1984_03 The Daily Collegian March 1984

              IPa.^® _.    March 5,1984
iFceaitaiff®
Barry Sobel strives to better his art
By Sandy Sarro
Contributing writer
Tom Spilr/Thr O.IIt Collcjlnn
Comedian Birry Sobel performed Thursday at Ihe new Satellite CU.
"Stop it! I can't do no more! Stop it!"
That's how Barry Sobel began his
stand-up comedy routine at the Satellite
College Union Thursday night.
And that's how I ended my afternoon of
trying lo get an interview.
"I was told about the interview. But I
was also told that there would be food.
Immediately. Do you know any good
Italian restaurants?" Sobel said when I
met him at the airport.
We drove to a small Italian restaurant
Review
that happened to be uncrowded. We walked
in. He looked around.
"Do you know any cool burger places?"
he asked.
We drove to two "cool" burger places
before we found one that had the right
atmosphere and burgers, too.
But not before spending five minutes
each in a used clothing store and a stereo
shop, at opposite ends of town.
Meanwhile, it is fairly hard to conduct
an interview while driving and singing
along with "Squeeze" tapes at the same
time. Even for a talented young comedian.
The interview could wait. Right now. I
was sort of having fun wilh this self-
professed "kookster" and zanester." He
wasn't embarrassed lo "whoop" in ihe
middle of a department store. And he's the
only one I know willing lo sing "Pulling
Mussels from the Shell"in the car with the
windows down.
"Comedians get to approach different
people. I will always be a stand-up comedian. If you're a comedian, it's a good life,"
he said. "You gel to walk up to people and
say you're a comedian, and they'll talk to
you.. They'll help you and stuff. People
enjoy comedians."
They must. In the span of three hours,
Sobel got a date, suggestions on where to
find good used clothing, and a waiter al
the self-service table at the burger place.
"I'm famous only in the little sense of
the word. People know me and recognize
me. And they come up to me in the places
that 1 go," Sobel said. "That might be
what you call famous. Not as famous as
other people.
"But that's not what I'm striving for.
I'm striving to be belter in my art and to
bring it to more people. ...and to be
famous. But I kid," he added
"Now let me ask you a question. Would
you call this cheddar cheese?"
(1 would call il American cheese.)
"Well, I've gone so far to get this burger,
I'd hate to turn it back now. But you can
,ask questions while I eat, 'cause that's the
kind of guy 1 am. Ill talk with food in my
mouth for an interview," he said.
"Fame comes with the territory. If 1
succeed in what I do — getting my work
on T.V. or movies — I would be famous.
So I'd be ready to accept that, but that's
not what I'm after." he explained.
Sobel lived for the past six years in San
Francisco, where he was able to make a
living at comedy, he said. "In San Francisco, comedy is still booming." he said.
It's such a great womb; it's such a great
place to learn comedy that many comedians don't want to leave."
Sobel recently exited Ihe womb and m
oved to Weslwood, so he could find work
in Los Angeles.
"1 don't want to be the best comedian in
a small town, San Francisco. 1 want lo be
an actor and get my product across Amer-
• See Sobel, Page 5
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March 5,1984   IPffi^® §
Greg rockihnrolls' in Satellite CU
By Sandy Sarro
Contributing writer
The pop/ rock/dance music band that defies
all of those labels performed before a
highly enthusiastic audience at the Satellite CU Saturday night: Greg Kihn.
"It was a good show, and'a good
audience, especially for Fresno," said
Steve Wright, the band's, bass player.
In the past, the band mixed songs from
their older albums (they have eight) in
concert, which was good for long-time
die-hard fans, but boring for the group
that joined the clan only after "The
Breakup Song"became a hit in 1981.
Saturday, ihe band concentrated on new
songs soon lo be released, and left the
chords to "Remember,*"*Desire Me,"and
'Roadrunner" back in Berkeley, where the
band originated.
Greg Kihn didn't come to disappoint.
He didn't ignore the audience, but neither
did he pander the way he did only a year or
two ago. He looked great, and played his
twelve-string guitar with energy and
enthusiasm.
■ Greg Kihn has got to be one of the mosi
underrated performers in the music business today. The band has been striving
Review
for fame since 1975, when Kihn released a
self-titled album full of quiet, contemplative songs. Kihn looks almost the same
now as then only he no longer has to work
at Rather Ripped Records in Berkeley,
where ihe cover photo was taken.
The band has added and subtracted
members since then, and never have they
been as tight as now. Onstage, they joked
and bantered with each other, and il
looked like they were pretty happy per-,
forming together.
