1992_03 Insight March 1992

              "
•
Smile Fresno,
you're on MTV
9
-»-*»_espite the fact that The Four
I 3 Horsemen had been
awake nearly 48 hours shooting
footage for their latest video,
Tired Wings", they gave the
audience at the Cadillac Club a
full-energy show Friday, March
20.
The five-man band may have
been playing more for the
camera than for the crowd
when two band members threw
themselves into the audience,
one almost losing his guitar.
There is a good possibility
that footage shot at the Cadillac
Club, along with other spots in
Fresno such as Sunnyside
Drive-in Theater, will be in the
new video.
The Fresno audience did a good
Job making concert footage: gathering around the stage, chanting
the band's name, going crazy when
the band played their hit song,
"Rockin' Is Ma Business" and
jumping on stage only to get tossed
off and out by security.
Decked out in an unbuttoned
white blouse that exposed his
naval, with a small tattoo on
his chest and a couple of big
crosses on chains around his
neck, lead singer Frank Stan-
held the key to craziness.
The crowd was at its wildest
when he cursed at them between
songs. When crazed fans started
throwing themselves on stage,
Starr reminded them, "This to expensive s—. F— it up and get a
microphone stand up your a—."
Starr, the crowd pleaser of
the show, reached out to touch
audience members often,
occasionally blocking the
spotlight's glare with his hand
to check out a scantily clad girl.
Dimwit, the drummer and
oldest member of the band at
34, described Starr as "your archetypal womanizing, loony
idiot—everything a rock singer
should be." Dimwit was the
most memorable looking
character in the band with his
messy brown hair and big hillbilly beard with no mustache.
No one listening to his high
energy drum pounding would
have known that Dimwit was
busy throwing up in between
songs due to the flu.
Rhythm guitarist Haggis,
with his full-arm tattoos and a
smile that exposed a shiny gold
tooth, spoke charmingly in his
British accent. The youngest
member at 24, Haggis formerly
played with The Cult and put
together The Four Horsemen
in 1989.
Though he was not sure if
this show was sold out (it was).
The brothera Castillo show off the latest mambo moves.
'Mambo Kings1
Assante is tops
By Thomas A. Bom
Staff Writer
Handsome Cuban men in
ruffled sleeves, staccato
Latin jazz, dancing to the beat of the
timbales-'The Mambo Kings" will
have you singing Latin love songs
and dancing in your seat.
Based on Oscar Hijuelos's
Pulitzer prize winning novel, "The
Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love,"
the on-screen adventures of trie
Casri llo brothers takes the audience
on a wild ride through the early
50*s, when New York didn't sleep
and everybody dreamed of becoming a star musician.
The Castillobrothers come to the
Big Apple when their contract at
one of Cuba'shottest clubs runsout.
Cesar Castillo spits on the club
owner's wife.Theowner hires goons
to do a rumba on his face. Contract
over.
SoCesar (Arrnand Assante) and
Nestor( Antonio Banderas) take their
mambo sound to the clubs of New
York'to seek fame and fortune. After a dinner with Cuban relatives,
the two decide to head over to The
Palladium to check out the scene.
Oh, maybe I should say take over
the scene.
After the hot- blooded Cesar has
a couple shots of rum, he decides
that he wants to rush the stage to
play with the legendary drum
master, Tito Puente. He battles
I\jente in a timbale drum war, captivating theaudiencc with hischarm
and drum chops. This turns Cesar
into an instant star, and he and his
brother become a coveted mambo
commodity.
A promoter gets a hold of them
and The Mambo Kings are bom.
The twel ve-pieceband becomes the
talk of the town, but like most of the
movies about musicians, their sudden stardom leads to their downfall.
Assante is perfect for this role,
and his presence on screen takes
over and leaves theother characters
in the movie limp and lifeless.
Banderas shows a lot of promise
at the beginning of the flick, but his
character never gets past yearning
for the lost love he left back home.
