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■ BEST BET
6 » The Red and Black W—k«nd » Friday. October 23, 1992
A&E
This will probably be the last weekend for spectacular fall col
ors in the mountains, so do your best John Boy Walton imper
sonation, forget all about •Deliverance,' and get your butt up
to North Georgia.
Vigilantes play at Flagpole celebration
By BRAD MISIOW
Staff Writer
Everybody loves a good party, especially
the Vigilantes of Love. Tonight, they will be
headlining a joint birthday celebration of the
Flagpole and Beech wood Shopping Center.
But whatever the event, the Vigilantes'
folky style has been an Atlanta and Athens fa
vorite for years. They will play tonight at 8
p.m. Other performers joining the celebration
will be Blitzen, Nathan Sheppard, Marlee
MacLeod, and the Michael Guthrie Band.
For 37-year-old singer, songwriter and gui
tarist Bill Mallon£e, the Vigilantes of Love are
a creative outlet for his own folk-singer style.
“I don’t use traditional guitar tunings,"
Mallon6e said. "I got about six additional tun
ings I use. It sort of lets me do what I do. We’re
kind of folk with a poet-punk kind of feel."
Their latest album, “foiling Floor," was re
leased last March on the Boston-based
Fingerprint Records and was co-produced by
Mallon^e’s old buddy Peter Buck. The album
will be reissued next month and distributed
by Atlanta-based Sky Records. With a very
traditional feel of guitars and mandolins,
“Killing Floor” was highly acclaimed and was
a change from their basic past.
“We started out as an acoustic guitar and
an accordion. That was it," Mallon^e said.
“Then we added a stompboard and a harmon
ica. It worked for a long time. We stayed with
that configuration and played mainly at the
Downstairs from *90 to ’SI. Playing there
worked to our advantage. We got a really big
following and it helped us learn how to work
a real intimate crowd.
“Now the mandolin player has left the
hand, but we got a new guitar player, Newton
Carter, who has got a Keith Hichards/Richard
Thompson style - real melodic and yet real ag
gressive. It’s like 'Killing Floor* meets *Exile
on Main Street.’ I really like where the
sound’s going. It’s got that blood-and-oil kind
of feel to it. [This change! happened at a good
time. We’re playing bigger rooms now. Doing
that nice little folk thing is getting kind of lo6t
in the bigger rooms, and now we Y ve got some
bigger gear to make it happen."
The current lineup is Mallonte on guitar,
vocals and harmonica, Carter on guitar, David
Chalfant on bass, and Travis McNabb on
drums.
Being a folk singer, influenced by such au
thors as T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis and Thomas
Murt, the bespectacled Mallon^e has a lot to
say in his songs.
“There’s a lot of words," Mallonte said. “I’ve
always been more interested in a phrase well-
turned as opposed to a musical hook. That’s
why the vocals are mixed up-front We used a
lot of 1940s tube equipment in the recordings
to really get a warm sound on the vocals. And
Pete was real directive, too. He’s really a pro
and has a the ear for how to use acoustic in
struments."
The next step for the Vigilantes of Love is
to hit the road.
“We want to tour and go all over,” Mallon£e
said. “We want to get established in the region
and try to do something where we can have
home to come home to. Ithink that’s what ev
ery band wants. The first album, TDriving the
Nails’ did real well in the Midwest. But we
had an adversarial relationship with the old
label. They didn’t give us any tour support, to
tally demoralizing the whole band. But we’ll
get there yet.”
The Vigilantes of Love play at 8 tonight at
Beechwood Shopping Center. Admission is
free. And please don’t scare the shoppers.
There’s something dark in the woods ...
Screaming Trees at 40 Watt
By DAVID MONROE
Entertainment Editor
Seattle rockers Screaming Trees, cur
rently featured on the soundtrack of the
film “Singles" as well as an impressive al
bum of their own, will bring their brand
of guitar rock to the 40 Watt tonight.
