The Miami News from Miami, Florida • 18

Thursday, August 25, 1988 The Miami News 3C Record review lestiess raean: osq ureams come true MARIO TARRADELl Mltml Ntan ItaH 1 ,7 Al)'- Moving slightly away from their contemporary sound into a more traditional country style, Restless Heart excels on "Eldorado." The ambitious cut Is a five-minute beauty, complete with jazzy keyboards and a melancholy piano, the kind one is likely to find in a dimly-lit saloon at midnight. The lyrics, about an outlaw from the Old West, add to the old-fashioned appeal of the song. "Eldorado" was written by band members Greg Jennings, guitars, and bassist Paul Gregg, who also doubles as lead vocalist here. All five members of Restless Heart are former studio musicians In Nashville who made a demo tape in 1983 and were signed to RCA Records on the basis of that performance. Their purposely positive sound and lyrics mix is triggered to country music audiences and pop music fans alike.

All the members sing, and their combined musical training run the gamut from classical piano to jazz and big band instrumentations. In the past year, the band has been an opening act for headliners such as Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Alabama and The Judds, but the inevitable success of "Big Dreams In A Small Town" will undoubtedly transform them into the star attraction. More than a year in the making, "Big Dreams In A Small Town" lives up to all the hoopla it has received. Not only does the band extend beyond the usual country music mold, they also add their own unique vocal sound to every song they perform. It has been a maturing process since their 1985 debut album, a self-titled project filled with eight songs, most of which were ballads.

Now, it's definitely the big times. A quick glance at their latest 8x10 publicity glossy details their new and stylish clothing (a far cry from the jeans and T-shirts used on the first album cover), and the record's nine songs seem carefully chosen to reflect the true, essence of Restless Heart. When the Country Music Association award nominations were recently announced. Restless Heart were nominated as Country Group of the Year. Not bad for a group who formed only five years ago.

i After a slow start if waiting nearly a year for people to notice can be called slow the country-rockers Restless Heart seemed to own the country charts last year. 1986's "Wheels' their second album, didn't catch fire until early 1987, when they earned four No. 1 country singles with "I'll Still Be Loving You," "Why Does It Have To Be (Wrong Or Right)," "That Rock Won't Roll" and "Wheels." "Loving You" garnered so much attention that It became a Top 40 pop crossover, and a Top 5 adult contemporary hit. Earlier this year "Wheels" went gold, selling more than 500,000 copies, and "I'll Still Be Loving You" received a Grammy nomination for "Best Country Song" and "Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals." Their performance of the song at the Grammy awards telecast gave them crucial exposure to further boost their popularity. Now it's time for "Big Dreams In A Small Town," Restless Heart's third and best album to date.

The album's sound is a mixture of soft country ballads, up-tempo numbers and rockers much In the vein of early Eagles work. A cut from the album, "The Bluest Eyes In Texas," became Restless Heart's fifth No. 1 country single even before the release of "Big Dreams." The song, a ballad filled with the group's brilliant five-part harmonies, is an ode to a love that refuses to die. Larry Stewart, lead singer, shines In his gentle delivery as he tells of the eyes that continue to haunt him: The bluest eyes in Texas are haunting me tonightLike the stars that fill the midnight sky, her memory fills my mind. The rockers "Jenny Come Back," "This Time" and "Calm Before the Storm" reflect the influences of early Eagles' material.

The three songs pair a powerful lead vocalist (Stewart on all but "Storm," which is sung by John Dittrich) with a I Restless Heart almost sounds biographical because of the conviction in Stewart's delivery. The ballad "A Tender Lie" is a slow-paced, tender masterpiece in Restless Heart's "positive love song" mode that few other country performers have been able to duplicate. "Lie" is filled with flawless vocals from the lead singer right down to the chorus. This particular piece proves that when they sing a love song, they sing it from the soul. strong choral accompaniment that is always in perfect unison.

Add heavy guitar and keyboard action and the end products are all easy-going rock and roll tunes with that genuine good-time feeling. "Big Dreams In A Small Town," the title cut, makes the best of their vocalizations and wraps them in an up-tempo beat. The message, that folks who live in small towns can make their big dreams come true, How Universal marketed 'Temptation's' box-office redemption ALJEAN HARMET2 Nw Yorti Timet Ntwi Strvlct I I'd like to introduce those who are criticizing us for not taking advantage of the controversy to those who have accused us of causing the controversy. Universal chairman Tom Pollock of the difficult of establishing security in such places. How "Last Temptation" will ultimately fare at the box office will not be known for months.

