The event issue 098 28 04 1999

.

I

0

~eventJ

i ', '

>

cocktail shakers

THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

0

~evenfJ ~~ HMV

mus•~

0

Forget yo~r sounds of Northern grit and vapid pop, now there's music made in heaven. Katie Durrant meets Angelou... ometimes a song will come along so breathtaking, so full of grace that you just stop whatever it IS you are doing and listen. Really listen.

Something 1n it touches you. moves you. Angelou have these kinds of songs by the bucketful.

Lead singer and songwnter Holly Lerski was born in London, but grew up in Wymondham, a

a Norfolk village, not the most happening of places. but where she met Jo Baker, who, along with Holly, forms the musical backbone of the band.

"Jo and I have always had th1s dream to have our own band together", reminisces Holly, "we've always played music together and fantasised about having our own band, writing about it in our English essays, the usual".

Proving that childhood dreams can come true, Holly and Jo formed Angelou. along with Chris Evans on bass and Phil di Palma on drums. Holly describes Angelou's music as "emotional. Intelligent. about empathy. I'm inspired by the human condition. I want to make music that moves people." And this she does, with an ethereal yet assured voice, and classic songcrafting skills. lt is the songs that are at the core of Angelou, strong, melodic, crafted songs.

She might not have become the writer she is today had her family not moved from London.

"When we moved to Norfolk, all my toys were

What's the big fuss then?

Aretha Franklin was - and still is - the Queen of Soul. Blessed with a voice that reaches places other beers just don't dare go, this daughter of a preacher man has been responsible for some of the classiest classics ever Laid-Down, as they say. Combining an amazing funk-filled voice with gospel fervour, soul sensibilities and a touch of magic to amazing effect, she had a string of hits in the early 60s and continues to be a much revered figure today. Quite frankly, Lady Soul Aretha deserves our respect.

Who did/ does what?

Well, Aretha's golden vocals did most of the work, but she was aided by having the right

m storage. Alii had was my guitar, so I had to do something. To my surprise, I found I could write songs." She also found she could sing; handy if you're going to be singer-songwriter.

a dodgy manager told us to get some gUtter makeup and Run DMC trainers She played with a few bands before forming Angelou and signing to Haven, releasing Automiracles to critical acclaim but commercial silence.

While the Independent praised the songs, the record-buying public did not respond, says Holly, because of the financial restraints of being 'indie'.

"We get good critical stuff and that keeps us go1ng, but it's frustrating to know people like your

songs to sing. Given stellar compositions like Bacharach and David's I Say a Little Prayer, it required minimum effort to turn it into something good; Aretha Franklin put in the maximum and turned it into something amazing.

Sold a few records then?

By 1968, Aretha had accumulated four gold singles and two gold albums in the US. She also provided legendary soul stable Atlantic Records . with its fastest million-seller of all time when it released Chain Of Fools. Over here, her biggest solo hit was I Say A Little Prayer which got to number four in 1968.

Which is the best then?

Where do I start? Respect, Think, I Say A Little Prayer, Natural Woman... have you heard these songs?! Respect is probably the best, oozing with sassy attitude and verve; a dancing-round-yourbedroom and getting-ready-to go-out classic. Any Greatest Hits package is probably the best way to start.

Did we mention Girl Power?

Aretha was strutting her stuff and singing songs like Respect long before the Spice Girls ever thought of it. In 1985 she teamed up with fellow diva Annie Lennox and The Eurythmics to produce Sisters are Doin' lt For Themselves, now a rousing feminist anthem and certainly more inspiring than her duets with George Michael and Sir Elton John!

music, but you can't promote your album because there isn't the money to do so. That's the only advantage of being on a major they've got the financial clout to get your music everywhere• A decidedly dodgy manager they met in London gave them some helpful hints on how to get a major deal: "He told us we ought to get some glitter makeup and Run DMC trainers, and then we'd get a major deal! You realise then what a load of crap it is."

Angelou, minus the glitter, are currently working on a second album, due out around September, which Holly is excited about. Her advice to aspiring bands, struggling to be 'got' or land a record deal, is: "If you're not doing what's current, then don't give up on it. Remember, it's your dream, nobody's go1ng to work hard for your dream.

Everyone's got their own dream, so don't put your career 1n anyone else's hands."

So there you go. Angelou; great voice, great songs, great career advice.

Keep an eye on this band • it's angel's music.

So, what does the future hold?

Queen Mother of Soul? After collaborating with Lauryn Hill on the single A Rose Is Still A Rose, it seems likely that Aretha Franklin will assume the role of elder stateswoman of soul. Further collaborations with diverse artists would be interesting - Aretha Franklin and Fatboy Slim anyone? Either way, icon status and her place in rock'n'roll history is most certainly secured.

In retrospect; R.E.S.P.E.C. T...find out what it means to me.

-

cean rnfle .J=aflt:e "A hundred thousand welcomes"

- - • • FREEHOUSE •.__._

10 real ales always available

Probably the largest selection of IriBh Wbi8key8 in the country Great value meals - including

our 'Taste of Ireland' menn Come and join ns for good beer, a great abnosphere and mighty

"craic"

l'llurkeldlueU 92 POTTERGATE, NORWICH

01603 626627 THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

0

~

0

•

Naughty narcotics, grenade launchers and Rupert Murdoch. Darcy Hurlord investigates the bizarre world of The Herbaliser...

11

W

.:~HMV

e might even have to change the band's name. We didn't expect to get as big as we're becoming, and I'm sure we're going to run into trouble soon".

Giving your band a name as remi niscent of ill icit substances as The Herbaliser is, it seems, not always a good idea. And, according to Herbal Jake Wherry, it was never a drug reference in th e first place: "The name's from a guy called Peter Herbaliser. He's a Swiss German, and in the seventies he did some really fu nky drum & bass , well, quite heavy drums and Moog-y bass, quite trendy'' Rhythmic Central Europeans aside, The Herbaliser are a south London collective centring around Jake Wherry and DJ Ollie Teeba They take care of instrumentation, while lyrics are usually provided by guest collaborators. Jake explains the situation thus: "We're just instrumentalists, rappers come in and we give them free rein. I'd like to be able to express things in that way, but I've written songs since I was a teenager- and they're just adolescent rubbish! " Bizarrely enough ,the press release speaks of "stoned apostl eistic gorillas finely trained in the art of Ninjatsu". But don't worry, it's hip-hop really.

Signed in 1992, they have played venues as far afield as Moscow, Montreal and, erm, Manchester. Their third album , Very Mercenary is released this month and is described by Jake as "a bit more uptempo , a bit more bangin"', compared to earlier releases.

Influences range from jazz and European rock to names like De La Soul , DJ Premier and A Tribe Called Quest, which makes them fairly eclectic by anyone's reckoning.

Now, what with hip-hop being an aii-American music form and everything , you might have thought that The Herbaliser wou ld be rath er keen on the country that sired the music they love. Not really. Secretly, we may all enjoy a Yank now and then , but certain aspects of US attitudes, according to Jake, are annoyingly hypocritical: "In America, you can have a mini army and mortars and grenade launchers in your house, yet they'll jail you for having a spliff. it's a really harsh country."

The main problem though , seems to be many Americans' lack of knowledge of hip-hop, ironic when you consider that virtually all great hip-hop artists are themselves Americans.

"Americans are generally quite ignorant about their heritage . There are people who make beats and know their old records , but generally Americans just haven't got a clue.

When we were out there last year, drum & bass had just started to come through, and we were being interviewed and people were asking us 'do you feel threatened by drum & bass?' Which is a rather silly question when you come to think of it."

For some time now, a sinister change has been taking place in the world of music. Guitars are giving way to samplers, drum kits are being replaced by drum machines, and miserablefaced singers in

eventJ

stripey tops are turning into mad DJs in combat trousers. Jake, why has dance music become so popular?

"People are turning to dance music because it's a more interesting sound. Also, I think if you 've got a band with two guitarists, a bass player, a singer and a drummer, you're quite limited, 'cos great bands have done it before" On the other hand, the subsequent deification of DJs is regrettable and misses the point of what a live periormance is all about: "The whole notion that seeing a DJ in a cl ub is as good as seeing a band is ridiculous. When peopl e see a live band there's far more happening in the air."

What does he mean? Stagedivers and crowdsuriers are indeed temporarily airborne at live gigs , but that's not really an advantage, is it?

The real answer's far more intelligent ...

"Sound is about freq uencies going thro ugh the air and actually vibrating your internal organs and stuff, and people respond to that. So when they see a live band people respo nd more to that because there are more frequencies and harmonies in the air than when you just see a DJ .

DJs are overpaid , aren't they really? You 're meant to dance to a DJ , not sit and watch ".

But do you reckon guitar music's dead?

"Never say never. Th ere's all these nutters like Yngwie Malmsteen who can , make a cup of coffee and play the guitar at the same time" The Herbaliser aren't too bothered about being the Next Big Thing either. it's about the music (man): "We're making music that's been around for 15, 20 yea rs , it's never been about whether it's been in the magazines ... it's a very rich culture.

There's people that do breakdancing, people that do graffiti , peopl e that are really aware of their music ... I'm just a bit of a muso really, I just love music."

The future doesn't give them much cause for concern either: "We're getting more successful than we ever anticipated , so there's no point really worrying about where we're going to go."

In an industry primarily concerned with shifting as much product as possible, it's refreshing to find someone not going for the hard sell. Unlike some ...

"What pisses me off is when things are really hyped. Like the UNKLE album. I actually went out and bought it 'cos I thought it was going to be setting the standard for us all to be following , and it just wasn 't. it was quite good, but it had been marketed as something massive. The whole thing was about mad artwork and promotion , little toys and gizmos."

But don't let the vagaries of life as a hip-hop purveyor get you down. After all. .. "it's only music at the end of the day. There are plenty of other things worth slagging off, I'm sure.

Slag off Rupert Murdoch 'cos he is the Devil."

The whole notion that seeing a DJ is as good as seeing a band is ridiculous

- "G

•

~

AOLY'S

Club Nights most Fridays and Saturdays- Top Local DJ's Superb Stage/PA Setups • One of the best venues in the area!

Drinks at Pub Prices - House Doubles £1. SO All Night Every Night Ten Pool Tables & Top Video Games- 30p per play (usually £1)

EVERY THURSDAY THREE LIVE BANDS £3 ENTRY

(£2

WITH STUDENT UNION

ID)

AND SELECTED PINTS AND BOTTLES £1 ALL NIGHT

*

*

EVERY TUESDAY ·THE CRYSTAL CLUB FREE LIVE BANDS, FREE LIVE ENTRY, IN ASSOCIATION WITH NOISEBOX

*

EVERY WEDNESDAY - WILDE CLUB

*

CHECK OUT OUR CLUB NIGHTS EVERY WEEKEND

OPEN MON TO SAT 8PM - 1 AM/SUN 6PM - 12PM

All Fat Pauly,s Tickets Are Available From: SOUNOCLASH,

28

S T 8ENEOICTS ST NORWICH TEL:

761004

THE TICKET SHOP, THE GUILDHAll GAOL HILL NORWICH T EL : NORWICH ARTS CENTRE,

62

ST BENEOICTS ST, TEL :

764764

660352

PAY BY PLASTIC?- CALL THE TICKET HOTLINE ~ ON FREE PHONE 0500 333355 ,

$"

THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

~

~

The Herbaliser: They've Got Balls

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

--- -- - 0

young art terrorists.

