The Event - Issue 138 - 08 May 2002

---- - --

- - ~- --

- - - - - - -- --

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

CAFE BAR No. 1 Farmers Avenue, Norwich Tel. 01603 765512 www.owens-cafebar.co.uk During the day, Cafe style dining serving anything from cheese on toast to pot roasted knuckle of lamb

Special offers a vailable any day, any time

4 Bottles 4 a fiver Choose from a selection of oleo-pops and beers

Pictu re: 7/J( inplt 1 G,Jfll(l. nc-lrl of tl.t• Prcl fiJt:O Qr F ,,.,.

f P~tl\d :

prev lev. crf on

DM~P

12

Treble vodka and Red Bull only £3.99

e:

I

10°/o Discount on meals with a valid UEA card

03 Bits and Pieces Competitions: W111 Apoc alypse Now Redux DVD set,

Sugababes good1es . and D:Tox tickets

~·nil

J

MONDAY NIGHTS

~ J

Student night All pints £1.80 with a valid UEA card Free entry to liquid

04 John Cooper Clarke The Event talks to the influential punk poet on his 30 year career. and how and wily he got interested in poetry 1n the f1rst place.

Knowledge Slint

05 Inquisitor Capdown

06 Ainsley Harriot THURSDAY NIGHTS

Cheese 'n' Choons With free entry and no queuing to the Ministry of Cheese at Liquid night club.

The cheeky TV chef recently came to Norw1ch as part of his book sign1ng tour . We caught up w1th h1m to talk k1tscl1 and kitchens.

07 Bluetones We talk to guitanst. Adam Devl1n about band nvalry. greatest llits. and large. "impractical" dildos.

08 Cover Story Sugababes

All Sky football shown

on seven tvs around the building, plus our big screen outside

Enjoy a bottle of wine together with nachos and dips for only a fiver everyday 4-7pm

Show1ng the pop world that you don't have to be squeaky clean and ultra cute to get on top, the Sugababes are currently ruling the charts with their latest smgle. Freak L1ke Me. Even so. the group's newest member. Heidi Range. IS takmg 1t all in her stride.

11 The Weather Girls The Event spent a day in the Anglia TV Weather department talkmg to current weather g1rl. Bec ky Manton. and to former Anglia weather girl turned Newsround presenter.

Becky Jago, about how there's more to the JOb than sunny spells and blue sc reens.

12 Cinefile The Pnncess Bnde

Free entry to Kafe Da any night when you buy a drink at Owen's

Prague On Film festival We preview the h1ghl1ghts of the Czech film festival. current!} sh owmg at C1nema Cit y.

R

•

ews:

14 Albums Doves: Damon Albarn and Fnends: lan van Dahl : Last Days Of April

15 Singles DJ Slladow; Electric Soft Parade; Black Rebel Motorcycle Club; Moby: Looper

16 Film Panic Room; Wakmg L1fe; Y Tu Mama Tamb1en

18 Video He1st; Ghost World

19 Arts Quamt Honour; C1garettes and Chocolate; Gladstone's Magic Hat; Godspe/1; Juno and Juliet; Her MaJeSt}

20 TV/Radio Soaps: Meet the DJs: Top 10 TV Soap Queens

Listin s: 22 Listings The best gu1de to what 's happening 1n Norw1ch

Editor-in-Chief · Adam Chapman • Editor · Markland Starkie • Arts Editor · Charlotte Ronalds • Film Editor · Merek Cooper • Assistant Film Editor · Phi I Colvin • Music Editor · Anthony Lovell • TV / Radio Editor · Liz Hutchinson • Assist ant TV / Radio Editor - Gemm a O' Oonnell • Picture Editor · Ed Webb-lngall • Text · Paul Booth · James Brown · Claire Burwell · Astrid Goldsmith (thankyou) · Mo Grills · Oan Hutchings · Toby Lewis · Sam Parker · Ed Purkis · Matthew Sargeson · Bethany Scott·Boatfield · Zac Walsh · Mark Wheeler · Luke Wright

The Ev nt is published fortnightly b y C oncrete· Post: PO Box 410, Norwic h. NR4 ?TB Tel 0 1603 250558 Fax : 01603 506822 f::- ma 11 su concrete @ue a a c. uk Prlllte d b v: Eastern Counties Newspapers. St Andrew s Bus1ness Park. Norwic h

r--------------------------------------- -~~ - ~ -

- ~-

-

Bits and Pieces 03

Competitions: topdogformusic·video·games - H M V

Win an HMV Exclusive Apocalypse Now Redux Special DVD Pack with Movie Guide book

pocalypse Now was first released in 1979 and has an outstanding cast including Marlon Brando (Colonel Kurtz), Martin Sheen (Captain Willard), Robert Duvall , Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper and Harrison Ford. Re-edited with 49 minutes of extra footage- the HMV Special Redux DVD comes with an exclusive pocket guide to the film.

To celebrate the release of Apocalypse Now Redux DVD HMV are giving Event readers the chance to win an exclusive DVD Including an exclusive pocket guide to the movie. To be In with a chance of winning just answer this simple question.

A

Win signed Sugababes goodies, including photo, posters and limited edition 12" of Freak Like Me and remixes

Q. Who directed Apocalypse Now? To enter simply e-mail the answer to hmv @ nu~ nts .co.uk Please title the e-mail Apocalypse Now Competition and include your name, age, address, university, HMV Student card year of study, phone number and email fu,........ 0'. . . address . .tdl't ..... llo:.,»'l

10% off* ·.;. ~-HM¥

· ~tQ~¥'1a~-~'or~

And don't forget that you can get 10% off* Apocalypse Now Redux DVD with your HMV Student Card. *See reverse of HMV Student Card for full terms and conditions or visit www.hmv.co.uk for further details.

r

coincide with The Event's interview with the Sugababes (on page 08), the lovely girls that they are ave given us lots of Sugababe related things to give way to a lucky reader. To win the prizes just answer his simple question.

Q. What was the Sugababes' debut single called?

To enter simply send your answer to su.concrete @uea.ac.uk with the subject line Sugababe Competition and include your name, email address, phone number and favourite colour.

THE YORK TAVERN Win tickets to UEA hip hop night, D:tox

Not j ust a great tradit ional pub footbal l show ing , pool table.

Curry and a pint '£5 now on Wednesday Nights Monday nights 'Special Drinks nights' A selected bottle of Beer £1.50 York special Cocktails £2.50

r

e second coming of UEA 's premier rum'n'bass and hip hop night is happening on Friday, May 10. We have everal tickets for the event to give way to some lucky readers.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is answer the following simple question:

Q. What was the name of the hip hop outfit who headlined at the first D:tox event?

To enter simply send your answer to su.concret e@uea.ac.uk with the subject line Sugababe Compet ition and include your name, email address, phone number and favourite colour.

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

the event

04

Knowledge: no. 62

Slint

30 Years In An Necked Shirt: Text: Luke Wright

The punk performance poetry of John Cooper Clarke has influenced a whole generation, from musicians such as The Fall's Mark E Smith to today's GCSE students. He recently came to Norwich to give a now rare performance and to speak to The Event about how it all started.

Who they?

One of the most critically revered bands of the '90s with a criminal lack of mainstream recognition . Four young men from Kentucky t hat will fo rever change the way you think about music.

What Do They Sound like?

Slint used spoken word poetry and piercing screams layered over alternatingly del1cate and co rrosive guitars and drums; the post-hardcore zeitgeist in many ways. At once dark and decaying and yet at the same time, devastatingly beautiful.

Most famous Work?

Undoubtedly Spider/and, an album which regularly arrives in many 'Top Ten· lists of the '90s and deservedly so . If you let it. this album will tear you apart. Spider/and shows a band at the height of their musical powers, able to unleash tidal waves of feedback and volume at any moment, and then pull tightly on the reigns to reveal an aural utopia of ghostly guitar tinkering and jau-fuelled rl1ythms.

Standout tracks?

Washer is a personal favourite; it's achingly beaut iful in places. yet always w1th a sense of desperation at its heart that emerges through taut crashes of guitars. it's a track that lasts for eight or so minutes and is a subtle lesson 111 inevitability; the length of the track can be daunting , espe· cially with the same guitar parts repeated for minutes at a time. yet their dream-like co nstruction only promote s a sentamentality for the track. making you wish it would never end. When it does. you·ve lost a best friend.

Interesting Facts?

The track that plays out the end1ng of Larry Cl ark ·s 1994 film Kids is Slint's Good Mornmg Captam. Also. uber-produc er Steve Albin1 Infamously despatcl1ed a review of Spider/and to Me/od} Maker w1t11 the rat111g of "'ten fucking stars.· Most impressively though. at the end of the final cut of Good Mommg Captatn. vocaliSt Brian McMahan is sa1d to have screamed out his lyrics to the po1nt of vomiting after trying to make himself heard over the song's cataclysmic finale. Now that's entertainment.

Where are they now?

Slint only recorded two albums. Tweez and Spider/and (though bootleg live material is nfe on the internet), after which time all were apparently psychologically exhausted.

Vocalist McMahan went on to JOin Tortoise. gu1tarist Oavid PaJO went to art school 111 Norw1ch (yes. th1s Norw1ch). before go1ng solo under the mon1kers Aerial M and Papa M. drummer Britt Walford got bel1ind the k1t for neato indie-rock band the Breeders (fronted by ex pix1es bassist. K1m Deal) under the name of Shannon Ooughton. and bassist Ethan Buck le r started K1ng Kong wh1ch Wa lford later joined.

In retrospect ... "'lt finally came, he took a deep breatll. lt made h1m feel strong. and determined. to go l)ack 1nside ..... - Don. A man Matthew Sargeson

th event

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

05

Inquisitor:

Oper~ ohn Cooper Clarke is mildly annoyed, a fairly rare state of mind for punk's poet laureate.

We 've been talking about Michael Winterbottom's recent cinema release , 24 Hour Party People, a fictionalised rockumentary about the life and times of Manchester's infamous Factory Records, featuring cameos from many of the faces on the Manchester punk and post punk scene, such as The Fall 's Mark E Smith . "Yeah, they asked me to be in it , y'know playing myself, but I knew that Coogan was in it playing Tony Wilson, and so I thought I'd be the only one playing myself and I didn't want to look sad. But If I'd a known that Smithy was in it I'd have probably said yeah ... still , never mind.· John Cooper Clarke was very much a part of that scene, going on to record albums with former Factory producer, Martin Hannett ( " I don 't think he knew what to do with me . He did a better job with Joy Division") , and becoming nationally renowned whilst Morrissey was still "just this quiet bloke called Steve , who did a spot of DJing at this club we used to go to in Salford ."

Clarke appeared in the public eye in the 1970s with his unique brand of fast paced and humorous verse. "At that time rock/ pop music lyrics weren't really taken much into consideration, and a song was merely a vehicle to showcase the lightning fingers of the lead guitar player, y'know what I mean? So lyrics were definitely in the boot of the car. it wasn 't seen as important. But punk rock changed all that , and lyrics quickly came to the fore: lyrics that dealt with everyday matters. And when the punk thing happened I was already writing those kind of lyrics, so I thought it would be a shame not get onto this thing. · However, John 's interest in poetry stems from very early on. "I always enjoyed the poetry lesson at school owing to the fact that we had a really good teacher. This guy, he was a rea l outdoorsy sort of guy: Mr M alone , his name was. This was a slum school in Salford, so there was a bit of a resistance to poetry at that point. We were all teddy boys and things like that. But we got this teacher, he was the guy who used to take us for football and he was a real rugged outdoor type, a real character.

Not really a big guy, but every summer holiday he 'd come back with some fresh injury incurred from some dangerous outdoor pursuit, like he fell 300 feet while climbing a mountain in Snowdonia. He had a limp and a glass eye. And all these accidents occurred whilst skiing or on speedboat ; he was a bit of a glamorous type to us so we gave him the time of day, y'know what I mean. But he also had this other side, ~his really aes. thetic side that introduced us to the likes of Tennyson and Shelley . Gave it a new spin, made us guttersnipes look at it again - Romantic stuff, but also the late 19th Century gung-ho stuff like Charge of the Light Brigade, The Last Ride of Dick Turpin and Vitae Lamparda by Sir Henry Newbolt ." it was from the Romantic poets that Clarke first took inspiration for his poetry, a far cry from the gobbing Sex Pistols fans that later took to pogo-ing at his spatter-gun style poetic delivery.

"I didn't always have my own take on it, what I did . And what I would rec ommend anyone who fancies t hemselves as a poet do is ... well , there aren't that many new styles around , and it didn't really used to be a problem . Back in the 19th century people used the old iambic pentameter and the sonnet form, and you weren't considered unoriginal if you wrote sonnets. Whereas today there is this emphasis on 'get your style.' But what I would say is, steal the style of someone you admire but write about what you yourself know about. Use your own subject but

"At the time (my friends) were meeting all these beatnik chicks and I thought 'how can I get into this scene? Oh I know, I'll be a poet."' steal style and then it 's your own shit, y'know what I mean? I suppose a personal style evolves, it 's an organic thing. I mean, nobody 's born with it."

