8
THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2005
Senior s thesis
promotes debate
through music
BY JOHN COGGIN
STAFF WRITER
In the new musical “Soul
Notes,” University undergraduate
Creighton Irons offers a philosophi
cal debate over the meaning of race
in America as argued through the
diverse sounds of the country’s his
tory in music.
The musical is Irons’ senior the
sis, and for someone who admit
tedly is unfamiliar with the kind of
product students in the dramatic
art department are churning out
each year, this thing was mind
blowing.
For the first half of the perfor
mance, I could not force the goofy
grin off my face. The moment the
six-piece live band began to storm
through narrator Rasta’s theme
music, my head started bouncing
and never stopped even if the
music did.
A white-people-sing-the-blues
too duet between Kelen Coleman
and Jeff Fowler brought the
house down, and the response
from Trey Campbell was equally
impressive.
Nonetheless, there are a couple
of itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny com
plaints:
While no one in the audience
Saturday night could reasonably
deem race an irrelevant topic,
many might have found it difficult
to embrace some of the perspec
tives from which Irons chose to
examine the subject, for they often
seemed so outdated or just plain
cliche.
But I’ll give him the cliched
characters and outdated arguments
and justify it by saying that perhaps
by using familiar semantics in the
race debate, Irons allowed the
audience to simply sit back and
enjoy the inventive way in which
he approached an old discussion
through music.
Because this is where he got it
right.
For example, the contrived
themes explored through an inter
racial relationship sort of left a bad
taste in your mouth.
But the way in which Irons and
director Dana Dobreva chose to
depict the couple was absolutely
brilliant.
Eliza is the hopeless romantic
to Lyndon’s uncertain realist, as
acted out by Megan Kauffmann
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THEATER lEVIEW
SOUL NOTES
STUDIO 2
SATURDAY, MARCH 5
★★★
and Atrayus Goode, respectively.
Their palpable chemistry together
made their duets the highlight of
the show.
Kauffmann’s earnest Broadway
style served as the perfect antith
esis to Goode’s velvety R&B
croon.
That the two styles fit so well
on top of each other is irrefutable
evidence of the skill of the singers
and is a tribute to the success of
the writer and director in depict
ing unexpected harmony between
two people through music.
But we could have done with
out a couple of those scenes in
which character after character
speechified his or her perspective
on race.
And the use of Andy, the cen
tral character who Irons sends on
a research expedition to discover
whether race does indeed “exist,”
was a forced and unnecessary
device to move along the plot. The
character was a distraction and
made the performance seem more
like an after-school special than an
intellectual debate.
(But props to David Greenslade
for managing to sustain that look
of yearning naivete for three hours
straight.)
The performances by the sing
ers seemed to only get better as
the night progressed because Irons
gave them such qualify material to
work with.
So, to Irons, I repeat let your
music speak. This is where you got
it right.
Contact the A&EEditor
at artsdesk@unc.edu.
STAR YSTEM
★ POOR
★★ FAIR
★★★ GOOD
★★★★ EXCELLENT
★★★★★ CLASSIC
Diversions
Sequel lacks plot, chemistry
BY WILLIAM FONVIELLE
STAFF WRITER
“Be Cool” is the lowest form of a
bad movie.
The opening segments are jolly
and quick, indicating a pleasur
able time at the talkies. Your hopes
begin to rise, but then— bam!
the 10-minute mark hits.
It’s all downhill from there, as
the film switches to autopilot and
descends into a pit of tepid gags
and strained plotlines.
By the end, you’re not only
bored, you’re angry at the film for
seducing you, for drawing you into
its lair and then disappearing after
sticking you with the bill.
Director F. Gary Gray, along
with screenwriter Peter Steinfeld,
effectively took the original “Get
Shorty” and neutered it, being
content with replacing pointed
satire on the entertainment world
with a white man who speaks as a
black stereotype. That leads to such
inspired lines as, “Stop hatin’, start
participatin’!”
The tangled mess of a plot
involves John Travolta’s character,
Chili Palmer, a slick movie produc
er trying to jump into the music biz
and ensure that all the good guys
end up in a happy place.
In the first film, there seemed to
be a real sense of danger and pur
pose, which only made the consis
tent humor more effective.
Here, once the inept Russian
mafia enters, you might consider
checking your cell phone for mes
sages or just eye it until a mes
sage appears. Or maybe engage in
a quick game of “Snake.”
If you can move past 500 points,
it gets pretty wild.
Part of the fun of “Be Cool” was
apparently supposed to stem from
Crooning rocker succeeds with new ‘Dreams’
BY HARRY KAPLOWITZ
STAFF WRITER
Jack Johnson has more or less cre
ated a distinct sound for himself, the
kind heard on college radio stations
on lazy Saturday afternoons.
His previous albums achieved
a kind of symbiosis in sound, each
balancing frail, subtle melodies
with cool, laid back lyrics. His most
recent effort, In Between Dreams, is
more of the same and a little some
thing extra, all at the same time.
