ARTS
I
Page 8
Friday, November 21, 1980
GEORGE THOROGOOD
Destroyers deliver the goods
By DENNIS HARVEY
The fraternity boys sitting right in
front of the stage at Second Chan-
ce-sitting?! ?-looked crushed at first
when George Thorogood demanded
that those who wanted to sit still could
do it elsewhere, saying "This is the
dancefloor!"
Ten minutes later, no one seemed to
care-everyone was too occupied with
dancing and getting the damn chairs
out of the way. Thorogood and his
Destroyers probably could have asked
the audience to stand on their collective
head and gotten away with it. Their
brand of basic bar-band blues is in-
sanely likeable, plucked from the roots
of the genre without rehashing-the
sense of fun is as pure and timeless as
the music.
THOROGOOD himself may be no in-
novator, but he has the best sense of
humor about playing straight-ahead
rock and roll this side of
Springsteen-he's a good deal less
exhilarating and adventurous than
Bruce, to be sure, but there's a similar
kind of stage presence. George likes his
audience, and he can even brush them
off with appeallingly jokey insouciance,
saying, "You say, we play it... No! I
don't like that one. OK, you all make up
your minds while I play something I
like." Rubbery-faced and bemused,
tossing off "oh, YEAH?" after a par-
ticularly wild audience response, he
can make every dumb actibn seem
naturally funny-doing the duckwalk,
solemnly blessing heads with the tip of
his guitar, blithely handing the in-
strument to a dancer between numbers,
ending each number with his head
cocked up in a wide-eyed exhileration.
The Destroyers remain the
same-George on electric and slide,
Jeff Simon on drums, Billy Blough on
bass-with the addition of Hank Car-
ter's sax. The saxophone sweetens the
usual driving drone somewhat, though
the final result is just another brand of
sameness-not that monotony really
matters anyway, not with this unit's
energy. The tunes aren't all that
distinguishable from each other, all
with the same lonesome-George bluesy
rap lyrics, grabbed from sources from
Hank Williams to Chuck Berry, all
somehow perfect for the Destroyer's
aggressive assault and George's san-
dpaper vocals.
The band is fun enough on their
records to date, but their natural
habitat is a bar, where the playing gets
louder and the singing even more
gravelly than ever, without losing the
thumping tension and clarity of their
Daily photo by JIM KRUZ
George Thorogood is shown here doing what he does best-rocking out in
frontsof a jam-packed bar, in this case Ann Arbor's Second Chance this past
Wednesday night.
Son Seals bluesy bag of tricks
By FRED SCHILL and matches that with a tinny, flexible familiarity that defies classification; i
"You'll have to excuse me now while style of electric guitar that becomes it can be found the ageless blue
I play the blues," Son Seals told the clay in the potter's hands. Seals totally tradition with the immediate roots
jam-packed faithful at Rick's dominated the show; from his opening rock and roll as an unlikely bedfellow
American Cafe Wednesday night. He rollicker "Don't Lie to Me" through the Seals could share the stage with Chu
I1IEI ' then calmly proceeded to ispire encore following the frantic third set, Berry or the late Hound Dog Taylor a
camyemassivenjubilation.s he had the audience in his palm cooing not be out of place with either.
Halfway through the second set.I aban- like pigeons. The band has learned a few of hi
doned all pretense of critical restraint. The exhilarating thing about Seals' tricks. Singer/guitarist Mike Gibbs an
Seals is the consummate blues show was his unbelievable command of cohorts warmed the crowd up for Seal
musician, that rare combination of the music. Seals can glide into searing, with everything from Muddy Waters
overpowering vocal virtuosity and frenetic guitar solos and then stop on a "Got My Mojo Working" to the Stones
musical mastery that graces the stage dime, change the pace entirely, and "Miss You" with an unabashed en
1:45 3:15 4:45 with dwindling frequendy these days. quietly pluck out soulful serenades in thusiasm that had even us deaf,-dtml
6:15 8:00 9:45 SEALSnSINGS WITH a gruffeloquen- the heavy silence while the audience and blind critics up and shaking oul
ce that evokes any emotion he wants, tries to adjust to the lag. booties by the time Seals came on.
He is always one step ahead of his Seals roared into the songs like
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Cinema II
Presents
THE LONG GOODBYE
(Robert Altman, 1973)
In Altman's version of the Raymond Chandler novel, Elliott Gould plays Philip
Marlowe, adrift in the chaos and corruption of modern Los Angeles as he at-
tempts to clear a dead friend's memory of the charge of murder. Gould is, in
some ways, an antiBogart, bumbling and clumsy, but like Bogart, his inherent
romanticism and moral code force him to search out the truth. (112 min.)
Fri 11-21 Angell Hall, 7:00 & 9:15 $2.00
THERESA THE THIEF (1979)
Theresa comes from the wrong side of the tracks, but instead of giving in to a
life of poverty, she displays amazing resourcefulness and a modus operandi
that keeps her fairly well-off and film audiences in stitches. This film received
scant attention when it was first released, but is proudly presented at a time
when we could all learn from Theresa's own brand of survival tactics. ANN AR-
BOR PREMIER (113 min.)
Sat 11-22 AngelI Hall, 7:00 & 9:00 $2.00
FOOLISH WIVES
(Erich Von Stroheim, 1923)
A young bride vacationing in Europe, is taken in by a phony count, Erich von
Stroheim, and his two female accomplices. Will her husband discover her tran-
sgression? Will he f rgive her? Will Irving Thalberg let Stroheim complete his
next picture? Considered to be Stroheim's first mature work, FOOLISH WIVES
still dazzles in its opulence and sexual frankness. (128 min.). 7:00 Only.
A WOMAN OF PARIS
(Charles Chaplain, 1923)
Legendary drama of manners and mores made by Chaplain in the same period
as his greatesl comedies, THE KID and THE GOLD RUSH. Edna Purviance stars as
a naive country girl who comes to Paris and becomes a sophisticated courtesan.
With short; SUNNYSIDE (1919) a delightful comedy (105 min.) 9:15 only.
Comm 1 1 00 ni 0A & -- L-... t '4 L..aL..L......