Even at this early stage , John never had any ambition to do gigs or make records. "Oh no, no,· he says, · it was stuff for the page. Although I did used to read it aloud to myself to see how it panned out, y'know, phonetically ." His first gigs were in the beatnik surroundings of Salford Art College in the late 1960s. "I didn 't expect a bad time there, it was all bohemians and beat-

on the up. in the chair

niks, as we called them in those days. I fancied myself as a bit of a beatnik, and I was always fond of that look on women .

Y'know , that beatnik look - chicks like Julie Christie , chicks like that . Anyway, I had a few friends who went to Salford Art College at the time and they were meeting all these beatnik chicks and I couldn 't paint, so I thought 'how can I get into th is scene? Oh I know , I'll be a poet .' And I knew I was good at it in my school days, so I really started in earnest then. But it was. n't for a mass audience: a lot of stuff about death and flowers.

Chick stuff, or at least stuff I perceived that chicks would go for."

"I 'm g lad (the heroin) ain 't there anymore. lt's a strain living under that pressure. I mean, what do you write about?"

John breaks off in a wheezy laugh at this point . Writing romantic poetry to impress the ladies is a long way from where he ended up as the poet of the inadequate, mixing literary sharpness with a good ear for a cool , trashy sound . After his initial beatnik beginnings, he started to get more heavily into the punk scene in Manchester.

"I thought , 'y 'know, I'm kinda in tune with this, in an intuitive kind of way .' And it really took off in Manchester, and there were people I really liked , like the Buucocks and The Fall.

Espec ially The Fall , because they were a lyrically centred band, the very thrust of The Fall is the lyrical dexterity of Mark E Smith. So there was definitely a kind of kindred thing there . So me and Mark, well me and The Fall went around a lot together and played some dangerous venues as well , at , like, working class clubs in Kirby and Liverpool council estates, things like that . And the feel ing was that this was gonna get us noticed because we were going against the grain here . We were reminded at every gig that this was a very dangerous thing to do, but worth it. Because there's always gonna be someone in that audience who 's gonna admire your bottle for getting up and doing it , and is gonna talk you up. And pretty soon they realised that we weren 't gonna go away . it became obvious that we weren't some kind of twats. We were guys of the people; I mean we were all working class chaps, y'know . We knew that it was gonna get us somewhere . 'Get this period over with and anything after this is just gonna seem like a breeze .' And it's true.·

ohn went via the music industry into the bosom Britain reserves for its minor celebrities and picked up a lot of respect along the way . In the past few years, NME have called his Beezley Street "the greatest work of literature in the English Language," and any time poetry is mentioned in relation to rock music , his name is only a few sentences away at the most. Whilst the records he released have dated considerably and dropped out of the public juke boxes, his out of print collection , Ten Years In An Open Neck Shirt , has become a very sought-after and rare collectors item and many of his gigs are readings to GCSE students, as several of his poems now appear on the syllabus. He achieved a fame unknown to a lot of poets of his time , but his problems with heroin in the 1980s took him out of the public eye.

"Yeah, I'm glad it ain 't there anymore. it 's a strain living under that pressure. I mean , what do you write about? If you 're writing about the life of being on the road then that 's rock lyrics and you might as well get a guitar. I think it 's essential that a poet knows the price of a pint of milk . One foot in reality; well, a little toe at least. For instance, I think Jarvis Cocker's a great lyric ist, but when you 're at every single showbiz party, and in the Evening Standard magazine every week look ing pissed , it diminishes your perceived talent : there 's only so many takes you can get in th~t sort of life . So now, in retrospect I think the way my life 's gone is real good . I'm still gigging , but not too much . And , y'know , the drugs and all that, which is a death to the creative process, is all behind me. There 's a really healthy scene at the moment, much more than when I was starting out , so it 's just cool to still be part of it ."

J

• Fellow performance poet and contemporary of John Cooper Clarke, Llnton Kwesl Johnson, Is playing at the Lecture Theatre 1 on Monday, May 13. Tickets are available at the U£A Box Office, priced £10/ £5 (NUS)

Political ska punk outfit Capdown love DIY! As long as it's music al, that is How would you describe your sound?

We 're punk , hardcore , ska and reggae all combined I guess, and all done in a DIY way.

Who do you consider your influences?

Nirvana, Rancid, Operation Ivy , Gorilla Biscuits and lots of dub, drum 'n' bass ... we 're all about bringing those sounds into punk .

Being In a band: business or pleasure? it 's pleasure, but anyone who says that there isn 't business involved is a liar. At the end of the day if you want to do this for a living then it has to be business in the sense that you get paid and you sell records for money. If you remain ignorant to it, you get taken advantage of and find yourself in shit situations. it sucks but you have to try and do it by your own ethos.

How would you describe your live act?

Hot and sweaty. I think we like to put on 'a show ', but not in a false sense - make it enjoyable but not be pretentious with it. We try and be as inclusive with the crowd as we can be , to transfer our energy into them and to hopefully have them feed it back to us.

What do you hope for the future of Capdown?

Hopefully to sort ourselves out a bit and stop blindly beating ourselves into the ground with touring . To add a bit more structure to ourselves, get our own rehearsal space and write a really good album. We need to build on the things we've already achieved. We 've done a lot of gigging, and done very well at that, but there are so many other things to be done if you're going to be in a band. Basically we need to take it to the next level , play some more high profile shows.

Can you see Capdown doing well in the US? I think people place a bit too much emphasis on going to America and it 's not our main objective. Yeah we 'd love to go there, like we would everywhere, but I think at the moment we just want to get ourselves to a certain level in the UK where we don 't have to kill ourselves day in day out like we do now . If we took what is a four to six week tour of the UK over to an American scale , we 're talking one to two years instead . We'd end up coming back knackered and broke after only playing to 1% of punks.

Matthew Sargeson

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

the event

06

Dirty Harriot: Text: Liz Hutchinson

The Event gets its juices flowing with the man who puts the kitsch in kitchen, the camp in campari and the sauce tn saucepans.

I

doubt whether Celebrity Death Mat ch could have envisaged a better scenario : camper than a Millets store celebrity chef feather weight meets swearing scouser heavy weight in a Norwich book shop. with nothing but a shelf of best-sellers to separa te the two . The circ umstances made for an exc iting battle , as t he incessant ly friend ly Ainsley Harriot , overrunning on his book sign ing , delayed Alexei Sayle's we ll attended book reading. Sayle fumed behind the arts and cra ft section. his bristles of stubble erect in anticipation, the grinding of his filled teeth almost audible as Ainsley cam ped it up fo r the last co uple of errant fans . When Al exei started hi s ta lk regardle ss. a strange ste reo sound of hi s Liverpudlian reading about lat ex vagi nas and gimp suits, Ainsley continued to c hat about woking and spicing it up to the customers of Ottakers. This was the final oddity in what was a somewhat surreal occasion.

Encountering celebrity chef extraordinaire Ainsley Harriot in his 'public figu re' ro le wa s bizarre enough, espec ially since thi s see med t o involve mutual gurn ing between the man hi mself and countless yokels, seemingly int ent on giving Ainsley much more than a mere peck on the cheek. So I was more than a little scared to be ushered into a small lift with Ainsley and hi s entourage, a situation not helped by the conversation that ensued concerning hi s tired fingers and a non-cul inary activity invo lving tossing. I feared fo r my innocently prepared questions about cook ing as I sudden ly noticed the potential for end less innuendo and wondered whether our conversation would be less

I

ready steady cook and more ready steady ... ahem. I decided to test my theory by asking about his appearance in the naked centre spread of More magazine. " I wasn't nervous because I thought it was fantastic. I had got to the big four-0 and thought why not ? I t hought this is fantastic, it was my last opportunity t o get out there and kind of lay out w ith a big bunch of grapes stu ck on your knob. lt was qu ite nice rea lly. They we re green when they went on ." I decided it was best to move towards a sl ight ly staid question about his public appearances of a less revealing kind. After watchi ng Ainsley for hours while he entertained the crowds, it was apparent that he c learly enjoyed this aspec t of ce lebrity, despit e having t o kiss the cheeks of many

"I am always surprised when get out there how diverse it is. You think it is just mums and it's not." old hags. But I did worry somewhat for his face muscles, doesn't he get face ache? "Never. I never get tired, there is a kind of rule that if you are going to be meeting people, you should be pleasant because that is the way you are basically on the box. it' s no good coming out and saying 路get stuffed, get lost ' and all that, 'bugger off,' because it s not me anyway and if you don't fancy it . just stay home and sl1out at or kick t he dog . Do whateve r you want to do. But I quite like getting out. I think

Student diets according to Ainsley: "Of course we all know it 's Pot Noodle and t hat but that 's just laziness. That 's called getting drunk and can't be bothered.

That 's called 'Christ I've got to get down the pub quick. ' I certainly remember that back in my college days when all my mates were at uni , ironically at UEA , when I used to spend quite a bit of time in Norwich. lt was amazing how towards the end most of them , year two , year t hree, were all going out to restaurants by that stage. Your cultu re changes. When you first arrive you want to do everything, you want to explode, you want to go out there and pull and drink and do everyth ing , shag , everyth ing has got to be happening all at the same and then you slow down : 'who am I hanging out with? Am I the sporty group? Am I the theatre group? Am I the intellectual group?' You find your

the event

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

you get very stuck in London in your own little ways and you just forget that people are there. because al l you do is turn up to a studio. deal with those two hundred people who are in the audience, your staff and everybody else and you go home and it's forgotten about. If you are getting three or four million people t uni ng in in th e aft ern oon, you 've got t o somet imes ge t out there and meet people. I blabber on a lot , I am always surprised when I get out there how diverse it is. You think it 's just mums and it 's not. it 's everybody from every age group from kids right through teenagers, students. young adults and mature adults and the senior citizens too. There are a lot of people and they tune in beca use the re is a lot of fun in the ai r." lt is thi s airy

groupings and then you get c onfiden ce. The sec ond year you are out of digs, you have moved into a house and you start cook ing . People will come round and you get the one or two that always do the c ook ing , then you start going out. I don't think the student diet is terribly bad , I think it just shows a lot of independer:~ce. I think it is a great , great thing to do. " I don't think there is any excuse not to make your diet quite healthy, it 's just a case of think ing about what you are eating and I think sometimes you just throw th ings in because what yo u are look ing for is substance , not taste . it 's j ust like anything, we change. You go from pi cking up donner kebabs late at night and your takeaway s and later on you kind of turn your nose up at it . lt just changes. "

fairy persona that perhaps saw Ainsley chosen as chef for Elton John's notorious parties. "We did his functions and we used to go round to his house and it was pretty elaborate. He was very fussy and he had every right to be. he was pay ing thousands of pounds for the food and they were pretty outrageous parties. very outrageous. I can't reveal anything in case he says 'Ains co me and cook me egg and chips tomorrow ....

The ru le 'too many cooks .. . 路 is certainly not something that Ainsley abides by. as he regularly entertains fellow Ready Steady Cook stars at his London home. "Tony Tobin lives quite local he comes round. Worral Thompson. Pau l Rank in comes from Ireland. they come round to my house hang out and have a few beers and we have a laugh and we eat."

No mention of 'Pu kka' boy I notice ... "Of course I know Jam ie Oliver. you get to know all the chefs, but we are a different generation . I mean we don't hang out. we are not best best mates. it's mutal respect and there have been occasions when Jam ie has turned round and said 'its great what you have done路 and it gives him a bit of inspiration too . I think I nave introduced a freedom , because before it was a bit stiff. Gary [Rhodes] is quite stiff and I came along and started tossing and stuff.

Everyone has got into that. its a kind of freedom. " On that note. I asked if Ainsley would perhaps be joining Alexi Sayle fo r a good will beverage later. causing Ainsley to roar with laughter. "I th ink I have heard enough about latex vaginas for one day ... I think we all have, I thought. and left Ainsley laughing all the way down the st reet.

07

Are you Blue?

Text: Claire Burwell and Liz Hutchinson

After more than a year since their last release, the Bluetones recently re-entered the charts with the single, After Hours, and the retrospective collection, The Singles.

The Event caught up with "short-arse" guitarist, Adam Devlin, to talk about their slight return. ou end up lying in interviews. Its not for any deep motive, it's just to entertain yourself and stop yourself saying the same things."

After this admission, we began the interview in the hope we could engage Adam 's attention for the duration of the interrogation .. .

After dazzling us with his "Naarwich" accent, which, Adam admitted, had been acquired from watching Tricia, he confessed he'd watched nine hours of TV in the Holiday Inn the previous day . Maybe he was deterred from visiting the Castle and other splendours of our Fine City because of the "weird tucked up people " he'd seen on the chat show?

