music
For the love of the Irish
1990 Grammy-award nominee sings of love and loss at Liberty Hall
By Ezra Wolfe
Kansan staff writer
F forget trying to classify this folk-country-blues-celtic jazz-feminist singer. She says she's none of the
above, yet all of the above.
Maura O'Connell is performing 8:30 Jan. 20 at Liberty Hall, 745 Massachusetts St. Kelly Hunt will also perform.
O'Connell said once you're classified as a certain type of musician you can't lose the label.
"I'll be dammed if it happens to me," she said. "I'm just a singer."
O'Connell's latest recording, "blue is the colour of hope," is stylistically versatile and highly emotional. O'Connell moves from a minimalist jazz style through Irish and countryinfluenced folk with a touch of American blues.
The Irish singer's release on Warner Brothers Records holds tightly to the bitter subject of love and loss — told from a woman's point of view.
O'Connell said the songs were hopeful and quoted author J.D. Salinger:
"When you face the absolute worst part of your situation, if you're getting blue, it means that you're crying. You're being cheated and you're on your way back."
"So soft your goodbye," recorded with only O'Connell's voice, a piano and a bass, brings to mund Billie Holiday's style of jazz heartbreak, but O'Connell's voice soars and flows more loosely than Holiday's. O'Connell sings:
"I thought that true love was yours and mine
Till the end of time
Won't lie
Was it a lie
What will you leave me help me survive
O'Connell's gripping rendition of these lyrics will take emphasizing listeners on a tour of their lost loves and muddled relationships in a only a few minutes.
A tear from your eye"
"Still hurts sometimes," a more accessible song, retains the theme of loss, but adds a streak of self
reliance, present in many of O'Connell's songs.
"Yeah, can live without you
Yeah, you know I will
Yea, I'll be all right!"
Another song,":i would be stronger than that," deals with abusive relationships.
"And it isn't my place to say leave him and run'
That no love is worth all the damage he's done"
"I would never allow anyone to abuse me," she said. "I've never been that enthralled. But I understand many women don't have the strength or financial resources to leave."
O'Connell, who is engaged, said the song doesn't come from personal experience.
The independence present in O'Connell's songs is more personal than political.
"I'm a feminist only in the sense that I believe in myself," she said. O'Connell said the label 'feminist' carries too much bagage.
"I'm not a man hater," she said.
And she notes that most great songs are written about heartbreak and love.
Ironically, O'Connell relies on others for songwriting.
"I can't write songs," she explained.
The recording's strengths are O'Connell's voice and her choice of songs, and the songs are carefully arranged without sounding calculated. The band expands to include lap steel guitar, mandolin, dobro and electric guitar, and O'Connell's versatile voice fits in like a crowning jewel.
O'Connell grew up in a working class Irish family but now lives in Nashville. Her family didn't view her as the singer of the family, and she nearly ended up working in the family fish store. She always sang however and hooked up with De Danaan, a traditional Irish band. This led to a tour of the United States and two hits in Ireland.
She then recorded two solo albums; the second, "Helpless Heart," was nominated for a Grammy award.
"blue is the colour of hope" is her fourth album.
O'Connell will perform in Lawrence with a band of two acoustic guitarists who will also play electric guitar and mandolin, but she adds that the three of them make quite a bit of noise.
Notables pitching in on the recording include Rosanne Cash and Mary-Chapin Carpenter among other less-well-known musicians.
movie review
Chaplin film lacks life, vibrancy
Brian Whitburn Kansan Staff Reviewer
"Chaplin" (PG-13), directed by Richard Attenborough, who won an Academy Award for best director in "Gandhi," shows another side of Chaplin the scandals, the divides and the politics. Robert Downey Jr. plays Chaplin.
when I think of Charlie Chaplin, I think of the Little Tramp — the black mustache, the black hat, the wooden cane, and the clown-like walk.
80 silent hims and five takeves. For many of the movies in which Chaplin acted, he also directed, wrote, and composed the scores.
In Chaplin's career of more than 60 years, he starred in
"Chaplin" is based on Chaplin's "autobiography, 'My Autobiography,' and "Chaplin His Life and Art" by David Robinson. The movie is aseries about the life of Chaplin, Charles Chapin to George Hayden, a fictional played by Anthony
This flashback style of storytelling is the most annoying aspect of "Chapin". The flow of the movie is disrupted by suddenly reverting to the elder Chapin talking to the editor.
he meets his first love Hetty Kelly, played by Moira Kelly ("The Cutting Edge"), she does not like him. In the next scene they are shown on their first date. It would have been nice to know her reaction when he asked her out.
Hopkins who wants to publish Chaplin's book.
The movie does a shallow job of portraying his famous
and sometimes controversial relationships with women.
Also, his wives are thrown at the audience too fast to fully develop who or distinguish who
who.
The film's strengths rely on the acting of Downey, who spent more than a year in preparation for the role, including sessions with a mime expert. Downey looks and moves nearly identically to the Little Tramp. Even Chaplin's daughter Geraldine, who plays Chaplin's mother Hannah, agrees that the similarities are unaccompanied.
Fans of Charlie Chaplin will enjoy "Chaplin." It gives lot of trivial information about Chaplin's background. But for the rest of us, "Chaplin" just isn't worth the price of the ticket.
I give "Chaplin" a C+
Your guide to Entertainment in the Lawrence Area.
calendar
Bars and Bands
Gusto's
925 Iowa St.
Thursday-House Party with DJ
Friday-The Purple Indians
Saturday-The Shifting
$3 cover
Harmony Hall
10 F. Ninth St.
Friday-Jim Scott from the Paul Winter Consort, singer songwriter, guitarist Sunday-The Plaid Family Tickets: $7 advanced, $8 at the door
Javhawk Cafe
Fridav-Perfect Fit. $3
Jazzhaus
926 1/2 Massachussets St.
Thursday-Ray's Blues Jam, $2
Friday, Saturday-M jam, $3
Johnny's Tavern
401 N. Second St.
Friday, Saturday-Rhythm Kings, $2
Liberty Hall
642 Massachusetts St.
Wednesday-Maura O'Connell and Kyle Hunt
$10 plus 30 cents service charge
Riverside Bar and Grill
520 N. Third St.
Friday and Saturday-Cyote Ugly
$3 per person, $5 per couple
Rick's Neighborhood Bar and Grill
Rick's Neighborhood Bar and Grill
623 Vermont St.
Saturday-Chubby Smith and his Orchestra, $3
The Crossing
12th and Oread streets
Friday-Wake Trash
Saturday-Dracom magnet
$1 cover
The Yacht Club
530 Wisconsin St.
Wednesday Scott Weisenberg, acoustic guitar