ARTS
.The Michigan Daily
Thursday, October 14, 1982
Page 5
Legendary performance tonight
By Rob Weisberg
F YOU WERE one of the unfortu-
nates who didn't make it to Joe's last
night, don't worry. You still have one
more. chance to boogie down to the
sounds of the blues' most renowned per-
formers when the Legendary Blues
Band finishes their two-night stand this
evening.
Legendary, they say? Well, any band
that can boast one of blues' greatest
rhythm sections in bassist Calvin Jones
and drummer Willie Smith, along with
'the ageless Pinetop Perkins on piano,.
'isn't just any band.
Actually, the Legendary Blues Band
is what emerged when Muddy Waters'
touring band of the last decade decided
to set out on their own. The aforemen-
tioned trio left the band in 1980 under
the managerial guidance of Waters'
harpist Jerry Portnoy, and with the ad-
ditio of since-departed ex-Aces
guitarist Louis Myers they hit the road.
They've since impressed audiences
from here to Saskatoon with their im-
pressive renditions of classic and
original blues.
The band's playing is typified by a
smooth and subtle interplay between
instruments that never sounds too
overbearing or too polished. Their only
shortcoming is in the vocals depar-
tment, as evidenced in their Life of
Ease album released last year on
Rounder Records. Everybody takes a
shot, and the result is mediocre; this is
clearly overshadowed by their
musicianship and the songs-most of
which are originals.
The Band's blues tradition goes back
a long way. Perkins, hailed as the last
of the great boogie woogie players, has
been at it since the Twenties, having
worked with the likes of Sonny Boy
Williamson's King Biscuit Boys, Robert
Nighthawk and Earl Hooker; Jones, in
his late fifties, has worked with Little
Walter and Howlin' Wolf, among
others; Smith played with Waters for
over two decades. Sadly, it looks like
the bluesmen are a vanishing breed-
the kids in Chicago and down South just
aren't into it anymore. In a way,
though, that makes the prospect of
being a part of what's left all the more
exciting. Especially when it's Legen-
dary.
C OMING ON Friday night to Ann
Arbor's shores will be one of the
few avant-pop bands this side of
Greenwich Village when Chicago's D-
Section ambles into the Union.
D-Section is the self-proclaimed
"dream band" of lead vocalist Robin
Lisnov, who you may have caught sit-
ting in with Dick Siegel on occasion if
you were paying attention. Though the
group has only, been together for six
months, Lisnov says the musicians
have worked together in various units
for up to seven years. She likens the
sounds that drummer Mark Walker,
bassist Steve Hashimoto, guitarists Pat
Fleming and Steve Roberts and reed
player and percussionist Mike Levin
create to those of bands such as King
Crimson, the Talking Heads, Frank
Zappa and Sun Ra's Arkestra. "We're
totally jazz based; and very funky,"
she says. "We're complex and dan-
ceable."
Judging by a cassette Lisnov dropped
off at WCBN last week, her assessment,
if anything, understates the point.
There's bits and pieces of all sorts of
stuff in the band's sound, accentuated
by her truly unique vocal approach and
contained only by its danceability. Un-
fortunately, since this is America, it
hasn't gotten them many gigs ("We're
not your typical bar band," admits
Lisnov), which is ironically to their
credit.
Strangely enough, right now the band
plays more cover tunes than originals.
The group so far has concocted seven
originals-"not as many as I would
like," Lisnov admits, though not so bad
for seven months. Among them are
such gems as "Get Ridiculous," and
"Unexotically Neurotic," to name a
couple. "I write the songs on guitar and
come up with the lyrics," she says.
"Cumulatively, the band does the
arranging."
And they arrange the hell out of
everything, including the covers. "We
do as much work on the copy tunes as
we do on the originals," she explains.
"We dissect them," she says, so "they
sound truly our own." Radically
revamped instrumentation and
judiciously inserted poetic passages
render tunes like "The Wanderer" and
"96 Tears" virtually unrecognizable.
Despite their satirical approach to
pop music, Lisnov says there is a
serious side to D-Section. She explains
that they expand her "anti-American
concept of beauty" and general
disillusionment which things such as
the stereotyped roles of women in
society. "The band's alot of fun," she
says, "but if you have the insight to look
a little further..."
At least look as far as the Union this
Friday night, where strange and fun
things will indeed be. happening.