"When you watch it everyone has got that strange sort of accent and I've always wondered where it is filmed . I went to the British TV awards this year and sat next to her. She looked kind of scary, I didn't want to say hello or anything • When queried about the Bluetones' impromptu TV appearances, including frontman , Mark Morriss' alcohol-fuelled shenanigans involving Adam and Joe and a dildo, Devlin was more than happy t<> elaborate. "They did Vinyl Justice at his house, he got in loads of shit for it. They just turned up with loads of beer and decided to film it when they were pissed. Mark 's got some curious objects d'art in his house - he bought a 14 inch latex dildo in Hamburg, purely as an ornament I must stress, which was just ridiculously big and impractical. He keeps it under his bed . I don't know why; but they dug that out . His nan was watching it on TV.· Right before our eyes sat another object d'art upon the tour bus' plush leather upholstery. Was the plastic male mallarck:ome-pond decoration another exhibit from Mark's collection perhaps? "Oh no, that 's from a fan. We get all sorts of shit like that " Despite their obscure gestures, fan enthusiasm is often rewarded with aftershow invitations. At their last UEA gig , a challenge was put forward by the frisbee team who met the band backstage. " I saw them afterwards, when I came down and opened the doors to let the fans in . They said to me next time I was in Norwich they were gonna come down early and play frisbee . I sort of agreed to it, but I was kind of hoping they wouldn 't ."

Unfortunately for Adam , over-excited aficionados have taken advantage of their kind nature in the past . One such incident is recalled with great wrath - the painful anecdote about the ' Blue

'' Y

Army ' of Ipswich pilfering a much-treasured garment. "They stole my suit . lt was a £700 suit, tailored, green. lt was beautiful. it's not gonna fit anyone else, unless they 're a short-arse like me. I was gutted, absolutely gutted ... • But Adam suddenly realises that the bitter grudge should not be held against devotees ' memorabilia-embezzlement , as he shame-facedly admitted doing a similar thing when he was younger. " I went to see the Blow Monkeys once with my mate and they left their guitar tuner on stage when they'd packed up. I nicked that. So, my conscious is not clean .· lt was around that time he started playing the guitar, influenced by "white boys playing guitars· , like the Smiths and Echo & the Bunnymen . These and other inspirations were shared with Eds Chesters and brothers Scott and Mark Morriss, all of whom cohabited after forming the Bluetones eight years ago. ·we lived together like the Monkees. We used to annoy the neighbours a bit because our soundproof garage wasn 't very soundproof." A rivalry struck up between the new boys in town, the then bearded and tie-dye clad Dodgy . · we used to hurl abuse at them and call them hi!' pies. But we were walking around in flares and bowl haircuts, so they used to call us the Stone Roses and we started off slagging each other off across the street.· Perversely, a close friendship soon blossomed between the bands, spurred by a mutual respect for each other's music . · we went to see a band and Dodgy were supporting them and they were good! We got to know them like that and Mark moved into their house.

Slowly, we all moved in and they all moved out (we were after their garage because it was sound proof - we got it in ~he end) · Not only did they steal their house and garage, keyboard player Richard Payne was also poached from Dodgy . Adam acknowledges that the Bluetones' perpetual kleptoman ia was somewhat

kinky : "it's all a bit incestuous isn 't it?" However, after three years Richard left the Bluetones and has since been replaced on tours by various musicians.

ut what would Adam do if he wasn't in the band? "I don't know I lt keeps me awake at night, there are lots of things I would like to do but I'm not qualified to do them . I started off as an artist - I was a graphic designer for a couple of years and then started working in record shops. I'd like to be a music or sports journalist; that sort of thing really appeals to me."

So why didn't he express his secret artistic talents like bassist Scott did on some of their record sleeves? "I really fancied it, but saw what it was doing to Scott - he was just having a nervous breakdown over getting artwork completed. He did all the artwork for the second album and four singles, which is quite a big job. We were coming back from touring and when we 're busy it 's really full on, so he'd just sit up for days, finishing it off to reach deadlines.· lt seems other vocations are prevalent in the band - when they 're not busy , Mark Morris DJs, and he 's particularly big in one location. "Stoke is his town, they love him and he loves them . He used to be able to walk around Stoke without any hassle, but now .. ." Intrigued by Morriss's alter-ego, we asked Adam what he's known as on the thumping club scene. "DJ Mark .

That 's a good point , he should think up a handle shouldn't he?

How about Cosmic Body Rocker? " Perhaps not. But one thing 's for damn sure : the Bluetones need not pursue other callings, however seductive their titles; they'll be fabricating interview answers for a wh ile yet.

B

'"Mark (Biuetones' lead singer) has got some curious objects d'artin his house- he bought a fourteen inch latex dildo in Hamburg ... He keeps it under his bed. I don't know

why."'

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

the event

- ----- -

- - --- - - -- ------ - - ------- - ----- - ----.

08 r--------------------------------~------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

[

r:::

~

;s:: ~ V>

::r

Q)

ro r:::

:â&#x20AC;˘

"

::r Q)

:::> :::>

Q)

~

~

'< Q)

ro c m :::>

!"

I

m

g:

,

..

~

_

,-; --- .......

If~

,._ , ........

.--

Beautiful Freak: Text: Markland Starkie

Showing the pop world that you don't hove to be squeaky clean and Jltro cute to get on top, the Sugobobes ore currently ruling the cr1orts t t ir latest s'rrgle Fr ok Like Me Even so new kid on the block Heidi ange, tokir.g 11 n nor stride ...

1

eidi Range is -a pop star, though most people on the street wou ldn't know who I was talking about if I mentioned her name. In fact, most people who bought her last record wouldn't know who I was talking about if I mentioned her name. Yet this girl , who is still only 18 years old, has already been in one chart-topping pop act so far in her life (Atomic Kitten, whose number one single, Whole Again. sends drunken single girls blubbing into their

th

event

Wednesda y, May 8, 2002

cranberry Archers at every LCR); has embarked on a fledgl ing solo career that has taken her from her home in Liverpool to Los Angeles and back ; and (at the time of writing) is currently residing at the top of the charts with her new group's latest single, Freak Like Me. Yes, that's right, Heidi is officially 'The New One ' from uber-cool urban popsters, the Sugababes.

For those who don 't know , the Sugababes began their rise to stardom in 2000 with their debut hit, Overload, an infectious r'n'b hit that saw them gain favour with an unusually wide range

of music press. from the usual poptasti c magazines such as Smash Hits! to more trendy, fash ion conscious ones like The Face and Dazed and Confused. This adulation continued over the release of their debut album , One Touch, and looks set to continue still with the release of their next album, which they are putting the finishing touches to at the moment. and will " hopefully " becoming out at the end of the summer. When asked why she believes the Sugababes have such a diverse appeal , Heidi gives, in a thick Liverpudlian accent, a disappoint-

09

At

y

n

0

a

hen I to 1verpool to ee ingly insipid response, "I think it's just down to the fact that we 're just ourselves, we're not trying to be something that we're not, y'know? We're obviously three totally different personalities so we appeal to different types of people, and what we write are things that we can relate to. So, basically, I think it's just that nothing·s forced. Y'know, what we do is just what comes natural to us. • I am slightly surprised, however, at her reply to my inquiry into which end of the media spectrum she prefers being in favour with (·Dazed and Confused," she quickly states without pausing first to consider the options) , though perhaps I shouldn't be. For, although the Sugababes fall squarely in the category marked 'Pop', they have actively tailored their image to highlight their hip, urban, street-smart background, defying the standard blueprint of what pop idols should be like.

And I don't use the word 'actively' lightly either, because as well as defying the regulation image of pop idols, the Sugababes also defy the rules of how pop idols are created and managed. They are not passive puppets of some shrewd businessman who wears his trousers around his stomach . Instead, they have an active role in most aspects of their career, including the writing of the new album (as they did with the first) .

Okay, so we've all heard that one before: the pop star who claims to have eo-written the entire album, but actually when you look at the inlay credits you find the only creative aspect they gave to the songs were the titles. But, in the Sugababes' case I believe there really is more to it. As Heidi responds to my

k

mily" questions about their contribution, "We wrote, like, the whole album . There are only about two tracks on it that we didn 't have any input on . We usually go into the studio and our producer, he'll have a few beats laid down and a bit of the music, and then we'll decide a concept with which we want to take the song. We 'll all go to different parts of the room and figure our own melody or harmony line and then we'll get together again and work the rest of the song out from there.·

lnce Heldl Is so keen to highlight her group's creative output, the question arises as to why the Sugababes decided to release a cover version as the first single of the new album. "Basically, we weren't thinking, like, 'let's do a cover' for the first single or anything like that. lt wasn't a conscious decision . We were in the middle of writing the new album, and our A&R guy came to us with this bootleg of Adina Howard's Freak Like Me, which we knew anyway, over Gary Numan's Are Friends Electric and we were like, 'ah that 's wicked, can we try that out ourselves in the studio?'

So we went in and recorded it, and there was just a really big vi be about it, a really big buzz. So it was just a natural thing to do to bring it out as the first single, and it's just gone on to do really well."

The interview moves on to what Heidi was doing before she became a Sugababe and I bring up the subject of her old band,

S

Atomic Kitten · a little hesitantly, it must be said, fearing some deep, personal trauma that led to her departure. I needn't have worried: "Basically I was 15 and I just decided that I wanted to go into more r'n'b and soul, and have more control over what I do and stuff. lt wasn't like a fall-out or anything, it was just my decision to leave. I think they're really good at what they do.

You can 't knock them at all. They've obviously worked really hard.· My hopes at getting some small bite of juicy gossip are dashed, and we quickly move on to another topic of conversation: Heidi, the new girl.

Obviously, as the pop world has their attention on the Sugababes at the moment, much gossip has arisen over the reasons behind the departure of original member, Siobhan Donaghy (the official reason was due to 'musical differences'), last sum· mer, and over how well Heidi has coped in filling the vacancy.

"At first it was hard, coz I had to move away from home and I'm only 18, and I had to move in on my own and find a flat and stuff. So, yeah, that was difficult. And I had to start working with two girls who, y'know, who I'd never met before. But, as soon as I joined we just went straight into the studio to start writing the album, and there was just, like, a natural bond, y'know, through that process of writing the album, and things now are going really well .· Her answer seems innocuous enough, but there is something in her voice that implies a view that seems to see her relationship with the other girls, Keisha Buchanan and Mutya Buena, as more of a business partnership than a friendship. I quiz her further on this aspect : "There was a business atmosphere at first, obviously, because we didn't know each other. But we do go out and socialise as a group coz we're into the same kinda stuff... But then, at the same time, we're three girls who are into the same kind of music and singing, but at the end of the day it is a job and we've got our own things to do. Y'know, like if I've got a day off then I like to go back home to Liverpool to see my family and friends. it 's like anyone, really: if you 're together all the time then sometimes you just want to get away , go back and see your family or whatever: Once again the Sugababes defy pop convention. Heidi & eo. are sensible to realise that being in a group is not some sort of life affirming position, it is, at the end of the day, a job. Albeit a bloody good one, as Heidi is quick to affirm: "I've been going to dancing school and singing classes since I was three. This is what I've always wanted."

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT IN SALES AND MARKETING Are you a competitive and highly self motivated team player, looking to progress as quickly as your talents and personality will let you?

If you answered Yes to this question, then a graduate career with Enterprise Rent-A-Car could be just what you are looking for. We are looking to recruit highly energetic, sales orientated individuals who are willing to work hard, and have the same commitment to customer service that Enterprise has established over the years. We are looking for the Managers of our future. yve offer a fast track into Management working for a privately held, multi-billion pound corporation; our need is to find individuals capable of continuing our phenomenal growth in the UK, repeating the success stories of North America and Canada. Your job will be to learn all aspects of our business from the ground floor up, dealing with all functions of running your own small business in the decentralised structure we operate. One of the great things about Enterprise is that its up to you how quickly you get to the top.

If you are a graduate, who thinks they can make the most of these opportunities, please send your CV with a covering letter to: Miss ]oss Rutherford, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, HR Dept U71, Beech wood House, Depot Road, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 OAL. Email jrutherford@erac.com

Recruiting for locations across the East England area. www.erac.com.

.liiiil~~~~~~~r~e~n~t~-=a~-~c~a~r We are an equal opportunity employer.

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

the event

~--

Patak's Family Sauces 540g

Co-op Basmat i Rice 500g

Buy One Get One Free!

Buy One Get O ne Free!

Super Deals

Co-op Plain/Spicy Garlic/Garlic & Coriander Naan Breads Buy One Get One Free!

u per Savings!

Budweiser 4 x 330ml (NRB)

Findus 6 Crispy Pancakes 375g

Buy 2 For £6.00!

Buy One Get O ne Free!

Co-op German Premium Lager 24 x 330ml (NRB)

£I 0. 99 Super Value!

Where to find us

liT,

Opening times Mon - Sat 8.00am to I O.OOpm Sundays I O.OOam to 4.00pm

.....

.

BaFOODSTORE

CITY CENTRE

WATTON

Earlham Green Lane, Fiveways

UEA

Ipswich & Norwich Co-operative Society Ltd. C ,ers subject to availability and valid until 19/5/02. lt is an offence to sell alcoho l to anyone under or appearing to be under the age of 18. Photographs are for illustration only.

R

~arn Dividend against your purchases!

