8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 27, 2002
ARTS
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Detroit-natives Six
Clips visit Blind Pig
Poignant 'Ballyhoo'
comes to East Quad
By Sonya Sutherland
Daily Arts Writer
There is that buzz about the
Detroit Garage Rock scene, but
what's going on out here in the'
burbs? I'd say quite a bit behind the
closed doors of 40 oz. Studios.
Name dropping seems a lot easier
than an explanation
for all, the creative
channels blondilocks
and frontman Drew
Peters and his not-so-
bad guitar-playing
brother Chris have in
their cable box: Ted
Nugent, Kid Rock
Six Ci
At the Bli
Tomorrow. at
and the Trash Brats, to name a few
local affiliations. Somehow in the
mean and in between time of pro-
ducing, mastering, managing and
recording, they find room for their
own project, Six Clips.
The Michigan Daily: You've
decided to show up to the Blind Pig
on Thursday, what is in store this
time around? '
Chris Peters: It should be a
great night. Lollipop Lust Kill is an
amazing live band. Great show. I
went down to Toledo to see them a
few weeks ago and the place was
packed with over a thousand kids.
It was nuts. It was their first home-
town show in a long time. Quite a
getdown. We are going on at 11
p.m. and LLK at about midnight.
It's our first show at the Blind Pig
so far this year, and we've got a
few new songs since last time.
TMD: At www.sixclips.com you
reveal a dislike of The
Strokes and Ryan
LIPS Adams but an apprecia-
tion of Ludicrous and
nd Pig Pink. What do the latter
musicians offer that the
9:30 p.m. former do not?
CP: The latter have
recorded songs that I
enjoy. Actually, I recently heard the
Pink record and was quite disap-
pointed. I did really like that first
single though. Not too fond of the
new single.
TMD: Are you ashamed of your
flagrant support of corporate,
mass-produced, "TRL" product?
CP: Not in the slightest.
TMD: What else are you listen-
ing to these days that has a little
more merit?
CP: More merit? According to
whom? You? Spare me. Too often
people want to over-intellectualize
music. If it sounds
good to me, then I
like it. If it feels
good, then I like
it.
By Jenni Glenn
Daily Arts Writer
The Rude Mechanicals gear up for
this weekend's production of "The
Last Night of Ballyhoo" at the East
Quad Auditorium, knowing this is only
the show's first run.
The cast and crew will reunite on
the other side of the Atlantic in August
to perform the play at Scotland's Edin-
burgh Fringe Festival, the Guinness
Book of World Records winner for the
largest arts festival in the world.
Inspired by the Royal Shakespeare
with being Jewish in this time period
and also coming of age and the
dynamics of this particular family,"
said Ian Burkow, a LSA junior who
plays Adolph, a member of the fami-
ly's older generation.
Between Adolph, his nieces Sunny
and Lala, his sister Boo and his sister-
in-law Reba, the play contains a cast of
characters with whom everyone can
identify, said Grady, an Engineering
sophomore who plays Boo. "It's like
you're walking into this family, and
you really feel apart of it," she said.
All the actors make special efforts to
Courtesy of Six Clips
Drew and Chris listening to the good stuff and shunning The Strokes?
The last thing I
do when I hear a
song is ponder the
questions 'Does
this have merit?' I
would imagine
that people who
ask themselves
that question upon
hearing a song are
going to turn to
the person next to
them to ask them
the same question. How lame is
having your tastes dictated to you
by some kind of consensus? But I
digress. I can tell you what I've
been listening to lately, you can
ponder the "merit" issue. Uh ....
that old Malcolm McLaren record,
Duck Rock. It's an '80s classic.
I've recently gotten into Art Tatum
as well. Great stuff. Born down in
Toledo, Ohio, and a huge figure in
American music. What else? I real-
ly like this Detroit band, Radio
Holiday. They remind me a little of
Quicksand-meets-Weezer or some-
thing .... Been listening to a ton of
Ted Nugent demos too. Oh, and it's
been nothing but Kiss, Liquid Liq-
uid, and Sepultura in my car. I
encourage everyone to go back and
check out Liquid Liquid.
TMD: If you had a dream house
featured on "Cribs" would it be in
the style of extravagance, like Mas-
ter P, his gold ceilings and his
"bling-bling" or the more function-
al approach of Method Man, his
broken doorbell and his refrigera-
tor-top box of cash.
