The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 5, 1990 - Page 7 WEEKEND Continued from page 5 the pit orchestra, all of whom seemed to be actively conspiring to ruin the show. Shall it be said that 4e interesting Brecht-like distancing tat exists in the script - those comments and cues which intermit- tently remind the audience that they are watching a cabaret-style musical -- was overdone. The black costumes of the players were nearly invisible on a black background. They were essential for the opening number, but ineffective for the rest of the how. The lighting crew cast a deathly pallor over most of the ac- tots for whose cues the spotlights ar- rived on time. The pit orchestra was weak and at times painful to hear. "Despite the efforts of the techni- cal crew, however, the performers managed to produce some excellent vocal moments and a moving finale. Perhaps in the next MUSKET pro- 'uction the performers will not just wakly battle the techies, but win the battle as Charlemagne won over the Visigoths. We would all cele- brate such a victory. -Beth Colquitt The Fluid were k When I still cared about school, the weekend always started on Thursday, and whether last Thursday was a weekend or a weekday, Den- ver's The Fluid finally made their Ann Arbor debut. I could describe the show, but The Fluid do it so well themselves in their song " fooked" - "the other night I was out 'n' about with the boys /I needed lrink and we all needed the noise/ and she just walked right up and stole my heart away." Actually, that last bit isn't true, as the crowd was 90 percent male. And, as is typical of shows like this, full of jaded people who only come out at night I think, there was a dearth of smiles. Lead singer John Robinson speculated there was a shortage of acid in town. I agreed; I remember smiling and thinking, "This is supposed to be a happy occasion." The Fluid came out and played jammin' rock and roll. They are not a punk band - they will do punkish stage antics like eating a dog biscuit or taking off their pants, but only if the crowd has the guts to do it first. Sub Pop bands take a lot of flack for being basically similar; while this is true to an extent what sets these bands apart is that they can almost all sing proficiently and are lis- tenable, too. The Fluid have a lead singer who doesn't play an instrument, and the ax-men do some pretty creditable harmony vocals. (If opening act The Vivians would take this to heart they would be a much better band. The oboe or clarinet or whatever it was they played on top of a generic rock structure for their last song was kind of neat, though). The band played a great version of the song that introduced many to their sound, "Is It Day?," (a song about the joys of driving your way into a sunrise), as well as "Hooked," "Twisted & Pissed," and, hell, if you are reading this far you were proba- bly there and you know what the group played. If you weren't there, well, during my years writing for the Daily, I can't count the amount of times I've heard the complaint that we only write about obscure bands, as if we do this on purpose to piss you all off. I'm sure someone said that after reading about some weird band called R.E.M. when they played at the cor- ner of Main & Huron way back in the early '80s. If you consider yourself a rock fan but have never caught a live band during your stay at the University, think about this: in 1969 Led Zeppelin came to America for the first time, opening for various heavy bands of the time. They played at tiny clubs much like Club Heidelberg, to people who were brave enough to take a chance on music they hadn't heard a thousand times before. I'm sure many people refused to go, asking, "Who the hell are Led Zeppelin?" They invariably blew these crowds away and had to play as many as seven encores. I'm not saying that the Fluid show on Thursday was as revolutionary as Zepp's arrival in the States, but then you don't know either. When incredible bands like the Fluid play tiny places like the Heidelberg, if you don't go it's my gain I guess, but it is the artist's loss, and yours as well. -Brian Jarvinen Taj Mahal knows his music Among the many accolades printed about Taj Mahal in the Ark's concert calendar, the word musicolo- gist seemed somewhat out of place. While musicologists are important if America is to ever remember its mu- sical heritage, the thought of seeing one performing live didn't exactly sound like a great Saturday night ac- tivity. Luckily, I knew ahead of time that Taj Mahal is an accomplished bluesman, thanks to years of listen- ing to the radio shows Nothin' but the Blues and Big City Blues Cruise. Minnesota-based acoustic gui- tarist Pat Donohue warmed up the crowd with an all-too-short set of mostly original songs and humorous ramblings. He unfortunately played only one song using a slide, but fol- lowed this up with an amazing ver- sion of Charlie Parker's "Yardbird Suite," on acoustic guitar alone! As Donohue joked, he is trying to merge those two financially reward- ing genres, folk and jazz, and while he may not get rich, his listeners certainly will. Donohue will be back at the Ark on November 27th for a free show. Taj Mahal then came out and proved that what he really is is an entertainer with a capital E for energy, enthusiasm and excitement. Mahal played songs on six- and 12- string guitar; when he switched to playing boogie-woogie piano the crowd was lucky to see some real hammer time. But as it turned out, Mahal is quite a musicologist; he performed excellent versions of Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues" and Leadbelly's "Bourgeois Blues." He also reminded us, as critic James Marshall has pointed out, that the 2 Live Crew (or Hoes With Attitude for that matter) are nothing new; the song "Bar-B-Que" included a Lucille Bogan couplet that would make any sexually frustrated sheriff blush, and this line was written in the '30s. Despite Mahal's musical skills, what truly proved his prowess for keeping a crowd spell-bound was a song he sang alone a capella. After that, there was no doubt left in my mind that Taj Mahal has got that mystical quality (charisma I guess) often referred to as it. And despite thinking I was going to a blues show, I sure ended up smiling a lot. -Brian Jarvinen RECORDS' Continued from page 5 "Close to Me" is revamped with a funky new drum pattern and "The Walk" benefits from the treatment as well. And the cover art is way cool. However, the bad outweighs the good. First of all, if you were suckered into buying the four CD singles from Disintegration (which came in a handy dandy boxed set), you'll find that you already own four of the remixes on Mixed Up. Also, some songs, most notably "Inbetween Days," turned out like shit. And the lone new song, "Never Enough," is a shallow clone of The Stone Roses, but without any catchy melody. But gee Mom, it's just in time for the holidays. To borrow from the comments of a guy behind me in the aforementioned line: "Lame. With a capital L." -Mike Molitor Guy "I Wanna Get With You" (12") Uptown/MCA This new single by Black radio's ultimate band has both a tougher, more danceable groove from anything on the debut and is rife with contradictions. When Teddy Ri- ley started producing last year, his determined rhythms and strong begts gave a great deal of R & B, as well as Black radio, a new conviction that excited almost everyone. Indeed, Guy is a welcome addition to the sydthe- sized quagmire of "rhythm and blues," as without Riley's spunk there may have never been a "Hold On," "It Feels Good" or "Ghetto Heaven." Actually, Soul II Soul de- serves some credit as well. The prob- -lem here is that Riley tries to rap again, as in the exquisite "My Fan- tasy," but on this track disturbs the delicate balance already established between rap and "soul." Guy is still in effect. Riley's percussive sensibility coupled with Aaron Hall's inspired "soulful" croon still makes an intriguing combination. Actually, no one does it better than these fellows do; singing over just a beat. Jazzie aban- doned this ground ever since his first single. Another quality that gives Guy a tension and disparity is their approach. The theme is simple; ladies, Aaron wants to get with you. It's in the way the band uses their equipment, their machinery, to con- vey this "passion" that still remains quite amazing. 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