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Remembering the Holocaust
The life of Anne Frank is honored in a special exhibit of f iy
photographs and images exploring the life of this girl who suffered and
died during the Jewish persecution of World War Two. Thy free show
opens today at Hillel and runs through March 31. Call 76-0500 for
more details. i
777
.
Monday 8
March 18, 1996
Rap masters jam,
thrill Detroit fans
Ohisson: King of Hill
Famed pianist completes Chopin cycle
By Eugene Bowen
Daily Arts Writer
Some one thousand hip-hop revelers
packed St. Andrew's Hall Thursday
night to partake in a feast for rap music
kings. The very thought of seeing the
Fugees, Goodie Mob and Roots share
the stage and rock the mic one after
another was a sellout guarantee. Every-
body expected one helluva show, espe-
cially since it started over a half-hour
late. The show was - with a couple of
glaring exceptions - live.
The Goodie Mob opened things up.
Now, of course nobody could wait to
hear Lauryn of the Fugees sing, but
people quickly learned not to dis-
count the Goodie Mob's ability to
sing and rap with equal lyrical dexter-
ity. Performing the title track of its
debut album, "Soul Food" (LaFace),
REVIEW
' The Fugees
St. Andrew 's Hall
March 14, 1996
Goodie Mob hyped the crowd with
this song's old-school feel. After lis-
tening to a nice little jazz-funk musi-
cal interlude, the standing room-only
audience heard the Goodie Mob ques-
tion of the decade: "Who's that peek-
ing in my window? / Pow / Nobody
now." You kpow the crowd had to
erupt when this, Goodie Mob's final
song, was performed.
After arousing Black Power speech
made by Goodie Mob's sole bald
member, the Roots took stage. Well,
actually one-half of the Roots duo
showed up. Guess the other one has
some sort of fear of packed audi-
ences. Nevertheless this lone star
rocked the house with the widely heard
"I Shall Proceed." He also performed
a very upbeat "Throughout Your Sec-
tion," which will be the first single off
the duo's next album.
Taking the absent Malik's place was
the new female rap sensation
Bahamedia. While her on-stage style
I~lr.Jr lh,
was nothing to gloat about, Bahamedia
could sport some powerful rhyming
geniusness, which she displayed while
autographing pictures on the side.
Eventually, my man returned and
asked the question everyone who has
seen Roots perform live has heard be-
fore: "How many of y'all wanna hear
some classic hip-hop shit?" Wearing a
brown "Made in Detroit" T-shirt, this
non-Detroit native began his oft-done
"Old School 101"lecture. He then went
into a series of old-school remakes. He
sampled everyone from Doug E. Fresh
to L.L. Cool J and rapped everything
from "My Adidas" to "Ain't No Half
Steppin'."
Granted, this homeboy brought back
a load of stuff from back in the day like
an Amtrak train; he was on stage per-
forming this stuff for nearly an hour.
After a while the stuff just got tired, but
he wouldn't get off the stage. He does
this same segment at every concert, and
you'd think he'd realize by now that
you can only go so far rapping other
people's music. Some people never
learn.
Finally, out came the group every-
body was waiting for: The Fugees.
They are riding the fame that has
smothered them ever since their
sophomore LP, "The Score," was re-
leased earlier this year. First came
Wyclef, a.k.a. the Preacher's Son.
After praising the rap star Slick Rick's
release from prison earlier that day
while "Bedtime Story" played in the
background, Wyclef demonstrated his
skill atplayingthe electric guitar with
his teeth by performing a chorus from
"America the Beautiful."
Eventually out came Lauryn who
looked good as hell despite the
weaved-in "doo-doo" braids I'd hoped
she'd cut by now. Member No. 3, the
emaciated-looking, circular braids-
wearing Prakazrel (Pras), waltzed out
looking ... well, not since my last
Cypress Hill concert have I ever seen
a person walk out on stage so obvi-
ously blunted.
