The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 3, 1995 - 9
Talk, not plot, keeps love until 'Sunrise'
American Music Club
San Francisco
Reprise
It must suck to be Mark Eitzel,
vocalist and songwriter for the
American Music Club. Not only
adoes his life have little but suffering
to offer him, his only claim to fame
and recognition in this world is his
habit of chronicling the pathos of
failed relationships and lost beauty,
and if the band's latest finds the
Club in a slightly more upbeat mu-
sical mood, it has done little to
lighten Eitzel's subject matter. The
very first words out of his mouth
are, "Lost again, lost again." Later,
he laments, "Nothing makes me
laugh anymore." Shelter, in Eitzel's
cold world, cannot be found in love,
which scares him or people, who
"usually make me tired."
Eitzel has never pulled punches in
revealing his life to an audience that
may or may not care. His lyrics are
neither pretentious nor weak; they are
simply heart-wrenching. When he
sings, "I broke my promise that I
wouldn't write another song about
you," you feel his sorrow and there is
little doubt that it is genuine.
"San Francisco" may not reso-
nate as deeply as 1993's breathtak-
ingly beautiful "Mercury," but when
Eitzel hits it, he hits it hard and
takes no time to rest. Even the cover
of "California Dreamin"' sounds
weary as the band brings to light the
song's buried feelings of loneliness
and longing.
-Dirk Schulze
Hellos Creed
Planet X
Amphetamine Reptile
From the deepest reaches of do-
mestically-produced music for outer
space comes Helios Creed. "Planet
X" is his umpteenth album, and it's
one of the best in a fine ouvre.
Creed (an oddly-named person,
not a cleverly-titled band) has been
making wild music that sounds like
it's been crafted by aliens since his
days in the band Chrome. His songs
are generally long and atmospheric,
based on guitar, possessed of creep-
ily buried and / or distorted vocals
and have a dangerous feel that S&M
parties must scramble to attain.
The song "Kurt Zombie" is a
fine example of Creed's work. With
a guitar line that sounds like a dark
version of the opening riff to "Day
Tripper," but repeated slowly over
and over again, the song is imbued
with an unrelenting line of evil. The
undead walking at you with guitars,
Iguess. With suggestively obscured
lyrics, the song seems to leave an
open interpretation of its meaning
in relation to the so-called "Kurt
Zombie." And, going against ex-
pectations, the song fades away in-
stead of burning out in a blaze. A
VOwODOO
Continued form page 9
single to metal radio and "Inside These
Walls" was a no. 1 song at commer-
cial radio in San Francisco, beating
outmore MTV alterna-friendly bands
like Hole and Veruca Salt. Although
there has been little widespread ac-
ceptance, Sewell remains optimistic
of the band's success.
"It was never RCA's idea to throw
this out and turn us into Green Day,"
he explained. "We're the only thing
like this on the label and they've been
very cool to us. There are tons of
people going to our shows and sing-
ing the lyrics. Every night of the tour
has been a sellout."
Which doesn't mean there haven't
been some bad, Spinal Tap-ish expe-
riences the band has had to endure on
the road. For their four dates with
Pigface, there was so much equip-
ment used by the band that they barely
had space to play. Even though the
band members are avid Lynyrd Skynrd
fans (expect a "Saturday Night Spe-
cial" cover shortly) they received cat-
calls of "Free Bird!" when they came
on stage with their long, not dyed
hair. Then there's the punk rock kids.
"As punk rock becomes more
popular on MTV it sort of breaks
down a barrier of respect between the
audience and theband," he said. "They
think it's really punk to fuck with the
band." Sewell paused for a moment.
"If you fuck with us, we're going to
fuck with you."
Sewell's sardonic take doesn't
By Fred Rice
Daily Arts Writer
If you're out on a date, there's no
better place to be than at the movies.
Think about it. No one is expected to
talk during a movie. How else could a
date last over two hours and survive
with only 10 minutes of conversation?
But "Before Sunrise" makes dating
even easier. It's a date flick for the
romantically challenged. No longer
must couples worry about those embar-
rassing minutes when no one has any-
thing to say. If they see "Before Sun-
rise," they can live vicariously through
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. They
can relish in two full hours of their
conversation. Because that's all this
movie is: it's a two-hour dialogue be-
tween a cinematically perfect couple,
who meet on a train and spend a night
together on the streets of Vienna.
They converse about life and death,
magic and mysticism, family and love,
and everything else two twenty-
something's could possibly fathom in
one evening. And of course, since they
are in their twenties, they also have to
do the usual Generation X lament. This
is a lament well-mastered by grunge
captain Ethan Hawke, even though he
tones his anguish here. And Julie Delpy
handles the lament pretty well too, de-
spite the fact that her character isn't an
American, but ratherFrench. That would
suggest that the apathetic generational
achievement has spread worldwide.