Lots of girls fancied them, but the critics derided them as musically inept and insincere.

Today, several years and pies later, it's a different story.

NickyWire has lost his

because there's no point, so his ego stays intact And though Mr. Presley was a staunch anti-drugs unfortunately for those of us who don't actually like campaigner, some of his trouser-challenging Bat Out Of Hell in the slightest. waistline has been attributed to the ingestion of an New developments are afoot though, manifested in unknown narcotic. As steroids or amphetamines the appearance of Ultrasound's Tiny Wood. would have induced a desire to take a jog round So far, bands have started off unsuccessful and the Strip rather than a roll to the fridge, a process thin, and ended up rich and rotund. of deduction must surely reveal that The King was Tiny is not only fighting against the prejudice in fact a partaker of a new and mysterious suffered by anyone in the media who isn't rake-thin, substance. he also contradicts the cruel myth that says only Before Elvis died, there was another man whose older people are allowed to eat proper food like icedesire for pies, booze and rock n' roll finally got ' cream and chips and Rolos without worrying about the better of him. The man to whom I refer is, of their figures, or to not bother exercising because it's course, Sixties counter-culture hero, Doors singer, boring.

Jim Morrison. As he got older Jim's drug taking Which is an admirable aim, even if the Health and JD consumption became progressively more Association won't like him for it. extreme until he expired in the bath, at least

0

ere ee to be a strange connecti teen -p op stars, falne and Dab. Katy something that happens to all of us now and again - except if you're an evil person who doesn't put on weight of course.

Those depressing moments when you step onto the scales after one pint/pie/chocolate bar too many and think, "Oh dear, I've got a bit fat, haven't I?" After which, if a mere mortal, you try eating a bit less until your clothes feel a bit looser. Not if you're a pop star, though.

Oh dear me no, if you are a pop star, then a bit of surplus weight is positively a good thing. lt has become almost synonymous with established band status.

An established band is a respected band which in tum is, all too often, a somewhat stout band.

Take the Manic Street Preachers, for instance.

For the first years of their career, they were lissom

slender charm, but people "'who buy all their clothes from BHS have heard of him.

James Dean Bradfield is rather more ample, but people respect him, or so I've heard.

Now, I am aware that other factors are involved in the Manics' career upturn, but the fat factor mentioned above has clearly contributed in some way.

Elvis, of course, is the King, and in particular, King of the calories.

As his sad demise demonstrated all too clearly, severe weight gain plays havoc with the health.

On the other hand, it can be a damn good career move, and guarantee you your place in history.

Before he got fat, Presley was a washed up ex-GI who'd been in one bad film too many. Add some rhinestones, hamburgers and lots of deep-fried Mars bars, and he became a Las Vegas kitsch icon loved by all.

saving the undertakers the task of cleaning the fluff from his cavernous belly button.

But if you want more proof of the lucrative powers of saturates, look no further thari Meatloaf.

Not only does he have a lot of weight behind his arguments, but he sells offensive amounts of records and is repulsively rich to boot.

Plus, because he's been around such a long time, no one bothers to slag him off, basically

.:

l lfE,EVENl; WEDIES

YJ APRIL 281-999

0

0

lllllsu:

d-"'HMV

. .

eventJ

the round up of this fortnight's music releases Suede Head Music

5

While many of our heroes abandoned thei r manifestos and went fat (Manics), or split ('Roses). Suede stayed true to their roots. seemingly believing that image is as important as the music.

They have come on from the self-pastiche of Coming Up, and with Head Music, Suede have found a new determi nation to storm our ears and stick two finge rs up to th e doubters.

Although we face such poetry as "she lives in a house/ she's stupid as a mouse" and Brett Anderson's usual fare of cracked up kid s in the city wea ring polythe ne driving a car - "she oh ho, duckie" - the band have become far tig hter and adopted a more punky directi on.

This is most clea rly seen on tracks like Can't Get Enough, Elephant Man, and current single Electricity, and th ere are sti ll ballads a pl enty. He's Gone and Everything Will Flow are th e best, and the must-be-a-summer-single She's In Fashion co uld prove to be th e bands biggest hit to date.

Whatever you do in you r head, buy thi s album.

People move on indeed..

Luke Turner

Mishka Mishka

help feel that McGee has found a star in M1shka.

Mishka's lyrics are sensitive. the melodies both contemporary and t1meless in true reggae tradition and his voice extraordinary 1n a twenty-lour year old. Raised on a Bermudan boat, Mishka's work has an understandably eclectic range of influences yet still maintains that unique and un ifying flavour so important to reggae greats. A touch introspective but unsurprising in one so young . Expect big thi ngs from Mishka.

Kris Siefken

4

The opening track Give You All the Love on Mishka's sell t1tled debut album instantly brought to mind the early works of Bob Marley - high praise for any reggae album and as the tracks develop the vocal talents of Mishka are given full range. Indeed his voice constantly brings to mind vintage classics and the talents of not only Marley but also Sam Cook.

Discovered by Creation reco rd's Alan McGee while on honeymoon in the Caribbean. you can't

Echo & T he Bunnymen UEA LCR Monday, April 12 So alter th e (Iuke) warm up from Annie Christian 1t's up to the Bunnymen to justify our ticket price.

Things start off well: as the road crew set up, the PA treats us to some class ic TV th eme tunes such as Scooby Doo and The Avengers.

However when the band finally make an appearance, lan McCu llock's swaggenng attitu de can't disguise the fact that this IS a Jekyll and Hyde performance. The entire l1rst hall of the set was dedicated to "class1cs" from th e Bunnymen back catalogue. This kept the majority of the 35year-old plus crowd happy. However, seeming as this was supposed to be a gig show-casing the new album it was a somewhat unpleasant surprise to be treated to this dated 80s attitude-rawk, instead of the elegant, lucid romantics of the new material.

The second hall of the set would yield better. The

Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach Painted From Memory "': _.

Tour Edition 5 ~ ~ Where many other pop stars have 路 either resigned themselves to oblivion or pressed on merci lessly with tired and washed out rehashes of their former artistry.

Elvis Costello has refused to surrender h1s integ rity. With con summate eas e, Costello has drawn on his seemly inexhaustible talent to produce a va ri ety of approaches, innovations and invariably brilliant records.

His latest release Painted From Memory, which was ori ginally released last autumn, sees Costello team ing up with th e inimitabl e Burt Bacharach to produce startlingly beautiful collection of broken love songs. Using the scattered emotional debris as a pl atform to re-inven ting himself as th e first post-rock rock star, Cos tello all ows his natu ral instincts to shine thro ugh, as he and Bacilarach reclai m tfi e ballad fro m th e depths into which it has rece ntly sunk. Th e result is an un likely but tru ly remarkable record that will go a long way to cementing Costello's rep utation as one of the greatest musicians of ou r age.

Complimenting this re -release is live disc which. while not fully compensating for not seeing him in person, does ad mirabl y demonstrate Elvis Costello's great versatil1ty as a performer. A masterpiece.

Paul Stokes

Jacknife Lee Muy Rico/

beautiful What Are You Gonna Do W1th Your Life? drifted sublimely and perhaps showed that lan McCullock does indeed care ... maybe not about us but tile fact that he may care about something is almost enough. They built on this with the gorgeous Fools Like Us, when during its threeand-a-half minute length the Bunnymen became til e band that U2 always promised to be.

As always the best moments came from lan路s set links such as "whatever happened to Shed Seven? Th ey were a great band." This was only topped by, "I've played here before and I was feeling kinda depressed, but when I came out here you guys li fted me up 1n a kinda Li ghthouse Family type style ... Don't laugh. I know most of you lot bought that sh .. e". At least lan seemed aware that it was the middle of the Easter holiday and the now packed LCR was fi lled with bald fat men . Ultimately though. we have to thank the good lord that they at least didn't play that risible Spice Girls football song ... or a Doors medley.

A/ex McGregor

3

Comparisons aren't always usefu l. but tile name Jacknife Lee reminds me of another dance type (Zoe Ball's future husband ... ).

They even manage to sound a little sim1lar. but that's where the comparison ends.

Alas. when they were ilandmg out samples.

Jacknife opted for the dul l ones. leaving Fatboy with the catchy ones. Result? An album of overlong tracks that while technically competent. are a little boring. Yet ifs not all bad, a definite h1gh pomt is Too Sweet Boogie Woogie- take a cute sample from Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang. and bury it under a wall of electronic beats, beeps and wil1 te noise. A Dog Named Snuggles is also great fun , based around a sample of a well-known US DJ losing his cool, and swearing a lot.

Apparently , Jacknife's ethos is "music should be fun w1thout being stupid", but much of this album is neither fun nor stupid, just a little dull and repetitive. Bu t watch out, it ca n end up growing on you...

Stephen Ouirke

On the back of a UK to ur, the Fun Lovin' Crims release Korean Bodega, and it lives up to the standards we have come to expect, Huey's croakey vocals com plimenting the guitar groove well.

Another catchy chorus is sung by guest Shirley Manson on th e B-side.

Nothing different, but, hey, why chan ge the formula?

James Brown

Chef Simultaneous This new release from the sex-crazed chef (aka lsaac Hayes) is a cheeky ditty about his desire to bed three women simultaneously.

Unfortunately, I doubt this song will help him achieve this goal.

The music is unbelievably annoying, and the lyrics are terrible - but no doubt it will be a top Nicole Fortmann ten hit.

Breakdown

Gold

it's dance time again, and this appears to have all the components that currently lead to success: a catchy big beat bassline, eastern vibe, groovy tunes from the ivories; and that little bit of angst in the vocals. it may not create a huge impact, being overshadowed by the other acts of the moment, but don't write it off completely.

Tania Neumann

CORRS

Moby

CATATONIA

I l ABBA 3 4

Talk On Corners

THECORRS Forgiven,NotForgoUen

5 6 7 8

9 THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

Fun Lovin' Criminals K orean Bodega

Double Six

Equally Cul'sed And Blessed

topdogformusic videos games

Spring's here and the carnival's in town.

Join those crazy Welsh popsters for th ree perfect minutes of whacked-out grooves.

This time around it's steel drums, bongos and tru mpets a-plenty, but it never strays far from the Furries fodder we've come to expect and love.

