Arts & Entertainment

Restaurant

Italian Cuisine

248.476.0044

For the
month of
August

"Any Event" Catering • Banquet Room Available

Buy any dinner entree and receive
'6"" off the second dinner entree

10°/ *Off
your entire bill

if your name is

Revolution Rock

Salads, pizza, sandwiches and ribs for 2 excluded.

ioAnn

one coupon per table

not valid with
any other offer

Expires: August 31, 2005

j

O.A.R. brings on a feel-good revolution.

Farmington Hills • Corner of Grand River & Haggerty Road
Auburn Hills • 1 it, miles south of the Palace of Auburn Hills

Manhattan !Deli
95 Meat Tray

r

per
person

• Catering
• Party Trays
• Homemade
Soups & Salads

Free
Delivery!

LYNNE KONSTANTIN

Contributing Arts Editor

0

UI

minimum 10 person

Corned Beef, Turkey,
Pastrami, Roast Beef
2 cheeses
relish, pickles,
potato salad,coleslaw

39690 14 Mile Road • Walled Lake, MI

248.960.3111 • Fx: 248.960.3821

g

Hours:
Mon-Fri: 8am-7pm
Sat: 8am-4pm
Sunday for Catering

"Where Family Cooking
Means Everything"

When Purchasing
2 Full. Course Dinners

Voted Michigan's
Best Italian
Restaurant 3rd
Year In A Row

37646 West 12 Mile

Farmington Hills

Specials Not Included
Dining Room Only
Mon-Thurs Only
Excludes Holidays
Expires 8/31/05

248-994-4000

r

■ BBQ Grill on the Table

■ Best Sushi Bar in Town

■

Traditional Floor
Sitting Rooms Available

10% off

your TOTAL food bill

ANY TIME

Dine in only i Not good with any other offer expires 8/31/05

ew S co u [G arden

Authentic Korean & Japanese Cuisine
Phone (248) 827-1600
Open Daily
Catering Available I
www.newseoulgarden.com

newseoul@hotmail.com

27566 Northwestern Hw .

West Side Carpet...
•
at East aide Prices

8/11
2005

32

20750 Hoover Road (3 miles south of 1-696)
Open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
and by appointment.
Call Mickey at 586-756-2400.

1006430

MiciceY Altel n'an s

Flooring
Warehouse

We set the floor on prices.

.A.R.'s revolution
started small. An
acronym for Of A
Revolution, O.A.R. unoffi-
cially began when Marc
Roberge and Chris Culos,
both Jewish, became friends
as children. In junior high
school in Rockville, Md.,
the respective singer-lyricist-
guitarist and drummer met
up with guitarist Richard
On and began jamming
together in their basements.
A few years later, in high
school, the friends invited
bassist Benj Gershman (who
makes a point, he says, not
to book shows on the High
Holidays), to join them.
Heading off to college at
Ohio State, the band added
saxophonist Jerry DePizzo,
a Youngstown native.
They started playing frat
parties and in basements on
campus, community cen-
ters, synagogue and church
events — even a sweet 16 — and
somewhere along the way it became
official.
In 1997, O.A.R. released an inde-
pendently produced demo -- much of
which Roberge and Culos wrote while
studying during a high school semester
in Israel, where they began listening to
a lot of reggae. (One year their junior,
Gershman attended the same program
in Israel a year after Roberge and
Culos did.)
Their optimistic brand of folky rock
`n' roll blended just enough of a reg-
gae- and ska-inspired beat to get the
crowd dancing, and rave word-of-
mouth reviews began to spread like
wildfire. They encouraged new listen-
ers to download songs for free on the
Internet, simply because they wanted
people to hear and enjoy their music.
And in the process, though com-
mercial success has been elusive, their
powerful live show and indie reputa-
tion has attracted a grassroots follow-
ing that helps them sell out most of
their shows across the country, even as
they've made the switch to larger

amphitheaters. Among those
amphitheaters is Meadow Brook
Music Festival, where the band will
appear on Thursday, Aug. 18.

Reggae Influence
Reggae

sound, reminiscent of the
Dave Matthews Band combined with
the live-jam energy of the Grateful
Dead — with two of whose surviving
members O.A.R. was invited to per-
form for a political benefit last year —
has proved difficult to bottle. Added
to the mix is the influence of reggae.
"We're looking for songs that have a
pulse," Marc Roberge recently told a
Boston magazine. "We can't relate to
the origins of reggae music, the plight
and cause that these folks are singing
about."
Culos agrees, in an Ohio State pub-
lication: "Marc and I ... started listen-
ing to a lot of reggae music while we
were in Israel. While we never wanted
to be a reggae band, we always liked
some of the qualities. Certainly the
lyrics we never wanted to go near. We
were white kids from the suburbs. We

