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8 • The Red and Black Weekend • Friday, September 19. 1997
BIKE-TO
SCHOOL
SALE!
Save big on 97
close-out bikes!
Trek 800 $229 (was $289)
Trek 830 $299 (was $379)
Trek 930 $449 (was $499)
0
GTwry fishefi
Gary Fisher Tassajara
$350 (was $409)
Gary Fisher Aquila $509
(was $559)
GF Hoo Koo E Koo $650
(was $719)
Some closeouts
too low to list!!
All Bontragers on sale!
LEMOND
All road bikes on sale!
.V'
Helmets, locks, lights,
messenger bags &
saddle bags on sale!
Upgrade your bike with a
shock fork or V-brakes!
RockShox IndyC $160*
RockShox Indy XCS175*
RockShoxtJudy XC $335*
Manitou Pro $175*
Manitou Pro C $225*
Shimano LX V-Brakes $99 or
. XT V-Brakes $175, installed!
•Service Special!
Get your choice of free
stuff when you get a
Dixons Shop Tune-Up:
O water bottle & cage
• tube & patch kit
® map book & energy bar
$7 Value free! Tune-up is J30.
■Bring this coupon or just ask for special!
Gorninq£)cto6er 18 8. 19:
Captain Barnett's
■I A A *■■■ I I
& NORBA
open Mon-Sat 9-6
257 W. Broad Street
549-BIKE
‘L.A. Confidential’ is best film this year
By JOSH MASSEY
i Staff Writer
If there is any justice, people will cherish
“L.A. Confidential" as one of the smartest
films of the decade If there is any justice,
“L.A. Confidential" stars Kevin Spacey,
Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce will be
remembered come Oscar time. If there is
any justice, “L A. Confidential" will outgross
the largest of the mainstream box office
• titans But, as “L.A. Confidential” ponders
over its two-plus hours of grace — is there
such a thing as justice?
This superbly told tale of corruption in
the 1950s L.A.P.D. is as close to a perfect
movie as we’ve had this year, with charac
ters so full of blood, sweat and tears that we
know them inside-out by the time the end
Hush. Hudgens is a Grade-A slimeball, a
newspaperman who’ll sell a movie star mar
ijuana and then get Vincennes to bust him
an hour later for smoking it. But this das
tardly duo only scrapes the underbelly of
corruption that coasts through “L.A.
Confidential."
When a bloody pile of bodies, including
those of a former cop and a prostitute, is
found in a Los Angeles diner, the film’s pri
mary mystery begins. But then it seems to
end just as quickly.
A few ex-con black kids are slapped with
the crime and subsequently found guilty
until proven innocent. But two cops, whose
opinions of each other include the word
“bastard," begin to think that a little more
may be involved.
Bud White (Crowe) is a tough-as-nails
police officer. His badge, to him, is an
excuse to practice his method of
justice, justice found outside of a
courtroom. If White thinks a crim
inal is going to get away with
something, he has no
qualms about putting a
bullet in their back.
In contrast, Nick
Van Exley (Pearce) is
an old-school, by-
the-books detective.
Kevin Spacey
stars as the
sleazy Jack
Vincennes
credits roll.
In the golden age of “L.A.
Confidential," the L.A.P.D. is still a hero
ic force to reckon with, with a reputation
that shines as brightly as its badges.
The nation’s top TV show, “To Serve
and Protect," centers around the
department and the moral,
upright men at its core. Real-life •
cop Jack Vincennes (Kevin
Spacey at his sleazy best) is the
show’s supervisor, a seemingly
tireless detective who’s heralded
for his frequent busts of
Hollywood stars.
Vincennes, not so coinciden
tally, has close ties to Sid l
Hudgens (Danny DeVito), the '
slimy editor of the tabloid Hush-
MOVIE REVIEW
When he tells his boss (James Cromwell)
that he can’t and won’t take his justice out
side the law, Cromwell replies, “For the love
of God, don’t be a detective."
But the morality of the characters in
“L.A. Confidential" is not nearly as black
and white as it appears. White may be a fan
of brute force, but each of his decisions is
based on a moral logic. Crowe plays him
with masterful force, making him a guy
you’d want on your side but still wouldn’t
turn your back on.
Van Exley also isn’t the golden boy his
demeanor reflects. An incident early in the
film has him rat on fellow colleagues, solely
for the purpose of
job promotion.
This leaves the
rest of the
precinct, particularly
White, at odds with him
throughout the film. That kind of byplay,
the good guys fighting each other while the
bad guys run free, makes “L.A.
Confidential" the kind of classic that
rivals its closest comparison —
“Chinatown.”
The magic of “L.A. Confidential"
is its ability to have 10-plus major
characters, a thick story and amazing
detail, and then blend them all seamlessly.
The majority of the credit goes to director
Curtis Hanson, who shows astounding
finesse behind the camera, particularly
after his last two films, both stinkers —
“The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and “The
River Wild
In front of the camera, though, is one of
the best ensemble casts in years. Australia
natives Crowe and Pearce use their not-too-
familiar faces to create solid, unbiased char
acters a superstar couldn't have pulled off.
And Spacey, DeVito and Kim Basinger, as
White’s mysterious lover, are all magnifi
cent as well. Spacey in particular deserves a
second Oscar, if only for one scene in which
Van Exley asks him why he became a cop.
With a look so awkwardly painful and
sad, he quietly
replies, “I don’t
remember."