Assante's character, Cesar, deli versanOscar-caliber performance
that in itself makes The Mambo
Kings" worth seeing. This
muchacho sings, he dances, he
plays thedrumsand piano. Assante
injects so much energy into this role
he makes you sweat
Oh yeah, Desi Amez Jr., who
appears briefly playing his father,
may annoy you; but, I hate to say
this, his father was annoying too.
All in all, the movie to worth
seeing. Assantegivesa memorable .
performance, filled with zest
Don't forget your maracas.
The Four Horsemen rocked the Cadillac Club Thursday. Far>3 appreciated the fine art ot their uninhibited behavior.
he said, "It sold out enough for
me." Haggis said the band will
definitely come back to Fresno.
When asked if The Four
Horsemen always sell out,
Haggis told a story about one
night when 1,600 people came.
The next night only six people
showed up. These six people
lined up in front of the stage
and shouted out songs they
wanted to hear, he said.
The band has played every
small town in the world, including "Bum F— Iowa," said
Haggis. Two days before their
appearance in Fresno, they
played Turlock.
The band's style, something
between AC/DC and the
Georgia Satellites, is pure,
honest, bluesy rock-n-roll.
Nothing fancy. The same is true
for their performance. There is
no fancy light show, no
fireworks, no special effects —
just five guys playing and
singing their hearts out.
"If you listen to our music,
it's some of the most illogical
stuff you'll ever hear. But it's
real. And I think it will stand
by critics and fans who will
forget about pink guitars and
hairspray and say, 'Hey, this is a
good record,'" Haggis said.
The band members seemed
fairly tame, contrary to the reputation given in their biography under the title, "Phenomenal Feats
and Fascinating Facts."
Bassist Ben was hired by the
band partly because he could drink
more beer than anyone else they
auditioned. Dave, lead guitarist.
Whitman faces west
By Thomas A. Born
Staff Writer
memorable.
"Peterson will give the conference more of a
performance aspect instead of just poetry read-
W alt Whitman scholars and fans will be sing lngsanddiscussion.Thlswillgivethepartidpants
ing "the body electric" this coming weekend a more dramatic impact into Whitman's work,"
at a conference hosted by the School of Arts and Loving »»<•• "H*** performance will have a dra
Hurrianitiesonthecentennialof the American poet's matic ■mP*«:t °n *he participants, he said
death.
The weekend conference
opens this Friday, March 20 at 2
p.m. and will conclude after a
luncheon on Sunday March 22.
Performances by a Whitman impersonator will highlight the
weekend, along with discussions
andreadingsofsomeofthepoefs
most famous work.
"Walt Whitman Facing West"
will feature 21 Whitman scholars
and educators from all over the
world at a conference that hopes
to attract 100 participants.
"We would like to reach as
many people as possible. The
conference is designed to broaden
people's interest in Whitman's
poetry," said Carol Zapata
Whelan, conference co-director.
The symposium was made
possible by a $10,000 grant from the California
Council for the Humanities. The original grant
proposal was authored by conference director
Jerome Loving, acting director of the CSUF University Press.
This is the one of the premiere conferences in
the nation on Whitman and participants will hear
from some of the brightest poetry scholars in the
world," Loving said.
Impressionist Carrol Peterson will present "Walt
Whitman Live and in Person" throughout the
weekend. Loving says the live performance willbe
Agenda topics also include
discussion of the poet's sexual
themes and an examination of
Whitman's alleged homosexuality.
"During his lifetime he was
known to have close personal
friendships with a number of men,
but nobody has ever proved that
he was homosexual. Many of his
writings center around the area of
male friendship and many scholars believe these writings have a
theme of homosexuality," said
Loving, an author of several books
about Whitman.
Whelan calls Whitman a "very
controversial American poet" tha t
will surely inspire debates.
Whitman, a 19th century poet,
May, 1819; died March,1892.  journalist and essayist, is considered the father of modern verse.
His most famous work, "Leaves of Grass," is one
of the most studied works of American literature,
Loving said. Whitman is also known for his
volunteer nursing work during the Civil War,
on which a portion of his poetry is based.
The conference requires a $25 registration fee
that will cover activities, luncheons and refreshments throughout the weekend. One unit of
extension credit is available for a $33 dollar fee.
