The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 24

The Courier-News How to reach us You can e-mail us at or call Jay Jefferson Cooke, features editor, at (908) 707-3165. i B-6 9 Ann Landers B-7 5 Comics B-9 Television B-7 Friday, November 20, 1998 1 i fil l. I I 11 I If it I mi i PEOPLE Japanese trip renews teacher's commitment 7 ICT PERSONALITIES duces a person who can think and create." For example, he said, no one can be a good writer unless he or she has read great writing. Children who participate in drama gain self-confidence. Children who study art learn to see things from a variety of perspectives, and that fosters creative problem-solving skills.

Soriano believes children should not be asked to choose a career too soon, but should concentrate on gaining all the knowledge they can. His trip to Japan only strengthened that belief, he said. "I tell students interested in journalism that they should study political science or history," he said. "It gives them a broader perspective, and that's what we all need." graders emptying waste baskets and older students sweeping and dusting. Soriano was most impressed with the emphasis placed on the arts in Japanese schools.

In one school he visited, sixth-graders put on a traditional play for him. One school had more than a dozen concert grand pianos. "It wasn't even a music school," he said. "They believe the arts are an integral part of a child's education, not just an add-on." Soriano came back from Japan with a renewed commitment to teaching the arts, which he believes fosters creative and critical thinking skills. "We know now that creativity can be learned and nurtured," he said.

"But you can't do that without having arts education. A well-rounded education pro the qualities on which applicants were judged were leadership, scholarship and professional interest in world events, Soriano said. The larger group was broken into groups of 20 for trips to cities across Japan. The most emotional moment of the trip, he said, was when the children in an elementary school performed "The Star Spangled Banner" for the group of 20 he traveled with. "The brass band was remarkable," he said.

"And the students who sang were more enthusiastic than most Americans. Every one of us had tears in our eyes." He was surprised by the size of the classes in Japan 40 or more students and that Japanese students are responsible for keeping their schools clean. His photos showed first- By LESLIE BOYD Staff Writer All around Charles Soriano are photos of students. In one, a group wields implements of lawn care they were raking leaves to raise money for charity and another has Soriano with a few of his high school journalism students from West-field. He brought it all with him when he came to his new job as head of the English department at Bernards High School in Bernardsville.

But three weeks after he started the job, he left for a three-week tour of Japan as a Fulbright scholar. "What an opportunity," Soriano said as he opened a yellow scrapbook filled with photos of At The Movies McKellen shines as James Whale yum mum llj. 1 -aw i A.wimumwm9mmmwmmmmwmmmmwmmmimf 'ws I i -u. --v-- c2n. mmmrr-tr I i i.

i It l.mM..,i..ni. Nancy Lemmo is the owner of Velocity, which is located in Green Brook. CHARLES SORIANO his trip. "I got to see how education works somewhere else, in a completely different culture." The Fulbright scholarships help teachers from different cultures better understand each other. They give them the opportunity to see what works in another country and, Soriano said, he was able to bring back some ideas on what American schools can do to improve students' experience.

He spent time in Tokyo, then went to the city of Matsumoto, a mostly agrarian town in the mountains. Soriano, 31, was one of 200 educators picked out of 2,100 applicants for the trip. Among offer a new If you want to go WHAT: Grand opening of Velocity nightclub. WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday.

WHERE: 39 Route 22 East, Green Brook. INFO: (732)968-3338. All of these improvements are integral elements in the new ownership's strategy to be unlike any other area club and appeal to a more upscale, mature clientele different from the one the previous tenant attracted. "I'm trying to return elegance to the area," Salerno says. "I've created an atmosphere for the average couple, where everyone can feel comfortable." Salerno, 36, has worked in the nightclub industry for 17 years throughout New Jersey.

During that time, he's learned that one of the keys to a successful business is keeping the customers satisfied. "I pride myself on service," he says. "We will go the extra mile here at Velocity to make sure everyone leaves happy. I plan to be out on the floor supervising our bartenders and hostesses to ensure courteous, professional service. That's what is going to home from school with a science kit he bought at the school book fair.

