The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 15

I i Fri 1 Ithe Chdriotte Observer Friday July 24 1987 11166 le IL 01I i Section 1 1 (th Fr Ithe Chdriotte Observer Friday July 24 1987 Section BEST BETS Friday RWIEW Movie Pulls A Fallen Star From Obscurity Movie: La Bamba Rating: Excelient ititoFWr Very Good -Poor Good -4' '1 f- 4 r- i i I j' rti 1:: li'lliiz4H'E1-- 1 1 fitt rit 'i- f71 k'- 4 -ioi -r -4 4ii! Holly's was the name you heard in connection with that fateful flight "La Bamba" means to change that by introducing you to the teenage Valens and his remarkable story a 1 By JoANN RHETTS Movie Writer Feb 3 1959 We were more than four years away from the first Kennedy assassination and we didn't yet know to flinch when we heard radio announcers say "We interrupt our regular programming Buddy Holly the Big Bopper and 17- year-old Ritchie Valens had fallen out of the sky over a snowy Iowa cornfield Stars weren't supposed to fall but the '60s were coming after all In the world of rock 'n' roll legends the innocence of the '50s seemed to die in that plane crash along with the three singers Das Show Business They dress in Reynolds Wrap Viking helmets and describe their sound as the "psychedelic polka" They're Das Fur lines five women from New York who turn a one-joke routine into an evening of cheerful insanity Adventuresome rock fans should report to the Milestone Club 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd at 10 pm today Cover charge is $4 Details: 393-9035 anytime A Comic To Remember Remember this name: leny Seinfeld He's been on David Letterman and Johnny Carson He played HBO's Young Comedians Special and was Showtime's Comedian of the Month His own HBO special will be out this fall Seinfeld will be at the Comedy Zone in the Radisson Plaza Hotel at the corner of Trade and Tryon streets tonight at 8:30 and 10:30 pm Saturday at 9 and 11 pm and Sunday at 8:30 pm There's a $7 cover Reservations: 377-0400 9 am to 6 pm weekdays It helps if you know how very white-bread those '50s were how very much the mommies and daddies of America preferred Pat Boone to that Elvis Presley creature and how very rare unheard of Columbia Pictures Industries Inc Lou Diamond Phillips stars as singer Ritchie Valens For most of the next 28 years though See 'LA BAMBA' Page 9B 0 Saturday Hit The Road "Stately Pace Breakfast Rides" is a leisurely 8-mile bicycle trip geared for those less experienced behind the handlebars Tarheel Cyclists offer the jaunt at 8:30 am each Saturday through August Meet at First Union National Bank Park Road Shopping Center Free Details: 554-8709 anytime 61LA Bamba Sunday 1 1 1 I 1 1 li 1 1 I I 1 1 6 i i 1 1 I 1 iv i 1 Actor Embraces Ethnic Stereotype He Had Feared Here A Dog There A Dog More than 100 different breeds of dogs will strut their stuff at the Metrolina Fairgrounds when the Piedmont Kennel Club presents its All-Breed Dog Show Sunday Those who enjoy wags and woofs should plan to be at the fairgrounds on US 21 between 8:30 am and 6 pm Admission is $2 for adults $1 for children Details: (704) 892-4109 9 am to 5 pm weekdays (704) 289-2480 6 to 10 pm weekdays I '5' 0'i'4''''47 2 C'r-- --'Z i i 'I 4 V''' -1 "iK'''''' '4''''''''' i- -4'---) 0 --c :1 4- A -i 0 4 i-'--: --''4-f: 44''-1 el: 4 7' 4 4'i zit' -)ffe 4e -17 r--'-4'i 'A: -140-g 'i Ij'Yf 4 t'- --r 1 '-------yi (4' cr 4 1--1 (-- ri -41 i---- 1-i g- i -'1' i'- 4 ---2ii l--'- 'I'i 4 4: i tii i 1t'r i i Iiii- k'' 4'''- '1'" iV 1'1 i 0 it '4 i 11 :4 -v 'It's1-'' 'i1 4 I i 1 1 vv: --I' r- 1 iJ I s- A -i -s1-- 4 i itlif i gr-' -t -i 1 i I i 4 I il 4 1 4F'' -----'w4 ---i i 1 -''x ii 1 4 i- 1: ''i'' '''e'1 4 -2: '-4 1 il it I 1-: 1 '''''7 -1--' -'1'1'' I i i 1 Ahi i 4 1 Upcoming The Furs' Time The Psychedelic Furs entered the pop mainstream when their song "Pretty in Pink" turned up on the sound track to the hit movie of the same name Led by moody hypnotic singer