The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 51

The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution LIVING Thursday, August 11, 1994 If 'IMAGES AND VOICES' Exhibit may spur action on black museum TheArts By Mike Christensen WASHINGTON BUREAU Washington Lonnie Graham had just finished re-creating his Aunt Dora's sitting room for a museum last year when his house and his heritage burned to 'Intersection' crashes when it tries to be overly chic about mortality Here's a look at new and recent video releases. Reviews by Steve Murray and Eleanor Ringel "Intersection" (R) Can architect Richard Gere choose between his bright, gorgeous, estranged wife, Sharon Stone (so businesslike she takes phone calls during fore-play), or his bright, gorgeous mistress, Lolita Da-vidovich (a life-force who whoopee bares her breasts during charades). Unfolding as a flashback while Gere's Mercedes spins out of control, this is Hollywood's latest, high-gloss ex-ample of Mortality Chic Life," "Ghost," It's carpe diem for the Architectural Digest set only it should be translated here as "seize the dame." Blandly acted by Gere and sluggishly the ground. He lingers over the small room, part of a Smithsonian exhibit on families opening Sunday, He winds the clock on the old black-and-white television, adjusts his aunt's favorite chair, draped with an afghan for the winter "Imagining Families: Images and Voices" Opening Sun-da. 10 am to 5 p.m.

daily. Through Feb. 28. Free. 900 Jefferson Drive S.W, (next to the Smithsonian Castle), Washington, 202-357-2700.

chill, and straightens family photos clustered on a console radio. "This is the only place that I can go and feel at home now," said the 40-year-old photographer from the village of Seldom Seen, Pa. "These are the only artifacts that are left. from my The room is a metaphor for the decadelong campaign to create an African-American museum within the Smithsonian, a campaign waiting for Senate action on legislation that has been stalled for the past year. Deborah Willis, a Smithsonian curator, worries that artifacts she has spent more than two years locating and cataloging might be lost unless Congress approves the project to convert the graceful, century-old Arts and Industries building on Washington's Mall into a museum of black culture.

"Three people have died since I've met them, and their families have called concerned about what to do with their material," Willis said. "We cannot collect until we are a museum." "Aunt Dora's Room," evoca- YOU'LL LOVE WEEKEND Get your WEEKEND off to a running 'HI 111 A directed, it's a dramatic dead end. SM. VlUtUj "Faraway, So Close" (PG-13)-If you loved Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire," avoid his sequel. Plummeting from sublime to can ruin your memories of the 1988 film.

Bruno Ganz returns as Damiel, the angel who traded his wings for earthly life. Butthe focus this time is on Damiel's pal, Cassiel (Otto Sander), an angel who also becomes mortal. so vivid here," he marvels, like Deutschland Dorothy, as the black-and-white film stock changes to color.) That's when "Faraway" takes a fatal tumble. Wenders hatches a plot line about a porno-for-rifles black market; that turns the film into a sluggish blend of James Bond folly and metaphysical stew. This tonal muddle isn't helped any by a string of self-congratulatory cameos, from Mikhail Gorbachev (yes, the Gorbachev), Lou Reed and Peter Falk as themselves.

S.M. "My Girl 2" (PG) As they used to say about Franco on the ol4 "Saturday Night Live," Macaulay Culkin is still dead in this sweet but somewhat tepid sequel to the 1991 hit However, his absence isn't the problem; it's the too-early disappearance of Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. This time, Vada (Anna Chlumsky), with her dad and stepmom's blessing (Aykroyd and Curtis), flies to Los Angeles on a "Citizen Kane'Mike search for information about the mother she never knew (she died in childbirth). There's nothing evil or offensive about the film; it simply seems to run out of steam. The unlikely yet oddly perfect pairing of Aykroyd and Curtis was more integral to the first film than anyone realized; when they're left behind, the movie loses a lot.

E.R. fr, Chasers" (R) Dennis Hopper needs to go back on drugs. Legal ones, preferably, but make sure it's something that will keep him from making more movies like this dismal dreck. Tom Ber-enger and William McNamara play sailors assigned to prison escort Their charge turns out to be an amply-endowed swab played by Erika Eleniak Siege). The movie may sound like a distaff variation on Jack Nicholson's wonderful "The Last Detail," but it's more like a recycled "Hee Haw" episode, as slick McNa-roaa and gruff Berenger chase the elusive (and, did I mention, amply-endowed?) Eleniak all over South Carolina.

Hopper's dirty-old-man direction goes from intrusive to embarrassing, and his idea of the South is about as up to date as "Easy Rider." E.R. "Lightning Jack" (PG-13) Lightning struck twice for Paul Hdgan in the '80s with his hugely popular "Crocodile Dundee" movies. Alas, it has not returned a third time for this action-comedy set in the Old West. Lightning Jack Kane (Hogan) is an amusingly full-of -himself bandit who'd rather make headlines than rob banks. Cuba Gooding Jr.

plays his mute sidekick, a quick-witted tinhorn who's enamored of Jack's outlaw rep. For the most part, the movie is an amiably dopey, kid-friendly western like something Disney would've made in the late '60s. But parents please note the PG-13 rating; there's a sex-ed-as-riding-lesson scene that, while played for laughs, I wouldn't want to explain to my 10-year-old. E.R. V.

