Il £dJ9mnUt
P~iEP.t ieOpen'
Don't miss author Kevin Canty reading from his new novel, "Into the
Great Wide Open." The talented scribe of the short-story collection,
"A Stranger in this World," Canty brings his insightful voice to cam-
pus as he shares his latest literary triumph with you. The action
begins at 8 p.m. at Shaman Drum Bookshop, 313 S. State St.
Wednesday
October 29, 1997
5
Jazz concert celebrates
Monk's music, memory
ii
KEVIN KRUP{TZER/Daily
Proprietors Mark Zadvinskis and Brian Mellberg reflect upon their atmospheric, state-of-the-art dance club, The Liquid Lounge.
L uid Lounge makes splash
jump into dyA club scene
By Alan Spearot
Fc The Daily
The music of Thelonious Monk
could be considered a religion; a reli-
gion so groundbreaking that it takes'
time for it to mature into what we
accept it as now. In the name of the
father, his son, and the music that is
now our memory of the father, T.S.
Monk Jr. is focused in making the most
of what he has, what his father has
given to him.
In celebration of
the 80th anniversary f .P
of the late jazz
pianist and compos-
er Thelonious Monk
Sr., his son, T.S.
Monk Jr., is drum-
ming his way
through the United States paying
homage to his father's music. Based on
the CD "Monk on Monk," a tenet of
musicians will be hitting the Michigan
Theater Wednesday. Featuring the
infectious jazz compositions of
Thelonious Monk Sr., Monk and his
tenet will also bring new light to a few
of his lesser-known compositions.
In 1970, at age 20, T.S. began to play
steadily in his father's Trio, and contin-
ued to do so until his father quit per-
forming in 1975. He then got into the
R&B scene, continuing in that genre
until the deaths of his father ('82), girl-
friend ('83), and sister ('84), when he
then quit the music business all togeth-
er. At this time, his father's legacy was
most important to him.
The Thelonious Monk Institute was
founded in 1986, and its mission is to
offer the world's most promising young
musicians college-level training by
America's jazz masters and to present
public school-based jazz education pro-
grams for young people around the
R
globe. T.S. did a lot of speaking for this
organization, and it was actually the
institute that got him back into playing.
With trumpeter and jazz arranger
Don Sickler (who pushed him the most
to start playing again), T.S. formed the
T.S. Monk Sextet in 1991, a group that
has contained the same personnel
throughout its existence. Everybody
expected T.S. Monk to come right out
with a Monk tribute, but wanting to
establish his cred-
ibility before
EV I E W tackling such a
T.S. Monk project, he first
put out three CDs
Tonight at 7:30 with his sextet.
Michigan Theater With the credi-
$30 and $20 bility that he felt
was necessary,
T.S. Monk finally released "Monk on
Monk", an enhanced CD that is his first
project for the N2K Encoded music
label.
Comprised entirely of Thelonious
Monk compositions, the album's
enhanced portion is its most interesting
part, having commentary from jazz
greats such as Ron Carter, Thelonious'
wife, Nellie Monk, and session footage
that brings to light the intensity that
went along with the recording of the
album.
The album starts off with a bang with
"Little Rootie Tootie," a song that T.S.
rearranged from its original version.
Featuring Danilo Perez on piano,
Grover Washington Jr. on tenor sax and
Roy Hargrove on flugelhorn, the song
and its solos bring the influences of
Thelonious to the forefront. Perez, very
sick during the recording session, puts
down the most memorable solo of the
song, capturing Thelonious' essence
almost perfectly.
Another up-tempo tune, "Bright
Mississippi," is Monk's variation on
"Sweet Georgia Brown." Dubbed by
Monk as one of his father's "more
humorous" compositions, the playing is
definitely well away from that extreme.
The track's trumpet solo from jazz
monster Arturo Sandoval is one of the
highlights of the whole album, though it
seems that anything that this trumpet
superstar plays is well above just note-
worthy mention.
