ARTS
The Michigan Daily Sunday, October 12,'1980 Page 7
DIXIE DREGS A T POWER
Sure it's good, but can it sell?
By STEVE HOOK
For a doomed rock-and-roll band, the
ixie Dregs surely can perform.
The who?, you ask. Case in point.
Okay: The Dixie Dregs are a five-
piece instrumental band, combining
lead and bass guitar, fiddle, keyboard
and percussion, playing compositions
that jump genres (rock, jazz, country-
western, classical) with a snap of the
finger. And with great flair-in fact, the
Dixie Dregs are one of the most talen-
ted, refreshing bands touring this fall.
UNFORTUNATELY, BY the' very
hature of their music-i.e., its lack of
ull-scale marketebility-their future in
this nation of two-bit, fly-by-night
mnusic is in serious doubt from where I
stand.
Hell, their promo sheet reads like an
epitaph:
"The most difficult aspect about
the Dixie Dregs is accurately
categorizing the group's music. While
some perceive this trailblazing in-
strumental quintet's materials as rock
and jazz 'fushion,' the members don't
stop there. "We rarely think of labels,'
says guitarist Steve Morris, 'but if we
did, it would be something like electric
chamber music.' "
Doom. Death. Despair. Such an un-
fair fate for such a vivacious band.
AT POWER CENTER Friday night,
they played hard and well for the 500 or
so spectators that barely half-filled the
place. They presented their recent
works along with older favorites like
"The Bash." Guitarist Steve Morse in
particular, who grew up in Ypsilanti
before moving south, displayed an
awesome control of his craft. Per-
cussionist Rod Morgenstein and bassist
Andy West also stood out.
When these guys get moving
together, the end result is stunning, as
it was Friday night. They're as tight
and energetic a band as I have, ever
seen since, oh, let me think, The
Ramones.
Four. years and four albums since
their birth at the University of Miami,
the Dregs, who now are based in
Georgia, are riding as high as they
ever have been-and probably as high
as they will go. Though their artistry
becomes more precise, more
professional as time goes on, the
current of the river they are trying to
swim upstream in is just too swift. In a
land of King Radio, the Dixie Dregs are
virtually ignored. There is little time on
WRIF for an eight-minute fusion in-
strumental. And since radio play tran-
slates into record sales and gigs, well,
you know the rest.-
AFTER THE SHOW, Morse, the
band's nucleus on stage, was given just
such a hint-that what this band is
doing is excellent, but commercially
futile. He disagreed..
"I don't believe that," he smiled,
"I've just got a little faith in the men-
tality of the music fans in this coun-
try-that they can accept something
Les Blank fitms tonight
Ann Arbor Film Co-op and Cinema
Guild are co-sponsoring an evening of
short subjects by, documentarian Les
Blank tonight at Auditorium A, Angell
Hall. The filmmaker will speak and an-
*Swer questions following the 7 o'clock
showing.
l'lank's unabashed identification
with his subjects is quite unusual in the
w6ld of documentaries. His, interest
lies mainly in capturing local
cuture -especially poor Southern
blacks-with a special emphasis on his
passions-music and food. However,
his films are less anthropological
ilocuments than they are sincere at-
* tempts to communicate. There is very
little analysis or interpretation in
Blank's work, either by the filmmaker
or his subjects. His special talent seems
to be simply in capturing unexpected
moments of honesty in the nmusic and
the expressions of his subjects. This
doesn't always make good film, as we.
are often subjected to tedious "am-
bient"' passages such as a group of
people strolling down a dirt road and a
child playing on a street corner, but the
connections Blank makes with the
*people in his films could be made by
few other filmmakers. The moment
when the harpist jamming with Light-
nin' Hopkins in The Blues According to
tightnin' Hopkins is so moved by the
music that he begins to crawl
laboriously across the living room floor
on his knees while playing is worth
more than a million words from the
mouth of a sociologist on the meaning of
the blues to poor Southern blacks.
Other films to be shown tonight in-
plude Always for Pleasure, an affec-
tionate bow to the musical traditions
that " have risen from, and been
/
other than the radio shit they're get-
ting." He conceded that Power Center
was ."too big a hall for us," and grum-
bled that their agent is "just trying to
get us lined up anywhere he can."
