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East Indian recording artist Shashank will make a repeat appearance in Lubbock, this time headlining a bamboo flute concert at 7 p.m. March 16 in the Firehouse Theatre at the Underwood Center for the Arts, 511 Ave. K.

Preferred seating is $28.50. General admission tickets are $13.50 for the general public and $8.50 for students (includes $3.50 service charge).

Tickets are on sale at Select-A-Seat outlets and at Gandhi Bazaar, India Palace and Maharaja’s.

Shashank, 29, is a bamboo flute virtuoso from South India who has captivated audiences and critics since he was 12.

Thus far, he has recorded and released more than 30 compact discs and filmed two DVDs.

Shashank earned a standing ovation when he made his debut in 1990 at the Madras Music Academy in India. He was 12 at the time.

He was touted as both a child prodigy and a child avatar (an embodiment of God). It was believed by many within India’s population that he had received his music talent from a past life.

He has given major performances in the United States at the Smithsonian, Kennedy Center and National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.; the J. Paul Getty Hall in Hollywood; the Cerritos Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles; Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.; the World Music Institute in New York City; and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

On the off chance that I cannot talk you out of seeing “Vantage Point,” I hope you really like the first 10 minutes of the movie a lot.

Because you’re going to watch it over and over again.

And a few more times, as well, because director Pete West is intent on showing an assassination attempt on the president of Spain at least eight times.

Then, with more than a half million people scurrying about in the plaza in Salamanca, Spain, he finds it feasible that these same strangers would keep bumping into each other in the hour or so that follows.

For those who have missed the film’s trailer, which gives major surprises away, the movie opens with the president speaking at an anti-terrrorism summit in Salamanca, when shots ring out. The president appears to be blown away.

A-J Reviews . . .
‘Vantage Point’
Kerns rating: *1/2 out of 5.

Stars: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Bruce McGill, Edgar Ramirez, Said Taghmaoui, Ayelet Zurer, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt and Eduardo Noriega.

Rated: PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and strong language.

Film credits: Screenplay by Barry Levy. Cinematography by Amir M. Mokri. Directed by Pete Travis.
As Secret Service agents played by Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox rush to assist, a bomb explodes outside the plaza.

Minutes later, another bomb tears apart the stage where the president and other dignitaries were scheduled to speak.

And then…

West gives an impression of literally re-winding film back to the starting point and then showing the same sequence, only in the view of a different character or with a different bit of business explained.

Part of the problem is that so much goes unexplained throughout the film, starting with why Spain would be chosen to host an anti-terrorism summit in the first place.

Another part of the problem is that West’s filmmaking becomes, for lack of a better word, sloppy.

His insistence on repeating the “rewinding” technique only serves to frustrate audiences and wear on their patience.

Mind you, the movie does start off like gangbusters as we watch the summit being set up through the eyes of a network news director played by Sigourney Weaver. She has sharp eyes and a sharper tongue.

Her directions to the on-camera talent help West say something about the media manipulating the news.

She’s also the first to notice that one of the Secret Service men is Thomas Barnes (Quaid), an agent who took a bullet meant for the president not all that long ago, leading some to wonder why he’s been brought back into the fray so quickly.

From here, we also view the scene from Barnes’ viewpoint (a strong performance by Quaid), and again from that of Enrique (Eduardo Noriega), who is either a Spanish cop or a terrorist — or maybe a dirty Spanish cop turned terrorist.

Then there’s Forest Whitaker, an American tourist dealing with his marital separation by taking a European vacation and using his camcorder to capture a bit of history.

More history than some might find feasible.

His camera captures possible shooting points, suspects and an assortment of clues.

This concept of telling the same story from multiple, well, vantage points, is not a new one, as anyone who watches television’s “24” can attest.

No doubt West is reaching for a more cinematic inspiration, specifically Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 classic “Rashomon,” in which truth is debated time and again as four different witnesses or participants explain how a murder took place.

Kurosawa, however, gives the audience more to work with each time he revisits the scene. West does not.

Instead, he introduces the film with strangers’ viewpoints, but then, not trusting even his own strategy, he turns foot pursuits and car chases to bring his story to a conclusion.

Been there.

Seen it all before.

From this vantage point, it’s just a pretty bad movie.

The Spiderwick Chronicles" - must-see entertainment and the first film to note the power of hobgoblin spit - arrives on the wings of fantasy.

Director Mark Waters gathered many of Hollywood's more impressive craftsmen, ranging from visual effects master Tom Peitzman to cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and production designer James Bissell.

Together, they create an exciting tale that most families should be able to enjoy together.

What a rare concept.

I say most only because of the rating. In this case, the two letters PG are somewhat questionable because the movie - or at least a climactic pursuit by an ogre voiced by Nick Nolte - is going to flat out scare a high percentage of the viewers younger than, say, 9 or 10.

You have been warned.