Critics contend that all of
Johnson’s songs sound the same
—and they do. However, Johnson
matures, if not evolves, with each
successive album. In Between
Dreams gives listeners the same
formulaic approach that 2001’s
Brushfire Fairytales and 2003’s On
and On gave them, and it’s some
thing they can’t tire of.
Blending equal parts melody
and charm and throwing in a dis
tinct worldly sound for good mea
sure, In Between Dreams becomes
a loosely-woven tapestry of three
minute sound bites that leaves his
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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson gets inexplicably excited about his new shoes and cool kicks in "Be Cool," the
sequel to the 1995 hit "Get Shorty." In the film, Johnson plays the role of menacing bodyguard Elliot Wilhelm.
nostalgia, seeing “Pulp Fiction”
buddies Travolta and Uma
Thurman reunite.
But nothing exists between
their characters, except for wasted
potential. They meet under the
pretense of being old friends, but
audiences are supplied with no
backstory and are expected to buy
their relationship, despite its lack
of chemistry.
Even the seemingly guaranteed
crowd-pleaser of seeing Travolta
dance is shattered by Gray’s need
to keep the camera moving and
cutting around him, never allow
ing a decent perception of his
movements.
Gray and Steinfeld exhibit an
overreliance on casual name-drop
ping to create a sense of real-time
Hollywood, while conveniently
fans coolly swaying to a lightly
twanged ukulele.
The goal for any musician is to
grow from album to album and
come to embody an unexpectedly
enjoyable sound it’s the stuff
Grammy dreams are made of.
Johnson does this with his new
album, but you couldn’t tell it from
the first few tracks.
The album’s opening trifecta of
“Better Together,” “Never Know”
and “Banana Pancakes” sounds
like everything else Johnson has
ever dished out: musically-simple
jam sessions that leave you idly
bobbing your head.
That mood changes entirely with
“No Other Way,” a slow, lullaby-type
serenade that starts to paint of por
trait of the kind of mood Johnson
is developing. One of the album’s
best tracks, “No Other Way” is the
kind of honest pop song Johnson
could never produce with his first
two albums.
“Sitting, Waiting, Wishing,” the
album’s radio-ready single, is more
of the same Johnson fare, but even
forgetting to support this conceit
with legitimate wit or satire.
These referential scenes of
both “Get Shorty” and the great
er Hollywood community never
exist beyond level one to become
legitimately funny in and of them
selves.
If there’s one saving grace to “Be
Cool,” it’s that the cast seems to be
having a ball. They are all capable
of keeping a straight face while
being handed ridiculous situa
tions.
Travolta in particular appears
to be having more fun on screen
than he’s had in years, and The
Rock exudes a natural comedic
charisma.
Hell, even Vince Vaughn deliv
ers, despite the fact that his annoy
ing, one-note, wannabe gangster
MUSIC 7ITIEW
JACK JOHNSON
IN BETWEEN DREAMS
irkkirk
his “same old, same old” has some
thing new to offer, a kind of musi
cal ebb and flow that never before
personified his tunes.
“Situations” and “Belle,” both
shorter than two minutes, are the
kind of hit-and-run songs that
quickly strike a chord with listen
ers and leave just as fast. “Belle,”
especially, becomes an easy album
favorite with Johnson harmoniz
ing ala franQais to the tune of an
accordion.
It is the album’s final five songs,
though, that give it’s winning per
sonality. In order, “If I Could,”
“Breakdown,” “Belle,” “Do You
Remember” and “Constellations”
all work together to create an artis
tically accomplished ending for In
Between Dreams.
“Breakdown,” perhaps the
album’s standout track, is the
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MOVIE IVIEW
“BE COOL"
irk
character is like one of those blow
up dolls. No matter how many
times you punch it, it mockingly
pops back up.
Overall, the film is a failed
retread of its predecessor, exhib
iting none of its slickness. It’s a
shame, too, because the first 10
minutes presented alone would
make a wonderful short film, albeit
one without plot, character or end
ing.
“Be Cool” gives unwarranted,
unnecessary sequels a bad name.
Contact theA&E Editor
at artsdesk@unc.edu.
kind of song that allows Johnson
to hearken his inner poet. In it,
Johnson emotes lyrics tinged with
heartache and soft chords that
completely contradict his words.
It’s this kind of contradiction
that makes Johnson such a stellar
composer, giving him the ability to
say one thing and evoke feelings of
another; the result is brilliant song
writing and even better execution.
The album’s final two tracks,
“Do You Remember” and
“Constellations” are completely
mesmerizing in their delivery, with
lyrics both simple and subtle but a
meaning that reaches far beyond
its conveyance.
In Between Dreams is a perfect
phrase to describe this different
face for Johnson: not anew face,
just a different one. He’s an art
ist in transition, on the brink of
something big. It’s albums like this,
though, that makes us wish him to
stay in an artistic limbo.
Contact theA&E Editor
at artsdesk@unc.edu.