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