably be s a h the actual mus~c. the r ecor d hiss louder t an Bob Fay ' s yer uncle. watch out this year for . . t now? we ll , . r Where J..S J.. . . the limelight by maJ o be pushed ~nto d urnmore acts to blink bleary-eye , m labels (a la Beck) only to t 'ng the attention" and b t "not wan ~ ble something a ou . b sements to record ten . b a a Walkman and re 1 ea s e then ret~re ac k to the~r . s of guitar-detu.n~ . ng on album of twelve. them in a limit ed ed~t~on sam Richards

0

h dear. Moist's frontman isn't a happy chappie.

Concrete 's trying to suggest we ask him some schmaltzy luurrve questions for this Valentines issue. But the rock geezer is having none of it.

'Well whadda ya mean?" he asks.

Momentarily he's more agreeable. "Well I can give you ny opinion on those kind of things, sure .. ." he mutters down the phone .

So we ask him about his most embarrasing Valentines gift. The reply is eliptic, if nothing else! ' [pause] ' Ummm ... gee, I don't... these aren't really the kinda .. . I don't know. These aren't the kinda questions that I really know how to answer, you know. I'm really not used to those kinda interviews. I have no idea. I'm not really a Valentines guy. Well, you know, I don't know, I can 't really answer that. " Hmm, perhaps we'd better move away from this Valentines theme. Concrete finds out David's far happier talking about his music. So we pose some suitable questions: Concrete: How big is the band in Canada (its native country)?

David: The album's gone double platinum in Canada ... the first video went to number one and I should imagine the second one did as well, and the third one's at number ten now.

Concrete : So what's it like to be touring the UK? David: it's nice to be starting over again ... it's refreshing for us. it's like that in the United States as well, there's a buzz

5 ME 3 ldhi iififi

• Moist hit the charts last December with 'P ush', and are set to do the same with their second single 'Silver', released this month. Peter Hart chats to the band's David Usher about, well, lots of things really ...

Er, so that's Moist, then going on and you can really feel the energy... but you really have to work every night for the crowd . In Canada you get up on the stage and its easy sailing.

Here you really have to prove things to people.

Concrete: And how would you categorise your music?

David: I don't really know. I tend not to do that 'cos we 've seen so much classification of our music across the board, from alternative to pop to rock, you know, I have to say that it fits in there somewhere and however

people choose to take it, it's okay.

Concrete: Do you get any female groupies?

David: We do get some, yeah.

Concrete: You're being a bit coy about it.

David: I am, yeah.

Concrete: Fine! Erm , do you enjoy touring?

David: Yeah , we're pretty much on the road for most of our lives. We're well adjusted to the road .. . we're road beings! We have no homes or anything like that.

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

31

-~~Des Bfrenl

Concrete: Your songs contain a lot of pain and violence ... do the lyrics reflect personal experience?

David: Yes, they're all from personal experiences. And I don't simply mean personal in terms of relationships, but personal in terms of the way I've just been seeing things, I guess, for the past... well, a lot of them have come out of childhood, and a lot of them have come out of the world around, especially when you're on the road, you see a lot of sides of life, and often it's not all that pretty, and I'll take things and put them into perspective, in relationship with my own life as well ... how they relate together...

Concrete: And are they supposed to make people think?

Davld: I don't think our job as musicians is to tell people what they're supposed to get out of it.

There's something there, you know, the lyrics are meant to mean something, but if pE'Ople get a different meaning out of it, then that's cool too! And, you

• MUSIC NEWS

know, our intention as a live band is to go and rock the crowd every night, that's what we do, and if they like it just because they had a good stage dive, that's great.

Concrete: You played the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party notoriously a teen band event.

How was that for you?

David: A little weird. it was different for us. But I guess we're sort of in music because we like doing things differently, you know? We like having different experiences .

Concrete: So you're pleased you did the event?

David: So far we're very happy that we've got the exposure simply because people are coming to the shows, I think a lot of people watch Smash Hits that don't admit it as well, d'you know what I mean? I mean, a lot of peeople are telling us, that aren't just young girls, that they saw us there and that's why they came out, because they saw something different.

Concrete: You were very

energetic on stage at that show.

Is that typical?

David: Yeah, completely typical.

We push a lot in our performances, a lot of it's like a big impro, we'll take it wherever it wants to go. We haven't played on little stages for a while ...just because it's our first real tour here, we're playing smaller clubs, which is great, it's really fun to be intimate with our audience, when they're right in your face, and there's really little room ... but I guess it must be two shows ago, I fell like right through the drum kit! The crew were on stage for the whole show, fixing everything that got broken .

So there's the problem. This sweaty rock geezer is far too heavy to talk about slushy issues like Valentines. Still, it's a shame though. I think David would have had far more fun telling Concrete about the first girl he snagged, and his favourite aphrodisiac!

e MUSIC NEWS e MUSIC NEWS e MUSIC NEWS e

WAKE UP AND HEAR

THE MUSIC

Have you ever walked past Union House on a Saturday or Sunday and wondered where all the loud music was coming from?

Time for the culprits to come forward and make themselves known.

They just happen to be Wake, an indie-influenced band consisting of five UEA students who take great pride in their original, lyric-orientated music.

Rob Hoffmann and Steve Humphrey will probably already be known to some SOC people, being PhD students who regularly take seminars in Economics.

Martin Ouvry is also a post-grad, taking the Creative Writing course. Not only that, but he was a professional musician in LA for a number of years.

John and Neill, the final two members of the group, joined up with the others in somewhat unorthodox circumstances - John was discovered working at a local gig, whilst Neill just walked into a practice session one day, picked up the bass guitar and started playing along. lt was lucky that they wanted a bass player really...

All these practice sessions have finally paid off, as now they're playing a gig in the Grad Bar on Friday February 17.

Don't worry if you're not a member of the GSA; February 17 is their open day, so all are welcome.

Caroline Jenkinson

OSubmarine - who recently supported American hardcore mavericks, Tool, on their European and British dates - hit the Wilde Club at the Norwich Arts Centre on Monday February 13. Check out their self titled debut LP, containing nine ear-bending bursts of shimmering guitar music, in advance.

The following week (Mon Feb 20) Flamingoes hit the NAC, with support from Believe and Tufty's Nut Box. ONews just in -the Killing Joke gig, scheduled for the LCR on Fri Feb 10- has been cancelled. The Ents people tell us that the Club Dog (Sat Feb 18) is also no longer occurring. However, you might still like to check out The Go Gos, fronted by foxy lay-dee, Belinda Carlisle, on Weds Feb 22.

DOne of the bands to benefit hugely from the explosion on live techno over the past year, Dreadzone, hit The Waterfront on Thurs Feb 9. Also playing are Technova, masterminded by David Harrow, who has worked with Jah Wobble and Bjork, plus Tribal Drift and Djs. Tickets are 5 pounds adv.

Like the Brand New Heavies, 24% crank the tunes when behind the wheel

You and vour music H

ow important is music to you?

Is getting up in the morning, . reaching for the stereo and keeping the tunes rolling all day a standard occurrence?

Even when you're out, the personal stereo is ruining your hearing, giving you more decibels than your ears thought possible.

Whatever music it is, it's there for you .

Whether you are getting ready for that big night out with Take That asking you to relight their fire, or if you are depressed and decide to have Henry Rollins lift your spirits by telling you how screwed up he is, just to make you feel so much better about yourself Or could you not care less?

"Well, yeah. I listen to the radio now and then, but that's about it."

Is music just the stuff that comes through the speakers at the LC;R? Whatever floats your boat. So what's all this about then?

Why is this muso patronising me and telling me something I already know?

Well, on Thursday January 26, Concrete conducted a survey in the Hive asking the students at UEA about their music, the music scene here in Norwich and what they spend their money on music-wise.

As far as gigs go, the Charlatans and

A humunaous 48% spend between £8 and £10 on music a month, which Is probablY a result of lhe lack of money In lhe student pocket ...

Radiohead tied for most popular gigs this semester. They secured these places with a weeny majority of 9%. A close second was a quite surprising entry for Courtney Pine.

Jazz is something that's not normally catered for here at UEA, but it has been noted.

An astonishing 27% of you said that you wouldn't be watching anything that the Entertainments Department have to offer this semester.

C Weston 0NAM) was one of those not interested in any of the gigs on offer, and added that it was a "brilliant line up last term - failed a bit this time round."

Another gig abstainer said, "I won't pay the price."

Talking of money, we also asked students how much they spend a month on music, and in what format (ie CD, tape, vinyl) they usually purchase it in.

A humungous 46% spend between £0 and £10 on music a month, which is probably a

•David Hall got out his clipboard and surveyed some Hive-goers on their musical interests ...

result of the lack of money in the student pocket, rather than the unwillingness to hit the Virgin Megastore in a big way.

The majority (58%) said that they listened to their tunes on CD. Cassettes still hang in there with 40% of the market, whilst poor old vinyl got a mere 2% of the votes.

So much for Pearl Jam's vinyl crusade.

Maybe it just hasn't reached UEA yet.

Music is usually a part of most people's lives in some capacity or another. So, we asked if students had any particular 'uses' for music.

24% of you like to crank the tunes when you are behind the wheel, probably trying to alleviate the boredom of getting caught in the Norwich one way system for the third time in a row.

