Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 26

Asbury Park PressFriday, March 1 3, 1987 B3 Bystander fine tuning chemistry BYSTANDER IS SCHEDULED to compete in the finals of the Best Band Search tomorrow at the Show Place in Dover. The competition will begin at 9:30 p.m. Bus transportation to the club costs $13 and includes admission and free beer. Call 431-0449 for departure details. PanoramaEntertainment A v.t ii nt Amy (Edy Swenson of Sea Bright) tells Paul (Chris Tomaino of Deal) that she's "Not Getting Married Today," in Monmouth Players' production of "Company." at the Navesink Library Theater, Monmouth and Sears avenues, Middletown Township.

The play is at 8:40 p.m. today. Tickets are: $7 general admission; $6 students and people 62 and older. By ROBERT SANTELLI Press Correspondent It was back in 1976 that Andy Kicly of Freehold and Bucky Naughton of Marlboro Township decided to form the band Bystander. The idea was to start off playing Top 40 tunes and establish a base of support on the Shore and then make the jump to original songs and ultimately record an album.

Bystander became one of the area's most popular cover bands. The group's precise song arrangements and atten 1 The members of Bystander (from left) Stan Steele, Bucky Naughton, Andy the Best Band Search in order to get the free recording studio time in order and become an original band." Actually, Bystander is well on its way. Making it to the finals of the Best Band Search, a Tri-State area band contest that began with over 300 entries and is now down to six, is a great achievement especially since Bystander got there playing its own songs. Unlike other competitions, which are often nothing more than popularity contests determined by which band sells the most tickets to the events, the winner of the Best Band Search will be determined by a panel of judges as well as votes from those in the audience. The winners will receive prizes worth approximately $20,000 that will include money for stage clothes, equipment and free recording time in selected New Jersey recording studios.

The latter is especially important to Bystander because the group is working on its debut album. "Today record companies want to see finished products," Kiely said. "I think the days of just sending a tape to a label are over. You really can't get anywhere without something more con tion to detail helped Kiely, Naughton and the other members earn good money and steady jobs at the best Shore rock clubs. But the one thing Bystander didn't do was become a band that played only original songs.

"The problem was chemistry," explained Naughton, Bystander's drummer and vocalist. "Over the years we never seemed to have all the right players. Andy and I knew we worked well together, and six years ago when Stanley Steele became our guitar player, we knew he was right. But in the 11 years that the band has been around we've gone through 16 other musicians. We could never find the right musicians or the right combination of musicians." "We'd get a new player in the band and he'd stay with us for six or eight months," added Kiely, the bass player and vocalist.

"Then, out of nowhere, he'd leave and set us back. All the progress we made simply disappeared. It was an extremely frustrating thing to deal with over and over again." Both Naughton and Kiely feel that those days are finally over for Bystander. In the beginning the group Tin Men' By SHEILA BENSON The Los Angeles Times What are "Tin Men," for heaven's sake? Guys running around without their hearts? Almost. But this is not Oz, it is Baltimore in the fall of 1963, and what these smooth-talking, scam-ming "tin men" lack is not heart, it is scruples.

How else could they peddle freight-loads of aluminum siding at vastly inflated prices to a deeply disinterested public? What emerges is, against all odds, the year's most pungently offbeat comedy and the most improbable love story since King Kong sighted Fay Wray. In this saga, boy does not meet girl; one tin man's Cadillac meets another's sparkling new one with a crunch that can be heard all the way out to Pimlico. In the escalating vendetta that follows, no sneak attack or dirty trick is low enough. Finally Bill "BB" Babowsky (Richard Dreyfuss) vows to find the weakness of the weaseling idiot who hit him, the blustering, ineffective Ernest Tilley (Danny DeVito), and exploit it. Enter Nora (Barbara Hershey), Tilley's disgruntled wife and certainly his most precarious asset.

Heartlessly, and effortlessly, Babowsky scores. He seduces an unsus- Sir Kyle's Dinner Theater "The Prisoner of Second Avenue," Gary Shaffer and Michael Glenn Miller production, 7 p.m. dinner, 8:30 p.m. show; $23.95 dinner and show; Hamilton Avenue, Seaside Heights. Toms River Intermediate School East "Bye Bye Birdie," student production, 7:30 p.m.; free; 1519 Hooper Toms River.