By far the best song on the album is
one that Thelonious wrote for his wife,
"Crepuscule With Nellie." With a
savory soprano sax solo by Wayne
Shorter, this beautiful tribute to the
woman that he loves comes off with the
fullest sound of all the songs on the
album. This "dark" sound is created
with the addition of a tuba in the instru-
mentation. The bottom that the tuba
gives the ensemble is amazing, and has
an organ like sound that undoubtedly
signifies the love that Thelonious had
for his wife Nellie.
As T.S. has said, "Thelonious, when
he really dug you, wrote a tune." This
entire album reflects this affinity to his
friends and family that Thelonious had.
The songs contained in the album are
also a tribute to the groundbreaking
styles of Thelonious Monk, the style
that has formed what we now know as
modern jazz.
Possibly the most (musically)
quotable songwriter and pianist in his-
tory, his influences continue to with-
stand the weathers of time. By all
means, anybody who is at all interested
in music in general should go and check
out the show on Wednesday at the
Michigan Theater.
It will be a historical event because of
the performers who are playing and the
legacy of Thelonious Monk that they
are carrying on.
OBtephanie Jo Klein
DaiTv TV/New Media Editor
Short of ballroom dance lessons in
the Michigan Union or Ypsilanti's
square dance club, it's been a while
since there's been any new dance move-
ment in and around Ann Arbor.
Until tonight.
The doors of the
Liquid Lounge are set
to open at 10 p.m.,h
i , urating the he
aal of club and
techno music on the
Ann Arbor night
scene.
Two local DJs, not content with the
lack of dance clubs in town, emptied
their piggy banks and pooled together
the loose change to remodel the second
and third floors of the Main Street
building over The Full Moon Bar and
Crow Bar.
e got tired of having to drive to
Detroit or Royal Oak for night life and
dancing," said Brian Mellberg, who
owns the club along with roommate
Mark Zadvinskis. Both are University
alumni and have been working non-stop
for the past eight weeks to set the disco
balls in motion, so to speak.
Once they made a deal with the
owner of The Full Moon to use the
space, Mellberg said the bar's former
room was given a complete make-
over for use as a dance floor. The dance
floor and mezzanine bar rooms
received new paint, curtains, light and
wall fixtures, and state-of-the-art sound
and lighting systems to give the Liquid
Lounge a unique feel.
When things get hopping tonight,
Mellberg said, dancers can feast their
ears on the live sounds of local and
D roit DJs spinning techno, jungle,
1 op and acid-jazz tunes.
Kirt Van Voorst, Full Moon's cook
and self-described jack-of-all-trades,
said employees and even fellow DJs
have joined together to plaster Detroit
and Ann Arbor with flyers for the new
club.
He said the Liquid Lounge will pro-
vide an atmosphere where people can
relax and dance - "they can come and
dance, get a bit rowdy, listen to good
)*,spin and relax upstairs with cock-
tails."
Locals hope so too. John King,
owner of the Groove Yard record store,
said a techno dance club has been real-
ly needed here.
"It's a great alternative to the under-
ground rave scene," he said.
Exactly the point, Mellberg said.
"We thought it would be nice to bring
enue that was legal and more acees-
arstomost people," he said. Of
course, to avoid the shady Detroit raves
and hit the upscale martini lounge on
the Liquid Lounge's mezzanine, you
must be over 21.
R
k
To avoid heavy costs and overhead,
the Liquid Lounge will initially only
open on Wednesday nights, with
Saturday nights filled with disco and
old-school funk to follow. Not a tradi-
tional bar night, Mellberg said he thinks
it may be tough to convince people to
come out to
dance mid-
E V I E W week.
But Morgan
Liquid Lounge Anderson, a
Doors at 10 p.m. local DJ and
309 Main St. clerk at the
21 and over, $5 Groove Yard,
said he was
confident it would catch on.
"Even if just area DJs bring their
friends every week, there would still be
enough people to keep the club going
for way longer than any other new busi-
ness," Anderson added.
The only other regular Wednesday
night activity is The Nectarine
Ballroom's disco night. Nectarine
owner Mike Bender said he hopes the
Liquid Lounge fares well.