Never mind that the Roots took up
more time than was allotted so the
By Emily Lambert
Daily Arts Writer
If one had to parcel out praise for
Saturday's concert, I wonder who
would deserve more. Would it be
Chopin, the composer who didn't live
to see age 40 but nevertheless left us
six tremendous concert's worth of pi-
ano music? Or would it be Garrick
Ohlsson, who played the music to per-
fection?
When it seemed the music couldn't
possibly get any better Saturday night,
it did. The program propelled itself to
a fantastic conclusion, ending
Ohlsson's spectacular two-season un-
dertaking.
Unlike Ohlsson's previous five
Ann Arbor concerts in his series of
Chopin's complete solo piano mu-
sic, the finale was held in Hill Audi-
torium. Although the hall was cer-
tainly less intimate than Rackham,
the live acoustics of Hill augmented
Ohlsson's sound.
And the large audience, aided by a
lengthy speech by University Musical
Society Director Kenneth Fischer,
nearly made the concert more a spec-
tacle than a recital.
Yet from the opening notes of the
"Impromptu No. 2, Op. 36," Ohlsson
transcended the large space. Like al-
ways, he commanded attention. He
waited for silence
before proceeding
to captivate and
fascinate with
some of the most seemed
delicate notes ever
written. enjoying
The 12 beauti-
ful etudes of Op. concert
25 came second.
Most remarkable as anyon
was the complete
ease with which
Ohlsson played
the technically stumping pieces. An
elegant shepherd's call led to the
notes of No. 2, "The Bees," which
raced cleanly by.
Fading from one etude to the next,
Ohlsson coaxed countless colors, nu-
ances and dynamics - ranging from
stormy to imperceptibly soft - from
the piano. He peeled off runs as one
would peel a banana.
In No. 12, dubbed "The Ocean," one
could only suppose that Ohlsson shook
his hands and let the notes flow out his
fingertips.
REVIEW
Gaarrik
Ohbson
Hill Aud~torium
March 16, 1996
The audience cheered ind Ohlsso9
smiled broadly. He seeme;d to be en.
joying the concert as much as, or more
than, anyone else. Yet the performance
didn't end with this triuxtph. It had
only started.
Chopin's "Two Noctur'es, Op.. 62,"
featured Ohlsson as a i faster -of. si-
lences as well as tones.'rhe second of
"Three Mazurkas, Op. 59," which fol-
lowed, led listeners on at exhilarate
musical trail of dramatilc mood ,nd
key shifts.
The "Polonaise-Fantaie, Op. 64,"
Chopin's last piece of this genre, was
forceful and insistent, tlien absorbing
and heartfelt. A trill, which beganIn one
voice and wasjoinedby co hers, made for
a thrilling moment. A grand chord ended
the piece with finality.
And with this, the first half con-
cluded - two hours after the program
began. But as Ohlsson Imas shown ,
the last two seasons, Chopin Was a
composer with a lot to say. And he
wasn't through
satying it. quite
Fugees' Wyclef tongues his way through "America the Beautiful'"
Fugees had to cut their show short.
Never mind that Lauryn actually made
more than one noticeable Terror when
singing "Killing Me Softly." Never
mind that Pras' freestyle attempts and
idiotic booty-shake dances best exem-
plified his condition. The Fugees were
still the bomb.
All because of Wyclef.
Everybody talks about how Lauryn
is the best rapper of the three and how
she should just dump her Haitian com-
panions and tour alone. If you were at
St. Andrew'sThursdaynightyoumight
have changed your mind. If anyone had
the right to do some dumping, it was
Wyclef. His display of music-perform-
ing diversity (he can play the keyboard
as well as the guitar) and rapping supe-
riority made this concert all that it was.
All praise goes to him, making up for
his fellow group members' weaker per-
formances.
Wyclef was the Fugees. You could
see it when the group performed
"Vocab" and the title track from the
debut '94 album, "Blunted on Reality."