Oh well, in a land where artistic merit
and commercial success seem to
negatively correlate, this state of af-
fairs comes as no real surprise. But it
sure gets depressing when it comes
time to review: remembering how
people waited three days in line to see a
slob like Bruce Springsteen up close;
recalling the empty balcony at Power
Center Friday night-and wondering
why, why.
is preserved'on
aJmmRWO nBU
The Michigan Daily
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Sat, Sun-1:05, 3:10, 5:25,
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DOUBLE FEATURE
tllCoast to Coast (PG)
BENJAMIN 3:30 7:15
1:15 315 515 Caddyshack (R)
® i7:30 9:45 1:45 5:15 9:00
DOUBLE FEATURE Why Would
Honeysuckle Rose (PG) I lie (PG)
1:45 7:00
Willie & Phil (R) 1:30 5:30
4:00 9:15 3:30 7:30
9:30
CINEMA GUILD PRESENTATIONS TONIGHT
AT THE MICHIGAN THEATER-1:00, 7:00 & 9:5
.THE WAY WE WERE
An unlikely romance between a frizzy haired red head and a
red, white and blue jock. With Streisand and Redford.
AND AT AUD. A, ANGELL HALL
FILMS BY DOCUMENTARY
FILMMAKER LES BLANK
At 7:00 Mr. Blank will show some of his most recent films
and talk with the audience afterwards. GARLIC IS AS GOOD
AS 10 MOTHERS will be presented in a run-around-an
intense olfactory experience.
At 9:00 two more films will be shown. This program presedteo in con-
junction with Ann Arbor Film Cooperative.
-I
Sat, Sun $1.5C
til 1:30'
S INDIVIDUAL THEATRES
vth Ae of Liberty 7619700
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BARRIER FREE
MARTY FELDMAN
RICHARD PRYOR
(PG)
Mississippi bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins is the star of the twenty-minute film
'The Blues According to Lightin' Hopkins,' one of five films to be screened
tonight in a program of short documentaries by Les Blank. Blank will talk
about his movies with Ann Arbor audiences tonight following the 7:00
program. The 7:00 and 9:00 screenings are being presented jointly by
Cinema Guild and the Ann Arbor Film Co-op at Auditorium A in Angell Hall.
sustained by, New Orleans' Mardi
Gras; Hot Pepper, all about the bluesy LAST TWO SHOWS 2 P.M. & 8P.M.
music of Clifton Chenier and its roots in
rural Louisiana; Garlic is as Good as OCT. 9-12,8pm
Ten Mothers, a musical visit to the
Gilroy Garlic Festival; and, in a (Xor
somewhat different vein, Werner
Herzog Eats His Shoe, in which
the celebrated German filmmaker does
just that-after losing a bet with Blank. .C°
Sat, Sun-1:05,
3:05, 5:15,
7:15, 9:15
Mon, Nes-7:15, 9:15
r
Poll shows Reagan
would win race today
E . From United Press International the race still is tight in many big nor-
Ronald Reagan would defeat thern states Carter must win to stay in
President Carter easily if the voting the White House.
were held now with likely wins in the
vital industrial states of Michigan,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and New
Jersey, a UPI survey showed yester-
day.
UPI political writers in each state
assessed candidate standings based on
interviews with key politicians and of-
fice-holders, and concluded Reagan
would carry 34 states with 365 electoral
votes.
THEY FOUND Carter would carry
just 10 states and the District of Colum-
bia with 121 electoral votes. Six states Monday' Oct. 13
with 52 electoral votes were rated
tossups. Independent candidate John
Anderson carried no state, though he
was close in Connecticut. Tuesday, Oct. '14 E
The survey showed Reagan has im-
proved his position from a month ago
when he had 30 states and 323 electoral Wednesday, Oct. 15
votes to Carter's 15 and the District of
Columbia with 128 electoral votes. Five
states with 87 electoral votes were
rated as tossups in the previous UPI Thursday, Oct. 16 El
survey.
THE NEW SURVEY shows Reagan
making a strong attack on Carter's Friday, Oct. 17 H
southern base, with Alabama and
canterbury loft
7