ARTS

The Michigan Daily

Tuesday, April 12, 1983

Page 7

Buffet's musical smorgasbord

By Glen Young
IF IT IS the rapport a performer
establishes with his audience which
makes a concert successful, Sunday
night's Jimmy Buffet show at Hill
Auditorium was a monumental suc-
cess. If it is the sweet memories elicited
by renditions of old classics and thrills
brought on by new songs which makes a
show successful, the Buffet show was
equally monumental.
A nearly-full house, decked out in all
the Hawaiian prints, leis, and
sunglasses one would see at any out-
door summer show, rocked, rolled,
crooned, and cried along with the man
who has made a name for himself
pleasing just such people; people like
himself.
Buffet was joined onstage by only two
sidemen, keyboard man Michael Utley,
from the infamous Coral Reefer Band,
and percussionist Sam Clayton, of late
with Little Feat. Dubbed the King Kong
Trio, the mixture was pure Buffet, laid
back then loud, raunchy then mellow,
good and then great.
For old time fans, all the favorites
were there. From "Why Don't We Get
Drunk and Screw," "The Coast of
Marseille," "Savannah Jane," "A
Pirate Looks At Forty," and a wonder-
fully spontaneous medley which in-
cluded "Banana Republic," "Havana
Daydreamin'," and "Cowbody in the
Jungle."

Encouraging for those of us who wish
to continue to follow the man and his
proclaimed attitudes were the new
songs he performed, to be contained on
his yet unreleased album "My Dog Ate
My Homework And Other Great Ex-
cuses" (tentative title). The new songs
included "California Promises," a new
Steve Goodman song, "Never Love
Another," and the one which solicited
the greatest audience response, "Frank
and Lola," about a couple trying to fall
in love again.
Did I mention rapport with the
audience? In addition to the usual help
with various choruses, one lucky fan
jumped up and lent a hand on guitar for
"Cheeseburger In Paradise," and Buf-
fet heaved a boxful of little "Buddy
Bears" to the audience to make up for
the fact he couldn't play "God's Own
Drunk," because he's involved in a
legal battle over the rights to play the
tune.
All those fools who left before the en-
cores missed another couple of oldies
but goodies, including "Pencil Thin
Mustache," "Fins," and "Changes in
Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," again
all of which involved the crowd in sing
alongs; at least this part of the crowd.
So in the end, it became all those pre-
concert margueritas, numbers, and
fond memories of albums and concerts
past which made for such an enjoyable
evening with the patron saint of
hedonists, Jimmy Buffet.

"It we ain't got each other, we ain't got nuthin'." 'Outsiders' cast members
rehearse their motto atop a car hood in Francis Ford Coppola's screen adap-
tionof the S.E. Hinton novel of the same name.
'The Outsiders'
,not delinquent from
m1ld'entertainment

Jimmy Buffet's joviality and an appreciative audience made up a night of
fun Sunday evening at Hill Auditorium.


100% rockabilly from LaBeef


By Ann Marie Fazio
IT MAY BE a little unfair for a 22-
year-old to review a movie geared
for adolescents. But Frances Ford Cop-
pola's The Outsiders manages to cross
the age boundaries, if just barely.
Although the thirteen-to-eighteen-
year-old crowd can probably identify
more with the film's theme bf how to
belong in a world that doesn't want you,
the movie can make older viewers
remember what it was to feel that way.
The plot centers around that eternal
conflict between the 'in' crowd at
school, in this case the rich socs
(socials), and the 'outsiders', here the
poor greasers. In this movie, based on
S.E. Hinton's novel of the same name
(which we all read in junior high), the
results of these conflicts are a little
more tragic than they were way back
when.
Good guys and bad guys die, greasers
become heroes, and for a few momen-
ts, the barrier between the greasers
and the socs is broken. Yet, despite the
potential for all this to become really
melodramatic, the script has only oc-
casional sappy moments.
The story, seen through the eyes of 14-
year-old greaser Ponyboy Curtis, who
is writing about a recent series of even-
ts for his English class, maintains an
adolescent honesty and innocence.
Most of Kathleen Knutsen Rowell's
screenplay accurately portrays the
,.. moods and emotions of awkward, yet
sensitive teenagers.
That is not to say, however, that the
movie does not have its corny momen-
ts. Certain parts of the dialogue are, at
best, unrealistic, and certain shots, of
bunny rabbits in tall green grass, for
example, belong on a Holly Hobby
greeting card, not in this movie. For-
tunately, these scenes are few, and
overall the movie keeps a fresh in-
tegrity.
Surprisingly strong performances

