Newspaper Page Text
December, /V79
Ampersand
19
|.ine Fonda. Nelson will also contribute
songs to the him.
The impromptu session at the K.l Inca
gives the rookie actor a chance to play for
hi* new friends and jam with the Salt l it k
Outlaws, an Austin band he has known for
years.
For Nelson, transition f rom music to
movies was somehow inevitable, and made
in its own time. After decades of kic king
and sc ratc hing, he has (at w hat might lx*
considered a ripe old age for such success)
made it big in the music world. And. it
seems, he has made the transition with in
ordinate ease and grace.
“I've always been a movie fan." Nelson
says, “ever since 1 was a kid and used to go
to the Saturday movies and watch the cow
boys." But why did Nelson wait until this
stage in his career to become an actor?
"Because no one ever asked me before,"
he deadpans. Actually, Nelson had previ
ously turned down several parts that didn't
interest him. “But this time," he states sim
ply, “it was Robert Redford who asked me.
Who can turn down Robert Redford?"
Not Willie Nelson. “It was mainly being
in a movie w ith Robci t that interested me.
It didn't matter what the movie was about.
I didn't care," he says, smiling.
The Electric Horseman, to lx* released at
Christmas, concerns itself with an aging
former rodeo champion (Redford) who
makes his living, such as it is, endorsing
breakfast cereal for a huge conglomerate.
He is drugged, drunk and buying time.
The company owns a $12 million race
horse which represents their logo, and at
their convention in I .as Vegas the cowboy
realizes that the horse is in pretty sorry
shape, too. In a moment of lucidity, he
steals the horse, rides it down off the stage
of Caesar's Palace and out through the
casino, and disappears into the I .as Vegas
night, pursued not long after by Jane
Fonda, playing an inquisitive television
newswoman (yes, again).
The film follows the f ugitive cowboy
across the breathtaking expanses of
southern Utah (around St. George and
/.ion National Park), as he slowly regains
his self-respect and those values which his
longtime friend and manager Wendell
(played by Nelson) calls "the best part of
himself ." Wendell is the sidekick and moral
support, making sure the cowboy is
dressed and ready for his personal ap
pearances, that he's conscious when he
needs to be, drunk when it’s time, and
happy when it's possible.
Bedford and Nelson have been f riends
for some time. They met at record pro
ducer Billy Sherrill's house in Nashville at
a time when the actor was setting up some
benefit concerts for the Consumer Action
Fund. Kventually Nelson played Washing
ton, D.C. for CAF and a summer concert at
Bedford's resort at Sundance, Utah.
Nelson isn't nervous about his acting. "I
felt like I knew what to do," he says. "1 fell
like I knew what ac ting was alxxit a little bit
because music is not that much different.
I he c ameras don't bother me." He has said
that memorizing dialogue is easier than
memorizing songs. On the set, he lakes di
rection from hillack in an open, almost in
genuous way.
Pollack, a former actor and a director
accomplished at coaxing superb perfor
mances from his players (The Wn IV? Were,
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, el al.) ap-
pieciates Nelson for his intelligence and
for his unaffected cooperativeness, hillack
gives hin a great deal of room, guiding
rather than pushing. I he director credits
1 Nelson with bringing the "same kind of
relaxed confidence he has on stage" to his
role* in The Electric Horseman.
"He's just wonderful," Pollack says en
thusiastically. "He doesn't complicate
things. He doesn't get in the way of his
part. He told me once that when vou sing
you say the words and sing the melody. He
approaches his role the same way. Willie
has a simple, concentrated elegance that is
truly unique." Pollack is a classic worrier,
but Nelson's easy attitude, quiet enthusi
asm and sense of calm relaxes everyone.
"I really didn't know what to expect of
films," says Nelson.‘so I was kind of open
for anything." What he found was an al
most languid pace."It’s been a lot different
from what I’ve been used to on the road,
doing one-nighters. This is really kind of a
vacation for me. I've enjoyed it very much.
I think I'd probably get restless if I had to
do this forever."
During Electric Horseman’s filming. Nel
son put finishing touches on an album of
Kris Kristofferson tunes which will lie re
leased after the first day of the year, and he
found time to go into the studio with Ijeon
Russell and record over MM) songs in six
days, a collection released as the double
album One for the Road. And how did Nel
son choose which tunes out of the 100 to
include in the album? "I let leon do it," he
says with characteristic aplomb. There is
also some work with Booker T. Jones
coming up, an album Nelson refers to as
Son of Stardust. Jones, formerly of the
Memphis pop-funk group Booker I and
the M.G.’s, pnxluced Nelson's Stardust I.P
just over a year ago. A Christmas album.
Pretty Hiper, was just released.
All these albums are squeezed lx*lween
expanding film commitments. Nelson is to
star in Honeysuckle Rose, which is about an
aging country singer. “That’s another one
that won’t take much acting,” he says
good-naturedly. “I could relate to that one
prettv gcxxi." Afterwards comes the much
talked-about produc tion of The Red-
Headed Stranger, which Universal will
finance through Bay Pony Prcxluctions, a
company set up bv Nelson and bis friends
(.ary Buses and Jan-Mu hael Vincent. Nel
son would like to see Robert Bedford play
the lead.
At the end of the film company's long
and diffic ult stay m St. (»enrge. Utah. Nel
son 'urns his final two days’ work into a
huge party. J .J. and the Salt Tick Outlaws
play h(x»kv from F.l Inca for a night and
diive north to join Nelson at the StTieorge
F.lks lodge for another rousing show.
Nelson's peers recently paid him a de
served tribute when the Country Music
Asscxiation voted him Filtertainer of the
Year. Io a broad segment of Americans,
Willie Nelson is an inspiration — a man
living his dreams. He appears gloriously
unafraid of his age, of his talent, of the
creative challenges he faces, of remaining
a kid and a fan.
