S - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 11, 1995
Hill's one-woman show is a one-of-a-kind event
Actress takes the audience through an autobiographical journey
By Gail Mongkolpradit
Daily Staff Reporter
Last night, actress Amy Hill from
"All American Girl" performed "To-
kyo Bound" at Rackham Auditorium.
"Tokyo Bound" is Amy Hill's auto-
biographical cultural odyssey.
She reenacts her internal feelings
of her experiences while living in
Japan, her mother's homeland.
Divided between cultures, Amy
found it difficult to maintain a stable
identity. Her problem was solved at
the end where she realized who her
true identity was - herself.
The performance started off with
slides of Japan and Amy's earlier
years. In the background, you could
hear Amy's clear voice presenting
Tokyo Bound
Rackham
Auditorium
April 9, 1995
the story of her life in a sequential
order.
After a few minutes, 41 year-old
Amy Hill appeared on the stage. The
odd thing was that instead of being
the 80 year-old Grandma that she
plays in "All American Girl", she
played herself as an 18 year-old.
Even though, this was supposed
to be a one woman show, I saw
several characters. Hill's wonder-
ful talent allowed her to reenact sev-
eral people that she had encoun-
tered in her life.
From "Coa-Coa", the 13 year-old
Japanese star, to her husband's
mother.
Even though Amy was the only
one on the stage for the whole perfor-
mance, she drew the audience in so
well with so much emotion and en-
thusiasm that it seemed as though the
other characters were on stage too.
From her most hilarious to most seri-
ous experiences.
The audience witnesses what she
saw and also hears her internal feel-
ings. From her first encounters in a
Japanese bathhouse to her first expe-
riences with a man and to her final
realizations about her mother, Amy
does a spectacular job.
Hill touched all emotions by mak-
ing us laugh when she first saw the
toilets in Japan and by making us sad
when she was questioned about why-
her mother married her father. Most
important of all was her self-discov-
ery.
SvS
~my Hill gave an Impressive performance this past Sunday night.
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Various Artists
Golden Throats: Sweethearts
of Rodeo Drive
Legends of Accordion
Rhino Records
In theory, "Golden Throats" is a
great idea. Gather together a bunch of
records sung by clueless actors and,
celebrities and the results should be.
absolutely hilarious. In practice, it
doesn't always work out that way. ,
By and large, the first two
"Golden Throats" were hilarious.
Featuring such priceless gems as
William Shatner's "Lucy in the Sky.
With Diamonds" and "Mr. Tam- ,,
bourine Man," Leonard Nimoy's "If
I Had A Hammer," Sebastian
Cabot's "All I Really Want to Do,"
Mae West's "Light My Fire" and.
Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Theme From
Shaft," both discs were perfect ex-
amples of the extreme hubris of ce-
lebrity. And they were thoroughly.
funny. The records managed to beT:
the best kind of kitsch - they were
perfect relics of their time, uninten-
tionally funny and unwittingly spoke
volumes about our culture. "Golden
Throats 3: Sweethearts of Rodeo"
narrows the focus to celebrities sing-
ing country songs, but that isn't the
reason why it doesn't work as well
as the previous albums - it isn't as
funny as the others.
Most of the songs of "Sweet-
hearts" aren't embarrassingly bad,
they're simply mediocre. Goldie
Hawn's slightly off-key ramble
through "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight"
and "Jack Palance's clipped "The
Green, Green Grass of Home" com-
mit the most unforgivable sin of a
comedy album: They're boring.
Sure, there is some jaw-dropping
wretchedness here the always-
reliable Leonard Nimoy can barely
find the melody in "I Walk the Line"
and the duet between honky-tonk
hero Webb Pierce and Broadway
diva Carol Channing is stunningly
awkward - but most of it is dull,
which is something a good novelty
record can never be.
For a genuine camp fix, the bi-
zarrely wonderful "Legends of Ac-
cordion" fits the bill. While there
are a couple of rocking zydeco sides
(including "Squeeze Box Boogie"
from Clifton Chenier) and some-
polkas (Lawrence Welk's "Dakota
Polka" and Frank Yankovic's
"Trollie Polka"), as well as a track
from "Weird Al" Yankovic ("Lasa-
gna"), most of the disc features such
thrilling oddities as "Ode to Cleav-
age or the Camel," "The Crazy Ac-
cordion" and Those Darn Accordi-
ons! raging through the "Perry
Mason Theme." When the novelties
are placed next to the polkas, the
zydeco and "Lady of Spain," the
results are positively intoxicating.
N Tom Erlewine
Kenny Neal
Hoodoo Moon
Alligator Records
It's hard to believe that Kenny
Neal is one of those artists who fall
into the "contemporary blues" cat-
egory. Yes, he's got a full band and
high quality production - this is
not John Lee Hooker and his guitar.
Yes, he's a fairly young guy - not
one of the aging kings, like B. B.
King.
Yet he's got one of the most
important factors in making of a.
powerful blues tune: A down-home
wisdom in the vocals. Neal doesn't
sound as though he's been around
for 10,000 years, as say Muddy.
Waters might, but it seems as though
he's been around for at least 100.
His rendition of "I'm a Blues Man"
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