Just kicking back and listening to tunes for relaxation scored a nifty 19%. Apparently, there are a fair number (15%) of students who work to music.

So, all you tutors out there ... if you spot the odd accidental inclusion of a song lyric in an essay, just put it down to the fact that you are probably marking the essay of a music junkie.

So, there you have it. The results of Concrete's poll. Thanks very much to all the people whom were kind enough to fill the questionnaires in (even if some of the answers were a bit silly!). All co-operation is much appreciated. Keep spinning dem tunes.

.-

32

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

~HMV '·51 '·5 "§'*

a¥

a;r s ae 1

a

Sam. Rjchards, looks at the latest frorn lpa~s of, erm, 'top' bands...

0 1981 : Phi I Oakey, limping under the weight of his lopsided haircut, kicks the other two blokes out of his band (they go on to form Heaven 17- cheers). Phil then goes pop and has a number one hit. The Human League conquer the world.

1995: Phil , now dispensed with the preposterous haircut, is showing some of his old videos to his Grandchildren . Suddenly, he has an urge to recreate his glorious past, so he dusts off his Roland , phones up the girls (who are now suburban housewives with three kids each) and the tune that was hanging around in his head becomes 'Tell Me When' which , miraculously, makes the Top Ten .

"Hmmm ... " ponders Phil, "there could be some cash in this.

If we rush out an album full of dated techno-pop, half-arsed ideas and particularly poor lyrics, then those disenfranchised late-twentysomethings, cast adrift in the cari ng-sharing '90s will buy it in their droves in a desperate attempt to relive the heady days of their adolescence."

And buy it they do. 'Octopus' is a worldwide No.1 prompting the reform of Duran Duran (again), Spandau Ballet and (eek!) Modern Romance.

Suddenly, 15-year-olds everywhere are raiding their Mum's make-up cases , Goths begin to appear and brattish young men are driving round in their XR3is jabbering rapidly into their moblie phones. Finally, following the collapse of John Major's Government, Baroness Thatcher is swept unanimously back into power.

Phil Oakey, you have a lot to answer for.

(Long enough review? - Music Ed)

llOCXI!R'S .....

Wlaat a Life/ rr

0

Rocker's Hi-Fi - an ironic name, considering that they are neither rockers, nor shoukl you let them anywhere near your hi-fi.

••

-

-

•

f"" •

•

· ~-

A

very silly record.

Basically, Madness , The Beatles and The Buzzcocks dress up

as oversized cockerels and run around manically in a big field . lt has at least three hooks and will make

"Reminiscent of The Kinks" goes a line in this song, which makes my job kind of redundant, but add The Jam and The Wonder Stuff to the list and you've got

you grin like a b*****d .

They're going to be pop stars. A very silly record .

But also a very good one .

LOVE HAPPY Message of Love/ rr

the idea of where Syndicate are coming from.

Not a bad tune and some good harmonies, but it doesn't quite catch fire like it should.

0

"Imagine the Marx Brothers meets Fawlty Towers , a jam session with Stevie Wonder, playing Nintendo games with Marylin Monroe - and you've found Love Happy" froths the press release. Luckily your trusty reviewer didn't believe a word , and true enough, when hearing the record , all he could imagine was walking home from a

rubbish school disco and tread ing in some dog poo. Also, he refuses to have his intelligence insulted by platitudinous lyrics of the variety "there's too much crying/ people are dying/ we should all come together and love each other," especially when one of the band members is called Flid 'Fingers' Fabian.

Absolute rubbish.

Seb - a music wizard for the '90s. Or something like that.

Although still at college, the 19 year-old has managed to produce a tune that'll make you get up and dance around your bedroom every time you hear it. lt's a kind of Doopesque number, although nowhere near as irritating, You'll love it, love it some more, and then probably get fed up with hearing it.

Peter Hart

POND Glass Spculdea In 'lllelr HaiJt/ 'r

HMV

Top record, if a little generic, from the American indie trio. lt is suitably poorly recorded and is as rhythmic as their earlier material but with added melodic input and a decent chorus. Add that to hideously coloured vinyl 7" and you can't go wrong.

KNOW HMV • KNOW MUSIC

SALE STARTS FRIDAY 10TH FEBRUARY COs FROM £4.99 LPs & TAPES FROM £1.99 VIDEOs FROM £7.99 HMV, RAMPANT HORSE ST. NORWICH TEL(01603)625490

DO YOU HAVE ANY MUSIC STORIES FOR CONCRETE. ARE YOU IN A BAND WANTING SOME PUBLICITY? IF SO, THEN CALL THE MUSIC EDITOR ON (01603) 250558 or (01603) 593466.

ODoh! @Frisbee!

Q Safe!

eaad!

8 Soun«J!

..

f0PfUNE5 2. Weezer- Undone 3. Oasis -Whatever

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

lt's time to go where no man has gone before (again). Nick Amies gets beamed up ....

Star Trek: Gen ration USA (1995) Sci-FI Oir: Oavid Carson G Cannon -from Feb 10

A

fter starring in the previous six Star Trek films, it is now time for the original crew of the starship USS Enterprise to move over to let the Next Generation have a crack at the silver screen.

Or so we were led to believe.

But due to a mysterious astronomical phenomenon which bridges different time frames, current captain Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) comes face to face with the most famous skipper to sit in the command chair James T Kirk (Willia~ Shatner). Also caught up in this strange cosmic catastrophe are old faves Chekov (Waiter Koenig) and Scatty (James Doohan), presumably because none of the current crew can say 路warp speed, aye aye Captain" and "I don't think she can take much more Captain, I think she's gonna blowl" w1th as much conviction as the originals.

The story is a typical one from the Star Trek stable mad scientist Dr Soran ' (Malcolm McDowell) creates the technology to merge time zones and quickly realises the potential for universal domination The crew of the Enterprise are on his trail to stop him from travelling through time and becoming the ruler of time and space The motive for stopping yet another

Lieutenant Wolf- nice forehe dl

mad man from taking over the universe is of course cosmic peace.

To stop one man on his own, however mad he is would be a doddle for th~ heroic Picard and his crew so to make it fair, Or Soran recruits a band of rogue Klingons ( ... yes, ok, very funny ... ) with the promise of a slice of good old universal domination as the incentive.

As we all know, peace has been achieved for many years since Kirk, Speck, Bones et al boldly went where no one had gone before and blew anyone away who did not look vaguely human but everyone knows that it's hard to shake off a determined Klingon.(l think that's enough Klingon jokes, don't you ?) However, there will always be someone who prefers to be at war than at peace or that would be the end of the Star Trek saga .

A supporting cast which includes Whoopi Goldberg and New Generation regulars such as Michael Darn LeVar Burton, Gates ' McFadden and Jonathon Frakes may very well save this latest excursion into deep space but how far can you boldly go before a tried formula becomes a tired formula ?

If space is infinite then there will be no end to the realms of the far fetched.

Keep your eyes open for Star Trek 56 - The Search For a New Storyline

Jean - Luc Picard - the new man in charge

Deanna Troi - The Empath from Betazoid (honest)

Beverley Crusher - What' up doe?

33

34 Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

BVent £SCS.

• Philip Miles takes a look at 'Leon', Luc Bresson's latest movie Leon USA (1996)

''Action-thriller .:Pir: Luc Bresson \Pd~on ·Jrom Fe~J(l

:-,.%

And here's one I made earlier

~.

,,

~:-:-:

<

_.,_.,_.,;.s,,_.,.~:<:>:=..-:>-*->:'>;~K

style and no sub tance" - this has een the recurring criticism levelled at the previous films of Luc Bresson, the French director of cult classics 'Nikita' and The Big Blue'.

The question is will his latest effort 'Leon' (his first foray into the Hollywood mainstream), do anything to silence his detractors?

Jean Reno plays Leon, a professional hit-man living in New York, who reluctantly comes to the aid of a streetsmart 12-year-old girl, Mathilde (Natalie Portman).

Mathilde's family was slaughtered in a botched drug bust, and so she insists that Leon teaches her the tricks of his 'trade' so that she can avenge her family's -------------------------------~ death.

UNION TRAVEL SHOP 3 day mini cruises with Scandinavian Seaways from only £45 per person Flying home for Easter?

This leads to a kind of warped familiar bond developing between the unlikely pair.

Also in on the act is Gary Oldman, hamming it up no end as corrupt DEA officer Stansfield, the spaced-out villain of the piece.

In terms of Besson's previous films, 'Leon' is most similar in tone to 1991 's 'Nikita'.

Indeed, Jean Reno's character here is essentially a reprise of his role as the memorable 'cleaner' Victor in Besson's earlier offering .

Fans of that film will more or less know what to expect here, for lashings of suave visuals (interspersed with bouts of highly stylized ultraviolence) are once again in evidence.

And although questions have already been raised about the film 's somewhat dubious moral stance, you can count on Luc Bresson to deliver the goods with his trademark bonus consignment of cool Gallic sophistication.

<>ot•••••e31!1!ot.tee•&*"'"*"'o••*•••••••ao•••••••••t>*O

efassle

BOOK NOW! Call in for the best student rates in town

New rates for comb binding Up to 65 pages 75p Up to 80 pages £1.00 Up to 110 pages £1.50 Up to 170 pages £ 2 .0 0 For your disser tation or essay consider the Union Business Centre for comb binding /includes white or clear cover)

P

eeping Tom ' was reg arded as an aber ration when it was first released in 1960, provoking critical disgust and wider moral panic.Whilst its violence is not graphic or gratuitous by any standards, it is not difficult to see why it received such popular disdain .

