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 inanclal r - '4 Win $10 4 if T..I..A. LOOKING FOR A GREAT A LEADERSHIP POSITION? Are you a mess? Knock us out with a brief description and up to four color photos of your messy apartment. 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