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April 04, 1997 - Image 8

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1997-04-04

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- The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 4, 1997

Getaway to cruise in A2
Group to bring eclectic sounds to Tower Records

By Victoria Sallpande
For the Daily
Opening for a band at shows is a lot like playing the lottery
- you never know what to expect. When Ann Arbor's
Getaway Cruiser opened for Tuscadero, a band that had just
recently signed to a major label, at The Shelter last August,
tIh and didn't know it would be signing to a major label,
Cony 550, only months later.
That Tuscadero show was the first
time someone from a label came out to
see us, and it ended up working out pret- P1
ty smoothly because that's the label we're
with;' said Getaway Cruiser guitarist Get
Drew Peters in a recent interview.
Peters, along with his brother/guitarist
Chris, drummer Dan Carroll and bassist
Mark Dundon, formed Getaway Cruiser
in February of last year with a singer who left a few months
later. It wasn't until then that Dina Harrison, who was still
with the local funk band The Bucket at the time, joined the
band on vocals.
"We did our first show with Dina after knowing her for
about three days with three practices," Peters said.
"rtom ajazz and funk background himself, Harrison seems
6ft in well with the eclectic sound of Getaway Cruiser. As
'with bands like the Afghan Whigs and Luscious Jackson, the
band's sound relies heavily on the combination of different
genres like hip hop, blues, jazz and rock.
"It's always been hard for me to categorize music.

UJ
fa

Especially when I first joined this band and everyone asked
me what kind of a band it was. I didn't know what to say. I
hate trying to fit types of music into little slots," Harrison
said.
Those different musical influences fuel its "Phones Calling"
EP released on Skillet Records, a label run by Chris Peters and
Carroll. On "Phones Calling," the ability to experiment with
drum loops, sampled hip-hop beats and different instruments
like the harmonica and accordion in songs
like "Bad Time," "Everyone's Wrong"
E V I E W and "Birthday" set Getaway Cruiser apart
from your average rock band.
way Cruiser "My brother and I listen to a lot of
Saturday at 1 p.m. music and, you know, there's a lot of
Tower Records things that can be done in a song. There's
Free a lot of instruments that we hear that
we've still haven't yet to buy;" Peters said.
As a relatively young band, Getaway Cruiser had an under-
standable concern about signing to a major label too soon.
"I think (getting signed) happened pretty quick. I was
expecting to have a long road to hoe. It happened a lot sooner
than we expected. Just having A&R people come out to our
first five or six shows was pretty surprising and then when they
started making offers, we were even more surprised," Peters
said.
If signing with Sony 550 seemed to happen quickly, the
band has learned from others' experiences, bad and good,
with labels.
"We really trust our A&R man. I mean obviously you have

(From left to right) Mark Dundon, Drew Peters, Dina Harrison, Chris Peters and Dan Carroll are Getaway Cruiser.

no guarantees whatsoever- except for what's actually in print.
They try to put in as little guarantees as possible," said Peters.
"We don't have to explain ourselves very much to (our
A&R man). I think he really gets us. He gets us the most out
of everyone outside of this band," he added.
While the new album won't be released until early next
year, the band has already made plans to start recording songs
with the Butcher Brothers (Urge Overkill, Cypress Hill) pro-
ducing for at least two months.
"I want to make sure that this is a record that I can listen to
and have very, very few if not no complaints about,"said Peters.

With their positive outlook on the future of their music, the
members of Getaway Cruiser are also hopeful about the state
of music in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area.
"It's not a terribly huge town, but if you look at what's
going on in terms of the size of the town, I think it's pretty
impressive. Nothing's really gone to the next level, but a lot
of things are looking like they will. There's a lot of bands
around here in Ann Arbor and Ypsi that are doing some pret-
ty significant things, but nothing that's all over MTV It seen
like that's what it takes for anyone to appreciate it unfortu-
nately, but that's the way it goes."

