'Maximum Risk' offers stale plot

Jean-Claude Van Damme believes in giving more bang for the buck literally. "Maximum Risk" is the loudest, longest, lushest flick the "Muscles from Brussels" has unleashed for his fans. It is also no more than a series of action = pieces connected by no. not dots but a feeble, familiar plot. Van Damme plays a cop who discovers he has a twin brother with underworld links. His look-alike is killed after a five-minute chase that opens the film on a turbo-charged note. Danger means nothing to the surviving sibling, who decides he must learn about his lost brother. Apparently, he feels in no danger of losing his job, either, since he takes off post haste without leave. Of course, he finds a beautiful woman to romance. In this case, it's Nastasha Henstridge, who, in "Species,'' was more lethal than Van Damme in most of his movies. The plot is so stale that the Rusbians still are villains. No stone make that no action had been left unturned to thrill and chill audiences. Yet only two things separate "Maximum Risk" from any other Van Damme movie. One is the lush settings, the oiher is that Van Damme's characters are French, which accounts for his accent. It seems less thick than usual, but it also sounds as if some dialogue has been dubbed. The bruising fights are just that, but it's easy to see how they could have been faked. The flying feet arc shll lus. the rest may or may not be the star

Jin Vildnicmr

FA row
THE POST-STANDARD
Rapper Tupac Shakur arrives at New York's Radio City Music Hall Sept. 4 for the MTV Video Music Awards. Shakur died Sept. 13 of gunshot wounds he suffered Sept. 7 during a drive-by shooting.

Michael Hlrsch, 470-2287

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, * eny is preparing Its annual State of the Arts section -* %, fcek'at the fal arts sawori.''^ tf you want to ha* your artV group's scheJUehc)uded in 1t 's' calendar, ;s*ndttw .-^ pare,,onB.' Box 4915, Syracuse NY 13221, { -jjncfcjde a contact nama and p^icVte number (notto beiised lor fiubteatioh), youfcghwp's narre, address, box offfce prk^ number and descriptkxis and dates bf events through the calendar items byf Friday.^

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'Camping1 opens at Happy Endings

Contemporary Theatre of Syracuse opens its 1996-97 season at 7:30 p.m. Friday with "Camping with Henry & Tom" at Happy Endings Cake and Coffeehouse, 317 S. Clinton St., Armory Square. Subsequent performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25, 27 and 28; 7.30 p.m. Oct. 2 and 4; and at 2 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 6. Advance sale tickets are available at Happy Endings for $ 15. Admission at the door is $18. Groups of 10 or more can receive a discount by calling Contemporary Theatre at 425-0405.

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Chorus prepares for holiday concert

The Syracuse Gay and Lesbian Chorus will rehearse at 7 p m. Monday at Plymouth Congregational Church, 232 E. Onondaga St., Syracuse. The chorus is preparing for its "Sacred to Harmony, Sacred to Love" sixth annual holiday concert, which will be performed in December. The concert will feature performances of sacred, traditional and contemporary seasonal music New members will be given a brief sectional placement audition at the conclusion of rehearsal. For more information, call 476-4329.

'Walking contradiction'
Shots silence the angry voice of Tupac Shakur, sharpened by the streets

out and about

TODAY
"Weird" Al Yankovic performs a comedy concert, 8pm, Landmark Theatre, 362 S Sahna St, Syracuse Tickets $19 and $21 Comedy Night, featuring Big Mike Goss and Moody McCarthy, Wednesdays during September, Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant, 689 N Clinton St, Syracuse Dinner and show $19 95 per person plus tax and gratuity Seating begins at 6 45 p m, and show begins at 8 pm. Call 475-1807. "Artafest, a new entertainment and art series, 5 to 7 p m Wednesdays in September, in the park area of Franklin and Walton streets, Syracuse Today Irish rock with Black 47 Free Sponsored by Syracuse Parks, Recreation and Youth Programs Rob Oriofi entertains with vocals and acoustic guitar, 7 30 to 9 30 p m, Roaster's Comer Cafe, 5399 N Burdick St, FayetteviHe Center, Fayettevilte Call 637-0907. David Abrams, The Syracuse Newspapers classical-music cote, talks about the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra s new Classics Series, 7 30 p m, Borders Books and Music, Carousel Center. Syracuse Free Books Sandwiched hi, 1215 to 12 50 p m, Curtain Auditonum, Central Library, Galtenes of Syracuse, 447 S Salina St, Syracuse Free Today "40 Great Rail-Trails in New York and New England," by Karen-Ljee Ryan, reviewed by William Ehtng, professor emeritus.

Courtesy of Columbia/TriStar

Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in "Maximum Risk."

Jamesville native's work recorded

It was premiered in 1947 bv the renowned maestro Leonard Bcrnbtem. It was chosen as co-winner of the third annual George Gershwin Memorial Prize. It was also programmed by conductor Charles Munch and was performed by the Minneapolis Symphony under the baton of Antal Dorati It is Introduction and Allegro by the late Earl George, an internationally known composer who lived in Jamesville. At last, it has been recorded The Warsaw National Philharmonic, conducted by Jerzy Swoboda, performed the work. Albany Records is distributing the CDs and tapes George was professor cmenlus, of the Syracuse University School of Music and had been a longtime music critic for the Syracuse Herald-Journal and Sunday Herald American He died in 1994 at the age of 70.