PILOT PROGRAM,
RLUMNI REUNION WEEKEND
OCTOBER 29-31, 1982
Alice Lloyd Hall
All Pilot alumni are invited to join in the 20th Anni-
versary celebration of the Pilot Program.
For information: 764-7521
The Jewish Community Council of Ann Arbor,
The University of Michigan B'nai Brith Hillel Foundation,
the Ann Arbor Hadassah, and the Beth Israel Congregation
proudly present The Jerusalem Post's Washington
correspondent and the former editor of the Near East Report
October 17
3:00 p.m.
1429 Hill St.
Wild l
r.
WOLF BLIIZER '
Jeckyll needs jokes_
By Joshua Bilmes
J EKYLL AND HYDE ... Together
Again is a film which is undeniably
funny, but it could have and should
have been funnier. The film plays it
safe by relying on sex and car crashes
for its humor instead of the situation,
which is this: Dr. Jekyll is a surgeon in
the Our Lady of Pain and Suffering
Hospital, and he wishes to stop
operating and concentrate on his
research into controlling the beast
within us. The hospital owner gets up-
set; he was counting on Dr. Jekyll, the
hospital's star surgeon, to perform a
"complete transplant" on the very,
very, rich Hubert Howes. Did I tell you
that Dr. Jekyll was engaged to -the
hospital owner's daughter Mary? Dr.
Jekyll stays up late one night working
on his research, and on the 143rd for-
mula to control the beast within us he
finds the magic potion which changes
him into Mr. Hyde.
The consortium of screenwriters
(Monica Johnson, Harvey Miller,
Michael Leeson, and Jerry Belson, ,who
is also the director) mix this together
and come up with the following: jokes
about the reproductive organs to be
used as transplants; parties in the
operating room; "Dr. Scholls Guide to
Podiatry"; and endless flirting bet-
ween Jekyll and the nurses and patien-
ts.
Rather than swallowing the potion,
Jekyll snorts it. This is done many
times in the film, starting with the
film's title in the opening credits. Hyde,
is a combination of a junkie, pimp and
sex maniac. When he undergoes the
change from Jekyll to Hyde, his hair.
# frizzes out, his fingers burst to reveal
r gold rings, and necklaces appear
around his neck. While Jekyll flirts
nicely with Mary, Hyde ravages Ivy,
one of Jekyll's patients who works at
the Madame Woo Woo club. Hyde also
steals ambulances to give an excuse for
the car chases. One begins to wonder if
therecould possibly be more to things
than the above.
Jerry Belson, in his directorial debut,
manages to make all of the jokes come
out at a good clip, but he does little
more. The acting is led by Michael
McGuire's job as Carew, the hospital
owner. He plays the role with the per-
fect combination of brown-nosing and
grating personality. Mark Blankfield,
of Fridays fame, handles both the
Jekyll and Hyde personalities well,
though playing a punk Hyde well is not
the epitome of the acting profession.
There is not much of an opportunity for
either iof Jekyll/Hyde's love interests.
Bess Armstrong as Mary and Krista
Errickson as Ivy are too busy looking
nice and flirting with Mark Blankfield
to act. Tim Thomerson plays Jekyll's
plastic surgeon friend Lanyon. He is
there for the S&M jokes.
Snorting, sex, and S&M- all topics
sure to get a laugh and all handled well
here, but it just seems so totally
unrelated to Jekyll and Hyde, and that
is why I felt disappointed in this film
even though it had its share of laughs.
The end of the film sizes things up. Ivy
talks to Mary about Hyde and says "All
he talked about was sex, sex, sex." Af-
ter the two decide that they can work
something out to share Jekyll/Hyde
and Lanyon finds a partner for his
S&M, the camera switches to the grave
of Robert Louis Stevenson, who rolls
over and says "The bastards. The.
bastards. My story ruined."
Even though I got a few chuckles out
of this film, I couldn't agree with him
more.
YOUR BSN IS WORTH AN
OFFICER'S COMMISSION
IN THE ARMY
Your BSN means you're a professional. In the Army, it also
means you're an officer. You start as a full-fledged member of our
medical team. Write: Army Nurse Opportunities,
P.O. Box 7713, Burbank, CA 91510.
ARMYNURSE CORPS.
BE ALLYOU CAN BE.
E'
Blanfield
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