And you could see it when the group
rapped "How Many Mics," the eerily-
relaxed-on-a-heavy-dub-sack-tip cut
from "The Score."
The inclusion of a no-name twerp
who kicked some reggae funk like I'd
never heard earned the Fugees big props,
too.
All three acts got the crowd jumpin',
but there was still a thin, unshakable
web of lackluster artistry on the part of
the Fugees. Everyone came, above all
else, to see them show off the skills that
can be found in heavy doses on "The
Score." Yet, excepting Wyclef, a lot of
that Fugees funk just wasn't there. Over-
all, things were straight, but I expected
something more from the RefugeeCamp
crew.
m
Pon
ofthe
as much
le else."
Chopin's third
last.
yet. :
The beautiful
"Ballade No. 3,
lp. 47," with its
ieceptive sim-
pilicity, began tN
second hal.
Three moreama-
zurkas, these of
Op. 59, followed.
And Ohlsson
saved the best,
"Sonata, Op. 58," for
Low-register runs welled up from the
piano and propelled the movement to
the fast-paced, butneoerharrie, Scherzm.
The Largo, its peaceiful rocking mist*
over the audience, was Chopin at his
utmost. The final movement built in
excitement until its masterful end.,
It couldn't get aay better, or so it
seemed. But the second encore, the
"Polonaise, Op. 53" recycled, from
Ohlsson's third concert, brought the
audience to its feet -- again.
Iggy Pop album rocks hard and honestly.
From the greasy album-opening
Naughty Little Doggie guitar riff of "I Wanna Live" through
Virgin the off-key, drunk-sounding vocals
of "Look Away," "Naughty Little
Doggie" captures all the sides of one
Iggy Pop asks some pressing ques- of Ann Arbor's most dignified prod-
tions on his latest raunchy record, ucts.
"Naughty Little Doggie." With its raw Forthe first time in years, Pop seems
production and Iggy's raw power, the to be actually enjoying making music
I, $
in what sounds like his most sponta-
neous effort to date. The songs are all
raw, some to the extent of sounding
like Iggy never bothered to write down
lyrics, and made them up as he went
along.
The outrageously funny track, "Pussy
Walk," in which Pop asks what tricks
women can turn with their genitalia, at
least makes the album worth a listen for
a good laugh.
Don't worry - "Naughty Little
Doggie" does tackle more. Even with
his aging career, Pop's messages are as
potent as ever. On "I Wanna Live," he
sings, "I'm better than a Pepsi / Cooler
than MTV / I'm hotter than California/
I'm cheaper than a gram / I'm deeper
than the shit I'm in / An' I don't really
give a damn."
On other tracks like"Innocent World"
and "Knucklehead," Pop continues to
sing about his dissatisfaction with soci-
ety overguitarist Eric Mesmerize's hard
rock melodies, Hal William's throb-
bing bass and Larry Contrary's pound-
ing punk beats.
Despite his legitimate complaints,
it's hard to take Pop seriously. Just
when you think he's moved off the
topic of sex, he hits you with a line
like "Her hair was not the shiniest/
Her skin was not like silk / But she
had a way of looking / That made me
wanna milk" (on "Shoeshine Girl").
Nevertheless, "Naughty Little
Doggie" is as pure Pop as you get; so
for "milk," or just a good laugh, you
can always count on Iggy for a barrel
of fun.
- Brian A. Gnatt
Pulp
Different Class
Island
"Revenge isgonnabe so sweet," sings
Jarvis CockerofBritpop sensation Pulp.
He should know: He shocked everyone
at the Brit Awards (the UK's Grammys)
when he jumped on stage and tried to
moon the crowd during Michael
See RECORDS, Page 10A
*****..Classic
qtr*** Excellent
***..Good
** ... Fair
*..Poor
Zero ...A Bomb
Noticing he's so skinny, iggy tries to eat his hand!
Piano virtuoso Garrick Ohisson culminated his series of Chopin works Saturday.
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