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Multicultural carnival
promises exciting mix
BY SCOTT RUDICIL
STAFF WRrtER
Opening salsa. According to Chris
Elliot’s Baked Tostito’s commercials,
popping open a bag of those low-fat,
additive-free com chips starts a party
immediately. But right after Elliot
(pathetically) gives up his bag of chips
someone always pops into the picture
with ajar of salsa. That’s when every
one starts showing up: after the salsa
has been opened. Really? Yes, really.
That’s what Shelli Dronsfield and the
rest of the organizers and sponsors of
Durham Arts Council Center Fest '97
are hoping for, some opened salsa to
attract a party. The only thing stopping
the fiesta is another spicy jar of salsa
opening in Carrboro.
Centerfest ’97 begins this year, its
24th in existence, as the second salsa
opener of Friday, September 19. Bio
Ritmo (bee-o reet-mo) provides the dip,
as its salsa music, a Puerto Rican dance
music, will open for the highly antici
pated Squirrel Nut Zippers concert
before they head over to the kick-off
dance concert for Centerfest ’97. The
only visible problem stems from the pos
sible over-extension of Rene Herrera,
former member of the Cuban sympho
ny and leader of Bio Ritmo.
“Management [of Bio Ritmo]
assures me there won’t be a problem,”
said Dronsfield.
The party that the organizers are try
ing to initiate is what Center Fest ’97 is
all about: fun for all. A projected crowd
of 70,000 will fill the streets of the
Durham-based event over the course of
Friday, Saturday and Sunday for what
could be the event to attend this week
end.
“68,000 people showed up last year
after good publicity. It was two weeks
after hurricane Fran, and people want
ed to party,” said Dronsfield.
With no entrance fee and only a $2
suggested donation to enter the main
festivities on Saturday and Sunday, the
price is right.
The opening night starts with Ritmo
and their Cuban-influenced dance beat.
Tickets for this get down and boogie
kick-off are SB. The doors open at 7:30
p.m. for all the eager party junkies, and
Bio Ritmo blasts in at nine o’clock to get
Center Fest off to a picante-flavored
jump-start. Ritmo’s recent success in
clubs around Chapel Hill made them
the jar-opening favorite to knock every
one’s socks off the first night.
The remainder of the weekend offers
a variety of entertainment including the
construction of a 30-foot art structure
with tons of banners hanging down to
form a pyramid for more than 30 per
formers and bands to entertain even the
prudes in the crowd.
As participatory activities become
the theme for Center Fest ’97, even chil
dren can get involved with the festivi
ties. Stages upon endless stages are
being set up to facilitate not only an
entertaining festival, but a hands-on fes
tival as well. Kids, as well as those who
still have the kid alive inside the heart,
can look for the newly-formed children's
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area of Center Fest. Included are tem
porary henna tatoos, the no-gravity,
free-floating experience of the Orbitron
and the funny-faces of caricature draw
ings.
If that isn’t enough to whet the
appetite, imagine a stand that gauges
the speed of the major league dreamers’
arms with a baseball-pitching radar gun,
and there is even an area where the kid
dies can play any instruments they can
get their paws on.
Then there are the bands. Anyone
can find the music they are looking for
with this super-group consisting of over
30 performers. Whether it’s Jamaican
ska with The Jumpstarts, the Carolina
originated bluegrass feel of New
Vintage, blues and jazz aficionado Ed
Acquesta, or even die Irish traditional
sounds of jigs and leprechauns that
Down the Broom brings, Center Fest
provides for all. And the bands aren’t
even the half of the entertainment.
Ready to liven up the dull and
monotonous lives of al] that attend are
the Bouncing Bulldogs Jump Rope
Team, a group of high-jumping preci
sion hip-hop middle schoolers,
Danceßrazil, a dynamic assortment of
rhythm and martial arts and a few
choirs mixed and mingled within the
variety that is Center Fest ’97.
“[CenterFest ’97] is cheap,” said
Dronsfield. “That’s always important
for college students.”
With checking accounts running dry
after the initial rush of the school year
and UNC ONE Cards not able to pay
for the entertainment that everyone
wants to enjoy, “cheap” is a luxury that
all students can afford.
We re never mean.
Our hands are clean.
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Douglas, 4 The Game’ meddle with psyche
The brilliance of “The Game” lies in
the feet that it keeps the audience guess
ing until the final credits start rolling.
Echoing the creativity of “The Usual
Suspects,” the movie establishes an
enjoyable and enthralling story line.
Millionaire Nicholas Van Orton
(Michael Douglas) lives in the cold,
dark loneliness of wealth and power. A
Scrooge-like character, Van Orton
resents loving
relationships
and happi
ness, prefer
ring to con
centrate on
| GREGMILUKINI
Movie Review
"The Game"
A-
personal fortune, corporate downsizing,
and guilt over his father’s suicide many
years before.
All of this changes when he receives
a conspicuous birthday present from his
shameful younger brother, Conrad
(Sean Penn). The gift is participation in
a game, set up by a mysterious compa
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Taking the advice of his brother and
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At first, the company relies on cheap
jokes and tricks that only irritate him,
but soon he realizes his game has taken
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Narrowly escaping car crashes and
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apparent plot by CRS to financially and
physically destroy him. Van Orton
struggles to stay alive, while dragging
his brother and a waitress, played by
Deborah Kara Unger (“Whispers in the
Dark,” “Crash”), into the madness and
danger.
Describing a film like this, however,
Playing the role of millionaire Nicholas Van Orton in "The Game," Michael Douglas must fight to save his sanity as
well as his own life. Dodging the sinister plot of his enemies, he experiences a character change.
presents a problem, since it is so intri
cate. This is a movie where any guess
you make about what will happen or
who is behind the game is shot down by
the filmmakers; and every slow or
somber moment suddenly twists into
frantic excitement, courtesy of a power
ful script by John Brancato and Michael
Ferris (both of “The Net,” and there are
several similarities between the two
movies).
Douglas, in top form, turns in a win
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ning performance, cold and pompous at
the beginning, melting into frantic and
disheveled. One of the film’s strongest
aspects is Van Orton’s evolution from
start to finish -- perhaps this is the pur
pose of the game.
Douglas does receive fine support
from Unger as the seemingly innocent
waitress (or is she a part of the game, as
well?) and Penn, who breathes life into a
considerably small role.
The stylish directing of David
(Super Haircut]
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Fincher, who previously directed
“Seven” and “Alien 3,” and the artful
writing take center stage here.
Forgetting the occasional moments
that defy logic or reality, the movie
becomes extremely enjoyable. It man
ages to toy with its audience, while never
giving in to conventional plot twists or
endings.
“The Game,” essentially, is not a
movie at all, but more like a thrilling
game itself.
7