The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 18

6B THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Friday January 19 1990 i r7wmgirnTralowmpsw0m 0'7 tr Raquel's New Video: Zzzz 0 6ii cc'' ti 6i? 7--" t'i t'C' I iiZ I 44 r-41 -z: 1 ri t' rvigre4 t9444 At tii iAncir-' 1 ri Raquel Welch has a new fitness In "Sidewalk Stories" the artist (Charles Lane) Is a homeless Greenwich Village street artist By ANDY WICKSTROM Knight-Ridder Newspapers When Raquel Welch tells us at the start of her new video "Body and Mind" (90 minutes $2995) from HBO Video that she sometimes experiences anxiety and a dry mouth before a performance or talk show appearance the words are entirely at odds with the picture before us: a composed compelling and confident woman Welch looks smashing as always and anyone looking for self-improvement guides in their video store is bound to pause a moment over this her fourth video instructional Unlike the beauty tips exercise and weight loss extolled in her previous videos "Body and Mind" is more ethereal: The subtitle is "Total Relaxation and Stress Relief Program" Stress in the industry of well-being can be identified as the latest enemy to modern happiness loathed as much as cigarettes and cellulite Lending the proper gravity to Welch's message is guest expert Joan Borysenko author of "Minding the Body Mending the Mind" and a leading authority in says Welch "the fascinating field of psycho-neuro-immunology" What this seems to boil down to in Borysenko's presentation is the belief that the state of the mind affects the body and that stress can wreak terrible consequences In a coffeetable tete-a-tete she tells Welch about biofeedback and homeostasis By this point anyone who has popped "Body and Mind" into a VCR in order to ogle Welch will be experiencing stress of his own Such a person need watch no further this tape has unwaveringly serious intentions With Borysenko's exit Welch takes center stage on a gray monochrome set attired in a peach-colored sweat suit Although the drab set allows her skin tone to radiate warmly in contrast the shapeless suit signifies that relaxation is too worthy a purpose to admit leotards and tights No jiggling here please What's the essence of relaxation? As you may recall from your earliest lessons in public speaking breathing is the key At least half of the material although 'Sidewalk Stories' Wears Thin (Sometimes Silence Is Leaden) Fli video "Body and Mind" bly recognize the birds and butterflies she conjures up You may also recognize this territory as having been traveled last year in a video called "Shirley MacLaine's Inner Workout which also mentally deposited the viewer in a pastoral haven Welch's tape although derived from yoga doesn't serve up as much Eastern mysticism but they both make one wonder why video has been used to convey relaxation techniques that can be expressed just as well in a magazine article It's not a very complex topic after all and when it's tricked up with eerie music and production effects the mechanics can be comically overwhelming Just as useful as the video perhaps even more so is a "Body and Mind" audiocassette that comes with the video (the VHS box has been made deeper to accommodate this bonus which is not sold separately) Again Welch's voice guides the listener through some relaxing muscle stretches and a mental retreat from the worries of the world At one point in her video Welch jokingly wonders if we're getting a little sleepy Since sleep is my idea of achieving total relaxation I would warn motorists against playing the "Body and Mind" audio while driving along stress-filled expressways TR A it's divided into two broad "body" and "mind" segments is concerned with nothing more than getting you to adopt "abdominal breathing" into your daily routine As a video experience watching another person breathe no matter how expertly takes relaxation to the frontier of tedium Once' we get the breathing part down Welch takes us through some yoga-ish stretching routines: head rolls knee squeezes and various "poses" such as the catt cobra and reed carried out to tinkling new-age compositions In part two the "mind" segment things really come to a standstill In a soothing voice Welch invites us to "travel through your mind to the meadows of your innermost being to a sunlit clearing" Here is where stress falls by the wayside while the viewer connects to "positive energy" and other healthy intangibles Welch's soft voice continues to paint a mental picture of an idyllic setting that was long ago occupied by makers of greeting cards it's alway springtime there and you'll proba ff who takes care by Nicole Alysia A Sidewalk Stories 12 Stare: Charles Lane Sandye Wilson Writer-Director-Producer: Charles Lane Rating: A (Brief nudity and sex comic violence) Excellent: Goottl Fair Poor No stars Unacceptable "Young Woman" and "Doorman" All but the artist can be characterized by one trait: The child is innocent the mother is frantic the young woman is kind the bully who chases the artist is mean Lane invites comparisons to Charlie Chaplin by quoting him in the press kit Like Chaplin's Little Tramp Lane's artist is "a gentleman a poet a dreamer a lonely fellow