11

Raining Success: Text: Katie Hind

Weather reading has always been a glamorous profession, think Nicole Kid man in To die For... well maybe not.

The Event spoke to rising star Becky Manton about her personal forecast. et' s face it, most of us don't have much respect for. weather girls. They are more often than not blonde, attractive and come across as not having two brain cells to rub together. So after a day working alongside one at Anglia TV, I am pleased to report that this stereotypical view couldn't be further from the truth.

Last year, Becky Mantin took over from Newsround presenter, Becky Jago, as the face of weather for the East of England. A difficult job for anyone, but being frighteningly young, just 21, Becky has had to grow up fast. After leaving Norwich Cathedral School after her A levels three years ago, Becky was having a gap year before going to university to study law. However, fate took its course and ambitious Becky got. a job as a model booker before working on the Eastern Daily Press's Norfolk magazine. Before long, she was fashion editor and had her own col· umn in their Saturday magazine. But the day that changed her life was when she arranged to write a fashion feature with three of the Anglia news team. They noticed unique talent in her, set up a screen test and she was taken on a part-time weather presenter. During my day at Anglia, Becky was surprisingly cool about having to appear on the TV at least four times a day. And due to the high winds headlining the news, her day was busier than normal. "it has been deceptively calm today, it can be mayhem chasing everything. The key to it is to get into a rou· tine; it can be very, very stressful otherwise. it can be a rush.

While the idea of appearing on the television, especially when you are given a massive clothing allowance, free make-up, and until recently, even free haircuts, seems so glamourous, this is not always the case.· You have to talk until you are either one second or zero seconds away from the end of the bulletin. it's hard, the whole thing does seem really easy, but it's only easy when you have been doing it for a long time. There are also lots of boring and mundane jobs that have to be done, such as photocopying and ordering pictures, but if you forget to do it it's a complete pain, it puts your whole day out." Becky, who lives just outside Norwich, has celebrity status in the city. During the couple of hours we spent in the Ha Ha bar, she was instantly recognised by many passers by who stopped and said 'hi.'

L

Fellow weather girl Becky Jago left Anglia TV to become one of the Newsround trio. She talks to Concrete about how the secrets of .geHing into TV: "My job as a weather girl at Anglia helped me to get accustomed to the camera and feel much more at ease. I also learnt the 'TV jargon' and that helped me a lot. I have always wanted to perform, but I wanted to work on the stage, either as an actress or in a musical.

"Before getting into television, I worked at Vibe FM but Anglia

did our news for us and they came to film a documentary at the radio station. They then asked me to come in for an interview and luckily there was a job going. If anyone wants to get into television, I would advise them to get a decent show reel together. it doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. Just be natural and then send it off to everybody. •

"I always get spotted when I am drunk and about to do something stupid" But she doesn't just get noticed when she is looking her best like most other stars, she has experienced the horror of being seen in the supermarket. "You'd think you will be recognised at lunchtime when you are out in your work clothes, but no one notices you then. it's when you go to Sainsburys on a Sunday to get some milk looking like complete shit that somebody does. Once a little old lady followed me around putting the same things in her basket as I did in mine. I told her not to copy me because I can't cook. I always get spotted too when I go out to clubs and I am drunk and about to do something stupid." But Becky is determined not to be part of the Anglia furniture for too long - she hopes one day to be on national TV, presenting more interesting· and fun programmes. "I would like to work on something with music, like The Priory, presenting news and weather is a completely different ball game from program· ming: that is glamorous, this is not. There was a rumour that I was going to Blue Peter, I heard it when I went back to my old school to do a talk and people asked me there and people from Anglia also asked me if I really was going there too." With Delia Smith and Alan Partridge being about the most famous Norwich decendents, it's about time the city was put on the map with a more trendy celebrity. And it wouldn't be surprising if Becky was the one to do it.

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

the event

12

13

Ill

Cinefile:

--------------------no. IS

The Princess Bride Text: Toby Lewis

The Czech Republic is not exactly the first country that springs to mind when the phrase "gripping cinema " is put forward. However, the Prague On Film festival, currently running at Cinema City, looks set to change that. We preview the highlights. ecently, a friend of mine was reading a Milan Kundera book in a Prague bar and found himself put down by a local. "You might as well be reading Kafka, • he sneered. So, if you want t o appear more offbeat in your knowledge of Czech culture, in order to avoid the sometimes vicious local contempt, you should check -out the Prague On Film season at Cinema City.

Staropramen sponsors this, which makes me wonder why breweries see themselves connected with movies so much, as I've never wanted some lager in a movie. But, anyway, there are three of Prague's most successful contemporary films on offer and one hard-hitting number from before the fall of the Iron Curtain.

.The Apple Game: (1976) The Apple Game, by the highly regarded Czech New Wave director, Vera Chytilova, is intriguing. She had been banned from making films by the Neo Stalinist Czech government. When this ban was lifted in 1975 she replied with this furiously paced satire on the inefficiency and corruption of the Czech Medical Profession. lt is a feminist comedy about a nurse who seduces a philandering doctor and opts for single parenthood. At the time it was extremely controversial for its physical view of sex from a feminine perspective. Of course nowadays we are desensitised to this, so it may all seem rather tame to you voyeurs who devote-yourselves to watching coldly "erotic" films like Intimacy and La Pianiste.

Chytilova was a hugely influential formal innovator and is regarded by numerous critics as the greatest Czech film director. This, despite competition from the more famous film director, Milos Forman, who is probably known best for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, but was also a prominent figure in the Czech New Wave before he moved to Hollywood. After the Prague Spring of 1968, when the Soviets invaded Prague, done in order to put an end to the Czechoslovakian led "socialism with a human face,· the Czech New Wave were forced into that cinematic category of "what might have been. • For numerous prominent members of the Czech film industry were blacklisted, including Chytilova. She was one of the few to work again under the Soviet regime, for most of the promising talents left the country, while she bravely stayed. Many of the films made before the Prague Spring disappeared and never resurfaced as the Russians attempted to stop the flourishing artistic scene of intellectual foment. Totalitarian bastards.

• Showing: Sunday May 19, S.OOpm; Monday May 20 5.4Spm

I

SICK OF REVISING?

!•'""'*'¥""

·· ~..-..:::?le:~'" "

Well, Pro Plus - the student's buddy - have set up a website called EssayFiy, the ultimate tool for students to use for research, revision tactics and stress management.

ssayfly.com the event

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

Log on to wwW.essayfly.com to find hints ~ and tips on revision and exams together with an instant access database of essays posted on the site by students, for students.

Loners: (1999) Loners is possibly the most accessible film in the festival. A tragicomedy about seven Prague-based characters on a quest for love, with a dreamlike edge filtered through a haze of marijuana smoke. lt is understandably popular with devotees of the slacker movie and has been hailed as the quintessential Czech film of the 1990s. Th'e music is highly stylised and the visuals are distinctive and it appears that David Ondricek, the director, will carve a niche for himself in world cinema.

The fi lm should be seen if only because one of the subplots revolves around showing Japanese tourists "real Czech family life". This of course has its complications, especially when most of the characters are trying to have sex with each other in the fashion of A Midsummer Night's Dream. One character uses marijuana in order to create enthusiasm for his gloomy world, the repercussions of his avid use of the drug may be fami liar to some students who are trying to recall what they have learnt over the year at the moment.

• Showing: Tuesday May 14, 5.4Spm

Angel Exit: (2000) Angel Exit is the most composed of the films on offer and also the bleakest. lt is adapted from the eponymous novel by Jachym Topol, a current enfant terrible of Czech literature. The drug world is the subject matter, which of course always makes for a great date movie. Focusing around Mikes, a former addict and thief who attempts to quit his habit for love, the movie rapidly spirals into gritty and tragic territory: His old friends kindly remind him what he has been missing, whilst failing to cope with a clean existence, and he soon is binging on drugs and going off to a magical South Africa. There he discovers a new drug but gangsters chase him out of the country back to sunny old Prague, bringing his profit making to a halt. This movie will not be for all tastes but those who like there movies hard hitting on social issues with wildness abounding should definitely consider going.

• Showing: Saturday May 11, 2.30pm

Buttoners: (1997) Buttoners appears to be a movie made by a madman. Listen to the billing: • a funny film about spitting on trains, bad weather, the atom bomb, shooting human sperm into space, infidelity and people who have killed other people." If that description doesn't make you want to see the film you are a cold heartless individual. A film that tries to link up such varied and ludicrous themes deserves to be watched. Some critics have even compared Paul Thomas Anderson negatively to Petr Zelenka, the director, believing the Czech handles such ludicrously complex interlinking plots far better than Hollywood's virtuoso director of Magnolia and Boogie Nights. Zelenka also wrote the script for Loners and is in the vanguard of Czech film along with Ondricek. He is especially admired for the perversity and bleakness of his humour, so those of you who like your kicks twisted should be running out to see Buttoners. Also in the not-so venerable tradition of film directors who are members of strange bands (Woody Alien, Emir Kusturica, Billy Bob Thornton) he plays rhythm guitarist for the group Zbytky Charismatu, who will surely be taking the world by storm any time now.

• Showing: Tuesday May 21 , 8.1Spm

ere is only one screening at Cinema City of most of these lms, so like the upcoming exams you should make sure you are at the right place at the right time, for otherwise it will be bloody hard to see them again. After all, you don't want to be at the receiving end of militant Czech wrath for being too obvious in your appreciation of their culture.

7116 Princess Bride? What kind of trash are you trying to pass off on me this time?

Oh ye of little faith, why dost thou doubt me? Sure, it's got a silly title, but what the title doesn't reveal is just how perfect this film is. it's a fairy tale that supersedes all fairy tales. it's a story of romance, intrigue, and danger. it's got everything you could ever want in a film, and more.

So what's t he plot of this so-called "perfect movie"?

Well, the Princess bride of the title (Robin Wright- ·Jenny" of Forrest Gump fame and "Wife" of Sean Penn fame) is being forced to marry the evil Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon). But a scheming miniature Sicilian (Wallace Shawn), a Spaniard with a grudge (hunky-hunk Mandy Patinkin}, and a giant with a gift for rhyme (Andre the Giant -yes,.THE Andre the Giant) kidnap her before her wedding.

She's rescued by the Dread Pirate Roberts (Cary Elwes), who actually turns out to be her old love from the old days on the farm.

Now I'm c onfused. Farm? Sicily? Spain? What Is this, some kind of t ravelogue?

Haha, very cute. No, but it is journey: a very surreal, very brilliant trip through fairy tale cliches. And before you ask, no, it's not anything like Shrek. Where as Shrek mocked fairy tales, T-he Princess Bride embraces them, by setting itself up very cleverly as a story being read to a small boy (Fred Savage, of The Wonder Years). And since it's based on a book itself, really, it's a film of a book in a film of a book.

Clever, eh?

Not really. You constantly surprise me with your Ignorance.

Besides, t his sounds suspiciously like a Chick A ick .

Why, just because it's got some romance in it? Only children and frail old women avert their eyes at kissing. But don't be put off by the_lovey-dovey stuff. If it's masculinity you're after, once again you should turn to the.good ol' Princess Bride. There' re two kick-ass sword fights (both, I add, performed by the actors, not stunt doubles) that will leave you breathless. There's revenge, a dangerously torturous albino, fire swamps, and giant rats that eat babies. Still. not convinced? How about poisonings, rock climbing, and I think they mention the word "breast" once or twice.

Ooh, excellent. But it still sounds like such a downer. I want a cheery, happy movie t o go with t he cheery, happy grin on my face.

On top of it all, though, the film is really a comedy (see, it's so much- four movies for the price of one, honestly). Billy Crystal look familiar? What abo!Jt Carol Kane, the aforementioned Cary Elwes, and Peter Falk? lt was even directed by Rob Reiner, director of This is Spinal Tap (well, and North, but we can forgive him for that). Final analysis: if you want something entirely entertaining that the entire group can enjoy, you could definitely do worse than The Princess Bride, and probably not much better.

Paul Booth

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

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

the event

- - - - - - - · - - - - ------

14 Alb ums

Doves: The Last Broadcast Is it an indication of the current state of British music or just lazy journalism that every new album that shows a modicum of promise is referred to as "The new OK Computer"? Take Doves' latest. Returning from a two year layoff after their critically acclaimed debut, Lost Souls, the three boys from Manchester have delivered an album that finds the music press throwing such statements around with abandon.

Not that Jimi Goodwin, Jez Williams or Andy Williams have intentionally done anything to court such comparisons.

Refreshingly for a Manchester band, Doves seem free from t he usual arrogant posturing that normally accompanies many of their local contemporaries. Oasis should take note - while Noel Gallagher gropes hopelessly for that new direction with little success, Doves seem to have found the answer. The Last Broadcast seems both classic and new, nostalgic and forward looking and most importantly for that essential transatlantic appeal, both British and universal. Doves obviously have respect for the old guard of English bands that have come before them. Shades of New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen and even The Smiths' urban disillusion reverberate throughout the 12 t racks. They also cast their net over an international reach. Witness the Latin drum crescendo that closes the wonderful There Goes The Fear, the gospel harmonies that wrap Satellites in an life affirming defiance, and even the folk twang that accompanies lead singer Jimi on the King Crimson adaptation, M62 Song. it's clear that Doves do not lack the courage to experiment. This is reflected in their choice of collaborators.

