Sorry, no Jackie Chan here...
Directed by acclaimed Japancse director
Akira Kurosawa, "KaOenusha" plays at 7
p.m. tonight at L rch I Lill (Japanese w/
English subtitles).
n
rrs
*I
FRIDAY
OCTOBER 20, 2000
michigandaily.com /arts
f
KICK OUT THE JAMS
ekoostik -hookah.
7:30 p.m. tonight at the Michigan Theater;
Smokestack opens; tickets are $15.;
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
Date of Birth: Early 1991
Lineup: Eric Lanese (drums), Cliff Starbuck (bass), Dave
Katz (vocals/keyboards), Steve Sweney (lead guitar), Ed
McGee (vocalsguitar) and John Polansky (percussion)
Jamming Style: Rooted in bluesy, guitar-driven classic
rock sounds; Katz's fluid keys provide a jazzier influence;
recent addition of Polansky adds Latin flourish.
Michigan Venues Played: The Michigan Theater, The
Blind Pi, The Magic Bag(Ferndale), Rick's (East
Lansing), Club Soda (Kalamazoo), Sate Theater
(Kalamazoo), The Intersection (Grand Rapids)
Smoke 'em if You Got 'em: A booking made in heav-
en, hookah has performed at Hash Bash for the past two
years at the Michigan Theater.
Important Festivals: The band's annual
Memorial Day outdoor festival, cleverly
titled Hookahville, has drawn upwards of
10,000 fans to rural Ohio for three days of
music and camping. And hashish
- kynd, kynd hashish; New
Year's Eve in Newport; Halloween
in Newport.
4 _What hookah percussionist
Polansky thinks of Phish's "break-
up" ."I do think you're onna see the same
thing happen when the Grateful Dead fell by
the wayside. Some of the mid-level bands
will be packing people in coast to coast. I
won't lie to you, I hope we keep expanding
our audience."
Hippie rock a,
paie of weeker
By Christian Hoard
Daily :arts Writer
Near the end of "Almost FaioiUs,"
Cameron Crowe's newly-released
paean to rock 'n roll fandom, a young
and slightly obsessed groupie notes
wistfully that very few people have
any idea what it's like to love, cherish
and dote upon a "little piece of
music' so much that it hurts.
The members of
irac/Sdstami IV.C lIn. an ectron ic
mailing list and sanctuarv for live
music junkies. miiight empathize. The
croup, which inCludes more than 100
members, most of them Un iversity
students, dedicates itself to the discuS-
sion (and sometimes dissection) of live
music, wN\ith special attention to the
"jam band- cenre. Though jam kings
Phish are the most common topic of
dlebate, mcnibcrsi' tastes gravitate
toward i mpr oxisers cxervxxhere, from
certifiable, new-school jam bands like
The String Cheese Incident to jaz
artists and rootsier trad-rock acts such
as Merle Saunders and the Allmart
Brothers Band.
As its taiie iiIplies,
tr'-Ail"" iich t'ced also functiots as a
trading post for lixe recordinr s. tiaui
of wh ichi are the fruits of thte labor of
several of the group's audio tapers. For
manv list members, just one or even 10
audio recordings (don 't call them
"bootlegs," members advise) won't
satisfy the aural fixation, only a clos-
et-full of tapes, each with a set list
tucked into its case, will do.
But while a high-quality copy oflast
month's Phish show in CIhicaco might
be no more than an e-mail away, get-
ting the tapes i the i rst place isnr I
always so easy ILocal taper anid ist
member Dave Schall said it takes the
I iIht combination of good equipment
and technical knoxx-how to come a av
romi a show xith a hi-ili-quality lixe
recording. Anione whilith illusions of
sneakin into the Blindid Pi with a
walkman and a cheap microphone and
coming away with a decent tape
should take a sander at Schall s cur-
ret equipmen lt Neumann L-K87Ai
condensers. a pair of Neumtann kmi-
I84 condensers, a Macki c1202\ it and
a Sony )8 and a T*ascamti DA-3)0mk.
As complieated an endeavor as it
May seem to an outsidclr, SChall says
that taiing has gotten Increcas in lv
popular over the past decade, with
C "urles'. Off trdtr aUml 0 (hi
Pass the mics: The taper section at a
1998 Phish concert at indiana's Deer
Creek outdoor amphitheatre.
equipment cOsts taperi ing offaid trad-
inc becoming iiore and more xwide-
spread. "It's become affordable, and
there are millions of things to tape,
Schall said. "I actually found myself
recording a hail storm outside my
apartment this summer. Also, people
are more informed through the inter-
ii ct."