CP: Definately the more func-
tional approach.
TMD: How do you feel this
frame of mind is reflected in your
music?
CP: I would say that this frame
of mind has nothing to do with our
music.
TMD: What is the last movie
you watched?
CP: I saw Vanilla Sky up at the
Fox Village and didn't like it. I've
never liked any of Cameron
Crowe's movies, but this one
looked like it had potential. Usually
his movies are chick flicks dressed
up as rock'n'roll movies. This one
wasn't that, but it was as lame as
the others.
TMD: Why are you prejudiced
against the word "experiment" and
its derivitives?
CP: Well, that's just it. Most peo-
ple who think they are engaging in
an artistic experiment are doing
nothing more than lapsing into
derivatives. Seriously though, I'd
like to avoid a tedious coffee house
debate about this stuff. Let's stay
away from all of the babble about
"risk taking" and the various clich-
es that come with this discussion.
You know, "open-mindedness" and
all of that crap. There is a great
deal of experimental music that I
like, and even more that I do not
like. Just like there is a lot of what
you would call "corporate" music
that I like, and much that I don't. I
will just say that if I am looking to
expand my musical horizons or
challenge myself as a listener, I'
tend to gravitate towards ethnic
music and stuff like Alan Lomax's
field recordings. There is so much
music from Uganda alone that is
worth checking out.
TMD: Name five good things
that came out of the '80s.
CP: EpMd, The Killing Fields,
Faster Pussycat (the band, not the
movie), The Long Riders (the
movie, not the band) and the execu-
tion of Nicolae Ceausescu.
TMD: How much is a Grammy
worth?
CP: Oh boy. They were horrible
weren't they? That ancient genera-
tion needs to pass the torch. They
need to except that fact that rock-
'n'roll doesn't belong to them any-
more, no matter how many
Grammys they give to Bob Dylan
or whoever. Dylan is great, but let's
give awards to today's artists today.
I could be wrong, but I do not
believe that the younger demo-
graphic is buying the new U2
record. The younger demographic
should be determining who gets
those trophies if they are to have
any credibility. The Grammys are
worth very little these days, and
they are worth less with every pass-
ing year.
Ji
I
Company's visit to Ann
Arbor last March, four
students formed the
Edinburgh Project. The
group aimed to perform
a play locally and then
take the production to
Scotland for the festival.'
That effort resulted in
"The Last Night of Bal-
lyhoo," said Megan
Marod, a RC sophomore
who directs the play and
is a member of the Edin-
burgh Project' along with1
THE LAST
NIGHT OF
BALLYHOO
East Quad
Auditorium
Tomorrow thru Sat. at 8 p.m.
$5-$6
Tickets available at door
The Rude Mechanicals
two of the
play's actresses, Molly Daunt and Sara
Grady.
"It's great to see that this thing
we've been talking about for a year is
actually happening," Marod said.
The crew chose the play for its
focus on a little-known aspect of
American history that they wanted to
share with a European audience. Play-
wright Alfred Uhry's show examines
the life of a Jewish family in Atlanta
on the eve of World War II and the pre-
miere of the classic film, "Gone with
the Wind."
In this, "The Last Night of Bally-
hoo" shares common elements with
the April Department of Musical The-
ater show, "Parade." Uhry also wrote
that script about the lives of Jews in
the American South.
"Ballyhoo" tells "a story dealing
effectiveness of the performances, said
Daunt, an LSA junior who portrays
Lala. Daunt believes the stage allows
the audience to feel closer to the small,
seven-person cast and the action as it
unfolds on stage. "It's a really intimate
space, so it's all pretty real,"she said.
While the cast and crew rehearse the
play for the East Quad Auditorium
stage, they are simultaneously prepar-
ing for traveling to Scotland and rais-
ing money for the trip. Marod said one
fundraising event will consist of host-
ing an auction prior to one of the per-
formances.
But for the time being, the actors are
concentrating on their upcoming per-
formances of "Ballyhoo." "I'm sure
come August I'll be very excited, but
right now I just want to focus on mak-
ing this performance the best it can
be," Daunt said.
