9 Rosario Ferre will read at Shaman Drum tonight. Author will read selections from "Eccentric Neighborhoods," the story of a family's struggle during Puerto Rico's struggle for independence. 8 p.m. Local writer Craig Holden to read at Borders. Holden will read and sign copies of "Four Corners of Night." Tonight at 7:30 p.m. rlr Ix V a4 LI * Weekend etc. magazine brings loads of joy and entertainment as a reviewer examines the art of Monster Trucking. Wednesday January 20, 1999 8 4> Chorale celebrates MLK Day By Jeff Druchniak Daily Arts Writer It was easy to become overwhelmed by the extensive slate of local events honor- ing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this past weekend. Certainly, though, one of the high- lights was the concert given by the Brazeal Dennard Chorale on Monday afternoon at Rackham. The appearance of the Chorale, named for its founder and longtime director, was arranged by Music Prof. and associate Brazeal Dean Willis Patterson. Patterson described the securing of Dennard Dennard's choir, which is based in Detroit but tours and travels Chorale extensively, as a significant coup for the University communi- Rackham ty Public Schools. Dennard's 28-member ensemble combined professionalism and enthusiasm for its extensive and varied set list. The concert was performed with a brief intermission, and the first half of the performance was devoted to mostly sacred compositions by modern black composers, including two demanding cantatas by John Work and Adolphus Hailstork. The second half offered arrangements of traditional spirituals, composed anony- mously and of uncertain historical origin. These included two pieces arranged b Dennard, and one sparkling contemporary work, "Mary Was the Queen of Galile composed in the classic spiritual style by Wendell Whalum. The relatively small size of the choir, as well as the unforgiving acoustics of Rackham, made the richness and strength of the collective singing tone all the more impressive. Dennard's ranks did experience a few minor glitches and hesitations in the first part of the concert, but this might have been related to accompanist Kerry Price's absence due to a broken ankle, which required choir member Cheryl Meadows to gamely replace her at the 11th hour. Baritone Theodore Jones and soprano Brenda Wimberly demonstrated excellent technique and imposing stage presence, as well as the endurance to each perform sev- eral of the solos that the chorale's repertoire included. The most compelling soloist in the ensemble, however, was Martha Boone, who sumptuous, passionate alto range was almost stunning enough to obscure the persis- tent wish that she had been allotted more than one opportunity. Incubus performed to an excited crowd Monday night at St. Andrew's Hall. Icubusifsed jazz funk well Auditorium Jan. 18, 1999 N "The appearance of Brazeal Dennard and his Chorale pre- sents me with a great deal of pride to be able to enjoy their presence on our campus," Patterson said. "They are ... the leading ensemble in the country for the choral repertoire of African American composers, though that is not all they perform." The concert was dedicated to the "African American choral music tradition before and since Dr. King," a tradition Dennard has participated in not only with his present ensemble but as a composer, high school music teacher, and administrator, the last two during long service with the Detroit Film opens closet of Whale's skeletons By Adlin Rosli Daily Arts Writer Incubus apparently does not believe in relaxing on its days off when on tour. The group has been the opening band for the Black Sabbath reunion show on the west coast and for its days off from that tour, the group went on a mini headlining leg. Detroit's St. Andrew's Theater was part of the leg this past Monday night. This mini headlining tour is also Incubus' last appearance in Detroit for a while. (Well, at least until they finished mak- ing a new record and are going on tour to support it someday.) Monday's Incubus show, with its two opening acts, was a show of made up of the predictable, the unexpected and the always entertaining Incubus. The predictable was provided cour- Incubus St. Andrew's Hall Jan. 18, 1999 tesy of the first opening act that night, the Detroit band D.O.C. As soon as the audience heard the first couple riffs dur- ing the band's soundcheck, it knew the band was going to be another one of those dime-a- dozen trendy "rap-core" acts during the night. The Howling Diablos played their set with amazing abandon, and impressed as many as they disgusted. The group ended its set with a long drum solo where all the group members picked up drum sticks and started whacking away. Towards the end of the solo, the singer lit his sticks on fire. It was an experi- ence reminiscent of Stomp, Sepultura and Rammstein all at once, (Stompulturammstein?) Finally, Incubus made its grand entrance with, except for bass player Alex, light tribal makeup adorning their faces. Incubus was in amazingly