'Peepi ng Tom' was clearly out of step with the vogue for 'kitchen-sink' drama, and its subject matter is disturbing to say the least - camera assistant Carl Boehm is compelled to murder young women , simultaneously

Peeping Tom UK (1960) Arthouse/Horror

Dir: Michael Powell ,5flnema City • Fe~, l9L filming their death for later contemplation .

Moreover, the fi lm is truly 'uncompromising ' in its approach to audiences. Its theme of voyeurism clearly implicates all viewers. In foregrounding the sad istic pleasure of looking , whilst distancing us from everyone but the killer, the spectator's feelings of fascination and revulsion are compounded .

Even the director unasham edly signals his own cul pability through his own eerie appearance in the film .

However, unlike most films which arouse similar disconfort amongst viewers , 'Peeping Tom' fails to provide even the most superficial of forgiving concessions in its finale .

Re-evaluated by many as a masterpiece, 'Peeping Tom' is not to everyone's taste but offers the chance to sample the work of a genuine British 'auteur' .

William Neil

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

G

iven that writer/ director Roger A very co wrote 'Pulp Fiction', and that Tarantino's own involvement as executive producer, expectations of 'Killing Zoe' have been understandably high.

Given also, some obvious plot similarities and it's Paris setting, it's nickname of'Reservoir Frogs' was perhaps inevitable.

After arriving in Paris, Zed (Eric Stolz) delays his meeting with childhood friend and fellow bank robber Eric (Jean-Hughes Anglade) to take up with prostitiute Zoe (Julie Delphy).

When Eric arrives unexpectedly, he kicks Zoe out, taking Zed for a reckless night of drink and drugs in preparation for a bank raid the next day.

Predictably, the heist is not entiely successful, and, by coincidence, Zoe turns out to be a part time cashier there.

What ensues is an energetic, if

KlllingZoe USA (1994) Action-thriller Dir: Roger Avery Cinema C~- from Feb 20 familiar mixture of bullets, blood and macarbe humour.

However 'Killing Zoe' is neither as derivative, nor as exploitive as some have suggested.

What Avery lacks in the way of sharp dialogue and original situations, he makes up for in other ways.

Fused with the somewhat perfunctory heist-thriller plot, are a series of visual experiments, often bordering on the surreal, and a bohemian atmosphere more familiar to European artcinema.

The result is a rather peculiar genre hybrid, which offers nothing profound or groundbreaking, but the remains fascinating viewing all the same.

William Neil

···························~···································

F

ree Willy goes pintsized in yet another heart-warming true story.

In his first screen role, Tory the sea lion plays Andre, a newborn seal orphaned when his mother is trapped in a fishing net.

Enter the harbour master, his wife and their kids, including Toni the tomboy, who adopt the frightened and ailing pup.

With a little amphibious bonding Toni and Andre are soon devoted friends, and several somersaults later Andre's aquatic prowess is quickly recogni·sed by the national media.

35

Andre USA (1995) Kid's Stuff Dir: George Miller Odeon -from Feb 17 All is not hunky-dory however, since vengeful fishermen , blaming their poor yield on the seals, target Andre and drive him out of town into the treacherous winter waters. Yet in that 'true story' tradition, Andre survives, returning each summer to see Toni and thus proving that "friendship is a bond that survives all tests of endurance ." Pass the Kleenex, quick!

LizMills

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

T

his new release of Anna Sewell's classic novel 'Black Beauty' is a must for all those who enjoyed the book and long for panoramic views of a much-loved pastoral England.

Set in the late nineteenth century in the heart of England, the story follows the life of a horse born with a significant white star set in his forehead.

Black Beauty has been born, and the film chronicles his journey through life, his contact with humanity in all its glorious and devastating

Black Bea'-"Y USA (1995) Childrens Classic Dlr: Caroline Thompson Cannon-~Feb17

forms, and the power of the natural world.

Included amongst the human stars is Sean Bean, who was previously seen romping naked through some equally exquisite scenery in 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'.

'Black Beauty' is an adventure film packed with raw emotion, which makes it excellent family entertainment and generally great for all those who fancy a good weep.

Nlcola Hutchinson

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Screened as a St Valentine's Day special, this is a truly memorable comedy of enduring appeal.

Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play jazz musicians who go on the run after witnessing the St Valentine's Day Massacre.

Pursued by Chicago mobster George Raft, they dress as women and join an all-girl band on route to Miami .

However, a series of comic misadventures is initiated when both men succumb to the ample charms of the band's singer (Marilyn Monroe).

Meanwhile, Lemmon is understandably disturbed when he unintentionally attracts the interest of an amorous, if undiscerning playboy.

Time has done no disservice to the film. The script remains witty and engaging , and avoids the trite and cli-

ched gags which still accompany most cinematic representations of men in drag (Johnathon Lynne, director of the shameful 'Nuns on the Run' please take note).

The performances from Curtis, Lemmon and Monroe are also excellent, and for

my money, the role of Sugar Kane provided the latter with one of her most endearing screen appearances.

'Some Like lt Hot' may lack the bite of some of Billy Wilder's more satirical works, but as a romantic comedy, it is quite simply in a class of its own.

William Neil

.,

36

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

A

fter many months , Brookside Close's biggest secret is out. The plastic bag containing the remains of wifebeater and incestuous child rapist Trevor Jordache has finally been discovered under the patio where his wife and eldest daughter buried him.

Brookside's special week of five episodes concluded with Mandy, Beth and Sin bad being taken into police custody after a flight to Ireland and a desperate chase.

Now each of them are prepared to take sole responsibility for the murder, and proclaim the innocence of the others. Friday February 10 proves to be the 'Day of Judgemenf, when all the evidence is weighed up, and charges are made. But just who will take the blame, and who will walk free?

Meanwhile though, what exactly is happening to the Jordache's youngest daughter Rachel? With her mother and sister being detained by the police, she's in the temporary care of Rosie and Eddie Banks. And if charges are

pressed against them , then it could be that Rachel is forced to fend for herself.

Rachel has been finding it hard to accept that her closest family were involved in killing the father that she loved so deeply; which is why she is full of confused and contradictory reactions.

As Rachel's alter ego, actress Tiffany Chapman explains: "She loved her father so much that she still refuses to think of him as a monster. How could such a lovely man have done such horrible things?

"She just knows that her dad has gone and he'll never come back and she is angry and upset that they didn't take her into their confidence until the very end. They only started to tell her the real story before they were arrested ."

Mandy and Beth are in police custody, Rachel is in emotional turmoil. .. it doesn't look good for the Jordaches. And with this dramatic storyline only in its second week, the drama and the tension looks like it's only just begun.

First the good news ...

Nexus is now broadcasting 14 hours a day in the Hive, and will soon be broadcasting to many more screens around the campus .

Secondly, the equally as good news ... this means that many of your favourite programmes and blockbuster films will be shown throughout the day.

Now you need never miss Brookside, Neighbours or Coronation Street again, as you can now peruse them in The Hive at their regular broadcast times .

There will also be exten sive coverage of all major sporting events, including Monday night football at ?pm . And films such as 'The Bodyguard ' (being shown at 2pm on Friday February 10) will be regularly featured in the schedule .

Nexus 's own shows .

'Home from Home', 'Grrr...' and 'Swank' will be broadcast from Monday to Friday at 1.1 Opm, after the Nexus News .

lt's heartache ahead for the Jordaches ...

A new column that fondly remembers those classic TV programmes of yesteryear. ..

Bad Lieutenant - (Rental) Coming from Abel Ferrara director of the notorious 'The Driller Killer' -this film is characteristically shocking in its portrayal of a corrupt police lieutenant.

A young nun is brutally raped and the eponymous lieutenant investigates with a view to collecting a reward.

However, the plot is clearly subordinate to an exploration of his characters progression through despair, towards redemption . Harvey Keitel gives an extremely powerful performance as the lieutenant, but the film itself remains contradictory. it appears at times to revel in obscenity, yet it contains a profoundly Catholic spiritual

message - after experiencing a vision of Christ and undertaking an act of true forgiveness, the lieutenant receives the release he requests .

Inevitably, some of Ferrara 's message gets lost, and the sheer unpleasantness of some of the scenes leaves the film open to endless misinterpretation.

Nevertheless , it remains a virtuoso piece of low-budget film making which demands attention .

William Neil

Summer With Monika (1952) Channel4 11.50pm Feb 12 WILL: Not having seen this one, I'm a bit stumped here.

Though this is one of his early

Hatvey Keitel in action films, it sounds to me like typical Bergman fare .

The film apparently charts the degeneration of a relationship from an initial meeting , through marriage, to ultimate separation.

The press release also in forms me that the film is "a fascinating study of a slut in the making", which I find quite intriguing.

Not exactly 'Summer Holiday' I'm sure, but if its anywhere near as good as the director's 'Summer Interlude' then I'm

sure it will be fascinating in a doom-inspiring sort of way.

CAROLINE: Blimey, an art film that Will hasn't seen.

