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TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 21, 2000

5


FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK

Less

Than Jake + Pontiac

= Hard rock

3y Gabe Fajuri

According to Less Than Jake lead singer
Chns, Michigan is one of the top fiv e places
for the band to play. And he claimed he "was-
n't just saying that."
Based on the reactin 'cn the sold-cut
cfowd assembled at Clutch Cargo's on
Scnday night, one migWhjhe inclined to
bieve him.
After three less-than-mediocre opening
had core and gone from the stage, the
packed house seemed all the more anxious to
vWelcome Gainesville, Florida's favorite
punk/ska sons to towi fo: the second time in

three months.
Strains of a famous opera filled the air.
A banner grandly touting the arrival of the
band was dropped from the flies.
The crowd began chanting.
"Less-Than-Jake. LESS-THAN-JAKE!
Less-Than-Jake. LESS-THAN-JAKE."
The din was nearly unbearable.
Thick, theatrical fog clouded the already
dense, tangible air.
The universal sign of Satan was formed by
each and every hand that knew how.
And then it hit.
Though the cry of "What's up Detroit?".
can hardly be considered an eloquent open-
ing to a theatrical performance, Less Than

Less Than
Jake
Clutch Cargo's
Nov. 19, 2000

.lake hasn't made a career of being eloquent
- just straightforward rock n' rollers with a

bit of ska and plenty of
punk rock thrown in to
the mix. And plenty of
theatrics. Which is what
made their entire Sunday
evening performance in
Pontiac one not to be
missed.
The set opened with
"Suburban Myth," a cut
off the band's latest
release, Borders and
Boundaries (Fat Wreck
Chords). Throughout the
hour-long performance,
the band would only

play four songs from its latest recorded
effort, instead choosing to stick to tried and
tested material dating back as far as its two
earliest releases.
The set list didn't seem to matter.
Dipping into its extensive catalog through-
out the night the band included songs from
Pe:core (Asian Man) like "My Own Flag,"
and 1998's Hello Rockview (Capitol). It did-
n't seem to matter where the songs were
coming from, however. The crowd's energy
and enthusiasm was relentless. During
"How's my Driving, Doug Hastings?" nearly
every middle finger in the venue was raised
in the air during the choruses. The band
responded in kind with a succession of furi-
ous sing-along/dance along/jump along
songs.
NG/Oaiy Chris entered the stage in full rock-show
regalia, sporting a red and black leapoard-

I

print spandex shirt, lipstick, black vinyl
pants and a black wig that would've made the
boys in Skid Row proud. Though he could
barely see through his faux-locks, the music
was far from suffering. His furious riffing
and posing on stage would've made Bach &
Co. beam, too, but both led to an early doff-
ing of said wig.
His attitude of hard-rock fury set the tone
for the rest of the evening. Fingertapping and
pseudo-tributes to Eddie Van Halen permeat-
ed numbers like "Rock n' Roll Pizzeria" and
"History of a Boring Town," a song written
about Chris' former stomping grounds right
here in the mitten state - Livonia,
Michigan.
Bassist Roger and the three piece horn sec-
tion of Buddy, Pete and J.R. were the uber-
active ones throughout the course of the
show - not to mention the band's official
dancer, who, as in past Detroit appearances,
was dressed to the nines and had topped off
his outfit with a mask akin to somuething
straight out of a Dia De Los Muertos cele-
bration. The entire band seemed to be enjoy-
ing itself as much as the crowd was. Roger's
constant mugging for the crowd and spinning
dreadlocks seemed proof enough of that.
At the tail end of the band's set and before
the encore, the skeletal dancer (a private
dancer of sorts) broke out a set of flaming
torches and blew gigantic bursts of fire over
the crowd in conjunction with the closing
chords of LT.l's final song, a cover of the
Partridge Family's classic "I Think I Love
You."
The crowd of mostly highschoolers went
especially wild for what can only be termed

NORMAN NG/ )v
Roger, the bassist from Less Than Jake, made
Sunday night an evening to remember.
the "low-budget Kiss concert" antics of the
band's set.
In addition to the fire-breathing, confetti
cannons were launched twice at strategic
moments during the show, including just before
the band's two-song encore, which opened with
"Automatic," the first track from LTJ's 1997
release, Losing Streak (Capitol).
Of all the songs the band managed to cram
into its performance on Sunday night (and it
was a performance, not a mere "show"), one
spoke volumes about the way Pontiac had
been transformed by seven gentlemen from
Florida, namely, "Gainesville Rock City."
Though they might've been far from home,
Less Than Jake's metro-area appearance
made one thing apparent: On Sunday, the
band was playing in Detroit; Rock City.