tight form that night. Everyone in the group proved themselves to be musi- cians of the highest order. Drummer Jose and bassist Alex were locked together like a Gaelic knot pattern. Together, they provided a succession of tight grooves from the night's selec- tion of songs. Drummer Jose's playing was one of the best drum perfor- mances ever heard and bass player Alex flourished with his Les Claypool-meets-Flea style. Guitarist Mike proved to be a wor- thy contender as well. The man is undoubtedly one of the most versatile guitar players. Singer Brandon and D.J Kilmore completed the proceedings as well by providing their own charisma and tal- ents to the night's set. Incubus' set left nothing to be craved as the group played almost all the songs off its "Enjoy Incubus" debut album and a healthy dose of material from "SCIENCE."The songs that got the greatest response that night were "New Skin" and "Redefine." An obscene amount of crowd surfing and a loud crowd sing- a-long session occurred during these two songs. After a single song was performed for the encore, the group left the stage with singer Brandon looking especial- ly exhausted. The feeling was quite mutual for the crowd that night, but that exhaustion was quite possibly tempered with a feeling of satisfaction from Incubus' killer show. By Matthew Barrett Daily Arts Writer Sorry to disappoint all the De Niro fans, but there is only one great "Frankenstein" movie. The life of James Whale, director of the 1931 version of the horror classic and its follow-up, "Bride of Frankenstein, is examined in "Gods and Monsters." Based on the novel "The Father of Frankenstein" by Christopher Bram, the film exam- ines the latter part of the director's life and flashes back to earlier days, which served as inspiration for his films. Ian McKellen plays Whale in an intense and top-of- the-line performance. Whale is a bitter man who rarely leaves his home, and yet he wears extravagant outfits and spends countless hours dolling his appearance. When a young journalist comes to his house to interview him, Whale spends the entire morning getting ready so that he can impress the reporter when he arrives. To add spice to the interview process, the homosexual Whale instructs the reporter to remove one article of clothing for each question he asks. Judging by the reac- tion of his maid, Hanna (played wonderfully by Lynn Redgrave), when she discovers the two, this isn't the first time that Whale has played this game. At one point in the interview when Gods and the director is told by the reporter Monsters "It's the horror movies you're remembered for" Whale fires back with, "I'm not dead yet?' At the Michigan But in many ways the director Theater is. He has suffered a stroke and seems to have little happiness in his life. The only companionship that Whale has is a nagging housemaid named Hanna. This all changes when Clay (Brendan Fraser), a new yard worker, enters Whale's life. From the second that he eyes Clay, Whale is hooked. He lures Clay into his life by hir- ing the worker to pose for his paintings. Whale informs the model that while he's only interested in Clay's head, removing that distracting white shirt would really help the finished product. After his vine swinging in "George Courtesy of Uonis Gate Pictures Ian McKellan portrays "Frankenstein" director James Whale In "Gods and Monsters." of the Jungle, Fraser isn't the first actor who would come to mind for a role like this, but for the most part he does a respectable job with Clay. The relationship between Clay and Whale forms the film's foundation. Whale seeks companionship and plea- sure from Clay; his interests, although denied, are sexual. Clay is not homosexual and struggles with the rela- tionship. Part of Clay is scared and another part fascinat- ed by the director. As Whale was in his childhood, Clay is from the wrong side of the tracks and appears to be just making ends meet with his yard work. Although the bond between the characters is the heart of the film, it becomes a little unbelievable at times. At one point, Whale makes a very aggressive sexual pass at Clay, only to have his friend turn around and assist him in going to bed. Yes, Clay may have very strong feelings of friendship for Whale, but even a close friend would have left the situation immediately. Writer/director Bill Condon takes a large leap towa@ respectability with "Gods and Monsters," a big step up from "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh" Condon inserts flashbacks from Whale's childhood, wartime experiences and wild pool parties that rival those from "The Last Picture Show," but gets a little heavy handed with his sym- bols towards the end of the movie when he includes the all too popular shot of a character wandering around in the rain. (This shot should have been outlawed by Hollywood after "The Shawshank Redemption" nailed it.) The look at the life of James Whale that "Gods Monsters" provides should be of interest to most m fans. He was an important