By-the-book
detective Ed
Exley is
played by
Guy Pearce
“LA. Confidential* (R) Kevin Spacey
heade a marvelous cast In the best
film of the year. Playing at AMC
Colonial 18. Opens next Friday In
Athens. Grade: A
Electricity lacking in
Magnet’s debut CD
Kilo demands love’ with
his new 'Organized Bass’
By BETH HAGGERTY
Staff Writer
Magnet’s positive and negative
charges on the band’s debut album
“Don’t Be A Penguin" are attractive,
yet uneventful.
The sing-song style of vocalist
Mark Goodman combined with the
simplistic drumming of ex-Velvet
Underground drummer Moe Tucker
result in a kitschy playlist of pop
rock.
However, the appeal lies in the
Velvet Underground and “Dead
Letter Office” era R.E.M. resem
blances.
Incidentally, there were two VU
covers on that R.E.M. album: “Pale
Blue Eyes," and “Femme Fatale."
The similarity to the musical leg
ends could lie with Tucker, but the
differences definitely find their way
to the vocal personnel.
Goodman sings like an underaged
pop star, drunk on life and without a
care in the world. He sounds like
Greenday’s Billie Joe would if he
were raised on Barry Manilow and
Neil Diamond.
Goodman shares the guitarist role
with Dan Brenner. Together, they
produce such jangly guitar melodies,
you’d imagine surf god Dick Dale was
waiting in the wings, particularly in
“Not My World.”
The song drifts from surf to
lounge as Goodman sings, “You can
be who you want to be / Every day of
the week / I hope you find your
dreams / Every time you speak.”
Most of the lyrics on the album
are as simple as the above-men
tioned. At times, you get the impres
sion that you’re listening to a muppet
movie soundtrack.
In “Summer and Winter," Tucker
and Goodman trade off lyrics and fall
just short of a pop version of “The
Rainbow Connection."
A number of the songs on the
album have the making of VUs hit
“Femme Fatale.” Even so, listeners
won’t mind hearing similar sounds,
because it was a good song to emu
late
On the other hand, the bulk of the
album leans toward dull.
Even so. Magnet somehow man
ages to pull off a pleasant, laid back
album.
New CD marks
beginning of a
mature career
By ARVELL POE
Staff Writer
You either love him or hate
him, but Kilo Ali is back and
better than ever with a brand
new bass CD.
Coming off the success of his
last album, “Let’s Get This
Party Started," which features
the hits “White Horse” and
“Nasty Dancer," Kilo Ali’s new
album, “Organized Bass,” is far
superior.
“Organized Bass" marks a
new, more mature beginning for
Kilo’s career.
First of all, he has left
Ichiban Records and teams up
with the Atlanta-based produc
ers Organized Noize, the crew
behind OutKast’s tight beats
and production.
It is safe to say that the CD is
destined to have top-quality pro
duction, and you better believe
that Kilo produces some tight
lyrics.
This album is full of booty
shakin’, head noddin’, and
Bankhead bouncin’ tracks.
The first single from the CD
is “Show Me Love", a fast-paced,
upbeat track that has Kilo
telling all of his competition to
bow down like the Westside
Connection and show him love
because he’s back and phatter
than ever.
“Lost Y’all Mind," Kilo’s sec
ond bomb cut, is produced by DJ
Taz (“That’s Right”), and it is
straight fire.
If you listen closely to the
lyrics, you can hear Kilo preach
ing about everyone’s lack of
faith in the Lord and the evils of
drugs, sex and materialism.
In the final chorus. Kilo raps,
“Money and clothes, Beamers
and Vogues, I’d rather go to
heaven than any of those."
Kilo continues to extol the
praises of the Lord in “Save Me,"
another danceable track that
contains samples from “Planet
Rock" and is sung like “Wade in
the Water.”
After he finishes preaching,
he contradicts himself with two
of the CD’s best tracks, “Baby,
Baby" and “Love In Ya Mouth,"
which is all about the pleasures
of sex.
“Baby, Baby," a current club
and radio favorite, is hot It has
a uniquely, eerie, aural effect, as
if it were recorded underwater.
"Love In Ya Mouth" is oddly
self-explanatory, but is much
better than Akineleye’s “Put It
In Ya Mouth."
Think of “Love” as a slow
groove with bass. It’s smooth,
retains Kilo’s humor and wit
and is blessed with OutKast'f
own. Big Boi's vocal talents.
It's too good to be edited for
radio play, so for those who may
have heard the song, yes, it’s the
one with the verse, “I didn’t feel
her teefees, I only felt her
tongue!”
Kilo Ali’s Organized Bass is e
top-notc h bass CD worth check
ing out.
STIVE CAMP
CONCERT CRUSADE
Sunday, September 21 • 6:00 p.m.
Beech Haven Baptist Church
2390 W. Broad St. • Athens, GA 30606-3450
Free Admission • Love Offering to be received.
For More Information, Call: 706-548-2246
l
i
^eee©^)
0 Football
Sunday Ticket
and
College Ticket
on Saturdays
6 Satellites, 20 TVs
Great Food
Full Bar
DAFFY D’S
546-1114
Comet ol le»mgton l?d and
Gaines School Rd __
^i© O O O^)
I
I
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I
m
•OUNSELING,
D
& TESTING CENTE
BEYOND TOLERANCE: BEING LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL
This is a group designed for lesbian, gay, and bisexual students.
The purpose o! this group is to provide a safe place for students to
explore and discuss a variety of personal matters such as relation
ship issues, family concerns, coming-out, and other concerns.
CALL 542-3183 TO SCHEDULE A PRE-GROUP INTERVIEW.
' l'l Z 1 £ & J 3 U f il i i &
cJoily specials
60 oz. Beer Pitchers
Miclii'lob Ufiht liudweiscr $2.75
Itud Ufiltl Miller Idle {deg $4 25)
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