The only Swedish films I like tend to be filled with blondhaired naked men. But if I'm in a 'culture vulture' mood, a Bergman movie goes down well after reading a novel by Sartre, listening to a Philip Glass album and contemplating the role of God in a post-modernist society.

(Who the hell are you trying to kid? - Ed).

ilo.

~ B~lllE OF THE PL~ilE15

E

legend , even if they were roughly the same every week .

Not even 'Around the World with Willy Fogg' held the nation in its grip in such the same way.

And the tantalising question of whether Zoltar was actually a woman or not has been bugging a generation ever since that fateful episode where his/her mask fell off in an exciting climax.

Their ship, the Phoenix, always rose from the ashes, and we think it's about time the whole series did the same!

So get writing to the BBC now!

veryone knows that there has been a loud and vociferous campaign for many years to get 'Slake's Seven' and 'Doctor Who' reinstated on our TV Screens.

Until now, however, little has been said about the sad demise of one sci-fi epic: namely, 'Battle of the Planets'.

'The Event' feels this is a crying shame .

After all, who possibly could have forgotten the greatest cartoon ever to grace Children 's BBC? The adventures of Mark , Jason, Princess, Key-Op and Tiny have gone down in

Do you have a long-since gone-programme you want remembered within 'In Memoriam'? If so, the Screen Editor would love to hear from you. Drop her a line at the Concrete Office, upstairs In Union House, or phone 250558 .

......

...,

....

. . . ... . . ... . .

. ...... . . .................... -. . "

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

'The Event's' Nick Amies lends an ear to the latest offering from the motormouth of comedy Review: Ben Elton Tour de Force- Very Live.

Elton's stage show from the comic's sellout U.K tour of 1993, I expected to be inundated by 'knob and

not just the guru of lavatory humour, not just the man who had the whole of the country laughing at their 'bits' and not just the man who made a career at pointing out the ins and outs of bodily functions.

Ben Elton is nothing more than a comic genius .

In this extravaganza, nearly two hours of the man at his best, Elton incises his usual toilet routine with cleverly observed references to ecological issues, politics, human emotion and motorway service station teapots!

Although the language in some cases would make a Navvy blush, it's nothing that you would not expect from Ben when he's away from the constraints of Auntie Beeb.

Routines interweave with each other as Elton spirals off on tangents to discover new concepts before returning to the original joke after tickling the audience on every step of the way back.

From the sex life of the Minky Whale to the 'ins and outs' of the smear test to the link between toilet roll dispensers and dodgy sexual practices, Ben Elton takes you on a crude, rude voyage of discovery accompanied with torrents of abuse but still remains typically PC, 'right on' and extremely funny.

The motormouth at his best!

Nick Amies

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

THE COOKING COLUMN If you're a-bit-Of~ gourous dishes are traced met at heart then our against a lively backcooker! feature iR_the drop of lively anecdotes ' ' next iss~!J~~or yo~ ~ and quotations making 1 We decided to ~ve~ it much more than just Penguin CookeOCf-f:Q-'...:~ .a cook book. motion our vercfl~twith ,_/Finallf f~r !~ __more , the Concrete s : -··conve~tional a gst We will slurp the tasty so1,1ps in , ood {rom]fn ahan Llndsey i!l~;~l!.~!fi~$-''A r/( r~'n'. / Celebrat1on of Soup.,._·_!' :'."::'l'hts book will not only and ind~.tlge in some · .~\tell y~u 'how to make 'Real FastPuddings' as bruscb_etta and pizza, created by :U11ashamed antipasto and crostino, spoon-lic(~f'Nig'eJ :.;::::::::::~,--.... !t will also'qwell for a Slater. .,, ' ; ... rri'Oment oo-how pizza For something a little margherila', got its different from .the usual name and ~xplain why Chinese or lnd there it takes four Romans to e Leg- . ___ ma~ a' ~ala~.

Q.J.Per- .-' So if your~ et food ad. / diet, eali11{N,t oa:J_ust ,..n::unta.and reading a~~it't the 1993 don't forge(t Food Book bite out of n r Award.

And The Rest.

The origins of nu mer-

Wlnl Class Leon Goodies!

I know it's not exactly the right time of year to mention this, but do you fancy a really cool pair of shades? Sunglasses that make your eyeballs so funky they'll end up with a better social life than the rest of

your body? (What?l • Ed) Well, The Event just happens to have such a fashion item, kindly donated to us

by Beatwax Promotions.

They're small, they're round, and they come in a little black pouch, bearing the name of that top film 'Leon'.

There's also a cute mini 'Leon' poster that needs a home too. So if you want to be the proud possessor of these two fine Items, all you need to do Is answer this puny little question: · Which of these films has Luc Bresson NOT directed? Is it: a) Niklta b) Four Weddings and a Funeral c) The Big Blue?

• Win Cinema Tick· etsl Yes, it's time to go boldly where no man has gone before at the Cannon cinema.

Pryor Publications have re-printed a selection of humerous books originally published in the 19th and early 20th centuries ....

The Domestic Blunders of A Woman • A Mere Man £6.99 Published first in 1899 this book is a bold, unsparing attack on womens' stronghold in the home.

Chapters entitled "The House Hideous" and "The Mistakes of the Misses" speak for themselves.

At the time the book provoked a general uprising of women in strenous defence of their position and capacities.

The letters in response to the original book are ineluded in the new edition and are often funnier than the actual content.

Of course that's only if you you find ignorant male chauvinists funny in the first place though!

The Foolish Dictionary Gideon Wurdz £3.50 Originally published in 1904, The Foolish Dietionary explores uncertain English words in a way that Gideon thought witty and clever. eg:" Jury"- Twelve men chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.

This dictionary could be useful, if only to discover that the British sense of humor has got better over the years!

37

Whether angry, proud, impatient or envious, memorise a few quotes and your friends will look to you as a mentor and advisor for ever more .

All in all an entertaining read ... just don't take them too seriously!

Before you know it, summer will be here and for many of us it will ·be spent scraping for pennies to pay back the year's overdraft!

Jobs are hard to come by as the year creeps on, so why not investigate and get your name down early for one of hundreds of interesting summer jobs in Britain and abroad.

'Vacation Work' have published a range of books with details of jobs, the hours, wages, work conditions and contact names and addresses.

1995 Directory of Summer jobs In Britain £7.95 There are over 30,000 vacancies in this book.

In five months time you could be a go-karting instructor in Staffordshire, a London tour guide or even a costumed character at Thorpe Park (hopefully things aren't that bad).

Some of the jobs are voluntary, although some claim to pay up to £250 a week.

1995 Directory of Summer jobs Abroad £7.95

Moods 'Philosophy of Life' Various writers including Bacon, Socrates and Goethe. £3.50 First published at the turn of the century, this pocket size book contains words of wisdom for whatever mood you are in.

For those of you who want sun as well as money, this book covers jobs in over 45 countries .

Ever fancied being a driving instructor in Egypt?

If not there are hundreds of vacancies for pool attentdants and fruitpickers all over Europe.

Happy hunting!

Olivia Simmons

When we say that of course, we don't mean that no-one ever goes to the Cannon; rather that the new Star Trek movie 'Generations' is about to cross the final frontier onto the cinema screen.

And so excited are they at the Cannon, that they've given The Event several pairs of tickets for us to give to you, our beloved readers.

These will be your magic (and free) passport to any movie that you care to see at this fine estab-

lishmenL To get your sweaty little paws on them, all you have to do Is answer this Trekkle type question: What is the name of the Enterprise's android crew member In 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'? Is it: a) Data b) Marvln c) Metal Mickey?

All answens can be posted to us in our special Competitions Box, which you will find cunningly located outside the Steward's cabin In Union House. Good luck/

-

38

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

The

event

~A

v ..~L

Jo Stubbington interrupts dinner to discover the wilder side of self-confessed lunatic Michael Cashman. lt hadn't been my week for interviews

F

irst Peter Duncan stood me up for a cowardly lion and a tinman and then I caught Michael Cashman about to tuck into the first course of a working dinner.

"Can you call back after the soup?" he slurped.! did.

Review: Aladdin Theatre Royal

W

ith the Christ mas pudding and mince pies little more than a distant memory a visit to the Christmas panto last week seemed at best a little out of season .

But it only took a few " He's behind you's', and the sight of Christopher Biggins in a frock to get into the swing of this years production of 'Aiaddin'.

There were all the traditional elements there, sing songs , men in tights and lots of audience participation along with some new and spectacular lighting effects.

The magic carpet sequences were sure to capture the imagination of every child in the audience.

Aladdin, alias Mark Greenstreet, however, did

not The ex- 'Trainer' star lacked the qualities usually associated with a thigh-slapping

lead and left the audience feeling that maybe he should have asked the genie for some intonation, a singing voice or at least an autocue.

Peter Simon on the other hand proved once again to be the star of the show as the hapless Wist]ee Washee.

He entertained both the children and the mummies and daddies with his antics bringing his unique comic timing and spontaneity to save the day.

All in all Norwich's Theatre Royal can congratulate themselves on producing yet another excellent pantomime , this time under the direction of their very own Peter Wilson .

One word of advice though for next yearlots more thigh slapping please ...oh, and Peter Simon and too!

STOP PRESSâ&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘

T

here have been some surprise new additions to Norwich 's Theatre Royal's programme.

