The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 57

PRESENT: and Present with Harrison Ford as a truth-telling CIA man is now out on video MOVIE GUIDE 2F DINING OUT 3F INTO THE NIGHT 7F i 'll iimren Friday February 3 1995 (the Charlotte (Dbseroer SECTION Hot buttons Everything to float your boat By JOHN BORDSEN Entertainment Editor he 23rd annual Mid-Atlantic Boat Show may be drawing more spectators than usual and not just Piedmont sailors because the regional expo has weighed anchor and moved south several blocks from the old Charlotte convention center to the brand-new one It is in fact the inaugural shew at the new facility between College and Brevard and Stonewall and 2nd streets The building is as much a draw as the sports-related event The new and larger locale makes possible an expansion of the familiar affair: roughly 280000 square feet of usable exhibit space for the show up from 125000 at the previous site There are 130 booths about half marine- related Five four three two one Oink! the Year of the Pig according to the Chinese calendar and you can ring it in with the Chinese American Association of New Year celebration on Saturday The event will feature a social hour followed by traditional entertainment music and activities What might 1995 have in store? Those born in the Year of the Pig can expect a prosperous easy-going year For non-pig people the year might be more of a pessimistic and anxious time Well what did you expect from a year named after swine? Kennelh Johnson 1 995 Chinese New Year Celebration 6 30-9 30 Saturday Providence High School 1800 Pmeville-Matthews Rd Admission: $5 $3 for age 1 2 and younger (Chinese American Association members' $3 $1 for children younger than 12) Details: 543-4343 anytime COMEDY in the room: Whoopi Goldberg (from brate a birthday and their solidarity in the funny left) Mary-Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore cele- sometimes heart-tugging "Boys on the Side" i i vi 4 Vi A fv A tM II About 10 years ago Bobby Collins looked at stand-up comedians and thought could do that 1 could be on the road for months at a time earning a fraction of my current income and enduring potential humiliation So the Calvin Klein exec quit his job and hit the streets But the fast-talking Long Island native (is that redundant?) parlayed observations about current affairs into a career hawking Certs mints opening for Julio Iglesias at English-speaking venues hosting Up Spotlight" and playing bits in the movies and "Indecent play The Comedy Zone today and Saturday in his trademark white socks a mark of fashion nonchalance not geekdom Lawrence Toppman $1 2 50 Bobby Collins The Comedy Zone Independence Promenade Shopping Center 531 7 Independence Blvd 8 and 1015 pm Friday 7 and 9 Saturday Tickets are $12 50 An 1 1 show may be added Saturday if demand warrants Details 568-4242 anytime HEY Yachts ranging up to 50-footers such as the Sea Ray Sundancer displayed by Lake Wylie Marina can now be In all 40 boat dealers from the Carolinas will display their crafts A sailboat pavilion is also on the scene and includes a 35-footer from Charlotte-based Beneteau The fishing element is stronger than before also because of increased space About 1 00 bass boats are on display along with a 4 000-gallon aquarium stocked with largemouth bass (the Copenhagen Skoal Outdoors Bass Tub) where find casting demonstrations and seminars by freshwater and saltwater pros including David Fritts the Lexington NC angler whose success as a bass master has made him a national celebrity A mountain trout stream is now incorporated into the show stocked with 800 live brown and rainbow trout weighing up to 4 pounds apiece Appealing on the is much more than a female road picture as it stupid marketing or an accident that the preview for "Boys on the wrote off 49 of the human race? Either way lucky it was false advertising The trailer showed Whoopi Goldberg Mary-Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore cruising from Pittsburgh to Tucson in their van painting toenails and giggling about ill-fated boyfriends Thelma Thelma and Louise It hint at the dark emotional depths in the second half of the picture More important (still with me guys?) the preview suggest that men would get anything out of this movie Yet a universal quality to its quirky humor depiction of thorny relationships and anger at unfairness Women may not be the only ones holding damp handkerchiefs during the credits Maybe because the creative team is male: director Herbert Ross writer Don Roos and producers