Can ten years of interracial LOVE
survive centuries of interracial HATE?
WEDDING BAND

'Wedding Band' to
march into Trueblood

By Alice Childress
Directed by Michele Shay
TRUE B LOOD
j THEATRE
April 3 - 5, 104-12
at 8 PM
April 6, 13 at 2 PM
Tickets are $14
Charge by phone:
313-764-0450
Student seating is $7 with ID at
the League Ticket Office
Dept. of Theatre and Drama
UM School of Music

By Evelyn Miska
For the Daily
After having made its debut in Ann
Arbor in 1966, Alice Childess' play
"Wedding Band" returns from a 31-
year hiatus. This new production is
proud to have Broadway actress and
Tony Award nominee Michele Shay as
its director.
Childess is the first black woman
to have had her work produced pro-
fessionally off-Broadway. This then
led to more opportunities for other
black playwrights to have their work
produced professionally. Although
she has written numerous plays,
Childess is perhaps best known for
her book "A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a

its.n-

Comedian
Chri
Tickets: $1
at Hillel 1429 Hill Street, (31

Sunday, April G, 1997
ti. Hill Auditorium,
University of
Michigan
8:00 pm
on-students
3.TKTS to charge by phone.

Sandwich," which was controversial
enough to have been banned by a
Long Island school district in the
mid-'70s.
Set in 1918, "Wedding Band" deals
with the issues surrounding a law that
banned interracial marriages.
Revolving around the relationship
between a white man and a black
woman, the questions of secrecy and
racism must be addressed. The play is
subtitled "A Love/Hate Story in Black
and White," which reflects the issues
the characters must deal with
throughout the story.
Shay was originally invited to the
University to direct a play called
"Home," which required a cast of
only three, and Shay decided she
wanted to work with a greater num-
ber of students. It was then decided
that she would direct "Wedding
Band," so Shay cleared her calendar
and moved temporarily to Ann
Arbor.
Although ShayR
has done some
directing and pro- a
ducing prior to A
"Wedding Band,"
this is the first
large-scale show
Shay has done.
"I've never quite done anything this
big. This is my first full-fledged play
with big budgets and more designers;
most of the time we've had to make do
with what we had, and we were mostly
rich in talent," said Shay.
Shay was particularly interested in
the stories of the different women in the
play and how they are affected by the
absence of men due to the war.
The relationship between the black
and the white women and their similar-
ities and differences were also of great

Alice Childress' "Wedding Band" will grace the Trueblood Theatre this weekend.

e
pr

interest to Shay. Not only does the play
deal with the issue of racism, but it also
looks at the lines between genders.
"I'm extremely concerned about
racism in the country - not only
racism, but anything that separates us as
people," said Shay.
Shay said she also feels "Wedding
Band" is a great
opportunity to look
E V I E W at the line between
dding Band love and hate, and
il 3-6, 10-13 at 8 p.m. one must ask
Trueblood Theatre whether love is
$ strong enough to
overrule hate.
"Love is the greatest and most impor-
tant thing in the world," Shay said.
While the play may address serious
issues, Shay hopes the audience will
learn from what is being presented.
"I'm hoping that what comes out of this
evening is love and the desire to grow;'
she said.
Not only may these issues be difficult
for the audience to deal with, they also
were difficult for the cast. Shay feels
this may have been the greatest chal-
lenge for the actors - to learn to deal
with the hatred expressed in the play,

and open their hearts. Shay said that the
cast was up to the challenge though,
and she thinks the incredible talent of
the cast is one of the production-grcat-
est assets.
The castseems to be just as enthu*
astic about Shay as a director, as Shayis
about her cast. Ian Crick, who plays the
character of Nelson, is especially excit-
ed about working with Shay. "It's -the
best experience I've had working on a
show," Crick said.
While this play does deal with seri-
ous issues, there is a great romance
going on at the same time.
"It's a good romantic story, and it Ihs
great colorful characters who have g
senses of humor" Shay said.
As a director, she understands that
the audience wants to be entertained,
yet at the same time, it is important to
look at and deal with such sensitive
issues.
"We're shopping for entertainment
on one level, but the other level is
enlightenment;" said Shay.
Shay's main goal with "Wedding
Band" is to touch the audience.
"I just hope people come with opE
hearts and open minds" said Shay.

ACID JAil EVERY Ei
Bird of Paradise

"Add it Up" "Blister in the Sun" "Gone Daddy Gone"
VIOLENT
FEMMES
with Phil Cody
AARIL 1 7
.A U of M Office of Major Events Production

Gospel-Smoked Blues
The Holmes Brothers
Thursday April 3 Blind Pig
; IM.. 1 r1 .i'Fr TFrrm-i Z "-

W.

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