Where else can you marvel at the costumes of a bottle-blonde Drag Queen , laugh at TV's newest star magician and go back through the Green Door with the man who is guaranteed to make you bop till you drop ... all in one week?

For the season 's new line up includes Lily Savage, Wayne Dobson and Shakin ' Stevens so lose your inhibitions and take your pick .. there 's something for everyone!

Undeterred, I was keen to find out more about the man who most of us remember as Colin in Eastenders but who has become known to many as not only a distinguished actor but also a prominent figure in the campaign for equality for gay men .

I first heard Michael speak almost a year ago at the age of consent rally in Trafalgar Square, London .

He was the first celebrity campaigner to take the stage at the rally attended by nearly 5,000 supporters of the motion to reduce the age of consent for gay men from 21 to 16 years .

Heading the line up which included EastEnders star Michelle Collins, comedienne Dawn French and Paul Gambicini, Michael gave a confident speech.

"We are going to win.

"We are united in our determination to give equality to gay men and it begins now."

I asked him how this positive determination had been affected by the decision to reduce the age of consent for homosexual men to 18 and how he felt when the move was anounced at the candlelit vigil which took place outside the Houses of Parliament.

"When they announced that it was 18 I was actually inside the House.

"My heart just sank as l witnessed this callous act of indifference to the population yet again. "lt was another example of Parliament spitting in the face of evidence and what I couldn't believe was that the 39 Labour MP's had voted in a way that betrayed the founding of socialism.

"Equality and freedom is for all and not just for some".

Reminiscing on the angry scenes which followed the announcement at Parliament that night l asked Michael what his reaction had been upon leaving the building .

"After the announcement I wanted to leave the same way that I had come in even though there were people that tried to stop me from doing so because of the disturbances that were

going on outside.

"I felt angry inside and could understand the crowds physical manifestations.n There was however a positive side to events says Michael.

"11 was this campaign which gave birth to a new generation of lesbian, gay and bisexual activists. "lt has spomed a new generation .of people determined to back those in support of bringing about change right across the social sexual spectrum .

"We won the debate on the strength of having the best ever campaign .n The fight didn't stop on that night though and Michael has continued to lobby working closely with the organisation 'Stonewall'.

"After the age of consent campaign it didn't all go flat, on the contrary everything has been all go with Stonewall continuing to lobby and campaign .

"Indeed it is because of the pressure of the age of consent campaign that we have been investigating all angles including equal pension rights and the SOD Bill.

"We are currently looking into the case of a sacked service woman and carrying out a number of investigative surveys."

Before changing the subject to Michael 's latest stage role I ask him whether he felt that the whole campaign received adequate media coverage or whether he upholds the view that by the very nature of it's cause it was somewhat neglected despite its scale.

"I think that because of the way that we did things, selectively dripping lots of snippets of information we actually achieved quite a lot.

"That way the campaign didn't run out of steam and we achieved quite a range of coverage and subsequent publicity, even in the Evening Standard!"

Michael is certainly no stranger to publicity with a career brimming with stage and screen performances.

He is however probably best known to most of us as Colin in EastEnders and

since leaving the series he has gone from strength to strength .

Billed by The Guardian's Michael Billington as 'a pulverisingly funny play' Michael Frayn'ss 'Noises Off is says Michael, so funny that Alan Ayckboum is reputed to have said that he often wishes that he had written it himself.

Michael laughs, "lt's a play that defies belief. "lt's wonderfully funny and it completely wraps it's audience.

"The story is about a crop of actors preparing for a play.

"You get to see the rehearsals and all the shenanigins that go on behind stage.

"There is a lot of it that as an actor I can recognise, there is a sense of life imitating art, a kind of deja-vu.

"Without an element of truth comedy just doesn't work.

"Mad men make for the best comedy... " I interrupt Michael to ask if he is such a madman .

"Absolutely, I think you have to be to achieve sharp and successful comedy.

"Comedy is amazing in that it brings out the wildest aspects of your personality" and what are the wildest aspect of Michael's character?

He laughs again , "Probably my zaniness .

"Paul, my partner, often says that I am a lunatic and ought to be put away.

"He'll often find me gibbering away to myself or mimicking something, I've got a very weird sense of humour!"

With all this in mind it seems that Michael's role in 'Noises Off of stage director Lloyd Dallas, a man who flys by and sometimes even through the seat of his pants, should be just Michael's cup of tea .. or should I say his bowl of soup because that is what he is waiting to get back to! "lt is a working dinner" he assures me, "I am actually running through my lines."

Well in that case l figure that I had better finish the interview here, after all, you never know what might happen if you stand in the way of a madman!

Jo Stubbington

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

I

t was difficult to know exactly what to ask a man who has walked a tightrope, crossed the Irish Sea in an amphibious car and come to blows in Japan with a Sumo wrestler.

For one time Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan must have one of the most varied careers on record.

I spoke to him during a break in rehearsals for his latest stage role in The Wizard of Oz, but not before he had put out a blaze in true dare-devil style.

"Sorry about that but I just had to deal with a blazing torch" he gasps.

Unlike his latest character however Peter Duncan certainly isn't scared of fire, or it seems·, of anything else for that matter.

His show aptly titled 'Duncan Dares' was hatched in response to the sack loads of fan mail that Peter received in response to his exploits as a presenter on BBC's Blue Peter and shot straight to the top of the ratings.

Quite an achievment although Peter takes it all in his stride.

"Duncan Dares was just a programme that worked at the time.

"I wouldn't exactly say that I was laid back about it all but I wasn't dizzy about it either. "lt was as a result of the show's success that I ended up doing The Big Race last year.

"The programme gave me the opportunity to travel all over the world .

"We went from London to Moscow to Siberia to Naska and finally to New York.

"The trip took the months in all and was one in a fife time" he enthuses.

"There were so many sights that it is very difficult to pinpoint any one aspect of the journey.

"There was an immense bleakness which struck me together with the fact that there were no roads in the Far East of Siberia, only rivers which means that you have to travel by following frozen rivers all the time.

"That was something that I had never realised before.

Overall I suppose that the thing that sticks in my mind the most is the image of two very different and contrasting images.

"The smallness that I felt and the bleakness not only in the landscape itself but also in the people that lived there .

"This contrasted with the rich and luscious vegitation of the south - that's what struck me the most." lt is obvious from listening to Peter that he has certainly been bitten by the travel bug and even his family get involved too.

"I plan to spend about a year and a half travellling the

world, we're really just waiting until Arthur is a little older first• he explains.

I comment that his four children, Lucy, Katie, Georgia and Arthur are very lucky to have such an adventurous dad but he just laughs dismissively.

"Well, I'm not so sure about that, they might not agree with you!"

When he is in one place for long enough Peter is however much more than a television presenter.

In a career that spans more than twenty years, he has appeared in major films, starred in the West End, been a National Theatre player and a trapeze artist in the circus!

Born in London Peter began his career at the Mermaid Theatre.

"The first role that I ever had was that of Jim Hawkins in 'Treasure Island'.

"After that I spent two years with Laurence Olivier's Old

Anthony Hopkins; 'Stardust', directed by Michael Apted ; Kit Nubbles in 'Quilp' with Anthony Newley; Jean Renoir in 'Renoir My Father'; 'Warship'; 'Fallen Hero' and the children's adventure series, 'King Cinder'.

Indeed Peter was catapulted to something of a modem day children's hero by his appearaces on cult TV show Blue Peter in which he became famous for his daredevil exploits which allowed him to travel to all corners of the world including a trip to Japan where he met his match against a Sumo wrestler. I asked him what it was like to suddenly be appearing on a programme which for many was an integral part of childhood .

"I suppose it was a bit strange but to be honest with you I had never really watched the show. "lt's the same with the Wizard of Oz. ""I knew the story of course

Vie Company and when I was 18 I got myself an agent and it all went from there.

"I made a lot of movies during the seventies too .. • (I decide not to ask what sort of movies as rumours have been circulating and it may be a touchy subject.)

Peter comes from a variety family, his father Nan Gale produced pantomimes for over forty years and he has followed that tradition both starring in and directing some notable successes including Aladdin , Babes in the Wood and Dick Whittington at the Hackney Empire .

On his return to London theatre, Peter starred in the musicals 'Pump Boys and Dinettes', 'The Gingerbread Man', and 'Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish '.

He broke box office records in the National Tour of Funny Peculiar, received excellent notices for his portrayal of Jesus in 'The Mystery Plays' and played the title role in the Big Top musical 'Barnum' .

He starred in the tour of Richard Harris's play 'Party Piece', recreated the life of Charlie Chaplin in the new musical 'Little Tramp' and earlier this year he starred in the Naional Tours of 'Straight and Narrow' with Dora Bryan, and 'Erik The Viking', which he also produced and directed.

Peter's most notable television and film credits include a BBC Play of the Month with

and I had seen the film but I wasn't one of those people who has watched it every Christmas since their childhood or anything. "lt seems to have evolved though from a story into a very powerful modem day legend, and it's great fun to do. "lt is one of those tales which seems to have unlimited appeal to its audience young and old . "lt's very hard to try and define just what children do and don't like as entertainment goes.

"Power Rangers and the Turtles are all fads but something like this provides a whole new fantasy land.

"I think that parents see themselves through the eyes of their children and that's where the fantasy comes in, it's all related to the subconscious ."

