The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 39

The Beacon Journal D3 Friday, July 24, 1987 For students of Encore, music is an obsession X) eled Encore after the famed Meadow-mount School founded by the late violin pedagogue Ivan Galamian. "We've developed a trust with a network of teachers that we're going to work with these students and send them home safe and sound and in improved condition," said Cerone. Encore might expand slightly in future seasons by adding a few wind players, so that the chamber music repertory is broadened. For the first time this summer, a pianist is studying at Encore to apply the same principles to the piano repertory that the string players apply to theirs, Cerone says. Three students are studying at Encore this summer thanks to the New York-based Music Assistance Fund.

This program places gifted minority musicians in major orchestras for a year, after which they must audition for a job. At Encore, the fund's two violinists and bass player are brushing up their instrumental skills in order to prepare for auditions. Cleveland Institute graduate Ralph Curry, a cellist, was accepted into the New York Philharmonic under this plan. After a year, Curry won a spot with the Detroit Symphony. Since 1978, he has been a member of the Cleveland Orchestra.

p.m. in the chapel at Western Reserve Academy. This Sunday's program will include a performance of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 by violinists Hui-Fang Chung and Kristen Bru-ner, violist Amy Himmell and cellist Derek Barnes. The students have been working on the piece under the watchful eyes and ears of Cleveland Orchestra principal second violinist Bernard Goldschmidt.

Himmell, 23, is studying at Encore for the first time this summer, and says her experience has been very positive. "It's great. You do a lot of practicing and there's good chamber music," said Himmell, who will pursue a master's degree in music at the University of California at Santa Barbara in the fall. "I'm studying with (Cleveland Orchestra principal violist) Robert Vernon. He's very helpful.

"There's a lot of tension, but most of it is what the people put on themselves to be prepared for lessons. But it's a very relaxed environment on the outside. There are so many good players that it makes you work really hard." The good players have come to Encore in droves basically because of word of mouth, says Cerone, who mod dents turned away. The number will not rise above 160, said Encore's director, because the school's seams have reached the bursting point. Cerone started Encore to allow gifted young string students to use their musical energies efficiently and purposefully through intensive work and multiple lessons.

At Encore, the students approach their goals away from the pressures of everyday life that accompany their school studies during the year. Encore supplies the students with the bountiful space and support. The students work with members of the Cleveland Orchestra and other admired string teachers. And by hearing how other students play, they learn where they should be making musical adjustments. "One of the main inducements for kids to be practicing is the concerts," said Cerone, who's also one of the faculty violin teachers.

"They've heard their colleagues. They run back into the practice rooms. They get an idea of the level here, and they say, In order to preserve this standard, they know they'd better work. It's the most natural and organic inducement." Encore students offer free concerts Sundays at 3 p.m. and Thursdays at 8 By Donald Roaenbrg Beacon Journal music writer After a day of chamber-music rehearsals, private lessons, practice sessions and master classes on the campus of Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, the students of the Encore School for Strings know just what to do for an encore: They practice some more.

"It's really amazing," said Encore director David Cerone. "They go day and night. All they want to do is practice, even though we give them options. They practice a minimum of four hours a day. Even in this heat my God! they're practicing." Cerone Is not complaining.

He's delighted that these students are so devoted to their art. Actually, Cerone wouldn't have it any other way. Encore an anagram of Cerone exists for the string player who is obsessed with the idea of growing musically. "What they want to do here is hone in on their instrumental skills in a non-exploitive environment," said Cerone, president of the Cleveland Institute of Music, which runs Encore. "These kids accomplish a year's work in six weeks.

And they have an opportunity to perform." Encore, which will run through Aug. David Cerone 16, has grown faster than Cerone envisioned. In its inaugural summer at Western Reserve Academy in 1985, Encore had 85 students. Last year, the number was at 120. The current enrollment is 160, and that's with 55 stu 'La Bamba' vibrant chronicle of a shooting star REVIEW By Tony Mastroianni Special to the Beacon Journal Movie: La Bamba Stars: Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna De Soto Director: Luis Valdez Studio: Columbia Running time: 1 hour, 48 minutes Theaters: Akron Square, Rolling Acres Rating: PG-13 -4 and commanding as Bob.

Rosana De Soto's performance as the mother is intense, sometimes too intense, but always moving. Elizabeth Pena registers the pain and sadness of Rosa. There is no doubt about the star quality of Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens. His portrayal is controlled, appealing and brash without being overbearing. His characterization grows as the movie progresses.

La Bamba has a sound track that is almost non-stop music, an authentic backdrop that adds to the film's texture without overpowering it. The Los Angeles group Los Lobos performs all of the Valens songs. There is a generous helping of other music from that period, some of it in the form of original performances, some newly performed for the movie. Musically and dramatically the movie reaches an exciting climax with the performance of the title song at one of the Alan Freed shows. Back in high school, Ritchie falls for Donna blond, wholesome, well-to-do and with a father who has no use for poor Chi-canos.

