The Michigan Daily-Monday, April 5, 1993-Page 9
Fab Five lose to
Men's Glee Club
by Melissa Rose Bernardo
While the rest of the free world was watching the Michigan-Kentucky game,
I enjoyed a different tribute to our University - the Men's Glee Club concert.
Yeah, I know, you're wondering what kind of a schmuck would rather listen toa
choir than watch a NCAA Final Four game. But amidst a lively crowd of some
4,000 people, I defend my character;the Glee Club's spectacular performance was
just as intense, gripping and spirited as any old basketball game. (No, I'm not
joking.)
The Men's Glee Club knew they were in fierce competition with the Fab Five
- and they made light of it. After their
' j traditional opening number, "Laudes
Men's Glee Club atque Carmina," conductor Jerry
Blackstone greeted us - "We're very
Hill Auditorium glad you're here" - and gave a rough
April 3, 1993 -translation of the piece. "It goes some-
thing like this: 'Let all people, in all
places at all times sing Go Blue Smash Kentucky."'
Perhaps the most unique piece was "Kyrie," a contemporary Swedish work.
Blackstone made the smart choice of highlighting and stressing the dissonances,
rather than leaving them to sound like mistakes. The choir seemed very comfort-
able with the dissonant sounds, which therefore gave the audience confidence in
the musicality of the piece. Led by a triumphant Tenor I section, the piece ended
by building dissonance upon dissonance, and suddenly winding down (steadily
and melodically) to an empty hum.
Effective manipulation of dynamics made the pieces engaging and exciting.
"Steal Away," part of the African-American pieces, began ever so pianissimo,
guided by Blackstone's light, flowing conducting. Then it burst open with a
tremendous forte interlude, only to soften back to a whisper.
The Nigerian Christmas song "Betelehemu" was a stirring addition to the
program. The Bass section provided a drum-like beat, beginning the piece slowly.
Then the seven-piece percussion (including tambourine and congo drums, played
by choir members themselves) built up to a gripping accelerated movement, with
the choir swaying and clapping along.
The choir let loose in "Ballad of the Cross-Eyed Sailor." They donned sailor
hats (some worn inside out), and led by "Captain" Blackstone, they sang about
chasing girls on the ship - or rather, chasing them away. Eric Vesbit hammed it
up with his gruff snarling solo. The choir actually simulated a storm - swaying,
clutching onto each other and ducking tall imaginary waves.
The Friars - or as they're now called, "The Fab Five plus three" -
entertained as always. "Ann Arbor," Jeremy Findley mused, "Where else can you
go to Hash Bash, the Glee Club concertandriotall in one day?" They even brought
a portable TV with them and gave us a score update on the game. Dressed in a
cowboy hat and boots, Jason Menges went country-western in the Friars' self-
proclaimed tribute to Kentucky, "I've GotFriends in Low Places."Look out Garth
Brooks!
We also took a trip back to disco days with "YMCA" -yes, the Friars disco
too! (I think a few of them have watched "Saturday Night Fever" one too many
times.) The Friars continued to uphold their trademark as singers and comedians
- but guys, the "let's introduce ourselves" bit is getting old.
Michigan songs were a great tribute to every Michigan fan in the audience, and
a reminder that the Glee Club is a big part of the University's rich history. "Go
Blue" went right out to our basketball team: "In old Ann Arbor town/ there are men
of great renown / they are ever out to fight and win the game."
If you've got nothing better to do, see "The Crush," as in he thought it was just a crush, but it turned out to be a "Fatal Attraction" rip-off.
'The Hand that Rocks the Crush'
by John
R. Rybock
Exams, papers, work, with spring
just around the coiner - all of it leads
to stress this time of year. That's where
the new film, "The Crush," starring
The Crush
Written and directed by Alan Shapiro;
with Cary Elwes and Alicia Silverstone.
Cary Elwes, comes in. A formulaic
thriller, "The Crush" is by no means a
great film, but it manages to distract the
audience from their troubles outside of
the theater.
