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Critically praised rocker to play Club Cafe tonight

Tuesday, March 11, 2003
If all he had was a cool rock 'n' roll name, Django Haskins would be worth checking out. But the Gainesville, Fla., native, who now calls Brooklyn, N.Y., home, is one of those musical gems who is just waiting to be discovered.

Haskins, who plays Club Cafe on the South Side tonight, has been compared with artists ranging from Elvis Costello and Tom Petty to XTC and the Replacements. That he doesn't really sound like any of those musicians speaks to his unique talents -- call it basic rock 'n' roll with liberal doses of intelligence, wit and energy.

Haskins will be joined by Danielle Howle -- another great rock 'n' roll name -- a South Carolina writer who crosses into folk, rock, punk and country music, and local hero Brad Yoder. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Details: (412) 431-4950.

-- Regis Behe

Free-form German jazz

German Gunter Hampel brings together the vibes and clarinet in a way Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman never would have.

For one, he plays them both himself. But even when he is joined by clarinetist Perry Robinson, the music doesn't resemble "Sing, Sing, Sing."

Those two and drummer Lou Grassi will make up the Gunter Hampel New York Trio and bring their free-form jazz with an orchestral darkness to Oakland on Wednesday.

The band is led by Hampel, who has worked with free jazz exponents such as Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp. Robinson knows what Hampel's music is all about, having worked with him since the early '70s.

Grassi, meanwhile, has been in Hampel's Free Will Quintet as well as working with ragtimers such as Max Morath.

The concert will be at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Public Health Auditorium in Oakland. Tickets are $15.

Details: (412) 422-8864.

-- Bob Karlovits

Minor Symphony changes

The Pittsburgh Symphony announced Monday it will make three changes to its concert presentations:

  • Video projections for selected events will begin Friday, when images of piano soloist Garrick Ohlsson's hands playing Michael Hersch's new Piano Concerto will be shown on plasma screens on both sides of the stage.

  • Encores, such as the Johann Strauss Jr. polka played Feb. 28 and March 1, will be offered at some concerts.

  • Risers, or platforms for musicians to sit on, will be used for concerts beginning May 3 to give audience members a better view of the musicians.

    -- Mark Kanny

    Home Gardeners Guild to meet

    The Home Gardeners' Guild will meet on 10 a.m. Thursday at the McKeesport Garden Center. Rebecca Griffith of Shadowwood Gardens will present a program on "Fragrant Gardens." The committee and all members of the guild will meet at the YWCA in McKeesport on March 19 and will prepare and serve lunch to the Senior Citizens.

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    Tommy Lee, the chaser

    Had Tommy Lee Jones been cast as the FBI agent chasing Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit film "Catch Me If You Can," it would have been a very different movie, but the title is a perfect fit for Jones.

    Ever since he appeared opposite Harrison Ford in the 1993 blockbuster "The Fugitive," in which he played a U.S. marshal in hot pursuit of Dr. Richard Kimble, the Texas-born, Harvard-educated Jones seems to be a frequent choice whenever Hollywood is looking for a determined pursuer.

    In "U.S. Marshals," he hunted down escaped criminals. In "Double Jeopardy," he tracked down a paroled woman bent on revenge against her husband. And in the "Men in Black" movies, he joined Will Smith in chasing aliens to avert intergalactic disaster.

    "The Hunted," which opens Friday, presents Jones as a retired special-ops instructor who tries to capture his former student (Benicio Del Toro), a military assassin-turned-renegade, who is killing hunters in the Pacific Northwest. The Paramount film was directed by William Friedkin.

    Like Ed Harris, John C. Reilly and Christopher Walken, Jones, who won an Academy Award for best supporting actor for "The Fugitive," is one of the premier character actors working today. In his wisecracking determination, "Tommy Lee Jones reminds me a lot of Vin Diesel," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. "These guys seem like the real deal. It doesn't appear that they're acting when playing tough guys. He has this look about him, this aura, that here is a serious guy, that he could do in real life what he does on-screen. He's a guy you wouldn't want chasing after you."

    Maybe Jones and Diesel should be paired in a movie. But who would pursue whom?

    -- Los Angeles Times


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