Sean O'Hagen, High Llamas head honcho and Stereolab affiliate, is employed here. He stretches a woozy and twisted construction of strings over the pastoral Friday 's Dust, a highlight that calls to mind the gentle meanderings of Nick Drake' s River Man. O'Hagen is also called into play on t he bombastic Sulphur Man, which rises and swells with a ferocity that easily matches anything featured here. Only the opening Words and the closing Caught by the River let the side down, providing an unfortunate set of bookends for what is otherwise a flawless exercise. The former strays too far towards the wrong side of anthemic stadi路 urn rock, the latter calls to mind curly-haired bandwagoners Dodgy in their more relaxed, less Who-inspired moments.

However, such misjudgements are more than made up for with the inclusion of t he chugging relentlessness of forthcoming single, Pounding. The aural equivalent of a jet plane taking off, finally punching through the clouds as the sun-blissed chorus explodes in a wash of harmony, it's by far the greatest moment the band have put to record thus far.

In summation, The Last Broadcast is not the new OK Computer -it's far too uplifting for that. This album is the sound of band joyously stretching their fledgling wings to great effect.

Merek Cooper

9/10

Damon Albarn & Friends: Mali Music Egads, 'world music'l Aargh, a 'charity album'? Why it's enough to send a chill down your spine... the fact that the whole project is fronted by Damon "Like, dropping bombs is wrong, people" Albarn only goes to give the impression that this could be a patronising and fairly wank lesson in the music of nations that the evil westerners have sold bad cheese to or something.

However, Albarn has indeed triumphed here with Mali Music, his unbounding musicality becoming more and more awesome with each passing release away from the Blur tribe. Created from over forty hours of on-location recording in Mali at "jam sessions, street corners, bars and boats," Albarn has managed to find some real gems of vocal and instrumental samples; in Le Hogon, steel drums and spanish guitar mix perfectly over a simple monosyllabic vocal groove, in Sunset Coming On a strange 'woodwind-violin' is looped over a soothing organ track, 路the perfect backdrop for Albarn's dramatically sexy and velvetine tones. Interspersed throughout is Damon's use of a battered Melodica and some fantastic bass lines from Junior Dan which effectively add cohesion. to some of the album' s more experimental discourses.

Like the recent One Giant Leap project, Mali Music promises to be unlike anything you've heard before, because the lengths gone to to render the album's components are that much greater (and interesting) than many other studio-reliant musical constructions. However, Mali Music has possibly one over One Giant Leap in the way that its focus is that much more localised to one area of the world. And as a result, you feel that at the end of the album, you 've been in on the expedition with Albarn all the way. Another triumph for Little Lord Albarn then, and, with all proceeds going.to Oxfam, also your own sense of philanthropic smugness. Huzzah!

Matthew Sargeson

Last Days Of April:

Ion van Dahl:

Ascent To The Stars

Ace

Gently easing their way if)tO our musical consciousness are Last Days Of April. it's a predominantly quiet album, only allowing itself one or two moments of real edge, but its quirkiness carries it through with some class. Frontman, Karl Larsson, seems intent on maintaining the serenity, his reflective lyrics backed up by a suitably calm backing. Despite sharing their producer with punk aficionados, The Hives, Ascend To The Stars never attempts to step into top gear, nor does it need to.

Echoes of Mercury Rev are quite evident here, yet thankfully Larsson's voice is understated enough to bear positive comparisons. Of course, yo1.1 probably won't hear any of the releases played on mainstream radio, but the general tone of this album implies that it wouldn't affect the band too much. This is a record of continuity, with few standout singles. Playerin rolls along like a less raucous Ash release and Too Close manages to capture attention despite not possessing a catchy hook.

However, it is during When I'm Gone, Will You that the true colours of The Last Days of April shine through. This track best exemplifies the grasp on melody that the band possess, wit hout needing to rob the songs of their honesty. A multitude of albums are now accompanied with the prerequisite of the listener's long-term application (think Radiohead recently) but with Ascend To The Stars there are significant rewards for perseverance. In a week that saw Oasis ascend back to the top of the album charts this may not be flavour of the month, nor is it likely to shift a great deal of copies. However, The Last Days Of April will secure the dedicated following that this release deserves on merit alone. In this time of exam stress, an album that approaches life with a rare calmness should be a necessity - if, of course, you have the time to venture outside the library and purchase it.

Sa m Pa rker

This is a very strange way for a dance album to be made. In a time where dance music is all about the live experience, for the three people who comprise I an Van Dahl to release an effort which a) isn't mixed, so it isn't continuous, and b) consists almost entirely of songs that are very similar, smacks of being almost completely pointless. Trance music simply isn't designed to be " listened" to and evaluated. lt has to be danced to, embraced, and wrapped around oneself. it's something to lose yourself in. This, in both live and recorded formats, requires continuity. Dance events are not like shows by guitar bands, who play a song, the audience applauds, and then t hey play the next song. Therefore, for an act like lan Van Dahl -who live would surely play continuously, mixing one song into the next - to offer for review an album that has gaps between the tracks is strange to say the least. Surely this would have been better recorded in the same way as the many excellent Ministry of Sound mixes? As it is, Ace quickly becomes wearing, as, whilst there are some good individual trance anthems on it (Will/ and Castles in the Sky the most obvious), the disjointed recording means that it ends up sounding repetitive.

Ace has fallen between two stools. lt would be an excellent backing to preparation for a night's clubbing if it was mixed cont inuously. But as it is, it has to be penalised for being samey in the extreme, as presumably its creators recorded it in such a way because they wanted each track to be judged on its merits. Trance isn't about "tracks"- it's all in the shared real-time experience. Normally, mixed albums try to recreate this as closely as possible, and Ace could have succeeded had it been recorded in this way, as it would have been impossible to compare the tracks when blended into one. I an Van Dahl simply didn't think this through, I' m afraid.

Anthony Lovell

8 / 10

hE-- event

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

Singles 15

You Can't Go Home Again After a six year absence as a solo art1st, DJ Shadow has returned like the prodigal son, although this time it's not money he has lost. Far from it. His successes with Unkle, Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5 and Blackalicious have been quite fruitful. lt is the dark tones and apocalyptic textures of his early work he has abandoned, choosing to flesh out some funky grooves on his newer tracks. There is a pumping drumbeat that if spiced up just a little more could be in drum 'n' bass territory. The background fills up wit h little drops of ambience, which combine with the beats to wash over the listener with crisp and fresh sonics. Although it's hardly Sinatra, (thank God! The last thing the world needs now is for a DJ like Shadow to sample our beloved of' Blue Eyes!) it is easy listening. The cool factor makes it quite easy to imagine as the soundtrack to a slick designer movie like Ocean's Eleven or something equally as smooth.

You Can't Go Home Again has a kind of 'snow boarder cafe' quality to it; upbeat but chilled out on the whole, with no hint of being heinous or gnarly. Although not the most memorable tune you'll hear for a while, credit is still due. tt seems Shadow is stepping out of the darkness and dipping his foot into the light. And what a beautiful day it is.

Ed Purlds

Electric Soft Parade: Empty At The End/This Given Line

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Spread Your Love

Electric Soft Parade's new double A-side is just plain obscene.

No one this young, younger even than I (a fresh-<:heeked 19 year old, thankyou very much). should possess such startling musical potential.

ESP's debut album, Holes In The Wall, is chock full of cracking tunes, and the White Brothers (numbering only two) produce a huge, lush sound on this, their latest single, that Oasis only wish they could pull out of the hat. There are cheeky '80s electonica winks and kisses, tantalising ankle-glimpses of darling studio trickery and a full, attention-grabbing cleavage running over with delic ious melodies and vocals. Think Belle and Sebastian in a tank , think Mull Historical Society 'toting a gat ', think Ryan Adams attacking the Pope; think Electric Soft Parade, your new favourite band.

Matthew Sargeson

This is the third single to be taken from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's eponymous debut album, B.R.M.C, which reached the dizzy heights of the Top 30 earlier this year, and received good acclaim from writers and performers alike, particular from Mancunian rockers, Oasis.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club show in this single that, like the Manchester outfit, they sound remarkably like bands from the late 1960s and early '70s. This three and a half minute classic is US drone rock at its best. Taking obvious influences from Canned Heat's On The Road Again and T-Rex, one can 't help feet absorbed by the ever-c hanging noise that reverberates when guitar pedals are altered to produce exciting effects, that will surely win over Britain after their summer tour and festival Dan Hutchlngs dates.

Moby:

We All Made Of Stars Looper:

Including rem ixes from DJ Tiesto, Bob Sinclair and Timo Maas, this looks set to be a success for the dance producer.

Recorded at his home studio in New York, this track combines elements of indie, down-tempo and chillout beats complimented by guitar chords, which gives Moby's track a cross-audience appeal.

Featuring a very catchy chorus of (you guessed it) ·we are all made of stars·, the B-sides on the single are Landing supported with vocals from Azure Ray, and Soul to Love, making the release a very strong three track CD. This single is perhaps the best insight of what is to come on Moby's forthcoming album.

Mark Wheeler

The Snare

This is a bit of a departure. Formerly sounding like a less unhappy Arab Strap, but with the same vocal and storytelling style, Looper have gone all hip-hop on us. Not in a gold-laden, reefer· toking, bitch-slapping, ho'·lauding way of course: this is mini· malistic and miserable. Vocalist Stuart David croons "I knew this nightmare was near" in fashion more associated with the nutter who always sits in the corner talking to himself, and who may or may not have escaped from the " Sectioned" ward. An underlying menace and sense of imminent danger coaxes this track along. So dark and downbeat is this in fact, that it earns the analogy of •a mumbling Morrissey fronting Spooks." Careful Ant hony Love// with that Prozac now ...

Pictures (clockwise from top): 1. DJ Shadow ; 2. Moby; 3. Electric Soft Parade; 4. BRMC

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

the event

16 Film

Panic Room: Directed by Kevin Reynolds Starring: Jodie Fost~er, Jared Leto and Forest Whitaker Jodie Foster buys a big house with a room in which to panic . People then break into aforesaid house and set about trying to rob her. She panics. In her room. it's all rather thrilling. " lt would be very interesting to see Fincher undressed, because he is always so well dressed. " Thomas Vinterberg , eo-founder of the Dogme 95 movement and director of Festen, recently expressed delight at the news t hat David Fincher and Steven Soderbergh had been discussing a " purification process " in American cinema. The interesting idea behind Dogme was to get rid of the art ificial in fi lm, e.g. set s, costumes, lighting and genre cliche . Panic Room is the sort of filmmaking with no substance that provoked the gimmicky "vow of chastity " by the Danish directors . This com petent thri ller, which is made enjoyable by the ducking and diving of Fine her's came ra, would not be worth a slot on Channel Five if it were judged on its script alone . The director of Fight Club is playing safe. No big ideas, no int erest ing characters, just showy camerawork in a con fined setting. A shame in some respects, as Fight Club was an extremely ambitious film, whereas this is a very well orchestrated genre piece albeit with scares aplenty.

The actors don't have much to do, though Jodie Foster is idolised by Fincher's shadowy shots. Here she defends her annoying androgynous brat daughter (Kristen Stewart) with an aggressive cunning that could be compared to Sigourney Weaver 's performance in Aliens. She is a divorcee, who moves in to a huge gothic New York house. This happens to be fitted with a paranoia bunker, to protect the owner from t hieves. Cue robbery of the house. The three criminal types we have been

th

event

Wednesda y, May 8, 2002

taught exist by Hollywood are present : the nice one who needs the money (Forest Whitaker) , the selfish coward (Jared Leto) and the twisted psychopath (Dwight Yoakam). Fincher produces great set pieces from t his combination , so t heir uni nspiring performances don't really matter. Also the thieves are blindingly inadequate at their job and when Yoakam is impressed by Fost er's ingenu ity, his comment "we should of thought of that " should raise a laugh from t he audience.

Even Fincher concedes, " Fight Club is more than the sum of its parts, whe reas Panic Room is the sum of its parts." This film is his opportunity t o fiddle around with camera stunts in the nooks and crannies of a multi storied house with small staircases. He enjoys it. So much so , he foolishly invites comparisons with The Shining by letti ng t he kid ride into the house on a scoot er. What smarts most about Fincher's reference to Kubrick is that we know he can make films of that calibre rather than hack movies (Seven is also a far superior film to this). Yet despite its limitations, Panic Room is good honest fun. There are wrenched out moments of suspense and also one of the better-looking opening credits sequences featuring famous New York buildings. You might as well buy yo ur popcorn , gobble it down and go along with the mood .

To by Lewis

6/10

Film 17

Waking Life:

Directed by Richard Linklater Starring: Wiley Wiggins, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke

One man attempts to find and discern the absolute difference between waking life and the dreamworld .

