3A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, January 22, 1996 Melissa Etheridge Your Little Secret Island Records "I want to give you a thrill / the kind you can't buy," croons two-time Grammy winner Melissa Etheridge on her long-awaited and current release, "Your Little Secret." But after 1993's hit album "Yes I Am," Etheridge is- anything but a se- cret. Her throaty delivery, impassioned lyrics and rock-out, 12-string guitar playing finally gave Etheridge the tre- mendous popular and critical acclaim she sought. So the pressure was on for Melissa to deliver another knockout recording. Etheridge continues to do what comes naturally: Writing as well as perform- ing rock numbers and ballads about desire, like "I Want to Come Over" and the title track. Together with Hugh Padgham, Etheridge also co-produced her 10-song follow-up. Now that she has known success, Melissa needs to learn restraint. She overdoes it on all the tracks of "Your Little Secret," belting out lyrics left and right for rather lengthy songs. True, Etheridge has a wide range, but her screams take away from tracks like "I Really Like You" and "An Unusual Kiss." Backed by her talented band, gui- tarist John Shanks, bassist Mark Browne, regular drummer Dave Beyer and guest beat keeper Kenny Aronoff, Etheridge's songs still pack a musical punch. Her own acoustic, electric and 12- string strumming drive her works for- ward. Moderation is needed, though, in terms of mix, where an excess of treble drowns out the bass. Somewhat engaging, but largely dis- appointing, Melissa's latest effort falls short, undone by its own excesses. The only thrill to come from "Your Little Secret" is the knowledge that Etheridge can do better. - Ella de Leon Larry Goldings Whatever It Takes Warner Bros. Is there another instrument out there as cool as the Hammond Organ? Is there another axe that is so versatile, capable of producing sounds for soulful lines, aggressive solos, mellow ballads or gospel songs? Show this critic some- one who thinks there's a comparable instrument out there and this critic will show you someone who's never heard Larry Goldings play. After spending the last few years as a sideman for jazz / funk veterans Maceo Parker and John Scofield, Goldings has released his Warner Brothers' debut, and "Whatever it Takes" is a monster, deserving of being up there with the best jazz or instrumental albums of the year. Goldings couldn'tdo all ofthis alone, so he brought along rising jazz star Bill Stewart on drums and Peter Bernstein on guitar, as well as a guest list includ- ing Parker, David Sanborn, Joshua Redman and Fred Wesley. Goldings orchestrated the group so that each player got enough room to let their personal styles come through in everything they play; from slow blues numbers to more upbeat funk to straight ahead swing. And the songs are ar- ranged as such so you'll hear a swing solo by Bernstein on one track, imme- diately followed by a straight-up funk improv by Maceo on the very next track. Now that he's got his own album, Goldings has room to solo, something that Parker and Scofield never gave him enough room to do. He doesn't disappoint in any genre that he solos in, especially in the standard "Willow Weep for Me," where he rips through all sorts of blues gestures while holding down a bass line with his left hand on the lower register of the organ. Goldings also demonstrates some solid piano and clavinet playing throughout, always choosing the right instrument for the right moment. Bernstein and Stewart prove to be more than just able supporting players - Bernstein sounds as comfortable solo- ing and comping in swing as he does in funk, always creative and solid. Drum- mer Stewart is becoming one of those musicians whose playing is instantly recognizable; his touch and style stand out quite a bit from other drummers on the scene. Not every song is great on "Whatever it Takes," and some of the funk num- bers sound a little stuffy, mostly due to the over-produced sound that affects too many jazz recordings these days. But you'd be hard-pressed to find ajazz album released this year that is more accessible and generally solid than "Whatever it Takes." If this is just the beginning for Larry Goldings, music listeners everywhere have a great deal to look forward to. - David Cook y Sh When they're not drinking their Juice in the hood, the Wayans brothers strut. A n e By Michael Zilberman Daily Arts Writer At the present moment, no other film genre is as ripe for spoofing as the current crop ofgrowing-up-in-the-hood movies. After all, it possesses all the makings of great parody material - clearly defined cliches and conventions, with virtual lack of humor and inherent preachiness. This genre is, for obvious reasons, just about the only one that spoofmeisters such as Zucker, Abrahams and Brooks wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. Don't be a Menace to Melissa's little secret: no nose! ScholarsIS Consider becoming an Air Force CRNA through the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program. For more information, contact an Air Force health professions recruiter near you. Or call 1H800P423-USAFs AI1M HaH Health Professions ST. LOUIS Continued from Page 5A Hohenfeld. The text was drawn from a collection of poems by Nobel Prize winner Pir Lagerkvist. Though the movement had its loud moments, a sense of calm prevailed. Hohenfeld's voice was fluid and clear, hovering above the orchestra like the cloud described in the text. Though the orchestra never really murmured beneath the singer, it created an ap- propriate duality to the voice. The piece faded away like a dream as Hohenfeld walked through the orches- tra and off stage - singing all the way. The stage lights dimmed as the music, and the picture it had created, evaporated. Sir Edward Elgar's "Symphony No. 1" followed intermission. Written near the turn of the century, the piece tested the SLSO's dynamic and expressive abilities. If the SLSO's grandiose style put in doubt an ability to play with subtlety and sensitivity, these doubts were mostly quelled in "Symphony." The SLSO created tides of color con- trast and cleared many hurdles of into- nation in sections of delicate instru- mentation. The clarinet's single final note of the second movement was el- egant. The piece had its share of glorious moments, though, and the orchestra was more than happy to oblige. The orchestra's forte is playing forte. The St. Louis Symphony's perfor- mance was the first in 1996's wave of Hill concerts by touring orchestras. Several works each of Mahler, Strauss and Beethoven are on the horizon. Fa- miliar isn't bad. But unfamiliar is brave and, in this case, was well worth hear- ing. South Central ... Directed by Paris Barclay with Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans At Showcase I- - - - - --__ ~ ~ -- - -_______- But someone had to do it. Enter the Wayans brothers, fresh from their disastrous stab at episodic TV, with "Don't Be A Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood." Theirtarget is the entire Black New Wave, no less, and they make no bones about it: The movie starts out with a PSA-like message ("One out of 10 young black males ...") that promptly dissolves into a maddeningly pointless gag, and proceeds accordingly. "Don't Be A Menace" nominally fol- lows the misadventures of two friends (the relatively reserved Ashtray and the high-strung Loc Dog), but does that kind of lazily, with numerous asides that even- tually overshadow the narration. The jokes in the movie fall into sev- eral categories - and since there's no actual plot development to consih we're stuck discussingindividualjokes. There's a great deal of inside-biz sneer- ing( a postal truck emblazoned with the "Janet Wuz Here" graffiti, in a nod to "Poetic Justice"). Some of the gags are pretty elliptical (a prominently dis- played movie poster that. advertises "RoboPimp 3"); some are truly inexpli- cable - for example, Ashtray is older than his father. Uh-huh. For the most part, the film crum* into a heap of party-time humor in "Friday"'s vein: Grandmother jokes, masturbationjokes, fatjokes, potjokes, body-part jokes, proudly offensive handicap jokes (at one point, the movie halts for a dance routine that imagines MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" bit as performed by a guy paralyzed from the waist down). And, of course, there's that good old Def Comedy Jam staple, white-guy jokes. However, "Don't Be A Menace' s probably the first movie whose authors are willing to poke fun at the black film- makers' vision of their community even more than at the usual pigeonholing of blackcharactersin Hollywood.Ofcourse, the Wayans brothers don't exactly bury the oeuvre of Spike Lee, John Singleton or those other cinema siblings, Allen and Albert Hughes (although they do include a hysterical spoof of the heist seque4 from the very recent "Dead Presidents"). For all its presumed offensiveness, "Don't Be A Menace" is nearly impos- sible to get offended by: It's hard to feel bad about being dissed by a movie that dismisses everything from Korean im- migrants to gangsta rap to water cool- ers. The Wayans brothers are too in- toxicated by their own irreverence, too consumed by their no-budget-no-re- sponsibility attitude, to be - or el look like - a real menace to anyone. MICHIGAN RECORDS -phone: 663.5800t- 1140 south university (above goodtime chadeys), AA real music. - mon.-thurs.: 9:00a-10:00p sundays I fri. & sat.: 9:00a-11:00p 11:00-8:OOP L NEW Og1 ONILIT AVAILP = tM 111-VO1 AM (off iIALi) I)E~sAy ruMoP. LA1V Cyber Psych * JSTOR * Economic Bulletin Board * AskERIC *HTI. Mapinfo tGRADUATE LIBRARY T INTERNET CLASSES "*INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD WIDE WEB" - SEARCH STRATEGIES FOR INFORMATION ON THE WEB." * SUBJECT BASED RESOURCES IN YOUR FIELD OF STUDY 4 Subject Date Time Loc OR Date Time Loc. 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TO AL" IWN W 1r ~f MpJlMqW Sk-~bbi'g ts Iracy1.eAwr1w3c 49.)00 OfT I I *vreAr%&. a AA is.. o {il.[ vUi l I