When I comment that the story probably has as much of a cult status as his infamous green check suit Peter jokes, "Well, there are a lot of strange cults in Norwich" he doesn't elaborate.

To finish I ask about plans for the future but Peter is characteristically evasive.

"Brian Blessed keeps trying to pursuade me to climb Everest with him and I keep refusing", he laughs, "I'd like to go, but only if I can take the wife and kids."

And this time he's probably not joking!

39

-

TRADS PIZZA Liee1111ed Hestaurmat &. Take - AwOfl Medium £2.95 45p

Classic Margherita Extra Toppings

SmaH £2.15 35p

Spicy Sausage Tuna Ham Capers Anchovies Fresh Tomatoes Mushrooms Crushed Chillies Black Olives

Bacon Sardines Onions Sweetcom Tandoori Chicken

Spicy Beef

Large £4.95 75p

Pepperoni Prawns Peppers Pineapple Egg

Try our home-made pasta dishes: Beef or vegetable lasagne, or a

generous helping ofspaghetti bolognaise- all only £4.75 Or some little extras: Garlic bread. £1.00, mixed side salad (ring for choice of dressings) £1.50, coleslaw 75p, baked potato £1.75, gateaux or cheescake (various) £1.50 Voted Number one bylconcretel (issue 20) Book the cellar bar for your party!

sl.Earlham Road, Norwich NR2 3AD. Open every evening- Mon- Sat 5 -11pm, Sun 6 -10pm. Last orders 30 mlns before closlng.Minlmum order for delivery £8. UEA deliveries to Porters Lodge, VIllage Site or Union House reception only.

40

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

14 day listings in association with the Theatre Royal - Reservations (0603) 630000 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10

SUNDAYFEBRUARY12

Compiled by Caroline Ad/em

WEDNESDAYFEBRUARYS· ____......__.g~

.

:}

Screen One: Interview With A Vampire (18)- Tom Cruise bites Brad Pitt's neck in this latest vampire thriller. 21.5pm, 5.20pm, 8.10pm.

Screen Two: Trapped In Paradise (PG)- Comedy about three crooks stuck in a town called paradise. 2.30pm , 5.45pm,8.30pm.

Screen Three: The Specialist (15) - Sharon Stone seeks revenge for her parents' deaths and in the meantime romps around with explosives expert Stallone. 2pm, 8.30pm .

Screen Four: Forrest Gump (12) -Tom Hanks as the slow-witted southener who leads an extraordinary life. 5.45pm .

Screen Five: Timecop (18)- Scifi, time-travelling action thriller with Jean Claude Van Damme.

1.30pm, 3.50pm , 8.40pm .

Also: Junior (PG)- Arnold Swarzenegger gets pregnant in this family comedy with Emma Thompson & Danny DeVito.

6pm.

Also: The Mask (PG)- Comic Adventures of a man and a mask. 1.40pm, 3.45pm.

Ode on Screen One: Stargate (PG)James Spader & Kurt Russell fight evil in this sci-fi thriller.

2pm, 4.40pm, 8.05pm.

Screen Two: The Lion King (PG) - Simba the lion fights to reclaim his title in the Disney cartoon.

1pm, 2.45pm.

Screen Three: TBC .

Cinema City Bad Boy Bubby (18)- a 35 year old man experiences the world after a lifetime spent incarceratd in a windowless room . 5.45pm.

L'Enfer (15) - A study of psychotic marital jealousy set in a provincial gourmet hotel.

8.15pm.

Theatre Royal Noises Off - "A whirlwind of comedy, farce and slapstick" as a character actress decides to finance and star in a bedroom farce . £2-£15, 7.30pm.

Cannon Some or all of the films listed on Wednesday February 8 may still be showing. Ring for further details. Star Trek Generations also opens today.

Waterfront Milky Lunch present mixin' it up. £6/£5.

Odeon Some or all of the films listed on Wednesday February 8 may still be showing . Ring for further details. Leon also opens today.

Samanthas Alternative Night, 1Opm-2am.

Cinema City L'Enfer (15). 5.45pm Bad Boy Bubby (1 8). 8.15pm Peeping Tom (18)- A psychological horror, wh ich provoked a barrage of hostile criticism on its release. 11 .00pm.

Hys Club Night. Admission £4 all night.

Theatre Royal Noises Off. £2-£15, 7.30pm .

Oval Bladechain. (Rock Covers)

Boswells Beyond the Blues. 9pm-midnight.

Cannon See Friday February 10.

Odeon See Friday February 10.

Ritzy Fast Trax. Admission £2 b4 10.30pm, £3 after.

Manhattans Hyper! 9pm-2am. Free admission with an NUS card.

lJ:A Killing Joke cancelled.

Odeon See Friday February 10.

Cinema City Dear Diary (15)- Three autobiographical stories starring comedian Nanni Moretti. 5.45pm, 8.15pm.

lJ:A Siouxsie & The Banshees. £9adv.

NAC I Wilde Club Republic+ Submarine. £3adv/ £4dr.

Waterfront 'Pearl' Master Drum Clinic. £3dr.

Oval Moondragon

Cannon See Friday February 10.

Ode on See Friday February 10.

Boswells Lee Vasey Band. 9pm-midnight.

Hys Club Night. Admission £1 , 9pm2am . Happy Hour- midnight1am.

.

;}

en

~

Peppermint Park Mr B's Flying Circus. 9pm-2am.

Admission £1 b410.30pm.

Manhattans Sheer Bliss! 9pm-2am.

THURSDAYFEBRUARY9 Odeon See Wednesday February 8.

~ G) Ill

..a

Waterfront Dreadzone. £5adv/£7dr.

Oval Theodicy Boswells The Boogaloos. 9pm-midnight.

Theatre Royal Noises Off. £2-£15, 7.30pm.

Hys Club Night. Admission £2, 9pm2am. Happy Hour midnight1am.

,"

Cannon See Friday February 10.

Odeon See Friday February 10.

Cinema City Bad Boy Bubby (1 8). 2 .30pm , 8.15pm.

L'Enfer (15). 5.45pm.

"'...... .. . .....

Theatre Royal Five Guys Names Moe - an exhuberant musical celebration of the days when joints really were jumpin'. £3-£19.50, 7.30pm.

8os wells Showcase. Bpm-11pm.

Ritzy Nth Degree. Entry SOp with an NUS card, 9pm-2am.

Peppermint Park Student Night

TUESDAY JANUARY31

Samanthas The Fluff Syndicate - Dance I Trance I Techno music, 10pm2am.

:::1

Cannon See Wednesday February 8.

MONDAY JANUARY 30 Cannon See Friday February 10.

SATURDAYJANUARY28

Cinema City Showboat (U) - Film version of the classic musical, set on a Mississipi showboat. 5.00pm.

The Piano (15) - Holly Hunter as a mute Scotswoman who travels to New Zealand to enter an arranged marriage.

7.30pm.

.. ........ . "'

Cinema City The Secret Garden (U)- an enthralling adaptation of a Victorian fable about a young girl. 2.30pm.

L'Enfer (15). 5.45pm .

Bad Boy Bubby (1 8). 8.15pm.

Theatre Royal Noises Off. £2-£11 , 7.30pm.

Waterfront Meltdown . £3.50/£3. 9pm1.30am.

Oval AB/CD (Tribute to AC/DC) Samanthas Rock Club, 1Opm-2am.

Boswells Dalling Brothers. 9pm-Midnight.

Hys Club Night. Admission £3 b4 10pm, £4 b411 pm , £5 after.

Ritzy Furious Fun. £3 b4 10.30pm , £5 after, 9pm-2am.

Cinema City Dear Diary (15). 2.30pm, 5.45pm.

Some Like lt Hot (PG)- St Valentine's Day special showi ng of the classic Marilyn Monroe romantic comedy.

Theatre Royal Five Guys Name Moe. £3£19.50, 7.30pm.

· ,·

lJ:A Live in The Hive - Pretty Boys inc. +Valentines Disco.

Oval Headswim Boswells Jazz 'n' Blues Jam. 9pm-midnight.

Hys Club Night, £3 b4 10.30pm, £4 after.

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

In association with the Theatre WEDNESDAYFEBRUARY1 Cannon/ Odeon See Friday February 10.

Cinema City Dear Diary (15). 5.45pm, 8.15pm.

Theatre Royal Five Guys Named Moe. £3£19.50, 2.30pm, 7.30pm.

Cannon See Friday February 10.

Boswells Horizon. 9pm-Midnight.

Ode on See Friday February 10.

Hys See last Wednesday

Oval Fakus Quo (Tribute to Status Quo)

Peppermint Park See last Wednesday.

Oval Freak of Nature

Manhattans See last Wednesday.

THURSDAYFEBRUARY16 Ode on See Friday February 10.

Cinema City Geronimo (12)- Big budget ~valuation of the life of the mythic Apache Leader.

2.30pm, 5.45pm.

Theatre Royal Five Guys Named Moe. £3£19.50, 7.30pm.

Waterfront Det-ri-mental. £4, 7.30pm.

Oval Primal Instinct.

Boswells The Roosters. 9pm-Midnight.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17 Cannon See Friday February 10.

Black Beauty also opens today.

Ode on See Friday February 10.

Jungle Book also opens today.