Arnon Milchan Steven Reuther and Ross They embraced both genders by including male characters who do the right things from a simple but affectionate bartender to a sweet astonishingly innocent police officer Box-office stats prove that female buddy movies never become monster hits when they use tv WRENCE men as whipping TOPPMAN boys or ignore them lurrMfllN completely not true on the distaff side as the 1 20 million-grossing shows) So the filmmakers put nobody off: Their story is shrewdly constructed Please see next page Boys on the Side 2 Stars: Whoopi Goldberg Mary-Louise Parker Drew Barrymore Director: Herbert Ross Rating: (profanity brief sex nudity and violence) -Excellent Good Average No stars' Showing ah Arboretum Matthews Festival Movies at the Lake Park 51 SouthPark Matthews Festival up dock? What: Mid-Atlantic Boat Show When: pm today 9 am-9 pm Saturday 10am-6pm Sunday Where: Charlotte Convention Center 501 College St Admission: $6 $5 for ages 1 3-1 6 and 60 and older $3 for ages 6-1 2 free for 5 and younger Details: 339-6000 830 am-5 pm weekdays Soul (baring) man Thousands of Big Ten alumni have ended up here especially over the last decade: graduates of the University of Illinois Indiana Iowa Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Northwestern Ohio State Penn State Purdue and Wisconsin The Big 10 Club of Greater Charlotte an organization that coordinates activities and that benefits the 1 1 individual Big Ten alumni groups operating in the metro area is holding its second annual dance party from 8 pm to 1 am Saturday at the uptown Radisson and features a DJ plentiful door prizes and a cash bar John Bordsen Big 10 Dance Party 8 m-l a Saturday Radisson Plaza Hotel College and Trade streets ickets $1 0 at the door Details Call your area alumni club or event coordinator Mark Coats 377-6368 anytime OH ORCHESTRAS A lot of people even know that the fully professional Charlotte Symphony has two smaller cousins the Charlotte Philharmonic and Charlotte Repertory orchestras This weekend will provide a good primer on those two civic groups as they perform concerts illustrating what sets them apart Saturday the Philharmonic will perform "Dancing Around the a cabaret-style pops concert complete with table seating and refreshments Charlotte soprano Jacquelyn Culpepper will join the orchestra along with dancers from Fred Astaire Dance Studio Sunday the Repertory orchestra will challenge itself and listeners with a program that balances works by Beethoven and American composers Samuel Barber and Alan Hovhaness The Percussion Ensemble will join the orchestra in the solo spot Dean Smith Charlotte Philharmonic 8pm Saturday Oasis Shrine Temple 804 Daniel Burnham Way Tickets $10 Details 846-2788 anytime Charlotte Repertory 3pm Sunday Dana Auditorium at Queens College 1900 Selwyn Ave ickets' $7 $5 for students and senior citizens Call 366-4499 anytime just think good if playing a song to actually totally believe what singing to have it mean something to me you know" Barlow said during a recent telephone interview from his Boston home "For me to make music where I would just go: just use rock lyrics that threaten I just feel right That just really an option" That approach has earned Barlow high-profile admirers such as alternative music icons Mike Watt and Bob Mould (who recently called Barlow one of the best rock Please see Sebadoh page 10F Lou Barlow takes writing personally By KENNETH JOHNSON Staff Writer Lou Barlow might well be the most naked songwriter in rock music With stark honesty and a refreshing directness he plumbs the human condition with a guitar a tape recorder and a trunk load of intensely personal lyrics kind of like alternative answer to short story writer Raymond Carver Songs such as "Together or where he admits "I know romance everything But obsessing just the and "Truly Great where he warns "Make it easy and hold it against you Make it hard and run are open sores of longing confusion and heartache a songwriter not afraid of letting emotions and insecurities show their faces or even sometimes take the wheel For Barlow 28 simply no other way around it Personal touch Who: Sebadoh with Tuscadero When: 9 today Where: The Edge 4369 Tryon St (near Woodlawn Road and 1-77) Admission: $8 Details: 525-3343 PS: Sebadoh will perform a free acoustic set at 5 pm today at the new Record Exchange 1 437-1 002 Morehead (at the corner of Kings Drive) Details: 342-21 31 Brand-new friends: Sebadoh fronted by intensely personal songwriter Lou Barlow (right) visits Charlotte club The Edge tonight I.