'v. PhotobyRICKMCKAYWashingtonBurewi I lanta photographers Lynn Mar-shall-Linnemeier, who focuses on the Mississippi Delta, and Christian Walker, who uses hjs family to trace the fragile nature ji of life. "Initially people were concerned, since we're not a museum yet, that we should not be exhibitions," Willis said, "but I thought it would be a great tn1-troduction to things that we'd like to do in the Memories suffuse the exhibit, a sensory journey through black culture. The rough-hewn skeleton of a cabin rises above a map of Staten Island, whgre freed blacks once harvested oys? ters from New York harbor. Soft quilts memorialize the victims of lynchings in the South.

A wall of photographs inventories the possessions of an artist's mother. Another series focuses on the im portance of the kitchen table "to, family life. The exhibit will be open until the end of February. If Congress approves, the Smithsonian hopes to convert the entire building by the turn of the century. ruarnmcrrf KACrrntEtairrt tl tti-ms UNNEKHPtAU SM3M fMVIDtNCt SQUAM 2U-S2U STAL0WC WOODS WUA6I 44M4M t7V10 4 MYtTTtVIUI 4M-StM m-- WmJ IB Ul.4 jit jiiHa -A uav 1 weekend rate, frrom Thursday until Monday you can rent many of our cars beginning at $8.99 per day plus tive of the early 1960s, is a central feature of a temporary exhibit in the Arts and Industries Building called "Imagining Families: Images and Voices." The OUR SPECIAL RENTAL RATI start with our special by.

1901 1 S(3)99aM WpiusMlleageC A 1 3 ibc per mue. inner excellent weenena rates wim free mileaee also available. A 3 dav minimum "Aunt Dora's Room" is Lonnie Graham's (above) only family link. His home burned just as he finished the room for a Smithsonian exhibit, which includes works by Atlanta artist Lynn (left). collection from photographers and other artists examines the threads of African-American and other ethnic families.

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and if 'aaaaaaaaa you wish, DW is available for $7.50 oer dav. A major credit card is not required. Give us a call or better yet, stop Airport 7634643 Athens 706-5434771 BuckhMd 261-7337 Chamblee 458-9551 Cobb 426-7370 Conyars 760-8662 Decatur 325-6833 Downtown 6594050 Gwinnett 497-0257 Lawrtncevllle 962 2228 Restructuring at WABE-EM, WPBA means nine employees to lose jobs Marietta 8184030 Norcross 4484558 Rome 706-290-1093 RosweH 9924500 Sandv Snrlnat 255-3873 Bouthlakt 981 I e8toneKrL2S64446TrKrTrton46-40(X)tTownCemw5164118 The two stations have been operating on an annual budget of $2.4 million, with a $177 million payroll NEW By Derrick Henry STAFF WRITER The management group empowered earlier this week by the Atlanta Board of Education to manage radio station WABE-FM (FM 90) and WPBAChannel 30 has decided to terminate eight TV station employees and one radio worker. "The TV station was overburdened with staff," said Barry Walker, a prime architect of the new management group. "And to be honest, some of people there didn't fit in with broadcast plans." Walker, director of communications at Georgia Tech, said, the Atlanta Educational Telecommunications Collaborative Inc.

(AETC) is keeping only 23 of the combined radioTV staff of 48. But not all of those are losing their jobs. "Some chose retirement, some transferred within the Atlanta public school system, and some found other jobs," Walker said. Walker has been planning the. AETC structure for 16 months, and the board of education officially approved the group on Monday.

On Tuesday, the AETC told the nine that their jobs will end Sept 1. -Those leaving include Boyd Lewis, a reporterproducer at WABE, and WPBA membership director Pat Miller, producer Chris Moser and deputy director John Hughes. Walker said the two stations have been operating on aa annual budget of S2.4 hon, witfj a $1.77 millionjpay- SENIOR APPRECIATION SPECIAL Thursday's 3-9pm Choice of 6 SPAGHETTI LIVER N' ONIONS COUNTRY FRIED STEAK CHOPPED BEEF STEAK CHICKEN FILLETS FISH N' CHIPS ALL DINNERS SERVED WITH 2 VEGETABLES roll. "That doesn't leave a vhole lot for operations," he said. There are no plans to' change the successful mix of news and classical music at WABE but that substantial changes are envisioned for the TV station.

"Our imperatives are to represent our community more broadly, and to put Atlanta on the map as far as television news is concerned." A news director will be hired to serve both stations. Previously, neither station had such a position. The search for a chief operating officer for the stations has been narrowed to nine candidates, Walker said. According to Eric Weston, public relations director for the two stations, no decision has been made on the status of Adrienne Dowling, former WABEWPBA general manager. Earl Johnson, WABE operations manager, has been promoted to station manager.

"It's a great opportunity; he will be one of the few black radio station directors in the country," Walkersaid. mtmirea mm 12 Convenient Atlanta Locations to Serve Vou ONLY 6WMNtTT MALI C06NOB 47i4M tamrn 7M4U MMKUffVUMt M44t anrsMU MANStU(MSSIN8 0U61ASVIUI 4204 lm llu.i iAAmJAA IB mt.Jt CallarataiallaiM.