Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 54

Entertainment Jazz, D15 Television, D16 Section D10 oa Austin American-Statesman Thursday, July 3, 1986 The arts ust good plain old, goofy fun 'Little China' unfolds with comic book flair By Patrick Taggart American-Statesman Staff The arts is a guide to select fine arts activities today through Sunday. Musical comedy Threepenny Opera, a musical comedy by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill opens at 8 tonight at the Austin 5th Street Theatre, 505 E. Fifth St. Friday's July i Fourth special performance i begins at 9 p.m. Other I performances are at 8 p.m.

through Sunday. The play I continues through Aug. 2. Cambiata quartet The Austin Cambiata Players are this week's entertainment for the weekly "Classical Sunset I Series" at Symphony Square, 11th and Red River streets. The 8:30 concert offers delightful music from two flutes, a cello and a piano.

The program consists of works by Vivaldi, Villa-Lobos and Doppler. Admission is $3. At the Carver The 4th Annual Regional Black Artists Exhibition offers 46 works by 21 Central Texas artists. The show includes work by James Bettison, Clarence Briscoe, Harvey L. Johnson and F.L.

"Doc" Spellman. Gallery hours at the George Washington Carver Museum, 1165 Angelina I are noon to 8 p.m. today and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday; the museum will be closed Friday. I For more information call 477-' 9660.

Classic film Casablanca remains a favorite American film, and it is easy to see why. The movie contains Humphrey Bogart's most persuasive, most unaffected performance. The World War II classic will be presented at 7:45 p.m. Friday and at 3:50 and 7:45 p.m. Sunday as part of the Paramount Theater's summer film series.

Admission is $4 for adults; $2.50 for children. Raiders of the Lost Ark was an adventure movie with a comic book flair. Big Trouble in Little China is the comic book, period. And if you're in the right mood for this sort of thing, John Carpenter's new movie presents as fine an opportunity as any this summer to have a good, goofy time. Only five years have passed since Steven Spielberg's Raiders made its first appearance.

Yet it has been cloned countless times since, and a good many of its rip-offs are of the tongue-in-cheek mode. In most cases, the campy attitude is little more than a cover-up for shoddy craftsmanship. John Carpenter, director of Halloween, Escape from New York and Starman, clearly plays his material for laughs in this picture, but he works hard to get them. When he claimed in interviews that the film would be a kung-fu-adventure-comedy-ghost story, the temptation was to snicker. As it turns out, he has more hits than misses in all of those categories.

At thf rpntpr nf it is Kurt Russell's Jack Burton, an unusual hero in that he makes his Bia Trouble in Little China stars, from left, Kim Cattrall, i i i 1. 7 Kurt Russell, Dennis Dun and Suzee Pai living naming pigs iu uic wiiuiesaie mat ivci in a tractor-trailer. But we quickly find out that mmm wmmm Burton is no ordinary redneck. For one thing he talks like a character in a Philip Marlowe Qt story; every sentence is a whiskey-stained wisecrack. whose protagonist role is never so cool, never so adroit as he thinks he is.

Russell's performance is perfectly timed and tuned, proof that his good comic work in Used Cars and The Best of Times was no fluke. der to return to fleshy existence. To this end the evil spirit Lo Pan (James Hong) has the beautiful, green-eyed Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) kidnapped. The victim is the fiance of a young man of Jack's acquaintance, and together they set off to get her back. It's as silly as it is complicated, but it moves so quickly and with such comic invention that most viewers will scarcely notice.

Everyone eventually gets a chance to throw a few laughs our way, even Victor Wong as Egg Shen, the Chinatown tour guide with a talent for mixing cocktails with a supernatural kick to them. The biggest laugh-getter is Russell, for no reflection on the ridiculousness of it all. A truck theft, which occurs early in the film, is merely the hook that gets Jack involved in the real action, which is a war between rival factions in some urban Chinatown. The bad guys in this conflict possess a secret weapon a evil spirit who must marry a green-eyed woman in or As an example, consider this exchange with the beautiful Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) whom he meets after a gang of street hoods has stolen his truck. Gracie: "I'd go with you Jack, but.

Burton: "Yeah, I know, you've got a problem with your face." Everything in Big Trouble in Little China happens in double time, a device that allows The special effects are the work of Richard Edlund, who received Academy Awards recognizing his talents in such films as Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Raiders of the Lost Ark. He also has received Oscar nominations for Ghostbusters, 2010 and Poltergeist. Big Trouble in Little China, rated PG, at the Capital Plaza Cinema. sideman brings his own music to Springsteen By Michael Point Special to the American-Statesman Guitarist Nils Lofgren is one Farm Aid II performer who is used to seeing thousands of screaming fans when he plays. After all, when you're on stage with Bruce Springsteen every night, a sea of faces becomes a standard part of the concert landscape.

Lofgren has a musical life outside his Springsteen duties, however, and it is that identity he will bring to the benefit. The differences between being the Boss' sideman and fronting his own show is pronounced but positive, according to Lofgren. "In Bruce's band, the focus is naturally on him as a singer songwriter and rontman. All I have 'Miss Liberty' Irving Berlin's Miss Liberty opens Saturday at the Zilker Park Hillside Theatre. This year's summer musical production, directed by Bil Pfuderer, is an extravaganza with more than 100 performers, including an orchestra.

Admission is free. Art relief Six galleries representing the Art Dealers Association of Austin are celebrating the season with an effort called "Summer Celebration '86." The Matrix Gallery, 912 W. 12th offers "Pescamania Willingheart Gallery, 615-A E. Sixth "Summer Idyll with An American Scene, 606-E W. 12th "Regionalists and Their Galerie Ravel, 1210 W.

