The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 190

ENTERTAINMENT THE ARTSTV LISTINGS I I ION CALENDAR ORANGE COUNTY Cos Angelee (States MONDAY DECEMBER 14. 1992 O.C. POP MUSIC REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS A Rich, Vibrant Late-Night Show With Phil Alvin last Blasters release, "Hard Line." It was after "Hard Line" that Dave Alvin, Phil's younger brother, left the band, taking with him his admirable gift for songwriting-as-storytelling. Most Blasters fans probably wish that Dave and Phil BROTHER TOO Dave Alvin also has a night to remember, F2. less -commanding singer, the song itself can take precedence, which is important if you're telling a closely drawn tale.

Phil's robust vocals tend to take songs out of the storyteller's intimate circle and make them larger than life. That's one reason he is so good with old songs that require a powerful voice to shake the dust off them and make them feel immediate once more. The sheer lung power he brings to a performance and the way he contorts his face between almost every verse in his trademark grinning-skull grimace makes you feel, even before you've had time to actually think about it, that something powerful must be embedded in the musty tunes that dominated his set, that songs from the folk-blues canon are anything but old curiosities from a bygone era. Take "Samson and Delilah," a retelling of the biblical story. The shattering force with which Alvin brought to life Samson's resentment and betrayal made you realize the song isn't an ancient myth, but a living one.

When Please see ALVIN, F8 By MIKE BOEHM TIMES STAFF WRITER LONG BEACH Phil Alvin's show at Bogarfs Saturday was offhanded but rich. Starting well after midnight, it was the sort of thing veteran musicians might play if they weren't performing but just tossing songs around in a basement session for the pure enjoyment of it. It had been advertised as a solo concert, but Alvin brought along three buddies, including John Bazz and Greg Hormel, bassist and guitarist from his band the Blasters, to back him up after an introductory solo-acoustic bit. The Blasters' situation is unsettled these days. Drummer Bill Bateman has been playing with another roots band, the Red Devils (Dave Carroll was the drummer at Bogart's, banging out beats with a loose-but apt trash-can smash).

Greg Lewerke, the Blasters' manager, said last week that the group has an album in progress but that's something we've heard before in the seven years since the (who lately have played occasional duo shows as the Alvin Brothers) would team up again full time. Phil has a rich, resonant, supremely confident voice but apparently has had trouble mustering new material to sing (his own last album was in 1986, and that was of old folk blues and gospel tunes); Dave has continued to write fine songs, as his albums "Romeo's Escape" and "Blue Blvd." attest. But those albums made it apparent that Dave is no great vocal talent. Still, an Everyman's voice can work well with the kind of storytelling that most often engages Dave Alvin. With a (1988): The largest porcelain knickknack Orange County LATE ARRIVAL: In a set that started well after midnight, Phil Alvin presented an offhanded but rich program at Bogart's Saturday in Long Beach.

Reviewed by Mike Boehm. Fl SOUND OF MUSIC: As soon as the glitches in the sound system were overcome, Albert King, above, had himself quite a night Saturday at Santa Ana's Rhythm Cafe. Reviewed by Bill Kohlhaase. F2 ALL-AMERICAN BAND: Performing at the Rhythm Cafe, the Skeletons presented a wild pastiche of most things American, including the twang of country, a splash of surf and great heaps of rockabilly, '60s rock and influences. Reviewed by Jim Washburn.

F2 A SUNNY NIGHT: Sonia Santos' performance at Maxwell's in Huntington Beach Friday night demonstrated her ability to create a sunny atmosphere of good vibes, no matter what the situation, says reviewer Don Heckman. F3 More Orange County Calendar coverage, F2-F3 Elsewhere HOWARD ROSENBERG: Will NBC's David Letterman move to CBS at 11:30 p.m., and if he does, how would he fare against other talk shows? A still bigger question, how would Channel 2 seek to exploit him? Fl GOTHIC NIGHTMARE: France -sea Zambello's controversial staging of "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Met seems to have lost its shock appeal. Reviewed by Martin Bern-heimer. Fl MADE HIS DAY: The L.A. Film Critics Assn.

selected Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" as the best movie of 1992, elevating the movie's chances for nominations in the other major award ceremonies. Fl SPIRITED: EMF, the young English hi-tech dance-rock group, wasn't in the holiday spirit, but almost everyone else including Suzanne Vega and David Byrne-was at the first of KROQ's two scheduled weekend benefit concerts at the Universal Amphitheatre. Reviewed by Steve Hoch-man. F5 HAPPY DAYS: Barbra Streisand is expected to join Michael Jackson and Madonna on the entertainment industry's mega -deal bandwagon this week by signing an estimated $60-million film and recording contract with Sony Corp. F7 NOIR, L.A.

STYLE: A private eye of a ghost and a comedic departure for Jaclyn Smith give "Love Can Be Murder" a stylish twist. Reviewed by Ray Loynd. F14 COUNTERPUNCH MALCOLM BARBOUR: The co- creator of "Cops" doesn't want his show confused with "so-called reality series." F5 JOHN STEVEN SOET: The writer-director thinks there are legitimate reasons why agents are reluctant to let their female stars read for low -budget films. F5 INDEX ART REVIEW Jeff Koons: A Scrubbed New Life By CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT TIMES ART CRITIC SAN FRANCISCO The catalogue to the Jeff Koons retrospective exhibition contains no biography of the artist. None at all.

