ARTS

The Michigan I

Daily -- Friday, October 6, 2000 - 9

The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 6, 2000 - 9


More is
more for
ethereal
*-Briits Laika*
By Kelly Vile
For the Daily
London's Laika is comprised of
musical geniuses. Engifeer/guitarist
Guy Fixsen, bassist John Frenett,
percussionist Lou Ciccotelli and
vocalist/guitarist Margaret Fiedler
(who, incidentally, was born in
Chicago) graced Detroit's own Motor
-Lounge on Wednesday night, unlock-
ing a secret doorway for users both
known and not known that led
towards a night of freedom from con-
straints and extraordinary sensual
bliss.
Sad to say, Laika the dog did not
return from the outer space that the
Russians sent her to on November
third, 1957. After one week of being
enclosed in her space capsule, her
oxygen ran out and Laika would
never return to earth. But Laika the


Nikki Cox stars as Nikki
in, uh, the WB's 'Nikki'

By Jaquelene Smith
For the Daily
From the creators of "The Drew
Carey Show" and "Norm" comes
"Nikki." Premiering this season on the
WB network "Nikki" focuses on a Las
Vegas showgirl and an aspiring profes-
sional wrestler who work together to
pursue their dreams.

~ut riverityProducions
Lauren Spodarek, Joseph A. Hendirix and Boyd White 1ll emote onstage in "View."
MILLER TIME

The story begins
Cox, "Unhappily
Dwight (newcomer
Nikki
The WB
Sundays at 9:30 p.m.

when Nikki (Nikki
Ever After") and
Nick von Esmarch)
meet at his going
away to college
party, which
Nikki has
crashed. When
she finds out that
he's going to Pep-
perdine in Cali-
fornia, she asks
to bum a ride to
Vegas where she
has a dance audi-
tion. Dwight's

The next morning, however, while
Dwight is listening to the radio, Nikki
pops up from the back seat of the car.
Being a softhearted kind of guy, he
eventually agrees to let her come along.
In the motel room that night, Nikki
convinces Dwight to follow his blue-
collar aspiration. They elope to Vegas
where he abandons his mother's dream
of his becoming a corporate tax lawyer
and joins an elite professional wrestling
training program. Thus these two gen-
uine, honest individuals establish their
existence in a city full of crooks and
impersonators, Elvis or otherwise.
With such a premise, one wouldn't
expect this situation comedy to be
very realistic. And yet it is, in a very
"Erin Brockovich" sort of way.
Nikki's razor sharp wit and low-cut
tops make you wonder if the two
women aren't related. In a city like
Vegas, there will be ample opportuni-
ty to meet bizarre people who are
bound to spice up their lives. Not to
mention that anything's possible and
either one of them could be "discov-
ered" and make it big overnight.

Shiny happy people populate NBC's Ed."
ED
Continued from Page 8
though, is that everyone - from the
town doctor to the judge - has a
similar sense of humor. Anyone at
anytime might produce a sarcastic
comment or a clever statement.
If you miss the first two episodes,
you'll miss some terrific scenes.
The trials and Ed's wooing of Carol
in her class produce bizarre situa-
tions that will leave you laughing in
astonished amazement.
"Ed" will take time to become a
hit, but this appears to be the most
well thought out new comedy, and
less of a one joke idea than "Bette"
or "The Geena Davis Show," which
should be gone within a year. If for
anything, watch the first two shows
for the Jell-O scene, the dancing
turkey and the only Ben Vereen ref-
erence you'll hear anytime soon.
You'll thank me later.

Long-awaited 'View'
sells out Trueblood.

premiere
Theater

Laika
Motor Lounge
Oct.4,2000
soi why the band

band continued
on the super-
highway of
experimental
pop, where
more is definite-
ly not less and
anything goes.
Although
bbautiful to
dance to,
Laika's music is
more a collec-
tion of different .
styles. Perhaps
that is the rea-
chose their name

By Michelle Brown
For the Daily
The University's Department of
Theater and Drama presented a rivet-
ing opening night performance of
Arthur Miller's powerful and tragic
drama "A View from the Bridge" last
night. The play, the run of which is
timed with University of Michigan
alum Miller's 85th birthday, centers
on obsession, deceit and betrayal in a
tight-knit Italian neighborhood in
Brooklyn. Eddie Carbone (BFA
s e 11 i o r
Q u i n n1
Strassel), a
longshore-
A View from man, lives
the Bridge near the
waterfront
Trueblood Theater with his
Oct. 5, 2000 wife Beat-
rice (BFA
A.senior Jen-
nifer Lima)
and neice
(BFA junior
Lauren Spo-
d a r e k ) .
When two
of Beatrice's cousins, Rodolpho
(Joseph A. Hendrix) and Marco
(Boyd WHite III), come as illegal
immigrants from Italy, their presence
in the Carbone home coupled with

Catherine's budding womanhood
drive Eddie to the edge of reason.
The lawyer, Mr. Alfieri (Matthew
Urban) narrates from the sanctuary
of his office.
Director Darryl Jones stages a
fast-paced and compelling perfor-
mance. The actors take the miracle of
Miller's probing dialogue and deliver
it with astute and poignant emotion.
Quinn Strassel carries the show: His
Eddie is utterly convincing in word
and action. Both Spodarek and Lima
complement him in courageous per-
formances, though Lima's emotional
brittleness can waver toward over-
the-top. The show's weakest link is
the presence of the two immigrants,
whose attempts to inspire sympathy
and endearment range from laugh-
able to wooden. Matthew Urban also
has a curiosly flat delivery, his accent
warbled from British to Italian to
Brooklynese.
In spite of these drawbacks, some
of which can be attributed to the
rustiness of opening night, the overall
impact of "View from the Bridge"
leaves the viewer affected: I admit I
brushed back a tear. The combination
of solid directing (with some
uncoventional but effective music
choices), accessible set and signifi-
cant cast capabilities makes "View"
overall success and fitting tribute to
Miller's genuis.


overbearing mother, Marion, deters her
son from such a "shameful" thing.

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from the first animal who was sent to
space - "It's a bittersweet thing,"
vocalist Fiedler says.
Laika's sound is so hypnotic and
dazzling that sometimes to stop mov-
ing your limbs in complete and indi-
vidual synchronization would be like
finding a solution to an immensely
difficult equation. The answer seems
clear at one moment, simple and
refined, but then it sprouts into a
maze of loops and keyboards, drums
and basslines, growing stronger and
* then fainter, using the mind as a
spring board for images, until finally
you realize there are too many factors
contributing to the equation that can-
not logically be solved. The answer is
individual. Awestruck, you sink ever
deeper into a make-believe land of
stories untold, lusting for the moment
when the two worlds of equation and
human emotion overlap and then
combine.
Ina music that is entirely their
own, a vote of confidence comes
from the fact that Laika is connected
to the universe in ways that people
can't see or touch - the people must
hear themselves swirling and danc-
ing from inside, must make contact
with that outer world that melts into
them, submerging them into a con-
sciousness as deep and as exhilarat-
ingly beautiful as the birth of a
butterfly. Margaret Fiedler's entranc-
ing lyrics come from dream
sequences and wanderings of con-
sciousness; she spaces out and the
words pop.up passively not actively,
creating a rhythmic sense that defies
grammar yet betrays the feeling of
unacceptability.
Laika says their new album, Good
Looking Blues, is simpler and more
grounded, earthier than their previ-
ous albums, Silver Apples of the
Moon and Sounds of the Satellites.
Yet it retains their complexity and
space-fascination in a music that is
more than just the sum of its parts.
"More is more," Fiedler said.
There is nothing less.

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