8A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, January 31, 2000 ARTS Gray's Grammy nod a new start The Los Angeles Times When a musician insists that it's an honor just to have been nominated for a Grammy award, it's easy to suspect that what you're hearing is simply the sound of false modesty. But as Macy Gray explains, there's definitely an advantage to having been nominated. Since it was announced earlier this month that Gray is up for two Gram- mys - including the best new artist award - business has been booming for the R&B singer. "Just a lot of stuff started coming up," she said, over the phone from a tour stop in Tempe, Ariz. "I noticed that when we got the nomination, a couple of the venues (on the tour) got bigger, because there were more people wanting to see us. "And all these TV shows came in. We got Rosie O'Donnell and Conan, and Letterman again, and Leno. "I've been getting movie scripts. I got a soundtrack offer. So it does help a lot," said the 29-year old singer- songwriter. "The Grammy people defi- 'Madnes Could the five freshmen on Michigan's current basketball team cut it in a game with the original Fab Five? Probably not just yet, but players can give the matchup a try in "NCAA March Madness 2000," a S' arrives early Grade: B NCAA March Madness EA Sports Reviewed by Daily Film Editor Matt Barrett ness" features 1501 new college basketball game from EA Sports. Fun, fast-paced and exciting, the game should provide hours of enjoyment to the college bas- ketball buff. "March Mad- men's Division I courtesy o www.macygray.com Grammy-nominated Macy Gray made a splash with her album "On How Life is." rosters for the game include the actual players from the team (play- ers are identified by number and not name). For the most part (save a black and bald Gavin Groninger) the players in the game look quite a bit like their real life counterparts (although Jamal Crawford is minus a headband). This authenticity car- ries over to the team uniforms, where Michigan has their awful block M rags. However, it would have been nice to see the makers of the game carry this attention to detail a few steps further. The team's stadiums are major disappointments - each school's home court is really just a generic arena with the school's name and logo slapped down on it. Gainers are also unable to play the actual schedule for the team that they elect and must settle for a com- -puter generated schedule of one of three levels of difficulty (cake, ran- dom or brutal). As basketball games go, "March Madness" is pretty easy to learn, although playing defense boils down to trying for steals or blocked shots. The players move around the court very smoothly and it shouldn't take long to master their motions. The appearance of the players is a major improvement from last year's version of the game, as they are now slightly larger and more- defined in their appearance. Anoth- er welcome improvement to the game is a new system for free-throw shooting that makes it much easier to connect from the charity stripe. Once you're in the heat of a game, listen for Dick Vitale provid- ing color commentary throughout the action. Here, as in real life, Dick makes some good points ("Number 30 on Michigan makes everyone around him better") and some curi- ous ones ("Number l (on Michigan) has go to shoot the ball more often"). Despite its shortcomings, "March Madness" is still a lot of fun to play. So lace 'em up and prepare to ball with some of the nation's finest. {; nitely have a lot to do with pushing your career. Especially if you're new." Gray admits to having been floored by her nominations. "I had no idea," she said. "Like, (the Grammy people) invited me to announce the nomina- tions, right? My label told me that they usually don't do that unless you're nominated. But just the fact that they said 'usually' made me think, 'Well...' She laughs, and adds, "It's much easier for me to hope for the worst. Because I don't want to get my hopes up. "So I didn't really count on it, and when I went in there and they said my name, and I was totally shocked. Like my whole stomach dropped. I couldn't believe it. And then when they announced me for two, I was really floored." Gray said that the nomination for best new artist was actually less sur- prising than the nomination for best female R&B vocal performance, where she's contending with the likes of Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Faith Evans and Brandy. "That was really great," she said. "I'm really proud of that one." Gray is especially pleased because her sound is unlike anybody else in R&B today. Her voice is tart, with a slight rasp recalling Al Green, while her writing is more playful and eclec- tic than anyone since Prince. It's a striking combination, and something Gray said is a natural product of her growth as a musician. "I don't try to do what everybody else does. I think I just grow," she said. "I've always had this voice. But I think, subconsciously, the more music you hear, the more it affects you. DAILY ARTS WANTS YOU LIKE FRANK TJ MACKEY WANTS THAT NAUG HT[Y SAUCE! COME WRIT FOR US. CALL 763-0379. teams along with 16 women's teams (sorry, no Wolverines) and 20 clas- sic teams (including '82 North Car- olina and '93 Michigan). While the selection of men's teams is thorough enough, it would have been nice to see some additional teams included in the other two categories. The biggest strength of "March Madness" is the fact that the school The Meters can still funk it up The Los Angeles Tlimes When George Porter, Jr. looks out into the audience, things don't look much different than they did three decades ago. His crowds are generally in their 20s. "It's funny," said the bassist for the seminal funk band the Meters. "We are probably playing to the same age group we played to 30 years ago. That is something that is very intriguing." Since 1966, Porter, along with Art Neville, has served the group that became to New Orleans what Booker T. and MGs were to Memphis: They defined a sound for generations to come. The Meters originally grew out of Art Neville and the Neville Sounds, a group that included Porter, guitarist Leo Nocentelli and drummer Joseph "Ziga- boo" Modeliste as well as Aaron, Art and Cyril Neville. The group dropped vocalists Cyril and Aaron Neville in 1968 and the newly christened Meters became the house band for Allen Tous- saint and Marshall Sehorn's Sansu label. They also played a regular gig at the Ivanhoe Bar in New Orleans. In the late 60s, the Meters drafted the blue- print for New Orleans funk through slinky instrumentals propelled by the powerhouse rhythm section of Porter and Modeliste - whose use of the high-hat cymbal changed modern drumming - and complemented by Nevilie's understated keyboard melodies and Nocentelli's rhythmic and assertive guitar playing. "Cissy Strut," "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Look-Ka Py Py" were the Meters' highest-charting instrumentals, but the influence of their early years turned many musicians inside out. To this day, musicians spanning a variety of styles often cite the Meters among their prima- ry inspirations. The Meters were also key in modernizing the Crescent City's sounds after the city's great R&B era subsided. Other than James Brown and Parliament/Funkadelic, it's doubtful there's a more sampled group in hip- hop. The early 70s coincided with a shift in the band's focus that put vocal tracks to their already muscular grooves, mak- ing them more accessible but no less potent. Cyril Neville reemerged in 1975, lending vocals and percussion. "In the 1970s, when both Zig and Leo felt that we were losing the battle of competing with the other bands that were out there, that were at one time opening acts for some of our shows, who now had big record deals they wanted to compete in that musical mar- ket," Porter said. "They were starting to write songs at home and bringing them to the sessions." During this era, the Meters began incorporating psychedelic rock influ- ences into the second-line funk sounds. "Hey Pocky A-Way," "Fire on the Bayou" and "Talkin' 'Bout New Orleans" have become anthems in their home town, but the quartet was never limited to a certain style or sound. In 1977, the Meters broke up. Spec- ulation has been flying about an origi- nal-member Meters reunion since the 1999 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, when Porter jammed with Modeliste's band. The rumors intensi- fied in early December when Art Neville joined Porter, Modeliste and other musicians in a "Superjam" con- cert. Not just yet, though. "I never say 'never' to anything, but at this point there's not really anything that could be conceivable as 'we're doing this' or 'we're doing that' to make any moves like that," Porter said. "But I never close doors on the poten- tial of anything happening. If we live long enough, we'll play again. 0' 0 I; It also made the last party at Phi Gamma Epsilon 0 A-F - -M-- - -M - - -& - M--EW 1 - I I