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The Compass - page 6
ENTERTAINMENT
ECSU singing group sciiedules busy spring
Six ECSU students may be
singing their way to the top of
the music industry. At least
that’s their goal.
The young men, known as
“Esquire”, have been singing
together ^r three years.
Three of the members “dis
covered” one another when
they were competing for the
lead in a campus talent show.
After listening to each other
audition, they put their heads,
and voices, together and
formed the core group. Those
original three are Jerry Cam
eron, 21, of Durham, N.C.,
Jerry Dortch, 21, of Durham,
N.C., and Michael Chapman,
22, of Baltimore, Maryland.
Three more voices were
added later: Vincent Morton,
20, of Wake Forest, N.C.,
Leon Hester, 22, of Wilming
ton, N.C., and Willie Rob
ertson, 22, of Levittown, Pa.
Robertson is the newest mem
ber ot the group. Chuck Over
ton manages the group and
Bernard Brooks handles the
choreography.
By Deborah Carr
Staff Writer
“We’ve done more in the
last three months,” said Hes
ter, “than we’ve done in the
last three years, and we are
now beginning to work on
more upbeat music.”
According to Hester, “Es
quire” patterns itself after
“The New Edition” and “The
Temptations.” Their favorite
songs include: “It’s a Thin
Line Between Love and Ha
te,’’“Sweet November,’’“It’s
So Hard to Say Goodbye To
Yesterday,’’“Here I Go
Again,” and “Look After
Love.”
Promotion means as much
as talent in the highly com
petitive world of entertain
ment.
“We are planning a spring
concert,” said Chapman,
“and the vice-president of
RCA records is supposed to
attend. We are also going to
have a few fund-raisers plus
sell ‘Esquire’ t-shirts.”
The group has already per
formed in Wilmington, Eden-
ton, in the ECSU Showcase, at
the ECSU Coronation Bal-
l,and was the opening act for
the Homecoming ’86 Concert.
Photo by Kevin Cox
"Esqahe” membart, L-R, Michael Chapman, Jarry Camaran, Jarry Dortch, Laan Hastar, Vlncant Horton, Wlllla Robertson. Not pictured are
Chuck Overton, maneter, and Ramerd Rrookt, choreographer.
“Angel” production impressive
■ Fitzgerald Warren as W.O. Gant-
Sets a helping hand from Charles
ennings as Doctor Maguire in a
Scene from the production of “Look
Homeward Angel.” James H. Gibbs
as Hugh Barton and Stephen Michael
Allen as Eugene Gant look on.
The Little Theatre of ECSU
was once again transformed
into a forum of entertainment
November 5-9 when the Uni
versity Players performed
the Pulitzer Prize play,
“Look Homeward, Angel” by
Ketti Frings based on
Thomas Wolfe’s novel of the
same title.
“Angel” is a comedy-
drama which reveals the life
style of the Gant family in the
early twentieth century.
Eliza (Rosa Sawyer) is the
power-hungry, self-centered
wife of W.O. Gant, an old
stone cutter who occasionally
“cuts up” when intoxicated
by alcohol. She is so pre-occu-
pied with making money
through real estate and keep
ing boarders at the Dixieland
Boarding house, that the re
bellious son, Ben (Gary Shea-
rod) has assumed the respon
sibility of teaching his
younger brother Eugene (Ste
phen Allen) about life.
Through the actions of Eu
gene, who experiences meta
morphosis from adolescence
to becoming an adult, the au
dience relates to parent-child
communication gaps, the am
bitions of youth, and the joy
and pain that first love affair.
It is this love affair which
eventually opens Eugene’s
eyes to the ways of the world
when Laura James (Traci
Godbold) leaves near the end
of the play when Eugene’s
heart is set on marriage.
(Welcome to the real world.)
The costuming, scenery,
and speech authentically re
flected the lifestyle of early
twentieth century life and the
set was built strategically to
allow free and effective
movement on stage. Except
for one scene, all action took
place at the Dixieland Board
ing House, either on the porch
or in W.O.’s bedroom, which
was designed in such a way
that scenes within that room,
when lit, could be seen
through a large window. The
set designer deserves recog
nition for creating such a
practical workable and rea
listic set.
By Joe Holley
Staff Writer
Good scenery, costuming,
and lighting can all be inef
fective when the cast does not
carry out the action well or
the ^alogue fails to express
moods or convey meaning to
the audience. Neither was the
case with cast of “Angel,” for
they persented a most con
vincing dramatization of this
play. “Look Homeward An
gel” is certainly a realistic
observation of life which af
fords the audience the oppor
tunity to reflect on characters
of diversified personalities.
