I ARTS The Michigan Daily Wednesday, November 5, 1980 Page 5 Cleveland'sfinest:. Just another night By FRED SCHILL The problem with the Michael Stanley Band is that it sounds just like a legion of others. There is nothing particularly memorable about the band, nothing that distinguishes it from the scores of others trying to take advantage of the current heavy metal craze. This is not to suggest that the band is a bad one; this is merely stating that the band is not a particularly good one. The band plays a driving, ear-splitting, guitar-wrenching style of rock and roll that keeps crowds like the one at Second Chance Monday night on their feet and screaming. THEY HAVE A flair for tight arrangements that accurately smells out what fits and what please their clientele. They are competent musicians of the back- up band variety and are quite capable of churning out as much noise as the crowd can bear. Compared to their opening act, the Look, the Michael Stanley Band is on the level of Beethoven. The Look has all the appurtenances and accoutrements of a woefully bad cover band, without even the mild interest that the Stanley Band might arouse in the decibel-oriented. They failed to generate any excitement even among the enthusiastic crowd they played to Monday night. The Michael Stanley Band at least seemed comfortable with what they were doing, they had at least accepted the role they are relegated to play. That was evidenced by the fact that the music got progressively harder throughout the course of the show, as the fans responded ever more enthusiastically to just that sort of indulgence. THE BAND started the show with some of its quieter work (not to be con- strued as mellow, mind you) such as the Cleveland club favorites "Midwestf Midnight" and "Last Night." The show was a fairly thorough mix of material from their albums and songs to be released on their new LP "Heartland." To give credit where it is due, the band attempted to mix in loud but spritzy organ solos and had a lenack for changing pace just when things started to get intolerable. The saxophonist was the only member to show any noteworthy talent, and they couldn't seem to figure out quite what to do with him. He mean- dered in and out of the songs like a lost child, often making his presence known at the least comfortable and least expected moment. The crowd was composed of the largest group of Clevelanders this side of Lake Erie and they ate it all up. The could often be seen singing along with Stanley standards like "Promises," "Lover," "Don't Stop the Music," and the encore and show-ending crowdpleaser "Strike Up the Band." STILL, MORE than a few patrons left before the show was over, and some of the rest would have liked to. Despite the enthusiastic crowd, despite adequate professional competence on the part of all of the members save the lead guitarist? (who was unforgivable), and despite an abnormally large consumption of beer, in the end the Michael Stanley Band was guilty of perhaps the worst crime in rock and roll. They were boring. The songs blended into each other, the chord progressions rarely elicited interest, innovation is obviously not part of the band's vocabulary, they had no stage presence or charisma, and they increasingly resembled more than anything else a troop of musical robots sent to satiate the crowd's lust for metal. They were better than Foreigner, but not quite as, uh, entertaining as the Blue Oyster Cult. If the Michael Stanley Band slicken up their sound, get a bit more commercial, and hit it big with a hit single, they might find a following among the Boston-Van Halen constituency. But I doubt it. And even if they do, they will still be boring. ACADEMY OF ST. MAR TIN IN THE FIELDS Chamber group well-received By GREG LADEWSKI The publicity for The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields emphasizes that this is "the most-recorded chamber or- chestra in the world." That's true, of course, but it misses a real selling- point, for the two most striking features of the Acadmey's Monday evening con- cert at Hill would not be evident on a record. Beyond the music itself, and beyond the group's technical mastery, what stood out was the musicians' sen- se of "community" onstage-the delight and enthusiasm in their music and in each other-and the dominant (sometimes overwhelming) per- sonality of the director, violinist Iona Brown. There are advantages and disadvan- tages for an orchestra of 16 players compared to, say, a string quartet or a 100-piece orchestra. While large enough tocreate a great volume of sound when needed, the group is small enough to allow interaction between the mem- bers. The performers reveal more in- dividual personality than members of a symphony, and they seem to have more fun. ON THE OTHER hand, there is more responsibility and less security for the chamber players. For example, it is much more difficult for two violas to play well in unison than for