Fifth "Summer Days and Summer Marvin Seline Gallery, 1512 W. 35th and Patrick Gallery, 721 E. Sixth "Summer Pastimes." Coming Friday more rewarding." Lofgren, who always stays busy during Springsteen's rest and recuperation periods, is doing something different this time. This summer he'll go on the road with his brother to play a series of acoustic dates, a far cry from the boisterous Street Band music he plays with Springsteen. Lofgren also tours with an electric band, but the acoustic tour is something special to him.

"The Farm Aid show will be the third date of my acoustic tour. The tour starts in Texas and will last about six weeks, counting the dates overseas. It's real refreshing to go into some of the cities I played in with Bruce and see another level of the music scene. It's also exciting to be doing something so radically different in musical terms than what I Guitarist Nils Lofgren has been a favorite of the critics with albums -like Cry Tough. to do is concentrate on the music and just play as well as I can.

It's a great situation for playing, but you can get a little spoiled by it because your musical responsibilities are so limited. On my tours I have that focus directly on me and that makes me work a whole lot harder. It may be more difficult but it's definitely Celebrating the Farm Aid "still waiting for his first hit," he's been a critics' favorite with albums like Cry Tough and a steady audi-ence-pleaser during that time. Lofgren realizes he's got a good thing going, despite his lack of commercial success as a solo artist. "I'm pretty happy with the way things are now.

I wouldn't mind a big hit of my own, but I'd like it more for the opportunities it would give me to expand my music than for ego gratification. I figure I've got the best of both worlds right now. I get to play in one of the best bands rock 'n roll has ever known and then I get to do my own music and even play special events like Farm Aid II. It's not perfect, but I wouldn't trade places with too many people I can think of." Fourth fun lasts all day By John Herndon Special to the American-Statesman The fun of the Fourth of July begins hours before fireworks light up the sky at Auditorium Shores. The music, exhibitions, food and fun begin on Town Lake, west of South First Street, at noon.

Johnny Dee and the Rocket 88's will play '50s nostalgia; Bubba Cox and Easy Going pick country runes and light rock; Jimmy Day makes steel guitar magic; Coupe de Ville performs rhythm and blues; and the Scat Cats revive Dixieland sounds on the River Boat. Two bicycle-motocross exhibitions will be interspersed with the music. Food from some of Austin's outstanding restaurants, including the County Line, Katz's, Scholz Garten, Threadgill's, the Old Pecan Street Cafe and Maggie Mae's, will be available. The event is sponsored by the City of Austin Sesquicentennial Commission, the Austin Symphony, the city Parks and Recreation Department and the Austin Jaycees. Admission is free.

Central Texas celebrates D15 play on the Springsteen tours." The festival format of Farm Aid II, which will cram performances by about 80 acts into one show, will limit Lofgren's time on stage, and he's already given a lot of thought to what he'll do in his abbreviated set. "I'll be doing a mini version of my acoustic show for the most part. I'll probably do an acoustic guitar number, a piano tune and a Springsteen song that we haven't recorded yet. Anything else that happens will be as big a surprise to me as to the audience." Lofgren, who has also worked with Neil Young, is not using the "Springsteen connection" to become a solo act. He's been recording as a solo artist for 10 years, and while he ruefully admits that he's Fourth Staff Photo Symphony conductor relishes musical freedom work with Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony.

Kwak conducts often in Korea, and is clearly proud of both his native and adopted countries. "Unless you are born in another country, you will never have such feelings when you go back to visit," Kwak said. "It reminds me of when Stravinsky visited Russia shortly before he died. There is a touching picture of him with teardrops in his eyes looking at his home country. I have that feeling for Korea." For the July Fourth concert, Kwak chose a program which emphasizes both the national holiday and the Texas Sesquicentennial along with, as Kwak said, "a lot of loud pieces," like Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and marches by John Philip Sousa.

Cactus Pryor will narrate Lincoln Portrait, music by Aaron Copland to poems by Carl Sandburg. The Austin Symphony performs its annual Fourth of July concert at 8:30 p.m. Friday on Auditorium Shores. The concert is free and the Austin Jaycees fireworks show will follow. By Jerry Young Special to the American-Statesman Freedom of expression and greater opportunities have attracted countless musicians to this country.

One of those is Austin Symphony conductor Sung Kwak. "It was like heaven," said Kwak about the country where he came to study music in 1964. He had worked as a professional trumpet player, but wanted to pursue the greater challenge of conducting, and he credits becoming an American with giving him the chance to do what he loves most. "The American Music Director Training Program and National Endowment for the Arts jointly sponsor a program that helps support young American music directors," Kwak said. "They provide an opportunity to work with major American orchestras.

I was chosen in 1977 in the year that I was qualified to become a citizen. I was in my fifth year as conductor of the Joffrey Ballet and I felt it was time to move on to the symphonic field." The grant enabled Kwak to Royalty reigns Prince stars in and makes his directorial debut in Under The Cherry Moon. Arts Entertainment Also. Brumski'8 and City Lights are new additions on Sixth Street. Joe Higgs, godfather of reggae, makes his first Texas appearance as part of the two-day Liberty Lunch Third World Music Festival.

July Fourth has carried a special meaning for Willie Nelson and Austin for years. Noel Coward's Private Lives is a winning production at St. Edward's Mary Moody Northen Theatre. 1 v. The Austin Symphony performance at Auditorium Shores on July Fourth will be capped by an impressive fireworks display..