A/ex Pollock Come along for the ride, boyo.

10

DELERIOUS?

Mezzaanorphis

STEREOPHONICS

Performance And Cocktails

EMINEN

Slim Shady E.P. FATBOYSLIM

You've Come...

ORBITAL Middle Of Nowhere CARDIGII.NS Gran Turisano

Run On Leaving puns about doing well in W(h)ales aside, this is a worthy comeback single from Moby.

With its piano melody, hip-hop beats and sampled barbershop quartet vocals, this is like an even more laid back Praise You. Zoe Ball will love it.

Anthony Love//

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

Message in a Bottle Dlr: Luls Mandolcl 1999

Now Showing

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

k

~<V

ased on Nicholas Spark's novel, Message in a Bottle follows the story of Theresa (Robin Wright Penn), a researcher from the Chicago Tribune who finds a mysterious and eloquent love letter in a bottle on the beach and decides to trace its writer. This quest for the ultimate human interest story takes her to South Carolina and into the life of a grief stricken boat builder, Garret (Costner). Theresa's journalistic interest in his intriguing past leads to a predictable romance between the two.

Underlying this lightweight but very watchable romance is a formula that we've all seen before.

However the film is redeemed by the solid, gently paced script that boasts some witty and believable dialogue and fortunately contains far fewer cheesy moments than it could have. Some of the best conversations are held by the excellent supporting cast: the newly Americanised Robbie Coltrane, a radiant llleanna Douglas, and Paul Newman as Garret's dad.

The film is securely grounded by Wright Penn, who seems particularly suited to the role, and is very credible. While Costner is less than charismatic, the film gives Wright Penn the room to invest Theresa with genuine emotion as she juggles her family commitments and her job with the emotional boundaries Garret has drawn around himself following the death of his wife.

These elements combine to make Message in a Bottle at times more than just another romance.

But be warned: director Luis Mandoki didn't hold back on melodramatic, tear-jerking action in the final scenes - there won't be a dry eye in the house.

Shona Bsrrett

B

York Tavern Junction of York Stand Leicester St

0)&20918

rge function room with bar Available for private bookings â&#x20AC;˘ RING FOR DETAILS Two pool tables THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

eventJ

Amazing as it may seem, some over-zealous enthusiasts have already started queuing for the first showings of the new Star Wars film. But, as Daryl Bramley worries, it might just disappoint...

Y

u would have to be a hermit ving on a planet in a galaxy ar, far away not to have heard he following information by ow, but here are the basic facts : George Lucas, creator and director of possibly the biggest film of all time, Star Wars, has finished production on the first Star Wars prequel , The Phantom Menace.

The mere thought of lasers flashing , lightsabres clashing and Jedi master Yoda, er.. . Yodelling has encouraged a massive wave of hype around the world , encouraged in no small part by the numerous interne! sites which are updated daily with the latest gossip and rumours covering all things Star Wars. Some fans have gone so far as to start queuing for the very first tickets outside America's famous Chinese Theatre. lt seems cinema car parks may soon become 'tent cities' in May and June as Star Wars fever grips the world once again. When the so-called 'teaser trailer' hit cinemas across the globe a few months back, people were queuing and paying just to see two minutes and 21 seconds of images from the new film , a phenomenon which continued on the interne! as millions of people downloaded the trailer from the official Star Wars web site. A full three months before the film is released , the

hype surrounding it has reached fever pitch. Great. But what if it doesn't meet the expectations of the millions of fans around the world? Or more frankly, what if it's crap? Could George Lucas, with the help of every Star Wars fanatic around the world , have dug himself the deepest grave in cinema history?

Alright, alright, stop screaming! I know that it is unlikely that George Lucas would ruin his own film and I also realise that I should probably be cast into a pit of eternal fire for even suggesting such an eventuality.

But that doesn't really mean it won 't happen, does it?

'The Phantom Menace is set a generation before the original Star Wars trilogy and centres on the story of the young Anakin Skywalker, the kid who eventually grows up to be Darth Vader.

Judging by the trailer, the film already

meet the

expec:tatloas of

ndUioas of faDs ound the woJlld? looks spectacular and the cast list appears impressive. Lucas has stuck to his habit of using a healthy dose of British acting talent in the film , led notably by Ewan McGregor doing a fine impression of Alec Guinness as a young Obi Wan Kenobi and Liam Neeson as his master. The inclusion

EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

of characters from the original movies, such as R2D2 and C3PO in their earlier incarnations, will appeal to all fans and certainly the prospect of seeing a young Yoda pick up a lightsabre and go some has got most of us jumping up and down with excitement. The director has indicated that this film , and the rest of the new trilogy, will rely heavily on computer generated special effects from Industrial Light and Magic, so much so that Obi Wan 's side-kick 'Jar-Jar' is created entirely by computer.

Rumoured scenes include the aforementioned Yoda and other Jedi battling it out with lightsabers, various elements of vehicular activity including some kind of race scene, and also the inevitable space battle, but this could take place underwater if the trailer is anything to go by.

Since the completion of Lucas's original trilogy with The Return of the Jedi in 1983 fans have been screaming for more from the Star Wars universe and have so far only been rewarded with somewhat second rate novels about the possible fate of Luke, Leia, Han and their furry friend Chewbacca. So after the success of 1997's Star Wars Special Edition, when Lucas announced that he was going to write and direct a new trilogy of Star Wars 'prequels', the whole world went crazy.

Childhood memories of arguing over who was the best character and accidentally pulling the head off the Han Solo figure

(which was a Christmas present) came flooding back. As did the memory of nearly removing a friends eye with a large stick which I was pretending was a lightsabre.

Near fatal injuries aside, the thing about Star Wars is that it means something to so many people. Whether you remember going to the cinema as a nipper and gasping in amazement at the space fights or just watching the films on television at Christmas and then playing with the figures afterwards, the majority of people reading this will have some kind of romantic link with the Star Wars phenomenon. lt is indelibly lin ked to the childhood of a whole generation and so in reopening the Star Wars saga, George Lucas is, as it were, meddling with the Force. lt may be because the fi lm does look so fantastic that I am the only person in the world at the moment who has the slightest doubt about the new episode. Companies such as Pepsi and Ken ner Parker have paid millions between them to secure the merchandising rights to The Phantom Menace, which means that by July we will be drinking numerous cans of Jedi Pepsi , paying ridiculous amounts of cash for the latest Liam Neeson figure and probably tucking into a nice bowel of sugar-frosted Yoda-shaped Shreddies before lectures.

Money is already changi ng hands for the various paraphernalia that has been released , including the illegal sale of the cinema reels of the teaser trailer which were supposed to be returned to Twentieth Century Fox after they had been used. You can put in a bid for one of these reels via the intemet, but you would be looking at a bill of a few thousand dollars for a mere two minutes of film. The interne! has also become the easy access route to Phantom Menace gossip and pictures , with literally hundreds of sites devoting their pages to the upcoming prequel. One site, Counting-Down.com , has already obtained the designs for the new Pepsi cans and got ... a little over excited, shall we say, at the prospect of finding the 'Golden Yoda Can' which would win you ten quid. This site has thousands of users and is updated daily with the latest news and rumours .

The type of frenzied gossiping that these web pages purvey has built up exactly the kind of hype that George Lucas wants. He feigned surprise at the world 's response to the teaser trailer and commented that he didn't think that The Phantom Menace would make as much money as Titanic. Yeah right! The film will probably take more than Titanic on prebookings alone and even if the critical response is poor and people don't like it, hundreds of thousands of people will go to see it anyway. The film is bound to make shed-loads of cash if it's crap, so Lucas has nothing to fear financially. Most people hope that the man who created the Star Wars phenomenon doesn't kill it off with the new films , and undoubtedly Pepsi and Kenner will definitely be concerned if The Phantom Menace doesn't meet expectations. We can only hope that Lucas doesn't overdo the special effects and taint people's happy memories of Star Wars with a bad film .

But is the Force strong with George Lucas this year?

Lucas doesn't think !'.he P.halltom .Menace will make as much money as Titailic. Yeah right!

~eventJ realised that the teen audience is the one to go for, and are constantly searching for the next Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place or Dawson's Creek - the latest hit US show to reach our shores.

These shows tend to take themselves far too seriously and have far too little bad-character extermination to have the appeal of films like Scream. lt is no surprise that the last series of Dawson's Creek featured an episode where the four main characters were put on Saturday detention together after falling out.

Sound like The Breakfast Club?

Hmm... Much self-obsession, selfexamination and references to self-

The Breakfast Club is one of the &lms that symboHses the 80s, but did the teen movie phenomenon ever go away? Adam Chapman thinks not...

the fact is that however many times they say the word penis, or refer, in a roundabout way, to masturbation, the premise is fundamentally the same as before.

As for Breakfast Club director John Hughes, the man who started it all, after producing rehashes of the Brat Pack teen movie format for some years he went on to make three Home Atones, Mrs Doubtfire, 101 Dalmatians and a dire film featuring Robin Williams and a piece of rubber, evidently deciding to warp some younger minds.

But Mr Hughes's cunning plan for achieving world domination by turning the world's youth into psychopathic midgets.with brair1s of jelly is now complete. According to recent reports, the initiator of the genre may very well return to. making teen films again. lt seems the stream of two-dimensional dross is nowhere near at an end.

abuse ensued. Let's call a spade a digging implement: Although these programmes try to push the boundaries of what is allowed to be said on screen - as a result making characters seem daring, modern and mature-

rather nasty ways. If, for example, someone starts to fall into the Mollie Ringwald trap of bad hair, weepy eyes and an unbelievably wet personality then slash them up with various sharp implements: a hook (a la I Know What You Did Last Summer and its astonishingly creatively entitled sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer), an axe (H20) or maybe electrocution while trying performance of such to climb celluloid offerings at the box through a office. Whatever the reason , dog flap in a films like the Faculty - which garage door deals with the tale of a group of (Rose McGowan's inventive fate in Scream). This new school-mates who discover their teachers are really aliens - are just the latest in a long but less tactic is probably why these films have proved so than distinguished line of teen-flicks. popular. The sanctimonious characters from the The Breakfast Club (1984) is considered by many 80s, with their big hair and chewing-gum-ad to be the blueprint for all teen movies to come. personas, were now being slaughtered in ever-so Five students who perform vital roles in the High ingenious ways. lt seems the great School social hierarchy are placed in detention together and, lo and behold, find that they are all movie-going public sensitive, caring humans underneath. What like their teens followed is popularly known as the Brat Pack gutted and strung films. These were characterised by the presence up on a tree branch of young rising stars like Emilio Estevez, Rob - nowadays! Let's put Lowe,. Demi Moore and Ally Sheedy (whose it this way: Would you rather see Rob career obviously took a nose-dive), and incredibly Lowe alive or Rob stereotypical characters: geek, rich-bitch, ugly duckling, rebel and captain of the football team.

