Monday in Daily Arts... Come hack next week for a review of It:hak Perlman's virtuoso performance at LIHill Audiorium, Sunday at 4 p.m. 2 I3r§ak 8 FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2000 michigandaily.com /arts *1 SOMETHING TO CROWE ABOUT Stillwater, Hudson Sdtrk. spins in '70s rock giorj rock in ' By Matthew Barrett Dail, Fim Hitor In making "Almost Famous," a fiction- alized account of his experiences writing for "Rolling Stone," it would have -been very easy for Cameron Crowe and his film to take on a pretentious feel. As in, I wrote for "Rolling Stone" when I was just a teenager, I was a boy-genius and am now a wonderful writer-director, so just bask in the world of my greatness for over two hours. But Crowe never indulges himself to this point - he has too much Almost Famous Grade: B+ At Quality 16 and Showcase respect for the music and the people sur- rounding it to stoop to that level. The film centers on William Miller (Patrick Fugit as Crowe's alter ego), a 15 year old who gets hired by Rolling Stone magazine to cover the band Stillwater. So William escapes the clutches of his overly protective mother amous notebooks and seeing how long he can stretch out his time with the band. Crudup and Lee are both phenomenal, and they succeed in giving Stillwater the look and feel that they need and provid- ing the acting chops necessary for the story to work. Some of the film's better moments take place where the band is jamming onstage as Crowe captures the adrenaline rush of a live show on film. The heart of "Almost Famous" is the relationship between William and Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), a self-described band-aid who follows Stillwater around on the road. Penny loves Russell, William loves Penny and Russell loves being Russell, so you can see where the prob- lems in the triangle arise. Penny is the unattainable dream girl, who William will never get, and yet something forces him to continue pursu- ing her. William is an old-soul who treats women and for that matter everyone else with a great deal of respect, which makes him a fish out of water on the tour and a more likely friend than lover to Penny. Crowe is one of the most gifted writers working in movies today and he creates moments and scenes which are nothing short of wonderful but he's unable to string these scenes together to create a coherent andcompelling narrative. Nowhere is this more apparent then in the handling of the character of Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman), late, great rock-critic. Bangs pops up on occa- sion throughout the movie but his pres- ence is too fleeting. Every time we see him he has some great pearl of wisdom on life to offer us ("true music chooses By Christopher Cousino Daily Arts Wnter Cameron Crowe has done it again. Four years have gone by since he gave us "Jerry Maguire" and the Boss' late hit "Secret Garden." Now, he heads back to the '70s with a rock vengeance - and he's brought some of his friends with him. For the soundtrack to his latest film "Almost Famous* semi-autobiographical story about a 15 year old writer from Rolling Stone who goes on the road with a rock band, Crowe comprised a masterwork of rock 'n roll from the '70s, every- thing from The Who to Yes, the Allman Brothers Band to Cat Stevens. And let's not forget, a little tune by a pinnacle of guitar rock, Led Zepplin. Since Crowe is pals with the band (he also wrote the liner notes to their box set), Led Zepplin has allowed only Crowe to use their songs for a soundtrack. Thus, you're treated to the soft acoustic Zepplin ditty "That's the Way" plucked right from the "Led Zepplin 3" album. But the rock doesn't stop there. Along with The Who's "Sparks" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sim* Man," Crowe joins such classic guitar rock with Stillwater's "Fever Dog," a hit song by the fictitious band in the film. And sure enough, he and his wife, for- mer Heart singer-songwriter Nancy Wilson, wrote it. "Fever Dog" is a loud, raucous jam, sounding somewhere smack between Led Zepplin and Mother Love Bone. With a kicking drum intro and scratchy, raging vocals, it's an inspired performance (by Wilson, members of the Lovemongers and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike Mcdready) that seems to fit right into the sound of the times. Clocking in at more than 70 minutes, the "Alin Famous" soundtrack is a gem of an album as far as sound- tracks go, as it ranges from the classic standard (Simon and Garfunkel's "America") to the more obscure (Todd Rundgren's "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference") to the pop masterpiece (Elton John's "Tiny Dancer"). Expect nothing less from a guy who spent his teenage years on the road with the Allmans and Thc Who. Crowe loves rock music, he hears it and takes it all in. Both "Almost Famous" and its catalog of vitage songs realize the glory of "Os rock. (Frances McDormand, doing some of her best work) and hits the road with the band. Stillwater seems to be near the break- ing point when William joins the tour, with lead-singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) and guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) clashing over attention from the media and fans. William takes in the whole scene, recording the details in his Courtesy of Dreamworks Cameron Crowe's alter ego William Miller (Patrick Fugit) scores a big interview. you") which at times left me wanting more of Bangs and less of Stillwater. Hoffman is phenomenal as Bangs, which is par for the course for an actor who con- tinues to turn out top-notch work whether the role be great or small. "Almost Famous" is unable to piece its parts together for a greater whole. Don't get me wrong, the film is still worth see- ing as it provides an enjoyable and engag- ing look at the world of '70s rock, but it fails to transcend the music and turns out to be something short of the sublime work that Crowe has done before. Chappelle and Breuer light up joints, Hill 50% OFF I I UU I U of M 3 stim0. Friday Saturday Se 22 31 $1. per bag after 3pm SaturdayJ I NN ARBOR PT opens at 1am I S HRIFT S CUP 2 1621 S. State - 996-9155 m uth of The Michigan Union, behind the Produce Station By Rob Brode Daily Arts Writer h ash Bash came a bit early this year. Da\ e Chappelle and Jim Breuer roiled" into Iiill Auditorium last night for an intoxicating performance. Breuer is best . known for his ' work on Saturday Night Live as Completely "Goat Boy" and Baked Chappelle for his HillAuditoriu roles in "200 Cigarrettes" and September 22, 2000 "Robin Hood: Men and Tights." Both highly- acclaimed comics starred in the 1997 soon-to-be cult classic "ialf Baked," a stoner movie for the'90s, a modern day "Up in Smoke." With the tour titled "Completely Baked," there was sure to be more ref- erences to marijuana than at Whitney Houston's sentencing. So when Jim Breuer came out and did his moronic, sedated, stoner chuckle and proceeded to talk about weed, the audience ate it up faster than a batch of magic brown- ies. Breuer's routine ranged from David Katz/,DAILY Jim Breuer (above) and Dave Chappelle (right) had 'em rollin' in the aisles last night at their 'Completely Baked' show held at Hill Auditorium. feined retardation, to feigned drunken- ness and of course feined highness. In between his bits on various types of intoxication he talked about baseball, child birth, hemorrhoids and goats. The set was punctuated with sound effects, impressions and vulgar hand puppets. In spite of being sophomoric and sometimes incoherent, amongst college kids Breuer was comedy gold. Chappelle began his set with recounting his recent exploration of "titty bars" and the experience of a three dollar lap dance. Chappelle touched on many subjects from racism, to the Superfriends, to weed and even gave a long dissertation on testing methods to check the freshness of sex- ual seafood. Unlike Breuer, it appeared as if Chappelle actually had material, weaving in and and out of particular themes throughout the night, leaving the audience with the munehies for more. Although it was a "joint" effort, Chappelle was the Northern Lights while Breuer was the paprika your neighbor tricked you into buying. These days when a ten-spot won't even get you a dime bag, spending ten bucks on a Breuer/Chappelle show is money well spent. David Kate!/ i JOIN THE MOST PROMISING PROFESSION OF THE 21ST CENTURY BECOMIA TEACIUB