The Michigan Daily ARTS Friday, February 24, 1989 Buddy Page 5 Experts agree: Guy can play BY LIAM FLAHERTY THE blues is an art that does not allow for a lot of variation. Either you are playing them or you are not, and there is not a more embarrassing sight in the world than someone who thinks they're playing them, and an entire, unmoving floor that knows they're not. Buddy Guy has never even approached the outer limits of. this, as he has been delivering the blues in its most unadulterated form for over 30 years. His guitar has swathed through many a night, in Chicago and throughout the world. Guy was born in Baton Rouge, and was given his first electric guitar at 16. In 1957, he made his way to Chicago, and within the next year was battling Magic Sam, Otis Rush, and other heavyweights in the most exalted blues city in the world. He recorded his pivotal A Man and the Blues album in the late '60s, and Guy was headlining, and had been playing over an hour when Clapton slipped up on stage.... Eventually Guy plucked out a few sloppy chords to "Strange Brew." Clapton moved up, looked at Guy, and both started laughing. Clapton moved back to rhythm guitar, and Guy got back to the real shit. Clapton moved back to rhythm guitar, and Guy got back to the real shit. Unfortunatdly, the world does not operate on the logic of late-night bandstands. Guy has not been recorded often, for both aesthetic and racial reasons - that ugly, long playing song once again. Guy will not compromise his music and it's doubtful he even could. He sounds like a hopelessly smitten lover: "I just love the music so much." Anyone who has seen him play is part of this pact, for it simply couldn't be any other way. Guy's riffs find that impossibly human balance, a precariousness that is in doubt every night he plays. He plays with the wild abandonment of a heart break- ing apart, while somehow finding the control of -a mind that keeps it all together. opened the Checkerboard Lounge, which has produced some unimaginable, massive jam sessions over the years. He received the W.C. Handy award for his 1981 album Stone Crazy, which was at last an opportunity for Guy to cut loose in the studio, backed by a tight rhythm section and unadorned by all-star well wishers. And Guy has no shortage of these. He has been cited as an influence on both sides of the Atlantic, from Stevie Ray Vaughn to David Bowie. He has toured with the Rolling Stones, often damaging their delicate, strung-out egos by receiving longer ovations. Eric Clapton has often stated his debt to Guy, calling him the best guitarist in the world. Last year, at a London club, I saw the two play together, and it was not exactly a battle of the titans. Guy was headlining, and had been playing over an hour when Clapton slipped up on stage. Everyone was going nuts, but Clapton respectfully took his place to the side, almost hiding behind the bassist. Eventually Guy plucked out a few sloppy chords to "Strange Brew." Clapton moved up, looked at Guy, and both started laughing. BUDDY GUY will play at the Blind Pig tonight at 9:30 and 11:30. Tickets are $11.50 in advance, $14 at the door and are available at Ticketmaster outlets. Nervous laughter Aldomovar's Women on the verge of greatness BY ALYSSA KATZ Have you ever had one of those days? You know, when your lover leaves you and you accidentally set your bed on fire and make some gazpacho with sleep- ing pills just in case you want to kill yourself and your good friend is hiding from terrorists and the crazy (not to mention tastelessly dressed) wife of your lover is trying to kill you? Meet Pepa (Carmen Maura), the living embodiment of Murphy's law. She's an actor living in Madrid, reknowned for her role as "the killer's mother". on a popular TV show. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is the hysterically funny story of a couple of days in Pepa's ridiculously com- plicated life. Director Pedro Almodovar (known for the raunchy Law of Desire), with a great deal of help from Maura and the other actors, takes material that in the hands of most other directors would become a sitcom and makes *it into a film that is not only watchable, but also one of the best comedies of the past couple of years. He even-manages to make a chase, involving a Harley and a funky taxicab, into a goofily funny sequence - his witty directorial style makes you laugh at scenes such as this even as you are thinking that you should be finding them infantile and silly. Almodovar also has us empathize with his charac- ters' almost impossibly confused lives, and as a result, makes us laugh at ourselves. We've all had days that, well, just don't work out the way we want them to. Watching Pepa, we can see that we're not alone - in fact, her problems are (hopefully) far worse than those most of us have expdrienced. So we are amused for two reasons: we laugh with Pepa because we understand what she's going through, but we also laugh at her, reveling in our smug belief that we would never let things get so incredibly out of hand. Women on the Verge also, unlike most comedies made today, possesses a great sense of style. Pepa is always the glamorous actor, even when