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Site Navigator |
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Music Navigator |
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Mo' Volunteers North by Northwest is growing, which means we could use more volunteers to work at the clubs and conference. Volunteers work hard, but get free entrance to the festival, taking place Oct. 16-18, and lots of other fringe benefits-- like maybe the chance to meet the soon-to-be rich and famous. If you're interested in participating, call 226-2150. And look for the first list of participating bands in next week's paper. |
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CultureBuzz |
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NXNW Wristband Party at Music Millennium |
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Well, this incident happened two months ago in Oklahoma. The piece of art happened to be a videotape of that very film. Michael Camfield, development director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, was watching The Tin Drum--Volker Schlondorff's realist fantasy in which a 3-year-old German boy decides to stop growing during the rise of Nazism--to figure out why a right-wing anti-porn group had deemed the film "child pornography." What Camfield didn't know was that an Oklahoma County district judge had recently viewed a scene from the film--involving oral sex between the boy and an older girl--and advised that, under Oklahoma state law, the film was child pornography. But the judge hadn't issued a written order, so the police had acted on their own, getting Camfield's name from the local Blockbuster Video and seizing the videotape. Last year's Child Pornography Prevention Act, which outlaws sexually themed scenes involving anyone who even looks like a minor, reinforces such extremist morality; even a successful filmmaker such as Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction) can't get his adaptation of Lolita distributed in the United States. This backpedaling of civil rights in the name of family values is evident at the Portland links in the Hollywood and Blockbuster video chains. Both made the news years ago by banning the rental of NC-17 titles. But now their shelves are packed with the videos of such NC-17 films as Kama Sutra and David Cronenberg's Crash. Does this indicate a radical policy change in the wake of an abundance of edgy, adult-themed art films? Sure. And Mike Tyson's a vegetarian. If you look closely at these new video releases, you'll see that they are now rated R, with no mention that they've been altered on their way to video. "The studios do all that, and we have the option of picking up the edited titles or not," says Keith Leopard, director of product management for Blockbuster. "We get the same versions that are released to the MPAA when the filmmakers want to release an R-rated version." Kevin Hasslen, corporate buyer for Hollywood Entertainment, says the un-savvy video renter might be unaware that he or she is taking home a film that isn't what its director intended. "Unless you otherwise knew, you probably wouldn't be able to tell," he admits. Theoretically, a video store could enforce the same kind of restrictions that theaters do by making NC-17 films unavailable to minors. Instead, unless a parent specifies otherwise, children have easier access even to R-rated films at the family video store than at their local cineplex. "There's an option for parents to prevent their kids from coming in and renting R-rated titles by setting up something to that effect on their account, but if the flag is not there, I guess they could," Hasslen says. "It's rather a gray area." |
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SHOW OF THE MONTH |
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It's Artichoke Season The 26-year-old music store recently relocated to 3130A SE Hawthorne Blvd. from four blocks away, quadrupling in size and adding a cafe, sound and teaching rooms and the Backgate Stage. Artichoke now resides in the same building as Crossroads Music, and the two stores will provide the only access to the cafe, which will be open daily and for evening concerts. Crossroads owner Dave Clingan has lent the cafe his collection of historic posters advertising past shows, including Nirvana at Satyricon. Meanwhile, the Backgate Stage will host national and local acts beginning Sept. 20 and will be featured as an acoustic venue at North by Northwest, Oct. 16-18. Other acts of note to appear in coming months include Dave Van Ronk, Martin Sexton and Tom Russell, none of whom will play "Free Bird." The opening show for Artichoke Music's Backgate Stage, from 8 to 11 pm Saturday, Sept. 20, features Pete Krebs and Kevin Richey, the Chamber Pot Quartet, Sheila Wilcoxson and the store's owner and general manager, Steve Einhorn and Kate Power. |
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