P o ^ e Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Tuesday, February 22, 1972
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, February 22, 1972
'U
Seeger shines with
fine fiddle and banjo
$1-3 PREVIEWS TUES. & WED.
By PAULA THOMAS
Mike Seeger strolled into the
Ark Friday night and proceeded
to amaze and astound his audi-
ence with his versatility and per-
fection in performing. Although
perhaps best known for his ap-
pearances with the New Lost
City Ramblers, Mike Seeger is
also an incredible solo performer.
He presented innumerable fiddle
and banjo tunes as well as such
old standards as "Little Birdie,"
"Don't Let Your Deal Go Down"
and "Chilly Winds."
Drawing from mountain and
country styles, and sounds that
typify such old masters as Clar-
ence Ashley, Doc Boggs, Wade
Ward and Rosco Holcomb (to
mention too few), Seeger per-
fectly demonstrated the continu-
ing folk-process and brought tra-
ditional music back to life for
those who happened to be at the
Ark that night.
"Little Birdie" was done in a
combination frailing, finger-pick-
ing style; and in an obscure tun-
ing which is almost exclusively
used in esoteric versions on old
seventy-eights. T h e s e factors
alone have made Mike Seeger
one of the most sought-after per-
formers; and consequently he
has been described as a "live,
performing historian of tradi-
tional and string-band music."
Besides singing here last week-
end, Mike Seeger will be back
in town next month to perform
(en masse) with the New Lost
City Ramblers - who are, un-
doubtedly the most copied string-
band in existence today. If, by
some freak accident, you missed
Mike Seeger last weekend, be
sure to see the Ramblers who
will be performing at Lydia
Mendelssohn on the 16th of
March.
lunch
non-profit cooperative
conspiracy
coffeehouse-theater
330 Maynard Street
UM Film Society
-Associated Press
Billy Preston - - flashy'rock and roll
Delaney, Bonnie bomb
By HERB BOWIE and
SUZY SILVERMAN
Saturday night a crowd that
only'about half-filled Hill Audi-
torium saw a concert that frus-
tratingly -peaked out before it
was half over.
TIe evenilig started with Iris
Bell,.a singer and pianist backed
by .bass and drums. The group
performed'a number of songs by
Bell as well as such favorites as
"Take Me to the Pilot," "Get
Back" and "Proud Mary." De-
spite the fact that Bell's music
seems more suited for a night-
club than a concert hall, the set
woild have been quite enjoyable
had theFbass not sounded out of
tune. Tie high point of their set
cane when Bell played keyboard
bass as well as piano, leaving
the bass player free to play
guitar. Unfortunately, this switch
didn't occur until the last song
was in progress.
The star of the show was Billy
Preston. After about the third
nuniber he started collecting
standing ovations after every
song. The act was all flash (I'd
never buy arecording of it), but
what's- rock 'n roll all about,
after all? It may seem silly for
a reviewer to spend a paragraph
describing the appearance of a
group, but that's what I'm going
to do:- God- damn, it was excit-
ingr
First,-APreston's back-up musi-
cians take the stage, al ldressed
in a 'sort of funky-dandy style:
imperIal-looking afros, brightly
colored suits, andso forth. Then,
after the band starts playing a
rociIng'instrumental, enter Billy
Presaon, stage right (dancing):
he's, wearing a, leather suit with
multi- colored tassels dangling
from his jacket and pants and
swinging them with all the ex-
pertise of- a practiced stripper.
He dances over to the organ and
'helps-. his band finish up the
song: Visually, the rest of the
act consists of more dancing
and the general appearance of
intense enjoyment.
The audible half of the show
was equally exciting. No }tuning
up between songs, just one tight,
professionally played number af-
ter another. Preston's slick organ
and versatile vocals were the
highlights, of course, but the
back-up band, consisting of
drums, bass, piano and guitar,
was cookinng along right behind
him. The set included "Hey,
Joe,'"' "Summertime" and "My!
Sweet Lord" as well as Pres-
ton's own "The Bus," "That's
the Way God Planned It," and
the great "I Wrote a Simple
Song."
I wish I could pretend the
concert ended there, but the
headliners were yet to come. The
way Delaney and Bonnie and
Friends were playing Saturday
night they would have sounded
poor after any act, but after
Billy Preston they sounded-and
looked-especially pathetic. Bon-
nie relayed her intense excite-
ment to the crowd through a
perfunctory performance of the
arteriosclerosis boogie, w h i c h
consisted of bending her knees
slightly every so often, while
Delaney ignored the crowd and
watched Bonnie most of the time.
As if to emphasize just how
little these performers looked
like stars, Fate decreed not only
that one of Delaney's guitar
strings should snap, but that
Bonnie's zipper should break.
All this would have been ig-
nored, of. course, had the music
not ben so dismal. The band
consisted of an organ, piano,
drums congos, bass, sax trum-
pet and trombone, with Delaney
on electric guitar. This line-up
would've been o.k. if not for two
problems: Delaney persisted in
playing lead guitar, when what
the group needed was a solid
rhythm instrument to give the
songs a basic structure; second,
the mix was horrible-organ/
piano, congos, bass and drums
sort of blended into a single,
monotonous drone. Add to these
problems Delaney's extensive im-
provisation and the insufficient
volume of the vocals and you
have the reasons why all the
songs sounded exactly alike. The
climax of this mess came when
the sole instruments being played
were two sets of moracas, two
cowbells, congos and a tambou-
rine, and everyone could diddle
around just as they pleased with-
out worrying about playing a
particular song.
The irony is that a couple of
years ago Eric Clapton, one of
the progenitors of 'high-energy"
rock, turned hisback on that
kind of music and joined De-
laney and Bonnie because he
liked the traditional blues, rock-
abilly, and gospel music that
D & Bplayed. And todaytwe
find Delaney and Bonnie selling
out to the rock culture and try-
ing to play "high-energy" music,
with guitar solos and drum .;olos
ad nauseum. How the mighty
have fallen!
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