always hopeful of romance and adventure" The slender fine-boned huge-eyed Lane gets some of the Tramp's pathos into his character but he forgets two crucial things First gags must build to a climax When the artist gets invited to the young woman's ritzy apartment he takes advantage of the If You're tii 1197 okf LISA LEAVrThisiand Pictures of an abandoned child played first bathtub he's seen in a long time (Oddly he always looks clean) While she sets the table and cooks he bathes the little girl and then himself He's gone a good 20 minutes but his hostess doesn't notice Nor does he make a mess He just takes a quiet bath which we don't see a funny idea wasted Second Chaplin's pathos was (at its best) touched with irony Lane's isn't He exploits the little girl's cuteness and his own as if they were lost puppies though the artist does have a mischievous side There's a latent racism here too every authoritarian figure from a mean librarian to three jaded cops are white All the happy caring people are black Bill Dill's gritty black-and-white photography gives the film a realistic look except for slightly surrealistic nightscapes (You'd never know Lane had only $200000 and 16 days to shoot) Marc Marder's eclectic score wanders from jazz noodlings to a sweet ragtime motif for the artist compensating somewhat for the lack of dialogue Sandye Wilson is appealing as the young woman and Nicole Mysia is a cherubic infant Otherwise the acting is broad The performers haven't modified their styles because the film is silent: You can see them shouting or whispering at each other sometimes so clearly that you can read their lips If the movie is driven by dialogue why not use voices? Of Success Going By LAWRENCE TOPPMkN Movie Writer 1 There's a vast difference between silent films and films without sound Silent films find new ways to communicate thoughts and emotions through body language mime and the physical relationships of actor to actor or actor to setting Films without sound just don't have dialogue "Sidewalk Stories" is a film Without sound Promising young Charles Lane has written produced directed starred in and edited (with Anne Stein) his first feature but he has set himself an impossible task: conveying a sentimental tale about a homeless infant without dialogue Lane's character also is homeless a Greenwich Village street artist who lives in a hole in the wall of a tenement building He takes care of the lost child stealing clothes from a store When he realizes the store owner is a kindly Woman who once sat for a portrait they become friends (He pays her back too presumably with his entire savings) At first his life seems uncomfortable but tolerable Then the tenement is razed taking away his only shelter and he has to make a decision: Should he keep the little girl who means the world to him or find her mother? "Means the world to him" is a corny phrase but it suits the tone (if the movie No characters except Iwo policemen have names they're billed as "Artist" and Indigo Girls: The Color The Indigo Girls with opening act Kristen Hall perform at 8:15 pm Thursday at Spirit Square (Performance Place) 345 College St Also 8 pm next Friday at Love Auditorium at Davidson College in Davidson Both shows are sold out At Spirit Square you can put your name on a waiting list for returned tickets beginning at 7:30 pm Thursday (45 minutes before showtime) For details call 376-8883 9 am to 5 pm weekdays noon to 5 pm Saturday At Davidson you can call 892-2135 2 to 5 pm Wednesday through Friday to get on a ticket waiting list Continued From Page IB personalities are as different as their voices a contrast that fuels the chemistry that makes their music work "We both believe in the basic sacredness of life but approach it differently" says Ray calling from her home in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur "I take a lot of negative things and talk about them from that perspective to get to a positive perspective Like the problem of evil for instance Instead of avoiding talking about it I would rather look at it maybe take the perspective of someone who feels that way Then I can understand it better and deal with it better in life "Emily would rather not talk about it a lot of times because to her it's cut and dried 'It's something I don't want any part of and I'm not going to talk about it' It's not like she believes ignorance is bliss It's like 'I know what this is about and I don't have to investigate it' Ray 25 and Sailers 26 write their songs separately then arrange them together emphasizing different musical and lyrical ideas to create an intensely personal sound The two met in Decatur when Ray was in fifth grade and Sailers in sixth They started playing music together in high school and became the Indigo Girls while students at Atlanta's Emory University They became friends with REM singer Michael Stipe after meeting him at a club in Athens Ga Ile wound up singing backing vocals on a track on the duo's album -Os -0Tr 2-a-re--: -S-2-1 2' TelTAT --L- -T eTy'- i 44 --T LL 'T- -L -e i i 1 A- ALL YOU CAN EAT ALL DAY FRIDAY li 6 4 1 NT lir YLE 4 $399 (Golden breaded country-style fish fillets) i -5 9 -r a (Golden brown fish fillets) 4 Awe