Richard Linklater's dream state meditation is extraordinary and The movie incorporates nightmarish violence and strange ethealso guaranteed to divide opinion. Some will find its attempts·to real girls into the dream to remind us of the common themes of incorporate various philosophical seminars into a movie preten· cinema. However there is no sex, only philosophical flirtation tious. However, others will be fascinated by its ingenious · and the violent actions are sporadic and random. Idea is given attempts to portray these weighty ideas through a cinematic centre stage and in many ways the film equates to an extremely medium without losing its sense of fun. All will be bowled over by its amazing animation. This is quite frankly a must see for an open-minded audience.

We follow the journey of a person in a dream, encountering various polemicists and thinkers. Some of the ideas discussed may seem cliched, but the wide diversity of thought on show is not condescending to the audience. The film is animated by painting meticulously over live-action digital footage of the actors, playfully paying homage to various artistic styles along the way.

A debt to Patrick Caulfield seems most apparent, especially in various jazzy bar sequences. lt also has a visually hallucinogenic quality, shadows shimmering, eyes pulsating and the hands of some characters moving with manic enthusiasm.

Some moments are truly mad. One of the more striking scenes has a dissident ranting about how man wants orgiastic chaos that is manifested for us in natural disasters. He claims that the press serves to help us accept the evils of life effectively making us passive observers. To express his lack of a voice he sets himself on fire. In another scene, a monkey lectures on the nature of art and struggle, talking over various cinematic images and finally eating his notes and declaring, "a new world is just as likely as an old one." This is dream land where lucid thought is expressed and the nature of our current consciousness is explored but it is also gloriously muddled and riddled by confusion at the same time.

The film's protagonist is extremely bland by contrast to the quirky characters he meets. He fades out of the picture in various scenes and seldom speaks. This serves to project us into the dream. Thus the camera puts the audience into his p.o.v. and thereby his consciousness. This framework means we can get rid of any need for a conventional story. Instead, we have talk on the nature of existence and reality as if it were the dialogue of our own dream.

V Tu Mama Tambien:

enjoyable and rambling lecture. That is if you were to consume some acid before hearing your professor. Go and enjoy this unique trip of a movie.

Toby Lewls

9/10

Directed by Alfonso Cuar6n Starring: Maribel Verdu, Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna

Mexican cinema gets a youth injection as two boys take to the road in this tale of sex, friendship and wan king h ' +h~ pool.

Porn is great. Especially when the actors are sexy and talented, with good hair and even better bodies. Especially when they look like they're actually enjoying having sex with the other person and not gurning at the camera. Especially when it has a recognisable, plausible plot and says something about life, and doesn't expect us to believe that those two girls just felt like taking their clothes off and rubbing their breasts with baby lotion in the headmaster's office. And especially when it's set in Mexico, with beautiful beaches and dirty cities and roads full of

life, death and colour.

With Y Tu Mama Tambien, Mexican film has decided to become an honoury member of European cinema. French, Spanish and Italian film realised long ago that the best way to sell their home-grown cinema to the stupid, culture-free Brits was to stuff it full of nudity and sex as well as rambling philosophising on the world, so that middle class liberals would feel ok about going to see what is essentially high-class porn. On the other hand, Y Tu Mama Tambien has a lot more to offer than the stan-

dard French-chick-banging-lots-of-men-then-sitting-in-a-white-bedroom-being-symbolic type of Euro pseudo-porn affair. For starters, it actually has a sense of humour.

Julio and Tenoch are best friends. They have finished school, it's the start of the summer, and their girlfriends have just left for a long girlie holiday. Yes, we've been here before, but don't worry, there are no American Pie-style superglue plus penis antics this time round. They have all the best intentions (the film starts with very enthusiastic sex between Tenoch and his girlfriend Ana in a nice nod to the opening of Betty Blue), yet their libidos have bigger ideas. While the two boys settle down to a summer of wanking together by the pool (yes, really), Tenoch's cousin's Spanish wife Luisa (don't worry, it's not incest) decides to take their summer in a slightly different directon. After her errant husband cheats on her one too many times, she packs her bags and the three go on a road trip in search of the perfect secluded beach, Heaven's Mouth. Sexual tensions run high, and the boys realise that their close bond is fraught with complications.

Not only does this film make the stunning revelation that Mexico has it's own youth culture and is not some rubbish, dirty little country full of drug dealers attached to the bottom of Proper America (as Traffic would have you believe), it also makes you laugh and cry in all the right places. The three main characters have perfected the art of ensemble acting, and the energy that they generate between them makes you forget that there aren't really any other characters in it. lt is never boring. lt is consistently funny. lt makes you think about life and relationships without being pretentious. lt has a LOT of sex in it.

What more do you want? A fit boy with good hair and a sexy mouth? Yep, it's got one of those too, and you get to see his Astrld Goldsmith dick. Hooray for Mexico.

9/10 • Y Tu Mama Tamblen Is out now In selected cinemas and will be coming to Cinema City on May 24 onwards.

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

the event

J 8 Video/DVD

Ghost World: Directed by Terry Zwigoff Starring: Thoro Birch, Scorlett Johonsson and Steve Buscemi

Perfectly realised adaptation of Daniel Clowes' acclaimed graphic novel. As far away from American Pie as you could wish for.

"Culture is declining all around the world; it's just happening sooner here in America, than say , Europe , where people they have deeper traditions " says director Terry Zwigoff. And it is th is reason t hat Ghost World is such an intricat e and important film. Based on t he cult comic book of t he same name, Ghost World manages to encapsulate a society that appears to be on a slippery slope, as it declines into a wasteland devoid of any original idea.

Daniel Clowes, the book's creator, acknowledged the important fact that it is people who make up a cu lture, the people you see at t he 7-eleven, th e people out si de who sit on benches waiting for buses, the waite rs at t he diner down the road. Zwigoff brings these characters off the comic page and onto the screen with a considerate hand, wh ich is unsurprising conside ring that the film already had the perfect storyboard. Each character is de fined through their dress sense , their hairstyles, their accents- but most import antl y, the way t hey interact w ith others (when co nfront ing the old man on the bench about his bus, the words "You don't know what you' re ta lking about " seem t o shock rig ht down t o t he bone).

This character interaction seem s to be the full basis for the story line, as it fo llows t he lives of new ly graduat ed Enid (Thora Birc h) and Rebec ca ( Scarlett Johansson) as they struggle to get a foothold in the real world . After Enid develops a fasc inat ion w it h Seymour ( Steve Buscemi ), her rel ationship with him and the worl d in general threatens the friendship she has with Rebecca.

The fact is t he c ast are all so good , t hat t o pick out one single act or t o be worthy of praise above the others seems an impossible task. Thora Birc h and Scarlett Johannsson handle their rol es wit h the ki nd of understated detachment from the world perfec ted by the original, hand-drawn Enid and Rebecca. Steve Bu sc emi presents Seymour as a man wh o is pinned dow n by the world- agoraphobic, nervous, bad te mpered- as if th at he was born t o pl ay t his role (as is usually t he case wit h Buscemi).

As if th at weren 't enough , the strong leading cast is backed up by an ex cellent supporting cast : Brad Renfro playing the sc eptic al Josh; llleana Douglas, the 'encouraging' art teacher; Bob Bal aban as Enid' s slightly anxious father. And then there's crazy nunc hak a-wielding Doug (Dave Sheridan), whose jerky-fuelled antics make for some of the best scenes in the fil m (apparently a sc ene cut from the end of t he Briti sh print of the film , sh owed

Get out of the city

.

_

canoe cycle kite relax sail walk windsurf on the beautiful north Norfolk coast Don't forget the great pubs~

Hostel & Camping Tel: 01485 210256 www.deepdalefarm.co.uk

Seymour beating the shit out of Doug in true Mr Pink style).

Ghost World captures perfectly that small hesitant stopgap between childhood and adulthood. it ex plores eac h charact er w it h the same ki nd of cy nic ism and ridic ule t hat tee nagers would use. When it comes down t o it, teen angst is about having to become self-rel iant , try ing to build up friendshi ps and t ry-

Heist:

ing to find your place in the world. But when the world around you seems to be disappearing, that task is made a lot harder than you might think .

Zac Walsh

8/10

Directed by Dovid Momet Starring: Gene Hockmon and Donny DeVito

A jewel thief's nephew is sent along on a heist to ensure a longtime partner in crime stays honest.

There seems to be in recent years a resurgence of pure genre films flooding the market. Complex characters have been abandoned in these movies, along with deep meaningful plots, interesting stories and poetic dialogue. Instead. we have films with shall ow charac ters, mundane run-of-the-m ill plots and the occasional remark t ossed aside like it w as a witty bon mot. These, however, are no mere B-movie plots with A-movie bu dget s. No no, these are B-movies with A-budgets made by A-list directors.

And you know what? it's not necessarily a bad thing to have pure genre films around. Pure and simple: they're fun. A good genre movie epito mi zes exactly why the majority of people go t o the cinema: pure escapism. A good genre movie is a t our bus in a foreign city that takes you outside, transports you to another place for a few hours. makes you feel good and drops you back off safe and sound where you came from. A bad genre movie feels redundant, useless, like a pinkie toe. But a good one can leave a smile on your face for hours afterwards.

And recent ly. big name di rectors have fa llen into making such genre films. Spielbe rg did it w ith Jurassic Park : really. j ust a monster movie with a huge budget. Soderbergh did it with a caper film , Ocean's 11; and I would argue, even Jean Jeunet 's Amelie is nothing more than a beautifully made romantic comedy. But the wonderful thing about these films is not that they're works of cinematic genius, but that they are simply what they set out to be. They celebrate why mov ies move us so much, and why we love movies because they're so simple and so much fun.

David Mamet seems to have jumped on this particular bandwagon full force with his fi lm Heist. At first glance, it's just another caper movie that we've seen a hundred times before. An old, retiring criminal -c harming and roguish 路 has to pull off one last ca per before he's out of t he game for good . Oh , what's t his? He has a beautifu l yo ung wife who's also a crook? And a g ri zzled old frie nd who 's been with him for so long, they know each other's every thought?

This script could have been directed by any first year film student. it could have been acted by unknown actors. There 's nothing particularly hard about any of these roles , as the charac t ers are as famil iar t o us as any in c inema. But in the very ca pable hands of Mamet , Heist becomes. like Jurassic Park , Ocean 's 11 and Amelie, a perfect genre movie . Gene Hack man, in the main role , is wonderfully droll and has the perfect mixture of charm and danger. Delroy Lindo, perhaps one of the most under-rated actors of late , makes a perfect accomplice. And Danny DeVito as t he bad crook everyone's trying to stop fits his part so perfect ly, you almost forget t hat it is DeVito.

But, more than anything, this is Mamet's film. His trademark witty dialogue is in its strongest form here, and his camera is sure and steady. He may have made a shallow. B-movie genre picture, but damn it, it's a near-perfect one. And even directors need to have a bit of fun every once and awhile.

Paul Booth

7/10

TV/Radio 19 Essential Soaps: "Way down South in Walford way, any evening any day. You'll hear suicidal talk, doing the Walford Walk. Oil" Our cockney contemporaries are surpassing themselves this fortnight, alcoholism, baby-snatching and general all路round craziness are caus路 ing something of a stir in EastEnders. Recently I've come to notice that with the increasing urban development of 'trendy' London areas, surely house prices in Walford have rocketed.

Where are all the yuppies? And what's more, how on earth can lowly laundrette worker Pauline Fowler afford to live there instead of being re-located to a tenement block in Essex?

Jamie turns to the grog after a hapless attempt by Phi! to cheer him up, a forgone conclusion really. However the real treat of the week comes with a touching heart to heart between Dot and the Squares newest mentalis,t Sonia (does anyone else see the resemblance between her and a young Sella Emberg?). In a hostage showdown special on Thursday, Dot tries to calm Sonia down and persuade her to come out, but when the Millers give her 15 minutes to bring the baby out she breaks down in Dot's arms. This sparks a tear-filled confession from Dot in a desperate attempt to make Sonia see sense before it's too late.

Elsewhere, the Slaters are back from exile and causing more trouble than they are worth. Things are hotting up between Kat, Zoe and Or Trueman, instead of rescuing their sister from prison and several years of same-sex debauchery, the ugly sisters speed up the competition to capture Walford's Most Eligible Bachelor. I'm sure this with involve Kat pouting and gurning for England, Zoe looking all innocent and frosty and Dr Trueman saying 'ah, um, sorry' a lot.

Why can't the Hol/yoaks writers just kill Laura off? Really, she's just boring now. We know she's evil and all that so give it a rest. There's a double episode on Monday, mainly concentrating on the growing rift between lzzy and her mother, but Laura's managed to elbow her way in there, scheming against Adam this time. Oh, and then there's cricket. Not content with infecting the majority of his college, Jamie decides to pursue Becca again despite being spurned on Tuesday. Then there's some more cricket. Ellie's making enemies all over Chester and Gary is the latest recipient of her self-<:oncerned evil. Oh, and then Tony manages to defeat Sri Lanka at Lords with a stunning catch. No, what's going on? Cricket?