Lowe dead having suffered a The moral of the story - for in the 80s there always had to be one - was usually something like this. If convoluted struggle to stay alive? You you are ugly or poor then you will be considered don't have to be a an outcast by society, and the best way of finalist on Fifteenremedying this problem is to nip down to your local Miss Selfridge, buy a new top and some To-One to work that makeup and all the 'cool' kids will decide they like one out. you really because you aren't as sad as they While being postoriginally thought. Ground-breaking? No-one ever modern may add accused the teen movie of being original. They extra interest, and seemed to work on the premise that teenagers seeing the most annoying characters couldn't cope with fully developed characters due die painfully is to their over-exposure to sex, drugs and Wham.

The Brat Pack films, which included such classics certainly good fun, as St Elmo's Fire and Pretty in Pink, have now in essence these generally been exposed for whafthey were: crap. films differ very little from your average But of course this didn't stop film makers copying Brat-Pack offering. them. The 90s has seen the emergence of a new lt's just we're all in and purportedly more sophisticated type of teen movie. This breed was spawned by screenwriter on the joke and Kevin Williamson with films like Scream, Scream there's more blood.

However, they are 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The like eternal works of Faculty, and justified their strict adherence to the genius when tired old Brat Pack formula in two ways. Firstly, they were incredibly self-referential and postcompared with the TV spawn of the modern, embracing and even exagerating the Brat Pack teen appalling stereotypes embodies in the genre.

Secondly they added the rather imaginative plot movies. American device of killing all the annoying characters in TV studios have here's something about a group of attractive adolescent teenagers rebelling against authority that appeals to the depths in your average film studio boss. Maybe it's a yearning after their youth, a longing for those days when they were loose limbed, fresh-faced and fancy free. Or then again, it might be more to do with the consistently prolific

T

THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL28, 1999

lt'a almost ........._. so it mast be almost featlval aeaaoa agala. £ulre l'anler looks at wbat'a oa tlda yeal' aacl how you can come oat alive n the beginning, when the world was flat and wild beasties roamed the land terrorising primitive tribes, there sprung up in the south west of England man monuments; stone edifices created seemingly, to our 20th Century eyes, for no

I

purpose.

But many believe that these strange structures were created as a meeting place for the disparate tribes to get together, to celebrate with

wine and laughter the fact that the sun was still rising fN8fY day... or something.

At these gatherings the people would bang their mammoth's skin drums, blow sabre-toothed tiger horns, and strum wolf-gut h81Jl6. They would

~

~=~~~·\also drink fantastic amounts of booze, ingest strange herbs with magical properties and generally act in an extremely debauched and fornicatory

manner.

Clever readers amongst you may have noticed a surprising correlation between the above events and their contemporary equivalent, the music festival. Yes, the temperature has risen above freezing, the sun comes out more than once a month, and the prospect of exams Is looming larger than Vanessa on the eastern horizon.

This can mean only one thing: the festival season is upon us.

For some years the festival scene was dominated by two main events, Glastonbury and Reading, with Phoenix coming a close third. However, in recent years there has been an increase in the number of festivals, with the Virgin run V-Whatever The Year Is, T

THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

in The Park which takes place in Scotland, and this year's new upstart, the Belle and Sebastian organised Bowlie Weekender, which will take place in the (by festival standards) luxurious surroundings of the Pontins holiday camp at Camber Sands.

During the 1980s festivals took place on a far smaller scele than they do today; the bill was drawn from more mainstream acts, and often catered for an older audience, with a jazz/folk stylistic bent.

Indeed, for much of the 80s Reading festival was a jazz festival - only since then has there been a profusion of rockier bands, largely spearheaded by legendary performances by the likes of Nirvana.

During these formative years for Festivals there ran in parallel a more underground scene which was the direct result of the burgeoning dance scene. In 1999, the tenth anniversary of the so-called 'Second Summer of love' umpteen people have written countless books and newspaper articles detailing the stories of massive raves held in warehouses and fields, attracting tens of thousands of revellers every weekend.

Unfortunately, the Conservative party decided that it couldn't possibly have all these people having such a good time on land and in buildings that belonged to their mates, and so introduced the Criminal Justice Act. This piece of legislation forbade large social gatherings in all sorts of places.

Now, I don't want to sound like a mouldy dog· on-a-string type person here, but the CJA must be regarded as one of the most draconian and restrictive pieces of legislation for some years.

While some of these unlicensed mass events were getting out of hand - the Castlemorton Common event, where sheep were dying from overdoses as a result of standing on hypodermic needles, is the obvious example - self-regulation would arguably have been a lesser evil than over-the-top Government control.

Whatever the political arguments, dance events were forced to go overground. The first result of this was the introduction of dance arenas at the eslablished festivals, which managed to attract top name DJs. In recent years these dance tents have become so popular that bands such as Primal Scream have elected to play them oyer the main stages.

The second, and perhaps inevitable result of this was that dance promoters soon set up their own, fully licensed and 'overground' events in which they would try to recreate the 'rave' atmosphere. Superclub Cream holds the Creamfields event, and after fallout's and splits between promoters, there will be two main dance festivals this year, Creamfields and Homelands, though in addition to these a longer festival featuring the likes of Paul Oakenfold is planned to celebrate the solar eclipse in Cornwall • if, that is, it gets a licence.

The expansion of the festival 'scene' has not occurred without some fuss. The four day

Phoenix festival was ·cancelled last year, and has now been permanently shelved, while Glastonbury organiser Mlchael Eavls has come Into conflict with his local council and the hippies who preferred the days when festivals were badly run and offered a fair chance of getting shot. Every year the Glastonbury planners have a slight struggle to obtain a license from the council, but it always goes through In the end.

Anyway, HIs perhaps not surprising that local residents whlnge a little bit, especially when, as Eavis claims, "The force of music is well known for making things happen • even the Walls of Jericho fell at the sound of trumpets blowing."

The fact that the last two Glastonbury festivals were seriously affected by heavy rain has also attracted criticism.

Many press reports and people who attended the event

described the event as similar to the Somme, but I personaUy did not notice heavy machine gun fire, b8rbed wire. explosions and the senseless slaughter normally associated with the First World War Battle. "lt was like the Somme" translated from festival speak into modern English really means, "it was bit muddy.• publications made much om1l'lle,ms encountered by r:u..,...,..,.,. the wranglings the various dance oro,mo1ters and the collapse of to support their claims for music scene in crisis. However, it that last year the ~ix ran Into ticket sales dlffi4cultliae because of a clash with Cup, and this year the County Council have proved than helpful. The very fact that new Bowlie festival sold ot:lt in and that the Reading has now gone on the road moves to Leeds one day later) surely signs that there is still a festival scene. AdmiUedly, planned Brit Awards jamboree been cancelled, but this can't a bad thing - standing in a field of poo Is bad enough, without the equally execrable sounds of B"Witched and N·Whatever drifting ovemead.

So it seems as if most of the current festivals have a secure future, at least In the short term. r---w After the year 2000, Michael Eavls is to retire from organising Glastonbury, so whether the event will continue on the same site or elsewhere remains to be seen. But for the moment, whatever your taste, there will increasingly be festivals customdesigned for you; from the dance of Creamfields or Homelands to the pure indie of the Bowlie Weekender and the Raaawwwkl of Ozzfest or Metalllca's Big Day Out. The main criticism of festivals these days is that they have become too commercial and well organised. People with hairstyles based on the cast of Fraggle Rock gather together and mutter wistfully about the days when

you could 1ave more freedom • freedom to refleve oneself In hole with a bit of wood over lt, the freedom to have no decent entertainment, and the freedom not to know what the hell is going on for most of the time. H seems strange

real world who have to arrive on Friday after work will find that their choice is limited to those valued parts of real estate next to the loos or by a path. These tents seem to get Into a worse and worse condition as the festival progresses, with mud from the thousands of trampling feet that it is actually the Glastonbury festival that being plastered all over them, until they attracts most of this sort of criticism, mainly eventually give in and become part of the ether. because it was set up with the financial backing Wherever you camp, make sure you don't use of hippies. Undoubtedly events like the V-99 the latest In high class tent fashion. The posher festival seam to go a little bit too far In the tent, the more likely to be destroying the Anyone for mud pie? vast amounts of stuff worth atrnosphel8 by putting down cam.as when it nicking within H. making h a screamingly obvious targets for rains and lis extremely all the light-fingered gits that all hard to find anything to festivals unfortunately attract. drink except • surprise A common experience of festival Virgin Cola. The V-99 festival is 188lly just an goers is to be lying In their tent of outdoor gig for city an evening and the tent door to dwellers not keen to get mysteriously unzip and someone to say "'s JohniAiiceiMumble too dirty - 1he fact that the festival is based in there?" When you politely reply Essex is a bit of a clue. that the desired personage does At Reading you are not in fact reside In your shelter, right next b the town: they wll pretend that they got the trains corm past, wrong place and leg lt.

Concorde 'lies over, As weB as the risk of thievery and the srops are a from nefarious whatslts, tents also offer the delight of knowing five minute walk awBfi. Therefore Glastonbury, whenever someone walks past. in the middle of There will be their loud and raucous voices, followed either by nowhere - as you discover alter walking a crash as they fall through the miles up hll and down dale to get there when canvas or a large BOOOIIIIINGI as your guy rope Is tripped 0119r, causing soggy tent to fall on the bus drops you off - Is a retreat Into the you. countryside to get 8.Wf!t1 from Hall. .. man.

Although there are police they are largely out of Finally, there Is one final obstacle to sleeping at the way. Eapeclally for the last two years when a festival, more commonly found at the more lagered rockier fesls such as Reading. There all their vehicles got stuck In the mud and they couldn't get anywhere, much to the amusement seem to be a breed of beings who communieate in a strange tongue known only to themselves of onlookers. So unless you're an anarchist and their colleagues. What is remarkable about hippy or someone who thinks its cool to say "Oh its far too commercial now,• even though you've these people is that they have managed to reduce the entire EngRsh language to the word only been Jnce, festivals undoubtedly are still "B....ocks" They shout this to each other all night worth it, especially now when If you are so inclined you can avoid all the filth and the scum and every night. their message passing from and stay in a nice chalet at the Bowlie one side of the site to another. Translation is Weekender, or be molly-coddled at V-99. impossible, as is reasoning the minds of these strange creatures.