Meet Livonia, Michigan native and lead guitarist of Less Than Jake, Chris.
Student dance recit
rove 'Delicious' in
weekend debut
By Charity Atchison showed pictures of wome
Tail} Arts Writer were representative of the
which she choreographed t
The first of a series of BFA/BDA tion, the piece began in
certs, "Red Delicious" allowed country and ended with F
Tsx of the dance department's dancing a solo while draw
seniors to display their work this other women onto the stag
weekend. With her.
topics ranging Hurwitz's choreography rc
from Astroturf the different moods duri
to family to times in which her piece
Red dance, the stu- The section titled "Life Go
DeliciouS dent-choreogra- reflected the turmoil of
phers gave the young around the time
School of Music audience an Vietnam War and shifted to
Nov. 18, 2000 exciting perfor- expectance when the ch
mance. became pregnant.
"Thoughts on in a piece that seemed t
Stock Broking, more on dance than on a
Astroturf, and idea, Tomoko Kurokawa's "
Fare Ways" was Knows," had a strong tensio
choreographed Kurokawa utilized differen
by Holly metric shapes and poses. [
Furgason. This Abigail Sebaly and Sl
hun piece contained constant Perlotto offered opposition
motion and video background, another. Rebounding off
jlecting the floor of the New York other dancer's movements an
ck Exchange. Complete with the ing tension between them, th
PLunch-Walker" in white walking ended as Perlotto peered fro
shoes, the first section had a sharp, Blume into the audience tr
robotic feel. see what was out there.
The dancers shuffled across stage All of the works were
while a stock market ticker ran exceptionally well. The d
across the back wall. When the appeared to enjoy dancii
dancers rolled out a piece of what pieces almost as much as the
could have only been Astroturf and ographers had enjoyed c
the accompanying video showed a them.
lawn being mowed, Furgason began
cing. Her dancing related the
a of loving the texture of
Astroturf as she moved her feet
s l it d lirs od it.

als

Blob DVD oozes, slimes and
seethes its way onto a great DVD

n, who
time in
he see-
the old
Hurwitz
ing the
ge with
eflected
ng the
was set.
es On"
being
of the
joyful
aracter
o focus
stated
No One
n to it.
it geo-
Dancers
hannon
to one
of the
d hold-
he piece
m Julie
ying to
danced
dancers
ng the
chore-
reating

By Christopher Cousino
Daily Arts Writer
What can be more frightening than
an amorphous red ball of goo that
slinks and slides its way through
town consuming any men, women
and children in its path? In Irvin S.
Yeaworth, Jr.'s 1958 horror classic
"The Blob," that is precisely the
story: A completely absurd sci-fi tale
about a monstrosity from outer space
that somehow

AARRGGH!
SORRY, NO
BREAKING RECORDS
TODAY - WE HAD
TO GIVE THANKS
(AND SPACE) TO
OTHER STORIES.
NEVER FEAR.
HECK OUT YOUR
WEEKLY ROCK
CRfl1CISMS IN
TOMORROW'S
EDON OF
DAILY ARTS.
WORD.

The Blob
(DVD)
Grade: A-
Criterion
Collection
c e

weaves into a
portrait of the
inner turmoils
of suburban
families and the
generation gap
problem in the
'50s.
A young
Steve McQueen
plays Steve
Andrews, your
Anvtown USA
teen on the cusp
of adulthood

with full use of the wonderful array
of character actors as the townspeo-
ple. Even the schlock-yet-chilling
action is enjoyable (yes, the blob
actually moves by itself, without the
aid of the folks at ILM or Pixar no
less).
The Criterion DVD offers many
interesting movie buff details,
including how the filmmakers made
a ball of red gelatin become a terri-
fyingly funny land shark (they actu-
ally used a miniture set that rotated
on its side). The BLOB-abilia feature
contains both photos of the set and
collector Wes Shank's private collec-
tion. Along with a campy '50s poster
featuring McQueen as well as the
phrase, "The filmmakers disclaim
any and all responsibility for heart
attacks, fainting, or other damage to
the nerves as a result of watching
THE BLOB," the disc carries an
original trailer and a stunning, color-
ful print of the film.
Known for such extensive discs,
Criterion winds up with four com-
mentary tracks of the director, a pro-
ducer, a historian and an actor - and
the main menus feature the cool hyp-
notic swirl of the famed Saul Bass'
title sequence and composer Burt
Bacharach's swinging theme. With
such diverse talent along with
McQueen, "The Blob" is more than
just a lame horror flick. It's full of
personality and character, not to
mention a piece of red guck a shade
shinier than Play-doh.

Courtesy of Criterion


with a raging curiosity whether it be
with girls, daring car races or flashy
meteors that come spurting out of
the depths of space (if you know
"Rebel Without a Cause," you should
be able to start to see the connec-
tions). Working within the cheesy
sci-fi horror film genre and blending
it with the teen angst dramas such as
"Rebel" or "The Wild One,"
Yeaworth creates a swarmy, fun film

$5.00 Matinees til 6pm
$4.75 Kids & Seniors all shows
$5.75 with Student I
$5.75 Late Shows Fri & Sat
0No passes

F,

ll 2001

along it ar aiuol
The final section of' the piece
cente-ed on golf, with Michael
"Tiger" Burke cominw out to
demonstrate his swing. The piece
began to take on the feel of a golf
lesson as the dangers practiced their
,wings, but that feeling did not last
g. They were once again in
"stockbroker node, shuffling
along at a mad pace, as the stock
ticker returned to the screen. It,
looked as though the dancers could
not help but have a good time danc-
ing in this varied piece.
The solo "Enter the lempie,

Fsai

O HOW THE GHINCH STOLE
CHRISTMAS (PG)
1100, 11:50, 1:30, 2:10, 4:00, 4:35,
6:30, 7:00, 9:00, 9:30
O RUGRATS IN PARIS (G)
11:15.12:15,1:15,2:15, 3:15,4:15,
5:15, 6:15, 7:15, 8:15, 9:15
O THE 6TH DAY (PG-13)
11:15, 11:45, 1:50, 2:20, 4:25, 4:55,
7:10,7:30,9:40,10:10
O BOUNCE (PG-13)
12:00, 2:25, 4:45, 7:20, 9:25
O THIS IS SPINAL TAP (R)
1:00, 2:45, 4:50, 7:05, 9:10
O LITTLE NICKY (PG-13) 11:35, 1:25,
3:20, 5:20,.7:25, 9:25, 10:00


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m.