The wonderful thing about "Sun-
rise" is that, even with the lament,
Hawke's and Delpy's discussions are
engaging and believable. It's one of
those rare movies that develops a rela-
tionship through sturdy dialogue, in-
stead of resorting to the standard mon-
tage of love birds flapping their lips
silently to the latest Bon Jovi single.
Sadly, however, the lack of a coher-
ent plot makes the romance a bit tedious.
One hour of their talking feels more like
two. And after one and a half hours the
Before sunrise
Directed by Richard
Linklater with Ethan Hawke
and Julie Delpy
at Briarwood and Showcase
audience starts to squirm in their seats.
The change of environment from train
to cafe to bar to river front and so on
provides only a small dosage of relief. It
does not enliven the story, nor make up
for the lack of a better story.
Richard Linklater managed to get
by without plots in his other films,
"Slacker" and "Dazed and Confused."
Instead ofrecognizable story lines, these
flicks are a quick series of vignettes
with many quirky characters and a large
serving of constant humor. That's all
but missing in "Sunrise." Linklater has
lowered the outrageousness to create a
more mature picture. Instead of teenag-
ers partying with an endless supply of
joints, you have a couple whose most
daring moment involves swindling a
bartender for a free bottle of wine.
Linklater should be commended for his
boldness. It's just unfortunate that his
efforts do not entirely succeed.
r..
A T E T H E5X T R E'
N, - * , 6 . x @
Not everybody can be as Bettle Serveert, but they can try.
similar slow evil pops up in the
track "Won't Kill Myself." So dif-
ferent, yet so alike. Hee hee.
Some songs have energy, though.
"First Encounter" zooms along like
a flying saucer in some mod '60s
space cruise strip. And "Plato's
Cave" moves along like some kind
of hip alien be-bopper. But hey,
that's just the kind of guy Helios is,
man. Dig it.
Remember, if you don't buy this
album, the E.T.s will remove your
brain and replace it with a working
one. And they'd be right to.
- Ted Watts
Bettie Serveert
Lamprey
Matador
Bettie Serveert have been touted
as the Great Dutch Hope of indie
rock since their brilliant 1993 debut
"Palomine." Now they reemerge
with "Lamprey," a solid but not as
instantly winning collection of
songs.
And stability is a fine thing where
Bettie Serveert is concerned. Carol
van Dijk's voice is still a lustrous,
remarkably emotive instrument; Pe-
ter Visser's guitar still sprawls and
shrieks at just the right moments; and
Herman Bunskoeke and Berend
Dubbe still provide able rhythm sec-
tion support. The main difference
"Lamprey" provides is in the songs
themselves.
The tunes on "Lamprey" vary
greatly in style and slightly in qual-
ity. There are some songs here that
are as instantly "right" as much of
the material on "Palomine" - the
resplendent single "Ray Ray Rain,"
comes to mind immediately, as well
as "D. Feathers," "Re-Feel-It,"
"Cybor*D," "Tell Me, Sad" and
"Something so Wild" - but others,
such as the album opener "Keep-
sake," "21 Days" and "Silent
Spring" take more time to under-
stand. Indeed, Bettie Serveert's
quality level is so high that all re-
views become pointless; "Lamprey"
is a gorgeous, thoughtful album that
continues what will hopefully a long
tradition of great Bettie Serveert
albums.
- Heather Phares
1:30 4:30 8:00 11:00 1:30 4:30 7:00 9:30 11:45_[
1:30 Sat and Sun only - 11:00 & 11:45 Friday & Saturday Only
1.I
iU
4
February 3-11, 199
PRESENTED BY .fianza, The Latinalo Student Alliance & La Voz Mexicana
I. Chicano History Week
Keynote Speaker: Daniel Osut
Member of the Positive Revolution,
Former Int'l Secretary and
Representative, Partido Nacional de Ia
Raza Uida
Friday, February 3, 1995
4:00 - 6:00 PM
Anderson Rooms A, B & C, MI Union
II. RAZA Comedy Night
Featuring Ruben Ruben, Nick
Paredes & Bill Barr
Tickets $3.00
Friday, February 3,1995
IV. La Palabra Sonada
Radio Program
wi live RAZA poets
Tuesday, February 7,1995
6:00 - 9:00 AM
88.3 FM WCBN
VII. Chicano History Week
Poetry Reading,
Lecture and Discussion
Featuring Carlos Cumpidn
of March/Abrazo Press;
and author of Armadillo Charm
Thursday, February 9, 1995
7:30 -9:30 PM
Kessler Room, MI League
V. Resurgimieneo De La
Tradicion Indigena
w/ Atec Spiritual Leader
Huetochli Cristino Beato Perez
Tuesday, February 7, 1995'
6:00 -9:00PM
William Monroe Trotter House
VIII. Chicano History Week
Cultural Celebration
and Gran Baile Final
Tex-Mex Dance
,,