Newspaper Page Text
2 I Thursday, January 10, 2002 | The Red a Black
iThe Red & Black’s guide to the week in entertainment
► 40 WATT CLUB (549-7871)
• Thursday: “Dance Night” with Dace
Cowboys/The Baxter Street Boys. The Baxter
Street Boys are sort of a Backstreet Boys
cover band. Ha ha, not really. That might just
make me give suicide another thought.
• Friday: Left Front Tlre/Favorite/lnspection 12.
Left Front Tire has been getting tons of support
from 99X in Atlanta. I will leave it up to you if that
is a good or bad thing.
• Saturday: Lona/The Young Antiques.
• Monday: Slam Poet Alix Olson/Doria
Roberts/STB.
► ALLEN’S (543-8309)
• Friday: Tongue & Groove.
• Saturday: B.J. Bowen.
• Monday: Patrick Connell. This guy has had
a regular Monday spot since I have been
going here.
> ATHENS MUSIC FACTORY (353-8820)
• Thursday: DJ Piper.
• Friday: Heidi Hensley.
• Saturday: DJ KAS.
• Sunday: “Live Jazz" with Carlton Owens
Conspiracy.
• Monday: “Live Blues” with Lions From
Zion/Field Trip.
• Tuesday: “Hip Hop Showcase" with DJ
Wisdom/Dark Seed/UnderCats.
► BOAR’S HEAD (369-3040)
• Thursday: Nectarines.
> CALEDONIA LOUNGE (549-5577)
• Friday: Five-Eight/Penis Turner. This one is
way too easy. I think they wanted it to be that
way, so I won’t make fun of them. Insert your
own little comments here: .
• Saturday: Mathhead/Hollinsworth/Zum-Zum.
• Wednesday: In Larger/The Tandems/The
Carlsonics.
> DFS DOWN UNDER (543-9276)
• Thursday: F.F.S.
• Friday: Gunnison.
• Saturday: Adam Payne/Trey Boyer Band.
• Monday: “Singer-Songwriter Night” with
Justin Evans/Shance Johns/Nathan
Beaver/Will and Matt.
• Tuesday: “Open Mic Night.”
• Wednesday: Nathan Sheppard.
► ENGINE ROOM (353-3800)
• Thursday: Ashen/Money Bags Gram.
• Friday: 6X/Shamgod.
• Saturday: Annaray. This is a really great
band, with a real base in alternative from the
late ’80s sort of like the Pixies or Husker Du.
• Tuesday: Brillo/The Carlsonics.
> THE GEORGIA THEATRE (549-9918)
• Thursday: Zoso. Sort of like the new Coke
versus the original stuff. In some ways, it was
new and cool trying to update something
loved for such a long time. But in truth, it real
ly tasted like crap. This is Led Zeppelin cover
band doing their thing.
• Friday: Larry Keel Experience/Avalanche.
• Saturday: Kinchafoonee. How many vowels
can you fit into one word? I will give someone
a dollar if they can give me a word with no
vowels in it.
► NUQI’S SPACE (227-1515)
• Friday: Jet By Day/C’est Morale/The Kudzu
Wish. Jet By Day is another wonderful Athens
emo-band with distorted guitars and some
what meaningful lyrics.
> TASTY WORLD (543-0797)
• Thursday: Grand Fury/Real Nice
Time/Kristie Stremel. Go over to Page 6 and
read Leah Newman’s article on Ms. Stremel.
• Friday: The Fountains/Dodd Ferrelle & The
Tin Foil Stars. Big in Savannah, so I have
heard.
• Saturday: (5 p.m. - 9 p.m.) GUFF/Hunter-
Gatherer/Exit 86/The Mids. (9 p.m. - ???) Exit
Left/Main St. East. Before 9 p.m., Tasty World
is open to all ages.
• Monday: 3 O’clock Sandbox/Carrie
Nations/Dos Dodos. I used to love playing in
sandboxes. The only bad part was our cat
thought of another use for it, ewwww.
• Tuesday: Slackdaddy/Skychurch.
>- WILD WING CAFE (543-8309)
• Friday: Rollin’ In The Hay. I can’t do that,
because I am allergic to grass and hay. It
sort of stinks sometimes. This is an acoustic-
esque trio from the depths of Birmingham, Ala.
— Parker Davidson
The dynamic duo
47 of comedy and magic
comes to Athens
with a bag 0’ tricks & more
SPECIAL | The Red a Black
▲ Off stage, Penn and Teller voice their political views and devote
their time to various types of campaigns. On stage, they entertain
audiences with shows filled with humor and their own brand of
magic. This talented duo performs at the Classic Center tonight.
By KYLE WEHREND
kwehrend@randb.com
In the wake of Harry Potter and
The Lord of the Rings, Penn and
Teller have emerged from the smoke
to present their own brand of hocus-
pocus.
“We don’t do magic. We do tricks,”
Penn Jillette said, the “taller, louder
half” of the pair, in a phone interview
on Monday.
The didactic duo met in high
school, and they’ve been working
together ever since.
“I met Teller when I was about
18,” said Jillette. “So it’s been about
27 years since we first started work
ing together.”
