A+E: All the Arts + Entertainment You Can Eat

I Am Woman, Hear Me Kick It













Kristine W


Where: Krave


When: Midnight, February 25


Tickets: $20-$30


Info: 836-0830





Kristine Weitz was on the cusp of The Big Time: a Miss America pageant under her sash, a gig at the Las Vegas Hilton, a string of Billboard dance hits and a growing reputation as the next Madonna. Then she was diagnosed with leukemia in 2000. The two-year break that ensued knocked her off the fast track, but she came back with Fly Again in 2003, spinning off three No. 1 singles. Now you have a chance to see the Vegas diva live before she starts charging hundreds of dollars for the nose-bleed seats. Cone bras and torn fishnets are optional.




Martin Stein









DVDs



The Good Soldier Schweik, Land 2 (NR) (5 stars)


$49.95


Imagine an Eastern European adaptation of Catch-22, starring the Three Stooges' Curly as Yossarian. Rudolf Hrusinsky plays Schweik, a good-natured ne'er-do-well who's drafted into the Czech army in World War I. Based on a popular novel by Jaroslav Hasek, the release and its 1957 sequel, Beg to Report, Sir, are as subversively funny today as they were in 1956.



Porco Rosso (PG) (4 stars)


$29.99


Despite critical raves and earnest marketing, America never embraced Hayao Miyazaki's splendid Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Their loss. Fans of Miyazaki's artistry and storytelling will rejoice in Porco Rosso (The Crimson Pig), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and The Cat Returns. Each title arrives in a generous two-disc package, with informative extras and separate Japanese and English tracks.



Bobby Darin: Beyond the Song (NR) (2 stars)


$14.99


With the sad passing of Sandra Dee and pathetic box office of Beyond the Sea, it's a good time to refresh our memories as to how extraordinary Bobby Darin was. This compilation of clips and interviews shows what inspired Kevin Spacey. Dee and Darin also can be seen in If a Man Answers, Come September and That Funny Feeling, all released last August.




Gary Dretzka









WHEN THE GOING GETS WEIRD



With the suicide of Hunter S. Thompson, February 20 will forever be the day when new-journalism fans will take to the road in red convertibles, floor mats soaked in ether, Samoan lawyers by their side. In recognition, we present these lines from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.


"Ether is the perfect drug for Las Vegas. In this town they love a drunk. Fresh meat."


"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit light-headed; maybe you should drive ...." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. '"


"The Circus-Circus is what the whole hep world would be doing on Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war. This is the Sixth Reich."


"But nobody can handle that other trip—the possibility that any freak with $1.98 can walk into the Circus-Circus and suddenly appear in the sky over downtown Las Vegas, twelve times the size of God, howling anything that comes into his head. No, this is not a good town for psychedelic drugs. Reality itself is too twisted."


"Terrible things were happening all around us. Right next to me, a huge reptile was gnawing on a woman's neck, the carpet was a blood-soaked sponge—impossible to walk on it, no footing at all. 'Order some golf shoes,' I whispered. 'Otherwise, we'll never get out of this place alive.'"


"For a loser, Vegas is the meanest town on earth."




Martin Stein









LOCAL CD



De Wayne McCoy



This Too Will Pass (2 stars)


A mellow mix of R&B orchestration and Christian-inspired lyrics, McCoy's honeyed voice glides through the dozen tracks, often exhorting the listener to turn from the violence of the street and toward God. But the proselytizing never gets in your face to the point of becoming a detriment to the music.




Martin Stein


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