ten-the larger section blurs discrepancies in pitch and rhythm, while the smaller group only heightens such flaws. The Academy orchestra's feat of playing without an official conductor is rather like 16 people with individual steering wheels, gas pedals, and brakes trying to drive a single car over a dif- ficult course-or perhaps more like a musical 16-person balancing act. Although there was no conductor (no one on a podium with a baton) the or- chestra was definitely directed and led by first violinist Iona Brown. She leads the group in much the same way as the first violinist of a string quartet: With exaggerated motions of her violin and her head, occasionally beating out a tempo with her bow. This technique was subtle, and interesting to watch. But sometimes her playing over- shadowed the ensemble, as if she were directing the group by playing louder and more emphatically than the rest. This was especially noticeable inathe Bach, but popped up at inappropriately times in each piece. THE TWO highlights of the evening were the first and last works onthe program. The opener, the Concerto Grosso in A major by Handel (Op. 6 no. 11) was crisp and exciting. Frequent and effective changes in dynamics, tone quality, and phrasing kept the piece fresh and interesting. The eight violins in particular were precise in their attacks and gave an amazingly full, clear sound. At times, the violins overpowered the lower strings, and the bass line could have been stronger, but the overall effect was exhilerating. The next piece, Brandenburg Concer- to No. 3 in G major by J. S. Bach, wasn't quite as successful. For some reason, the unison playing was sloppier, the dynamics and phrasingj less varied than in the Handel. Another real problem was the imbalance between Iona Brown and the other players in the frequent tradeoffs of solo passages-she was consistently louder than other soloists. It seemed almost as if, in deference to her role as leader, the others were reluctant to "play out" sufficiently. The first movement especially was tentative and rather dull. The suc- ceeding Allegro movement had many of the same problems, but its breakneck tempo lent some excitement. A PURIST might wince at the rather romantic interpretations given these two baroque (early 18th century) works. The Academy players used all modern or modernized'instruments and the group used modern bowing styles and lots of lush vibrato. But the dangers of oversentimentality or an overly mechanical approach were generally avoided by a consistently light touch, and with energy, imagination and variety in interpretation. The next piece, Rondo in A major for Violin and String Orchestra by Franz Schubert, again demonstrated Iona Brown's virtuosity as violin soloist, but did little else. This undistinguished work could have been omitted with lit- tle loss. There were no major flaws: the orchestra played its "oom-pa-pa" ac- companiment competently, and Brown dutifully sawed her way through the work's empty pyrotechnics, but the performance was basically uninspired. In the'last scheduled work, Bartok's "Divertimento for Strings," The Academy of St. Martin's in the Fields truly showed how well it can play. The first movement, a rather jolly stom- ping-dance alternating with weird, syn- copated tone clusters and broad dissonances, was by turns humorous and profound. Tone quality ranged from shrill scraping to refined delicacy; the frequent changes of tem- po and mood were executed precisely. The second movement was the high point of the Divertimento, and indeed was the highlight of the evening. The beautiful opening, muted and almost imperceptably soft, led gradually to ther first of the movement's four dramatict climaxes. Then all was suddenly soft,1 and the orchestra again began its slow climb up from an eerie pianissimo, weaving variations abd bits of fuguet together: It was an ideal example ofi Bartok's "night music", haunting andf unearthly. t The finale was properly frenetic andc colorful. Bartok's joke-a staggering, hiccupping section which poked fun at cafe musicians-drew appreciative laughter from the audience. The "Divertimento" shows Bartok at the height of his powers, and showed the orchestra at its exuberant and inspired ' best. Amity 9LSAT 'GMAT 1 1 | REVIEW PROGRAMS Call for Amity's free brochure on the exam of interest to you: 800-2'43-4767 BO AT INIGHT at 1140 South University 668-8411 The performers obviously enjoyed themselves all evening, and they needed little coaxing to add two en- cores-a lush, passionate version of the Pachelbel Canon (that favorite of American audiences) and a light, energetic (and short) Mozart Diver timento (K. 117.). The audience responded warmly and with obvious af- fection; reacting, perhaps, as much to that remarkable community of friends on the stage as to the fine performance. A STORY OF NATURAL LOVE, BROOKE SHIELDS BLUE I AGOON MON, TUES THURS FRI-7:10,.9:00 WED-1:30320 5207:10, 9:00 Wed$1.50tait530 INDIVIDUAL THEATRES ! 