Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Sept. 23, 1982, edition 1 / Page 3
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Thursday. Sept. 23, 1982/Kaleidoscope/3 entertainment etc. if/ r-/ ilW A \ M w a m m Cast members of the 1940’s Radio Hour putting humor in this scene from the show. A book review: John Irving By Kari Howard The Hotel New Hampshire, by John Irving. E.P. Dutton. $15.50. 401 pages. Now in paperback. How many of you are compulsive about reading the last page of a novel before beginning it? Usually this impatience leads to feelings of shame find/or disappointment that manage to ruin the other pages. Page 401 of The Hotel New Hamp shire is a notable exception. As I guiltily turned to that last page, the last eight words caught my eyes and held them: “You have to keep pass ing the open windows.” I was in trigued; surely that crj^tic sentence was of monumental importance! All guilt feelings disappeared as I thumbed back to the beginning in my quest for KNOWLEDGE. This noble quest led me through an extraordinary family saga. It is the story of the Berry family; Win, the bemused patriarch; his wife, Mary, who was killed in a plane crash halfway through the book; Frank, the eldest son and an uncloseted homosexual;. John, our narrator and Franny, involved in an incestuous attraction that is con summated one time only; and Egg, 1940 s” Reviewed Musical is “a real treat” By Kerri Pace The 1940's Radio Hour was two hours of lively upbeat music and dialogue. Bill Fegan Attractions presented the musical Monday night in Lipinsky Auditorium to an en thusiastic crowd. The musical, based on an actual broadcast from 1941, surpassed my expectations. I was ready to sit back and watch. However, I found myself playing a part as the au dience became the studio audience, reacting to the flashing “applause” sign. The quality of the acts themselves made the “applause” sign unnecessary as the actors’ and actresses’ talents shone. From costuming to timing the per formance was almost flawless. The costumes suited the characters well. The straight-laced announcer, Clif ton A. Feddington, wore a tuxedo in contrast to the provocative attire of seductive singer, Ginger Brooks. Even the hairstyles took you back four decades. The 1940's Radio Hour gave me a chance to live a part of history when radio was a major source of enter tainment. For many the show gave them a chance to relive a special part of their lives. Non-stop Erotic Cabaret By Kari Howard During intermission I talked with a group of people who were teenagers during the 1940’s. The feeling was one of enthusiasm and nostalgia. The songs in the musical were familar to them and brought back memories of the “big band sound.” The “big band sound,” they told me, was heard on the radio, at college dances, and in the ball rooms of that era. The commercials used during the show sparked more memories as one man serenaded me with a repeat per formance of the Pepsi ad sung in the show. The show is very real for us, ” he said, it’s real treat.” The show’s production manager, David Walker, hopes the show will continue to be a treat for the remain ing six months it is going to be on national tour. I do not think he needs to worry. For those who lived during the forties and saw the show and for others who have only seen the re-enactment, the show was “a real treat.” the youngest. Obviously, this is not your average family. Readers of John Irving’s other novels will recognize the common characteristics of his former works. His obsession with Vienna is glimpsed once again when the Berry family is transplanted there to open the second Hotel New Hampshire [you can deduce where the first one was, I hope]. It is a fascination of Ir ving’s comparable to the morbid curiosity of travelers passing a fiery wreck; Vienna is dying much more slowly, but with equal inevitability. Trained bears once again become a personification for the human race, not “smart enough for the world” for the most part, content to enter tain with meaningless tricks. The underlying darkness and futility of The Hotel New Hamp shire is brightened by Irving’s far cical handling of tragedy. His genius at this is epitomized in the final words of an artist whey you guessed iU couldn’t pass the open windows: Life is serious, but art is fun.” With these words comes an awakening of KNOWLEDGE. Laugh at life; it is the only way to keep passing the open windows. Have you ever wanted to wallow in decadence [innocent decadence, that is]? This album provides the or dinary person the perfect opportuni ty to be a little sinful without the usual repercussions. Even the cover gives a tiny thrill with its neon in vitations to peep shows and cinematic sex. It is a cover that promises and deUvers. Inside, the album burns. The duo of Mark Almond [vocals] and David Ball [synthesizers] who make up Soft Cell are delightfully wicked; they exude vice. They disturb the senses with the opening cut, “Frustration.” It radiates danger; the moody sax solo and Almond’s amazing vocals subtly threaten us. Radio listeners may be disappointed by the much-played “Tainted Love,” only because the follow-up “Where Did Our Love Go” is not in cluded {it can be found on Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing, a low-priced mini album]. You’ll be depressed by “Youth,” insidious in both music and lyrics. Blatant is the only word to describe “Sex Dwarf.” Side Two isn’t quite as... dangerous, but it is equally hyp notic. “Secret Life” is a tense story of adultery with desperate IjTicslike “I’ll give you anything, anything to shut you up. Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to you but leave you?” Evidently he hasn’t heard that hell hath no fury.... My favorite cut, however, is “Say Hello Wave Goodbye,” a sad, sad story about the pain of a broken affair. So come on, be immoral, improper, indiscreet, etc., for 45 minutes. It’ll leave you feeHng so good. CONCERTS Sept. 24 Jerry Reed Freedom Hall-Johnson City 24 Go-Go's/A Flock of Sea Gulls Atlanta Fox 25 Royal Hanneford Freedom Hall-Johnson City Oct. 7 Jethro Tull Atlanta Omni 10 Conway Twitty Knoxville Coliseum 30 Floyd Cramer Freedom Hall-Johnson City Nov. 26 The WHO Atlanta Omni
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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Sept. 23, 1982, edition 1
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