9 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 16, 2001
Taproot, Linkin Park show
mad V-Day love at Clutch
ARTS
'Massive' addresses
women, body image
By Joyce Lee
0 IIy Arts Writer
Tuesday night at Clutch Cargos, the L.A.-based
rap rock band Linkin Park and Ann Arbor's own
:Taproot rocked the sold-out Pontiac venue. The
theme of the night's show:
Dangerous but entertaining
stunts and showing love for
Linkinthe fans.
In Pre-Valentine's Day cel-
Park ebration, both Linkin Park
Clutch Cargos and Taproot showed their
Feb 13, 2001 love and appreciation for the
fans. Taproot, being natives
of Michigan, brought a large
crowd of hardcore, devoted
fans to the venue. Taproot's
set was wild and full of
j crowd-pleasing antics.
Lead singer Stephen
Richard was exciting to
atch. He jumped around on the entire stage, but
e movement wasn't limited there. Richard mvs-
teriously popped up in the balcony happily sur-
prising many fans that tried to get a piece of him.
fie did a balancing act along the balcony railings
while at the same time singing.
At this point, what more he could possibly do?
He gets up on the highest speaker still singing
and the fans look above waiting for his next
move. In a split second he jumps off the speaker
and into the mosh pit. The crowd carries their
beloved rockstar until he makes it in the middle
of the pit where he moshes alongside the fans and
still sings strong. Only in rock can you see those
daredevil stunts and listen to great music. It was
like the ESPN X-games.
Headliners Linkin Park had a tough act to fol-
low, but they managed to bring their own rock
mayhem to the show. Around 10:30 p.m. the stage
was pitch black and all you could see were glow
in the dark signs with the Linkin Park initials.
They came on one by one and the crowd went
crazy. They opened their set with "Point of
dynamic women
The Most
Massive
Woman Wins
Arena Theater
Through Saturday
By Marie Bernard
Daily Arts Writer
It's a rainy Valentine's Day, and in
the Arena Theater, the girls are
warming up for a final dress
rehearsal. This group of five
- director Heidi
Powers and her
four actresses
- go through
vocal exercises
while the sound
man cues up
TLC's "Unpret-
ty." Then the
show begins.
Forty min-
utes later, these
actresses, after
a final collapse
into each others
arms and a low-
ering of the
JOYCE LEE/Daily
Chester Bennington is seen here blowing up the spot.
w
Authority," a track off their recent album F
Theory.
Their set also consisted of showing their<
Hybrid ciation for the fans. The two vocalists, blonde-
haired Chester Bennington and blue-haired Mike
appre- Shinoda, had great interaction with the crowd,
constantly shaking hands with them and spraying
water at the dehydrated, sweaty crowd. Benning-
ton alsp jumped into the pit and climbed the
speakers to the balcony, serenading his audience.
The set continued with other songs off their
album as well as more moshing, crowd surfing,
slam dancing and good rap rock. It was an awe-
some hour-long live performance, and it closed
out with their current single "One Step Closer."
The show didn't end with the last song,
though. Linkin Park came to their fans and sat
around for maybe 45 minutes or more, signing
autographs and talking to fans. The band proved
that they cared more about being with their fans
than their own safety by sticking around and tak-
ing time to greet all their fans. I don't think
there was a single person there who didn't either
LEE/Day touch or see Linkin Park or Taproot up close and
personal.
through days or weeks or months
when they doubt or dislike whom
they are," Powers said.
The issue of body image is espe-
cially prevalent on college campus-
es where women are constantly
checking around them to see if thew
measure up. This play, in particula(
focuses on the issues faced by thos&
women who feel that their every
action and choice has been prede-
termined by a few extra pounds on
their thighs.
We ultimately come to learn what
has driven these women to choose
surgical treatment as a solution. Web
hear of the complaints of one
woman's beer-guzzling husband,
one woman's undergraduate thesis
on the topic that has ruled her life,
another's cowering at her mothers
overpowering desire for perfectiot.
The audience is immediately thrust
into their stories, and the play never
loses pace.
Regardless of the issues it pre-
sents, this play stands on its own as
a compelling piece of theater. It
almost feels accidental that so manv-
issues are raised; the drama is there
without the politics.
The play is both exceptionally
acted and directed. These four:
women work together iti a powerful;
ensemble group. Every actress pre-;
sents her own self-revelation with
conviction and finesse, speaking'
through the imperative body lan-
guage as well as by voice.
The audience feels as though they
have been let into a million private
moments, but these are, of course
the private moments that will hope-_
fully construct public discourse:
Powers said, "This has been a very
personal and special project."
Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda gets crazy props from his peoples after Tuesday's show.
lights, will emerge, liberated, while
"You're Beautiful, Dammit," blares
on the set's speakers.