With all of these distractions it's pretty clear that sleep is going to be a difficult proposition. But nce you've decided which festival to hey, thafs not really the point of going, is it? So visit, there's an the problems of what wander round, buy the Interesting chocolate ~when you get there. You'H arrive at the site, an clean of hair and dry of cakes sold from dark bushes, eat E-coll burgers, clothing, and need to find a place to camp. H and generally have a lot of fun. But if the desire obviously helps to arrive at the site as early as to catch some zeds get too much, go and get a gallon of dodgy elder from the farmer's stall... it possible to find a nice big space to stick your Is the only sedative guaranteed to stop the all tents and b have an enormous and highly night sound systems shaking out your brain. dangerous fire. Those poor people stuck In the

O

THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

made to measure

8mm

Dir: Joel Schumacher 1999

Now Showing en a filrri is rated 1/5 it is usually ecause it either bores you to tears or deeply offends you. This latest offering from Batman and Robin helmer Joel Shumacher successfully does both. The story follows private detective and all round nice guy Tom Welles (Nicholas Cage) who is hired by an elderly woman to investigate what appears to be a snuff film - an actual murder recorded on film - which she finds in her rich late husband's safe. He tracks the case. ably aided by a refreshingly real Joaquain Phoenix, and gets sucked into the perverted wortd of pornography.

Shumacher has tried to go for dark Se? en style directing, yet merely manages to plod through a series of ever more unsurprising and unbelievable plot 'twists'.

Cage's Oscar winning turn in Leaving Las Vegas seems to have left him either tired or complacent, and here he does a startlingly good impression of a piece of chip-board.

The most upsetting thing about this film, though, is that it dives head-first into shocking subject matter and finally emerges having concluded nothing more than ·that involving yourself with horrible people will quickly make you horrible too. This is illustrated by the violent retribution exacted on the bad guys by a now severely mentally damaged Cage.

The film offers nothing intelligent or worthwhile and merely wallows in its own self indulgence.

They kept out the graphic violence so the film could retain its 15 cert. You can't help wishing they had put more in so that it may never have been seen at all.

W

a result of last week's shocking news bout a couple of kids in Denver who went ananas and shot their classmates, the film classification board will no doubt go on a censorship campaign and subject the latest films to an overly rigorous stripping down.

Yes, once again everyone is blaming the film industry for causing a tragedy like this - including the kids' parents, who were quoted criticising all the "influences kids are exposed to today". But how many people actually think that films are responsible for all the nastiness in the world?

After all, before cinemas existed the world wasn't a particularly wholesome place. More likely the cinema is just the most convenient scapegoat for people who can't think of any other way to explain the things that happen. Films can be inspirational, upsetting, moving, etc, but it seems unlikely that they could really incite anyone to murder. lt is an extremely far-fetched notion that your average kid will go into the cinema well balanced and happy and come out deranged and homicidal. it is far more likely that the kid was a bit disturbed in the first place.

People often point to incidents where youths have been inspired to wreak mayhem by violent films, but they rarefy consider that films could also have the opposite effect. You never see a newspaper article contending that a teenager has founded an animal rescue centre because he saw Godzilla last week.

We have to look at the causes beyond the cinema screen. The fact is that once a film has been made and watched people can conveniently fay the blame on it because nothing can be done about it. This is much easier than addressing the more complex issues of why violence is ~mmitted in society, but also far less useful. ~

Rebecca Barrett

If you Want to catch Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino snagging in the new blockbuster At First Sight, then read on. The Event and the ABC have teamed up to give away a free ticket to three lucky winners. One especially lucky winner will also win an official At First Sight fleece, and three runners up will get a set of relaxation candles. All you have to do is answer this

nonsensically easy question: In whichJilm did Val Kilmer star alongside lots of little people?

A) Willow B) The Wizard of Oz C) Honey I Shrunk the Kids Put your answer along with your name, school, year and a contact number in the competio x in the Hive by 7/5/99. Prizes will be held until21/5/99.

's Startlng....::O:..:u:.:t~------­

Every Monday night call at Owens f! i i g prewash and gain free admission to the Carwash at before 11.30pm.

NO QUEUING go straight to the front with our passes.

Free Pina Colada for everyone dressed in full •70's garb

Bom in Michigan in 1959, Sam Raimi made his first film at 11, and bought his first 8mm camera at 13. He used it mostly to make Three Stooges inspired slapstick comedies, which saw him experimenting with the quirky camera angles that have become his trademark. At 15 he attended film classes and was hired as production assistant by a local film-maker. Having begun making commercials, he then enrolled at Michigan State University, where he met future business partner Robert Tapert, then the roomate of his brother lvan. In 1982 they formed Renaissance Pictures to make Evil Dead.

Making the Break

Every Wednesday Bar BASSment Party? Free Beach Bar Hire for Students Mon-Fri Happy Hour 7-8

1. Farmers Avenue, Norwich ------------Tel765512-----------THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

The low-budget Evil Dead became a worldwide cult classic, and established Raimi as a top maestro of the genre. The sequels, Evil Dead 11 and Army of Darkness furthe(demonstrated his talent for handling low-budget shocks with visual nair. However, his 1990 horror-comedy Darkman received a distinctly luke-warm reception , and the feminist western The Quick and the Dead, starring Sharon Stone, was largely ignored despite a Palm d 'Or nomination at Cannes.

Undaunted, Raimi has gone on to write and act as well as directing, contributing to such class TV presentations as American Gothic, Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules. His new film starring Bill

Paxton and Billy-Bob Thornton, A Simple Plan is a small-town crime thriller based on Scott Smith's bestseller, and production was recently completed on (another?) Costner baseball flick For the Love of the Game, out in the Autumn.

He sa~\.:::s:.:.=---------­ "A Simple Plan is a change of pace for me because the film is not about shots, but the pertormance within the frame. I wanted the camerawork to be invisible and just allow the actors to tell this very thrilling story."

FilmOQ!!J)hy._ _ _ _ _ _ __ it's Murderl.,1977) Clockwork (1978) Within the Woods (1978} Evil Dead (1982) Crimewave (1985) Evil Dead 1/ (1987) Darkman (1990) Army of Darkness: The Medieval Dead (1993) The Quick and the Dead (1995) A Simple Plan (1998) The Lamia (1999) For the Love of the Game (1999} Doomsday Man (1999) Simon McCallum

•

Street Fighter Alpha 3 Out now ever liked Street Fighter games? Then it's unlikely that you ever will. Your first reaction to another Street Fighter sequel might be to ask, "What has this got to offer over Tekken 3?" But that would be foolish. If 30 beat 'em ups were never invented then Street Fighter would still be the best fighter series in the history of video games. In fact if it weren't for Street Fighter then fighting games would not be what they are today. As has been pointed out before, Street Fighter 2 invented special moves and combo attacks, so it deserves to be treated with a certain amount of respect.

Street Fighter Alpha 3, the latest in the Alpha series, is the best yet. 33 characters are available from the start, including all the Alpha regulars, the original SF2 bosses, the Super SF2 characters (all revamped for this new edition), and a host of new characters too. Not only are the original bosses resurrected, but this version sees the welcome return of Blanka and E Honda! There are several modes of play including a team battle mode and an expanded survival mode (this series has always featured the best· survival mode of all beat em ups). The best mode of play is the World Tournament mode. Various challenges across the globe against a nasty selection of fighters in each location allow the player to increase the abilities of their chosen fighter as they win. Making yourself an even more invincible Ryu character to save to your memory card and setti_ng him against your foes in two player battles is immensely satisfying (hear the screams ... ). This mode is supported on the upcoming Pocketstation as well.

'Gameplay has also been expanded, with three styles of play for ever character, X-ism, A-ism, and V-ism. The first gives you just one very powerful super special move. The second is the classic Alpha style of given selection of supers, and the last is merely the custom combo mode from SFA2. Old Street Fighter players must learn to use super specials now, jumping kick-sweep tactics is out.

The graphics are lush, colourful and highly detailed. To say that it isn't as good looking as Tekken 3 is like saying Penthouse photos are more beautiful than Lucien Freud's paintings of nudes. In a sense yes, but 30 and 20 graphics are totally different things. SFA3 stands alongside Tekken 3 and Virtua Fighter 3tb as the heir to a well-bred lineage.

N

a

ea ew playstat·on 2 W

enever you watch intro sequences like n Tekken 3 or Soul Blade, Gran Turismo r Ridge Racer 4, you have to marvel at the splendour of the graphics and perhaps even imagine playing games of that quality. But that would be a long time away, wouldn't it? So it's best not to bother thinking about it and appreciate what you have. That dream, however, quite unexpectedly became a reality on March 2 1999, when Sony made official announcements concerning what has been dubbed 'The Next Generation Playstation'. There were a series of graphical demos created by some of the hottest developers. Perhaps the most stunning was of Gran Turismo. Viewers were accustomed to seeing these images as FMV sequences, but the fact that the car on screen was responding to the controls of the demonstrator in real time! The machine is also able to play Playstation games with enhancements, and has DVD technology.

The capabilities of this machine are astounding, and it has stirred major excitement in the industry for the first time in ages. Playstation 2 is scheduled for release in Japan this autumn and over here in 2000.

• Pictures: Games Online

...... (low ......): • CPU: 128 bit "Emotion Engine" •Clock Speed: 300 MHz • Instructions: 16 Kb •Data: 8Kb + 16 Kb (ScrP) • Floating Points: 6.2 GFLOPS • 3~ CG Geometric Transforms: 66 mlll•on polygons per second •~I afn Memory: 32 Mb Direct Ram bus ( rect RDRAM) • Memory Bus Bandwidth: 3 2 Gb second . · per • Graphics: "Graphics Synthesiser" • Clock Speed; 150 MHz • DRAM Bus Bandwidth: 48 Gb second per • DRAM Bus Width: 2560 bits • Maximum Polygon Rate: 75 Million Polygons per second

THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

[event) From the only stude nt on the first UEA creative writing masters to the heig hts of literary s tardom, lan McEwan has come a long way, baby. Paul Stokes caught up with the man in a deserted Waterstones after his recent reading in Norwich business of writing. Talent, intelligence and hard work lie behind every good novel and it is apparent as he talks that lan McEwan is a man on top of his profession.

He speaks slowly with a focussed and considered intelligence wh ich does not push into some pretentious stratosphere, but is instead engaging and down to earth. As the conversation turns to the substance (rather than the praise) of his writing, it is clear that this is a subject to which UEA's first creative writing postgraduate has given a lot of thought.

His early novels had a very insular and self contained feel to them, while his later works, like The Innocent which centred largely round a spy story, have, I suggest, seen a political element creep in. "I think there's more world generally, not just politics; there's more history, more science, more characters, " McEwan replies. "Maybe it's just that my interests have broadened. I began with a rather claustrophobic world, intense and narrowed ; at the time it was very interesting to me but after a while it was not enough and as I grew older and got interested in more things they slowly appeared in my novels. You know, a lot of what a writer does is not a matter of conscious choice it just becomes part of who your are and especially everything that grabs your attention."

In the light of this it is particularly interesting to note the compulsive , obsessive edge to many of McEwan's characters.

