Other Press

January 28, 1986 Page 9

 

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-<Other EnTERTAINMENT——

~ Viet Nam

“PLATOON”

 

Reviewed by Jordan Acomba

 

If you haven’t heard of Platoon, it is a
movie about Viet Nam. Oliver Stone (Mid-
night Express), a Viet Nam veteran, made
this movie, which has been called the best
Viet Nam movie ever made. A movie about
this war should be judged by veterans, ex-
pecially if it claims to be a documentary. The
veterans seem to feel this movie is a good

For Real —

example of how Viet Nam really was.

Looking at Viet Nam from a 20 year olds
perspective, I can see the difference be-
tween Viet Nam and the two World Wars.
The major one is that Viet Nam was a loss.
From there it goes into the reasons why.

One reason is that the men, at least in this
platoon, were divided. The cause for this
was a Staff Sergeant who had no control
over his men. At one point, Sergeant Barnes
(Tom Berenger) is giving all of the strategic
orders while the Staff Sergeant listens. After
the meeting the Staff Sergeant remarks to
Barnes, “I think I should give the orders in

James won t be bhue for long

 

By Jordon Acomba

 

On undoubtedly the biggest night of 22
year old Colin James’ young musical career
he blew away a packed Town Pump on the
Ist of 2 dates. He plays what he calls blues.
But it is actually a mix of Rock-a-billy and
blues riffs, a combination that works well.

He started the show in a $500 suit singing
lyrics like, “I’m down to my last pair of
shoes and I don’t have no change of
clothes”. But at age 22 how can you expect a
successful musician to sing that song like
John Lee Hooker would have when he was
here for Expo. Mr. Hooker looked out of
place at Expo, Mr. James could have been
“Expo Jamie”.

Although his lyrics don’t suit the “blues”
image I had, he played the guitar with an
enthusiasm and skill I have not seen in a
long time. His band lacks a “blues”image,
but that is all they lack. ; E
In the near future, Mr. James will have

 

Douglas College News Service

 

The artists are among the best in British
Columbia, but  there’s something more
which makes the Noon at New West concert
series extremely appealling, says Douglas
College music coordinator Henry Waack.

“Performers like Ellen Silverman, Martin
Berinbaum and the Roy Reynolds Jazz Trio
are tremendous by _ themselves,” says
Waack, the person responsible for this pop-

 

“It’s definitely an_ exciting
program lined up this season...”

 

ular lunch time event. “But the added at-
traction is that each show is free.”

Eight times a semester the Noon at New
West series opens its doors to the New
Westminster community for the finest in
contemporary, classical and popular music.

Beginning on Thursday, January 29, the
series opens with Erik Ralske, the Vancou-
ver Symphony Orchestra’s principal french

horn player, alongside the noted pianist
and Douglas College instructor Ellen
Silverman.

The duet will play a Beethoven sonata,
and works of Robert Schumann, Eugen
Bozza and Michael Baker, a Vancouver
composer. :

Originally, Noon at New West was creat-
ed to give Douglas College students an op-
portunity to hear established local perform-
ers. Today, with the new 350 seat
performance theatre, Douglas College has
much more room to invite the community.

“It’s definitely an exciting program lined

attained the success of bands like The Fabu-
lous Thunderbirds and I can see him possib-
ly going further than that. With songs like
“Why'd You Lie?” (Which he does sing with
soul) and “Five Long Years” , he is well on his
way.

The band he plays with is no local group
of musicians thrown together to back up this
Winnipeg prodigy. That is a large compli-
ment considering how good Vancouver’s
local music scene is. the sax player was as
talented as James himself and the drum-
mer looked to be on the verge of insanity (a
good trait amongst drummers). The bassist
had the crowd screaming by the end of his
solo, and lastly the keyboard player (whom
no doubt is talented) could rarely be heard.

In conclusion, Colin James is a man with a
future, and it won’t get any easier for him to
cry the blues because success is going to
follow him wherever he goes. I highly rec-
ommend you catch Colin James and his
rock-a-billy blues when he plays around
town again.

A Little Lunch Music

up this season,” says Waack. "And often,
because the performers are playing to a
large group of students, we get to hear some
interesting anecdotes about the music.”