"I think competition is good," Bender
said. "It makes it better for everybody."
The closest the Nectarine comes to
techno and house music is a Thursday
night "Eurobeat" line-up.
And Mellberg said he doesn't think
even disco night will provide much
competition.
"The Nectarine has been around for-
ever doing their disco and retro and
high-energy Top 40," he said. "We'll be
more like the Motor Lounge in
Hamtramck - strictly club music plus
a martini lounge on the third floor with
couches."
If all goes well, Ann Arbor nights
will continue to be livened up with
techno and trip-hop tunes for a long
time to come, and could even expand to
other weekend nights with reggae and
salsa music.
For now, the rooms, separated by
shiny curtains, will feature the stylings
of renowned DJs such as Juan Atkins,
Derrick May, and Carl Craig. Mellberg
and Zadvinskis may even grace the
sound system one night soon. Both are
musicians and have a home studio
where they record dance music.
So for those dancing queens tired of
shimmying to the "Grease" mega-mix,
the Liquid Lounge is ready and waiting.
With only a $5 cover charge, the Liquid
Lounge promises a fluid night of enter-
tainment.
Wright's 'Black' is far from colorless
By Sarah Beldo
Daily Arts Writer
"Out of our own mouths we are sentenced," writes Charles
Wright in the final poem from his 1983 National Book
Award-winning collection, "Country Music."
In his most recent volume, "Black Zodiac," he echoes,
"Words speak for themselves / anonymity speaks for itself."
These are fitting declarations for a poet who is simultane-
ously present and absent in the narrative of his poems; his
voice is both distinctively apparent and
meticulously removed, like the brush
strokes of a Van Eyck painting, where we: PI
are aware of the art but not the artist.
Wright's poetry is a departure from that C
of confessional poets, or even traditional
narrative memoirs. Instead, he writes
about the meanings beneath autobiograph-
ical events, what Carol Muske has called,
"the unspoken but heard, the unseen but sensed:' He exposes
the story under the surface, including what lies behind lan-
guage itself.
The roots of Wright's career are somewhat unexpected.
During his military service in Verona, he stumbled upon a
volume of verses by Ezra Pound - whose style Wright has
emulated - and pledged himself as a disciple of poetry. An
impassioned decision? Of course.
This, after all, is the man who routinely makes such declar-
'R
"h
ative statements in his poems as, "I want to be bruised by God
/ I want to be strung up in a strong light and singled out'
Wright is nothing if not passionate, nothing if not brave.
Wright was born in 1935 in a small town in Tennessee,
and he grew up in Tennessee and North Carolina. After his
army service in Italy, he was a Fulbright student in Rome,
translating the poems of Eugenio Montale and Cesare
Pavese.
Here in the States, Wright has been a visiting professor at
the University of Iowa, from which he
has a degree, Princeton University, and
t E V I E W Columbia University. He currently
teaches English at the University of
arles Wright Virginia.
Tomorrow at 5 p.m. Wright has more than 12 book
Shaman Drum under his belt, two of which have been
Free published by the University ,of,
Michigan Press.
He will be here in Ann Arbor tomorrow at 5p.m. at Shaman
Drum to read from his newest collection, "Black Zodiac."
The title of the collection itself gives clues as to what ideas.
guide Wright's work: questions about the hidden forces that
guide our lives, the links we make between emotions, memo-
ry and understanding.
As the poet himself might say, his words, in all their con-
viction, speak for themselves. And what a perceptive voice it
is.
I I
Lecture
Notes
available- for these classes:
BiO Anthr
Chem 210
Chem 215
Econ 101
Econ 101
Econ 102
Econ 102
364
Physics 126
Poli Sci 140
Psych 111
Psych 330
Psych 335
Eg
- Sec 200
- Sec 300
- Sec 100
- Sec 200
KVINRUr PiTLZE/ueuiy
Mark Zadvinskis and Brian Mellberg are the swingin' owners of The Liquid Lounge.
Psych
Psych
Psych
p.Dvnh
340
345
350
370
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Geol Sci 107
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