Treetop Theatre "Troll and the Elephant Prince," presented by Sabona Productions. 7 p.m.; $5 adults, $3 children; Adelphia Art Center, Adelphia-Farmingdale Road, Howell Township. ATLANTIC CITY Atlantis Casino Hotel Atlantis Cabaret: Frank Sinatra 1, 3 and 5 p.m.;$5; Shangri-la Lounge: The Twins; 2500 Boardwalk. Bally's Park Place Casino Hotel Park Cabaret: "An Evening at La Cage," 9 and 11 p.m.;$14; Billy's Pub: Leather Lace, Right Touch, Rich Kelly, Geri Mingori Students of Life; Upstairs in the Park Lounge: Elegance with Sal Dupree; Park Place and Boardwalk. Caesars Hotel Casino Circus Maximus Theater: Buddy Hackett, 8:30 and 11:30 p.m.;$20; Forum Lounge: Johnny D'Angelo; Arena Lounge: Heartlite, Beth Miller, Sal Masci Benny Troy; Arkansas Avenue and Boardwalk.

Claridge Hotel Casino Celebrity Cabaret: Sal Richards, Billy Daniels; $5 (includes one drink); Indiana Avenue and Boardwalk. Golden Nugget Hotel Casino Opera House: Paul Anka, 8 and 1 1 p.m.; $35; Elaine's Lounge: Jim White; Boston and Pacific avenues. Harrah's Marina Atrium Lounge: Michael Cerrati, David Lomascola, Rick Hardeman, Linda Lee Hopkins; Bay Cabaret: Jeaneane Marie, Sonny Turner, Paul Linda, Steakhouse: Bud Noble; Andreotti's Ristorante: The Teardrops; Brigantine Boulevard. Resorts International Casino Hotel Superstar Theatre: Ashford Simpson, 10 p.m.;$ll, $17.50 and Rendezvous Lounge: Sam Butera The Wildest, Max, Rhondele, Chill Factor, Rumors; Camelot: Pianist Bob Sims; Capriccio: Guitarist Ben O'Casio; Le Palais: Pianist Louis Maymon, violinist Harold Sandler; North Carolina Avenue and Boardwalk. Tropicana Hotel Casino The Comedy Stop at the Trop: Gary DeLena, Sky Sands, Jeff Pirrami; Iowa Avenue and Boardwalk.

Trump's Castle Hotel Casino Kings Court Showroom: "City Lites," stage and ice show, 8 and 11 p.m.; $12.50 (one drink minimum); Viva Lounge: Crystal, Michael Clark, Eileen Valentino, Coast to Coast; Casino Lounge: Jerry Maurio, Cousins, Alan Lee; free (one drink minimum); Huron Avenue and Brigantine Boulevard. Trump Plaza Plaza Theater: The Temptations, Penn Teller, 9 p.m.; Boardwalk at Mississippi Avenue. Kiely and Mike Weaver hope to win to cut their debut album. vincing. That's why we're doing this record." The album will be made up of 10 original songs written by members of Bystander.

It's being co-produced by the group and Alan Douches, who handled the engineering responsibilities for Shore artist Glen Burtnick during the recording of his debut album, "Talking in Code." According to Naughton and Kiely, Burtnick sings backup on some songs, and the horn section of Blood, Sweat and Tears will be featured on others. "The sound is pop-rock," said Naughton, "but it has a good edge to it. It's not fluffed out. Many of the songs are built around Stanley's guitar, so there's no way they can sound weak. "People are saying that Bystander has been around for such a long time, that it's about time we put out a record and become a band which features our own music," he added.

"Well, that's what we're doing, and it's really nice to know that most of the people who supported the band over the years are behind us in this transition. That makes a big difference." romance To spin tall tales of the tin men should not be hard. It is mesmerizing material, and for Levinson, whose father worked for a while like Wing, DeVito's cold-eyed blond boss, it is a snap. To make this vanishing breed as crass yet as touching as they are takes far more delicacy, and for Levinson, his impeccable ensemble (including a mercifully toned-down DeVito) that seems to have been a snap, too. But to shape a love story from these lousy, unprincipled beginnings takes real artistry.

