4
ARTS
The Michigan Daily
Friday, September 23, 1988
Page 8
Ask
*not
for
whom
the
4bell
~(tower,
that
* is,)
tolls...
BY SHEALA DURANT
THIS Saturday, the Office of Major
Events will serve steadfast hip hop
fans a veritable feast of acts. On the
menu are Detroit's own Prince Vince
and the Hip Hop Force, Big Daddy
Kane- both serving as appetizers
before the main course of 2 Live
Crew.
Believe me, there's something on
the menu for everybody, including
those with really strong stomachs -
namely, 2 Live Crew. If you're try-
ing to associate a song with the
name, don't worry, you've probably
heard some of their material. Re-
member the time you were waiting
at the stoplight and a jeep pulled up
next to you with the words, "Hey we
want some pussy!" blaring from
the speakers?
The Miami-based group began in
1985 when David "Mr. Mixx"
Hobbs and Chris "Fresh Kid Ice"
Won Wong decided to form the
group after being discharged from the
army. They soon hooked up with
Luke Skyywalker Records and the
Ghetto Style D.J.s.
Their music, combining explicit
lyrics and a hard-driving bass rhythm
which they call "Ghetto Bass," has
brought them fame, publicity, con-
troversy, and legal trouble. Although
their lyrics are considered too con-
troversial for radio play, they are
immensely popular on the under-
ground circuit - their latest and best
album Move Somethin', is expected
to do even better than the 500,000
'p
hop
eaven
_-/
ity, or lack thereof, in warped covers
of Manfred Mann's "Do Wah Diddy"
and the Kinks' "All Day and All of
The Night."
The opening group, Prince Vince
and The Hip Hop Force, will take
the show in the opposite direction
with what the group's leader, Prince
Vince describes as "positive rap":
social messages aimed at young lis-
teners. "They'll listen to me (in a
rhyme) before they'll sit down and
listen to the news, because we're in
the same generation," he says.
And The Hip Hop Force does
%' more than just talk positive, having
performed at numerous charity func-
F tions, including several for the De-
troit anti-crime organization Save
Our Sons And Daughters (SOSAD).
Their actions earned them a Warner
Brothers award for the most positive
rap group in the state of Michigan
this August.
The group's six members,
including rappers Prince Vince, D.J.
D.E.D, Rod and Young Toot and
dancers Geno and Wes Chilly, range
in age from 14 to 24. The group was
started last year, when "Prince
Vince" and D.J. D.E.D. were intro-
duced while buying gym shoes at the
Foot Locker store in Detroit's
Northland Mall. Their latest release
ing was a hot 12-inch called "Gangster
M Funk," and they're expected to re-
lease a new album in 2 to 3 months.
'11w
sales chalked up by their first LP,
Two Live Crew is What We Are.
What they are can be- pretty dis-
gusting. I think 2 Live Crew has
some really dope jams musically, for
example, "S&M" - but on the
other hand, its lyrical content goes
something like this: "S&M bring
your dick suckin' friends/S&M br
your mamma and her friends/S&
bring all your horny friends."
Those are a few of the son
milder lines. If you want to h
how the song got its name, I su
gest you listen to the LP yourself
Live Crew also display their creal
g's
ear
ug-
f. 2
iv-
BIG DADDY KANE, PRINCE
VINCE AND THE HIP HOP
FORCE, AND 2 LIVE CREW will
be at Hill Auditorium Saturday at 8
p.m. Tickets are $15.75.
It tolls
.*
*
for
'U,'
BY MARGIE HEINLEN
EVERY day, the people of Ann Arbor attend a free concert - and
mnost of them don't even know they're in the theater.
*: It is always played, although not always heard, and features sonorous
tones from the largest instrument on campus - the third largest of its
Lind in the world by weight. It is 212 feet tall.
The instrument is most well known as the Burton Memorial Tower.
But those most familiar with it know it to be a carillon - a mass of
bells housed within the mammoth tower.
If you've ever had a song pop into your head while walking around
;ampus, it may be the fault of Margo Halstead, the new University
Carilloneur, who came to campus this year from Stanford. And you
thought it was automated!
Any student can get the opportunity to play the carillon, says Hal-
stead, who will give auditions to anyone with a piano/keyboard back-
ground. Halstead also teaches carilloning through the music school. It's
not a good class to skip - only 6 students enrolled this fall - and
some 100,000 Ann Arbor inhabitants will be able to hear them take
tests.
"It's terrifying to know all of the city is listening, but as long as
you don't stop most people don't catch your mistakes. At least that's
what I teach my students," Halstead says.
"I started playing carillon out of personal interest and will continue
to play as a hobby. As a musician, it makes me more marketable," says
graduate music student Phillip Burgess (yup, even music students worry,
about that). However, the job market for carilloneurs is limited - only
140 exist in this country.
The carillon's bells, from "Big Baird," which weighs in at 1200
pounds, to the smallest bell, weighing 4 pounds, are played on what
looks like an organ - except that the keys are large wooden batons.
Wearing what look like modified weight lifting gloves, carilloneurs
weave their magic by striking the batons with their fists.
In the 17th century, bell towers throughout Northern Europe and
Italy, pealed to mark the time and herald public events - but because
villagers and townspeople would forget to count the chimes or listen to
the messages, carilloneurs began playing music to warn listeners that
something was coming. Much better than a radio test pattern.
Like many objects that have become obsolete, carilloning is now
considered an art. "People come from all over the world to listen to
these bells; many U students let an opportunity to play one of the most
intimidating, powerful instruments in the world pass them by," laments
Burgess.
And the carillon isn't just powerful - it's a power trip. "Whatever I
See Tower, Page 9
14
2 Live Crew (left to right, Brother Marquis, Luke Skywalker, Mr. Mixx, and Fresh Kid-Ice) and their raunchy raps
headline a triple bill with Big Daddy Kane and Prince Vince and the Hip Hop Force.
eelipse
Welcomes
Carla Bley &
Steve Swallow
Duets
Tuesday, October 4
at 8pm. and at1Opm
The Ark
637 1/2 Main St. AnnArbor
Charge By Phone: 763-TKTS
Tickets available at the
Michigan Union Ticket Offce
and all TicketMaster outlets.
Eclipse pfogramns are made
possiblei" part by grants from.
National hr
Endow ment aMi*V
'for the Arts SchtoIMuiC
?oinnAilMIDWEST fW
Two new waysto
keep thescholastic
edge: 2"
Cliffs Noteson
Greek Classics
Cliffs Notes on
Roman Classics
Gain areater undershtnrin nof the nenom
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