ARTS The Michigan Daily Tuesday, September 22, 1982 Pg Music's over; vinyl next for AAMP By Rob Weisberg The recording stage of the Ann Arbor Music Project is over. After four nights of packed houses and energetic per- formances at Joe's Star Lounge, it's now time to go over the tapes, pick the songs, and print and market the record. In other words, as Lee Berry, one of the six project organizers, said, "the real work is ahead." Which isn't to say the bands didn't work hard on stage. The performances of It Play, Non-Fiction and the Cult Heroes at last Saturday night's finale conveyed the kind of energy and ex- citement that live music is all about. If you've never heard of It Play, that might be because they used to be called Baal-which is what the promotional poster named them-and nobody was quite sure what to call them Saturday night. It Play, incidentally, is also the name of the first song they played, which certainly helped clarify the situation. It Play are a couple of literary fellows who became friends when they used to read poems with their poetry professors. David Zin plays guitar and Victor Cruz plays bass. They haven't replaced recently departed drummer Ron Gonzalez; Cruz said that they're happy enough with "Dr. Rhythm," the bottom-of-the-line rhythm box that played with them on Saturday, and pessimistic anough about finding a human replacement of Gonzalez' caliber that they're not really looking for one.' It Play put together a nice if somewhat brief set at Joe's Saturday. They were good because they managed to break far enough away from their acknowledged Talking Heads-Joy Division influences to show flashes of originality, a major step for any band.' The piercing guitar intro and chord at- tack on "Any Day Now" and the scraping electrical guitar drone on "Tunnel of Love" each exemplified the influence of Zin's early infatuation with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and John McGlaughlin-making for a delightful new-old hybrid.. And they've got creative lyrics, too; pll were originally written to stand on their own as poems. The only problems were Zin's rather inconsistent vocals and the limitations of bassist Cruz, who's only been playing for a couple of years. Number two were Non-Fiction. They presence helps alleviate the problems a little, but if they can just find a song or two unique enough and good enough to distinguish them from other new rock and roll bands around the country, big things could happen. It's hard to tell what's going to hap- pen with the Cruisin' Ann Arbor record. Naturally, all the AAMP people were happy with the way everything came out, but Berryidid caution that people have been getting a bit carried away. A lot of folks "attempted to take it more seriously than they should of," he said. After all, this sort of record is far from unique-there are scores of them out around the country, most of which go relatively unnoticed. And only 2000 copies will be printed on the initial pre- Christmas run, although Berry said that they'll "probably get into a second pressing before too long." Song, selections from the four-night live festival will be primarily in the hands of AAMP's members. "We'll sit down and select three (or fewer) tunes per band that we're willing to use, and give them to the bands for their ap- proval," explained Berry.,That means the musicians will only be able to choose from a couple of songs-which may not necessarily be their favorites. The final twelve songs-one from each band-will be compiled on the album and released "primarily in this area," accoording to Berry. "It's not really a difficult thing to distribute," he said. "We're looking to sell 1750 with 250 promo copies." The promotional copies will go primarily to college stations that the AAMP folk feel are most likely to take a chance and play them. "We've got data about what stations play independent music," said Berry. After that, you never know. Maybe some hotshot college DJ will find a cut he likes and play it and pass it on to a friend who works at a club and it'll spread and an underground hit will be born. Proably not. No matter what, it'll be fun for those of us in town to listen to twenty years from now reflecting on those good old days. We'll probably take it too seriously. I ANN ARBOR 2 INDIVIDUAL THEATRES 5th Av'e at liberty 741.4700 J "IRRESISTIBLE" I ~VINCENT CANBY Daily Photo by JON SNOW It Play's lead singer belts it out at Saturday night's conclusion of AAMP's "Cruisin' Ann Arbor" festival at Joe's Star Lounge. feature the Miller brothers Ben and which features the Miller brothers drums, the Heroes played a slick, fast- Harry-who've been around town for discoursing simultaneously on different paced power pop set that demonstrated years most notably as members of subjects and at different tempos-an how far they've come in the past few Destroy All Monsters-alternating on idea used with some success in the past months. They've come up with a num- bass, guitar, and vocals, with Bill by the Velvet Underground and a few ber of clever, catchy songs; "Amerikan Frank on drums. Saturday they others. Beyond that and a couple of Story" (their current single), "She's displayed a brand of pure pop that other catchy licks from time to time, Got Nothing," and "Concrete Heart" I don't particularly care for, but