But, as mentioned earlier, the
cast worked so well together
that the play was just as big
as life itself-different people,
attitudes, goals and ideas;
they make the world go
’round and made “Angel” a
successful production.
ECSU presented tlie Atlantic Express
in concert on November 19 in Wiiiiams
Hall Gymnasium as part of tlie 1986-87
Lyceum Series.
Atlantic Express Is tlie official stage
band of the United States Atlantic com
mand and consists of 17 of the top musi
cians in the Navy’s band program.
ALBUM REVIEWS
Aretha, Jarreau Return
ARETHA -
Aretha Franklin (Arista)
Aretha Franklin returns
to the charts after the very
successful “Who’s Zoom
ing Who” Lp which yielded
three top ten hits, includ
ing the number one “Free
way of Love.” The “Queen
of Soul” is again teaming
with producer Narada Mi
chael Walden for this nine
selection disc. The first
single, “Jumping Jack
Flash” from the Whoopi
Goldberg movie, is a re
make of the Rolling Stone
classic-with Rolling Stone
Keith Richard handling
the production duties.
(Keith, of course, appears
in the video.) The first sin
gle has not taken radio by
storm but is getting “re-
specf’ful air play. The
second single, “Jimmy
Lee” is a song with a me
dium tempo that should
get better reponse from
black radio than did
“Flash” because this is a
more soulful song with
tight background vocals.
Aretha teams with
George Michael (formerly
of WHAM) for a good song,
“I knew You Were Waiting
For Me.” This one should
do extremely well with ra
dio and the public. George
should be honored to sing
with the Queen!
Larry Graham (remeir
ber him?) returns to th
charts with a very soulfi
performance with Areth
on “If You Need Love T(
night.” This Lp is a mus
for Aretha fans. The lad
is still the “Queen.”
2 IS FOR LOVER
Al Jarreau (Warner Bros.)
A1 Jarreau returns to th
studio with producer Nil
Rodgers (formerly o
CHIC) resulting in this te
song Lp. Al Jarreau is th
kind of singer who can sin
anything. While this a
bum is not a “gorilla” £
we call it in the business,
is a must for any forma
Nile Rodgers keeps awa
from the gimmickry ofte
used in today’s music, ff
a good, adult oriented L.
Choice cuts are “Tell Wht
I Gotta Do”; the secod
single, “Pleasure,” “\fe
Got Telepathy” and “b
Ordinary Romance.”
The only bad part abot
this Lp is that it wasn’t i-
leased in the spring r
summer for those log
drives along the countr-
side. You can’t go wronj
David Linton
Guest Columnist
“Let there be jazz!
Mis
Photo by Kevin Cox
Do you suffer from the mid-
dle-of-the-week-classroom-b-
urnout blahs?
Well, my friend, escapism
has arrived in the form of
“good ol’ funky, get-down
jazz.”
That’s right. Jazz. The Stu
dent Services of ECSU spon
sors a free jazz hour every
other Wednesday at the Uni
versity Center. All you do is
walk in, sit down, and be
grooved and soothed by the
sounds of the ECSU Jazz
Band.
By Joe Holley
Staff Writer
Don’t be frightened by the
term “jazz” and feel it’s not
the kind of music you’d like.
The music played by Mr. Wil
lie McElroy and crew varies
from traditional to fusion and
even some jazzy versions of
pop tunes. The group also per
forms original compositions.
McElroy plays keyboards,
Vincent Preister blows the
alto saxophone, basi is
thumped by Kermitt Grfin,
and Monte Griffin keepsthe
rhythm on drums.
Response has been pod
according to McElroy ind
other groups are invitet to
sit-in and share their muscal
talents during the jazz hur.
The ECSU Jazz Band ftka
“Tunesia” off-campus) is
also available for private ar-
ties and other functions In
fact, according to McElrc, it
was by playing together irthe
Outer Banks area duringthe
summer that sparked th or
ganization of jazz hour.
I asked McElroy if this
would continue through the
spring and again next yer.
“I would like for it to con
tinue,” he said. “It is a wy of
enlightening our studentsand
elevating their appreci.tion
of our art form.”
As for me, I hope it’i the
start of a tradition. And you
can count on me being Here
every time.