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get into character. For
example, Grady keeps a
journal to help her pre-
pare for her role as
Boo. "I made a diary
for my character, and I
write in it as her,"
Grady said. "It puts me
in the right mindset to
think it out, being her
instead of acting like
her."
The East Quad Audi-
torium increases the
Courtesy of Six Clips
Chris Peters on guitar.
The University of Michigan's 30th Annual
ANN ARBOR
POW WOW
U.-c fr (44E AEA4 4
MARCH 29, 30, &31
5-H CRISLER ARENA
Joe (Sylvester) and Sunny (Redmond) agree: FedEx
Courtesy or ine uae MechanicaIs
is the prefered way to ship
I
'3
a-
.4.'
u
IX
Independent Spirit
Awards, RAZZIES
bestowed upon films.
By Ryan Blay
and Jim Schiff
Daily Arts Editors
We invite you to a gathering of over 1,000 of North
America's greatest singers and dancers. Come see the
rich culture and heritage of the country's most renowned
Native American artists and craftspeople displaying and
selling their authentic work
DOORS OPEN FRIDAY at 5 P.M.
Friday Grand Entry at 7 P.M. with
singing & dancing until 10 P.M.
DOORS OPEN SATURDAY at 11 A.M.
Saturday Grand Entries at 1 & 7 P.M.
with singing & dancing until 10 P.M.
DOORS OPEN SUNDAY at 11 A.M.
Sunday Grand Entry at 1 P.M.
with the Pow Wow concluding at 6 P.M.
Adults $9/day
College students (with valid ID) $6/day
Students (13-17 yrs.) $6/day
Seniors (60 yrs. & up) $6/day
Children (4-12 yrs.) $4/day
3 yrs. & under are FREE
Family and Weekend Passes available at the door.
Group Sales please call (734) 763-TKTS
NO GROUP SALES AT THE DOOR
Handicap Entrance on west side of arena
This Sunday's Oscar Awards pres-
entation was the lowest rated, longest
show in history. Between Whoopi
Goldberg's awful jokes and Enya's
shaky performance, viewers were left
wondering why ABC chose to run
this instead of "Alias" and "The Prac-
tice." This weekend, two alternative
presentations, the Independent Spirit
Awards and the Golden Raspberry
Awards (affectionately called the
RAZZIES) occurred, but sadly were
not televised.
A shorter and less gaudy cousin of
the Oscars, the Independent Spirit
Awards were held this past Saturday
in a tent on Santa Monica beach.
Director John Waters served as Mas-
ter of Ceremonies for the event,
handing out the eagle-shaped stat-
uettes to the winners.
In a night filled with little surprise,
"Memento" and "In the Bedroom"
came out on top. In addition to win-
ning for Best Feature, Christopher
Nolan took home the Best Director
and Best Original Screenplay prizes
for "Memento." Carrie-Anne Moss
was also honored for her supporting
role in the film. "In the Bedroom"
received honors for lead actors Sissy
Spacek and Tom Wilkinson, while
director Todd Field also took home
the prize for Best First Feature.
From "Ghost World," Steve Busce-
mi was honored for his portrayal of
Seymour, while co-writers Daniel
Clowes and Terry Zwigoff won the
Best First Screenplay award. "Jack-
RAZZIE awards. These honor the
worst performances in film over the
previous year. Tom Green, the first
"winner" planning to accept the
cheap spray-painted trophies in per-
son, took home five awards (at just
under $5 each, his prizes come to
$25): Worst Picture ("Freddy Got
Fingered"), Worst Actor, Worst
Screen Couple (with "any animal he
abuses" in the aforementioned
bomb), Worst Director and Worst
Screenplay.
The other major loser was Tim
Burton's critically panned "Planet of
the Apes." The film snared three
prizes for Worst Supporting Actor
(Charlton Heston), Worst Supporting
Actress (Estella Warren) and Worst
Remake/Sequel. Mariah Carey was
the other major loser for her role in
the disastrous "Glitter."
The presentation included a mock
opening number and presenters in
tuxedoes showing clips' from the
films. It was also much shorter than
the four-hour Academy Awards pres-
entation on ABC. Yet despite this, the
show has never been televised,
although this could change as early as
next year. Just before next year's self-
congratulatory Oscar telecast, view-
ers could be treated to LL Cool J,
Chris Klein and company accepting
their RAZZIE for "Rollerball."
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