The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 45

Akron Beacon Journal D3 mGHTLSFE Thursday, April 4, 1985 C.A.R.E. assembling cast for benefit recording cf ft' Mark Faris WM Iff 1i ilflWWiiiTTIItrtWwrilTlTi'ih mfrftfl liwr John Lennon's limo that will be auctioned off June 29 Cleveland and Akron Rock for Ethiopia (C.A.R.E.), the local version of U.S.A. for Africa, is assembling an impressive cast of native Northeast Ohio musicians for a benefit recording scheduled for release later this month or. in early May; In addition to Michael Stanley, Donnie Iris, I-Tal, Alex Bevan and Beaucoup, the ensemble also includes Parma native Ben Orr of The Cars, tenor Rocco Scotti (best known for his vein-popping pre-game renditions of. The Star Spangled Banner at Cleveland Stadium), members of the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as members of the late, great James Gang, including Jimmy Foxx, Joe Vitale and, possibly, Joe Walsh.

Incidentally, Bath Township native Bill Smith, vice president of WHK-AM and WMMS-FM, which is organizing the C.A.R.E. project, would like it to be known that he and not John Gorman is general manager of the two stations. The title was mistakenly attributed to Gorman, who is actually operations manager, in a recent Nightlife column. But according to Gorman, it doesn't really matter. "Any way you cut it," says John, "I'm still the brains behind this thing." BLOSSOMING SOON Barring late changes, Blossom Music Center will open its 1985 calendar of special events June 1.

The snappy color scheme (gold, red, blue, white, etc.) was hand-done by a gypsy mystic and not Earl Sheib, as once believed. Earl didn't even ride in the car. That experience was reserved for Len-non and such pals as Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Moody Blues, as well as others favored by Lennon during the Beatles mid- and late-'60s heyday. Although the vehicle's gas mileage is reported to be "adequate," this is not transportation for the economy minded. The estimated selling price is in the $200,000 to $300,000 range.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. COMING ATTRACTIONS John Parr, the hard-rocking Englishman who recorded Naughty Naughty, makes his Northeast Ohio debut at 8 p.m. Friday, April 19, in the Variety Theatre in Lakewood. Tickets are $9 in advance, $10 the day of the show. Jazz and classical harpist Andreas Vollenweider performs at 8 p.m.

Tuesday, April 23, in the State Theater, Cleveland. Tickets are $11. Jazz clarinetist Rick Hardeman and his band are at the Theatrical, Short Vincent and Ninth streets in Cleveland, nightly through April 21. Hardeman and company also will perform a benefit concert the afternoon of Sunday, April 14, in Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital. The Bangorillas and Donnie Iris and The Cruisers rock n' roll at 9 p.m.

Wednesday in the Galaxy Entertainment Center in Canton. Tickets are $5 in advance, $6 on Wednesday. NOT-COMING ATTRACTIONS Veteran country music star Bill Anderson's scheduled performance Saturday at the Breakaway has been cancelled. So have scheduled performances there by Lynn Anderson, April 20; Gene Watson, April 27; The Whites, May John Anderson, May 11, and Bill Monroe, May 18. A spokesman for the club at 1275 E.

Waterloo Road, said the shows were deleted in order that a new entertainment format with more emphasis on pop and rock music could be developed. Further announcements are expected by early May. Because negotiations are still under way, however, names of artists will not be released until about April 25 when the schedule is expected to be complete, according to Chris Abood, advertising and promotion director. Blossom's annual jazz festival sponsored this year by the Japanese Victor Corp. instead of Kool cigarettes will be June 5-9 at both Blossom and Severance Hall.

OH, SAY CAN YOU STILL SEE If the Stars and Stripes flying above Rick Case Honda on State Road in Cuyahoga Falls seemed to shrink for a while, don't blame it on your eyesight. A smaller version of Old Glory was hoisted last week while repairs were being made to the giant banner that was battered by high winds. The big flag and its like-sized counterparts are back in place and flying high o'er Case ramparts on Brit-tain Road, in Lakewood and in Cleveland, as well as on State Road. ROCK AND REALLY ROLL You may see a lot of limos at rock roll shows. But you won't see many like the one going up for bid June 29 at Sotheby's in New York.