The movie, whose $6.5 million cost was modest compared with the $16 million cost of an average major studio film, has always been intended as a film for a specialized audience similar to Universal's "Tender Mercies." Not too long ago many of the same fundamentalist churches protesting "Last Temptation" urged their members to see "Tender Mercies," in which Robert Duvall played a country-western singer who becomes a born-again Christian. Few of them went. While the film, a critical success, won Duvall an Academy Award, it failed at the box office. other theater chains to play "Last Temptation." Although General Cinema, the fourth largest chain, has refused to play the movie (the company declines to give a reason), Loews, the Redstone theater chain, United Artists (the largest North American chain) and American Multi-Cinema (the third largest chain) all have now agreed to play the film. Executives point out that large chains cannot afford to spurn any major studio, and Universal has a movie for next Christmas "Twins," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito which is considered extremely hot.

Universal remains cautious in choosing the right theaters for its subsequent openings of "Last Temptation." Pollock said the theaters had to be in upscale neighborhoods, have easy security and be available for a long run. "Last Temptation" will not play in any of the new 10- to 18-screen multiplexes, for example, because grateful film maker would come to the studio with his next, more commercial venture. Moreover, while most of the top officers of Universal are Jewish, the artists involved in bringing the book by Nikos Kazantzakis. who is Greek Orthodox, to the screen were Scorsese, a Roman Catholic, and his writer, Paul Schrader, who grew up in the Dutch Reformed Church. As the marchers began to disperse around mid-afternoon, Tom Pollock, the entertainment lawyer who became chairman of Universal Pictures 23 months ago, looked down and asked a question that was not at all rhetorical: "Do you think anyone will come tomorrow?" The answer was: Yes.

In large part because of the demonstrations against "Last Temptation." a lot of people went to see the movie in New York. Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, Toronto, Montreal and Washington. The movie sold more than $400,000 worth of tickets, a high per-screcn average of $14,579. Some of the people standing in blocklong lines were fans of Scorsese, the director best known for "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull." Some said the dispute had made them curious. Still others said they intended their presence in line to be a gesture against censorship.

How Universal seems to be turning things in its favor has become the talk of Hollywood. "There is no doubt this film would have done modest business without the controversy," said Alex Ben Block, editor of the Hollywood newsletter Show Biz News. "The controversy fired people up. I talked to people in line the first day who said, 'They told me I couldn't see it, so I Universal realized early on that it had to walk a careful line between taking advantage of the controversy and appearing to exploit it. The plan was to open the movie first in cities where there was the least chance of nasty or violent MOfWMICHt.e PMOOUCIOItS INC HOLLYWOOD The top executives of Universal Pictures spent most of the afternoon of Thursday, Aug.

11, on the fourth-floor balcony of the studio's publicity building. Surrounded by sandwiches, potato salad and soft drinks, they might almost have been at a picnic. The balcony, however, provided perfect seats for a different event. Below them, nearly 10,000 demonstrators waved placards "The Greatest Story Ever Distorted," "Universal Is Anti-Christian" denouncing "The Last Temptation of Christ," the movie that Universal was preparing to release the next day. Universal had expected controversy because the film, by Martin Scorsese, presents a Jesus tempted by human pleasures, including sex.

What executives said they had not expected was the anti-Semitism and the personal threats. Calls from Fundamentalist Christians who regard the film's depiction of an imperfect Jesus as blasphemous had been jamming Universal's phones for weeks. The anti-Semitism surfaced when demonstrations at his home and a synagogue portrayed Lew R. Was-serman, the chairman of MCA, which is Universal's parent company, as the man who nailed Christ to the Cross. Attacks were mounted by people who had not seen the movie, including the Italian film and opera director Franco Zeffirelli.

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops gave the movie an rating for morally offensive. Lists of all the companies owned by MCA were distributed to fundamentalist pastors so that church members could boycott them. There was a grim irony attached to it all. "The Last Temptation of Christ" had always been conceived as an art film with limited audience appeal. There was talk in Hollywood that Universal had given Scorsese $6.5 million to make this personal film so that a HOW SHOWING OCEANFRONT RESORT wm LIFTERS confrontations.

"We chose major upscale markets," said William Soady, Universal's president of distribution. "And we tested the Midwest with Minneapolis," which it regarded as a liberal, nonviolent city. Although there were as many as 500 pickets at many theaters the first Friday, tight security kept the demonstrations peaceful. But after the first weekend successes, Pollock warned that the biggest dangers lay ahead. "The new markets are much tougher," he said.

With nine secondary markets added last weekend, "Last Temptation" still sold out most shows in several cities, but its per-screen average dropped to $26,459 from $44,579 because it played in some smaller theaters. To test the South, Universal chose two cities in Texas that it considered well-to-do and sophisticated markets: Houston and Austin, which is a college town and the state capital. Austin was the hot spot of protest, with 500 to 600 pickets circling the theater on Friday night, but evening shows sold out in both cities. Marketing-and-distributing executives at other studios are already second-guessing Universal for opening in the movie too cautiously. They use the comparison of "Colors," a movie about street gangs, which Orion opened in 422 theaters last spring.

