Poughkeepsie Journal from Poughkeepsie, New York • Page 1C

Tuesday, July 23, 1987 Focus Poughkeepsle Journal 1C i a Film version of Viet vet's book due out in '88 By Mark Cnrnntte Gannett Ncwi Service The story of a paralyzed Vietnam War veteran named Ron Kovic, told in his book "Born on the Fourth of July, finally will be told on film. More than $100,000 has been raised privately by Los Angeles film maker Loretta Smith to produce a documentary. "It will be finished by Jan. 20, 1988," Smith says. "That is the 20th anniversary of Ron's being wounded." Rock singers Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne have contributed, Smith says, as have Jane Fonda and Tom Hay den.

The book published by McGraw Hill in 1976 received immediate attention. Actor Al Pacino approached a studio about portraying Kovic, Smith says. Oliver Stone, who would later write and direct "Platoon," wrote the screenplay. Filming was to begin July 8, 1978, but the project was canceled because of lack of money. But the story continued to be popular.

More than 250,000 copies are in circulation. Jane Fonda has said the book inspired her performance in the film "Coming Home." Bruce Springsteen, who has dedicated concert songs to Kovic, has said "Born in the U.S.A." was influenced by Kovic tale. And Kovic hopes to go behind the Iron Curtain to give a public reading. There, the book has been used as a text" in the Moscow public schools since 1978, says Smith. Kovic is aware that "Born on the Fourth of July" might be used as American material, but he likes to think "they are using it for peaceful purposes.

I hope it is used not only as a condemnation of the Vietnam War, but of all wars including the Soviet's own war in Afghanistan." Before Kovic returned to the United States in 1968, he was told his biggest battle was just beginning. "Most of your learning will be done alone," a priest in Da Nang told him. "No one will want to hear what you're going through." Kovic spent the next eight years in and out of Veterans Administration hospitals. living on the road, learning, coming home from a war that paralyzed him from mid chest down. "Born on the Fourth of July" was published in 1976 by McGraw Hill the horror of the Vietnam War in the lap of a nation.

"I was a voice in a dark wilderness Kovic says, from his rented home in Redondo Beach, Calif. "I wanted people to to the Vietnam veteran long before it was chic to address the issue." Since Kovic wrote his book, Vietnam veterans have received increased attention. A memorial to the war's U.S. casualties was built in Washington. Welcome home parades have been held in major cities 10 years after the war ended.

But Kovic sees the United States drifting to war again in Central America. comparisons to Vietnam are frightening," the former U.S. Marine sergeant said. "It's like the government hasnt learned." Hospitalized to have a catheter inserted into his failing bladder this past year, Kovic says that overcrowded and understaffed conditions in Veterans Administration facilities have not improved. "Every day, I live with the war like millions of others," Kovic says.

"I have night mares. Then I drag my body out of bed and into my wheelchair. I'm in the 20th year of my disability. Never a day will pass when I won't feel the weight of the war. "I will never stop speaking about the immorality of Vietnam.

I was a soldier of war, now I'm a soldier of peace." "For me it began in 1946 when I was born on the Fourth of July. Every birthday after that was something the whole country celebrated. It was a proud day to be born on," Kovic wrote. "I want people to remember that war Is not John Wayne and Rambo movies. John Wayne glamorized war in my generation.

I was fooled. Rambo is romanticizing war in this generation. War is a painful, terrifying ordeal. I want kids to see I want kids to read my book. I want them to talk to Vietnam veterans.

I want them to question authority." He first visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1985. "As I wheeled myself down deeper into the memorial, I felt the vastness of the tragedy," he says. "I saw every name on the wall and knew it could have been me." Kovic believes those who died in the war are not heroes. Nor are the more than 300,000 U. S.

wounded. "These dead are everyday people. They were from Long Island, the Midwest and California. They were the kids in your neighborhood, your paper boy, your little league teammate, the kid on the block." Kovic imagines the victims listed on the wall talking to him. "They would say that they're not heroes.

They would say they died too soon, that they were, cheated, that they are being used to promote another war, They would say that they were manipulated by slick politicians and wealthy business people. "There should be an extension to the Wall that reads, 'Never That's all we can give these dead people," Such a stance can bring critics, some who call him a "Commie lover," "I tell them that I was born on the Fourth of July, that I love my country, that I paid dearly for the right to speak my mind. If anyone has a right to speak, I do. I gave my country my body. I am trapped in a dead body.

What about you? "We have to practice truth or we'll repeat the mistakes of the past." POCO: All systems go BBFuErf aBBBBBBBBBmjJaBBaBBBBBBiaBBBBBljBBBBBmlBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB Minf.Ytlfl jr, Vbbbbw Jack Sundrud. left. Paul Cotton and Rusty Young will be on stage at The Chance tonight as Poco plays the Poughkeepsie club Things may finally be pickin up for legendary country rock band By Anthony DcBarros Journal stall Nashville life is a bit slower than among the metal and concrete 'of downtown Los Angeles, but Poco guitarist Rusty Young likes it anyway. "I've made the complete turn from from teen age rock 'n' roll rebel to a guy who mows his lawn with a baseball cap and no "shirt," he says, letting out a quick chuckle. "Now I drive a station wagon with wood paneling and wear Reeboks." Young spoke Tuesday from his Nashville home, talking about Poco's flirtation with country rock, its current lack of a record deal and its impending visit to Poughkeepsie.