Perhaps this is a product of manner in which their

D

espite the charms of one of Gazza's crazy friends and the attentions of a camp supermarket manager (Dale Winton and Danny Baker - you decided which is which) Pets Win Prizes was sadly not the televisual feast it promised to be. Rover might be able to howl the theme of The Archers noteperfect but no one at home, ft seems, cared. In the light of the pets' consignment to television's graveyard - if you look out carefully you can just make out the recently deposited figure of News at Ten- the success of Authors ' Win Prizes is quite a surprise. In the last few years, everyone from breweries to mobile phone networks have been heaping praise and big cheques onto the nation's greatest authors and increasingly the television cameras have been there to record the spectacle. The Booker Prize is, of course , the king of the literary prize, not only in terms of reputation and prize money, but also because people actually watch the televised award ceremony in droves. Close-ups of writers enjoying a nice dinner at the expense of their publishers are intermingled with the opinions of a panel of pundits, readings from the nominated texts and the result itself - it might not sound like memorable television , but somehow it is . lan McEwan probably knows as much as anyone about this phenomenon . With both his novels Black Dogs and Enduring Love earning him nominations in rapid succession , though sadly not prizes, it was getting to the point where he probably could have applied for a season ticket to the award ceremony. Indeed last year his latest book, Amsterdam, saw him nominated for a third time. Another night, another party, and it was all probably getting a bit tedious for McEwan when something different happened.

He won . lan McEwan takes a quick breath, surveys the

deserted bookshop, and composes his answer to a question he's probably been asked at least a dozen times before: Was it nice to win the Booker, especially after missing out twice before? "You have to accept it's a lottery, a spinning bottle, really ," he finally answers . "You know very well a different panel would choose a different book. And it is worth remembering that your book is exactly the same book it was half an hour before the prize was announced , win or lose." Truth indeed, as indicated by the fact that Enduring Love, McEwan's tale of a Christian stalker's psychotic love for a rational science writer, which was spurned by the Booker panel has gone on undaunted to earn a nomination in the world's richest literary prize, The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (to be announced in June). Obviously, as a winner lan McEwan is hardly likely to disown the Booker and the whole culture of prize giving, but his endorsement is conditional. "it is quite useful for readers , and I think it's quite useful for the industry and for bookshops . But I think it can be quite demeaning for writers. Every year five writers have to go through a kind of- humiliation is probably a too strong a word , but it's quite an ordeal fixing that kind of rictus grin of goodwill on your face. " Although he admits that, "it's really good fun for the winner," he also acknowledges that "there is a little bit of a quality of sit up and beg about it for writers. One thinks of one's literary heroes in the past. Would Henry James have put up with this? Would Kafka? Would Dickens?" He asks and then immediately answers himself, stating with a note of amusement that "actually Dickens probably would."

On the whole lan McEwan thinks that the Booker prize is a good thing. As he said, it gets readers interested and helps bookshops, though he finishes his assessment by wondering aloud, "if it's not a little bit too powerful?" Whatever their merits, awards are only a superficial topping to the

Youbaveto

accept it's a

lottery, a

spianing bottle, really

THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

author writes?

"Possibly, yeah ... possibly," replies McEwan non-commitally as he considers the proposition.

"I'm interested in extremes of one kind or another- I always have been - I like writing to push to the edge of experience and yet retain a hold on structure and be precise, clear .. . and er ... I don't know, coming back to the matter of choice, it's not really a question of deciding that obsession is one's thing and going about it," he explains, "these characters often grow out of sentences and they don 't -" he cuts himself short as he plots his explanation . "You build them and you put them together like a jigsaw, their picture emerges and you learn how to write them in the process of writing them , and if they 're obsessive it clearly reflects something of me, but it's certainly not a choice in that respect. But, I am

an obsessive writer, once I get going on something I'm rarely not thinking about it." nd get going lan McEwan must. In this media saturated age it is dangerous to rest on your laurels for too long, lest you get swept away. The next book though , whatever it is , has the additional pressure of living up to a Booker Prize. Clearly this will not only attract new readers, but it will also attract a lot of critical attention. So does the title of Booker Prize winner put an intolerable expectation onto the author? "No," McEwan answers. "I mean, by October some other person will have won the Booker Prize and noone will be bother about what I do. I got quite used to that kind of expectation, it's not at all worrying. I have started another book, but I've got a deep superstition about talking about these things."

His reticence about discussing his next project is not simply to avoid bad luck. "Putting [a novel] into words before you've even started putting it into words is not a good idea," McEwan explains. "You can weary yourself. You can talk yourself out of an idea talking about it too soon.

Once I've got 30,000 words down , and I know its going to happen then I can easily talk about it, but I'm way off that yet. " However if his past form is anything to go by, then not only won 't the wait be too long , but it will also be well worth it.

A

~event]

•

1n

own Write% W hat Shakespeare in Love proved was not only that writers of the stage were extremely popular - the name William Shakespeare is almost interchangeable with zeitgeist at the moment - but that good screenplay writing is alive and very much kicking.

Of course, becoming a successful dramatist is no easy matter. Just look at Shakespeare: he had the amorous attentions of Gywenth Paltrow to survive. However Norwich's Maddermarket Theatre aims to provide a helping hand to the would-be writer with its Playing with NEW Words writing festival which kicks off on Saturday, May 8. Focusing on stage, screen and radio scripts, the week long festival has called upon a wealth of talent to provide talks, advice and workshops for writers of almost all genres and mediums and a wide variety of script-writing styles are examined, everything from comedy to writing for younger audiences.

Screenplays are looked at on Monday, May 10 with representatives from Channel 4, Anglia TV and UEA's own Val Taylor, head of Script Writing MA, amongst others, while up and coming writer Stephen Foster, fresh from the

success of his first book lt Cracks Like Breaking Skin will be offering advice on Thursday, May 13. Also putting in an appearance is the former King of EAS, Malcom Bradbury, who'll be sharing insights from tiis extensive work in television screenplays on Sunday, May 9.

As·a warm up "to the festival , the Maddermarket will be staging A Load of Old Bowls, from today till Saturday. The comedy by Graeme Coulam was discovered at last year's prototype festival , the two day Getting lt ON event (tickets are available from the Maddermaket box office on 01603 620917 and cost between £4 or £6.50).

Hoping that this year's event would be as successful in bringing new writers to the fore , festival organiser, Andrew Kitchen, encouraged anyone interested in script writing to come along, saying, "it's wide open not only to writers, but people who are tipped to write or people who are just interested in the writing process and want to see things being performed."

Thanks to sponsorship from local businesses most of the events are free. For more information see leaflets or call 01603 626560 for details.

Klaus Estop

Kate Margam Poor Kevln As a reviewer you try to approach each book without preconceived judgements. ~ Yet when I read the cover blurb of Kat~ Margam's Poor Kevin o 'Thirty-five, fit, good-looking. He doesn't stand a chance .. .' - and discovered that the protagonist was a sex therapist I couldn't help a little internal groan. Fortunately, this was to be a reflection not on the novel but on the mistaken advertising concept of Margam's publisher. Poor Kevin is intelligently written and for a debut novel very accomplished. lt is a humorous look at society's conceptions of morality and not the voyeuristic experience the publisher suggests.

Margam uses wit, and an amused detachment, to examine notions of the family and relationships through the voice of her narrator Louise Chapman.

Louise spends her days dealing with men's increasingly strange sexual problems, hers is a world where clients stalk her, where she spends Tuesdays counselling prison paedophiles and where Kevin (a client) plays endless mind games during his sessions. Yet it is also a world where Louise goes home to a comfortable flat, her new boyfriend and a quiet glass of wine with her new boyfriend - the one with th~ better wardrobe of dresses than she has. There are no 'freaks' for Margam, only people trying to make their way through a confusing world. Poor Kevin could use a

tV

~

Kate Le Vann

~

Trailers

0

If first impressions count for anything · then it is easy to mistake Kale Le Vann's Trailers as yet another overdone and slightly scathing portrayal of university life. After all , the front cover loudly proclaims that the 'First rule at university is: Never, ever sleep with your house mates.' This is the rule that the narrator Grace - who is philosophically dreamy, with a disability- lives her life by. In fact she finds it difficult to tolerate any male long enough to find out anything about him.

As the novel progresses Grace becomes more and more enjoyable, and the reader begins to like her guidance. She is someone whose dry wit, subtle humour, and overwhelming sexual hangups make her the only one in the house with a grasp on reality.

With an llncomplicated enthusiasm, Le Vann presents us with a house of five students who represent all that is good about student life. The use of split narrative - as Grace contrasts the pasr and present - illustrates the fact that the author does not really believe that university 'is just a place for middle class kids to feel what it's like to live away from home and imagine they have real problems.'

Trailers is a book which uses well known ., ...

., I

I

•

'

\

•

"

, ,..

•

~

• t-. •

..

t

'"

.

..

.. ... .

I

,

!

•• j •

I

'

I

~

I ' '

i • '

f .

little plot adjustment midway but is worth reading, and Margam's lyrical writing style will have you putting it down three hours later feeling like you started five minutes ago. Ideal for the holidays or a sunny afternoon.

Kris Siefken

t

ra

stereotypes, and plays on them successfully to create a light and extremely funny novel. This is combined with a narrator who brings a much needed melancholic element to the story and which helps to raise Trailers into a class of its own.

Carry Cook

.TJtl; l~NT ' ·~DftjJQ4y APRIL 28,. 1999 I

_,._

....

.

·' ~

eventJ

Salads no longer have to consist solely of a piece of soggy lettuce, a squidged tomato and a llaccid cucumber. Clare lliclunan takes a bite... cording to the calendar we are rapidly approaching summer and what food is more easonal than the salad.

The salad is perhaps one of the most versatile meals, making a brilliant picnic food, packed lunch , starter, or even a meal in itself. Delia Smith believes that the secret to creating a delicious salad is a good dressing made from the correct ingredients - a bottle of Heinz salad dressing is no substitute for a home made vinaigrette. The traditional vinaigrette is made from olive oil, although groundnut and sesame oils are also suitable, vinegar -preferably wine or balsamic but definitely not malt; garlic and mustard powder.

A

Vinaigrette Dressing

~================================:..----â&#x20AC;˘ 11 Clove of teaspoon Garlic rounded of dry mustard powder 1 tablespoon of wine, cider or balsamic vinegar 6 Tablespoons of Olive oil Salt and ground black pepper to taste First of all crush the rock salt and the garlic together until it forms a smooth paste, then add the mustard powder, vinegar and the pepper and mix thoroughly.

Lastly add the olive oil and mix up the vinaigrette vigorously.

To dress the salad place it in a large bowl and sprinkle it lightly with vinaigrette a little at a time and mix it thoroughly. This ensures that the leaves are all evenly coated and that they do not become soggy.

Mayonnaise can also be made, although it perhaps requires a higher degree of cul inary skill to make than t.he vinaigrettte.