5th Ave. of Lberty 761.1700 We 150 ART GARFUNKEL NNE NICHOLAS ROEG FIM MON TUES, " THURS, FRI- 7:40, 9:50 WED-1:00, 3 10 5 30 7:40,9:50 i! m - - -!-- i * With this entire ad - I * one admission $1.50 any film 1 * Good Mon. thru Thurs. This coupon valid thru 11/6/80 I Tonight CINEMA GUILD Presents F ONE WOMAN'S BLUES: AN EVENING OF AMERICAN AVANT-GARDE FILMS A selection of eight filmmakers who have gained recognition as important American experimental cinematographers. This 90 minute program includes the following: Mayo.Deren's MESHES OF THE AFTERNOQO? (1943), now a famous classic in the genre; Kenneth Anger's SCORPIO RISING (1964), the original punk biker film; Stan Brokhage's THIGH LINE LYRE TRIANGULAR. and many others. 7:00 & 9:05 at LORCH HALL AUDITORIUM. Be on your avant-garde. Mcl waine crys tough P By MARK COLEMAN "You see a chick up here on stage with an acoustic guitar and you expect a folk singer, a Joni Mitchell type, right?" says Ellen McIlwaine, coyly batting her eyes and plucking a delicate chord on her guitar. "Well you're not gonna get it-I always hated that stuff." Grinning, she preceded to prove her point with a ringing, near- cacophonic slide guitar run that John Lee Hooker would've been proud of A fiercely individualistic performer, Ellen McIlwaine draws power and im- jnediacy from seeming contradictions. Though her rich, rough voice and fren- zied guitar style are firmly rooted in the blues, she leaves an indelible stamp of personality on everything she sings, from rock to soul to straight blues Her approach to the blues is eclectic, sometimes eccentric: she opened her first set at Rick's Monday night with a loping blues bass line, played on an amplified accoustic guitar filtered through a wah-wah device! It came off as a casual, funky strut as McIlwaine strung together three or four similarly structured songs alongside her relaxed, percussive riffing. ELLEN McILWAINE is a riveting stage presence, what with red hair, a flaming red pants suit and a between- songs rap that is downright disarming. Alternately tough and tender, she establishes an emotional rapport with the audience (both men and women) saved from corny-folksiness by satiric barbs and hilarious, ribald story- telling. The strident self-assuredness and honesty she projects came across in her songs too; changing the lyrics to Howlin' Wolf's "Sitting On Top Of The World" to suit her perception of herself ("The man is gone/but I don't worry"). Her vocal delivery is strong-at times overbearingly loud-but she squeezes new meaning out of a blues classic like "Sitting" with dramatic shifts in dynamics, ranging from tor- turous rasping to a suggestive murmer. Most of the time she just belts it out, echoing her slippery guitar progression on John Lee Hooker's "On the Road Again" with gleeful, authoritative wailing. Compared with her aggressive guitar work and the fiery bluster of her vocals, her attempt to slow things down at the piano with a ballad seemed a bit strained, but at least gave the audience a chance to rest up for the next slide guitar free-for-all. There was a minor note of dissatisfaction/disappointment in the air Monday night-I think a few of the audience members expected something a bit "mellower", someone a bit more reserved. Ellen Mcllwaine does tend to be a bit abrasive, but that style of delivery fits the rockin' blues she per- forms to the tee. She is a totally honest, authentic performer-so uncom- promising that, like whisky or butter- milk, it takes a while to get used to the consistency and flavor of her singing. But after the initial shock the en- joyment is profound and long-lasting. COMING TOMORROW to the MICHIGAN THEATRE THE WIZARD "There's no place like home. " .* "P5;5;55jJW Need a ride . out of town ? Check the U.ht!Jl classifieds under, transportation Classic Film Theatre 603 E. Liberty 668-8480 Thurs., Nov. 6 4, 7&9PM Admission: $2.00 Culture at student rates. Cinema II Presents RASHOMON (Akira Kurosawa, 1951) A bandit (Toshiro Mifune), a samurai, and his wife each tell of a rape and a killing in which they were involved. The discrep- ancies in the four stories indicate the mysterious quality of truth. "Rashomon is one of the greatest film experiences-a film one will see again because there are pleasures-as well as pain-in looking into an abyss."-Pauline Kael. Japa- nese, with subtitles. (83 min.) 7:00 and 9:00 Wed. Nov. 5, Angell Hall $2.00 THE PIRATE (Vincente Minnelli, 1947) Based on a hit Broadway comedy this MGM musical features an original score by Cole Porter and stars Judy Garland and Gene Kelly. Judy plays a young, innocent girl romantically infatuated with the legend of Mack, the Black, a world re- nowned pirate, and Kelly portrays a roving actor/clown who pretends to be this pirate to woo Judy. (102 inin.) 7:00 ONLY CAPTAIN BLOOD 1 . I I. - -- -- --------- - STORE COUPON 1O OFF 1 BREYERSYOGURT. All natural, creamy full of fruit I