"The Crush" is a member of the
current trend in thrillers, where the vil-
lain does not merely threaten one's life,
but also one's peace of mind. Up-and-
coming writer Nick Eliot (Elwes)rents
a guest house in an upper-class suburb
ofSeattle. There, hemeetsDarian (new-
comer Alicia Silverstone), who devel-
ops a crush on the young man. From
Intermix
Phaze Two
Third Mind/ Roadrunner
If you're into pure, hard-edged,
sequencer based music, you can never
go wrong with any of Bill Leeb and
Rhys Fulber's projects, whether it's
Front Line Assembly, Noise Unit, Will,
Delerium, or their most recent project,
Intermix. With Intermix, they remain
true to form, but effortlessly fuse ele-
ments, of both ambient and hardcore
techno as well as hip-hop with their
consistent all-out aggressive approach.
Right from the haunting opener, "Get
Religion," heavy electronic beats and
rough bass sequences are thrown into
the forefront, while the hip-hop and
ambient elements fight to weave their
way into the mix, similar to Front Line
Assembly's "The Blade." This formula
works brilliantly on every track, espe-
cially the nine-minute "Monument,"
which glides from hip-hop to techno to
ambient house and back again over the
course of the song, but holds a Shamen-
like bass sequence constant throughout
there, one knows where the film is go-
ing.
The film follows the basic formula
for a thriller. In fact, some shots seem
taken right out of other films, like "The
Hand that Rocks the Cradle." However,
for the duration of the film, much of this
works.
But after leaving the theater, the
audience will quickly forget "The
Crush" because there is nothing par-
ticularly new. Shots like a close-up of a
hornet nest, accompanied with a loud
buzzing, are old, but the very nature of
them gets under one's skin.
Elwes ("Princess Bride," "Hot
Shots") gives a nice little performance,
though one gets the feeling he is capable
of so muchmore than a formula picture.
For most of the film, his character seems
real. While he's busy falling for co-
worker Amy (Jennifer Rubin), he is
blind to the developing crush Darian
has for him. Okay, the audience can buy
that. But while very few audience mem-
bers have been in situations like Nick's,
it is hard for them to buy all his little
lapses which exist primarily to advance
the plot. They are the kind of mistakes
that make the audience yell instructions
at the screen.
The audience will
quickly forget "The
Crush" because there is
nothing particularly
new.
Alicia Silverstone's feature film de-
but shows definite promise. With what
she has to work with, she does well. Her
facial expressions often tend to be the
only way to get the character across -
there is little help from the script in that
regard. She can go from looking well
over 14 to looking much younger in a
blink of an eye, and she has a stare that
lets the audience know when she is mad
and that someone is going to end up
getting hurt.
Darian is, as we are told rather than
shown, very intelligent, and some of her
moves to win over Nick involve psy-
chology. But looking at the final prod-
uct, one feels that the script was incom-
plete, or that some scenes were left on
the cutting room floor. Darian tries to
implant doubts into Amy about Nick -
hinting thatDarian and Nick do actually
have a thing going, and Nick is partly
responsible. Amy does not, in that scene,
shake it off as a desperate move by a
little girl, but all the doubts Darian plants
disappear, never to be seen again.
Formulaic? Yes. Smooth and logi-
cal? No. But there is enough on the
screen to make "The Crush" a nice little
diversion. It may only be around three
more weeks, but then again, so will
classes..
THE CR USH is playing at Showcase.
the transitions. And Intermix's version
of ambient house is not your boring old
"new age with a beat." They know how
to create an unsettling mood no matter
what style of music they happen to be
experimenting with at the time, and this
is the album's strongest point. This is
nota feel-good, get up and dance techno
album. Intermix have exposed the dark,
nasty side of dance music, something
that has needed to be done for a long
time.
-Andy Dolan
Dr. Dre
The Chronic
Interscope Records/Death Row Records
Dre isn't really the bad guy you
think he is. He'sjust a funky brotha who
should be understood, but that's not
possible if y'all sleep on his newest
effort, The Chronic. Musically inspired
by the hip hop herb of choice, Dre's first
full-length LPappearance since NWA's
Niggaz For Life is a hardcore intoxi-
cant. This asphalt-and-neon playground
of funky beats and piercing keyboard
lines is soul music for the whole uni-
verse, direct from the Third Stone From
the Sun. In other words, there's notarap
artist with a product out now that can
contend with this.
Most of the time, Dre spares us his
usual squalid tales of gangstadom for
more topical ideas. The Chronic's first
two tracks document in tragi-comic
termshis recentbreak with "Mr. Rourke
and Tattoo," aka Jerry Heller and Eazy-
E. Then, the euphoric pieces "Let Me
Ride" and "Nuthin' But A G' Thang"
transcend the standard ghetto pathos of
See RECORDS, Page 10
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