ARTS The Michigan Daily Friday, November 10, 1989 Page 8 I Mickey Mouse they're not NYC 'S 24-7 Spyz: BY TONY SILBER ORLANDO - Welcome to the Never-Never Land of Disney World, nestled in the warm breezes of the Florida interior, where the only sense of reality is the hotel bill after a five-day stay at the Magic King- dom, Epcot Center, and the new Disney/MGM Theme Studio. This is where all those 9 to 5 masses come as if it were a magnet of relax- ation. But it doesn't take anyone long to realize that this Never-Never Land is really a magnet for dollars. The newest attraction down here in Mickeyland which has all the folks at Disney giddy is the new Disney/MGM Studio. And giddy they should be. This is not only a tourist attraction, but it is also a working, breathing motion picture studio which will produce animated feature films and animated shorts. With the opening of this new studio and animation facility, Disney will now control an overwhelming bulk of the animated film market more than ever. With the Disney/MGM opening, Mickey and friends will have lots to keep them busy in the years to come. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of Walt Disney Studios, promises one full-length animated feature film every 12 months, an incredibly pro- lific rate of production. Katzenberg is the brain credited with the MGM theme park scheme, but he has also been the primary reason Disney has returned to greatness since some lean years in the late '70s. He conceived of and developed Touchstone Pic- tures into a major outlet in the PG- R film market and now that studio is one of the most successful in the na- tion, having turned out Good Morn- ing Vietnam, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Dead Poets Society, just to name a few. When Katzenberg came up with the Florida animation studio idea, he also had the man in mind to run it. Walt Disney would have been proud to find his nephew, Roy, at the helm of this new and exciting venture for the ever expanding Disney company. Roy himself is elated about the whole project. "We've tripled our animation fa- cilities with the opening of the Florida studio and we'll try to make an animated feature every year which is as much as we ever made back in the '40s," said Disney. The new stu- dio will also allow Disney to exper- iment more with Computer Assisted Post-production (CAP), the tech- nique used to mix live action se- quences with animation in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. "Now we'll have more time to take advantage of the technological achievements in animation," he added. Certainly, Disney has taken a bold initiative in grabbing control of the highly profitable animation mar- ket. Although they have always been at the forefront of 'toons, competi- tion has developed recently, espe- cially from one former Disney ani- mator, Don Bluth. When he quit Disney ten years ago, he took many animators with him to form his new studio, Hollywood Pictures. Bluth and his associates release All Dogs Go To Heaven next week to run against The Little Mermaid, Dis- ney's first animated fairy tale since Sleeping Beauty in 1959. As one may expect, Bluth is not very well liked in Orlando, and the folks at Disney would just assume send all his Dogs to hell. Animated films are big business for many reasons, and Disney is cashing in on them all. First, the children's audience is large and al- most exclusively loyal to animated films until at least age six. Second, there are only about five or six ani- mated films each year, so many fam- Harder than anyone BY PETER SHAPIRO 24-7I Spyz don't hold anything back. Their music and lyrics are loud, rhythmic, funky, and aggressive. Like Bad Brains, their stylisitic men- tors, 24-7 Spyz take Rastafarian sensibilities and apply them to ghetto life, specifically New York's South Bronx. This doesn't result in the simple lilting melodies of rural Jamaica, but rather a blunt reflection of the harshness of Gotham-size desperation. As a result, they are brusque and uncouth. This atitude doesn't come from a self-conscious pose of rudeness. 24-7 Spyz's stance is one of ur- gency. There is no time to fool around with complex symbols and metaphors. The message must be heard now, without any distillation. As opposed to finding a polite middle ground, lyricist P. Fluid writes, "The soldiers, they massacred/ 46 civilians Saturday/ At Fort Dimanche Mili- tary Prison/ Outside Port-Au-Prince" in "Ballots not Bullets" off of their Harder Than You album. There are no discreet pleasantries, just curt journalistic realism. Their music mirrors this matter-of-fact song writing. Elements of hardcore, rap, speed metal, reggae, and Hendrix-style guitar wig-outs combine to create a battering ram style. The guitar sneers and spits at the listener, while the drums pound with a martial menace that threatens to make your head cave in. The obvious comparison would be to Living Colour, but 24-7 Spyz are less stylized and a lot harsher. Where Vernon Reid's distortion is slick, guitarist Jimi Hazel achieves a meaner, more discordant tone. All of this is not to say that 24-7 Spyz is a band of atonal depres- sives; they realize that their message would not be effective if it just re- inforced hopelessness. 24-7 Spyz add the Beastie Boys bacchanalian spirit to their corpus of influences, especially on the amazingly vulgar macho boast, "Spyz Dope." On "Grandma Dynamite" and their version of Kool and the Gang's "Jungle Boogie," the band is fueled by some incredibly funky bass slapping by Rick Skatore. This sense of fun is continued on their homage to skinheads, "Tango Skin Polka," which proves that Poland gave more to rock 'n' roll than just Bobby Vinton. But Bobby Vinton would never be able to pull off their stage show. At live performances, the band is, to say the least, raucous. Somersaults, stage dives, and sweat make for a show that, while self-indulgent, is a helluva lot of fun. 24-7 SPYZ play tonight in St. Andrew's Hall; doors open at 9 p.m. Tick- ets available at Ticketmaster outlets. The resemblance between Roy Dis- ney (above) and his father Walt is striking; appropriately, Roy, Vice Chair of The Walt Disney Company, is continuing his father's legacy by making animation a top priority at Walt Disney Studios. You probably won't see another The Cat From Outer Space for a long time. Jeffrey Katzenberg (left), Chairman of the Company, is keen on this too - he even promises The Rescuers Down Underfor next year. glomerate. The opening of their Florida animation facilities at the MGM theme park has solidified their control over a profitable and lucra- tive aspect of the movie industry. And of course, they have Never- Never Land where monorails trans- port wide-eyed dreams to an expen- sive reality. This is Disney's play- ground - their reward for some genuine hard work in the last ten years. Mickey may be a mouse but he symbolizes a giant in the world of entertainment. ilies will end up seeing all of them. Third, the large studios and distribu- tors love animated films because the cash return is almost guaranteed. Fi- nally, the cost of producing an ani- mated feature as opposed to a full length feature is much lower, there- fore the potential for profit is much atronger. Disney has grown from a single animated film studio under Walt Disney's leadership into a massive, power-wielding entertainment con- m Michigan Alumni work here: The Wall Street Journal The New York Times The Washington Post The Detroit Free Press The Detroit News NBC Sports Associated Press United Press International Scientific American Time Newsweek Sports Illustrated Because they worked here: 01 tc"Mcb"an 9af , a S Y, 0 .. Stand Up. Be Counted. While You Still Have the Choice. U, a Your right to choose is in jeopardy: " George Bush, bowing to pressure from the far right-continues to veto pro-choice legislation supported by the majority of Americans. * The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear three new cases calculated to further erode Roe v. Wade. " State legislatures all across America are poised to further restrict abortions. On Sunday, November 12, Americans will take action to dramatize our support for the right to choose, to demand that this fundamental American freedom be protected, to demonstrate that we will never go back to the days when abortion was illegal. 6 I I Stand up with us on November 12, when America mobilizes for women's lives. CAROL KING-313-543-8250 T T/-\-% K T'1'1 Tli-N t '