It's the late John Lennon's 1965 Rolls Royce Touring Limousine, a 19-foot, three-ton automobile if it can be called that complete with psychedelic paint job. REVIEW 'End of World9 suffers from lack of people Play: End of the World Where: Cleveland Play House, Bolton Theatre, 8500 Euclid Ave. When: 8 p.m. Wednesday and. Thursday, 8:30 Friday and Saturday, 2:30 Sunday, through May 5 Cost: $6 to $17.50 Information: 795-7000 I MB A' Thin Ml' 1 Hill lUnnUMf i als.

are not about love or fear or joy or sorrow. They are about loving people, fearful people, etc. In his urgency to get his message across, Kopit never solves the central problem. How do you dramatize fear of nuclear war? Kopit is all over the lot. First, he uses that ridiculous setup of a playwright acting like a pulp-novel detective.

Kopit senses that that doesn't work. So we have brief introductions to Trent's wife and 11-year-old son. This is an attempt to humanize the dilem- ma, after two acts of playwright-as-hardboiled-detective. The result is a disjointed comedy that is not funny because Kopit could not find a way to laugh at the subject, and the only humor that can handle this is black humor. You cannot have comedy, though, coming out of the mouths of ideas because ideas have no mouths.

Only people have mouths. There are no real mouths in Kopit's play because there are no people. That, in fact, is what is wrong with the whole nuclear arms business. We do not see it in human terms. Neither does End of the World.

By Bill O'Connor Beacon Journal theater critic Arthur Kopit is a clever playwright. Problem is, his End of the World, now at the Cleveland Play House, is not a play. It is an illustrated lecture. In fact, Kopit's effort makes its point by its very lack of punch. Early on, we are introduced to Michael Trent (Wayne S.

Tur-ney). Trent is a playwright. But he comes out dressed like a Mickey Spillane, private eye. Trent then talks like one, lighting cigarettes as he steps out of the shadows into a pool of light. Right off, it's difficult to tell what is going on here.

Trent tells us about an adventure he had. Seems that Philip Stone (Richard Halverson), a rich man, gives Trent a lot of money to write a play about the nuclear arms race. Kopit then has Trent duck into clandestine meetings with generals and bureaucrats in the nuclear-war branch of our government. Trent is trying to find out why we keep building missiles. We all know, ahead of time, that building nuclear missiles is a fool's errand, and we also know that we do it because the Russians do it and they do it because we do it, and so on.

Kopit, though, leads us to believe that we're going to discover a new angle on this madness. We don't. But that's OK, and certainly forgivable. In fact, it might even be praiseworthy, given the importance of the issue. It is right there, though, that Kopit trips and falls into his own sermon.

Nuclear war is a frightening prospect. Yet, time and again, it must be said that preaching belongs in a pulpit, no matter how wonderful the sermon. End of the World is a staged series of sermons in which we hear what we knew all along. Kopit wants us to go our way and sin no more. It is clear that the playwright had something to say.

It seems clear that he cares deeply about his subject. Plays, though, are not about subjects, and they are not megaphones for platitudes. They are human dramas. If plays are to be universal, they must first be about Individu i. 1 Richard Halverson (left) and Wayne S.

Turney in End of the World REVIEW Care Bears Movie 9 bland, but kids don care Movie: The Care Bears Movie Stars: Mickey Rooney as narrator Director: Arna Selznick Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Running time: 75 minutes Theaters: Akron Square, Chapel Hill. Rating: By Tony Mastroianni Special to the Beacon Journal The Care Bears Movie, an animated feature-length film and an accompanying short cartoon featuring the Strawberry Shortcake characters all of them known in the business world as Those Characters From Cleveland make up a lengthy commercial for American Greetings products. While the practice usually has been for the movie to come first and the products second, this time around an audience has been created in advance by the products. It must work, judging from the number of very tiny tots who are crowding the matinee performances of this program. There is a temptation to hark back to the early Disney films in reviewing a movie such as this.

There is a similarity in spirit, certainly, but not in execution. The animation is certainly good, but beyond that there is less concern for character delineation, for continuous action, for straightforward storytelling. down it's better not to have any friends. The Care Bears transport them up to Care-a-Lot where they are quickly transformed into caring people. But matters are not so easy in dealing with Nicholas, assistant to a carnival magician.

Nicholas falls under the spell of an evil spirit who convinces him that this is his chance to get even with all the people who didn't care about him. Through Nicholas the evil spirit would eliminate all caring in the world. The Care Bears are really worried because the Care-o-meter starts to drop and if it reaches zero no one in the world will ever care anymore. The Care Bears, aided by Kim and Jason, go after the evil spirit and they pick up allies in the Forest of Feeling. The movie preaches the positive power of friendship.

