Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 6, 1986
Images
Band' member
commits suicide
WINTER PARK, Fla. (UPI) -
Shocked family members and friends
could offer no explanation yesterday
why Richard Manuel, an original
member of the critically acclaimed
rock quintet The Band, hanged him-
self in a motel bathroom.
"There was no note and no in-
dication why he did it," said police
detective Rick Nuss. "Everybody was
just stunned - band members, frien-
ds, family. The only one who knows
why is him."
Nuss said the 42-year-old Manuel's
wife, Arlie, discovered the body
hanging from a belt tied to the shower
curtain rod in the couple's motel
bathroom and an autopsy confirmed
the cause of death was hanging.
"The time of death was between
2:30 and 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday," Nuss
said. "It's being investigated as a
suicide, and the toxicology report on
the blood we won't have for at least a
week."
Manuel, a native of Stratford, On-
tario, had performed with The Band
Monday night- at the Cheek to Cheek
Lounge at the Villa Nova restaurant
in Winter Park, next door to the motel
where he died. The Band performed
last week in West Palm Beach, Miami
and St. Petersburg. Neither the group
nor its management in Los Angeles
would comment yesterday on
Manuel's death.
Manuel played piano and drums
and sang with The Band during the
group's career that began in Canada
in the 1950s. Under the name the
Hawks, the quintet played with singer
Ronnie Hawkins before gaining attent-
ion while touring with Bob Dylan, first
in the 1960s and again in 1974.
In 1968, the Band released its first
album Music From Big Pink,
named for a house where the music
was recorded in Woodstock, N.Y. The
film Easy Rider featured a single
"The Weight," from the group's
second album.
Other original members of The
Band were bassist Rick Danko,
organist and saxohonist Garth Hud-
son and singer and drummer Levon
Helm.
The Band's final concert in 1978 was
documented by the film The Last
Waltz. The album was the group's
final original recording.
In August, The Band reunited with
Jimmy Wieder replacing original
guitarist and primary songwriter
Jamie "Robbie" Robertson, who went
on to perform in movies after leaving
The Band.
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(Continued from Page 7)
ption. Like few other in the American
musical underground, Albini is a man
who knows what he wants, and on this
and other Big Black releases, he
definitely gets it, controlling the
studio with an iron fist to yield big
dense walls of weighty tuneage just
waiting to be lapped up by Big Black
fans and non-fans alike.
Highly produced but undeniably
raw, the band's sound is powerful and
consistent. Like much previous Big
Black output, "I Duce" kicks off with
a simple but way mean bent-disco
type drum beat that somehow retains
the brute physicality often lost when
bands go the mechanical percussion
route. Next, you get blasted by the Big
Black machine shop guitar attack,
kind of like a cross between stickin'
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The heat is on.
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naked on a bed of nails. Far beyond
the world of plain o1' powerchords,
Albini and fellow guitarist Santiago
Durango grind their axes with a war-
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standing somewhere near the Velvet
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Light/White Heat and an even
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loose keeping with even looser
tradition, Albini's gritty and distin-
ctive vocals aim to shock in the sub-
ject materials department, this time
with a twisted role-playing tribute (?)
to Benito Mussolinni: I am
Benito . . .And I like my job ... etc.
Pretty sinewy stuff, the potential
darkness of which is balanced out by
the sort of cartoonish/humorous feel
found in most all Big Black product.
But the best thing about this little
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sonality and originality of the Big
Black sound. This bunch has nothing
to do wiht current trends and the
almost obligatory blandness that ac-
companys them. There's a real
creative drive that Albini has tapped
into (or vice-versa) and that alone
makes "Il Duce" a more than worthy
purchase. - Rob Michaels
Correction:
The Arts Page would like to apologize
for an error in Monday's paper.
Manuel Sunday, not Gene Lawson,
played the part of Richard Henry in
AACT's production of Blues for Mister
Charlie.
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