WHAT'S HAPPENING : TELEVISION.`Our Friend' Dickens: Rejoice all you fans of taut thrillers. Beginning at 9 p.m. Sunday on KCET KCET Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (Japan) KCET Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology (Channel 28) and continuing at the same time Monday and Tuesday, ``Mobil Masterpiece Theatre'' offers scrumptious 19th-century shivers with a spellbinding spell·bind tr.v. spell·bound , spell·bind·ing, spell·binds To hold under or as if under a spell; enchant or fascinate. [Back-formation from spellbound. adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel ``Our Mutual Friend.'' This gothic tale of greed and murder is set in gloomy London, where fortunes are made in the dust-heap (rubble recycling) business, and bodies float in the murky Thames. Yet, in this morally corrupt landscape, two fragile love stories flower. Impoverished Lizzie (Keeley Hawes), daughter of a corpse-robber, wins the heart of a shiftless shift·less adj. 1. a. Lacking ambition or purpose; lazy: a shiftless student. b. Characterized by a lack of ambition or energy: studied in a shiftless way. lawyer (Paul McGann). And social climber Bella (Anna Friel) snags mysterious John Rokesmith (Steven Mackintosh), who is much more than he seems. One false note: Our two lower-class lovelies have upper-crust English accents. Otherwise, script, cast, sets and costumes are compelling. And Dickens' deft jabs at the English class system are delicious indeed. - Kinney Littlefield Orange County Register music He and his shadow: Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (Kenny Wayne Brobst, Jr) (born June 12, 1977) is an American Blues guitarist. Shepherd was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he attended Caddo Magnet High School. admits that the late Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990), born in Dallas, Texas, was an American blues guitarist. His broad appeal, combination of unbelievable speed, precision, energy, passion and emotion and constant expansion of his Blues style into Funk, Jazz, cast a large shadow over his career. The 21-year-old guitarist says Vaughan's phrasing, tone and feel meant a lot to him as he began playing the blues as a 7-year-old learning Muddy Waters licks from his father's records in Shreveport, La. Unlike Vaughan, though, Shepherd never felt confident enough to sing, and relies on his guitar - and a lead singer - to do his talking for him. Shepherd's lively 1995 debut, ``Ledbetter Heights,'' was an unexpected hit, catching on with blues fans looking for a dose of Stevie Ray and rock fans seeking a rootsier alternative to modern rock. Shepherd, who also claims to be influenced by Albert King and Jimi Hendrix, appears tonight and Saturday at the House of Blues House of Blues (HOB) is a chain of music halls and restaurants founded in 1992 by Hard Rock Cafe founder Isaac Tigrett and his friend and investor Dan Aykroyd. It is a home for live music and southern-inspired cuisine, whose clubs celebrate African-American culture, specifically . His recent disc, ``Trouble Is ...,'' moved toward hard rock, although there's still plenty of blues in Shepherd's playing. The track ``Blue on Black'' became a radio hit. The House of Blues is at 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Show time is 9 p.m., and tickets are $25. Information: (323) 848-5100. - Fred Shuster music Sounds like Vienna: No city does New Year's quite like Sigmund Freud's old hometown. And since we're not shrinks ourselves, we won't bother analyzing why. But even if you won't be clinking champagne glasses there this year, you still can experience the sounds of Austria's capital with ``Salute to Vienna,'' a seasonal celebration of waltz meister Johann Strauss Jr. Conductor Jorge Mester leads the Pasadena Symphony through tonight's 8 o'clock concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center (which is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the United States). The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. with a lineup of marches, polkas and waltzes ready to sweep you along the Blue Danube. Soprano Renate Pitscheider and tenor Sebastian Reinthaller of the Vienna State Opera The Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera), located in Vienna, Austria, is one of the most important opera companies in Europe and throughout the world. Until 1920 it was named the Vienna Court Opera (k.k. Hofoper). will trill trill, in music, ornament consisting of the more or less rapid alternation of two adjacent notes. Indicated by any of several conventional symbols, it varies in speed and duration and in the manner of its beginning and ending according to context. their way through arias and operetta highlights, and costumed members of the San Diego Ballet will flutter through the evening. Tickets are $25-$65. Call (213) 365-3500. - Reed Johnson film It's in the `Mail': The plot line for ``You've Got Mail'' has withstood the test of time. Since Ernst Lubitsch's 1940 charmer ``The Shop Around the Corner,'' the story of secret pen-pal lovers who hate each other in real life has inspired at least two different musicals and uncountable uncountable - countable sitcom episodes. Leave it to writer-director Nora Ephron to bring the concept into the Information Age. In ``Mail,'' Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan play rival bookstore owners who don't know they're falling in love over the Internet. Actually sharing scenes together this time, the ``Sleepless in Seattle'' duo display the romantic chemistry we've always hoped they'd have. And Ephron uses the light comedy platform to make some shrewd observations about the ups and downs ups and downs pl.n. Alternating periods of good and bad fortune or spirits. ups and downs Noun, pl alternating periods of good and bad luck or high and low spirits of our modern, overfranchised and technologically isolated lives. - Bob Strauss CAPTION(S): 3 Photos PHOTO (1) Tom Hanks, left, Greg Kinnear and Meg Ryan star in ``You've Got Mail The audio announcement heard millions of times per day by AOL users. The voice was recorded by Elwood "El" Edwards in 1989 at the suggestion of his wife Karen, who worked in customer service for Quantum Computer Services (before Quantum became AOL). ,'' the latest version of the story of pen-pal lovers who hate each other in real life. (2) Guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd appears tonight and Saturday at the House of Blues. (3) Conductor Jorge Mester leads the Pasadena Symphony through ``Salute to Vienna,'' at 8 tonight at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion