abe Sitditwu D130g Catch the 'Night Train' The continuing Polish film series w illh be presenting director Jerzy Kawalerowicz's classic 1959 film, "Night Train,. tonight at the Natural Science auditorium. The movie, about a group of pilgrims on a train to a seaside resort, is the latest installment in the series celebrating post- war Polish cinema. Tonight's screening is at 7:30. The festival runs through March 29. Tuesday March 19, 1996 5 4ew talent keeps Alvin Ailey Dance Theater's dreams alive World-famous troupe arrives for a week at Power Center By Orit Greenberg For the Daily "The dance is for everybody," Alvin Ailey once said. "The dance came from the people. It should always be given back to the people." Today, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will begin its four-day residency in Ann Arbor. In conjunction th the company's performances at the Power Center, the Iiversity Musical Society is hosting several activities throughout the week focusing on African American music and dance. Founded in 1958 by the late Alvin Ailey, the company has grown to become one of the most acclaimed international ambassadors of American culture. Based in New York City, the company has THE ALVIN AILEY N.* toured to 67 coun- A E CAtries and has per- formed for an esti- ANCE THEATER mated 18 million Where: Power Center people. Now in its When: Tonight at 7 o'clock. 36thseason, the31- Wednesday, Thursday and member company Friday at 8 p.m. is in the middle ofa Alt tickets are sold out. lengthytour, which ends in May. Judith Jamison, whojoined the troupe in 1965, has been its artistic director since 1989 - the year Alvin Ailey died. Guillermo Asca, a company member who received his training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, com- mented in a recent telephone interview, "When Alvin Ailey Suld walk into the room it would just be magic, and (Judith amison) creates that same magic." On the bill for Wednesday and Friday night's perfor- mance is Jamison's new ballet, "Riverside." '"Riverside' talks about what people do around the river, the rituals, the courtships and the friendships. It is a mixture of modern dance, with the lines and agility of classical ballet, mixed in with the earthiness and strength of African dance, and also popular dance," Asca said. Although the seven sections are "different from one another they are all tied in with the music." The score is composed by Kimati Dinizulu, who used traditional African, Southern and Caribbean instru- ments. "Fandango" is featured on the same nights and is choreo- graphed by Lar Lubovitch, who also choreographed the Broadway musical "The Red Shoes." As Asca described, "'Fandango' is a duet; the music is 'Bolero' and the move- ment is pure seduction!" Of course, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater could not leave town without performing its signature piece "Rev- elations." Inspired by his "blood memories" of Texas, the blues, spirituals and gospel, Alvin Ailey choreographed the piece in 1960. Set to traditional Negro spirituals, "Revela- tions" is a concerto for the hips. The dance is full of pulsating rhythms, fluid torsos, active hips and traditional African dance movement. "It is phenomenal the way it is received everywhere . they are just as wild about it in New York as they are in Munich and Spoleto ... even though they may not understand the words," Asca said. He credits the ballet's popularity to the way the piece "is not congested with so much move- ment," but portrays complex emotion using a simple lan- guage. "It seemed so complex the first time I saw it, yet dancing it is so simple ... every time you do it there is a new meaning." Melancholy Bl ossoms Members of the Alvin Alley American Dance Theater perform. The celebrated company will be in Ann Arbor, playing four sold- out shows at the Power Center through Friday evening. Canadian rockers beat the odds ake it on thle road By Brian A. Gnatt Daily Music Editor Nine years and 2.5-million records #er they began playing smoky, beer- shed clubs in their hometown of Tempe, Ariz., the Gin Blossoms have done what very few bands ever do - they made it. With their quickly expanding plati- num song book including their smash hits "Hey Jealousy," "Found Out About You," "Until I Fall Away," "Allison Road,""Till I Hear It From You," and the latest edition, "Follow You Down," S Gin Blossoms' journey to the top s been nothing short of the wildest roller coaster ride on Earth. "I don't think it's probably as excit- ing as it used to be, like the first couple times you see the country. It's a little different," said Gin Blossoms' bassist Bill Leen. "We're veterans at this now." Veterans of the road and of the re- cording studio, the Gin Blossoms' sec- ond full-length album, "Congratulations I'm Sorry," hit shelves last month. With gther potent batch of the Blossoms' lovable pop tunes, the album proved the band is much more than your typical '90s one-hit-wonder. On the road again, Gin Blossom Leen had a chance to chat last week about the band, the new album and how the tour has been going. "It's different now," he said in a telephone interview. "Now we're popular. There's a certain excite- nt of being the underdog, the un- Uwn, the opener on a bill when no- body knows who you are, and there's the possibility of maybe topping the headliner. I'm probably not as excited about it as I was. I'll tell you it was a. great feeling though to get this new record out." Made up of Leen, Robin Wilson (vo- cals), Jesse Valenzuela (guitar), Scott Johnson (guitar) and Philip Rhodes (drums), the Gin Blossoms' sweet songs ost love and other depressing topics lrake their music and lyrics accessible and nothing short of loved by fans of all ages and musical tastes. Despite all the sad songs, are the Gin Blossoms really such a sad bunch of people? "I guess," Leen responded. "I guess if you were hanging around us you would probably just break down after a while. As far as subject matter jes for the song lyrics, that's where 9 find