Jillette had several myths to clari
fy about his unassuming comrade.
“ (Teller)’s not as loud as I am, but
he’s articulate,” Jillette said. “He’s
5-foot-10, so he’s not short. I’m
huge.”
While some kids dream of being a
magician at some point in their lives,
Jillette had different ideas.
“When I was growing up I liked
anything more than magic,” he said.
“You can name 10,000 people in
music but about 10 in magic. If you *
had a choice between running to win
in the real Olympics and the Special
Olympics, which would you choose?”
Penn and Teller arrive in the
Classic City with something old and
something new.
“We’ve never played Athens
before,” Jillette said. “We try to have
some really new stuff and some real
ly old stuff, too. We don’t want to
reinvent ourselves, so the stuff we’ve
done 20 years ago still means a lot to
us.”
Jillette seemed to show no con
cern about competition with big-
screen magic acts like Hany Potter.
“I don’t think there’s any reason
for adults to be into Harry Potter at
all,” he said.
Jillette likened Harry Potter to
the mindless entertainment of other
magicians cutting women in half and
making rabbits disappear.
“That’s what’s so funny about the
Christians attacking Harry Potter,”
he said. “It’s obvious he’s monkeying
in on their scam.”
As eclectic as his viewpoints,
Jillette’s musical tastes play an
important role in his life.
“I listen to a lot of bebop, 20th-
century classical, Bob Dylan, Lou
Reed, Blink 182, the Ramones,
Stravinsky,” he said. “I’m not much
of a pop guy.”
More than just two guys on a
stage, Penn and Teller go beyond the
realm of magic.
According to their Web site,
(www.sincity.com), the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology has bestowed its highest
honor on the pair by naming them
Visiting Scholars.
Outside of MIT, the two have also
given lectures at both the
Smithsonian Institute and Oxford
University and were named two of
the funniest people alive by
Entertainment Weekly, according to
(www.sincity.com).
Not bad for two guys whose acts
include pulling needles out of their
mouths and dressing up as a girl
who turns into a gorilla.
To Jillette, magic is more than
puffs of smoke and disappearing
rabbits.
“If you’re obsessed as I am with
truth, magic deals automatically
with truth,” he said. “You can really
address truth with magic. The other
magicians are taking magic and piss
ing it away. People are saying ‘If
these losers (Penn and Teller) are
changing my perception then maybe
I can too.’ This can then be applied
to religion and other ideas.”
Besides expanding the audiences’
minds, Penn and Teller campaign on
and offstage about the importance of
freedom of speech.
“We’re nuts for all sorts of free
dom stuff,” Jillette said. “Since
Sept. 11. It’s hard to keep freedoms.
I want freedom. Freedom or die.”
Jillette uses his talent for mixing
comedy with magic as a springboard
for his political views.
In a recent article he wrote for
Regulation magazine, Jillette voices
his frustration with campaign
finance reform, free speech and the
Federal Communications
Commission, after an appearance on
“Politically Incorrect with Bill
Maher.”
Jillette describes himself in the
article as a “Libertarian/atheist/free
speech wackjob.”
“Being a Libertarian, pro-free
dom, govems-least-govems-best,
free market advocate makes you as
bugnutty in the TV world as
Christopher Walken tangoing with
Dennis Hopper while Sinead
O’Connor plays finger cymbals,”
Jillette said in the article.
Yet even with his powerful opin
ions about politics, Jillette still
has to restrain his agenda in when
PENN & TELLER
When & Where: Tonight at 8
at the Classic Center
Tickets: $20-$40, and a $10 discount at
box office for students with a UGACard
For more information, call 357-4444.
appearing on television.
“Even I don’t say everything
that’s on my mind what with the
FCC (now run this by me again, how
is the FCC constitutional?) and the
usual network ‘let’s-keep-it-political-
ly-correct-even-though-it’s-
‘Politically Incorrect,’ ’ ” Jillette’s
article said.
Jillette gives advice to anyone try
ing to get their political voice heard
on network television.
“Well, ABC would give you the
time they give me in exchange for
$400,000,” Jillette said in his article.
“Ytip, 6 minutes of airtime during
‘Politically Incorrect’, at about 25
grand per 30-second spot, comes to
216 grand. But, too bad for you,
that’s 375 grand more than
you’re allowed to spend during
a campaign.”
Jillette cynically voices his
solution to this economical
impossibility.
“Leam to juggle,” Jillette’s article
said. “Then get a business partner
and start a magic show that’s funny.”
Jillette voices one final tidbit of
advice to “get your voice heard.”
“First, quit your job,” Jillette said
in his article. “Now, start juggling,
monkey-boy.”
MOVIES
> BEECHWOOD (546-1011)
• Ali (R) 2,5:30, 9 p.m. A stronger Will
Smith assumes the character of Ali in this
slow film that tries its best not to describe
how Ali’s religion changed his life. Instead,
the focus is on girls and fame. (D)
• A Beautiful Mind (PG-13) 1:30, 4:15, 7,
9:40 p.m. Russell Crowe should start
rehearsing his best actor acceptance
speech. (A)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
(PG) 1:45, 7p.m. If you haven’t seen it, the
question remains: Where have you been? (B+)
• Imposter (PG-13) 9:15 p.m. This movie,
originally intended as a 40-minute short film,
has all the cheesiness of a TV movie plus
Gary Sinise. (D)
• In the Bedroom (R) 1:35, 4:20, 7:05,
9:45 p.m. A heart-wrenching drama com
plete with tears, arguments and revenge.
