Listen to the `Candidate' debate, '04.

Byline: BUZZWORTHY by The Register-Guard

Jonathan Demme's remake of "The Manchurian Candidate" is a thriller about a mind-controlled man who's about to become "the first privately owned and operated vice president of the United States."

Frank Rich of The New York Times considers this film more politically partisan than Michael Moore's controversial "Fahrenheit 9/11." Roger (`Our Guy') Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times disagrees. The way Ebert sees it, Demme "sticks his knife in everywhere, suggesting that the whole system and both parties have been compromised by the power of corporations."

If you'd like to decide for yourself, as any good citizen should, you can catch "The Manchurian Candidate" starting today at Cinemark and Cinema World, with Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington in roles that Angela Lansbury and Frank Sinatra played in 1962.

While we're talking about politics, we should mention that the British reggae group Steel Pulse has returned to its socially conscious roots with a new album, "African Holocaust," that also sticks its knife in everywhere it sees injustice and oppression. The group will play the Jungle at 7 p.m. Thursday.

If you're tired of leftish politics and prefer to exercise your constitutional right to have a good ol' time, Sweet Home would be a sweet place to hang out this weekend. The Oregon Jamboree will bring Clint Black, Clay Walker, Brad Paisley, Pam Tillis, Neal McCoy and others to town for three nights of down-home fun.

For those with good hearts and $100 in mostly tax-deductible spare change, Russian pianist Yuri Rozum will play during an Oregon Mozart Players fund-raising soiree at 5 p.m. Saturday at Pfeiffer Vineyards, west of Junction City.

On Tuesday, Rozum will be at Beall Concert Hall for a 7:30 p.m. concert to raise money for the Patricia Baker Wildflower Garden at Mount Pisgah Arboretum.