confronted with the most extreme crises, wearing expensive suits, shoes with heels, and to top it all off, impeccable lip- stick. Her penthouse apartment is huge and stunning, filled with almost too-fashionable furniture. Her spa- cious balcony, with a wonderfully tacky painted view of Madrid, is replete with rabbit cages and chicken coops. Throughout the film, Almodovar's attention to visual detail pays off in a big way - he and his pro- duction designer have constructed an exaggeratedly arti- ficial world, a sort of Disneyland, whose placid-look- ing, sleek surface stubbornly refuses to betray the chaos raging within its inhabitants. Pepa's apartment, in which much of the film's action takes place, is like a sparkling stage or movie set in which she lives her messy life. Carmen Maura is magnificent as Pepa. She has the great ability to look both confused and self-assured si- multaneously. She also has what can best be described as presence, a magnetic star quality. The actors playing her friends and rivals also shine. Maria Barranco is fun as-Pepa's naive friend Candela - her eyes grow won- derfully large as she speaks of the terrorists she be- lieves are pursuing her. And Julieta Serrano, in hideous wigs, false eyelashes, and pass6 clothes, is a howl as Lucia, the insane wife of Pepa's ex-lover. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown will still be playing after spring break - and given its quality and its recent Oscar nomination for Best For- eign Film it is almost sure to be playing for some time. If you have any midterms when classes resume, see this film the night before you take one. You'll not only have a great deal of fun, you'll also realize that you could be a lot worse off than you are. WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN opens at the Ann Arbor Theaters Friday, March 3. Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks, center) and his weird neighbors Mark Rumsfield (Bruce Dern) and Art Wein- gartner (Rick Ducommun) chat in The 'Burbs, which teaches us to love our neighbors. As long as they had no part in making this film. Hans:Sub- pa rin the suurs BY GREG FERLAND Join the Daily Arts staff .. . Look for announcements about our general meeting. Tom Hanks may very well be the biggest flash in the pan of the decade. He has starred in a string of critical flops (Money Pit, Volunteers, Bachelor Party) and then hit paydirt with Nothing in Common and especially Big. He was brilliant in this latter role and deserves the Oscar nomination he received. Since last year's Big, though, Hanks has starred in two horrendous movies: the godawful Punchline and now The 'Burbs - one of.the worst comedies I've seen. Ever. I'm afraid Tom Hanks has begun his "bad movie" cycle all over again. In The 'Burbs . Hanks plays husband to Carrie Fisher, and together they live in a nice house on a nice street with their nice son. Hanks stays at home during his vacation in order to spy on his neighbors who have been seen digging in the yard at night. The film is merely a series of antics showing Hanks and his weird neighbors, played by Bruce Dern and Rick Ducommun, who try to infiltrate the house and snoop around. In a way, the plot can be described as a cross between Neighbors and To Kill a Mockingbird - except that The 'Burbs is an utter failure. The "weird neighbor" plot has been abused in films and television, and here it receives its worst beating. The 'Burbs is completely predictable and has even less humor than a TV sitcom. Theaudience laughed weakly and nervously, not at the jokes, but at the realization that they paid for humor that consists of: doggy-doo jokes, getting hosed down, spilling coffee on one's lap, talking with one's mouth full, and sifting through trash. Fun, huh? Add to that endless arguments, lots of dumb narrative stories, and teenagers saying, "Hey, dude" and ordering pizza. Cooool... The 'Burbs is also technically lousy. The dialogue seems dubbed, and Joe Dante's (Twilight Zone, Innerspace) direction is obvious and heavy-handed, which is no surprise coming from the man who directed the loathsome Gremlins . The 'Burbs also seems, well... quiet. Despite Jerry Goldsmith's incessantly inane music and the constant screaming, there are long intervals of silence both on film and in the audience. The ending of the film made me positively livid. The screenwriter, Dana Olsen, tacks on a moral saying that we should accept people as they are and not snoop around. Awww... isn't that quaint? And isn't that... false... and nauseating, too. It's rather surprising, considering the talent involved, just how bad The 'Burbs is.Carrie Fisher is always ingratiating, but seems lost and miscast in this film. And even more miscast is Bruce Dern, who needs a new agent. He can be intense, as in Silent Running and Coming Home, but for the last few years has played the "wacky guy" in several minor films (1969 and The Big Town).' After Big, everyone was falling over themselves calling Tom Hanks an "artiste"; but he really belongs in the category of Burt Reynolds and Dudley Moore - talented actors who consistently choose poor roles. 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