which though, I didn't find Non-Fiction were electrifying. Propelled by Con- aside from weak vocals they executed terribly exciting. way's patented intros, the band's relen- fairly well. Tunes such as their opening The final band of the night were Ann tless attack had people ricocheting all song, "Just Another Dream", and Arbor's most popular rock and roll con- over the dance floor. "'60's Man" reminded me a bit of tingent, the Cult Heroes. Fronted by Like many of the bands around British bands of a few years back-like vocalist Hiawatha Bailey, along with town-anywhere, for that matter-they the Buzzcocks and Generation X in James Conway on guitar, Bradley Nor- too suffer at times from a lack of in- their atempted mixture of bubble- throp on bass and Larry Steele on dividuality. Their developing stage gummy themes with powerful but relatively inoffensive rock and roll. Un- fortunately they haven't found songs with the irresistably cute catchiness that those bands offered. -eod IGregory's Girl A TUES.-4:40, 6:30, 8:20, 10:10 WED.-12:50, 2:40, 4:40, 6:30 -8:20, 10:10 " Permanent Centers open days. evenings and weekends. " low hourly cost. Dedicated fullime staff. " Complete TESTN-TAPE" facilities for review of class lessons and supple- mentary materials. " Classes taught by skilled 44th C Year . Opportunity to make up missed lessons. . Voluminous home-study materials constantly updated by researchers expert in their field. " Opportunity to transfer to and continue study at any of our over 105 centers. DEBRA WINGER RICHARD GERE AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN One of Non-Fiction's few distinguished traits was the occasional sonic guitar riff that accented a number of their songs. Most interesting, though, was a song that Larry Miller mentioned might show up on the al- bum called Walkie Talkie The Flesheaters-'Forever Came Today' (Ruby) Follow the yellow brick road to the land of X' : I mean to the land of the terrifying and creepy-crawly, the land of the dreaded FLESHEATERS! Guaranteed to frighten off the timid and leave even the forewarned with a deep quivering after just one side. The things I'm going to tell you/ will make your hair stand on end/A happy boy has left the world of man/Now there's thunder in the sky/but you can still hear my voice/from beneath shallow water. The Flesheaters' second album arrives at a high point in LA's "serious" alternative music. Under the Big Black Sun (X's first major label release) has garnered high praise, and some people are starting to believe that something more worthwhile than the Go-Go's exists west of the fault line. The Flesheaters warrant more than passing attention. Singer/songwriter/ producer Chris Desjardins is a dark- eyed cat prowling amongst the ruins of an American B-movie culture, picking at the scraps of life left behind by a passing commercial, singing (screeching?) about ill-fated marriages, ill-fated suicides, false and true intentions, isolation. Lured from the depths never to return/his plan was to die an old man/He didn't know it couldn't happen that way/In the rosy hours. Desjardins takes an anguished look at individuals desperately clinging to each other and, -at the same time, holding' back, observing: Answers are echoes when you ask a stupid question/Men are dying, men are dying like animals and not like men. I must confess that after the first side, which includes a fierce "My Life to Live" and "A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die" (also the title of their first album), the second 25 minutes or so become a bit hard to take. The constant grinding of guitars, and that sound not even wanting to pass as lyrical vocals leave auditory senses somewhat frayed-as they should. If you feel genuinely and completely comfortable with the Flesheaters after an hour, you're probably a little warped, or drugged beyond recognition. Nothing can hurt you if you don't care. Not an album for casual listening, or the faint-hearted, but listen carefully and you may be rewarded. -Ben Ticho The University of Michigan Hospitals announce qcilt night A series of lively presentations out and discussions on health-related topics of current concern Edward B. Goldman, J.D. Hospital Attorney, The U-M Hospitals, will present THE PATIENT'S RIGHT TO REFUSE TREATMENT: WHOSE HEALTH IS IT ANYWAY? Thursday, September 23, 7:30 p.m. Hussey Room, Michigan League Presented as a community service of the University of Michigan Hospitals No admission charge or preregistration required For more information: Community Relations, 763-6954 C (~flE mass meeting New and Veteran Ushers who would like to usher CalDaysIves & weekends 2111. Huron St. 1PEUA~OA Ann Arbor, M1 43104 (313) 482.3144 CUCAYQ.AL.CENTER , TEST PREPARATION ForinformationEAbolt me Centers SPECIAUSTS SINCE 1938 C L NF I, Sa23 12 MEOScHOOL? NURSING? PT, OT, DENTAL, VET, PHYS ED? ows5a4 b,n nloC'C..S C.' 50ab.' obOSOe.- ++" *C nvgy.merCs54 of l tC.Douro W.", BcscSF oCCI 'LAW, BUS NESS, 4rc. Ste $6 95, - $1.00 ,og, Ap! 6,, _0,0., SUIPERMEMORY FOR SCHOOL RBF6 GEDOES ANNAR083, MH48.04 Dan ....oar mawer5ev4dbO nratrcoabt MED SCHOOL? NURSING? PT, OT, DENTAL, VET, PHYS ED? - rCk rt K^CSemands mbtmd- . ^0nq omouCss~rifo0abEout an Qmb, CtxsbgrFC, C'CTb S SCC'SCsum -fomZSt. - "A_ or eCY.C^9Suo.r meN. oo d4,D8, C5 ,nvroS bOis'deS ISSO