Too impatient to ask for help, too excited to look for the scissors, he reached for a butcher knife. The knife slipped and cut through skin and flesh and artery and nerve, coming to rest on the bone of his right forefinger. The RILEY look and a new attitude Julie Andrews still can't sing The sound of music may never be heard again from JULIE ANDREWS, Parade magazine reports. "I don't think she'll sing again it's an absolute tragedy," Andrews' husband, director BLAKE EDWARDS, told the magazine for an item in this Sunday's issue. The 63-year-old actress had surgery more than a year ago to remove noncancerous throat nodules.

Her voice hasn't been the same since. "She was told she'd be OK in six weeks, the voice would actually be better," Edwards said. "It's over a year, and if you heard it, you'd weep." Andrews starred in the movie versions of "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music," and in the original Broadway versions of "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot." "VictorVictoria," one of seven films she made with Edwards, in October 1995 was turned into a Broadway musical that earned her a Tony Award nomination. But Andrews missed more than 30 performances with gall bladder and throat I problems. LIZA MINNEL-; LI took over the part porarily in January 1997, and Andrews quit for good the following June to have surgery.

Andrews may have declined to have the proce-I dure had she known it would destroy her voice, her spokesman, GENE SCHWAM, told the New York Post. Jackson to buy beer business The REV. JESSE JACKSON'S youngest son knows legal briefs. Soon he'll know lager brews. YUSEF JACKSON, an attorney at a Chicago law firm, says he hopes to learn the beer industry "from the bottom up" by acquiring one of Anheuser-Busch's largest local distributorships.

"We have signed an agreement" to purchase Busch's River North Dis- tributing Investment Capi-, tal but arrangements have yet to be completed, said Jackson, 28. Also on board is his broth-; er JONATHAN JACKSON, a 32-year-old Chicago real estate executive, and a i partner Jackson did not identify Tuesday. The deal would link the Jacksons to the world's largest brewer a compa- ny their father boycotted 16 years ago. The yearlong protest launched in 1982 by the elder Jackson and his Operation PUSH civil rights group was part of an effort to get major corporations to increase minority hiring. The Associated Press TODAY J.M.

Coetzee, book reading, 4:30 p.m., The Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South, New York City. Acclaimed South-African author will read from an unpublished work. Free and open to the public. Rutgers Wind Ensemble, 8 p.m., Nicholas Music Center at Rutgers University, George Street, New Brunswick. $14, $12 seniors and $7 students.

(732) 932-7511. New Jersey All-State Jazz Ensemble, 7 p.m., New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Victoria Theater, 1 Center Newark. Featuring special guests New York Voices. $15 adults and $7 children under age 14. (888) 466-5722.

THIS SECTION Pages in this section were designed by Jay Jefferson Cooke and copy edited by Jay Jefferson Cooke, Clem Fiorentino and Joelle Subourne. STAFF PHOTO BY LESLIE BOYD Charles Soriano with two temari balls, hand-spun silk balls given to him by the family he stayed with while in Japan on a Fulbright Scholarship. man. In one of the film's best scenes, he gets dressed up and accompanies Whale to a gathering of Hollywood royalty to meet a member of the British royal family. McKellen and Martin Ferrero (as director George Cukor, one of Whale's social rivals) achieve a hilariously catty hauteur in a battle of smooth insults.

The subplot, about Boone's unresolved issues with his family and an equally unresolved romance with a waitress (Lolita Davidovich), explains the character's ability to overcome his own insecurities and befriend Whale. Still, most of those scenes have a boilerplate quality to them. On the other hand, the flashbacks to Whale's days on the set of "Bride of Frankenstein" are beautifully done, with a visual faithfulness, right down to the inky black-and-white photography. Cinematographer Stephen Katz contrasts that with the sundrenched look of Whale's Pacific Palisades home. McKellen and Fraser have a chemistry that jolts this film to life.

McKellen remains the thinking man's actor, capable of tragedy in the turn of an eyebrow. Yet he can hold his own comedically with the scene-stealing Redgrave, with her over-the-top accent and makeup. "Gods and Monsters" deals with a man who seemed to create his own life with his own bare hands, as he tries to work the same magic on this admiring young man. Condon finds the affection in this relationship without being smarmy, sensational or condescending. And that's no small feat.