It's just one more conflict in his young life. It isn't long before the others in the group abandon the sax player and stay with Ritchie. He is discovered by Bob Keane, owner of a small record company. Keane persuades him to record without the band and to shorten his name. He takes the raw talent and polishes it, pushing the young musician through 60 takes of Come On, Let's Go.

It is a short, meteoric rise to the top. Ritchie takes over the family and buys his mother a home, and the conflict with Bob is out in the open. To make his happiness complete, he pulls up in front of his old high school in a Thunderbird and takes Donna for a ride. La Bamba was written and directed by Los Angeles theater di- overwhelming the story. The movie is as much about family conflicts as it is about musical ambition.

The main conflict is between Ritchie, quiet and talented, and his half-brother Bob, macho and self-destructive. The setting is California, where Ritchie's mother and other Mexican-Americans support themselves and their families by picking oranges. Bob arrives to take his family away from all this. Apparently he has been in jail for dealing in drugs, but as he flashes a roll of bills, he assures his mother that he has honest work. Bob easily steals Ritchie's girlfriend, Rosa, who becomes pregnant.

Soon Bob is back to drinking, drug dealing and self-pity. Ritchie, meanwhile, is working on his music, certain of his talent and of his future. He lands a spot with a local group, the Silhouettes, led by an inept, egotistic saxophone player. Depending on your dreams when you were growing up, you figured you were destined to write the great American novel, play on a pennant-winning baseball team or become a movie star. If you were lucky, real lucky, you got to pursue your dream.

In the late '50s, kids began to dream about being rock stars. If you got out of your teens and you weren't a rock star by then, you gave it up and found a job like everyone else. It was a kid's dream, and no one stays a kid forever. La Bamba is the story of 1950s rock singer Ritchie Valens, born Ritchie Valenzuela, who blended Hispanic strains with rock to turn out such rock classics as Donna and La Bamba. At 17, he was the star he had dreamed of becoming.

Then he was dead, killed in the same rector Luis Valdez. He pulls polished performances out of his actors, fills scenes with raw energy and imagination and integrates musical performances into the story line so they never seem intrusive. His script has its share of banal dialogue, however, although there probably isn't much that can be done with teens saying "I love you" while they stare at each other. Esai Morales is charismatic Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie Valens plane crash as Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. La Bamba is a movie with a few rough edges, but it has so much vitality you can't help being grabbed and held by it.

The plot is simple and straightforward. The music Ls there without Flats sets sails for annual RiverFest By Craig Wilson Beacon Journal staff writer Mayfair Country Club fiJ- IUU I I Classic Rock Roll Every Saturday 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Party on the Patio with your favorite WONE D.J. Best Beverages! Best Barbeque! Best Bands! jects and seagoing optimists.

Spectators gather at the starting line, not the finishing line 100 yards away. Few of the waxy craft get far. Some sail straight down. So far, no sailors have been lost, but most get soaked. The race starts at Center Street.

This little street passes under the Main Avenue bridge and the Detroit-Superior High Level Bridge. It gets you to all the RiverFest action. Motor your family toward that skyline landmark of downtown Cleveland, the Terminal Tower formally known as the Tower City Center at Public Square, Superior and Ontario. Two blocks southwest, at Ontario and Huron, is a parking lot. You can walk to Public Square and catch a shuttle bus to the Flats for 25 cents.

Or walk westward the equivalent of four blocks on Canal Street to Center Street. There is no admission charge for any of the public shows. But the old neighborhood, filled with trendy restaurants, will be teeming with novelty hawkers and food vendors. More than 750,000 visitors are expected. But divide them into three days.

Spread them over 9 million square feet of shops and sights westward from West 10th Street. You won't be crowded. Today: The action begins at 5 with entertainment at the new Nautica Stage, as well as six other stages. Performers include the Cru-isemasters and the Doo Wop Girls. The boat parade will be from 9:15 to 10:30 tonight.

Any spot near the river will be great for this awesome, moving light display. Saturday: Walking tours of the Flats begin at 10 a.m. Continuous street and stage entertainment revs up at 11. Sculling is at 11:30, scat cat race at 12:45, celebrity inflatables at 1:30, water ski show at 2:15, mass mural at 4, T'Pau and Cutting Crew on the Nautica stage at 5:30 and fireworks at 10. Sunday: Walking tours at 10 a.m.

and stage and street shows from 11 to 7 p.m. Sculling at noon. Krazy Craft races at 1, 1:45, 2:30 and 3 p.m. About a dozen alleged boats will go In each event, starting with the one-person and two-person entries, ranging up to vessels for seven-plus foolish sailors. If you have never considered the Cleveland Flats a place of family entertainment, this is the weekend to change your mind.

