ARTS The Michigan Daily Friday, March 13, 1987 Page 7 Hide your children; the By Mike Rubin ke ,; Tomorrow night, the 14th of March, marks the Ann Arbor debut of Evanston, IL's fearsome threesome (plus automaton), Big Black. The show at East Quad's Halfway Inn will be the band's first Michigan appearance since a July 4th weekend shebang-bang-bang at Detroit's Graystone that made Miss J.iberty's New York Harbor fireworks look like just so many Elvis impersonators with sparklers. Although the band may leave the :-pyrotechnics at home for fear of lasting the tiny Halfway out of Washtenaw County airspace, their Pi performance still promises to be as I explosive as ever. Big Black recently bolted to Midwestern megasaur Touch and -Go Records (having previously recorded for the Ruthless, Fever, ind Homestead labels). The band is currently riding the crest of newfound popularity (due to college hradio airplay and critical acclaim from the likes of aging Village Voice record guru Robert 'Christgau, who recently paid the band one of his highest .compliments by calling them "the young farts of pigfuckerdom") and even newer financial, stability (due to a successful European tour). -Vith two 45's, three EP's, and an album (last year's agitation opus Atomizer ) under their latex rubber F-guitar-strap-belts, plus two records on the way this month, the group has come a long way from their ,meager beginnings as an extracurricular individual project by former Northwestern University student Steve Albini. As Big Black's popularity has \ :blossomed, so has the notoriety surrounding singer and guitarist Albini's unique world view: a philosophy combining equal parts Nihilism with existentialism, a couple sprinkles of off-color humor, a teaspoon of out-and-out nastiness, with a dash of the Weekly World News thrown in for ,good measure, creating a sizzling stew of sordid solliloquoy and brutal, crater-faced realism. Song .topics have run the guttural gamut from dogs that bite blacks, to slaughterhouses, to setting fires as a way to pass the time, to mobster revenge, to child molestation (the all-too-true story of Jordan, Minnesota, the land that humanity forgot). What else could you expect from a guy whose answering machine says "I don't really care who it is that's calling right now, "ut whoever it is, if you don't have something real important to say, just hang up. Okay? I'm tired of ;having to listen to a bunch of jerks askin' me for favors on the phone machine every night. Screw ya."? :With an attitude like theirs, these guys should be standing mute in : front of spontaneous bop pro - :Zecutors, instead of bellowing blasphemy in front of adoring a ' - -- rosene, audiences. h It has to be their instrumental n approach that packs the houses and c then blows them up. Musically, Big Black are the bump that S separates things from the night. I Guitars crackle like the electric radio you accidentally brought into f the bathtub with you, spewing s lethal doses of high-voltage t feedback in all directions like the r vomit from Linda Blair's rotating r emerald head. Purring like the proverbial cat in the microwave, the £ twin sonic scissor attack of Albii and former Naked Raygun fret t maniac Santiago Durango clips, t zips, and rips through the neo-hip- t hop rhythm bed provided by ex- I Detroiter Dave Riley and the band's true starring attraction, Roland the r drum machine. Offensive to punk j purists and flesh and blood 4 afficianados everywhere, the drum t machine guarantees the band a steady and dependable beat for the c umans to manipulate their mayhem around, as well as a bigger ut of the paycheck. Opening up for the Chicago ensations are local non-slouches Laughing Hyenas, four deranged and dynamically dissonant escapees rom Dante's Funhouse. Led by singer/he-banshee John Brannon, he band creates the most hythmically terrifying post-Ridilin muck this side of the River Styx. With their bound-to-be-burnin' debut LP expected soon on Washington, D.C.'s Adult Con - emporary Records, you better catch hese guys (and gal) soon, before hey relocate to someplace like Dexter. Doors open at 9 p.m., with the Hyeans to hit the stage howling at O p.m. Admission is $S at the door. The Halfway Inn is located at he Church Street entrance to East Quad. No bottles or alcohol allowed. Be there or be boring. too Big Black's Steve Albini takes Roland's share of the paycheck. /2 G % L 1Y2 715 761 s'} * a' 't'4 , e4 coo Y 2 COOKIES after 9:00 p. Voted best cookiesi - -- c m m 4T.M.2 KIES FOR $1.00! m. in Ann Arbor" I COUPON MUST BE ESENTED WITH PURCHASE OPEN DAILY 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. N. University 1-CHIP PR 20% OFF SERVICES HAIR DESIGNERS. FACIAL SALON. NAIL SERVICES COSMETICS. WAXING. PEDICURES O-F--=- -- 747-8787 Mon - Fri:9:30 - 7:00 Sat: 9:30 - 4:00 1220 S. UNIVERSITY ANN ARBOR, MI 48104 EXP. March 30, 1987 a YOUR CHOICE, WE MAKE 'EM BOTH! !use T-SHIRT PRINTING HIGH QUALITY LOW PRICES SINCE 1973 1002 PONTIAC TR. -I - * fine apparel in natural fibers 325 E. lbety 995-4222° 't 1 Ar iON UNION Arts & Programming This Week at the Michigan Union... March 19 Arts at Midday: Pianist Christopher Keen from Sydney, Australia plays Haydn's A Minor Sonata and Debussy's "Children's Suite." 12:15 p.m., Pendleton Room FREE WI 1/ jt } -I 4 "x6" & 3"x5" Same Price! SUN PHOTO PHOTO PROCESSING LAO PHOTOGRAPHIC PRODUCTS STOCKHOUSE 3120 Packard . 973-0770 Michigan Union . 994-0433 76-BURIME R EREfs For the 1987-1988 academic year 76-GUIDE is an anonymous peer phone counseling service sponsored by Counseling Services. Applicants need to be carolledl students who are good at working with people. No previous counseling experience is necessary. GUIDE vorkers are paid and vork approximately 14 hours per week. Applications are available at Counseling Services. 3180 Michigan Union. beginning Monday. Feb9. Deadline for applications is Friday. March 6. For further information call 76-GUIDE or 764-9312. "U-M is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action employer'" hen you need to talk, we're here to listen."