Review 'GODS AND MONSTERS' A fascinating character study of James Whale, the director of "Frankenstein," in a fictional recreation of the final days of his life and his relationship with a young gardener. Starring Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave. Directed by Bill Condon. Lions Gate Releasing. 105 minutes.

Rated (profanity, violence, adult themes). 12 Pain is part of the deal. It's pain that sometimes keeps us moving on our way to God's grace. I pray that my boy will feel again, feel everything he needs to feel to grow up strong and pure: anger and loss, sure, but also the gentle touch of his future lover's mouth, the smooth skin on the tiny finger of his one-day-to-come little boy. Heal us all, Lord, I pray, so that we can bear life's pains and joyfully hold onto all the treasures of the Lord.

Staff Writer Michael Riley, an ordained minister, is pastor ofStelton Baptist Church in Edison. His column appears on Fridays in The Courier-News. You can reach him at (732) 246-5500, ext. 7334. Velocity will By CHRIS M.

JUNIOR Staff Writer The nightlife scene in Central Jersey is expected to get a much-needed boost Saturday night with the grand opening of Velocity, 39 Route 22 East in Green Brook. Twentysomething and thir-tysomething clubgoers from the area might recognize the address as that of the former Jukebox Eddie's, a low-key mainstream bar for young adults that lasted more than 18 years before closing last August. But regular Jukebox Eddie's patrons shouldn't expect to see a place resembling their old hangout. For starters, the club's exterior has been painted a blueish-gray color. Inside, gone are the former club's most identifiable features: the potted plants and televisions, the latter of which were often tuned to sports.

A different vibe New to the interior is a sound system, a light system featuring several rotating lights and a full spectrum name-scripting laser, as well as a bright stainless steel look, described by Velocity General Manager Jeff Salerno as being "industrial." By MARSHALL FINE Gannett News Service "Gods and Monsters" walks that tricky tightrope of fiction about the lives of real people. But it walks it like a Wallenda. Much of the thanks for that goes to a deliciously nuanced performance by Ian McKellen, who plays the late James Whale, director of "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" and "Showboat," among others. McKellen etches a portrait of a funny, confident man forgotten by the world, bedeviled by illness, living most fully in his memories. That he also happens to be an openly gay man in 1950s Hollywood gives "Gods and Monsters" both an added dramatic level and some of its poignancy.

The temptation to call it a homosexual gloss on "Sunset Blvd." is strong, but that misses the point about the kind of character writer-director Bill Condon is studying here. Working from the novel by Christopher Bram, Condon tells Whale's story beginning in 1957, with Whale, retired and living with a Germanic housekeeper named Hanna (Lynn Redgrave). He is first seen toying with a young reporter, whose only knowledge of Whale's long and varied career is "Frankenstein." "People's movies are not their lives," he tells the young horror-movie fan, who seems to think they are. While recovering from a stroke, Whale's eye falls on his new gardener, the strapping Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser). Obviously smitten, Whale befriends the unassuming young man and asks him to pose for a sketch.

The sessions trigger memories of a boy Whale loved in the trenches of World War who wound up dead and mangled after a German attack. Whale also begins telling Boone stories of the old days in the movies: "Making movies," he sighs, "is the most wonderful thing in the world." Boone, who is having woman troubles of bis own, finds himself seeking out Whale's old movies on late-night TV and being drawn into the strange world Whale helped create. Still, Boone is uncomfortable with Whale's sometimes-flirtatious remarks and confused by his own feelings of friendship for the proud but declining older daged and bundled in gauze and metal. He looked a little like the Statue of Liberty. Alex had severed a nerve, a fairly important nerve, it turned out, the one that gives feeling to the fingertip.

Without it, it would be hard for Alex to pick up things. His brain wouldn't be able to tell him how much pressure he'd need to use to lift a book or a pot. He needs to have an operation soon, or the damage will be irrevocable. We wait now, my family and for the surgery to be scheduled. I think about all the people I've ever known for whom a severed nerve would be a blessing.