The movie has grossed $45 million thus far. Pollock replied: "I'd like to introduce those who are criticizing us for not taking advantage of the controversy to those who have accused us of causing the controversy. Our goal is to have the picture open in the top 50 markets within four weeks." Part of the studio's problem has been the reluctance of theater owners, who were under enormous pressure from opponents in their communities, to commit themselves to playing "Last Temptation" until after the first weekend. They were waiting to see how critics and audiences reacted to the film as well as how dangerous the picketing was. Throughout.

Universal followed a cautious script of its own. When the fundamentalists and other religious critics began to denounce the film early in July on the basis of an early script, the studio immediately Invited liberal and mainstream religious leaders to see the film before it was even finished. The studio gained some positive comments from some moderate church leaders including Bishop Paul Moore Jr. of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Then Universal placed ads in leading newspapers responding to the boycott threats by emphasizing First Amendment freedoms.

Hollywood figures like Clint Eastwood were either recruited or spoke out on their own about the right of Scorsese to have his film shown. When boycotts began to be organized. Universal rushed to release the film six weeks early in nine cities where moviegoers were thought less likely to be intimidated by those who call the movie blasphemous. Universal had one weapon to negate the boycotts. MCA owns 50 percent of Cineplex Odeon, the second largest North American theater chain.

To give the movie credibility, however, it had to get On lh Ocean al 18801 Collins Sunny Ules. Miami Beach, flu. 33164 FROM j5 lck pert Coffc Shop Ealcrtalaaical Loaa niii Miami At. INTRACOASTAL KENDALE LAKES 945-7416 385-8363 HIALEAH CINEMA 358-2304 557-9888 t--' fcil.A'tMt KriH Ti OCEANWALKIO BYRON-CARLYLE 7 at 920-6330 866-9623 CCMAai CUtttM CUTLER RI0CE CINEMA bOUTHU lift fuftWWi 238-5311 LOEWS CINEMA FOUR 432-5225 NA.IONAt AMERICA 'SW STftttt 262-2260 WESTBIRD 8 227-0276 BAKERY CENTRE 7 lA-mumu vym err Wjalff ClWiMA. CMiMA.i KM.

Aid UCKA UAH A WO I- 'T AVE I 662-4841 NC ASSES WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT Sandra Bernhard's one-woman show is confrontational comedy Ntw York Tlrrwt Ntwt Unlet DINNER CRUISES At Miami SeaQuarium COCKTAILS, DINNER, MUSIC AND DANCING ON BISCAYNE BAY CHARTER AND CROUP PARTIES DEPARTURES NIGHTLY 361-9418 RESERVATIONS A MUST Between what ou know and what you wish, lies the secret The Big Blue confrontational comedy, growing out of mass pop culture, a collage she describes as taking In "all the different elements of theater, rock-and-roll, contemporary angst and stream of consciousness." The show is the result of a three-year honing process on the road and almost 13 years of standup comedy. If things go the way she hopes and believes they will, she will eventually be "like Woody Allen; translate my ideas to film but always perform live." Her live performances have, in fact, been going on since her childhood in Michigan and Arizona (to the question of how long ago that was, she answers, "I think any age is young if you're "I had three older brothers who indulged me, and I always knew how to get what I wanted," she said. "I was cute, endearing and smart and it was a natural progression to move into this profession." called "Without You I'm Nothing" and a book. Just published, called "Confessions of a Pretty Lady." How does the "pretty lady" describe herself? "An iconoclast, daring, gutsy, oversensitive, extremely caring about people and society and the direction in which we're headed, and a blithe spirit," she said. Bernhard's show, which she wrote with the collaboration of the director John Boskovich, isn't what might be called blithe.

It's NEW YORK Sandra Bern-hard knows with some certainty that almost any situation in which she finds herself will have an ironic ending. "I have a knack for it," she said. "I invite uncomfortable situations because I've learned that something comes out of it that's right for my work." Bernhard's work is, at the moment, a one-woman show BRUCE WILL I BANDS, DIE HAQD from 1 Now Showing! 'MttlMOtnuwO on going. The bands are starting to pull together, and that's the main thing." OMNI lO MIXT Ion OAMtft 358-2304 NOW SHOWING AMERICA TRIPLE tub ThEif. 262-2260 uwui.