Poco plays The Chance tonight at 9 with guests Larry Hoppen and Bob Lein bach of Orleans opening the show. "Well, we're talking to labels now," says Young, who entered Poco in 1968, joining long since departed members Richie Fu ray, Jim Messina and Randy Meisner. "We moved to Nashville in 1985 to do country rock more of a country format I have doubts about it now. Two years ago, Dan Fogelberg put out a country album, so did Neil Young, and James Taylor was singing with Ricky Skaggs. People were talking about a big country rebirth, but that's as far as they got" But wasn't Poco a country tinged rock' outfit in the first place? Sure.

In fact quite a few of today's country rock leaders have done quite well by lifting a bit of the acoustic guitars and shimmering harmonies that trademarked the Poco sound. For Poco, though, the '80s haven't been as fruitful. POCO Time; 9 p.m. Date: Tonight Place: "The Chance, 6 Crannell St, Poughkeepsie Opening act Lance Hoppen and Bob Leimbach of Orleans Ticket prices: Reserved seats, general admission, $12.50 For more information: Call The Chance, 452 1233, The band's last big success was its platinum 1978 "Legend" LP, which yielded two hit singles in "Heart of the Night" and "Crazy Love." Its 1980 album, "Under the Gun," fared almost as well. In 1982, however, Poco moved from ABC to Atlantic Records and released "Ghost Town" in 1982 and "Inamorata" in 1985, two criticallycritically acclaimed albums that fell short commercially.

Poco began in 1968 with Furay, an original member of Buffalo Springfield, Messina, Young, Meisner and George Grantham. Meisner left in 1970 to join The Eagles, a band whose sound has often resembled Poco's (or is it the other way around), and was replaced with Timothy B. Schxnit, who also defected to The Eagles in later years. Messina quit later in 1970 to hook up with Kenny Loggins, and current Poco guitarist and vocalist Paul Cotton took his spot Furay left in 1973 and Schmit in 1976, leaving the bones of the current lineup: Young, Cotton, bassist Jack Sundrud and drummer Steve Chapman. About the prospect of landing a record deal and producing another album, Young says: "I'm not sure it would be too different than ('Legend').

That album had some great songs on it, it was so well recorded, it still sounds great What I would hope for is that we could make a record that good again." The band has been quietly writing songs and working on demos in Nashville, most recently with Tim DuBois, who produced the latest Restless Heart album. "Paul and I have written a lot of songs," says Young. "We have some great material that I would love to put out on a record." The band just started a string of summer dates, and Young said he is extremely happy about the band's performance. "When we played L.A., all our old friends came out, and everyone said they thought it was the best show we've done," Young says. "Jimmy (Messina) came out and played, and Richie (Furay) wants to go out and do some shows.

We're talking about going out in the fall, bringing Richie and even Randy (Meisner) and some of our buddies, put together a package and go out and play." Meanwhile, Nashville offers plenty of session opportunities, and Young has spent some time in studios there working with country artists like Vince Gill and Pam Tillis, daughter of singer Mel Tillis. And enjoying home life. "I've got this 150 year old cabin. It's just unbelievable, something you could never own inLosAngeles' hejsaysTmJooking out the window, there's five acres with a stream and a barn. My house is just a stone's throw away." A bit closer than superstardom, but they say there's no place like it It's SO good to have the old Volks at home By Clarence Petersen Chicago Tribune At 10:10 a.m.

last Tuesday, Albert Klein of Pasadena, watched as all five nines on the odometer of his 1963 Volkswagen Beetle rolled over to be replaced by zeros. Because this was the 10th turnover, it marked 1 million miles. Needless to say, the Volkswagen folks were delighted. They offered Klein a new car. But Klein told them to hold on to it there is life in the old Beetle yet, though it has taken him all over the United States and deep into Central America.

Besides, his next goal is 2 million kilometers. If he makes it he also will replace Robert O'Reilly of Olympia, in the Guinness Book of World Records. In 1978, O'Reilly had driven his 1967 Mercedes for a total of 1,184,800 miles. The subsequent fate of the car is unknown. "It's like a sickness, what we have," Klein says in the German accent he retains from his native Stuttgart "I can't sit home.

If I haven't seen a friend for a while, I don't use the phone I drive." It is 34 miles round trip between Klein's home and his office, he says, but he usually turns it into an excursion of 80, 90, 100 miles to avoid the rush hour traffic on the freeway. "Everything is documented," says Klein, who explains that "the Stuttgart Germans are nit pickers people who fiddle and fiddle and fiddle, trying to make something out of nothing. "Let's say I buy a gasket for 15 cents. It's documented." He does most repairs himself. "The last time I added everything up was on March 29," he said.