"The Most Massive Woman
Wins," Power's directing project, is
an incredible penetration into the
female mind. "I want this to start a
dialogue," Powers a senior in the
School of Music said, "about who
we are, what we think of ourselves,
and why."
The piece, which runs this week-
end in conjunction with Basement
Arts, is written by Madeleine
George. Powers came across the
play as a senior in high school, and
felt it resounded with her personal-
ly. Through a surreal infusion of
music, monologues and conversa-
tion, the'play tells the stories of four
women in the waiting room of a
liposuction clinic.
The copies of Cosmopolitan and
Marie Claire that the girls flip
through in the opening scene are not
arbitrary props. It's these images of
the WB girls and heroin-chic mod-
els that have assisted in driving one
out of every four women to take
refuge in an eating disorder. "This
is a very personal subject," Powers
said. "Almost taboo ... self-esteem
is never really addressed."
This play is not a diatribe of fin-
ger-pointing, however. We are not
led to believe in any way that it is
only the media that have led women
to feel like captives of their dress
size, but rather a combination of
forces - boyfriends, husbands, par-
ents, teachers, classmates -- and of
course, ourselves. "Everyone goes
.NBC brings real-life romance home
'atie Den Bleyker
For The Daily
To conclude its week-long celebra-
tion of Valentine's Day, NBC is airing
a made-for-TV movie based on the
e Princess
and the
Marine
NBC
Sunday at 9pm
n-om "Saved by the
real-life love
affair between a
B a h r a i n i
princess and a
U.S. Marine
Lance Corporal
that dominated
the newspapers
last year.
In this reverse
Cinderella story,
U.S. Marine
Jason Johnson
(Mark-Paul Gos-
selaar, a.k.a.
Zack Morris
Bell") is stationed I
dezvous at the local mall (apparently
the mall is a central part of the
Bahraini culture too).
Like all TV movies, "The Princess
and the Marine" requires some sus-
pension of disbelief. Meriam and
Jason first meet when she "randomly"
calls his room at the local army base.
It is also a bit hard to believe that the
Bahraini people do not recognize and
approach Meriam, who is royalty,
while she is strolling among them at
the mall and the airport.
Although some of the plot devices
are a bit thin, this is an enjoyable
romantic tale. When Meriam's parents
forbid her to leave the house unescort-
ed because of her initial meetings with
Jason, the two manage to exchange
letters via a drop site at the mall and
eventually Jason proposes just as the
Marines are about to re-assign him.
Fortunately, the pair is saved by the
bell (or, actually, by forged military
documents that allow Meriam to
sneak out of the country with Jason
and marry him in America). Unfortu-
nately, the pair's problems are not
over, as INS wants to send Meriam
back to Bahrain and the Marines want
to court-martial Jason for forgery.
My only true complaint about this
movie is that the ending is very
ambiguous, partly because the real-life
Jason and Meriam are still awaiting
the Immigration and Naturalization
Services' decision on her immigration
status. NBC should have waited a bit
to air this until the real-life story was
truly over. However, "The Princess and
the Marine" nicely fits the Valentine's
Day theme of love conquering all.
Courtesy of NBC
Marisol Nichols and Mark-Paul "Preppie"
Gosselaar star in NBC's new TV movie.
Courtesy or 5even F. Austin State University
"Massive Woman" is an incredible
penetration into the female mind.
I r I
. . . ... . . . ........, t
i
41Bahrain where he meets and falls
-oilove with Meriam A1-Khalifa
4arisol Nichols), a member of the
K royal family. However, since Meri-
am's religion does not even permit
her to choose a husband, instead rely-
ing on arranged marriages, she and
Jason must make do with secret ren-
REMEMBER THAT PART
n "DARKMAN"
WHERE THE MAIN BAD
GUY CUTS THAT
DUDE'S FINGERS OFF
wnm ThE.
YEAHrTHAT WAS
PRETTY WICKED.
READ DAILY ARns.
Attention CHORAL SINGERS
You are invited to OPEN REHEARSALS of the
Berlioz REQUIEM
with the
University Musical Society Choral Union
The UMS Choral Union wants vou! Singers
are invited to get acquainted with the 125-voice Choral
Union and conductor Thomas Sheets by attending open
rehearsals of Berlioz's monuimental Requiem, which the
chorus will perform on April 22 in Ann Arbor's famed Hlill
Auditorium.
On two Monday evenings, February 26 and March 5,
interested singers may rehearse with the Choral Uion-scores
will be provided, along with information about our sing-
er-friendly auditions and exciting 2001-2002 season, includ-
ing performances with the San Irancisco/Detroit Symphony
Orchestras. Rehearsals are held in the U-M Modern
Language Building, Auditorium #4, from 7-9:30 p.m. Let us
know you're coming by calling our office at 734.163.8997.
Visit our web site at vwww.ums.org, or email kio@umich.edu
'1
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