'Dragonslayers' soundtrack
It's a first for Syracuse Stage. There is an original cast recording of "The Dragonslayers," the children's musical presented at Stage's Archbold Theatre home and on tour in late spring. The record was made in the town of Eaton home of Dianne Adams McDowell and her husband, James, both of whom arranged the music by Liverpool schoolteacher Angela Peterson. Bruce Coville wrote the talc in 1979, and it was staged initially by Syracuse Musical Theatie. It's available at Syracuse Stage's gift shop at performance time, or may be ordered by calling the box office

By Michel Marriott JVt'ii Yoik Tima> Ni'\n Sennc MARIN CITY, Calif. he news drifted into the Mann Public Housing complex with a chill, like the late afternoon breezes that play over this hillside pocket of poverty a few minutes' drive north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Tupac Amaru Shakur, rap music's bad-boy monarch whose struggle to stardom left him wealthy and weary, complicated and conflicted, was dead. For a few years before Shakur discovered fame, fortune and infamy, lie lived in this stair-stepping climb of barrackslike townhouses and terrace apartments. Many of its residents call the isolated, predominantly black neighborhood of aboul 800 people "the jungle." Many here proudly claim that this is where Shakur began honing a rap style that eventually raked in more than $80 million in record sales. So in "the jungle," bedeviled by crime and drugs, word of the death of an adoptive native son spread quickly. Shortly before 5 p m , on Friday the 13th, a woman slowed her car near Building 89, where Shakur lived in the late 1980s with his mother and sister She rolled down the car window and screamed, "Tupac is dead." Confirmation that Shakur, 25, had died of gunshot wounds he suffered in a dnve-by ambush Sept. 7 in Las Vegas was soon blaring from radios in nearby parked cars, living rooms and boom boxes. In the background, someone played "Life Goes On," a 2Pac (the name under which he recorded) song, a prophetic eulogy for shellshocked survivors of those lost to urban gunplay.

Compton, Long Beach and south-central Los Angeles. The genre was driven by a small circle of relative newcomers, who had transformed themselves in the early 1990s from petty drug dealers, pimps and strong-arm artists. But for all of their newfound wealth, the chains of gold and diamonds around their necks and the chauffeured limousines, some of these rappers refused to shed the violence oftheslieets. Instead, they wore their toughness like a badge, their lyrics simple personification of a lifestyle that was part Godfather and part gang lore. Shotguns were stashed underneath the seats of their luxury cars. Bodyguards were visibly armed, and the artists wore bulletproof vests In recent years, Shakur had spent more time in prison and in court than in recording studios. He served nine months on a sexual-abuse conviction, accused of raping a fan in Manhattan. He was seriously wounded in 1994 in another ambush, in the lobby of a Times Square recording studio. A fellow rapper. Snoop Doggy Dogg, was acquitted of a gang-related killing this year.

A bicoastal rivalry
The beginnings of rap were in New York, in a milder form that alternated between

party songs and odes to black pnde. But California rap reveled in its street-thug attitudes and dialect. Its decidedly more aggressive style challenged East Coast control of the music, the beat darker and the stories rife with fleshand-blood battles with police and rival gangs, like the Bloods and the Cnps Start-up record companies like Death Row and Ruthless sold what passed for the authentic black underworld experience to anyone who would buy it. Millions did. The power and visibility acquired through record sales by rappers like Shakur and his producers fostered a rivalry between East and West Coast artists, one that found its way into magazine articles and lyrics and manifested itself in fights at music events. Some street feuds brought bloodshed, with East and West rappers blaming their rivals for stealing their rhythms and killing their fncnds and everything m between. Like a grenade tossed into a bomb factory, Shakur, always the quick study, found the Southern California scene in the early 1990s and exploded. He quickly became one of gangsta rap's biggest stars. People who knew Shakur back in Mann City, when he went by the name "M.C. New York," said he dropped the black-liberation politics taught to him by his mother, a former member of the Black Panthers. Thug life, page D7 Tupac Shakur, left, and Death Row Records chairman Marion "Suge" Knight attend a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles in August. Knight was with Shakur Sept. 7 when he was shot.

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Combining worlds
Steve Vai is well known as a guitar hero But that's in rock music circles. Joel Thome is a star as a composer and conductor. Classical music, definitely They'll bnng their two worlds together at 8 p m. Sept 28 at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, for "Soundcurrent A Musical Celebration." Thome will conduct Vai. his rock band and a symphony orchestra. Tickets are $29.50, $25.50 and $20 50. Call (716) 222-5000. Vai also has a new release out on Epic Records. "Fire Garden." To hear a cut, call NewsLine at 472-2111. Once connected, use the Touch-Tone mode on your phone to punch in T-U-N-E (8863). That win get you Mark Ehatezak's daily "Music Notes" feature Today's tune is "Warm Regards."

From drug dealer to superstar

Ken Jackson, 37, who was walking through the complex, reminisced about Shakur's career. "Everybody knew he was going to make it," he said. "He was always writing raps." Shakur went from drug dealing in Marin City to superstar at a time when some inner cities were gripped by racial upheaval, gang violence, drug abuse and joblessness Those conditions spawned the explosion of rap in the mid-1980s, cultivating a generation of raw, angry young voices But Shakur followed the tracks of an even more violent subculture of rap, a tougher world known as gangsta rap, which was bom in depressed Southern Ciililorma locales like