This is exceedingly odd, because museum retrospective catalogues always include a biography, even if it's just an abbreviated list of where and when the artist was born and went to school, and where he now lives and works. But, not the Jeff Koons catalogue, published in conjunction with the show lately opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and organized by curator John Caldwell. Don't turn to either for the story of the artist's life. Ironically, the glaring absence of a bio, typically an essential component of any retrospective, turns out to offer one pivotal revelation of the show: There is, in fact, no Jeff Koons before or beyond or outside the artistic project he has undertaken. His sculptures, their public display and the published reviews about them are, in Please see KOONS, F14 'Unforgiven' Corrals Top Critic Picks Movies: Clint Eastwood's Western is the best of 1992 in the annual L.A.

awards. Eastwood also wins as best director and best actor. By DAV1DJ. FOX TIMES STAFF WRITER HOLLYWOOD Hollywood's annual film awards marathon got under way during the weekend as the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. selected Clint Eastwood's Western "Unforgiven" as the best movie of 1992.

As the first of the major awards competi- BOX OFFICE "A Few Good Men" and "Home Alone 2" attract viewers. F9 tions, the selection by the Los Angeles critics instantly elevates the movie's chances for nominations in the Golden Globe Awards, to be presented in January by the Hollywood Foreign Press and in the film industry's own Academy Awards, to be announced in March. The New York Film Critics will vote on Thursday and the National Society of Film Critics casts its ballots in early January. The Eastwood movie so dominated the 40 -member Los Angeles critics' awards that one film insider dubbed them "the Clint Eastwood awards." Eastwood won as best director and for best actor. In all, "Unforgiven" won in five of the nine categories in which it qualified.

And it took a runner-up prize in a sixth category. Eastwood's movie, which debuted in August, was a rare return to the Western genre in today's Hollywood. It was very well received by critics and became a commercial success, having earned about $75 million at the U.S. and Canadian box office to date. From the time of its premiere, it was clear that critics greatly admired Eastwood's auteurism in the film the personal quality a director can bring to a project.

That admiration was reflected in the way "Unforgiven" swept the awards, as well as in the critics' selection of another highly Please see AWARDS, F10 in the world, in San Francisco exhibit. WINNIE KLOTZ "Lucia di Lammermoor." The Met had taken liberties with a lovely, beloved, hum-along exploration of waltzing dementia, anno 1835. Madness. Donizetti's sweet old thing used to be a every canary -fancier's favorite camping or poaching ground. It was the ideal showcase for a prima coloratura donna who could roam the vocal highlands in happy delirium as a prelude to a pretty death and Please see Fll Koons' "Michael Jackson and Bubbles" HOWARD ROSENBERG Letterman May Add Spice to Action News' NBC's David Letterman traveling to 11:30 p.m.

on CBS? The possibility appears to be growing. But the big question is not how well Letterman would do in the ratings opposite Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall, Ted Koppel and anyone else who ultimately surfaces in that time slot. He'd do fine. Bank on it. The big question is how creative KCBS-TV Channel 2 would get in attempting to tie its 11 p.m.

newscast to the Letterman show. No station in town is more expert or aggressive at cross-promoting news and entertainment. Yet with so much of its 11 p.m. newscast already tied to CBS prime-time programs, Channel 2 might be in a bind. It most likely would have to sacrifice some of its live coverage of the previous day's crimes to squeeze in Letterman stories the way it invents stories that coincide with its 5 p.m.

news lead-in, "Geraldo." But when great minds get together, amazing achievements are possible. Let's see. "Live at 11, the real story behind the MonkeyCam." "Dave's Top 10 reasons to watch 'Action exclusively at 11." "Coming at 11, stupid news tricks." There are other options. Channel 2 could hire Letterman announcer Bill Wendell to do a Letterman -style intro: "And now, the news staffers that nobody knows because they just arrived from Fresno by bus, here's. Plus, "Action News" could be anchored on occasion by Larry (Bud) Melma--.

Michael Tuck could start flipping pencils after each story. News sketches are another strong possibility. And now and then, Paul Shaffer could fly the skies in Chopper 2. Better yet, given Channel 2's penchant for faking backgrounds on the order of its recent electronically simulated "Satellite Center," why not just find a way to Chroma-Key all of "Action News" right into the Letterman show? The funniest news show wed to the funniest talk show? A perfect marriage. Correction: Actually, David Letterman does not have the funniest talk show.

Garry Shandling does. Please see NEWS, F12 June Anderson in "Lucia di Singing with compelling purity and thrust. OPERA REVIEW Met's Modernized 'Lucia' Is a Gothic Horror Show By MARTIN BERNHEIMER TIMES MUSIC CRITIC NEW YORK The city was shocked. Shocked. SHOCKED.

Oh, dear. The Metropolitan Opera ancient bastion of all that is safe, opulent, respectable, traditional, dull and let's-pretend realistichad gone modern. That's not all, folks. The Met had gone modern with, of all sacrosanct challenges, What Goes On F2 Movie Guide F3 Tonight on TV and cable F13.