Don't Channel Four have any idea of what's important? I don't care about twatty posh men prancing around in jumpers hitting red balls with big bats. Anyone can do that. I want Hol/yoaks. I hope we lose miserably so Channel Four realise what a mistake they have made. Anything that breaks for tea and takes all day is not a sport in my opinion. And all cricketers are ugly anyway.

At least football is on at a reasonable hour; you don't see The Queen Vie suffering when there's a match on do you?

Gemtrnt O'Donnell Arggghhhl Sort it out!

Essential TV 01: Test the Nation Ever wondered if these three years have been a complete waste of time, and that you are, in fact, thick? it's all very well knowing your Russian History/Marxist Ideologies from back to front but the bottom line is, if you can't sort the meat from the fat you're all but lost. Tut the Nation offers viewers the opportunity to find out just how stupid they are, and considering it begins on a Saturday night I'm not expecting great results real路 ly. Especially if they decide to air it just before or after the pubs close. Expect questions to the effect of: Choose the next number that continues the series, 1; 2; 5; 10; 17; 26 ... ,well I'm sure Anne Robinson will tell you the answer. With any luck you'll be able to find out your actual IQ, and with the knowledge that the national average is 100 you can judge yourself accordingly. IQ tests require no general knowledge, so snobby

BBC 1 Saturday May 11 quiz buffs can turn off now as basic reasoning skills are all that is required of participants. This should serve as proof that falling asleep in lectures and flunking your exams does not qualify you for the status of moron, a dustman is just as likely to become a genius as a doctor with 50 degrees. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Stephen Hawking!

There should be several different sections, each testing a different part of the viewers brain, these will include both logical and spatial tasks, it is your job to engage with these to the best of your abilities. Philip Schofteld is there too, nudging us along and allowing us to forget Robinson's face for at least, oh, ten seconds. If you successfully worked out that the answer to the question was 37 then you're in with a fighting chance.

Gemma 0' Donnell

Meet The Livewire DJs: Tom and Jon: 8 Foot Pigeon I have to ask.... The show title?

Yeah, we know it's a bit mad. it's a long story, but all pigeons are actually 8 feet tall. You can only see them this size when you wear the special glasses that you peer over the top of!

Thursdays 12-2pm Where do get your lnsplretlon from?

We find Eddie lzzard very funny, and Reeves and Mortimer.

Monty Python has to be the base for any comedy genius! We live in the same house so we're always finding amusing things in life which we use in our sketches.

So what kind of show do you do? it's surreal humour. That kind of explains the show title! it's all sporadic nonsense really! We have our little sketches that we do, like the Frog Pond and Where's Wallaby? We also have guests on, like Barry Norman, Matthew Kelly, and Rick Astley will probably sue us soon.

So why did you decide to do a comedy show on Llvewlre?

We think we're funny so we wanted to bring our humour to the rest of UEA. We needed somewhere to vent our madness! At the moment we don't subject anyone else to our humour, but we'd like to do more stuff.

You're show has a bit of an animal theme doesn't lt? lt all stems from this collection of plastic animals that we have!

We've got about 22 in our house! We also have two gold fish called Puberty and Horratio.

Do you have a best and worst record?

We think the best record ever has to be Mr Blobby!

Actually, he's probably the worst as well!

Complied by Mo Grills

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

the ~t

20 Arts

Theatre Review:

Godspell Theatre Royal

Godspe/1 originally opened off Broadway in 1971. Based on the Gospel according to St. Matthew , Godspe/1 is, from the very outset, a rather bizarre conce pt for an all-singing, all-dancing production. Set during the last seven days of Christ's life , the original saw him being followed around by flower children (his disciples) as he taught them Parables. The original Christ wore clownlike makeup and a Superman-like " S" on his c hest (the Christ from the musical , not the actual original. If that had been the case he might have been cr uci fied a bit sooner).

However, in Godspe/1, contemporary Christ bears a startling resemblance to the "down with the kids·· geography teacher you used to have at school. The one who thought he was the epitome of street by using the word "cool" and letting you have your lessons outside.

Obviously, though , hippies aren't quite as popular as they used to be so this version of the stage play has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st cent ury. Instead of flower children we now have Top Shop wannabes (c ut-off t shirts, back to front baseball caps and trainers) . Which would all be well and good if the musical itself wasn't such unadulterated pap and the contemporary references so poorly executed as to be fairly redudant. A bad impression of Richard and Judy and Ali G do not a parable make.

On the plus side, though it's good to see that the kids from Fame are alive and well. The performances were good in a stage school kind of way; competent voices, ability to hit a note etc. They even had a fu lly fledged ex- Neighbo urs star too (Dan MacPherson) , strong in voice but saddled with the thank· less task of being the most patronising religious icon in the history of the world. You can't help but feel sorry for the cast. For the large part they all have talent , just not enough to save a plodding , confusing, down-right appall ing script . Jonathan Wilkes as Judas (boo hiss, oh it's alright he just wants to be the centre of attention so let's forgive him for getting the old boy nailed to a cross) at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

Adam Chapman

Book Review: Her Majesty Jackie Gay, Emma Horgreoves (ed) Her Majesty is described as being " 21 bold , sharp-eyed stories by women". We're al l used to seeing promotions of any books with a UEA connection, but this one is actually well worth a look.

Characters range from a loud-mouthed Essex girl to a woman who earns her living as a 'bride' to illegal immi· grants, to an older woman struggling to understand the morals of the younge r generation .

Several UEA graduates have their work included in the anthology.

Rache l Bradford , a graduate of UEA 's Creative Writing MA , produces an excellent story about a woman attempting to face up to the demons of her past on a television talk show. For all of us who dedicate an hour each morning to Trisha, the story provides a disturbing look at the psychological effects of such TV shows. "Saturday Soup" by Donna Daley-Ciarke, tells of a woman left in charge of the family by her dying mother, attempting to help her siblings through their own problems without confronting her own issues.

Far from being bra-burning feminism , these stories look at life from all angles . In " Playing the Joker" by Penny Simpson.

Clancy is able to find an aspect of humanity in her job as bride to newly arrived immigrants. Two stories in particular are writ· ten from a male perspective. In "T he Skirt" by Myra Connell the search for the perfect partner is touchingly told from a male point of view, whilst in "Smell the Cheese" a man is humiliated in his attempts to become the person he wants to be.

Even if short stories are not your usual reading choice, this co llection is well worth a look. Each story is brilliantly written, often with a surprising ending , and the wide range of subject matter means there is something for everyone.

Amy Bennet

the event

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

Above: Jonathan Wilkes as Judas in Godspe/1

Book Review: Fuelled by the dream of students dedicated in a common quest for inte ll ectua l knowledge, Juliet embarks on what can only be called a fantastic journey through her first semester at Galway College . 'Fantastic· in the sense of the unreal, as this is a highly romanticised account of identical twins Juno and Juliet 's experiences as freshers.

As in all classic portrayals of twins, there is a 'sm art ' one and a 'fun' one . Juno, the 'smart' one, lives in a foggy yearning for " rude, intellectual curiosity", which is glimpsed after one particularly stimulating and awakening post-moderninism seminar.

This ideal view of freshers with a thirst for know ledge is taken beyond the realms of reality and even plausibility when Juno and Juliet spend every night, until 11 o'clock, for a week studying in the library. What is even more shocking and outrageous, (which is the only kind of outrage you 'll have at the content of this book) is the way in which Juno is portrayed as the fun and, dare I say it , flirtatious one. Juno and Juliet go to one nightclub at the beginning of their first semester, (Juliet refers to it as a "disco", which sums up her charac ter perfect ly ) where they get landed with Michael Fowler, who neither of them particularly like, and who then hovers in and around Juno ' s bed like an irritable fly for the course of the novel. This, apparently, portrays Juliet 's 'flirtatious· side! Admittedly the second half of the novel seems to pick up steam , with Juliet daringly stepping out of her serious geek stereotype and tries drugs. This is my favourite

Juno and Juliet Julian Gough

juno & juliet

part of the book as the mind of Juli et is effect ive ly portrayed as she attempts to grasp reality as it swims away on a time-defying wave of acid. The reader is really able to identify with Juliet here and we are able to see aspects of the author's talent , which previously have been hidden behind a g laring misrepresentation of college Iife and students. Once you have got past the disastrous romantic image of Galway and students' minds , Juno and Juliet can be seen as a book which light-h eartedly portrays the relationship of, and tensions between, twins. However, what is immediately clear is that for this , his debut nove l, Julian Gough has not done his research .

Sarah Marshal/

Arts

Theatre Review:

21

Drama Society Productions Drama Studio

Quaint Honour

Cigar~ttes

Roger Gellert

Anthony Minghella

Mark Jackson delivers this valediction with a measured movement away from the spotlight and takes direction of an emotionally driven, while intelligently subtle, 'societal ' play. Quaint Honour, written during the fragmentation of the British cultural identity of the late 1950s, is set within the confines of a monastic environment, an English public school, and probes the awakenings of the sexual self of adolescence. One could easily engage, although not alluding to comprehension, the ideals of the normalcy of love, a normalcy that manifests itself within a homosexual identity.

At no point does this play condescend to the 'normative', or contain contemporary glimpses of morality; yet it succeeds in the creation of tensions and passions. The script is alarmingly tight, intellectual and never withdraws the audience from the action on the stage, a script that the Drama Studio has been longing for. 路 The five-man cast worked appropriately well as the story unfolded to reveal the unintended passion that develops between Tully and the younger Hamilton, played by Berts Russell and John Stevens, and !he consequences of liberty and authority that they encounter. Yet the acting, at times infuriatingly both very strong and very weak, eventually accomplishes the feat of allowing the audience to believe in them. One found that the emotional complexity of Tully intermittently shone on the stage as the play progressed, but the inner demons of the repressed Park, played by Joe Stevens, remain firmly repressed.

The accomplished, almost professional, direction from Jackson is represented in the minimal use of the stage area that thankfully serves to confine the space of action. lt is unfortunate that the polished nature of this direction has to resort to unnecessary levels of pretension at the most intense periods of the play . The clearest example, which makes the scene disjointed and passe, combines the severe introspection of the main character, Tully, with the use of a disco mirror ball and, unfortunately , this concept fails to come off. Although one found a 'Curate' s Egg' feel to this performance, great applause should be given to the design and the use of lighting on this production, it was in a league of its own. Too many productions have ignored the mood enhancements of both the economy and the luxury of lighting and this has proved to be the exception to the rule. lames Brown

This rather bleak and slow-moving play was rescued by some powerful performances, good direction from Tim Demetris and Miranda Gold and a hint of humour. The play revolves around Gemma who has given up talking for Lent but neglects to tell her loved ones that she has so they each think it is their fault that she has stopped speaking. As Gemma's silence puts a strain on her relationships she unwillingly invites many confessions, some of which are a bit close to home. Rebecca Perk ins sparkled as Gail, whose flamboyantly fabulous exterior hides her secret heartache. Matthew Archambault was adorable as Alistair, who is desperately in love with Gemma. Seth Sinclair was compelling as the highly-strung Rob, Gemma's boyfriend who is having an affair with her friend Lorna. His guilt manifests itself in obsessive complaining to anyone who will listen about how irritating Gemma is, even to Alistair's Argentinian cleaner, Concepcion (Eieanor Jones) . Particular highlights included the sexual tension between Rob and Concepcion, the interesting use of a banana and Sample's (Peter Sorei-Cameron) unappreciated sugar cube pyramid.

Bethany Scott-Boatfleld

and Chocolate

Gladstone's Magic Hat Duncan Gates This was a Monty Python-esque series of sketches written by some of the performers which was, quite frankly , better than some of the current sketch shows on TV. There was barely time to laugh in this kaleidoscopic collage of bizarre characters and even stranger situations. Beginning with a cheesy lecturer who made a presentation on concrete sound funny , and was carried away by two Vikings. The tale of Captain Horn, who put a radioactive horn on his manhood and absorbed its super powers, followed. I particularly liked his sidekick 'Strap-on lad' and his arch-nemesis 'Dark ass, Lord of the Nether Regions'. In another sketch one unsuspecting perv got a shock when he phoned a sex line where the 'Fantasy Girls' included a dragon, a griffin, a goblin and Medusa. The Nostradamus sketch did not have quite as much oomph as the others but the Silly Library was hilarious: UEA would have fewer overdue books if the punishment involved a gun! All in all this was a surprising and refreshing bundle of laughs.