ATEria- 11 sT LE I 4 0 etto I You get French fries Cole slaw hush puppies and all the delicious fish fillets you can eat! Illt It 5 i CHARLOTTE AIONROE a deli GASTONIA LAURINBURG IIV 4111: Ds ROCKINGHAM Sege "'sd COME SEE US ON OUR TOES WE'LL BRING YOU TO YOUR FEET "An Evening On Pointe" Principal Dancers: Traci Owens Mel A Tomlinson "The Sleeping Beauty" (Rose Adagio Act I) "By Lamplight" "Swan Lake" (Act II Pas de Deux) i 01 "Notturno" to I "Two Pieces For Piano Cello" (World Premiere) 74- I "Belong" "Romeo Juliet" (Balcony Scene) 4 "Renderings" it 11 ie Olf '1 'r Spirit Square Center For The Arts: '-4- '15'V itsWoPf FOR TICKET INFORMATION CALL Saturday January 20 376-8883 8:15 pm North Carolina Dance Theater SALVATORE AtEILO ARTISTIC DIRKTOR SE Vf VIN iNA iLNUE wiNSTON Skim Norm CAROLINA 2712? (9191 761 2190 ------1---- --2----------L- --5-------- ---e--------- --a 1 ---7--- ---r -1- -1 ----T-- ----n -z-- 7- ----i-- -2------ -7----7----- ----7- --1-7---- 2 IT 1 7-7---- ----ii'----- -2I------ 1------------ ---7-7 7 r--- --2- -f -1---- 7 --i- ii v- ri II II 'i IF ----------r-----1-wl-aii -40001Nuouni ivie 3 II 11111 is ili i 1i list 13 ii 1 1 11111 oll -1-- 1 11 liii I 11 kt----1 111 Itt li 1 4 it 1 Jiii Li i 0111 1 i 1 1 ---'4'-' l-'' 1 4 2r- e' ntolool 2 IL fl41t--7-F342sigitit47-Ittaril'X''4' '40411 ii '5trkairjA4WA WHERE INCURABLE ROMANTICS GO FORTREATMENE Where else would you go for an elegant escape for two? Our Weekend Romance Package includes a Friday or Saturday night in a luxurious room in-room movie and a full breakfast for two Not to mention our indoor whirlpool exercise room and our location two minutes from the Coliseum Weekend Packagt For incurable romantics we obviously have just what the doctor ordered 0 WYNDFIANA GARDEN HOTELS' (0 Ar CHARIOT! 4200 Wit moun Road Charlotte NC 28208 reervatLoricc all 704 157 91000r T100-822 4200 Rale is per room per rught no per person Not appixabLe to ozmvenrions or groups katitatalav tinted at thts rate For a while Saliers thought about quitting the Indigo Girls to chase her college dream of teaching English But Ray talked her into sticking with the group convinced of the power of music to make their lives better and to touch others "For an individual music can change their lives" says Ray "because it can help them see things about themselves that they didn't see before Then after that it's up to the person to act on it "I don't know if music can save the world I think it serves as more of a reflection of what's going on Sometimes I think music can help instigate change but I really feel more that it reflects the feelings of people who want change" 'Tartuffe' Puts 20th-Century Spin On Moliere's 1 7th-Century Classic Continued From Page 111 imprisoning Orgon himself Tartuffe comes close to succeeding not via plot twists and turns but by sheer chutzpah Caught red-handed with Orgon's wife he talks his way Out of it So audacious is Tanuffe that he is able to convince Orgon to sign over his house after all the abuse Only the intervention of the king at the last moment saves Orgon and his family from TartuffeIs wiles The parallels with televangelism are obvious III-intentioned TV preachers invite themselves into homes and talk people out of their money as Bakker was convicted of doing to the tune of millions of dollars "The play is not about religion" Ilaynes said "It's about hypocrisy We all know there are hypocrites of every stripe There are contemporary parallels everywhere We are trying to make a statement about 'the media' and how certain people think they can manipulate It's a heavy message but very funny as well" In Havnes' updated version two Despite the updating Haynes will use what could be considered an old-fashioned translation of the play the same script Haynes used when he directed a more traditional staging of "Tartuffe" at Davidson College three years ago Richard Wilbur's English translation is in verse as was Moliere's original French rhymed couplets that could make the play seem sing-songy "I rather like the way couplets give the play a pulse" Haynes said He plans to cut the five-act play from a playing time of almost three hours to about two hours and 15 minutes Almost all the characters will be in street clothes except Orgon and Tartuffe who will wear what Haynes called "culty" type outfits perhaps black pajamas with Nehru-type collars The hoped-for effect will be far from the polyester suits and pompadours favored by the participants of "The PTI Club" in its heyday "Without seeming too pretentious I hope the show has an Orwellian tone" Haynes said More 'Brazil' than PTI" "The play is not about religion It's about hypocrisy We all know there are hypocrites of every stripe There are contemporary parallels everywhere" Randell Haynes characters will not appear in person but as "talking heads" on television screens Part of Orgon's living room will be a control booth Faces of real-life televangelists will flicker across the screens And instead of the king another more modern power will come to the rescue The deus ex machina (from Latin meaning a Godlike figure who comes in near the end of a play to resolve a seemingly unresolvable situation) will he an electronic image 4.