inspiration. I think it would be really hard for me personally to sit down here and try to write something about how everything is so wonderful. Maybe it's because we like to just keep our asses covered; maybe a little super- stitious or something." . rnn, the trademared iangivguitar The Gin Blossoms perform tonight at the Michigan Theater. $IN BLOSSOMS WITH 'tE ODDS & 3 DAY WHEELY Where: Michigan Theater When: Tonight at 7:30. The show is currently sold out, but more tickets are scheduled to be released for $18.50 each. "Congratulations I'm Sorry" was diffi- cult to make, but well worth the effort. "This time it was real open to any sort of suggestions or contributions from everybody in the group, and it was never like that before," he said. "The first one was basically our greatest hits from a few years of being a bar band back home. All these songs were cre- ated specifically for a record that was due out on a certain date, so it was a lot different." Leen said the rather peculiar title of the record has to do with the circum- stances that surrounded the band after they hit big with their double-platinum debut, "New Miserable Experience." The Gin Blossoms' original guitar- ist, Doug Hopkins, who wrote the group's first two hits, "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You," was fired from the band at the end of recording the first album because of an alcohol addiction. When the record began sweeping the charts in late-1993, the alcoholism and depression overcame Hopkins, and he committed suicide in December of that year. "Our first record was successful, and a lot of people - friends, fans of the group - congratulated us on it. And everything that went down with Doug ... people would come up and say: 'Congratulations,' and then right after- wards, almost as a disclaimer, say:'I'm Sorry.' It was literally how people would greet us. I guess now it's back to 'Con- gratulations,' which is nice," Leen said. "What happened with Doug is much more serious than any sort of success you could have," he continued. "Per- sonally, I took it really hard, and it definitely wasn't a party. He was fired pretty much the last day we were in Memphis, right after we had completed the album. He really just couldn't go on with it.... It was just a terrible situation. ... We try to just distance ourselves from that. We have a lot to prove. There's a lot of people who seriously doubted we could pull anything off without him. But the Gin Blossoms proved they could continue without Hopkins when they returned to Memphis in August 1995 to record "Congratulations I'm Sorry" with producer John Hampton, who also produced "New Miserable Experience." "The success that we have achieved is fine with me. It's very livable," Leen said. "We don't have any de- sires to become twice as popular or anything. It would be nice to break into Europe a little more, but as far as the States go, I think we're all just content being a platinum or double platinum act. You don't have to sell 10 of them. I don't know what the pressure would be like after doing something like that." By Brian A. Gnatt Daily Music Editor Before the Gin Blossoms take the stage tonight at the Michigan Theater, be sure to check out show openers, the Odds. One of Canada's hottest bands, this pop/rock sensation combines their beautiful melodies with enough hooks to catch a dead fish. Nominated for four Juno Awards (the Canadian Grammys), the band's third LP, "Good Weird Feeling," throws 13 great addictive tracks together for a fun and quite impressive record. The first single, "Truth Untold," kicks off the album with delectable harmonies and fuzzy guitar riffs that may very well help the band explode Stateside. Others like the Matthew Sweet- sounding "I Would Be Your Man" and the rocking "Eat My Brain" showcase the band's technical and songwriting talents. The songs even top the band's big U.S. hit "Heterosexual Man." The Odds have been opening for the Gin Blossoms on their recent college tour. This group is a perfect comple- ment to the headliner's irresistible pop melodies. Odds' vocalist/guitarist Craig Northey said the bands' pairing was no coincidence. "We met before either of us had record deals," Northey said in a telephone interview with The Michi- gan Daily. "We met in Los Angeles through a friend and did some shows together back then, and maintained our friendship." Whilethey'rejustgettingoffthe ground in the United States, the Vancouver-based band has been very busy in their native homeland. Since forming in 1987, the band has been nominated for 14 Juno Awards in all, and they've had three very successful albums, including 1991's "Neopolitan" and 1993's "Bedbugs." "Good Weird Feeling" was released in the United States only a few weeks ago. but it was released a year ago in Canada and has since gone platinum. Northey said he recently completed the underscore for the forthcoming "Kids In the Hall" film due out in April. The full band also contributed two tracks to the movie's soundtrack. For now, the band is hoping the open- ing slot on the Gin Blossoms' tour will help it get a little attention south of the Canadian border. Northey said being popular in Canada "used to be .a stigma. I think that's changed a lot. There's a lot of genre- breaking artists like k.d. lang and Cow- boy Junkies, and around the late '80s and early '90s era, things broke the Canadian stereotype." While Canadian-born alterna-queen Alanis Morissette was able to break big across national borders, there are few acts who have been able to transcend the bor- ders of the Great White North. "She's huge," Northey said. "Anything that's huge here is huge everywhere else, pretty much. Mickey Mouse is universally known. But I don't think Mickey would go down on you in a theater." The Odds emerge from the Great White North to join the Gin Blossoms on tour. U U Syin NO ATTENTION STUDENTS!! CALVIN KLEIN SALES EVENT! comes to ..-UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 3 DAYS ONLY!! _ in-visa-amex-disc-atm cards-cash -7?