"The anniversary of the date I bought the car. At that time I had driven 987,200 miles andused up 35,248.6 U.S. gallons of gasoline at a cost of $18,700.79." Klein says he has worn out six engines. "The last one I had for about 185,000 miles," he says. "I don't have the exact figures at hand, but my guess is I've bought 40 sets of tires.

"As of March 29, 1 had spent a total of $38,038, for everything, including purchase price, gasoline, repairs, licenses, traffic tickets. "Yeah, I got a few tickets, but you could count them on one hand." Camp's annual play has an international flavor By Ken) M. Gibbons Journal stall ROCK CITY It's a veritable United Nations of the performing arts. Thirty boys from 20 countries will stage a German dramatist's play Friday night, complete with a Swedish teenager's musical score and a prologue translated from Chinese. The scene could only be set at Camp Rising Sun, the international boys' scholarship camp in 166 wooded acres beside the Saw Kill near the intersection of the Red Hook, Rhinebeck and Milan town lines.

Samuel Cedurland, a 16 year old camper from Sweden, wrote a score for Bertolt Brecht's "Caucasian Chalk Circle," which will be performed Friday the annual camp benefit for the Northern Dutchess Hospital Center. Brecht adapted the 1945 drama from a Chinese work, the last scene of which will be Friday's prologue, according to Kenneth Korioth, the camp's drama counselor and play director, Chinese campers translated the scene, choreographed with t'ai chi movements, Korioth said. "As far as I know, this scene has never been performed by any production," he added. Camp Rising Sun, the 1929 brainchild Jf philanthropist George E. Jonas, brings "bright, outstanding" boys from around the world together and puts them in situations' needing initiative, to learn leadership and see that despite their cultural differences "there are great similarities," said camp directdr Edward II.

Cap. Jonas, he said, was "a practical visionary" who remarked with pride shortly before his death (in Rhinebeck) in 1978 that he had "2,000 sons." The camp started with underprivileged youths from New York City, who still comprise 20 of the 60 boys. rest live in countries from Australia to Zambia, and nine states In this country. Jonas's annual fourth week charity play isn't the camp's first ambitious production, Cap said. Two years ago the boys staged Aristophanes's "The Frogs." The costumed players approached the stage backed with the ieldstqne remnant of a Saw Kill mill from the creek on two huge creek lilypads.

"I thought it would be the most improbable thing, but it worked beautifully and the audience loved it" Friday night, audiences tramping down the path to the outdoor Saw Kill Theatre will be greeted by "burning buildings, dead bodies, foxholes," the director said. Brecht's "epic theatre" drama designed to shock and involve the audience is set in Soviet Russia near the close of World War II. Korioth said survivors from two villages return to reclaim what's left, and can't agree to share, although they must A storyteller is recruited to help break the deadlock, and reaches back to the Solomonic tale of two women claiming one baby. Some tickets remain unsold, Cap sald.T Tickets cost $3 per adult, $2 per child. Call the camp, located off Old Rock City Road, at 758 3501 for information.

The 90 minute play starts At 7:30 p.m. ILBSalaaaBlfwIffiaaattaMBflflaav wHpHHHHlHjPlHflyKS Ibbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb 'ijTJixaZlflnnnnnBff 1bBIbSbbBi9nbI ILbBBBBBBBBBBBBBBV KinBEM' 1J2SMbb3bBBBML1bBBBB fBy, WjmSSBnmlSmS' ImBBbbBBbWbWB Ibbbbbbbbbbuw 18ASaMBiB9fflBBMHEBBMpiBB8MBp iIbbbbbbi bbhbbbbbLbb 'yvBBVBVMKaVHBBBTviBlBBBw $. 3H wk afeOwtSnMK WBmKfir HHir i IJbBbbB laVAu I IBBBBBBBBBBVBBKKy tjL jBBBBBBBBI BBBBBBBBBBBBWSX? VH bK3vBf aBBBBBBaf il ILbbbbbbbbbVJSB jdrSSBSKtKtmi YbbbbbbVJ IbBBBBBBBBBBBBBBiL "iVBBBBaBVBBBBBBMBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB 1 MBBbIbCSZB' sHBBBBBFBBBBBI ty.i 'BBBBBBbV MBBBBBBBBBBb BBS JBBBBBBBBBWBBVBBBBB7 bBbBBBBBbV 9 vfBBBBBli Wf 4ElnnBBBBB ww jBti JlfJv sjfji jk T.Wm. Ik A ID JournalKm hjugani Members of the cast for Camp Rising Sun's presentation of "Caucasian Chalk Circle" rehearse for Friday's production of the Bertolt Brecht drama. Fron left to right: Sandi DubowsKI, 17, of Brooklyn; Mike Edwards, 15, of Staten Island, Courtney Baileyi logf Jeffrey CohenJSpf Quepns..