and influential director, and the movie provides a glimpse at some of the circum- stances that led him to create his masterpieces. Just imag- ine 50 years from now when "James and Jack,' the story of a young James Cameron and a ship of dreams hits the- aters. Almost as scary as the monster itself. who want to be the next Limp Bizkit. Despite the band playing a short set, it still felt like hours due to its complete void of originality. The unexpected was next in the form of The Howling Diablos. A sax- ophone player and a guitarist who looked like Jerry Garcia spliced with Melvin's Buzz Osbourne, a lead singer in sunglasses a fedora and a mid-'80s Nike jacket, a percussionist, a drummer, and a bass player, all played unabashed pure funk/jazz. One couldn't help but feel as though he or she had accidentally wandered into the wrong venue. Teh group gave 100 percent, ignor- ing that it was playing to an adolescent crowd bent on moshing at some point Stage adaptation displays family in Basement .) 'Jesus Christ!'" He wants to hIafrom you when you're hay too. &WA"e' ~dewe 6taets ie~ ac4 .d o 'eaes Sucda* Seuse- O:30 11?t OAe# Vcuuicaom: Wed. 9 t By Jenni Glenn Daily Arts Writer Popular author Paul Zindel's "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" will be drama- tized for this weekend's Basement Arts show. Zindel's books, such as "The Pigman" and "Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball," are primarily aimed at a young adult audience. "Marigolds" reflects the con- The Effect of cerns of teenagers by focusing on a dysfunctional family. The Moon Marigolds feelings of sisters Ruth and Arena Theater Tillie are common among Tomorrow through young people. "You have a very Saturday real family going on here;" said director Kevin Raleigh, a Music junior . Zindel's story focuses on the relationship between the sisters and their mother Beatrice. "Beatrice is a very angry and depressed woman;' Raleigh said. "Her life has not worked out the way she wants it to, and she will not blame herself" Beatrice's instability rubs off on her daughters. Ruth floats in and out of mental institutions and acts out, while Tillie withdraws into her own imaginary world. Although the show portrays an extreme, Raleigh said he felt drawn to the realistic characters. While first reading the script two years ago, it reminded him of an acquaintance he knew when he was growing up. "I knew a mother who was like Beatrice," he said. "I knew I could put it on stage and make it real." Raleigh said his directing strategy involves making the production as real as possible while creating a heightened sense of drama. "Theatre sort of focuses all those passionate parts of ourselves on stage," he said. The actors fuel that realistic, yet larger-than-life atmosphere with their chemistry. This cast's ensemble of five women features Music students Jessica Spenny, Stacy Harold, Betsy Foster, Sera Bonfiglio and Beth Tyszkiewicz. "The highlight will be when those girls go out on that stage, and they're beautiful, and they act to the best of their ability and they're happy with their performance" Raleigh said. All the actresses play a crucial role in the show. "If you have a large part, if you have a small part, you're an actor," Raleigh said. "You do your job. It's everyone working together that makes a show:' he explained. Raleigh said he views the director's role as being in charge of every part of the play. "Directing is one of the most difficult jobs" he said. "You're responsible for every single thing that goes up on the stage, whether it's your idea or not. Everything the audience hews, sees or smells is your responsibility." Putting on shows through Basement Arts allows the director to be part of all the levels of the performance. Raleigh involves himself in aspects of the show rang- ing from technical details such as music to staying up late brainstorming new ideas. "I found Basement Arts was an ideal place to put on the kind of shows I want to direct," he said. "Inv ; many ways, they will let you do just about an you want to do?' Among his other duties, Raleigh said he must be flexible and help the cast give their best performances. "As a director, you need to care more about your dast than yourself" he said. Raleigh also aims to communicate a message with "Marigolds" from Zindel's dysfunctional family to the audience. "No matter what kind of deep, nasty ... pits we dig ourselves into, no matter how far down we slide, we'll always have one thing,"he said. "That's that wispy-looking, sort of crooked, Charlie Bro Christmas tree thing at the bottom of Pandora's b and that's hope." 'Marigolds'plays at 7p.m. with a special 11pm. performance on Friday. The-Arena Theater is located on the ground floor of the Frieze Building. Admission is free, but seating is limited to first-come first-served. p sr AtW.a. La a T I L 111GW lt:4Fb nenovtuLivrr: I --I REGISTRATION OFFICERS ' You' e "otto"et- " QA10 0 AIT/uITTD Detroit to London Round Trip$3'S.'" . I .I 10 M if 1 f