And for this, Levinson had a brilliant pairing: Dreyfuss, marvel-ously affecting as the womanizer on the brink of his first love, and Ms. Hershey, who can break your heart with her own, aghast tears, then melt it with that gurgling, intimate laugh of hers. "Tin Men's" physical details are impeccable, from Peter Sova's finely lit camerawork to the film's luscious opening credits (by Saxon-Ross Film Design) as a landscape with the pearly, pink glow of dawn turns out to be the surface of a '63 Cadillac. The witty and evocative costuming is by Gloria Gre-sham and the score, a melange of the old and well-loved and the new, ranges from Richie Valens to the Fine Young Cannibals. Together, they form the year's most insightful and human American comedy.

Rated R. js-w TODAY Tonight CONCERTS Club Bane Nancy Wilson, 7 p.m. dinner, 9 p.m. show; $27.50 dinner and show, $20 show only; Route 35, Sayreville. Count Baiie Theatre The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, with guest conductor John Lanchbery and pianist Lydia Artymiw, 8:30 p.m.; $19, $15, $12.50 and $9.50 general admission, $5 rush tickets for students and people 60 and older available one-half hour before performance; 99 Monmouth Red Bank.

Railway Theatre "Beat of the Future," an Up With People production sponsored by the Union County Arts Center, 8 p.m.; $8 and $10; 1601 Irving Rahway. THEATER Clarksburg Inn "Deathtrap," a South Street Players production, 7 p.m. dinner, 8:15 p.m. show; $20 dinner and show; Route 524 and Route 571, Millstone Township. Crossroads Theatre "Hannah Davis," a Crossroads Theatre Company production, 8 p.m.; $17; 320 Memorial Parkway, New Brunswick.

Dinner Theatre Upstairs at Escondido "Bedrooms," a Billy van Zandt and Jane Milmore production, 7 p.m. dinner, 8:30 p.m. show; $28 dinner and show, $14 show only; 1213 Sycamore Tinton Falls. First Presbyterian Church "I Never Sang For My Father," an Aberdeen Matawan Repertory Theatre production, 8 p.m.; $6 general admission, $4 students and people 65 and older; Route 34 and Franklin Street, Matawan. Forum Theatre "Isn't It Romantic," a Forum Theatre Group production, 8:30 p.m.; $17; $10 and $12 students and people 60 and older; 314 Main Metchen.

George Street Playhouse "Little Ham," a George Street Playhouse production, 8:30 p.m.;$20 and $24; 9 livingston New Brunswick. Jonas Salk Middle School "They're flaying Our Song," a Theater Guild of Old production, 8 p.m.; $7 adults, $4 students and people 60 and older; 516 Road, Old Bridge Township. Kobe Japanese Restaurant "Alone Together," a Simy Theatre Company production, 7 p.m. dinner, 8:30 p.m. show; $22.50 dinner and show, $13.50 only; Route 9, Howell Township, McCarter Theatre "Don't Trifle With Love," McCarter's Spring Drama iSeries, 8 p.m.;$21, $23 and $28; Center "lor the Performing Arts, 91 University Place, Princeton.

Paper Mill Playhouse "Sunrise at Campobello," a Paper Mill production, 8 and $29; Brookside Drive, Millburn Township. Playhouse 22 "Baby," a Playhouse rf22 production, 8:30 p.m.; $8.50 general public; $4 students and people 65 and -older; 210 Dunhams Corner Road, East Brunswick Township. Saint James Episcopal Church 3'Picnic," an Atlantic Stage Company production, 8:30 p.m.;$5; 300 Broadway, Long Branch. "DeVito From page Bl give him credit for. People will start to see that he has quite a range.

He'll still be Danny DeVito the way Bogart Bogart or the way Tracy is Tracy; jbut I see him as an actor who can give -you some humor." "I consider myself a character lor" DeVito said. "However, I don't believe that I've ever been in a play that was 'just a serious drama. I've always gotten laughs in every role." To Levinson, his tin men are a 'dying breed, flamboyant four-flushers feeding on our national naivete just Tbefore a time of assassination and war and violent change. "I think you get to see a lot of what we're about," he said. "Salesmen are, in fact, at the very heart and soul I of this country.

I'm so tired of movies being about the cops or the CIA. Pullleeeease. Can we not have someone else? All these cop movies you get so tired of all these some-', body's-on-the-run movies. How many people do you actually know who've ever been on the run" And DeVito, of course, responded to the originality of Levinson's was a sextet, then a quintet, and now it's a quartet. "Having less members means less headaches," Naughton said.