Richard Butler the London group performs at 8 pm Tuesday at Grady Cole Center (formerly Park Center) 310 Kings Dr Opening act is the Call a California quartet whose Anglo-fled sound is guaranteed to get you dancing Tickets are $1250 in advance $1350 at the door Details: 377-2350 anytime By loANN RHETTS Movie writer sal Morales has fought being typecast as a Puerto Rican onstage and off since playing Kurt von Trapp of the blond and Austrian "Sound of Music" von Trapps when he was in the sixth grade So playing the older brother of Mexican- American rock 'n' roller Ritchie Valens in "La Bamba" was a considerable risk for him both personally and professionally "Bob represented a way for me to face my fears and dive right back into the ethnicity that I so long avoided or regulated" said the 24-year-old actor in Charlotte recently as part of a 12-day publicity tour "When I wouldn't tell people where I was from" says Morales who grew up on New York's Upper West Side "people would not expect me to say I was Puerto Rican especially if I didn't employ an accent or mannerisms "If I was articulate or kind people would say 'What are you Italian or Bob Morales Valens's half brother is a bad dream of a Latin stereotype He's a womanizing bullying heavy-drinking dope-dealing biker and unwed father He also adores his brother and would clearly swap his arms and legs for the kind of mother love Ritchie enjoys To play the troubled Bob a man who's torn between sibling rivalry and brotherly love Morales gained 15 pounds drinking beer and Long Island iced tea (an explosive mix of vodka tequila rum gin triple sec lemon juice and cola) He smoked unfiltered Camels and Lucky Strikes that didn't last very long because I couldn't stand sprouted a mustache and goatee and roasted in the Sun until he was praline brown Bob's biker tattoo was a transfer pressed onto Morales's left arm "I totally went ethnic which is something a lot of actors with my background try to avoid" he says "As a young man I felt I would grow into a more conventional-looking person As I started to have features some people considered classically Latin the eyes the small nose eyebrows that come down and make me look angry even when I'm just relaxed I was a little apprehensive I don't think society is ready to utilize my talents on a serious level which is as a leading man" And making the splash he's sure to make as the complicated Bob Morales means taking the chance that casting directors will think of him only as a ne'er-do-well Chicano American leading men after all are blue-eyed and blond nearly as often as American leading women "In the past a standard of beauty has come from basic 0041 jr i Iii'xoi'iftf4 ftx ll 'g' 4i 41 v''s 4--zekf- 1 -4 3i till 44- l' il 1 411Z77j op i tit Nt or Photo Illustration By HANK WILSONStaff The two faces of Esal Morales in character and as himself The actor had to face his own demons to play singer Ritchie Valens's older brother Greco-Roman and European criteria" says Morales "A young leading man should embody what many people have been led to believe are all-American features" Morales whose weight is back "in the 150s" thanks to no alcohol and 50 daily push-ups was originally considered for the Ritchie Valens role 'I thought that was great" he says "until I read Bob" He'd certainly seen stereotypical Latin roles before even played one in "Bad Boys" (1983) when he rapec Ally Sheedy in her screen debut as Sean Penn's girlfriend but "nothing as pure and passionate as the Bob character never in that combination that fully rounded" The real Bob Morales who was four years older than the former Richard Valenzuela is now 50 "Women in the See ETHNIC Next Page Pio Photo Billy Idol And Idol Time Too Blond British punk Billy Idol brings his "Whiplash Smile" "Rebel Yell" and everything else to the Charlotte Coliseum at 8 pm Thursday Opening act is the Cult Tickets are I 550 and the