And if it succeeds at the box office, it will prove the positive power of commercial tie-ins. In short this is bland by comparison. Not that the audience for this film cared. They cheered when the Care Bears triumphed over evil, laughed at the sillier parts and indicated their boredom by running around and being noisy during the talky stretches. The Care Bears, according to this movie, are cheerful creatures who live up toward heaven in a place called Care-a-Lot.

It is their mission to visit earth in search of people who need caring. The Care Bears zero in on brother and sister orphans named Kim and Jason who are convinced that since people always let you Care Bears Movie characters embark on mission RECREATION details call 871-6937. Holden Arboretum, Sunday, 1 p.m., explore Little Mountain. Hike fee is $2 for members and $4 nonmembers. Cleveland Metroparks plans these: Rocky River Reservation, Wednesday.

10 a.m., Wildflower Ramble, hike recommended for senior citizens. Park is located 'A mile north of Cedar Point Road, North Olmsted. For details, call 734-6660. Brecksvllls Reservation, Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., Animal Crackers, a search for wildflowers, hike for pre-schoolers.

Reservation required. Call park, located on Ohio 82 in Brecksville, at 526-1012. South Chagrin Reservation, Sunday, 7:30 a.m., Bird Walk, meet at shelter house, off Hawthorn Parkway. Park located off Miles Road near Chagrin River Road, Moreland Hills. North Chagrin Reservation, Wednesday, 10 a.m., moderately paced walk in search of wildflowers.

Meet at Squire's Castle parking lot. Park on Sunset Lane off Ohio 91, Spring wouldn't be spring without colorful flowers. To celebrate the recent arrival of nature's perfect twosome, the Holden Arboretum, 950Q Sperry Road, Mentor, will hold a multi-session workshop that will teach the techniques of drawing and painting spring flowers. The seven-class workshop, taught by artist Jane Snyder, will hold its first session Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Each class will explore drawing, composition and color. Workshop fee is $35 for Arboretum members and $45 for non-members. In addition, Holden Arboretum has scheduled two workshops on decorating spring bonnets. The first workshop East Branch, Thursday, 2 p.m., 60 Goodyear Blvd. Mogodore Branch, Thursday, 2 p.m., 1 S.

Cleveland Ave. North Branch, Saturday, 2 p.m., 183 E. Cuyahoga Falls Ave. Cleveland Metroparks plans these: Huntington Reservation, Sunday, 3 p.m., constellations and planet locations in spring sky. Schuele Planetarium, 28728 Wolf Road, Bay Village.

Fee, 50 cents for children 12 and under and senior citizens, 75 cents for adults. Rocky Rlvsr Reservation, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., bird identification workshop for bird-watching hobbyists. Bedford Reservation, Sunday, 2 p.m., seach for signs of indians at Tinkers Creek Valley. Meet at Riding Stables on Button Road. For details, call 526-1012.

Akron Parks and Recreation Bureau will have softball sign-up at its office Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 6 to 8 p.m. Sign-up for teams that played last year. Fee, $275 men's and women's teams, $245 co-ed teams. will be held Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The second class will meet on Saturday, April 13. The decorating classes will use' dried flowers and velvet ribbon to perk up hats. Class fee is $18 for members and $22 for non-members. Advance registration is required for both workshops. For details, call 946-4400.

HIKES, NATURE WALKS Akron Metropolitan Parks photography club, Saturday, 9:30 a.m., picture taking trek through Goodyear Metropark. Meet in the Frazier parking lot. Cleveland Hiking Club plans these: Saturday, 7 p.m., 5 miles through Hinkley Reservation. Meet at Johnsons picnic area on West Drive. Sunday, 9 a.m., 10 miles over cross-country trails at Camp Onwego.

2 p.m., 5 miles at Camp Onwego. For OTHER ACTIVITIES Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area plans these: Friday, 7:30 p.m., Lyceum series continues with An Enemy of the People. This play chronicles the difficulties faced by a village doctor in Norway in attempting to clean up a health hazard caused by town's one lucrative business. Performances held at Happy Days Visitor Center on Ohio 303 between Ohio 8 and Peninsula. Saturday, 2 p.m., slide presentation on history of Lock 38, one of the park's few remaining stiuctures from the Ohio and Erie Canals.

Meet at Canal Visitor Center on Canal Road one mile south of Rockside Road In Valley View. 7:30 p.m., An Enemy of the People. Happy Days Visitor Center. Sunday, 2 p.m., An Enemy of the People. Happy Days Visitor Center.

Akron Parks and Recreation Bureau, (375-2804) will hold kite-making workshops at the following library branches:.