The Trees - guitarist Gary Lee
Conner, bassist Van Conner, vocalist
Mark Lanegan and drummer Barrett
Martin - will be playing their second
show in Athens, this time supporting
their album “Sweet Oblivion." Two
bands, Luna and Wool, will open.
The Screaming Trees’ sound has been
lumped into the so-called “Seattle
sound," but theirs is a more subdued,
melodic version of the guitar-rock theme
than Nirvana and Mudhoney. That dif
ference is especially apparent on “Sweet
Oblivion."
Gary Lee Conner said the band didn’t
make a conscious decision to stress a soft
er sound on “Sweet Oblivion." As a gen
eral rule, he said, they do try to have a
“variety of instrumentation," sometimes
even including a Hammond organ with
the rumbling guitars, and they stress
“dynamics, not everything smash and
thrash and loud."
Conner said that with the national
media spotlight on Seattle now, the city’s
musicians still support each other.
“It’s not that competitive, not the peo
ple I know," he said. “Everyone thinks
what everyone else is doing is cool.
Whatever happens, happens."
In fact, Conner said, Nirvana has been
one of his favorite bands for the last four
or five years. He said his band also ap-
Gary Lee Connor
predates what Pearl Jam has done to
“clear the way" for other Seattle groups.
Of course, now that the Screaming
Trees are well-known, even walking
around Seattle is different, because they
know people will recognize them.
“If you go out to a show or a record
store, you’re asking for it," he said.
Conner said he believes he’s the only
band member who has seen “Singles,"
the movie about Seattle whose sound
track features the Screaming Trees song
“Nearly Lost You."
“[The movie] was OK," he said. “It was
entertaining. It wasn’t so much about the
Seattle rock scene; it was more of a love
story."
But the movie has brought attention
to the bands on its soundtrack album, in
cluding the Screaming Trees, Mudhoney,
Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.
And even though the movie hasn’t
done espenally well, the songs are still
out there on MTV and in the record
stores.
The soundtrack seems to have a life
of its own," Conner said.
Conner said the band’s influences
have changed since they began as a cov
er band in 1985. Early on, they followed
Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and Love. For
the last couple of years, they have been
listening to the Small Faces a lot.
And by the way, Conner said there’s
no strange story behind the band’s name.
“We just thought of it and stuck with
it," he said.
The Trees spent about six weeks in
New York in February and March
recording “Sweet Oblivion." For the pro
ject, they enlisted producer Don Fleming,
whom they had heard of when he was a
member of the band Gumball.
“Sweet Oblivion" is their second full-
length album for Epic Records, following
last year’s “Uncle Anesthesia." Before
that, they recorded three albums with
SST Records, home of legendary under
ground bands such as Htlsker Dil and
Black Flag.
Conner said there’s not necessarily
more pressure recording for a mqjor la
bel, although there is more money in
volved.
Conner said the Trees have filmed two
videos for MTV: one “grueling" one for
the “Uncle Anesthesia” song “Bed of
Roses” and one for “Nearly Lost You."
Next, they will film one for the ballad
“Dollar Bill.”
New Sci-fi Channel not necessarily for the ‘geek at heart’ only
By GRANT GOGGANS
Staff Writer
About a month old, the USA Network-
owned Sci-Fi Channel has done the one
thing I never thought it would do: impress
me.
There doesn’t really seem to be much de
mand for the station, especially considering
that TV and science fiction often seem to be
two incompatible fields. The majority of sci-
fi series that actually make it onto TV don’t
last very long. In January of this year, there
were a dozen such series under considera
tion by the networks, to try to steal “Star
Trek"* thunder. Only two, “Steel Justice"
and “Mann and Machine," have appeared,
and they’re both long gone now.
The Sci-Fi Channel is actually an inter
esting proposition, because it shows lots of
old sci-fi series, many of which haven’t had
a decent run in years. Many others, such as
“Space: 1999," turn up on small UHF chan
nels often, but with terrible prints. About 65
episodes are usually needed to properly syn
dicate a show in the first place, enough to fill
13 weeks of Monday-Friday screening. Few
sci-fi shows make it to 65 episodes, and I can
count on one hand the ones with 100 or more
(“Doctor Who," “Dark Shadows," “Voyage to
the Bottom of the Sea,” “Twilight Zone” and
The Avengers”). So how does the Sci-Fi
Channel plan to stay on the air when they’ll
run out of shows so quickly?
