THE MICHIGAN DAILY A rts & Enterta nm ent Thursday, March 17, 1977 Page Five ® A2 films show Santana: dvh~ ntht cnnt~nt By JIM\I STIMSON "Let the Children Play", from 9J U/~, // U// = F Wi o' =.'EW W./o' E U' rJ') ANYONE WORRIED that rL1diteuisugvpi- !7 / v..i !L/ / V v vv , gjFestivat, started as highly per- ,,, 0 NYGE t R17ED hatcussive, with a drummer, tw, By C. S. NICHOLS Carlos Santana is running cusie wyth andummer, two out of gas: don't be. Last week ;conga players, and Carlos pro- THE TUESDAY NIGHT OPENING of the Ann Arbor Film at Detroit's Masonic Temple viding the infectious rhythm. Festival, was, generally speaking, impressive. In particu- Auditorium he played with the After the vocal section of the lar, the technical quality of the films - which has been im-, same flair and intensity that song ended, Carlos launched proving every year - was notable. Rarely did sloppy editing elevated him to fame as one into a soaring solo quite unlike or unintelligible sound turn a clever idea into a disaster. The of popular music's guitar vir- his previous rhythm accompan- apposite occurred more often: undeveloped or flawed content 'u .! twin a note as long and pure as ruined films of excellent technique. It is fitting that this role ano te asn and in Among those with weak structures was "Element" by Amy should be filled by a Latin fact uses the uiue sro ensi- g a 12mnute closeup of the filmmaker f k American. Throughout musical q prp >refed a 1-iuecoepoth fimarfolkng history, the masters of guitar through. the mud. The texture and. gloss of mund made surpris- have been Spanish, from Fer- ingiy beautiful images as a naked body crawled and .rolled in nando Sor 'to Andres Segovia. i i Rock ties of the electric guitar quite unlike the mass of modern gui- tarists. IN A WORLD of Kiss - Aero-' smith-Stooges thud - rock on the one hand and George Ben- son - Jim Hall-CTI laid-back' jazz on the other, it's truly re-' freshing to hear a guitarist who doesn't play at the same vol- ume all the time. More important than the above, however, is the fact that ~vih Spanish Santana (both the band afid ample of boring-rock: repeti- the leader) plays with feeling. tive, droning, and relying on The show has no glitter, no pre- licks and gimmicks instead of tense, just honest music that real music. The vocals alsor stands on its own merit, seemed strained and contrived. After "Let the Children Play", Some people have expressedk Aftr "et he hilrenPla 'concern over Santana's mdst Santana broke into one of their cocen over Ba eta , mist early hits, "Black Magic Wo- recent albums. Borboletta, Ami- man", accompanied by predict- gos, and Festival seem charac- able audience entpusiasm. The terized by excessive vocals, entire show seemed a blend of with an occasional super guitar old and new. Some of the per- solo thrown in. In this review-; sonnel, like pianist Tom Coster er's opinion, the more of San- and percussionist Chepito Areas, tana's guitar, thebetter the al- have been with Cantana since bum. This would make albums the Wioodstock days. Others, like Abiraxis and .Caravanserai like bassist Pablo Tellez, drum- my favorites. mer Gaylord Birch, and Per- IN CONCERT, Santana is comers to the band. They are something else again. Even the excellent instrumentalists all, vocal numbers have room for an extended solo from Carlos. A WORD ABOUT the staging: The slender guitarist seems al- The~~~~~ bakrpfg'h ho ok most bursting with energy, an The backdrop for the Shaw look- irresistible rhythm that flows ed like the courtyard of a ha- through the entire band and the rienda, the scene of a small, audience, too. Carlos even took{ reaod afestiv alhInfro hc an occasional spell on congas. hung the "festival" medallion, Santana is a very democratic a colorful snake-and-altar crest. band. No one upstages the oth- IPkn onto ,,,ets , were simpiey t r d~iUAvarvI v thir"^ flair chance in the spotlight. This is rare for a band with an estab- lished leader who is an instru- mental virtuoso. Frank Zappa, for instance, refuses to wait in line to play. And Jeff Beck once drowned out Rod Stewart com- pletely with his guitar. But San- tana has no such pretensions to grandeur. The Detroit show was by far the most spirited and en- tertaining one of the year fcr 1 this reviewer, and all there is to add is not to miss Santana next time around. the slime. Then she stood ufp and. threw herself down into the Like Santana, they use the capa- mudi. It woas humorous at first, but the action was tediously bilities of the guitar to their repeated, and the camera seemed literally stuck in the mud. fullest effects. More imaginative things could have been done with the situa- The guitar is a cross be- tion. tween a percussive and a melo- Space doesn't permit comments on each of the films shown dic instrumen t cn be strum so the unusual will be spotlighted here. John Brister's "Spanish or plucked for a single melody. Peanuts" was a fun film, a pixilla'tion of peanuts dressed in THE GREAT SPANISH gui- native Mexican costumes and dancing Ziegfield-style to "Tico- tarists are also adept at pro- tico." "Two Feet Under the Roof" by Robert Crawford fea- ducing contrasting effects with tured' strong black and white photography, contrasting a pair the instrument. A harsh pas- of warm, dry feet inside with the wet and dirty city outdoors. sage can follow a soft one, and LAURELS TO "MOVING TARGETS" for its innovative tech- the resulting contrast keeps the nique: Tim Shepard layered landscapes and other images as nunsic flowing. a square, highlighting a given layer of the multiple exposure, absorbed this heritage, and flickered across the frame. "Dream 733" by Paul Glabicki was , translated the ideas to electric an artful 13-minute montage of foreboding electronic monsters. guitar.. The opening 1number, Teen queens burn vinyl By DAVID KEEPS This album happens to be Be Bad." She is a superb, sand- " WAS BORN to be bad!" fantastic, a huge improvement paper - throated wailer more . screams Joan Jett, shak- over their first entry, full of powerful, energetic and awe- in her raven mop-top and great songs, diversity of musi- some than a symphony of chain ig raeIO15,uvrh saws and fourteen -.speed blend- furiously grinding her rhythm ;cal style, and bone-crunching ers. In performance, she amaz- guitar as The Runaways, the sound. Standout numbers ar, ed an audience after finishing world's premiere teenage-girl- "Hollywood, Born to Be Bad a adecaterfinishiy andthetite *ut "Qeen ofa flawless vocal performance by- rock group, blast into fever- andapologizing, "Sorry you guys, pitched heavy metal assault. Noise. Thr lyrics and stan my fucking voice went out." Lead singer Cherie Currie have focused more sharply on Clearly, The Runaways aren't struts and kicks around the the tough, but exciting philoso- girl scouts. Onstage they are dy- stage, looking incredibly small, phy of "live fast, die young and ic, capable musicians pro- despite four-inch platforms, leave a beautiful corpse." xviding an energetic, youthful, while Lita Ford, at 17, the old- T Tcoarse, crude, but ultimately est group member, sneers lust- TsE MOST important im- coase, crd gutsy alternative ily at the jam-packed audience provement, though, is the emer- to the contemporary doldrums in the Royal Oak Theatre, a gence of Joan Jett as a lead of rock and roll. And who can suburban Detroit movie thea- singer on songs like "Born to say what they'll be like at 18? Hove a flair fo: artistic writinq If you are tnterest- pcnpr ,and ut or writing feature st