Home-made mayonnaise 2 Large egg yolks 1 Clove of garlic, crushed 1 heaped teaspoonof dry mustard powder 1 teaspoon of salt Freshly milled black pepper 1011 oz groundnut or olive oil Approx 1 teaspoon of

THE

EVÂŁ8T~

WEDNESDAY, APRIL-28,

~999

white wine vinegar First of all, place the egg yolks into a bowl and mix them thoroughly with the garlic, mustard powder, salt and pepper. Next comes the tricky part; add one drop of oil to the mixture and beat thoroughly, repeat until the mixture becomes slightly thicker, when larger drops of oil can be added . If you are not patient with the addition of the oil then the mixture will curdle. If this happens do not panic - put another egg yolk in a fresh bowl , add the curdled mixture drop by drop, this time more slowly, and then continue to add the oil.

When about half the oil is in , add the vinegar and then the rest of the oil, mixing continuou sly.

Most people when they envisage a salad think of the few wet lettuce leaves and half a tomato which accompanies every meal in a restaurant these days. However, there are a wide variety of salads to choose from consisting of a lot more than lettuce.

Salad Nicoise (Serves 4-6 people) 1 lettuce Vinaigrette dressing (as above) 12oz of tomatoes 1/2 Cucumber 1 tablespoon of finely chopped onion 4oz cooked new potatoes, sliced 4oz cooked french beans 2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered 7oz tin of tuna 2oz tin of anchovies 2oz black olives tablespoon of fresh chopped parsley First place the lettuce in a large bowl and dress lightly with vinaig rette.

Then arrange the tomato and cucumber in layers and add a little more

dressing. Add the onion, potato, French beans, hard boiled eggs and the tuna in layers. Finally, decorate the salad with the anchovy fillets , the black olives and the fresh parsley.

Caesar Salad (Serves 4) 1/2oz Butter 1 egg, beaten 3oz soft cheese with garlic and herbs 3 tbsp milk 1 tbsp olive oil 2tsp lemon juice 1 lettuce 1 tin of anchovies, drained and chopped 8 French bread slices , fried in a little oil Tomato wedges Melt the butter in a pan, add the egg and scramble lightly. When it is scrambled , leave to cool. Whisk the cheese and milk, oil and lemon juice until smooth. Tear the lettuce into pieces, place in a bowl , add the egg and anchovies, pour over the dressing and toss. Arrange the bread around the edges of the bowl and garnish with the tomato wedges.

Waldorf Salad (Serves 4) 1 Eating apple, diced Lemon juice 2oz chopped walnuts 4 celery sticks, sliced 3 tbsp mayonnaise Lettuce Place the apple in a bowl and sprinkle with a little lemon juice to prevent it browning. Add the nuts and celery, then add the mayonnaise and mix together thoroughly. Chill the mixture before serving on a bed of lettuce.

-

--- - -

~- --

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

--

~-

The most comprehensive guide to what's on around Norwich this fortnight

OD WAKING NED A six-million pound lottery golden shower descends on a small Irish village, and lan Bannen is determined to find out who has received it.

MADE LINE Children's story set in 1950s Paris, told in an old fashioned style. Not exactly Power Rangers.

A BUGS LIFE Cute insect story that will just run and run.

A CIVIL ACTION Moody courtroom thriller in which an ambulance chasing lawyer takes on the large corporations over a case of water poisoning.

AN IDEAL HUSBAND Oscar nominee and top redhead tatty Gate Blanchett stars in this adaptation of one of Oscar Wilde's best plays. A rich politician with a perfect life must stop an old mistress from dishing the dirt on his life.

JACK FROST Scary talking snowman. See it at your peril.

RUGRATS THE MOVIE The ironic cartoon babies make it to the big screen. Tommy, who looks like Winston Churchill, finds himself with a new brother, while the wicked Angelica is up to her usual tricks.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE Now it's grabbed a fistful of Oscars this film will probably run for ever. Very witty, but not totally deserving of all the acclaim.

TEA WITH MUSSOLINI Cher and a load of other famous actresses find themselves in Italy during the War. Cher probably was around then, and looking exactly the same as she does now.

1999 Oscars. it tells the story of a search for family connections.

BMM Nic Cage is a detective drawn into the seedy world of snuff movies while investigating the murder of a wealthy businessman's daughter killed in the aforementioned home video.

UNION

ANTZ Woody Alan's talking insect goes head to head with his rivals from Disney, but avoids a fight and decides to take an ironic look at his love-life.

THE FACULTY Robert Rodreiguez's sub-Scream horror/sci-fi movie, in which a Saved by the Bell-type class find out their teachers are aliens. Thanks to Mr Lucas, this is one of the few sci-fi films to get a release this year.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE Kevin Costner in another ego-massage, this time as a bereaved husband who writes letters to his dead wife, in a bottle. Strange behaviour.

MIGHTY JOE YOUNG Disney remake of old Ray Harryhausen monster movie, with a sub-kong giant ape on the loose.

Tuesday, April 27 -Thursday, April 29 at 5:45pm Account of the last days of James Whale, famed horror director of the 30s who died in mysterious circumstances. Drama with dark humour, it touches on feelings of isolation .

Tuesday April 27 - Thursday April 29 at 8:15pm Witty social drama from Denmark with a son seeking to expose his father's abuse of him as a child.

Friday April 30, Saturday May 1 and Monday May 3 at 5:45pm, Tuesday May 4 to Thursday May 6 at 8:15pm Warren Beatty directs and stars as an old American senator who decides to tell the truth in the final days of his campaign .

Fast and witty, centring on those -around him as they attempt to stop his outrageous public appearances.

PLUNKETT AND MCLAINE Friday April 30, Saturday May 1 and Monday May 3 at 8:15pm. Tuesday May 4 to Thursday May 6th at 5:45pm Action flick starring Robert Carlyle and Uv Tyler, telling the true story of England's most fearsome highwaymen. Costume drama meets gangster-heist flick.

PERDITIA DURANGO Friday May 7, Saturday May 8 and Monday May 10 at 5:30pm. Tuesday May 11 at 8:15pm A Spanish/Mexican eo-production about a tough, dark, bank robber and his double dealing whore partner who kidnap a teenage couple.

CENTRAL STATION Friday May 7, Saturday May 8 and Monday May 10th at 8:15pm. Tuesday May 11 at 5:30pm Award winning multi-national production nominated for best foreign film in the

THE SPANISH PRISONER Tuesday April 27 at 9:00pm Clever John Ross has an invention that can change the world, but others are out to exploit him. From playwright David Mamet.

THE MASK OF ZORRO Thursday April 29 at 7:00pm Antonio Banderas and the sultry yet Welsh Catherine Zeta Jones in a re-make of the classic TV series. Expect swashing buckles a go-go.

ENEMY OF THE STATE Friday April 30 at 7:00pm The U.S. State department of acting is finally onto Will Smith for playing the same character in all his films, namely himself.

PHILADELPHIA STORY Sunday May 2 at 7:00pm Not a full length mega budget version of the cream cheese adverts, but the story of a haughty spoilt society heiress.

Witty classic from 1940, unlike the joke above which is neither witty nor classic.

BOUND Tuesday May 4 at 9:00pm Female professional criminals feature in yet another US crime movie with sex violence etc.

Lets have a film in which gangsters are polite to each other, just for a change.

OUT OF SIGHT Thursday May 6 at 7:00pm A film so slick you could put it into the ocean and call it an environmental tragedy. George Clooney recovers from the travesty that was Batman and Robin in another Elmod Leonard adaptation.

BABE: PIG IN THE CITY Friday May 7 at 7:00pm The lovable talking pig narrowly escapes the butcher's knife by starring in another sequel with all his animatronic chums. Less charm than the first.

SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER/ AUSTIN POWERS Sunday May 9 at 7:00pm and 8:30pm respectively.

Mike Myers, who comes from Liverpool, is the focus of the double bill. Both excellent spoofs, with Myers sending himself up as much as the subject matter, be it a Hitchcock murder or a 60s super-spy.

DREAM LIFE OF ANGELS Thursday May 11 at 9:00pm Story of two French girls with similar poor backgrounds in Lile, and the friendship they develop. Twists and turns on its own logic.

MEN WITH GUNS Monday May 3 at 6:30pm Doctor Fuentes travels Latin America in search of his students who were all taken by 'Men with guns'. From Cult US director Jonathon Sayles.

EVES BAYOU Monday May 10 at 6:30pm Samuel L Jackson plays a philandering doctor in a Louisiana by-water whose daughter Eve witnesses his infidelity.

~ THE

E\lENT, WEDJtESDAY, APRIL 281 1999

... ~

_,

~

0

ma1a e11eal:

•

r1

7.30pm £15.50/£11/£9/£3 FLOCKING SHEEP IKON, CLUB Ikon's new student orientated night. £2 before 12am, £1 with UEA card .

Lager and cider 80p, all other drinks £1 ART SCHOOL NORWICH GALLERY , EXH IBITION .

A display showcasing work from the Norwich School of Art and Design . Runs on St George's Street till May 8.

10am-5pm JINX+ BRIEF UEA STUDIO , PLAYS. Runs till Thursday April 29 A double bill of two one-act plays from DramaSoc, exploring themes of unlucky love and brief encounters.

7.30pm £6 /£3.50 CHRIS BARRIE + NORMAN LOVETT UEA LCR , COMEDY. Two Red Dwarf stars prove their stand-up ski ll with this double bill.

8pm-11pm £9.50adv H20- BATTLE OF THE DJ 'S- THE FINAL WATERFRONT, CLUB. Final event to find the best DJ . Unfortunately it's all done by music, and not gladiatorial combat.

Pete Tong in the ring would have been very interesting.

9pm-2am £2.50/ £3.50 BRASSED OFF THEATRE ROYAL, PLAY runs till Saturday May 1 Mark Herman's modern classic is brought to the stage by Paul Alien . lt deals with the problems faced by northern mining communities when their livelihood becomes threatened.

PURE SWING MANHATTANS , CLUB. Uplifting swing for the people of Norwich .

9pm-2am FREE SUPERFLY MOJO'S CLUB Serious Funk. a 1Opm-2am £3

THE RETRO KIDS ST GREGORY'S ART CENTRE, PLAY After a stint at the UEA studio, this play by Emily Hunka comes to the city. Set around the last election, it explores Generation X's views of sex, rock and roll and politics.

7.30pm £3.50 COM EDY CLUB THE PLAYHOUSE BAR, STAND-UP In aid of Save the Children, this free night features local talent including the Nimmo twins , as well as music from local bands. Donations more than welcome.