Well, the Sci-Fi Channel has an unspo
ken commitment to show practically every
thing they can, and there are literally hun
dreds of appropriate genre shows. At 10 p.m.
week nights, they have the “Sci-Fi Series
Collection,” which runs a lot of the short-
■ TV REVIEW
lived shows of the past. First up was Tie
Fantastic Journey" (10 episodes from 1977),
and then “Gemini Man," (seven episodes
from 1975, only five of which were ever
shown on the network!). Both shows are
lousy, while the currently running “Kolchak:
The Night Stalker” (1974) is brilliant.
This type of programming is a TV fan’s
dream because something so rare is actual
ly being seen again! Compare this to TBS,
which has been showing the same six shows
on weekday afternoons for 15 years and ig
noring hundreds of other archaeological cu
riosities that viewers might er\joy.
This channel also has some respect for
the shows they run. Most of them are shown
in the original transmission order
(“Battlestar Galactica” excepted). They
break into “Doctor Who" with commercials
(the BBC does not have them), but they do
it at decent places, and the screen does go
black for a minute so you can hit the mute
button before Kabrina Kincade’s psychic hot
line number comes on.
The commercials on this channel are re
ally appalling. Of course, anyone who has
watched the USA Network after 8 p.m.
knows about all the psychics, exercise gim
micks and sex lines. The Sci-Fi Channel is
full of them, too.’
Admittedly, this network shows a lot of
junk. After all, a good chunk of television is
worthless anyway. But there’s a good cross-
section of horror (Tales from the Darkside,”
“One Step Beyond" and “Night Gallery”),
pablum ("Lost in Space," “War of the
Worlds"), notable series that weren’t that
great (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Alien
Nation”), British impoits ("Doctor Who,”
“Space: 1999” and The Prisoner"), kids’
stuff (Transformers," “Return to the Planet
of the Apes," the animated “Star Trek") and
old cliffhanger serials ("Flash Gordon
Conquers the Universe,” "King of the Rocket
Men*). So there should be something for ev
eryone.
Most important of all, this channel does
not have some 30-year-old hyperactive fel
low in Klingon armor - who, to paraphrase
William Shatner, has never kissed a girl -
hosting the channel. So anyone who has
planned to avoid this network because sci-fi
is “geeky" (and much of it and its fandom is)
can watch in safety. It’s a good channel. Now
let’s have them put “Jason of Star
Command" on and about half the entertain
ment staff here will be very happy.
If you're from Moorehigh
and you get sick,
fall on your knees and pray
you die quick.
ATTENTION ALL BULLDOG FANS
’w •#
A new prescription for terror
r in> *
LARGO ENTERTAINMENT presents in association with JVC ENTERTAINMENT \ DARK HORSE
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A UNIVERSAL RELEASE
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COMING SOON TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU
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FOOT!
(ALL
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1992
JACKSONVILLE
70TH ANNUAL
GEORGIA/FLORIDA GAME
THE GREATER JACKSONVILLE
AGRICULTURAL FAIR
FAST RIDE! FAIR PRICE! FUN WEEKEND!
Ride the JTA (iator Bowl Shuttle
Saturday, October 31, 1992
Dedicated traffic lanes for the JTA Shuttle System will make the shuttle bus the easiest
and quiekest transportation to the Gator Bowl on game day.
Shuttle Buses will drop off passengers at the Gator Bow l's
northeast comer on Duval and Haines Streets.
MAKE YOUR PLANS EARLY TO ATTEND
THIS DOUBLE HEADER !
For Information Call 1-800-4-FUN-JAX
Locally call 630-0330
# » Q
ATTENTION ALL BULLDOG FANS