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Show nir SUMMER UTAH CHRONICLE ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT Friday, J u n e 17, 2005 GOOD EATS ON THE CHEAP East plus West equals delightful and delicious for authentic and delicious Viet- sortment of Vietnamese dishes rangnamese food in a setting that perfect- ing from beef, chicken and seafood ly lunites Eastern and Western styles, to noodles, rice and a special veglook no further than East West Con- etarian menu. Traditionalists will have no trounection. Located on the second level of ble finding favorites here, such as sweet and sour pork Foothill Village, East ($9.50), lemongrass West feels like some chicken (39.50) and sort of strange, but East West Connection pad Thai noodles nonetheless comfort- 1400 S. Foothill Dr., S u l t e W " (with beef, pork, or able, hybrid world—a 801-581-1128 veggies for $9.50 world in which Westor with shrimp for ern structure (win- U discount - No $10.50), as well as dows, furniture, etc.) Four out of five plates many less familiar has been skillfully recipes. fused with Eastern "Look Luck" beef ($9.50), prostyle and design (colors, decor and claimed to be "better than anything art), yielding a striking effect. The atmosphere is calm, fresh and you have tasted," is composed of exengaging—an ideal setting for the in- ceptionally tender squares of beef tossed quickly on a high fire and vigorating fare. For entrees, East West has an as- served with salad and herb dressing. Jenni Koehler Chronicle Food Critic For the fried shrimp with spicy salt ($10.50), the golden fried shrimp's flavor is sealed in with a spicy salt rub and garlic marinade. A remarkably different dish, the Red Sea tofu is presented as a plate of golden tofu, chopped shiitake mushrooms, onions and garlic, all sauteed together and then drenched in a rich tomato sauce. The result is both beautiful and delicious. The angel hair noodle soup is equally mouth-watering, with tender threaded chicken and vermicelli bean thread noodles in a rich chicken broth. It's a complete meal for only $7.50. The appetizers and soups of East West have typical titles—spring rolls ($4.50), potstickers ($4.50) and wonton soup ($3)—but their preparation and presentation is anything but ordinary. One of the most exceptional aspects of East West is that the food is traditional and authentic, but the environment is not. The cuisine is served in refreshingly innovative ways and at the same time manages to maintain its authenticity. With a glance at the price, one may disagree that certain dishes from East West fall into the category of "good eats on the cheap." However, a single look at the portion size will undoubtedly placate the customer. Every dish is served on a huge plate heaped incredibly high with food that, unless you have a truly resilient stomach or some bizarre disorder that prevents you from feeling full, will surely carry over into the next meal. Two meals for 55 each—now that's affordable. East West Connection is a terrific place to hang out and enjoy a lovely, tasty and filling lunch or dinner. The charming ambience will succeed at captivating, while the wonderful menu will no doubt lure you back for more—much, much more. jkoehler@ chronicle.utah.edu Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra drums it up at The Velvet Room Andrew Huffaker Chronicle Writer puke Amayo, lead vocals and congas, adds African flair to the diverse and political band Antibalas Tuesday night. new see here "Batman Begins" lady. Sheesh, girls can be so catty. Directed by Christopher Nolan Gorge yourself on another Joel Schumacher nearly killed the. franchise eight years ago fantastic and visually stunwhen he put "Batman and Rob- ning film from Hayao Miin" on the "Starlight Express" to yazaki ("Spirited Away"), the world's greatest living animaNipple Town. Don't worry, though—this tor. (PG) newest installment promises to be more serious and brutal, with Directed by Mark Rosnian nary a hint of neon. (PG-13) Ha! Clearly, it's a fantasy. Perfect men are make-believe, just like elves, gremlins and EskiDirected by Hayao Miyazaki A shape-shifting wizard ro- mos. Heather Locklear and Hilmances a pretty girl—that is, ary Duff star in this supposed until a jealous witch transforms romantic comedy. (PG) the ptetty girl into a creaky old "The Perfect Man" "Howl's Moving Castle" In support of their most recent release, Government Magic, the members of Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra brought their trademark bombastic beats to The Velvet Room last Tuesday night, leaving no eardrum unthumped in the course of the ambitious threehour performance. Veteran performers of such notable gigs as the Bonnaroo Music Festival and the Jam Cruise, the Antibalas crew effortlessly impressed the Velvet Room crowd of close to 400 with the silky sounds of Afrobeat—a hybrid of jazz and Nigerian traditional music developed in the late 1960s in Lagos, Nigeria by the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the band said. Lead singer and conga player Duke Amayo spent his youth in Lagos, Nigeria, and his cross-cultural identity surfaces in his vocal stylings. Amayo sang in English, Spanish and Yoruba with equal aplomb. Amayo directed the numerous members of Antibalas through 20minute-long songs such as "Who is This America Dem Speak of Today?" and "Elephant," moving between his congas and center stage with electric and contagious energy. He commanded the crowd's attention from the first note until the last. Although most of Antibalas's Movies Opening This Week "Mad, Hot Ballroom" Directed by Marilyn Agrelo It's a documentary about New York City kids who take a ballroom dancing class. Gasp! The sixth sign of the apocalypse! What's next? Utah kids starting a fad? Surely then the world would end. (PG) "Watermarks" Directed by Yawn Zilberman Another documentary—this one's about Jewish champion women swimmers. That old story, huh? Let's hope this one avoids all the usual genre cliches. (NR) Compiled by Aaron Allen Virtual Reality Experiment University of Utah student and staff volunteers are solicited for participation in a perception experiment being conducted in the School of Computing and the Department of Psychology. The experiments involve -^viewing and moving around in computer generated :"virtual reality" environments or "real" environments : and making perceptual judgments. Participants will be ^compensated for their time. Participation is entirely ^voluntary and participants may withdraw from the ^experiment at any time without penalty. ! Contact Betty Mohler J585-0010, vr-exp@cs.utah.edu Shadows from the brass players of Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra are cast on the wall of The Velvet Room downtown Salt Lake City Tuesday night during their show. The members of the band bring together African and Latin roots with lyrics in English, Yoruba and Spanish. songs last 10 minutes or longer, the band insists that they are not a "jam band" because their songs are not improvised. Band members write and rehearse in the studio prior to taking songs on the road. During performances, they watch for Amayo to give them specific cues that let them know when to play and when to dance. With a dozen musicians in the band, one might anticipate conflict between members. However, band member Dylan Fusillo says. "We get along like family." With so many members, Fusillo said, there are a wealth of different personalities and ideologies, but that all Antibalans are unified by their passion and concern for "human rights and Afrobeat." The Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra closes out their North American tour this month in their hometown of New York City, then heads overseas to play shows in Belgium and France. ahuffaker@ chronicle.utah.edu Stay Calendar, pony boy June 17 Friday It might be hard to believe that, with all the selfgratifying, egotistical, arrogant congratulations Calendar is notorious for heaping atop our broad, muscular, unbearably attractive shoulders, we're by no means a pridefui beast. Au contraire, mon cher, we're really quite the humble, self-effacing, penitent events-listing-we just get a bad rap. Really, we swear we don't think we're such hot s***...wait, sorry, what were we talking about again? We got distracted/enamored by our own reflection in the computer monitor. Oh yeah, humility—eh, actually we were lying about that: We're freakin' Calendar, how the hell could we not fall in love with ourselves? Narcissus did, and that dude had buckteeth, back hair and a nasty case of boils. We may as well be chiseled from marble compared to that chump... But then again, that Narcissus thing is just a myth, right? Calendar doesn't believe in myths-in fact, we don't believe in much {God, the. Easter Bunny, the Easter Bunny God, etc.), but what we do believe in is equality. Gay, straight, male, female, black, white, green, yellow, monkey, donkey, camel, llama-you name it, Calendar has probably arbitrarily championed its fight for rights at one point or another. One struggle we're particularly invested in (in the sense that we think it's hot, like us, and therefore want to see it succeed) is the Womyn's Rock and Roll Liberation movement. We mean, seriously, chicks deserve more credit—they're more than just boobs., you know, they have...boobs, too! Sorry, we can't handle misogynistic guys that only think about sex, they just get on our nerves. Calendar is totally, like, a feminist and stuff, bro-girls rule and don't deserve the patriarchal oppression they face each and every day. We mean, it takes two to tango, if you catch our drift... which is why we fully support the Hell's Belles, an all-female AC/DC tribute band, playing Ego's ( 6 6 9 S. State) tonight at the gynocentric hour of 8 p.m., for the neo-fem price of $12. But then again, Calendar doesn't really have any idea what we're talking about-weird, huh? We do, however, know that lots of guys who probably could use a little bit of sensitivity training at the hands of Oprah's patented Butt Blaster workout (no joke, it actually exists, we saw it online,..some things are just too funny for us to make up) will be hanging out, drinking beer, belching, scratching their "toolboxes" and watching the big cars with stiff suspension take hard turns tonight at the Summit ET Series at Rocky Mountain Raceway (2100 S. 6 5 5 5 West) at 6 p.m. for $10. Wait, wait, wait-big, stiff and hard? And people say NASCAR culture is homophobic to compensate for its essential homoeroticism? Psshh! But, again, Calendar doesn't know what we're talking about-please, big, burly dudes, don't kick our ass. When it comes to masculinity, we don't know Jack (well, not as well as you apparently do...sorry, that was the last joke, we swear...please don't maim us). We don't know squat (well, not in exactly the same sense...apologies, that one just wrote itself). We don't know diddley, we promise-you're the big tough guys, we're just the slight, bespectacled Calendar sleeping with your girlfriend (who hates it when you make her call you "big daddy," by the way). We do, however, know Bo Diddley, playing tonight at the Kenley Amphitheater ( 4 4 5 N. Wasatch Dr.) at 8 p.m., tickets ranging from $15 to $ 3 0 . June 18 Saturday Wow, we know Bo Diddley-we really are getting old. Pretty soon, we'll be breaking hips and chasing hearts at the local AARP meetings. Don't laugh, we've seen "The Graduate," and Mrs. Robinson can seduce us any time she wants. We'll sweep her off her feet with an Ensure-and-Everclear cocktail, take her moonlighting at the Chuck-A-Rama buffet and then dance the early afternoon away at the Old- ies Fest, today at Franklin Covey Field (1300 S. 77 West) at 2 p.m. for $ 2 5 . After we're done painting the town geriatric, Calendar will have dear, sweet, sexy Mrs. Robinson back to the retirement home well before her 6 p.m. bedtime. She'll be ours faster than you can say "Old person on rollerskates...c!assic!" There are other benefits to dating the old and/or infirmed: They don't know how to use cell phones, so they can't always call to "check up," they're usually loaded (with money, not emulsified organs, sicko) and looking for a hot young benefactor to leave the estate to, and they can't stay up past the evening news, so you can always go back and pick up their offspring in time for the G-Love and Special Sauce show tonight at Library Square ( 4 0 0 S. 2 0 0 East) for $ 2 5 . June 19 Sunday All joking aside, there is one woman Calendar would never make a joke about: The Inimitable Nancy Griffith, who performs at Red Butte Garden ( 3 0 0 Wakara Way) at 7 p.m. for $ 2 8 . Seriously, she's a legend—didn't she play Buffy on the WB? Yeah, that's what we thought. Smokin'! |