New Moves: ACTIuaI f/ACTlual
DJ Scanner (centre) has gained noteriety on the dance music scene by listening in to mobile phone conversations and mixing tracks straight from the results. Now the interloping DJ is tapping into contemporary dance by providing the soundtrack for ACT lua/ f/ACT/ua/ — a collaboration with choreographer/ improviser Laurie Booth (left) and artist Tim Head (right) - one of the main attractions at Glasgow’s experimental dance festival New Moves Across Europe. Scanner will create his soundtrack from snatches of mobile phone chat picked up in the Glasgow area on the night of each performance. So mind what you say... AC T/ua/ f/A C T/ua/ is at Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 7/Sat 8 Mar. New Moves runs until Fri 27 Mar at Tramway and Cottier Theatre, Glasgow. For performances this fortnight see Dance listings, page 70.
Bill Hicks
In his time, Bill Hicks was frequently compared to the great Lenny Bruce. The Texan stand-up comedian died of pancreatic cancer in 1994, but his genius survives on four live albums, two of which have just been released for the first time. Hicks had a scathing viewpoint that cut across the grain of American politics and society. Delivered with a cackle like the Devil’s own, his opinions are sharp and funny on the recordings, Dangerous and Relentless. They're more muted on Arizona Bay, but become an acidic, angry diatribe on the ear-burning Rant In E Minor, made when Hicks knew his illness was terminal. ’l've heard that peOple come to the show because they want to forget their problems,’ he told The List four years ago. 'How about if we tell ’em a way to solve their problems - wouldn’t that be even better? Point out exactly what the problem is so we can change it. Or am I out of my fucking mind on this?’ (Alan Morrison)
The albums ’Dangerous’, ’Re/ent/ess’, and the previously unreleased albums ’Arizona Bay’ and ’Rant In E Minor’ are out now on Rykodisc records. The videos Relentless and Totally Bill are out now on Columbia Tristar.
Jack Nicholson
Here's a guy who’s been at the top of the Hollywood ladder for decades, but hasn’t forgotten his old friends. In The Evening Star (shown here), he revives his Oscar-winning turn as astronaut Garrett Breedlove for a brief appearance alongside Shirley MacLaine in the sequel to Terms Of Endearment. Also released this fortnight is crime caper Blood And Wine, the fifth film he's made with director Bob Rafelson. Blood And Wine goes on selected release on Fri 7 Mar; The Evening Star opens on Fri 7 4 Mar. See New Releases, page 25, and Bob Ra felson interview, page 23.
All the best
What's rocking our pants this fortnight.
Music: Texas Three years ago Texas were more washed out than their faded denim Jackets. Now it’s goodbye to Americana and a big hello to those low down, dirty, hip hop beats along with a smattering of electronic tricks. Fret not though, they're still recognisable as Texas. Just fresher. Glasgow: Barrow/and, Sun 76 Mar.
Film: The English Patient Up for twelve Oscars, this IaVish World War II romance is filmmaking on a scale that takes us back to the days of DaVid Lean’s epics. Based on the Booker Prize-winning novel, the film stars Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche and Kristin Scott Thomas and boasts wonderful location work in the North African desert and an abandoned Tuscan monastery. See feature and review. General release, from Fri 14 Mar.
Theatre: Forty Years On Alan Bennett’s play Within a play, set in an English public school, where the masters and boys perform a revue embracing England's cultural and historical life. Written in 1968, this satirical comedy has been revised by Mobil Touring Theatre and stars Tony Britton, Tony ’Baldrick’ Robertson and Christopher ’James Heriot' Timothy. See theatre preview. Glasgow: Theatre Royal, Tue 1 l—Sat 75 Mar.
Film: Jerry Maguire Tom CrUise stars as a top sports agent forced to reassess the integrity of his profession and private life in this feel-good critique of the ’greed is good' culture. Humour, drama, romance and the cutest kid in screen history combine in a Hollywood film with a heart. See feature and review. General release from Fri 7 Mar.
Art: Photosynthesis Adam Barker- Mill's exhibition of light-based artwork is a near psychedelic experience of breathtaking sensuality. Shifting colours will mesmerise the unwary. Prepare to trip the light fantastic. Edinburgh: Royal Botanic Gardens until Sun 76 Mar.
Books: These Demented Lands Remember Morvern Callar and its enigmatic heroine? This is the follow-up to Alan Warner’s first novel is different in many respects from his first work. Many of the same themes are in place — isolation, hedonism and small community life — but they are approached from a vastly different angle. See feature. These Demented Lands (Jonathan Cape f 9. 99) is published on Thurs 23 Mar.
7—20 Mar 1997 TIIE LISTS