Newest member and lead guitarist
Gregg Douglass-gives new meaning to the
term, "laid bock." All through the show,
and especially during his fluid guitar
solos, he looked in danger of nodding off.
A look of total peace comes over his face
and you wonder what he's thinking.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is
drummer Larry Lynch. Those who say
that James Brown is the hardest working
man in show business have obviously
never seen Lynch in action. Arms flailing
and mouth agape, he doesn't make the
drums look easy, but he sure makes them
sound great.
Wright, on bass and an occasional
synthesizecr, has a quiet personality onstage. He wcaved intricate bass lines,
sometimes keeping lime wilh his head. He
is so secure in his art that he sometimes
even turnes his back to the audience when
other bass players would only show off.
Bui a glance at the band's records shows
that Wright cowrote (with Kihn) both of
ihe band's biggest hits, "Tbe Breakup
Song." and "Jeopardy."
Then there* Gary Phillips. He walks
onstage, a cigarette dangling from his lips,
handcuffs dangling from his pants pocket.
Hell fill in on guitar for the first half of the
show, then walks over to the synthesizer
for "Happy Man," and finally swap
instruments with Wright for "The Breakup Song."What would the band sound
like without him? The Greg Kihn Band
did not gain nationwide attention until
after 1981. when Phillips started touring
with them.
Almost each year the band comet out
with an album full of songs that should
break them nationally. And every year,
they get more famous and more ambitious. Judging from their new songs, and
especially their single. '"Reunited," the
band's plans for a world lour supporting
the new album is definitely no t premat Lire.
•Sobel
Continued from Page 4
ica. and that's why 1 had to leave," he said.
In Los Angeles. Sobel has a job — as an
unemployed actor. He also does comedy
"showcases." for a lot of exposure and not
much money. He goes back to San Francisco on weekends sometimes to make
enough money to support his seemingly
gourmet appetite.
"I don't like the potato salad. I don't
like yellow potato salad. Bui I didn't come
here for the potato salad. I came here for a
burger, " he interjected.
Sobel was once called San Francisco's
fastest rising comedy star. Bui Sobel
admits that sometimes he wished it had
risen faster.
"I did havedreams, when I was 18 or 19.
to be discovered right then and there. And
all of a sudden I realize that I've been
doing this for four or five years and 1
should have my act together." he said.
"It's actually for real, and it's a craft. And
it's going to take a lot of hard work to get
to the end of my goals.
"I wouldn't want to think that I'm
gelling older and not progessing. Everything I've been doing has been leading
towards bettering my future. I believe
everything is going to go the way someone
planned it." he explained.
"I don't want lo think, 'Well, 1 might
end up in that 7-11 after all'...but I'd be the
manager!"
Sobel resists "typing" himself into a
certain character label. But if he were
writing his own resume...
"All comedians "look at the absurdities
of life." That's something you'll find on
_»__.-»___i,_>^__V_>^»___..__. _y_______ ___
'AMlWAsTA'wffe'Kl'OT..
AWARD  WINNING  FILM
'C-HIT.A:
limp Of MY fATttEH'
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FOLLOWING the MOVIE.
M0fl..VTA.C..5
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CSUrSAT-EUITE C01__C_ UNION
t".U ADMISSION
PRESENTED BY The CSUF Amerasia Club, the
Asian American Studies Program, Associated
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everyone's resume. But 1 do do that. I also
present a lot of comedy on some kind of
honest level that some people don't. I'm
doing a show, and yet I realize what's
going on, as opposed to making believe
I'm not doing the show. I'm doing it. You
know I know I'm doing it. Ill comment on
things that aren't going well, and have fun.
And I'm up here doing this to have fun."
he said. *
•1 used to be funny all the time before I
was a performer. But now that I am a
performer, it separates the serious lime
and the comedy lime a little bit more.
Although lamazanester. lama kookster
and a zanester."
With that, Sobel polishes off the apple
crisp with coffee ice cream. We leave in the
car that now has fifty more miles on it
than when we left the airport.
The comedian to do a show.
The reporter to take a nap.
•Week
Continued from Page 3
Chinese cultural program of music,
fashion, and exhibits will be presented by
the Chinese Overseas Students Association of CS U F. The show begins at noon
in the SCU.
Festival Night will begin at 7 p.m.
Saturday in the SCU. Traditionally a
community night, the program will feature
both traditional and contemporary cultural
performances from mem hers of the
Japanese. Filipino. Chinese, Hmong. and
Vietnamese communities.
The celebration is sponsored by Amerasia Club and Asian American Studies
Program, with the assistance of the
Associated Students" and the College
Union.. .
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