Students can attend any of the free activities.
For more information on registration and activities call the University Press office at 278-7082.
Walt    Whitman:    born
Calendar
Wednesday
Break the Silence Mural Project and Artist Network. Miranda Bergman, founding member and
artist, will present a slide show and lecture about
theorMrtization'scontrovcrsial work towards peace
in the^iiddle East as part of Women's Herstory
Month. 4-6 pjn. Engineering East, room 191.
Swiss pianist Andreas Haeflinger will perform
in the Wahlberg Recital Hall at8 p.m. Admission to
$3 students and $6 general.
Thursday
USU Producoonsdouble feature. "WillieWonka
and the Chocolate Factor/' with "Manhattan'* at
7-30pjn.lntheSateHiteShjdentUnion. Admission
to $2 students and $3 general.
Friday
Musical Instruments from the collection of Dr.
Edward Cherntos wilt be on display In the
President's Gallery, Thomas Administration
Building until March 30.
i
Saturday
American and Irish Music and Dance featuring
Kenny Hall and the Long Haul Stringband and
Kevin Hall Irish Dancers in the Satellite Student
Union at 8 p.m.
Monday
University Lecture Series presents Maxine Hong
Wrigston,Talk-StoryandMythteReality,-at noon
in the Satellite Student Union. Admission to free.
Faculty Piano Recital: Andreas Were will perform in the Satellite Student Union at 7:30 pjn.
Admiss»onto$5 students and $8 general.
Tuesday
"Adam's World* An ecofemintot film that
examines the role of patriarchy In humans' care
and treatment of earth. 3-5 pjn. in the University
Student Union, room 311.
To have campus
the calendar call, La
related activities listed within
278-2892.
once arranged for someone to steal
his car along with his gear so his
record company would buy him a
new guitar. Starr took the top off
his Chevy Nova with a chainsaw
because "he wanted some fresh
air."
"Ifs a terrible biography of the
band, but if s all true," Haggis said.
Haggis admitted that much of
The Four Horsemen's reputation
is built on crazy stories. But, he
said, "At the end of the day, ifs the
songs tha t count, whether you play
themon a tennis racquet ora tuba."
Education
stressed
by writers
By Heather Crookshanks
Staff Writer
Joining the American main
stream and getting an education were stressed as indispensable by three Southeast-Asian
writers who spoke, March 3, i n the
Henry Madden Library. During
the meeting, students gathered to
hear Dave Mas Masumoto,
Katsuyo Howard and Mee Her
speak of theirexperiences as Asian-
Americans and writers.
"I write to find the voice," said
Masumoto, author of "Country
Voices," which illustrates the
problems of Japanese-Americans.
Beginning in May, the Fresno
Metropolitan Museum will feature
two extensive exhibits in conjunction with "Country Voices." The
exhibits will run through November.
Masumoto said the exhibits will
provide a glimpse into the lives of
those who make up the valley's
Japanese-American farm community.
Mee Her, a recent CSUF graduate and Hmong writer, described
her relationship with writing as
therapeutic but challenging.
"Hmong history gets ignored
here," Her said. "I want to provide
an image of my culture that promotes integration and dispels
Hmong stereotypes."
Hot's family escaped from Laos
15 years ago, where her father was
a highly respected medical practitioner. After coming to America,
the Hers' situation changed.
"I had to watch my father support my mom and 13 brothers and
sisters on a janitor's wages," Her
said. "His pride was gone."
Many of Her's family members
think she is too outspoken. But
Her admits she doesn't write to
boost her ego.
"1 write to preserve our experiences and have that on paper."
Her said.
A few of Her's stories, which
describe the confusion she feltas a
9-year-old suddenly uprooted
from her home in Laos, appear in
"Passages," compiled by Katsuyo
Howard.       ,.
Howard, an CSUF instructor,
started listening to the experiences
of valley Laos, Cambodian,
Hmong and Vietnamese students
in 1986. Their stories make up
Howard's book "Passages."
"Passages" will be performed
at CSUF on June 6,7 and 8.
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