They've had it with feeling, with pain and heartbreak. They're tired and long for blessed numbness. To hell with them, I say. STAFF PHOTO BY MARY 1UVONE through Saturdays to hear the latest rhythm dance hits mixed by DJs such as George Calle and Broadway Bill Lee from WKTU-FM. Drinks, ranging in price from $3 to $4, will be served in glasses, not plastic cups.

Parking will be handled by valets. The casual dress code from the Jukebox Eddie's era is out: no sneakers or jeans, and guys must wear button-down shirts. "In the beginning, we'll probably attract the sort of younger crowd that Jukebox used to draw out of sheer curiosity," says Salerno. "But because of the strict dress code and higher cover charge, I don't think the club will appeal to a majority of those people." The surviving attraction from Jukebox Eddie's is male revue night, which will be Wednesdays instead of Tuesdays. Laurian Daniels of South Plainfield, who used to frequent Jukebox Eddie's twice a month, has heard the commercials for Velocity's grand opening on WKTU-FM and plans to visit with her friends.

"From what I hear, it's supposed to be a kicking club," Daniels says. "If it does turn out to be an upper-class establishment, it will have no competition." We sat in the living room as the night crept into the house. Even my sweet baby Sam felt something bad in his heart. He crawled onto my lap and stared straight into my eyes. His face was serious, solemn as an ancient tomb.

"Ayay hurt," he told me. What was I going to do about it, he seemed to demand, realizing that if I couldn't fix it, he would somehow have to rethink everything he'd learned in his two years on the planet. "I know, honey," I said to him. "Alex is at the doctor's right now. They'll make him all better." "There was a lot of blood, though," Josh reminded me.

When Sue brought our son home, he looked fairly ridiculous, with his finger all ban separate us from other clubs." Another key to any business is location, and because Velocity is easily accessible from Route 22, club owner Nancy Lemmo of South Plainfield feels her club is perfectly situated for success. Good feelings While Central Jersey isn't exactly overflowing with nightclub options, there are others in the area, two of which are very close to Velocity. Shout in Plainfield is a mere 3.4 miles away, while Club Mal-ibu in Scotch Plains is approximately seven miles away. Both Salerno and Lemmo are aware of the neighboring clubs but don't feel either one is competing for the upper 20s-and-older audience that Velocity is targeting. "I have a good feeling this will work," says Lemmo, who admits that no focus groups or market researchers were consulted prior to the club's redesign.

Lemmo has not only spent a lot of money in renovating the club (no exact figures were available), she's also invested heavily in an advertising campaign on a top-rated New York City radio station, WKTU-FM, to help spread the word. Clubgoers can expect to pay a $10 cover charge Tuesdays told me at the door. "It's bad. There was a whole lot of blood." Now, I know that teenagers live in a world of high drama: Everything about being 16 is larger than life. So I tried to take his wide-eyed retelling of the accident in stride.

But as he led me through the house, showing me where the blood flew, pointing out the package and the paper and especially the stainless steel blade, stained now with Alex's blood. His worry and his love became some sort of spiritual tuning fork. And its vibrations set me to worrying while we waited for word on how Alex was doing. Don't wish away pain, for it tells us we're alive fed MICHAEL I'm staring at a piece of white paper I rescued from my kitchen trash. I don't know how long I'll hold on to it.

There's nothing of value on the page: no important phone numbers scrawled on it, no words of hope or wisdom written on it, no reminders of urgent appointments I have to keep. But what I can't get past right now is my son's blood spattered on the creased and crumpled page. There are a dozen brown-red circles on the paper, like those fat drops of rain that fall at the start of a summer storm. One of the bloodstains, though, at the edge of the page, looks like a comet in a hurry and trailing sparks. Which is a pretty fair description of my 10-year-old son, Alex.

Two Fridays ago, Alex came blood spurted and fell like a plague. Alex went cold from fear and screamed in pain. For a second or two, the whole world went black. I wasn't home when all this happened. I heard about it an hour after Sue drove him to the emergency ward.

"Alex is in the hospital," Josh.