MOVIES AT Pf MbHOKE PINES Miami OMNI 6 twt. 358-2304 91A Sunnv Isles Blvd. N.M.B. OCEAN WALK 10 920-6330 FLORIDA JC-pa, fH Hl0 967-93S0 435-3700 2 Blka. of Colllnt at 163.

Tal 940-9638 ADMIT 1 FREE WITH AD. Aluo: 930 SI H1 Tel MOVIES AT OCEAN WALK 10 1 920-6330 UNIVERSITY 7 ict' or tin 223-2700 PEMBROKE PiNESl ten BYRONCACLYLE IT (66-9623 435 3700 jw.lMlMAMI SOUTH DA0E PIAZA 8 tISTM AHUU ft I 251-1044 CABLES 711,1" )JVt 445-2402 APOLLO 8 ssa.gioo KENDALL TOWN it COUNTRY lO 'LA TyBViM AT NtNOAlLbfl 271-8196 played their first gigs here, and I want that to continue." Coconut Grove where New Money trendiness has a stranglehold on Old Grove grittiness seems an unlikely place to resurrect rock 'n' roll. But marketing original music demands an original approach. Grove Cinema owner Richard Fendleman believes he's hit upon a unique equation for success by opening an after-movie-hours club in his theater. "This place is a total entertainment facility, a place on the cutting edge of artistic expression," says Fendleman of his Hi-Volt Video Niteclub on the corner of Grand and 32nd avenues.

"Back in about 1982 we did an experimental night with a local band that brought In a video company, and they projected videos that went with the original songs the band played. It was great, and we've been wanting to do it since then," he says. Fendleman now owns computer graphics equipment, a half-dozen or so video monitors and a 200-inch diagonal TV screen he guesses is the largest in town. "Now I can display my Interests, not only film, but also live music. We have a great place to hear and see live music here." Bobby Dykes' Grove Club it isn't, but Hi-Volt provides a valuable forum for beginning new-music bands and their fans.

"As this develops, I'm finding I really like the newer up-and-coming bands. We've had bands that were playing for the first time and they are really energized. Their relatives come to see them, and they put out flyers and invite their friends. In a way, they're supporting us and we're support them," says Fendleman. Inevitably, bands that play around the local scene cite two Miami Beach nightclubs for exceptional professionalism.

Club Beirut and Woody's on the Beach are venues of choice for Miami-based rockers who couldn't care less about the touted "Miami Sound." The musicians who hang out here are more concerned with perfecting their own sound. "Woody's has been excellent In supporting local music," says The Basics' Maestu. "They treated us like stars; very professional. The people at Beirut are open-minded and helpful. Several other places might dabble in presenting original music), but nobody as seriously as those two." Club Beirut, under the watchful and enthusiastic eyes of Dennis Miami Hf'AOH DYR0N-CARLYLE7 866-9623 Britt, who plays in a band himself and helps choose the bands that play there, seems to have become a focal point for Miami rock 'n roll.

Says Maestu: "At Beirut they don't hire cover bands. If you have original music and have the courage to try it, they'll give you the chance. They've got everybody from us to all-girl bands to heavy metal groups, all styles, and that's all they have. Everywhere you go, everybody is trying to play everybody else's music. Beruit gives you the chance, and pays for it.

Other places do it book original-music bands), but it's their way of filling up the place with music for free." The list of clubs supporting local rock music Includes staples like Tobacco Road, Fire and Ice and the Cameo Theater, but is growing to include new spots like the Flamingo Cafe In South Miami (Monday nights), the Village Inn In the Grove (Monday nights), Club Nu in Miami Beach (Sunday nights) and even Club 1 235. Chip Shane of the RBT band, a regular in Miami clubs for about three years, puts things in perspective this way: "We're doing better now than we ever have. The karma is right, whatever. As far as the scene, it's going to keep NORTH MtAfI! WOMF TCO TMt A1S MIAMI LAKES 10 41 UAIN lUDlall 558-3810 una VnV 'v ItTt MIAMI LAKES 10 ami: MARINA 11741 8ffcCAVNl HI VO 831-2873 ITUtU-'nl' CUUbAU HQ 6M-M10 DADELAND 279-9990 APOLLO? '558-9100 6frti.LC'itM4 CUTLER RIDGE 236-5311 MILLER SQUARE Kit1 HE) IKtNAVt 3873494 KENDALE LAKES 385-8363 FLORIDA 4 987-9350 BAKERY CENTRE 7 WESTBIRD CINEMA I 227-0276 COML IIXMUL CW Mfc tALi.1 HiA. MJVIS lAirjtHHtU.

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MOVIEl AT PLANTATION, OViri XAnQATT. KOVltl At UUOIAMIII, COAL HIOQt. COBAl t'KINOt. (HAOOWOOO NO PASSES WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT.