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Show Utah Symphony goes British next week U T A H SYMPONY PRESS RELEASE Keith Lockhart will conduct the Utah Symphony in the noble works of the bestknown British composers in Abravanel Hall on Oct. 6 and Oc. 7 at 8 p.m. The evening will feature works of Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Although the program will offer the familiar Enigma Variations of Elgar, there are more rare works on the program. For example, Vaughan Williams's Job: A Masque for Dancing will tell musi- cally how Satan wagered against the piety of Job. This work will be accompanied by projections of depictions that William Blake created to tell the Bible story. Tickets for this performance are $12 - $48. Tickets can be purchased by calling (801) 355-ARTS (355-2787), 1-888-451-2787, in person at the Abravanel Hall box office or by visiting www.utahsymphony.org on the Web. Subscribers and those desiring group or student discounts should call (801) 533-NOTE (533-6683). DAVE MATTHEWS From page 8 the exact opposite of the huge sunglasses-and-gigantic-walled-mansion-andlip o suction-an d-face-lift idea of a celebrity. And they're really for the fight. They're not in Farm Aid to make themselves look good." Matthews has real passion for the cause. He'd rather not talk too much about his own music just now. If you must know, the DMB will begin work this fall on a follow-up to "Stand Up," working again with producer Mark Dotson on songs that the group has been trying out on its soldout summer tour. They've got a few more gigs next month — at a benefit for Young's Bridge School, a program for severely impaired children, as well as two dates opening for the Rolling Stones, which he describes as "pretty cool." He says he can't predict whether he and the DMB will stick it out as long as the Stones have. "I'm much better at thinking about what I'm going to have to drink after tomorrow night's show than what I'm going to be doing in 10 years — though whatever it is, I hope that I'm not being too grotesquely unnatural," said Matthews, who splits his time, along with his wife, Ashley, and 5-year-old twins, Grace and Stella, between Charlottesville and Seattle. Matthews would rather sing the praises of Farm Aid and inveigh against what he calls the "corporatism" of "factory farms" that are "poisoning the land" with chemicals and massproducing inferior food. While earnestly decrying the "revolting conditions" in which livestock are kept on many giant farms, he still manages to lighten it up a bit. "I'm not saying these pigs should be able to sun themselves in the afternoon and relax to their favorite music." The Farm Aid mission has changed considerably since Nelson founded it in the mid-1980s. Then, money was typically given directly to small family farmers to ward off foreclosures. Now, Matthews said, it works to "connect farmers with con- sumer and farm markets, and get people to realize that smaller-produced, healthy food is out there. And also to facilitate the growth of the new slow food and organic food movements." Matthews has put a considerable amount of money into producing food for himself and his fellow Virginians. His farm raises chicken, turkey and cattle and grows carrots and corn, which are sold locally under the Best of What's Around label. "I like my food naked," he said. "Not when I'm naked. But I'm as liable to lose my mind over an apple as I am over a fancy meal." Though Matthews himself is "usually too busy traveling around the country somewhere with a guitar to do anything more than get a little dirt under my fingernails or grape juice on my lips," his brother Peter is in charge of a vineyard that produces a few thousand cases of wine a year. The vino is well enough regarded for Food & Wine magazine to call Matthews "the wine world's No. 1 rock star." "I like to play music and I'm lucky that I get more than compensated for it," said Matthews, who started performing around Charlottesville after moving there in 1989. Working with Farm Aid and owning his own farm have only increased his respect for those who struggle to get by. "But I can't even begin to think that what I do is righteous," he went on. "There are good things about it, and sometimes I do it well. But somebody like a farmer should be exalted, when they are often ignored just because of the quietness of what they do. I mean, if anybody deserves our gratitude, it's the person who brings us food. And the better the quality, the greater the gratitude. "I can't see a downside to (Farm Aid)," he said. "It doesn't have any political affiliation. Its roots are in something pure. Everything is corruptible. But it's more difficult to corrupt a garden." 7 Even with all-star cast, 'King's Men only an average telling of book Wanna get dirty? Then go into politics. In a nutshell, thafs the message of this film. As it shows the moral deterioration of a simple country man who climbs the political ladder, "All the King's Men" depicts the tragic and powerful influences of society while weaving a thick tale of political treachery. At least, that's the idea. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren, "All the King's Men" is a remake of the classic, multiple Oscar-winning 1949 version. (There was also a made-for-TV film in 1958.) Although the material of this story is gripping and wonderfully complex, we nave been sadly reminded, once again, that remakes are awfully ambitious. Sometimes too ambitious. And gathering a group of A-list actors does not always guarantee success. With a screenplay written by Steven Zaillian, who also directed the film, "All the King's Men" ends up suffering from lots of different things. A discombobulated storyline, uneven plot and character development, and a lacking sense of emotion are some of the most easily identifiable issues here. The story begins with the averagejoe journalist, Jack Oude Law, "Closer") assigned to report on the progress of Casey T. Alien Reviews Rated PG-B, Grade B"All the King's Men" a passionate idealist running for city mayor in the backwoods of Louisiana. This idealist is Willie Stark (Sean Penn, "The Interpreter") and after he loses the election he gets roped into a scheme to run for governor, unwittingly serving as the political decoy for the current governor's campaign. Tnanks to an eruption of truth and vociferous speeches, the tides turn in favor of Stark, enabling him to rise further heavenward on the political stage, which causes his ethics to plummet in the opposite direction. It seems a mystery why this film was not the masterpiece that so many people (including me) thought it would be. Zailiian, who won an Oscar in 1994 for his amazing screenplay adaptation of "Schindler's List", should have been the Everyone's perfect candidate for this project. And the prestigious cast of actors (including Kate Winslet, "Finding Neverland"; Anthony Hopkins, "Proof" and Patricia Clarkston "Good Night, and Good Luck") are all capable of giving the most stellar performances. But the whole film remains average and nobody gives a performance that shines. A lot of this blandness, in the acting as well as the screenplay, is just due to poor casting. Although all the actors get an A for effort, none of them really fit the roles they portray, except maybe for Clarkston. And when so many British actors are squeezing out Southern accents, it's easy to notice that something isn't exactly right. Penn is usually well-suited for any role he adopts, but his turn as a regular man who becomes increasingly hungry for power comes off as overzealous and overacted. This film has plenty of visual allusions to the concept of time and how time has the subtle and surprising aptitude to change people. But as time goes on, and as everyone changes for the worse, we aren't as riveted as we want to be. Casey T. Allen is the Statesman movie critic. Comments or extra-butter popcorn can be sent to caseyal@cc.usu.edu. The Big Picture What others across the country are saying a Critic It's too full of itself; it's too convinced of its own value to be much of anything to audiences. What USU students are saying about "All the King's Men" Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle } i. T r i j I t Was SlOW bUt 1 l i k e d the twist at the end." Devin Anderson You admire (Stark) for wanting to help the peopli while at the same time you despisehim himfnr forhie hisn underhanded methods. w h i ! p flf t h p Q a m p H m p v n n f | P Q n i Q P Bob Bloom, Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN) Top iTunes downloads APPLE COMPUTER INC. Top 10 songs on iibnes Music Store for Sept. 26: 1. "How to Save a Life," The Fray 2. "Chasing Cars," Snow Patrol 3. "Money Maker" (explicit version), Ludacris, featuring Pharrell 4-. "SexyBack," Justin Timberlake 5. "Lips of an Angel," Hinder 6. "Chain Hang Low," Jibbs >' 7- "Too Little, Too Late," JoJo 8. "Call Me When You're Sober," Evanescence / 9. "London Bridge," Fergie '• 10. "Ring the Alarm," Beyonce / Check out the online version, of The! Statesman, now complete with podc^ist. Visit www.utahstatesman.com ' Store Hours: Monday - Saturday 10:00 - 7:00 Tlie Diamond Engagement Ring Store...since 1896 141 North Main • 752-7149 www.seneedham.com Mlddl* • / tht block at tht sign o/tht thth. |