"We also found we didn't need six musicians to make good music. We're doing fine with four." The addition in 1981 of Steele, who resides in Neptune, gave Bystander stability in a critical area lead guitar and has enabled the group to create arrangements for songs around his solos. "Stanley really made a difference when he joined the group," said Kiely. "We were lucky he was interested in playing with us back then." Finally, keyboards player Mike Weaver of Philadelphia, the newest band member, has, according to Kiely and Naughton, filled the gap that always seemed open or about to open in Bystander. Weaver has been with the band nearly a year.

"Having this lineup has given us the chance to accomplish what we set out to do 1 1 years ago," said Naughton. "We're finally ready to make the jump is offbeat Movie Review pecting Nora in the time it takes to play a stack of Sinatra love songs on an old Emerson automatic. But BB's revenge is not yet complete gleefully, he leaves the sleeping wife to call her husband and gloat. Then comes Tilley's counter-salvo: with maniacal glee he decorates their front lawn with Nora's every possession. He is relieved to be rid of her.

This a love story? These polyester princes our heroes? Well, antihe-roes? Indeed. In the same, supremely assured way that writer-director Barry Levinson inventoried the high school graduates of "Diner," he works the same turf, adult side, in "Tin Men." His salesmen even meet at the Hilltop Diner, with one character, Bagel, played again by Michael Tucker, a link from the earlier movie. And in the ensuing years, Levinson's already lethal ear has become even more acute. Just one anachronism sticks out: "Watch my lips" was not the catch-phrase in 1963 that it is now. These men are a generation older than "Diner's" late teen-agers; their humor is deadpan, sly; they give noth shrewsbury woodbridqe Shrewsbury plaza woodbridge 542539S 636-44)4 TOWS RIVER -NEWARK STAR LEDGER, Richard Freedman mm w-osxa TODAY MIODLEBROOK TWIN OAKHURST 403-2277 MOVIE CITY FIVE EAST BRUNSWICK 257 5555 MOVIE CITY FIVE WOODBRIDGE 382 5555 ROCKAWAY TWfcLVE ROCKAWAV TOWNSHIP 326 0866 RK0 RT.

17 TRIPLEX PARAMUS 843 3830 LOEWS SHOWBOAT QUAD EDGE WATER 04 3660 RKO UNION TWIN UNION 656-4373 LOEWS WAYNE SIX WAYNE 800-0505 UA MOVIES AT MIDDLETOWN 671W20 UA PASCACK WESTWOOD 664 3200 nnrouT' stereo comedy, ing away. Tilley's partner, Sam (played with magnificent "sang-froid" by Jackie Gayle) broods frequently on the sex life of the "Bonanza" boys. BB's blond, pompadoured office buddy, Cheese (Seymour Cassell), is a straight-faced witness to his every automotive disaster. And John Mahoney's Moe is the incarnation of the greatest "closer" in the business. The tin men are never alone; they travel in packs or in pairs, as if they were dissolute nuns.

The outside world is as alien to them as the non-circus world is to a carny operator and its population is all "marks," ripe for the "Life magazine" scam, the "This job is free!" ploy. They are first cousins to the rollickingly blasphemous real estate salesmen of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross," although somehow, Levinson, without losing the poetry, has laundered it just a scintilla. The only shadow on their commission-heavy horizon is Maryland's brand-new Home Improvement Commission, whose investigations into unscrupulous selling practices are cutting a lot of tin men off at the knees or at their state licenses. Part of Levinson's drollery is that the commission's meetings take place in a makeshift committee room, bustling with sheet-rock workers during its hearings. Now, if this building only had lasting aluminum siding .) -jj-rll ,0 4it' STARTS --1C (((SOMEKIDOFWOriDERFUUS!" -JoelSiegel, WABC-TV SoKindOfWonderful PG-13 BRtCKTOWN 4 LONG BRANCH CINEMA CENTRES MOVIES 477-66(1 02 TOO FREEHOLD MIDDLETOWN FREE HOLD CINEMA 6 THE MOVIES AT MIDDLETOWN OCEAN COUNTY MALL Til srren'l 4624600 671 1020 240-M95 "comic '1 BURLESQUE SHOW Adult Entertainment CALL FOR INFO.

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