NEWS RELEASE

News Bureau . Schofield Hall 201 . Eau Claire, WI 54702
phone: (715) 836-4741
fax: (715) 836-2900

EAU CLAIRE - Howard "Guitar" Luedtke and Blue Max will present a free outdoor concert at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Monday, June 16. Clyde Stubblefield will appear as special guest at the show, which will start at 7 p.m. on the Central Campus Mall (rain: Schofield Auditorium). Refreshments will be sold. Audience members are invited to bring blankets or folding chairs for lawn seating.

Led by one of the Midwest's best slide guitar players, Blue Max has opened shows for such big-name blues artists as Long John Baldrey, Lonnie Brooks, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Li'l Ed and the Blues Imperials, Tinsley Ellis, Jeff Healey, Jimmy Johnson, Kenny Neal, A.C. Reed, Eddy Shaw, Herbert Sumlin, Koko Taylor, Joe Louis Walker and Johnny Winter. Blue Max has three recordings on the False Dog label - "Molded by the Blues" (1992), "Live in Gleisdorf, Austria" (1995), and "Face to Face with the Blues" (1996).

Also on campus during the week of June 16 are these free Summer Session Programs:

• "October Sky" (1999) will screen Tuesday and Thursday at noon and 7 p.m. in Davies Theatre, continuing a weekly Summer Cinema series about young people making their way in the world.

  Jake Gyllenhaal stars in Joe Johnston's drama, based on Homer Hickham's best-selling memoir, "Rocket Boys." As a high-school student in October 1957, Hickham watched the Russian satellite Sputnik cross the night sky over Coalwood, West Virginia. With the help of three buddies, he set out to build a successful rocket - despite the disapproval of his father (Chris Cooper), a mine superintendent determined to save his impoverished town's way of life and bring his son down to earth.

  "'October Sky' tells the story of four boys in a poverty-stricken corner of Appalachia who are determined to build their own rocket, and help get America back in the 'space race,'" wrote film critic Roger Ebert. "Watching Homer get out the trig book, I was reminded how rarely high school movies have anything to do with school - with how an education is a ticket to freedom.

  "Perhaps because 'October Sky' is based on a real memoir," Ebert wrote, "it doesn't simplify the father into a bad guy or a tyrant. He understandably wants his son to follow in his footsteps, and one of the best elements of the movie is in breaking free, he is respecting his father. This movie has deep values." Rated PG, the 108-minute color film will screen via DVD projection.

• Jazz combos will play during lunch in the open air, from noon to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday on the Central Campus Mall (rain: The Cabin of Davies Center). A variety of grilled lunch items will be sold.

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JS/NW

Judy Berthiaume, Director
UW-Eau Claire News Bureau
Schofield 201
(715) 836-4741
newsbur@uwec.edu

Updated: May 30, 2003