Cinema City Geronimo (12), 5.45pm.

Dear Diary (15), 8.15pm.

"Whafs Eating Gilbert Grape (12)- Unusually sentimental tale of adolescent anxiety withJohnnyDepp. 11 .00pm.

Waterfront Globo live techno form the local masters. £3.501 £3dr.

9pm-1 .30am.

Oval Tattered 'n' Tom. Samanthas See last Wednesday.

Boswells Blues Inc. 9pm-Midnight.

Hys Club Night.

See fast Friday.

Cannon See Friday February 10.

Ode on See Friday February 10.

NAC I Wllde Club Flamengoes. £3.50adv./£4dr.

Boswells Showcase. 8pm-11pm.

Ritzy See last Monday.

Peppermint Park See last Monday.

Odeon See Friday February 10.

Cannon I Odeon See Friday February 10.

Cinema City Warofthe Buttons (PG). 2.30pm .

Faust (PG). 5.45pm.

Killing Zoe ( 18). 8.15pm.

Theatre Royal The Wizard of Oz. 2pm, 6pm. £2£11 .

Hys Club Night. See last Tuesday.

lEA Live in The Hive - Old Heads

Theatre Royal Five Guys Named Moe. £3£19.50.

Samanthas Rock Club. See last Saturday.

lEA

Boswells East Coast Blues Band. 9pmMidnight

Club Dog Cancelled Cinema City Mrs Doubtfire (PG)- Robin Williams disguises himself as an elderly woman in order to become his kids' nanny. 2.30pm.

14

Waterfront Ever popular 80s club night 'The Thatcher Years' featuring DJ Gavin Hudson & Meltdown. £3.50/£3. 9pm-1.30am.

Cinema City War of the Buttons (PG) Two rival gangs fight in rural 1970s Ireland. 2.30pm.

Faust (PG)- A surreal reinterpretation of the legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil. 5.45pm.

Killing Zoe (18)- A violent piece of modem pulp fiction .

8.15pm.

HIGHLIGHT OF WEEK ONE Star Trek Generations -A treat for Trekkies as the crews from the old and new series join together due to a mysterious astronomical phenomenon which allows the bridging of time. The two crews unite to save the world, fight evil, beat the mad scientist etc.

Theatre Royal The Wizard of Oz - An evening of family entertainment based on the RSC's 1989 production. 6pm, £2£11.

TUESDAYFEBRUARY7

SATURDAYFEBRUARY18

Cannon See Friday February 10.

Cinema City Hells Angels (U)- Big budget spectacular about the First World War flyers. 2.30pm.

Suspiscion (PG)- Vintage Hitchcock thriller. 5pm.

Lancelot du Lac (PG) - A new French rendition of the famous story. 7.30pm.

Ritzy See last Wednesday.

Norwich Arts Centre Australian String Quartet. £7/ £Scones.

Cannon See Friday February 10.

I - tickets always lrom £3 or £4

SUNDAYFEBRUARY19

Samanthas See last Wednesday.

41

Hys Club Night. See last Saturday.

Manhattans Hyperl See last Saturday.

Young Shoulders - Irish music revival.

Oval At the Gates & Seance.

Samanthas See last Tuesday.

Boswells Jazz 'n' Blues Jam.

HIGHLIGHT OF WEEK TWO Five Guys Named Moe- Five cool dudes spring from the radio to cheer up Lomax- who's mean, moody & broken hearted because his baby's left him. What that five Moes- Big Moe, Little Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe & Four-eyed Moe- don't know about life, love & dancing just ain't worth knowing.

............

----------~------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ - - - - - -

42

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

Sport

IT'

RIM

~--By-----.

falling out with John Deehan and moved to Leicester City.

Regular goalkeeper Bryan Gunn is probably out for the rest of the season following his ankle injury at Forest, and 19 year old understudy, Andy Marshal!, is regarded as too young by the manager and many supporters.

However, all this may have changed following his breath-taking performance against Coventry in the cup, where he came on for the injured, on-loan Simon Tracey.

Tracey's initiation into the Nor-

Stewart Bamford THEY say that a week is a long time in football.lf a week is a long time, then a year must be an eternity.

-

It certainly seems that long since Norwich had reached the dizzy heights of European competition, with players like Sutton, Fox and Ekoku wearing yellow and green, and Mike Walker still in charge.

Things aren't bri lliant at Carrow Road at the minute. Having been knocked out of the Coca-Cola Cup

by Bolton, Norwich have had to regroup.

Ashley Ward has been brought in from Crewe as the replacement for Sutton, but is unfortunately cuptied. His rapid promotion to the first team has been hastened by the loss of Mark Robins, who had a

wich side only took place three days earlier, again against Coventry, in a cold and wet midweek game. He di dn't start well, racing out to the corner flag to collect the ball, only to slice it to Dion Dublin, who had little difficulty in putting Coventry one up.

Norwich equalised through a controversial penalty, then took the lead with another stunning goal by Ward.

Unfortunately for the 14,000 or so City supporters who turned up, Coventry scored an equaliser 15

minutes from the end with a stunning half-volley.

Luckily for Deehan, the weather was to foul for the Norwich fans to stage another demonstration against him. He claimed he was happy with the application of the players, especially considering five regulars were missing, but said he was still disappoi nted with a draw.

The rest of the season will be a struggle for Norwich, and Premiership survival can now be the only rea listic objective, with Europe seeming as far away as ever.

~ ~

~

ffl

~

8 ~

~

w_...,...

,_____________....

Ward - on target again

Grand Prix Race Hots Up ----By Robert Mullarkey

I

NO sooner had exams ended ~and the Sports Centre ~returned to a state of ~ nonnality, than the Grand Prix E once again returned to the ~ forefront of affairs. ~ With team members having re-

iÂŁ charged their batteries over the Short tennis - 100 mph serves and weird grunts it ain't

The Sports Interview: Mar Rowland LAST weekend saw the British Indoor Athletics Championships, where among the competitors was Mark Rowland. Nik Oavyspoke to the Olympic steeplechase bronze medalist whilst he was training in Norwich.

Mark Rowland is a man wi th

strong opinions. He always has been, but has kept them to himself in the past. "At my age, though, there's no point. I may as welljustsaywhat I think."

Not surpri singly for an athlete, the subject of drugs comes up rather quickly, though he initially brushes off the question with " It doesn't concern me, as I don ' t take them."

Prompted further he speaks of

~ ~

"'

~ w ~

:;_

the farcica l three month bans for ' lesser' offences. " If people are on drugs to improve performance, ban them for li fe."

He adds that it does show how strict the laws applying to athletes are, and he thinks that " under the same rules, half the sportsmen in the country would be banned."

He also seems to have given up as far as beating Africans is concerned- "Even at my best now, I'd get plastered by the Kenyans. Ten of them go and another ten come back. We'll never be able to compete with their elastic strength they' re superior beings at that sort of thing."

So what motivates him? " Proving people wrong! I've been doing it all my life, so why stop now?''

When asked how much time he spends training, Mark says time and distance are irrelevant. It's the quality which counts. "Ask a sprinter what he does and he'll probably tell you he does five hours a day. What they do is go to the track., sit down, put the reggae music on, have a li ttle stretch for about three hours, put the old spikes on, do a couple of strides, a couple ofsprints, go back., do some more stretching, and that's the morning gone."

As for Mark, he's doing I Ok races for the money to fi nance the restofthe training, and also raci ng indoors, again for the money and also for the speed. Hejustwantsto get through the winter without getting injured, before the hard work really begins at the end of this month.

That's when we'll see more of Mark Rowland. Probably much more.

e ffl

~

8 ~

~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~

b ii Mark Row/and

vacation, everyone was ~ager to return to action on the first weekend of the new semester.

And matters were simmering nicely, the events prior to Christmas bringing about a change at the top of the leaderboard.

Going into the third stage, the leaders were Jellylegs. However, a

creditable runners-up performance

by Flying Circus in the volleyball was further enhanced by a doubling of points in this, the ir joker event, bringing them up to second place overall.

In the best traditions of' A Question of Sport', Flying Circus then donned their finest Pringle sweaters and promptly become victors of stage four, the sports quiz.

This result put them six points clear at the top of the leaderboard, ahead of Jellylegs with one-time leaders The Trojans lurking dangerously poised in third place.

In the badminton, the first postchristmas event, Flying Circus only finished 33rd, and are now joint second with The Trojans.

So back into first go Jellylegs,

afte r finish ing second behind Mal'ary Ush, AKA the badminton club.

Last weeks offerings were the Table Tennis and the Short Tennis (Eh?) Basically, this consists of plastic raquets and sponge balls, the use of which seemed to produce a hybrid of Centre Court and junior school.

Nevertheless, it had an appeal which I OOmph serve, topspin and backspin games lack., and due to time restrictions, each game only lasts seven minutes.

Soon I bagan to reminisce about matches which had been screaming serve after screaming serve for four and a halfhours. And then I thought, "What a ruddy good idea short tennis is!"

Run Wild With The Trojans

No pain, no gain ...

RUNNING through knee-deep mud in torrential rain might not be everybody's idea of fun.

However, the Trojans, UEA's athletics cl ub, does not only cater for the hardy (or should that be 'mad') cross-country runner. Track and Field, road running, orienteering, duathlon, triathlon and race walking competitions are also entered- the club boasts as it's president Ian Richards, who won last year's BUSA race walking championship.