Performances are held on Thursdays at
12:30 pm. The February Sth performance in-
troduces the popular Roy Reynolds Jazz
Trio. The group will present a lively show of
contemporary jazz pieces with Reynolds on
saxophone, Oliver Gannon on guitar and
bassist Torbon Oxbol.

Reynolds, the principal of the group, is
well known in the Lower Mainland for his
work with many different jazz groups and
especially for his seven year stint with the
Stan Kenton Orchestra.

But for Waack, one of the more memora-
ble performances will be the return-of Jenni
Driscoll Holmes, a former Douglas College
student, to the New Westminster stage on
February 19.

This superb local soprano will perform a
program oof Henry’ Purcell, Brahms,
Menotti, Grandos and contemporary
French works, with piano accompaniment
by Waack.

“The interesting thing about this _per-
formance is that Jenni will be performing
several pieces which were specifically writ-
ten for her voice by composer Ramona
Luengen,” Waack says.

With five other concerts, including the
Douglas College Showcase concluding the
series, Waack says there will be lots to hear
on the stage this year.

All performances for Noon at New West
are presented in the main performance the-
atre on the north side, fourth floor of the
main Douglas College campus, 700 Royal
Avenue, just one block north of the
SkyTrain terminus station.

 

 

 

cna

 

front of the men”. This lack of leadership
forced the men to choose a leader from the

sergeants. Barnes was comparable to a
ruthless mercenary, while Elias (William
Defoe) was an experienced veteran with

compassion for his men and a good grip on
reality. Half of the men chose Barnes, the
others backed Elias. Both men realized there
could be only one leader, this caused con-
flict and eventually a physical battle be-
tween the two.

The fact that the platoon was split gave

the men a psychological enemy to deal with
within their ranks. This lack of leadership,
and the battle each man had to fight within
himself, gave the physical enemy, the Viet
Cong, an unfair advantage.

After all of this is revealed it is easier to see
why the war was lost and to understand the
toll it took on the men who came back.

This is an excellent movie that could teach
a lot of people many things about a war that
Americans would like to forget about. I
highly recomend it.

felon

Healistic

“CONTACT”
Carl Sagan
(Pocket Fiction)

 

Reviewed by Jeff House

 

Anybody who as ever watched television
has no doubt seen Carl Sagan, either his

popular science series, “Cosmos”, or in one |

of his ever-present interviews. His name
has become synonymous with easily under-
stood science. As a man of science, one
might consider him to be exactly the wrong
person to write fiction, by the same token,
he is precisely the type of person to write
science-fiction.

“Contact” is, as the name implies, a story
of contact with life outside of the Earth. On
par with notables such as Issac Asimov, he
writes within the bounds of human
thought, there are no laser guns, no faster-
than-light ships, no great leaps of imagina-
tion to be taken. It takes place in the near
future, with technology we all know, with
characters we can really visualize.

The characterization is fantastic and com-

Is

 

plete. Ellie Arroway, a gifted child, is de-
scribed from birth through her school days,
college, university and to her directorship at
a radio observatory. Every facet of her per-
sonality and that of the people around her is
superbly illustrated. Sagan is showing the
life of a scientist through the words of a sci-
entist.

This book was written for the college
crowd and older, with a lot of scientific
wording in it, this is not to say confusing, as
the explanations are lucid and adequate.
Reading this book will satisfy two urges, the.
urge to escape and the urge to learn.

- Crowded House, is a new band out of
Australia whose leader is actually Steve
Finn, an ex-member of Split-Enz, who
broke up because they failed to crack the
North American market. Crowded House
has a single called “Don’t Dream in Circles” .

- U2 is due to release their next album on
February 9th. It is rumored to be called “Sil-
ver and Bold”. It is, however, also rumored
that there may be a delay because of an acc-
ident in Bono’s (Paul Huston) family.

- SUGGESTION - Why not tum the Para-
mount theater into a Musical Revue theatre?

 

* 2nd Prize - $75.00
* 3rd Prize - $50.00

The contest is
open to all registe-
red Douglas College
students. Sub-
missions must be
typed, double spa-
ced, on a 60 stroke
line with author’s
name, phone number
and student number.
Submit to Rm. 1602
by March ist, 1987
¢/e Kirstin Shaw.

Winners will be
announced April
Sth, 1987 in the
Other Press.