from such a young cast carry this
movie. When we first see them, we
might think they were all hired on their
looks alone - there is not one actor who
isn't cute. But once they start acting,
we realize that there are brains and
talent behind those junior GQ faces.
Ponyboy Curtis, played by C. Thomas
Howell of E.T. fame, had the right
combination of adolescent charm and
shyness, but Ralph Macchio, who plays
Pony's best friend Johnny Cade, shines
in his portrayal of a nervous, scared kid
who hasn't quite been hardened by his
rough home-life.
Matt Dillon's performance as Dallas,
the street-wise greaser with a heart of
gold, isn't quite realistic. His acting is
too self-indulgent, and though he cer-
tainly has convinced himself that he's a
tough guy, he didn't manage to convin-
ce the audience.
One of the best performances in the
movie is given by Emilio Estevez, who
plays Two-Bit Matthews, the wise-guy
of the gang. He delivers his one-liners
with such naturalness and ease that you
might think he was making them up as
he was going along. After seeing him
act, we can be sure it was talent and not
daddy Martin Sheen that got him the
job.
Diane Lane also does a good job in
portraying soc cheerleader Cherry, the
poor-little-rich-girl who smiles &nd pouts
her way into the hearts of / ocs and
greasers alike.
The cinematography also shines -
literally. Director of photography Steve
Burum, who worked with Coppola on
Apocalypse Now, films golden glowing
fields and brilliant metallic sunsets
which give dignity and beauty to the
rough world of the greasers and a touch
of magic still able to be envisioned by
the young characters.
Coppola managed to steer clear of
sugary pitfall for the most part, and
present an honest, if not realistic, story
of adolescence. Nobody's too old to see
that.

By Joe Hoppe
N OBODY'S GOING to be snoozin'
when Sleepy LaBeef storms into
Joe's Star Lounge tonight. LaBeef is
one of the few surviving original
rockabillies, and he's even recorded on
the big rockabilly label, Sun Records.
Sleepy hails from Arkansas, where he
got his nickname because of incredibly
heavy-lidded cool and sleepy eyes. The
LaBeef moniker was changed from
LaBeff to accomodate his beefy 265 lbs
and 6'6" stature.
LaBeef's voice is as big as he is; it's a
huge booming baritone that puts some
real guts behind all that rock-cat
yowling. LaBeef is also an accom-
plished guitarist.
His rockabilly career started in 1957,
when he left home for Houston at the
age of 18. LaBeef performed gospel on

family-oriented shows like the Houston
Jamboree for a while, and then began
doing cover records of "everyone from
the Everly Brothers to Fats Domino"
for border stations like XERF oust of
Del Rio. The records were on the Gulf,
Wayside, Picture, and Crescent labels.
LaBeef later went on to record whole
LPs, with styles ranging from pure
country and western to gospel to blues
to blue grass to rock and roll. Besides
Sun, he has recorded on Charly, Baron,
Rounder, and when he was in Spain for
a tour, live on Spanish Auvi.
LaBeef had one minor hit during the
'50s, an original called "Lonely," a
song as sorrowful as Hank Williams'
tunes. His big hit, "Blackland Far-
mer," made the country charts in 1971.
LaBeef is best known, though, as a live
and exhuberant performer with a 6,000
song repetoire.
Tonight you have a great chance to

see a first-rate, first-generation
rockabilly act; Sleepy LaBeef is going
strong. He's rumored to be at his best
by the last set, but come early: Lan-
sing's Flying Tigers will be giving a
great rockabilly warm-up. Witness the
legend for $4.

University of Michigan
WOMEN'SGLEE CLUB
CONCERT
Conductor: Rosalie Edwards
April 15 8:00 p.m.
at Rackham Auditorium
Admission Complimentary


Records -
'Party Party,' Various
Artists (A&M)
This record was intended to get us to
see the movie Party Party, but we can't
go see the movie because it hasn't been
released in the U.S. So with that motive
shot, I suppose that this record is made
for those of you that don't want the fuss
and bother of making your own self-
indulgent dance tapes. Too bad this
record is so lame that you can't use it
for music, though it does make a nice
tray for punch cups.
But scrap that "utility of music"
crapola. I think it is much more fun to
describe all the happy, crazy party
scenes depicted on the album cover. All
the people are very pretty except the
fat woman with the stringy hair that
has feathers, daisies and leather strips
in it. This must be a holiday party
album because one boy is wearing what
appears to be a Fiorucci-inspired
sweater that has Merry Xmas on it.
Golly, I liked it a lot! And I see a boy
who wants to kiss this girl who has a
permanent wave. I know he wants to
kiss her because he is holding mistletoe
over her head, but I don't think she
wants to kiss him because she' is
pouting. But then again, maybe she is
playing hard-to-get. That happens at all
the best parties. There's a greasy disco
type, and he's licking some girl's neck,
but who cares because she's asking for
that kind of treatment because she has
on a low-necked dress. But my favorite
picture is of some wacky guy who is

perched, all ready to throw some boy
into a big stack of pop and coke cans!
Can you believe it?!?! Too much!!
I will admit that there is one
redeeming song, and that is "Band of
Gold" as recorded by Modern Roman-
ce. But it doesn't make up for the
humiliating rendition of "Auld Lang
Syne" by Chas and Dave, nor Sting's
"Tuti Frutti." This sucker's a dog!
- Melissia Bryan
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