The Michigan Daily-Thursday, March 24, 1983-Page 7
Besides B-Sides, there's Bebe
By Larry Dean
B EBE BUELL and the B-Sides
are playing tonight at Joe's Star
Lounge, with newcomers to the club
scene Aluminum Beach opening.
They're swinging through town as part
of Joe Tiboni's attempts to bring some
outside talent to Ann Arbor, and like the
Dream Syndicate's recent stop here, it
looks like it ought to be a lot of fun.
Most people who saw the syndicate
praised the earth on buckled knees that
they had been so-graced. Personally, I
thought their dissonant, droning music
got frazzled by the so-so acoustics of the
Star Lounge, and thusly, a lot of their
potential power was lost.
Such should not be the case with
Buell. Most well-known for her
modeling and subsequent marriage to
popster Todd Rundgren, Buell emerged
last year with an EP on the tiny Rhino
Records label that received almost-
unanimous critical accolades. With
four songs that included everything
from Iggy Pop and David Bowie's
"Funtime" to Burt Bacharach's "My
Little Red Book," and production
credits by guitar whiz-kid Rick
Derringer and the Cars' Ric Ocasek,
Covers Girl surprised all the cynical
rock-rag insiders who were ready to
write Buell off with its catchy, pop-
flavored tunes and Buell's surprisingly
adept vocals.
It wasn't enough that Covers Girl got
accepted by the press, however. As a
commercial product, the EP went vir-
tually unnoticed. And being on a small
label doesn't help, either.
Enter the B-Sides: Jon Rousseau,
drums; George Gordon, guitar and co-
songwriting credits; and bassist
Thomas Staunton. Although Buell
doesn't have anything out on vinyl with
them, they've recorded a demo tape
produced by ex-hubby Rundgren that is
making its way from A&R man to A&R
man at most major labels. With luck
and a little bit of chance-taking,
something good might come of this new
outfit.
In the meantime, there's performing
live and honing the material at hand.
Buell says that people shouldn't expect a
mere note-for-note retake of the EP
when they come to see the B-Sides live.
"The show is more powerful," she says.
"It has more of an edge. I guess you
would call us a good rock and roll
band."
Rousseau and Staunton are 21; Buell
and Gordon are 28. Bebe sings lead
vocals and is augmented live by Sakura
Pinnette on back-up. For a relatively-
young group-both age-wise and in
terms of how long they have been
playing together-the B-Sides are sup-
posed to be quite hot on stage. "I just
believe in entertainment and
dynamics," explains Buell. "When
people come to see a performance, they
should get chills and all the stuff I got
when I went to see shows when I was a
kid. No gimmicks-just straight, pure,
raw entertainment.'"
Bebe Buell comes across as an
honest, straightforward person who got
pegged wrong a long time ago and still
has some difficulty losing her image as
a model and "companion to the stars."
A recent big rumor had Buell married
to Psychedelic Furs lead vocalist
Richard Butler, but that's all it is-a
rumor. Says Bebe: "I'm single as a
slice of Kraft cheese.
"I don't think anyone should be pin-
pointed or locked into any one art,"
continues Buell. Being a past model and,
at one time, a Playboy centerfold, has
contributed to her downplaying by the
music press. But what she says is true;
and the music should do the talking. If
Covers Girl and what the B-Sides aspire
to do is any indication, tonight's show
should be an energetic, rocking ex-
perience.
Starting time for Aluminum Beach is
9:30 p.m. Tickets are $3 and are
available at the door.
Eating too much Raoul can be frightening - it's not too good for your health,
either.
at ing out has never
.'been so Cmuchfun!
Aluminum Beach
... Bebe's foil
IFLIPPER McGEE'S I
B TOKENS for
u & 2 with Student I.D.
1217 S. University
---rn--rn---- ------- ------rn--r
By Malcolm
Robinson
T'S FAIRLY EASY to imagine the
1 reasoning - misguided though it
;may have been - that led not one or
three but all of the big Hollywood
-studios to decide to play it safe and not
finance Paul Bartel's Eating Raoul. To
be faithful and somewhat fair to that
case, Bartel's newest is certainly not
going to walk away with even a single,
minor award nomination and its plot
can't be described as teen-oriented or
inspirational or filled with blood.
Forget the possibility of the film being
moral.