Coliseum is at 2700 Independence Blvd Box office: 372-3600 10 am to 5 pm weekdays To charge by phone: 332-4606 9 am to 5 pm weekdays A 8 pm Thursday Opening act is the Cult Tickets are $1550 and the Coliseum is at 2700 Independence Blvd Box office: 372-3600 10 am to 5 pm weekdays To charge by phone: 332-4606 9 am to 5 pm weekdays A CONTENTS Dining 12B Movies 8-9B Movie Reviews 413 58 Video 30 Calendar 6-7B Hope Does His Best For Humanity By LAWRENCE TOPPMAN Stan Writer Habitat for Humanity thrives on hope the hope that people will support the noble cause of building homes for the working poor the hope that relocated families will adjust comfortably And in this case the Hope that has a ski nose and a million gags That Great White Hope born Leslie Townes Hope now better known as Bob will do a benefit Tuesday at Charlotte Coliseum "A benefit doesn't differ from any other show but I think the audience appreciates it more" he said in a quick phone interview Monday "They'll come to see me but they also know they're doing something for a good cause "I'm bringing Miss America 1986 Susan Akin who sings country music and I may be bringing Mrs Hope with me Every show she comes to she sings and she's still singing great" Might Delores Hope take the show away from her spouse? "She wouldn't dare I wish she would take the microphone away actually Then I could turn pro" Golf that is He was on his way to a round when the phone interrupted a sunny Los Angeles afternoon At 84 he treats himself to bankers' hours and takes time off for causes he believes in such as Habitat for Humanity "I got involved because Jimmy Carter has been so good a friend He told me about this years ago and 1 helped him financially with it in the South Bronx He's very interested in the project in Charlotte" Carter will help build 14 houses in Optimist Park next week "and he wrote me and asked if I'd help" What about the project appealed to the comedian? "Maybe the fact that I had to nail my own house together!" He laughed "Or maybe it was because my father was a See BOB Next Page Hope Does His Best For Humanity 1r- By LAWRENCE TOPPMAN come to see me but they also know takes time off for causes he believes in Stan Writer they're doing something for a good such as Habitat for Humanity- 4 Habitat for Humanity thrives on hope cause "1 got involved because Jimmy 1 ''s the hope that people will support the "I'm bringing Miss America 1986 Carter has been so good a friend He 0sti noble cause of building homes for the Susan Akin who sings country music told me about this years ago and 1 2 working poor the hope that relocated and I may be bringing Mrs Hope with helped him financially with it in the 41 families will adjust comfortably me Every show she comes to she sings South Bronx He very interested in the 4 And in this case the Hope that has a and she's still singing great" project in Charlotte" Carter will help 's 412' ii ski nose and a million gags Might Delores Hope take the show build 14 houses in Optimist Park next 4 1 A--- Dining 12B That Great White Hope born away from her spouse? week and he wrote me and asked if 1 Movies 8-9B Leslie Townes Hope now better known She wouldn't dare I wish she would I'd help" 1" '4 '4- 'Ft: Movie Reviews 413 58 as Bob will do a benefit Tuesday at take the microphone away actually What about the project appealed to Ix Charlotte Coliseum Then I could turn pro" the comedian? 30 -A benefit doesn't differ from any Golf that is He was on his way to a 41 "Maybe the fact that 1 had to nail my -0w Calendar 6-7B other show but I think the audience round when the phone interrupted a own house together!" He laughed "Or i 344 I '''--1 appreciates it more" he said in a quick sunny Los Angeles afternoon At 84 he maybe it was because my father was a it liabar11e4 A Fee Photo phone interview Monday "They'll treats himself to bankers' hours and See BOB Next Page Bob Hope Ci i 71.