Dist mienbers, of course, aren't con-
tent just to sit at hori and soak up the
jams via their tape decks and C'D play-
ers. Like many of the nomadic obses-
sixcs who hae lic ped fuel the jam
band phenomenon, most list members
spend hundreds of dollars a year on
concert tickets and are fixtUires at local
concert venues x hinever a decent jam
band is in ton - which, in recent
years, has beeni pretty often. "This
tox "n is huge for jaim bands:' list mem-
her Jeff Patton said. "I see several of
the same faces oxer and over again at
shows I go to."
Some list iimbers, hoxcx er, aren't
so saniu ine about the jaii band Crae.
%Iany like Reilly Breiian, prefer to
keep their critical distance, saxinc
their rapt attertion for only a select
Eewv among the lnoodinig masses.
"Tlhere are just too many sucky jail
bands out there," Brennan said.
"Nobody ever complains about over-
croxxd- (liicxplen it comles to ridiculotis-
l > hot xxon. If jar bands were like
xxomet, there would be three or four
that youd cive your riclit testicle to
sleep with and about 1,000 that even a
freshly disavowed priest xouldn't
chiase:'
,4111 lt' interested ill jillim I/irt, list
is imvited to e-mail - uni rgu1xsse(dit -
trader s a umniec rd
gear up for
shows
Srng CeeeInciden*
7 p.m. tomorrow night at the Michigan Theater;
tickets are sold out!
Hometown: Crested Butte, Colorado
Date of Birth: 1993
Lineup: Kyle Hollingsworth (keyboards), Bill Nershi (gui-
tar), Michael Kang (mandolin/violin), Keith Moseley
(bass), Michael Travis (drums/percussion)
Jamming recip: SCI blends the disparate worlds of
bluegrass, Afro-Cuban, funk and Calypso into a tasty
stew, garnishing it with jazz sensibilities.
Im ortant Holiday Concerts: Halloween Pirates' Ball
in Portland, ME; New Year's Eve 2001: A String Cheese
Odyssey in Portland, OR.
Last Time at Michigan Theater: October 15,1999.
Have Played With: Bela Fleck, Darol Anger,
Peter Rowan, The Funky Meters, Keller
Williams, Los Lobos, Karl Denson and more.
Most Interesting Fact Procured From a
SCI Website S in-off: Nine percent of
SCI's repertoire 34 different songs) has
been played at concerts in Michigan.
"Choice" Merchandise Available on
SCI Homepage: The String Cheese
Incident light blue wife beater tank top, SCI
"Flying Disc" (Frisbee), SCI wax candle.
''
14
Dean Budnick (Editor of
jambands.com, author of the books
"The Phishing Manual" and "Jam
Bands") Sez: "The String Cheese live expe-
rience is really one that on a number of lev-
els, including the music itself, captures a lot
of the possibilities of what a great arena show
can be."
Forget e ate
action Van Dam a
master of bass-baritone
a t-
Now Open
in
Nickels Arcade!
Caramel Crunch
Cheesy Golden Corn
Chicago Mix
16 Flavors in all!
Sweetest Day
is Saturday
- a -- A
By Jim Schiff
Daily Arts\Writer
Internationally acclaimed bass-
baritone Jose Van Dam makes his
debut under UMS auspices at the
Lydia Mendelssohn theatre Friday
night. Performing some of the works
of Schumann, Faure, Duparc and
Poulenc, Van Dam is known for tak-
in on diverse roles and performing
Jose Van
Dam
Mendelssohn
Theatre
Tonight at 8 p.m.
themr with
m m a c u I a t e
artistry.
Entering the
B r u s s e I s
Conservatory at
age 17, Van Dam
set out on an
ac c o m pli s he d
career . filled
with awards and
lavish praise. In
two of his earlier
roles, he played
Don Basilio in
Rossini's "The
" and Escamillo in
et Melisande."
"He is a very human character,
who shows problems that all of us
face," Van Dam said.
He has found equal success b(
on stage and off. Van Dam is a two-
time Grammy winner, earning one in
1992 for principal soloist in Best
Opera Recording, and the other in
1985 for recording the songs of
Maurice Ravel. Also, he has starred
in two films: "The Music Teacher"
and "Don Giovanni."
Van Dam finds working in movies
to be a rewarding experience. "The
best thing for me in playing movies
is that you speak with the public, *
opera public," he said. "It's flatterig
to me when people see the movies
and care about the music."
Friday's performance represents a
joining of French opera and German
leider. The first part of the evening
will have works by Schumann, with
the rest featuring French composers.
This program has a special signifi-
cance to Van Dam, whose native I'
guage is French, but spent eig
years performing in Berlin. Hie said,
"the French songs and the German
lieder in the same recital is one ojl
the most beautiful things you can
hear."
In addition with his family and
Barber of Seville,'
Bizet's "Carmen." Some of his most
widely known parts include Falstaff,
Don Giovanni. the Flying Dutchman
and the title role in Oliver
Messiaen's "St. Francois de Assise"
at the Paris Opera.
m