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ARTS
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Friday, December 5, 1980
The Michigan Doily
Allmans, Outlaws amble on
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By STEVE HOOK
There were fears Wednesday evening
,in the hours that preceded the ap-
,pearance of the Outlaws and Allman
Brothers Band at Crisler, Arena. Here
were two bands with long, on-again-off-
again careers behind them, whose
popular "glory days" seems to have
;already come and gone (The Outlaws
'are still best known for their 1975 an-
them "Green Grass and High Tides;"
the Allman Brothers, to many, peaked
idust before Duane was killed in 1971).
Given the almost systematic
degeneration of other groups in the
dormant Southern rock genre (Mar-
shall Tucker, ZZ Top, Charlie Daniels,
et al.), Wednesday's concert had all the
potential to be a cumbersome,
depressing swansong-a double eulogy
for a musical style gone bad.
Yet they nearly sold the place out;
Crisler was brimming with excited ur-
ban cowboys who paid $9 and $10 in the
hope that the guys were still jamming.
Happily, they were. Despite many
technical problems (and some minor
execution errors), both bands perfor-
med with surprising energy and spirit.
Their performances were skillfully
conceived to combine general adheren-
ce to their well-known studio work with
just enough variation and experimen-
tation to keep it interesting. By ex-
ploiting the largely open-ended, loosely-
structured compositions that they are
the ann arbor film cooperative
TONIGHT presents TONIGHT
THE TALL BLONDE MAN
WITH ONE BLACK SHOE
7:00 & 10:20--MLB 4
A hilarious comedy-one of our most popular films."
THE SHAMELESS OLD LADY
8:40 only--MLB 4
An old womh learns to enjoy life in this funny and touching film.
Both films are in French
with subtitles
$2 single feature; $3 double. feature
both known for, they playfully im-
provised through their sets, and made it
clear that they're both alive and well,
not quite ready to be put out to pasture.
The audience responded en-
thusiastically to the vivacious perfor-
mance by bringing both bands back for
encores.
THE DOUBLEHEADER turned out
to be quite a commendable booking for
Major Events, which has been incon-
sistent over the years' in pairing up
compatible acts. There are intriguing
contrasts between these two Southern
rock leaders'--contrasts that were
keenly illustrated onstage Wednesday
night at Crisler. In response to the
heavy-metal, back-to-basics approach
of the Outlaws (three lead guitarists,
bass, and drums), the Allman Brothers
Band displayed its blues-swing influen-
ces, its ulitization of many inter-
weaving instruments (two keyboards,
two drumsets, three guitars, and har-
monica), and its complex, ground-
breaking compositional formulae.
The Outlaws are known for their out-
standing vocal harmonies; Gregg
Allman is a tenured professor of the
Raspy-Voiced School of Lead Vocals. In
many ways, the two bands are wholly
dissimilar, and these distinctions were
exemplified during this Southern rock
mini-festival, but the A-B testing hurt
neither. Again, this was a compatible
pairing; their unique substance-over-
form styles served to complement, not
to compete with, each other. The only
reservation in hindsight concerns
their order of appearance: The
Outlaws, who garnered the more fren-
zied audience response, should
probably have closed the concert,
allowing the energy level in the arena to
crescendo all evening, rather than peak
halfway through.
Both bands are touring in conjunction
with the release of new albums (The
Outlaws have just released Ghost
Riders, The Allman Brothers Reach for
the Sky, their eighth). One highlight of
the Outlaws set was a performance of
the title track, which is an age-old
prairie tune-a standard for any
traditional country-western musicians
on the tavern circuit. Other highlights
in their performance included an in-
novative version of "Another Love
Song," and, not surprisingly, "Green
Grass and High Tides," which had so.
many variations, and variations on
those variations, that it survived its
predictability-everyone just knew this
would close the show, as it has Outlaws
concerts from Day One. This band's
approach-three lead guitars ex-
changing volleys back and forth-made
for exciting interplay; neither Hughie
Thomasson, Freddie Salem, nor Billy
Jones appeared bored or complacent.
Jones himself boasted after the concert
that the enthusiasm is running high
within the Outlaws, despite their long
years on the road: "A band that can
still jam together can make it:"
WHEN THE ALLMAN Brothers
Band hit the stage, the fever pitch left
over from the Outlaws' set returned,
and they managed to maintain the en-
thusiasm throughout their set. Here is a
group that is hell for the sound coor-
dinators (you know, on that big plat-
form in the rear of the main
floor)-with eight instrumentalists
weaving in and out of each composition,
the mixing is strenuous, and the
product that reached the audience's
ears was consistently flawed-guitarist
Dickey Betts' solos were often cut off,
Jim Essery's harmonica wails were
frequently drowned out, and the ever-
present keyboard strains of Allman and
Mike Lawler seemed to jump in and out
arbitrarily.
Musically, the persistent adjective
that came to mind was "professional."
Regardless of how appealing their
musical style may be to a particular
listener, the Allman Brothers Band en-
joys a prodigious reputation for its
unique, uncompromising compositions,
which have spawned a slew of imitators
since their grassroots formitive years
in Florida and Georgia. (They
struggled there for years, playing
together and with other Southern
musicians, ;listening intently to blues
artists like Muddy Waters, Blind Willie
Johnson, and Robert Johnson on Nash-
ville's WLAC.). Their polished talents,
which have made them sought-after
sessions men, came across in concert
as well.
