ENTERTAINTMENT

New local Benefits Tsunami Victims
Richard Carter | Dance Critic

In response to the devastating tsunami that caused more than 100,000 deaths, an area musician decided to produce a CD of a collection of songs by local groups to benefit survivors.
Greg Neth, vocalist and guitar player for Shaved Fish, suggested the collection more than a month ago. With a little help from his friends--a gathering of well-known area musicians--the CD titled “Hands Across the Water” is now out.
“After the catastrophe hit and the fatalities totaled over 100,000, we realized that a town this size was gone, along with most of the outlaying area. We felt like musicians from this town should do something to help,” Neth said.
The album features 20 local bands performing original music. The proceeds of sales will go to musicforrelief.org, a fund begun by Linkin Park and sanctioned by the Red Cross. Musicians and studios donated most of the costs of this production.
The long-needed compilation illustrates the depth and diversity of musical talent we have in the Falls. But most importantly, the project and the donations show the goodwill of area musicians for the many people who survived a catastrophe with little more than their lives.
“It’s really great to help people out,” said Cody Tucker, guitarist for Mr. Fairchild, a psychedelic blues-rock band who submitted the song “Blindsided.”
Everything from the hard-rocking blues of AA Bottom to the hard-rocking blues of Voodoo Johnson is included on the CD. In between, there’s a little folk, a lotta rock, a dash of alt country, some punk, a bit of electronic music and a shock of hardcore.
There’s also a bonus track by Randy McClung (under the name The Obvious), titled “For a Love Lost.” McClung tragically lost his life in a motorcycle accident one year ago this week.
Should you buy the recording? Yes. Not only does the collection serve as a fine representative gathering of area talent. It helps a good organization help people in real need, and it shows that we care and can come together as a community to help the less fortunate.
In addition to the CD, there are some daylong, open-air shows in the works, as yet without dates, dedicated to showcasing local talent and promoting the CD.
Though not yet inked onto parchment, the bands planning to perform live include Mr. Fairchild, The Advance, Voodoo Johnson, Phase 27 and Carp.
There is also a possibility the CD will show up on jukeboxes ‘cross-town. If the CD sells, Neth hopes to put out a Volume Two out next year to benefit an area cause like health care or education.
“Hands Across the Water: Local Heroes, Volume One” by various local artists is available at Hastings and the Iron Horse Pub for $10.

Craven flick is 'Curse' to the Eyes
Jason Kimbro | Staff Reporter

The world of Wes Craven seems to be getting more and more mundane. His ideas used to be unique and trend-setting, with such horror classics as “Last House on the Left,” “The Hills Have Eyes,” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”
But on one fateful day, Mr. Craven met a young writer by the name of Kevin Williamson. Together they created a whole new sub-genre in horror with their modern classic “Scream.” And of course we all remember the two sequels which made it into a bonafied trilogy.
The problem we face now is that Craven has apparently lodged himself deep into this new teen-horror sub-genre and cannot dig his way out, nor does he seem to want to. His latest horror trap “Cursed” is basically “Scream” with a cartoonish werewolf. Oh how the mighty have fallen from creativity to monotony.
Here’s the gist:
Ellie Myers (Christina Ricci) and her brother Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg of “The Village” and “Rodger Dodger”) are orphans. Ellie, who happens to work on the foreboding Late Late Show with Craig Kilbron, is playing the pleasant big sister act and taking care of her little bro.
One fateful night, while driving down the famous Mulholland Drive, a large animal hits their car. They swerve; hit another car, causing it to careen down a hill and flip a few times.
They go to see if the driver of the other car needs assistance. Lo and behold, the driver of the other car is none other than Shannon Elizabeth! Dare I say she is “Cursed’s” Drew Barrymore? Yes! I dare!
She gets hauled out of her car by a pair of claws while Jimmy and Ellie hold onto her legs. While being drug along, our favorite nude foreigner, Shannon, is being shreded to bits and bits and bits. Kibbles and bits for what is obviously the werewolf.
Ellie and Jimmy get scratched, thus they are cursed with the mark of the beast!
They live, though, and over the next few days, changes occur. They get stronger. They enjoy the smell of nose bleeds. They can beat up the in-the-closet homosexual guy who is dating the girl they have dreamed of all their life and wished would have noticed them all along but never really did because they are but transparent stains upon the radar screen of their lives! I need some Prozac.
Jimmy plays Mulder. He realizes he is becoming a werewolf. Ellie play Scully, the skeptic, the Yin to Jimmy’s Yang. It takes a lot to convince Ellie that she is what she is.
All the while, Ellie is pining over her boyfriend Jake (Joshua Jackson, king of the teen horror flick). It’s obvious to the viewers he is a werewolf in sheep’s clothing, BUT is he the one that is causing the entire ruckus? I don’t know! Well, I do, but I’m not going to tell you.
So the movie concentrates on trying to scare you with chestnut methods, including the freaky dream sequence that was made solely to make the trailer look more interesting.
By the end, we are all waiting to see a really cool werewolf monster thingy and all we get is a chubbier, less scary version of the wolf creature from “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” I haven’t been this disappointed since the excuse for a cool, scary monster from the boob-infested flick known as “Species.”
I was not thoroughly entertained. I played with my cup.  If I find myself playing with my cup, then I know something is missing from the movie I am watching. This one just lacked the humor and wit that made the “Scream” movies so enjoyable.
Wes Craven is known for a lot of things, including making a good, creepy atmosphere. This is especially apparent in “The Serpent and the Rainbow.” This time around, the audience is just left yawning and waiting for the next stupid person to get killed.
Performances weren’t too much to bark at. Eisenberg did a good job and practically steals the movie away from anybody else, well, except for perhaps Scott Baio, who plays himself. But how hard can it be to play yourself?
This is a very cut and dry, werewolf plot. Werewolf scratch/bite, weird changes, kill the monster that started the whole ordeal, blah blah blah, yackety smackety, and there you have it.
And, indeed, there you have it:  a run of the mill piece of crap from someone who usually isn’t so run of the mill. I have had my thumbs in many pies in the past couple years I have been writing these reviews. Some have been tasty and some have been pretty rotten.
There are a few, though, that are so rotten they become a whole new taste that can be enjoyable, kind of like how cheese can become bleu cheese. It is an acquired taste, but there is enough of a demand for it to be mass produced. “Cursed,” however, is not bleu cheese.