Bethany Scott-Boatfleld

-

-

•

•

I

I

Film:

Blade 2 UCI all week

Music:

Campus

Ice Age UCI all week Ster Century al l week

Gosford Park UCI Fri-Wed Cinema City 171 05 8.15, 181 05 8 .15, 201 05 2.00 & 8 .15, 211 05 5.30

Gigs

All films start at 8.30 pm and are shown in Lec ture Th eatre One unless otherwise stated

John Q UCI all week Ster Century all week

ET UC I Sat-Mon

Thursday May 9 Vanilla Sky

Monsters Inc. Ster century Sat-Mon

K-Pax UCI all week

Friday May 10 Mean Machine

Road kill UCI all week Ster Century all week

Iris Cinema City 71 05 2.30, 9105 5.45,

Showtime UCI all week Ster Century al l week

The Royal Tenenbaums Cinema City 7105-8105 5.45

Harry Potter UCI Sat , Sun Ster Century Sat-M on

Thursday May 16 Behind Enemy lines Friday May 17 Rat Race ( LT 2)

.JI>-

• •

The Count of Monte Cristo UCI all week Ster Century all week

C ity About a Boy UCI all week Ster Century all week Bend lt Like Beckham UCI all week Ster Century all week Crossroads UCI all week Ster Centu ry Sat-Mon

The Panic Room UCI all week Ster Century all week The Scorpion King UCI all week Ster Century all week 24 Hour Party People UC I Sat A Beautiful Mind UCI all week

Mulholland Drive Cinema City 7 & 81 05 8.15 and 9105 2. 15 Waking Life Cinema City 10105 5.45, 111 05 5.45, 13105 5. 45 , 141 05 8.15, 151 05 8 .15, 161 05 2.30 & 8.15.

Delbaran Cinema City 101 05 8.15, 111 05 8.15, 131 05 8.15, 14105 2.30, 15105 5.45 , 161 05 5.45 The Warrior Cinema City 17105 5.45, 181 05 5.45, 21105 2.30

Wed nesd a ys New Found Glory LCR May 8 £10

Thursdays

Meltin' Pot The Alibi Jazz, funk and soul Jitterbug j Jam Po Na Na Funky drum 'n'bass I house Free b4 10pm , £2 after Flockin ' Sheep Ikon Charts and Cheese £2 b4 11pm

Thursdays

Levellers Waterfront May 9 £13

Isotonic Kafe Da Progressive trance and house Free

Fridays

Spank Time House £1 b4 11pm (NUS)

Samurai Seven, Dawn Parade , Hyper Kinako , Bouvier Ferryboat May 10 Rawkus Live (Goober Patrol, Evader, Charling) Waterfront May 17 £5

Saturdays The Neutrinos Norwich Arts Centre May 11 £5.50 Beverley Knight LCR May 17 £13.50

Sundays Gunz and Rozes Waterfront May 12

£7 1£6

Bassment Bar Metro R'n'B and hip hop Twisted Skunk 1 Bottom Heavy Po Na Na Discofide Breakbeat 1 funky breaks and beats and Latin grooves.

Free b4 10pm , £2 after.

The LCR disco Digitalnightmares + Turntablists May 16 ( info@digitalnightmares.co.uk) LCR (duh) £3

lndie

£41£3 Godskitchen LCR May 18 £9.951£8 Status The Concept Chart and retro £3 b4 11pm , £3.50 after Refresh Ikon £5 b4 11J?m Saturday Rewind Bar Metro Chart , dance. garage Butter Me Up I Underdog Po Na Na Funky house 1 jazz beats £3 after 9pm

Sundays Sunday Service Manhattans £2.50

Mondays Loaded Lock Stock lnd ie Play Po Na Na Disco, funk Free

Tuesdays

Charty Handbaggy The Loft Gay night

Funk Friction Owens cafe Bar

DJs Bedford s Crypt Deeptechtnbal house Free entry

Life Time Commercial dance £1 (NUS)

Mondays Royksopp Waterfront May 13 £8 [Spunge] Waterfront May 20£7.50

Tuesdays ..,......,LJIIA lOIIItH

..

IJ9JAJ~ - -

TJ1J~tJ~

·~--t...--.

r

Fridays D:Tox LCR May 10 £51£3 Delirium The Concept House, garage and R n B.

Del Amitri LCR May 14 £16

Hot Ikon Pop and comme rical dance £4 b4 llpm

A, Fenix TX LCR May 21 £9

Marvel I Gas Station The Loft Hip hop, funk £3 b4 llpm, £4 after.

Clubs

Parkside Po Na Na House Free b4 9pm, £ 3 after.

Wednesdays

Saturdays

Superfly Lock Stock Funk and hip-hop £3

Meltdown Upstairs: Rawkus May 11, Britpoppin May 18 Waterfront

Arts: Linton Kwesi Johnson LCR May13 £101 £5 My Beautiful Launderette Playhouse May 17 - May 18

£101£8 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

by Tom Stoppard Theatre Royal May 8- May 11 Norfolk and Norwich Festival Various Venues May 8- May 12 Madame Butterfly Theatre Royal May 21 - May 25

23

-

The Directory: ABCTaxis All Star Taxis Beeline Taxis Bettacar Taxis Five Star Taxis Loyal Taxis

01603 01603 01603 01603 01603 01603

Canary Cue Club Cinema City Ikon Liquid Maddermarket Theatre The Light Bar Lock Stock路 Norwich Arts Centre Norwich Playhouse Po No No's Ster Century Theatre Royal The Loft The Waterfront Tourist Information Time UEA Studio UCI UEA Union Ents

01603 627478 01603 622047 01603 621541 0 1603 6111 13 01603 620917 01603 622533 01603 629060 01603 660352 01603 598598 01603 619961 01603 221900 01603 630000 01603 623559 01603 632717 01603 666071 0870 6078463 01603 592272 08 70 0 102030 0 1603 508050

666333 744444 767676 747474 455555 619619

ampt

Schedule: Monday

10-12: The Radio (Crispin Best, Andrew

8-10: Breakfast with Neil Grayson 10-12: Kiren Mitra 12-2: Cheese With Mo (Mo Grills) 2-4: Frontier Psychiatry (A lly Barnard) 4-6: At Large (Dan Tucker & Craig Garvey) 6-8: B.E.A.T .S (Colly Wolinski, Luke Kavanagh & Richard King) 8-10: Shadow Cabinet 10-12: Ibiza Reminiscence

12-2: 8 Foot Pigeon (Tom Hegarty, Jon

Stanger) M anton) 2-4: Vanishing Point (Colly Wolinski) 4-6: Mental Institute (Chloe Hall, Esther Evans) 6-8: Paul The Mad Mohican (Paul Eldridge) 8-10: Raw Roots Reggae ( Finbar Carter) 10-12: Adam & Caz Show

Friday

Tuesday

8-10: Far From Home, Far From Talented (Colin

8-10: Untitled Show (Steven Lloyd) 10-12: SBN 12-2: Magical Mystery Tour (Ben Outram,

10-12: The Hangover Cure (Mark Boutros) 12-2: The Love Boat (Becki Bewick, Emma) 2-4: The Untitled Show (Steven Lloyd) 4-6: Random Wibble (Lucy Helier, Tom Rumble) 6-8: Diapers and Underwear (Sophie Kim) 8-10: Underground Sessions (Mark Wheeler) 10-12: Fusion Latina (ldioa Gomez-Oisen)

Gryffiths, Rhys Peterson)

Simon Cox, Mark Jones) 2-4: Choose Or Die (Jenny Jolly, Laura Jose) 4-6: Back To Basics (Steven Ro lfe) 6-8: Will Carry 8-10: Daydream Nation (Tom Buckham) 10-12: We The Foo We The Funky (Richard Harpur)

Saturday

Wednesday

9-U: Robbie Uprichard U-1: Dancing Round The Borders Of The

8-10: Funkadelic (Demetrios Savva, Luis Ramos-Pinto)

10-12: Musical Excursions (Pete SoreiCameron)

12-2: Milk and Cookies (Andie Francis) 2-4: Ben & Johnny (Jon Crooke, Ben Whitenall) 4-5: Illegally Blonde (Sam Cullen) 5-6: Good BJ Show (Em ma Owen) 6-7: Do U Like American Music (Efili Tsvadari) 9-10: Evening Please (Adam Taffler) 10-12: Tea With The Vicar (Jack Knowles, Jon Ell is)

Thursday 8-10: Far From Home, Far From Talented (Colin Gryffiths, Rhys Peterson)

Curfew (David Hopley) 1-3: Right Hand Of Jam (James Norman) 3-5: The Groove Bus (Charlotte Stratta, Ali Hopkins) S.7: Sports Frenzy (Tom Gurney, Jon Simms) 9-12: Digital Nightmares (OIIie Hurford & TSN)

CONCRETE needs contributors, including writers, photographers and proof readers.

Without your input we cannot produce your student newspaper.

....

Sunday 9-U: Norfolk 'n' Good (Zach Walsh, Ben Hunt) U-1: Good to You, Good for You (Richard Farmer) 1-3: Sunday Review (Em ma Owen) 3-5: Not Simon Mayo (Simon Humphrey) S.7: New Music Show (Colly Wolinski, Luke Kavanagh) 9-12: Smooved Out (Sam Mensah)

There is one more contributors' meeting this term, Monday May 13 at l.OOpm in Room 1.33, upstairs in Union House. All students welcome.

-

I

-

I

I

I

I

I I

II

-

UNION FILMS :

/ ~ t

~~-";:~

... f

r~

~

WATERFRONT 10/05/02 Rumble Rewind old skool hardcore and jungle £12/£1 0 11/05/02 Meltdown lndie, pop+ Rawkus Nu-metal, 10/05/02 D:TOX funk breaks, Hip Hop, Drum'n'bass Skapunk £4/£3 £5 (£3 NUS) 18/05/02 Meltdown lndie, pop+ Britpoppin' 90s 11/05/02 Retro 3 Decades of top tunes £3.50 Guitar Bands £4/£3 18/05/02 Godskitchen £9.95 (£8 NUS) 24/05/02 Downstairs Absolution feat. Nick 25/05/02 Miss Moneypenny's £8 (£6 NUS) Sentience (1 0-4am) £8 24/05/02 Upstairs Take the power back metal, punk

Don 't forget the weekly LCR which is sti ll running throughout exams up until the end of term. Look out for details of the annual Live in the Square ...

£3 25/05/02 Meltdown lndie, pop + Wraith Goth, Metal, Rock £4/£3 139-141 KIHGSTREE . NOR -

TERFRONT

...

07/05/02 Supergrass £1 5 08/05/02 New Found Glory £1 0 13/05/02 Dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson £10 (£5 NUS) 14/05/02 Del Amitri £16 19/05/02 Beverley Knight £13.50 21/05/02 'A' + Fenix TX (new date, all tickets valid) £9 27/05/02 Delirious? £12 29/05/02 Dean Friedman £16 (£12 NUS) 11/06/02 Baaba Maal + One Giant Leap £11 (£8 NUS) 12/06/02 Fun Lovin' Criminals £15 23/06/02 Pulp (to be held at Thetford Forest) £21 26/06/02 Dandy Warh ols £13 25&26/10/02 Jools Holland £18 (£13.50 NUS) 12/11/02 Level42 £18.50 26/11/02 Gary Moore £20 09/12/02 Bjorn Again £14 (£1 0 NUS)

WICH 01603 632717 taUR UNION' S CLU B IN1B£ C!li

07/05/02 Hundred Reasons + Cave-in £8 09/05/02 The Levellers + Clear Lake £13 12/05/02 Gunz 'n' Rozes £7 (£6 NUS) 13/05/02 Royksopp £8 17/05/02 Rawkus 'Live' Part 5 featuring + Rawkus DJs, Lovejunk + Goober patrol + Evader +Charling (8-1 am) £5 20/05/02 [Spunge] + Bowling for Soup £7.50 26/05/02 All About Eve 1st Electric tour in 7 years £15 28/05/02 Average White Band £12 30/05/02 Jazzanova DJs (8-12) £7.50 (£6 NUS) 12/06/02 Saxon feat. Biff Byford £10 23/06/02 Sugarcoma £6 25/06/02 Soil £8 26/06/02 Bad Manners £10 11/07/02 Vex Red £8.50 14/07/02 Face to Face £8 16/07/02 My Vitriol £9

Tickets available in Norwich from: Waterfront, UEA Union, Soundclash, HMV. For credit card bookings tel: 01603 50-80-50.

All prices are advance only (always more on the door) and may be subject to a booking fee.

Doors open 7.30 - 11 pm (except Sundays at Waterfront 7 - 10.30pm) unless otherwise stated.

(All gigs have an over 14s policy unless otherwise stated).

-

May • Thursd ay 9th : Vanilla Sky • Friday 1Oth: Mean Machine • Thursday 16th: Behind Enemy Lines • Friday 17th: Rat Race (LT2) • Thursday 23rd: Training Day (featuring Oscar winner Denzel Washington) • Friday 24th: Monsters I ne (nominated for best animated feature Oscar) • Thursday 30th: A Beautiful Mind (winner of best picture Oscar) • Fri day 31st: Serendipity June • Thursday 6th: Ali • Friday 7th: The Royal Tenenbaums • Wednesday 12th: Go sford Park • Thursday 13th: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowsh ip of the Ring Individual tickets cost £2.75 A term film pass is only £12.50 and covers all the films showing this term. That's less than 35p per f i lm, making us the cheapest cinema in Norwich by far! All films start at 8.30pm and are in LT1 unless otherwise stated.

See f i lm poster for full terms and conditions.