Add to these debits an ensemble of
non-bankable players plus a script that
ambles leisurely from one absurd
moment to the next, and all that's left is
a rather small black comedy with
seemingly little box office potential. No
demographics, no project support
money; cynical as it seems, it's as sim-
ple as that.
Perhaps this explains the distinct
feeling that the film's production values
are more than a bit n the cheap side and
that its tone is too tackily, too garishly
benign. Some facts will prove helpful
here. It's true that Bartel (Private Par-
te, Death Race 2000), didn't need to
mortgage his home in order to make his
motion picture, unlike Francis Ford
Coppola with Apocalypse Now. But
Bartel did, for example, somehow per-
suade his parents to sell one of theirs
(their favorite one, he says) and he did
manage to cast all of the minor roles
with his friends, i.e. people who would
work for next to nothing.
Eating Raoul cost only a mere million
dollars to make, a pittance. Yet it's
hard to shake the thought that the sheer
tawdriness of the film is by design and,
hence, the only quality more money
Ymight have bought it is a more
sophisticated brand of crassness.
The film, it might as well be revealed,
really has only a single joke to tell;
more it's a joke that's recycled over
and over - a joke that isn't about can-
nibalism, at least not in any obvious
sense. This is the story of Paul and
5 MAry Bland, an American couple with a
dream. Paul and Mary want to own
their own gourmet restaurant (the
"Country Kitchen") but they simply do
not have enough money to buy a
location. For Paul has just gotten laid
off from his job and Mary was sexually
harassed trying to obtain a loan. Which
brings their second, and just as
brothersome problem into focus: the
Blands are a decent, cuddly couple but
they appear to be the last people in
Hollywood unscathed by the sexual
revolution. The two are surrounded by
swingers; and if that isn't bad enough,
the swingers soon enter their private
lives.
How a large number of them exit, and
they do exit, and how the Blands end up
buying their restaurant is the process,
the joke that gives this film its apt and
descriptive title. Eating Raoul, though,
never does quite live up to the expec-
tations its name seems to imply and
that's all for the good; this is a sur-
prisingly gentle even charming motion
picture and it's sad that more people
won't see it. The fact that it's turned a
nice profit will have to suffice.
That doesn't mean it's a film without
problems. The action drags just a bit
towards the end as Paul and Mary and,
yes, Raoul (well played by newcomer
Robert Beltran) affirm that constancy
in relationships can be a viable alter-
native to swingerhood. And Bartel, as
Paul Bland, is perhaps too limited in
the fussbudgetyness of his performan-
ce. Happily for all concerned, Mary
Woronov as his wife more than makes
up for him. In fact, it is precisely
because of her ability to exude such a
good natured sexuality that Eating
Raoul fails to degenerate into scatter-
shot satire. As such, it's a surprisingly
effective performance in what proves
to be a decidedly civilized entertain-
ment.
Cottage INN
10 PM to 1 AM
Sunday thru Thursday
HAPPY HOURS
I DRINKS 2 fort
What if .. .
.. - the average lifespan of a wombat
exceeded that .of a Milky Way bar,
carefully wrapped and stored in an air-
tight freezer?
" Basil Rathbone, star of many-a
Sherlock Holmes film, relied entirely
on the whims of his clairvoyant
mother to beam his dialogue to him
from her mobile home in Talahassee,
Florida?
. .. actress Brooke Shields had no
real ambition in life other than to read
every book ever written by James
Mitchner in their Spanish
translated-editions?
... the White House was originally
painted an off-maroon until a troupe
of professional certified public ac-
countants donated time and energy to
repainting the dilapidated building in
1951?
.. . songster Barry Manilow, writer
of such hit singles as "Copacabana"
and "Mandy," had an artificial nose
composed of indestructable metal
alloys and polyester byproducts?
IT'S HEALTHY TO CARE...
BUT SOMETIMES HARD TO DO BY YOURSELF...
HELP IS AVAILABLE
When you need help with a personal problem, or when
you need consultation about someone you know who seems troubled,
the following resources are available:
for mental health emergencies - Psych. Emergency, U. Hospital
for counseling & consultation - Counseling Services 764-
996-4747 (24 hrs.)
-8312 (weekdays)
for phone counseling & cousultation- dial 76-GUIDE (eve's and weekends)
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