Sissy Spacek should get a nod for her won
derful performance. (A)
• Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G) 1:05,
3:05, 5:05, 7:05 p.m. “Spy Kids’ is better.
(C)
• Joe Somebody (PG) 9:15 p.m. (ends
1/10) Tim Allen grunts and becomes a
macho man in order to feel better at some
one else’s expense. “Home Improvement,”
just 90 minutes long. (C)
• Kate and Leopold (PG-13) 4:50, 9:55
p.m. What if Hugh Jackman’s last name was
Jass? (B)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship
of the Ring (PG-13) 1:30, 5, 8:30 p.m.
Tolkien would be proud... because he’d be
raking in at least $20 million. (A)
• The Majestic (PG) 4, 9:55 p.m. (ends
1/10) Jim Carrey gets amnesia and maybe
he can forget he made a BAD movie. (D)
• The Man Who Wasn’t There (R) 2:20,
4:50, 7:20, 9:50 p.m. The Coen brothers
new dark film starring Billy Bob Thornton.
• Ocean’s Eleven(PG-13) 2:15,4:40, 7:15,
9:45 p.m. Already a classic casino heist film
and the actors, combined, made almost as
much as they stole. (A)
• Orange County (PG-13) 1:15, 3:15, 5:15,
7:25, 9:25p.m.
• The Royal Tenenbaums (R) 2:25, 4:45,
7:30, 9:50 p.m. A royal cast and a dry, dry
script with a great Gene Hackman perfor
mance and many humorous scenes. (A)
• Vanilla Sky (R) 1:40, 4:25, 7:10, 9:50 p.m.
> CARMINE 12 (354-0584)
•All (R) 5, 9:15p.m. (D)
• Gosford Park (R) 1:20,4:10, 7, 9:50 p.m.
(opens 1/11) Robert Altman’s highly praised
whodunnit? that’s a cross between MASH
and well, a mystery.
• How High (R) 2, 4:30, 7:20, 9:25p.m.
... do you have to be to go see this film?
• Imposter (PG-13) 9:25 p.m. Posing as a
feature film, this movie is a big mistake. (D)
• Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G) 1:55,
4:25, 7:15, 9:15 p.m. Go rent your kids
“Dumbo.” (C)
• Joe Somebody (PG) 1:15 p.m. He's still
a nobody. (C)
• Kate and Leopold (PG-13) 1:40, 4:15,
7:05, 9:40 p.m. Chick flick season is over.
(B)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship
of the Ring (PG-13) 1:30,2, 5, 5:30, 8:45,
9:15 p.m. (A)
• The Majestic (PG) 1:20,4:25, 7:30p.m.
• Monsters, Inc. (G) 1:50, 4:15, 7:15 p.m.
• Not Another Teen Movie (R) 5:15,
9:45 p.m. (ends 1/10) As a spoof, this film
is highly entertaining and full of small shout
outs to your favorite teen films. The plot
however is ripped-off, too, so don’t expect
anything too great. (B)
• Ocean’s Eleven (PG-13) 1:45, 4:25, 7:10,
9:45 p.m. Not only is there humor, action,
romance and some perfect casting, but
there’s a surprise ending that’ll please. (A)
• Orange County (PG-13) 1:45,4:20, 7:25,
9:35 p.m. Jack Black helps his brother get
into college when his great transcript is
swapped with an awful one.
• Vanilla Sky (R) 1:30, 4:15, 7, 9:45p.m.
They say open your eyes, open your eyes,
open your eyes, open your eyes, open your
eyes... but you’ll be better off closing them
if you go to this mixed-up mess.
> TATE STUDENT CENTER (542-5584)
• Thurs.: Heathers (R) 3,5:15, 7:30,
9:45 p.m. (opens 1/10, ends 1/10)
• Fri., Sat., Sun.: Mulholland Drive (R)
3, 6,9p.m. and midnight is FREE! FREE!
-Matthew Hunt
> RESTAURANT
The Food Is Our Reputation
Dine In 'Take Out • Cocktails Available
Banquet Rooms Available
ALL YOU CAN EAT
LUNCH BUFFET
Open 7 Days a Week
$6.95
(with FREE Soft Drink)
DINNER
COMBINATIONS
East Side Location:
549-0274 * 549-0773
1935 Barnett Shoals Road (Green Acres Shopping Center)
Major Credit Cards and checks accepted.
706-353-8478
BRIGHTON PARK
PRE-LEASING
’Spacious floorplans
*2&3 Bedroom
*On the Bus line
’Swimming pool
’Fitness facilities
Locally owned and managed for over 30 years.
Come see us at 575 Gaines School Road.
THURSDAY
Jumbo 16oz§ i re pa
MARGARITA 1.5(1
Duitc ALL NIGHT!
NTS 10pm-2am