The third annual Sohio RiverFest at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River tonight offers a spectacular Venicelike parade of 75 lighted and pennant-bedecked sailboats, yachts and cruisers, led by a stately paddle wheeler, the 160-passenger Nautica Princess. Sidewalk seafarers will be treated to stage shows from rock to folk to jazz, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, North Coast Ballet, aerobics, art exhibits and a Children's Village of tents with activities for kids up to 12. On Saturday, add sculling demonstrations you know, those boats that look like starved canoes as well as scat-boat racing, water skiing, celebrities racing in inflatables, and mass mural painting, topped off with fireworks over the water. On Sunday, add Krazy Craft milk-carton races. That's right, fiber or plastic milk containers held together with glue, tape or whatever and launched onto the Cuyahoga River by their creators, mostly America's Cup re This week dance to Aftermath TO AXIOM 19 nOCAHTOW Join Us For "Classic Rock Roll 2229 Raber Uniontown 699-2209 BANQUETS I ASK ABOUT OUR OFF-PREMISES CATERINGI ON MOVIES If JV 10-100 wJPEOPLEI afera Rough start, but all's OK, by Jiminy 1 From staff and wire reports Seventy-five-year-old Ward Kimball is a chipper, revered figure at the Disney movie complex in the San Fernando Valley.

He is one of three surviving "Nine Old Men" the cadre of brilliant animators who were recruited to draw Snow White and went on to FINE CUISINE) naonaaaAU If II tbnr mtmtmmmmmmtmr 8 La Bamba tells the story of Ritchie Valens, an up-and-coming Chicano singer who perished in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly in 1959. It is being released nationally today. But there certainly is no guarantee that La Bamba will draw large Hispanic crowds. "To be successful in the Hispanic market, you must have major Hispanic actors or the actors Sylvester Stallone, Charles Bron-son, Clint Eastwood or Chuck Norris," says Luis Bouroncle, president of a New York marketing and public relations firm run by Hispanics. La Bamba is the antithesis of those tough-guy action films.

about two dozen U.S. cities. Columbia Pictures also is releasing versions in Spanish, and in English with Spanish subtitles. Theaters in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Detroit and other cities with large Hispanic populations will get those prints. The experiment will be Hollywood's first real test of the Hispanic market for American films.

Studios have released movies in Spanish before, but well after the English version premiered. That meant the hubbub that accompanies the release of a new film was missing when those prints hit the theaters. Even so, there have been notable successes. E.T., for example, was reissued in Spanish and drew good crowds. produce the classics of the studio's heyday.

But Kimball got off to a tough start. At 22, he worked 240 days and a lot of nights to animate a 4-minute se- Join Us This Weekend for the Debut of Our New Menu! featuring: Rack of Lamb Saute Duck Breast Only The Freshest Fish Available Prime Meats Jiminy Cricket Country-music star Merle Hag gard, famed for his hit Okie From CALENDAR Muskogee, says his life story will Kimball quence for Snow White. After it was sent off to the inking department, Walt Disney summoned Kimball and told him he loved the sequence but was cutting it because it just didn't fit into the story. Disney felt so bad about hacking the scene that he later gave the crestfallen Kimball the plum assignment of developing Pinoc-chio's Jiminy Cricket. For that Special Touch try our Caesar Salad or any of our other tableside offerings.

probably be the subject of a movie. The colorful musician, who turned 21 in prison on a burglary conviction, said the project is in its early stages. "You might say we've agreed upon it and attorneys are drawing up the papers," he said. Haggard, 50, who lives near Redding, was pardoned in 1972 by then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan.

Akron Civic Theater (182 S. Main 535-3179) A Chump at Oxford, The Music Box and Sons of the Desert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Akron University (Gardner Student Center) Running Scared and Angel Heart at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

Canton Film Society (North Branch Library, 189 25th St. N.W.) Finger of Guilt at 7: 30 Saturday. Mount Union Theatre (1745 S. Union Alliance) Stand By Meat 8: 15 tonight and Saturday. Cleveland Cinematheque (Cleveland Institute of Art.

11141 East Blvd.) Meter and Laputa at 7:30 tonight, The Poet's Silence and The Journey at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. A Hungarian Fairy Tale at 7:30 Monday. Cleveland Museum of Art (11141 East Blvd.) Sherlock Jr. and A Walk Through H.

at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Lock 22 In The Valley 836-1169 Reservations Accepted If you go see La Bamba on an Akron-area screen, the dialogue will be in English. Surprise, surprise. But that won't be the case in.