“I don’t work for a living," he joshes.^
Katherine Orloff, author of Womrn in Rim k, oum\
a very large sheepdog named Chelsea and a very
small car named Honda.
Choosing the
Right Turntable
S ince most of the music reproduced
over a stereo system originates in the
grooves of phonograph records, it’s
important to choose a turntable system
wisely. If the tiny signals translated from
those wiggles in the disc’s grooves are dis
torted before they enter the electronics
system, there's nothing that amplifiers, re
ceivers or speakers can do to clean them
up
It has been said that all a turntable sys
tem has to do is spin discs at a constant
speed (33V% or 45 i pm) and allow the car
tridge, w ith its stylus or “needle,'' to trace
the wiggles in the record groove with pre-
cision. Sounds simple, but look at all the
types and models of turntable systems
available. Why are there so many claims
and counterclaims by so many manufac
turers, all of whom maintain that their way
of accomplishing these fundamental re
quirements is better than anyone eise's?
Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
While the last decade has witnessed the
popularization of direct-drive turntables,
there are still a good many makers of
turntables who insist that a belt-drive sys
tem is superior. The truth is that each sys
tem has advantages and disadvantages. In
a direcc-drive system, a slow-speed motor's
turning shaft is connected directly to the
turntable's center spindle. No linkages are
required between the motor and the plat
ter itself, so there are fewer lx*arings and
less friction to worry about. Direct-drive
motors are generally driven and con
trolled electronically, rather than by direct
connection to the AC power source.
Therefore, fluctuations in home voltage
have no effect upon speed of rotation,
which can often be adjusted by means of a
simple front panel control. Itie slow speed
of the direct-drive motor generally tesults
in less overall vibration which, translated
to audible terms, means less audible or
sub-sonic rumble emanating from your
loudspeakers.
On the other hand, a poorly designed
direct-drive motor may be subject to a
condition called "cogging,” in which the
motor revolves in discrete, pulsing motion
rather than in a smooth continuous man
ner. This type of cogging is translated to
increased wow-and-flutter, or wavering of
musical pitch in the reproduced music.
Recent studies have also shown that in all
but the best direct-drive turntable systems,
the same electronic circuits that control
speed accuracy can also cause the turnta
ble to "hunt" or rise above and fall below
precise speed.
The modern belt-drive system can also
be operated with a relatively slow-speed
motor which may also be electronically
controlled. The rubber-likc belt, if preci
sion made, tends to clamp out or absorb
any irregularities of rotation, imparting a
smooth and consistent rotation to the
turntable platter itself. Of course, not all
lx*lt-drive systems use such sophisticated
motors and one cannot deny the fact that
eventually the belt can wear out and have to
lie replaced. On the other hand, in a belt-
drive system the motor can easily be iso
lated mechanically from the turntable
platter itself , so that less of its inherent vib
ration is transmitted to the platter and
from there to the phono pickup.
The best way to dec ide, as in all hi-fi pur
chasing decisions, is by extensive listening
tests coupled with a reading of the relevant
technical specification — which, in this
case, would lie the rumble spec, quoted in
dB. The higher the number of dB, the
lower the rumble and noise.
Modern Tonearm Design
Recent trends in tonearm design have
been towards lower and lower mass with
out sacrificing rigidity or stiffness. The
so-called S-shaped tonearm, popular a few
years ago, has given way to more and more
straight tonearm designs.
Of course, any tonearm must be judged
in terms of the c artridge which is going to
he installed ill it. F.qiuppmg an ultra low-
mass tonearm with a bulky, heaw pickup
which has pcx>r compliance (inability for
its stylus to move w ith little force applied to
it) negates the advantages of the low mass
of the tonearm itself. It is the total effective
mass of the tonearm/cariridge combina
tion that determines the natural reso
nance f requency of the combination. If
that resonance falls too low, any rumble
components inherent in the turntable it
self will lie accentuated audibly. If it falls
too high, resonance can affec t low-bass
musical reproduction, causing sound col
oration. Ideally, the tonearm/cartridge re
sonance should fall somewhere between 8
Hz and about 12 Hz.
Are Record Changers Obsolete?
Turntables range from totally manually
operated systems (in which the tonearm
must be set down on the first groove and
removed af ter the record has been played)
to totally automatic multiple-plav changer
systems which will play six nr more records
in sequence. Most common among au
diophiles are machines that play only one
record at a time, and lift the tonearm au
tomatically. The myth about record chan
gers mishandling your precious discs is
true only if you are talking about low-fi,
cheap record players in the $29.95 to
$49.95 category. Since record changers
depend upon the tonearm initiating the
change cycle, most of them do require
cartridges that track at slightly heavier
downward forces than do single-play
machines, and that may lx* an important
consideration in terms of record wear.
Buying Tips
In chixising the right turntable for your
stereo system, never treat the cartridge as
an af terthought. Choose it (and listen to it)
at the same time that you buy the turnta
ble. Tap lightly on the base of the turnta
ble. while it is playing, to see how suscepti
ble the system is to mechanical jarring.
Turn up the music to Icxid levels to insure
against howling feedback. Keep the turn
table as far awav from vout speaker fixa
tions as possible to avoid tfiis form of feed
back. If possible, listen to the turntable
and cartridge combination bv connecting
them to the actual amplifier or receiver
and speakers with which they will ulti
mately be used. Phono cartridges, like
speakers, are electro-mechanical trans
ducers and, unlike the purely electronic
elements of your hi-fi system, are subject to
the greatest amount of variation from
mode! to model. In the last analysis, only
your ears can tell you which ones sound
best.
Lan Feldman