8.30pm CHARTY HANDBAGGY THE LOFT, CLUB

The ol' Bard has been enjoying something of a revival of late, '-.:..Jl--'-J!'to~" what with th e success of Shakespeare In Love at th e Oscars and all. The Reduced Shakespeare Company are no gravytrain jumpers, though, having been touring their bite-sized Shakespeare for quite some time . Th ey periorm all 37 of Bill's plays in 97 minutess, which isn't bad considering that Hamlet alone can last up to five hours. This is periect for all of you too lazy to bother reading the whole lot - or for English students upset that EAS now offer only one Shakespeare unit.

.

.

~eventJ

4

11 Popular gay night at one of Norwich's most famous clubs. £3 /£4 LOAD OF OLD BOWLS MADDERMARKET THEATRE , PLAY Runs till may 8th A new comedy from Graeme Coulam , with bowls players literally bowled over in life.

7.30pm £6.50 /£5 /£4

RICK'S PLACE, CLUB £3 with flyers before 11 pm DANCE CLUB MANHATTANS, CLUB 9pm-4am £5

THE LCR UEA LCR, CLUB Get down and boogie with the old familiar. £2.50 EXTRA SMOOTH SUNDAY THE GARDEN HOUSE, MUSIC. Hip hop, drum & bass with live guitar and drums, all in one of th e 'triangles nicest pubs.

6pm FREE

RICKY ROSS UEA LCR, GIG Acoustic concert from the Deacon Blue singer.

Arrive early as seating is unreserved - like the audience, I'm sure.

7.30pm-11 pm £10 /£7.50 MINISTRY OF SOUND DJS WATERFRONT, CLUB Milky lunch presents Daren Mac, Pau l Taylor, and Martin Hammond , among others.

10pm-6am £11/ £9 CLUB FLINT RICK'S PLACE, CLUB £2 before 11 pm GORGEOUS MANHATTANS, CLUB Happy House club night.

9pm-4am £5 CWFS @ZOOM ZOOM, CLUB Uplifting house & garage.

10pm-3am £5

SUNDAY SERVI CE MANHATTANS,CLUB House night.

8pm-2am FREE

SPIR IT OF THE DANCE THEATRE ROYAL, PERFORMANCE runs till Wednesday May 5 Brand new show from the Irish National Dance company. £17.50/£14.50/£3.50 7.30pm STUDENT NIGHT SOLAR SKATE , SKATING! Cheap skate hire and indie DJ. 7-11 pm £1 .00 with Student ID CARWASH LIQUID, CLUB Funky 70s disco night.

Wear your flares and get in for free. Otherwise £3.

UNDERGROUND MOJO'S, CLUB Lo-fi and lndie night.

10pm-2am £3

APOCALYPSE PART 1 Poweriul Drum & Bass from the likes of Grooverider, Ray Keith and Scooby, and a live PA from Shere Kahn. Not the baddy from th e X-Men though. Shame.

9pm-2am £9/ £8 THE SNITCHITY-TITCH SHOW NORWICH PUPPET THEATRE , PLAY. Stunning periormance of this tragic and moving tale which traces the momentous meeting between Snitchity-Titch and Dodo with his magic safe, and their calamitous encounter with the Robber. Moving stuff from Ronnie Le Drew.

2.30pm £5 /£3.75 /£1 MELTDOWN WATERFRONT, CLUB. Usual Wateriont fun, with hits from Manchester in the studio with IN THE BAG. 9pm-2am £4/ £3.50 CWFS @ZOOM ZOOM, CLUB Uplifting house & garage .

10pm-3am £5 A NIGHT FOR DISCERNING ADULTS

THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

STUDENT NIGHT LIQUID, CLUB Cheap student night from the popular Norwich club Free before 11 pm with UEA card , drinks £1.

THE CONCEPT COMEDY CLUB London circuit comics. All drinks £1.50.

Tables can be reserved in advance with the club Doors 8.30pm £4

Get

15°/o off Star Wars 1lf'

Episode I goodies!

~~~'n ·

The world is waiting eagerly for The Phanton Menace to open at cinemas, but for die-hard fans it will arrive even sooner in the form of a novel , screenplay and audiobook all available at Kulture Shock on St Benedicts Street in Norwich from May 4. And the lovely people at Kulture Shock are offering all Event readers 15% off any new Star Wars book or screenplay ordered in advance. For your discount on these fantastic cult items just take the paper along with you to the shop!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - -- - -•

7:30pm £3.50, £3.00 cones

PURE SWING MANHATIANS, CLUB Uplifting swing for the people of Norwich.

9pm-2am FREE SUPERFLY MOJO'SCLUB Funky sounds for Norwich groovers.

10pm-2am £3

SUNDAY SERVICE MANHATIANS, CLUB House mght.

8pm-2am FREE THE HAPPY PRINCE PUPPET THEATRE, PLAY Adapted from Oscar Wilde, this tells the story of a prince who meets a swallow on the way to Egypt Fair enough 2.30pm £5/£3.75/£1 MERCURY REV UEA LCR, GIG .

Doing well after the release of Deserter Songs, this up and com1ng band play Norwich.

7.30pm-11 pm £8.50 adv.

LCR DISCO UEA LCR, CLUB D+S-C-O ...... D-1-S-C-0 ..... etc etc £2.50.

JOHN MA YALL + THE BLUES BREAKERS WATERFRONT, GIG. One of the founding fathers of Bntish blues. £12.50 adv THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED) THEATRE ROYAL, PLAY. Runs till Saturday May 8 The reduced Shakespeare company come strrught from the West End With their famous production of all 37 plays in 97 minutes. Set to upset literature students all over campus.

7.30pm £14 /£11 /£9 /£3 CHARTY HANDBAGGY THE LOFT, CLUB Popular gay night at one of Norwich's best known clubs. £3/£4 PLEASURE RICK'S PLACE, CLUB New club night, with cheap drink offers.

99p with flyers before 11 pm

EXTRA SMOOTH SUNDAY THE GARDEN HOUSE, MUSIC. Hip hop, drum & bass with live gurtar and drums, all 1n one of the tnangles mcest pubs.

6pm FREE

MELTDOWN WATERFRONT, CLUB. Saturday slot of 1ndte and alternative dance, with Ballistix IN THE STUDIO. 9pm-2am £41£3.50

CARWASH LIQUID, CLUB Funky 70s disco night.

Wear your flares and get in for free. Otherwise £3.

UNDERGROUND MOJO'S, CI.!.UB Lo-fi and India n1ght.

10pm-2am £3

HAYDEN: THE CREATION ST ANDREWS HALL, CHOIR UEA's choir and orchestra perform together for the first time with this classtc suite.

7.30pm . £12 /£10 /£8 /£3 CHARTY HANDBAGGY THE LOFT, CLUB. Popular gay mght at one of Norwich's most famous clubs. £3/£4

CLUB CHAD IKON. CLUB Ikon's new students only mght.

Free before 10pm with UEA card.

60p a pint

STUDENT NIGHT LIQUID, CLUB Cheap student night from Norwich's latest club Free before 11 pm with UEA card, drinks £1 .

CWFS@ZOOM ZOOM, CLUB Uplifting house & garage.

10pm-3am £5

·-

A NIGHT FOR DISCERNING ADULTS RICK'S PLACE, CLUB £3 with flyers before 11 pm DANCE CLUB MANHATIANS,CLUB 9pm-4am £5

JOY RIDE CONCEPT, CLUB. East Anglia's premier Soul and R'n'B night. £3

....

THE THATCHER YEARS WATERFRONT, CLUB The continuing existence of the this 80's night proves the argument that the general public are not be trusted with anything. FUNKY GROOVE SHACK tn the studio.

9:30pm-2am £4/£3.50 GORGEOUS MANHATIANS, CLUB Happy House club night.

9pm-4am £5 "TIS THE DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION" NORWICH ARTS CENTRE Instrumental techno and orgamc breaks with dub roots and ambtcore in the cafe bar.

THE EVENT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

....

. .. - -- - -

-

-

•

[1@[3 C3WC3[K)lJ~

APRIL ed 28 CHRIS BARRIE & NORMAN LOVETT £7 su

Stand up comedy from the stars of Red Dwarf and Brlttas

ri 30 RICKY ROSS unplugg_, voice and soul of DEACON BLUE lit [acOustic concert £7.50 SU

MAY at 1 club APOCALYPSE n'bass • Dj's Grooverider, Rav. 1\fltll, Bcooby and Nicky Blackmarket £11 SU

at 8 MECURY REV + . FLAMING LIPS

£8.50 su £7

EVERY WEDNESDAY

E L T 0 w N INDIE/ALT DANCE & NEWPOP +IN THE BAG

Flocking

Sheep

SAT 1 MAY £3+UEA ID DOOR

GIC

IN THE STUDIO

lP-HOP

JUNGLE/DRUM N

9_2AM

WE D 5 MAY £3

MAVAll

JOHN

THUR 6 MAY £12.50

at 15 club · BEAT PHARMACY

breakin' big beat DJ's Jon & Dan Kahuna plus 808 State Scammers

Fri 21 ROGER McGUINN ¥Glee of the Byrds £14.50 SU at 22 RETRO-active with ~heeky Monkees' £5* Sat 29 THUNDER £11.50 quality rock, London's loudest!

JUNE

Wed 2 FASHION SHOW £2.50 hu 3 FASHION + DISCO £5 t 5 RETRO-active with '80's xperience' £5* t 12 club MILKY LUNCH tbc ue 29 BAABA MAAL £9.50 the sublime voice that is African pop

JUNE

ed 28 ROBERT CRAY BAND on ule: Fri 1 Oct Bjorn Again £11.50

Sat 16 Oct the Stranglers £10 Sat 13 Nov Jools Holland £14.10

* BUY BOTH RETRO TICKETS FOR £7.50

TICKETS FROM UNION FINANCE OFFICE

STUDENT ORIENTATED

CREDIT CARDS & INFO 01603 505401

FRI 19 FEB £3+UEA ID DOOR

ME LT D 0 w N +BALLISTIX lND I E/ALT DANCE & NEWPOP SAT 20 FEB £3 +UEA ID DOOR

ALL DRINKS

fl

GAY DAD HURRlCANE#1 •WITNESS SUN 9 MAY £6

T HUR

PINTS OF LAGER, BITTER AND CIDER

SOp

6

M AY

£ 1 2 .50

L A MB THUR 18 MA Y £7

~ WED E U S 19 MAY £6.50

T RAVl S MON 7 JUN E £8.50

Doors 1 0·2am

ENTRY: £2 84 12 £3 AFTER

11 • 3.30pm weekdays

prl• lllown are in advalce aiii1CIIIIIt . , student dlscouat

80 ' S NOSTALG IA WITH NO SHAME

£1 DISCOUNT WITH NUS CARD

THE WATERFRONT STUDIO (WITH 2AM BAR> CAN BE HIRED MIDWEEK AT VERY SPECIAL RATES TO UEA STUDENTS. PHONE FOR DETAILS