Like the Outlaws, they adequately
combined old and new, studio confor-
mity and live spontaneity-highlights
of their performance included their
classics "Ramblin' Man" and "Whip-
ping Post," in addition to new works
like "I Got a Right to Be Wrong" and
"Angeline." They closed with a well-
orchestrated instrumental in the encore
called "Pegasus," which featured a
drum/kettle drum/bass solo, and led
into a reprise of "Ramblin' Man."
After the concert in the basketball
team's locker room, Gregg Allman
celebrated the fans' appreciation in his
customary morose, contemplative way.
"There's a lot of problems in those
hearts out there,'' he muttered between
sips of his Tab, "but for a couple of
hours, we helped them. forget it-and
that's what it's all about." He com-
plained that he gets tired on the road
("Sometimes it seems like there's not
enough time in the year. You've got to
cover records, do gigs, have
babies . . ."), and spoke of the "lost
souls who expect you to save their lives,
and if you don't know what to say, they
say 'You egotistical son of a bitch.' "
0
Claribel Baird, as she appears as Juliet's nurse in PTP's Guest Artist
production of 'Romeo and Juliet' at the Power Center. Performances con-
tinue tonight and tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
"
'RJ' The Bard
turns in -hi1s* grave
'HELLO,,.DOLLY'
Dec. 4, 5, 6 at'8 pm
in the
LYDIA MENDELSSOHN THEATRE
THE ALICE LLOYD PLAYERS PRESENT
3 PIA YS BY EUGENE IONESCO
THE LESSON
THE LEADER
By JOSHUA PECK
Sane theatergoers who wish to
remain so are advised to gallop for the
Power Center exits during the second
intermission of the Professional
Theater Program's current Romeo and
Juliet. What they will be missing as they
sip their nightcaps is a third act that
exceeds the very worst moments of any
University-produced Shakespeare for
at least half a decade. In a blessedly
short 30 minutes of stage time, all han-
ds (with Daniel Chace as Romeo in firm
command) masterfully maneuver the
vessel to the very murkiest depths
imaginable.
Romeo and Juliet has comic elements
than can and should delight, but
ultimately, the drama's effect must be
to move its audience, to win their fury
against ,the unreasonably petty feud
between the 'two principal clans. That
does not happen in the Power Center
production, for it plods, wavers, and
ANN ARBOR
THEA TER
CHEAP FLICKSI
Every FRI &
SAT AT MIDNIGHTI
ALL SEATS $2.00
Robert
Redford
BRUBAKER
At 12:00 midnight
ADULTS ONLY
"A DIRTY
WESTERN"(X)
ALL SEATS 43.00
sometimes sheds its solemnity
altogether. The acting is part, but not
all of the prblem
SURPRISINGLY, the one virtually
unwavering light in the production is
not the Guest Artist, Claribel Baird,
who plays the nurse, but Terryl
Hallquist -in the role of Juliet. Though
she is not quite the archetypal starry-
eyed fourteen-year-old, Hallquist's
lovestruck heroine has a healthy dose of
the unblemished romantic in her.
This Juliet is not a little reminiscent
of a good Miranda, the heroine of
Shakespeare's much later The Tem-
pest.
Like Miranda, Juliet has suddenly
discovered the brave new thrill of
previously unimagined pleasures.
Hallquist conveys that overeager ex-
citement charmingly.
Though the program notes call the
play's central relationship a "perfect
love on a very high level," the lovers'
crass immaturity is an unneglectable
element of the play's point that
Hallquist and Chace quite rightly bring
out. In many of Hallquist's tearful
scenes, and in most of her upbeat ones,
she is happily bedecked with sidekick
Claribel.Baird in the plum part of the
nurse. The Bard's smutty verse and
Baird's homey delivery are great par-
tners as together they offer a contrast
to the maiden's squeaky-clean
girlishness.
IN HER QUIETER moments of grief,
Baird's nurse is not quite so strong; the
hand-wringing and moaning are not
always believably motivated by suf-
fering. But her overall effect is to
brighten in a small way a production in
sore need of greater illumination.
The most bewildering misstep of this
production's first two acts is the light,
almost fluffy texture lent the ex-
See PTP's, Page 9
Dec. 4, 5, and 8.
Alice Lloyd Hall
TIHE BALD SOPRANO
8:00 P.M.
Tickets $2.00
For More Information Coll 764-5946 or 764-5947'
Cinemna
presents
NEW YORK NEW YORK
(Martin Scorsese, 1977)
Love and be-bop in the 1940's in this tribute to the lavish
musicals and big band sound of times gone by. Robert DeNiro
plays a struggling saxophone player who falls in love with a
danceband vocalist (Liza Minneli) just after World War 11.
Features twenty-four songs mode famous by Glenn Miller,
Benny Goodman and others.
(157 min.) 7:00 & 9:45
FRIDAY, ANGELL HALL $2.00
BEST BOY
This film about a retarded man, filmed by his cousin, won the
1979 Academy Award for best documentary.
SATURDAY, ANGELL HALL $2.00
Under the Roofs of Paris
(Rene Clair, 1930)
This early musical-comedy, filled with delightful scenes of
Parisian life, tells the story of a street singer, his best friend,
and the girl they both love. This was Clair's first sound film,
and his experiments with this new technique give added in-
terest to this charming film. French, with subtitles. (95 min.)
With: Entr'acte
(Rene Clair, 1924)
as.o f h 4lam An n a-surrenl films nrnduced durina the
14
ANN ARBOR BALLET THEA IRE
-premiere performance-
.*,liD&- * - - - - - ----ADl A D*
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