Yet if all this seems too energetic, its worth noting that more

PHOTO: NIK DAVY

than two thirds of the Trojans' membership is made up of people who don't wish to compete, just to run occasionally and get fi t or stay in shape.

Training sessions are geared towards everyone, from potential Linford Christies who want to train seven days a week, to fair-weather joggers who simply enjoy running with others of the same standard.

The men's team are presently leading in the RAF cross-country league and, along with the women's team, enjoy the privilege ofrunning round the wind-swept air bases of Norfolk. However, other exotic

locations to be visited this year include sunny Manchester, for the BUSA championships, and Hyde Park., for the Imperial College relays.

The most popular tri p is the annual autumn weekend in Derbyshire- a48 hour pub crawl cunningly disguised as a training weekend, where the new members get to know everyone and where, this year, the infamous 'underpants relay team' was formed. â&#x20AC;˘ For more information on this, or any other aspect of the club, contact the Trojans through their pigeon hole in the sports centre.

Concrete, Wec.tnesdoy, February 8, 1995

43

Sport

IRATES PLUNDER. S RREY !'!!~!!.AND STORM THE HURRICANES li'eb 13thforraaaerseyc:lim,

dimbenudrowen.Orgaa-

riak, drug and mental eldth eharitf, it aim$ to raise aoney by ukiag eo.,..: petiton to set a personal target ud attaiaiDg it iDside sil weeks. Eada Claallenger will receive a certificate for meedag their target, with those who gaia indMdaaJ spouorship ma:eess of£25 gettiDg a bonus prize. Fortherdetails {shou1d) beavaiJ.. able from the sports centre.

THE ladies basketball team c:nslted out of this year•s DUSA C:OIIIpetitloa followw .iag a 37-53 defeat by LSE. UEAhad.abarddmeputtiDg a team together, eitb the result beiag a side which had never played together before. They were e asequeutly disorganised la the tint half, and lost far too much groud. despite stagbag JOmethbag of a comf>-

bac:k in the seeoad bait

I

UEA~SURREY

bed by Tu.raiag poiat, the

UEA20-0HERTS AFTER a poor start to the season, the UEA Pirates knew that the game against Surrey Stingers was their chance to turn the season around and make a valid run at the playoffs.

The scoring started with a double from the Smart brothers, and running back Ruche lie Peng continued hisgreatformand endedupwithtwo touchdowns on the day. These and five further scores made the final result extremely satisfying for the team.

Any time a defence can stop the opposition from scoring they must be doing something right Excellent coverage gave Surrey very little option but to run the ball, which outstanding play from the linemen made virtually impossible.

This win equalled last year's ~ number of wins,and the team went ~ into the game against Herts Hurri~ canes feeling good about themselves. ~ The first two touchdowns were ~ scored by Warren Smart, one from ~· six yards which the Great Britain @ player ran in, the second from a t::=======;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;......,.......,.....,...,....,.._____________. n. three yard dive through the line

The Pirates launch another attack...

which benefited from some great

·Matt

~:gram

I

blocking by the offensive line.

Rookie wide receiver Bob Christian added the third score with an excellent catch in the corner of the end zone, and along the way wide receiver Danny Turner added a two point conversion, rounding the score off to 20-0.

More excellent coverage by the defence, and the continued dominance of the line, meant that the clean sheet was pretty much inevitable.

So the Pirates reached midway with a 2-2 record. Unfortunately, next opponents Reading were forced to cancel and UEA were laterawarded the game 1-0.

The team was looking to extend their winning streak in the home rematch against Herts, but due to the ambulance no-show the match had to be abandoned.

However the day was not a complete loss as the Chargers and the 49ers were on the telly in the Super Bowl- mucho pizza, mucho beer and mucho hangover!

•The match against Herts,the last home game of the season, has been rescheduled for lpm on Feb 19 at Colney lane, so go see it!

..

McKenzie inspires Well Aard!

UEA rugby V'lctory T:~·~~:N::::. . L.:~~:~=~.,wcyl UEA43-6 Norwich Union UEA'S first XV continued on their relentless quest for glory with a Norfolk Plate Semi-final victory over Norwich Union at Colney lane.

Despite playing into a howling gale, UEA soon started to dominate through their forwards, and therefore were able to unleash their venomous back division.

From the moment the first try was scored, the result never

tries - the first hat-trick of his UEA career - and he was ably assisted by Nick Oliver (two tries), Will Amies and Nick Cooper (one each).

However, these feats were overshadowed by the performance of Nick McKenzie, who gave what was probably the best performance of his life. As captain Stan Clays reiterated afterwards, "Nick was tremendous and his performance inspired us all".

UEA now play Fakenham in the Final at Norwich RFC on

---By·---Cameron Green seemed in doubt, and it soon became a case ofjust how many points UEA could accumulate.

James Tumey became the hero of the day as he ran in three

dominance of Division One of the Norwich Basketball League was reinforced on Tuesday as they defeated Notre Dame Firsts by 116-

67.

The game was expected to be the decisivt: battle which would theoretically decide the championship,yetNotreDame, whodominated the league last year, were only able to field four players.

Their younger players showed their fitness, being forced to play throughout the whole game, and displayed some skilful perimeter shooting. However, the Aardvark Firsts, with a full team eager for divisional success, played a game which effectively destroyed any

Unselfish play from the majority of players ensured an entertaining, high-scoring game. Bill Chislett displayed his dominance as guard, scoring 29 points, and Roli Savvaris powered his way to an impressive 31 points whilst Michael Ellinas, eager to excite the crowd, notched up 14 points of his own.

However, it must be acknowledged that the younger, generally less experienced team still managed to score 67 points against the UEA first team, despite being one man short throughout the game.

Therefore, perhaps the eager crowd would have seen more of a battle, had two full teams met each other on Tuesday night.

CC.tch Us If You Can! UEA 5-1 The Pickwlck UEA'S football first eleven maintained their unbeaten league run with an impressive 5-1 victory over The ~Pickwick.

(§

InagamewhichsawbrothersJim and Pete Smith opposing each other ~ for the first time, it soon became b clear that Smith Junior was going to . .__ _........ ::t: n. end the game the happ1er.

Midfielder Ml!t RossJl!e! )?eg,aQ ~

Who you lopkirz' at?

I

Jim

~~ith

I

the scoring with a sweet volley from 20 yards. This was followed two minutes later with an even more spectacular fmish from Tony Scott, as he left two defenders in his wake to smash the ball into the roof of the net. A first goal for centre-half Steve Holmes meant that UEA went in at the interval 3-0 up.

Two further goals, one from Jim Smith and O!le aJ! own _g<;>al ~;x-

tended UEA's lead to five in the second half. Even so, there was time for The Pickwick to grab a consolation goal in the last few minutes.

With this win, UEA have consolidated their lead at the top of the Gall pen Press Business House First Division, with an unprecedented third league championship now in their sights. It left captain Steve Taylor to comment, "We are now well in the driving seat, and it's up to the others to try to overtake us -Q the .hoq1e sttaight." • .. • •

•

44

Concrete, Wednesday, February 8, 1995

~

~ ~

â&#x20AC;˘ UEA Pirates quarterback Warren Smart plans another offensive play.

See page 43 for further details.

~

~

L!::::::::::::::::::::::::~~~~~~~~~~!!~~~~~----~~.:~--~~--:.~~~~--~:l~!.~~~~~~~~~~:J~~~::~~~~::J ~

SPORTS SABB PROPOSALS 0

.'PLANS for the Union Sports Offi cer to become a full-time sabbatical post have been put on hold.

JaneHorner

This and other proposals put forward at Student Forum to redraft the Union's constitution were due to be debated by students at a forthcoming UGM. But Communication Officer Phi! Clegg's resignation last week has meant that only the most neces-

sary amendments to the constitution , in line with the 1994 Education Act, can now be tabled .

This is due to Phi! being responsib le for preparing the first draft

by February 14.

Present Sports Officer, Alex Bainbridge, is the principal cam-

By

paigner for a sabbatical officer, but so far, re actions from other Union officers have been mixed .

The main arguments against a sabbatical Sports Officer are the financial implications- each sabbatical post has a ÂŁ7,000 per year wage - and wh ether there is enough work, and enough interest in sport from students, to justify this.

Alex claims these worries are

unfounded , however.

Firstly, the post could be partly self-funded if the new officer is able to find a sponsorship deal for the university teams, he explained.

Also, according to this year's Annual Sports Centre Report, in comparison to other universities, "lt is clear participation levels at UEA are among the highest in Britain , if notthe highest".

Regarding the amount of work,

Alex said this year has been a "total nightmare" for him, trying to juggle sports-related responsibilities, Union duties and a degree.

He admitted there have been several key issues he has not been able to address due to sheer lack oftime, whereas a sabbaticat officer could concentrate solely on sports affairs.

The full-time sports officer would also take over sports re-

lated duties from the other sabbaticals.

Presently, the Finance Officer is responsible for the allocation of training and equipment money, whilst the Welfare Officer deals with safety issues .

Only the Sports Officer has regular contact with each club, and is therefore in the best position to deal with all aspects of sportatUEA.

Rooms available now!

Ring us for full details the students' landlord