S ARTS The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - 9 Hip String Cheese Incident rocks Hill Lyon Opera brings innovative musical Cinderella to Power By Brett, Billow For the Daily After a week long hiatus, bandanas, dread- locks and hemp made their way back to Ann Arbor's forefront. Unfulfilled by the cama- raderie Hash Bash had to offer, Ann Arbor's finest hippies (and pseudo-hip- pies) returned for the String Cheese Incident's stop at Hill THE S Auditorium Sunday night. With the smell of weed already present on the breadth of so many INCE homemade-pant-wearing fans, the Hill Au auditorium began to fill as the Sun opener, Keller Williams, played ? alone on stage. Williams per- formed barefoot on an oriental rug and wowed the audience as he used his mixer to become a one-man band. A purple curtain was draped across the back of the stage and a set of bongo drums was brought out in order to prepare for the String Cheese Incident's arrival. Just under a week ago, this same stage displayed a patriotic blue curtain and an American flag as one of Ameri- ca's most respected senators, John McCain, spoke in favor of community service. Despite the witty slogans on so many tie-dyed t-shirts ,the only instance in which the members of this audience will perform community service is when they are ordered to by the state of Michi- gan as a punishment for possession of marijua- na. SCI strolled on stage (also barefoot) and opened with "Bar Stool." Immediately it was apparent that the appeal of their music can only be realized when it is being played live. Their latest CD, titled "Outside Inside" is incredibly bland in that continuous jam session sort of way. But live, the music bounced off of the innu- merable shirtless and By Archana Ravi Daily Arts Writer heavil, drugge y d The only time we truly experience life in its purest form is during our childhood. Children are unsuspi- cious, simplistic and ever so cre- ative. From their perspective, life is STRING IEESE IDENT uditorium Apr. 14 at 0A p.m. fans who N reacted to each note with a twitch of arm-flailing ecstasy. Most of String Cheese Incident, booya. Courtesy of Sci-Fidelity the songs melded together making, it impossible for an outsider to decipher when one song began and when the other one ended - or to notice what the difference between those two songs had been. However, the fans loved, it and they grooved with as much intensity as any member of a mosh-pit head bangs. The highlight of the evening came early. Dur- ing the middle of their first set opener, Keller Williams came back on stage to play with SCI. He joked: "We are the Keller Williams' Band," and in reality he was right. SCI were reduced to his backup band. Williams took center stage and often the spotlight was solely focused on him, leaving SCI barely visible. But Williams had the energy and the skill to warrant this juxtaposi- tion. The band finished this first set with an instru- mental Allman Brothers cover. At this point they opted to take a twenty-minute break and a manifestation of sto- ries and dreams, surreal yet clear and absolute. In a masterpiece described by The New York Times as "aston- ishingly original and magical," the Lyon Opera Ballet takes us back to our childhood in a fantasy-like pro- duction of "Cinderel- la." The classic LYON C BALI Power C Fri. and Sat. Sun. at University Mu then return for another hour and a half of play- ing. The second set lacked the energy of the first. The audience seemed to be coming down from their highs, and Keller Williams did not return to revive them. In all, the band played for about three hours, each member taking a turn at lead singer duties in true hippie commune style. It was impossible to leave this show without feeling two things; the first was the sense of the community that String Cheese is surrounded by. Word quickly spread around my section of the audience that I was writing a review and numer- ous people made a point to continuously check on me to make sure I "felt welcomed into the Cheese family." The second feeling was that you were high. The auditorium was relaxingly warm, the seats rocked back and forth with the dancing of the people in your row and the psychedelic effect of the music was heightened with the use of numerous lights swirling on the ceiling and walls. However, this sensation was not enough to keep the show interesting for as long as it went on. My advice to the String Cheese Inci- dent: shorter shows or longer-lasting drugs. child, happily ever after. However, the French end their fairytales with "Ils furent heureux et eurent beau- coup d'enfants" - "They would be very happy and would have many children." So, at the end of the Lyon Opera production, Cinderella and the Prince pull a cart full of 20 real dolls on stage and truly live a fantasy ending. )PERA The Lyon Opera LET Ballet first toured in 1999, performing enter "Carmen" and "Solo at 8 p.m., for Two." In 1987, its 3 p.m. debut performance of $36 "Cinderella" made it an instant hit at the sical Society New York City Center. In 1995, the Lyon Opera Ballet was named Opera National de Lyon, giving it the' same high status as the 328-year- old Opera National de Paris. In June 1999, the company became the first modern ballet troupe to per- form at the Bolshoi Theater. Now, the company returns with one of its biggest hits, "Cinderella," in a series of three performances this weekend. fairytale is portrayed through the eyes of a child with a toyshop set- ting, porcelain doll-figure dancers, toys, trumpets and even intermittent sounds of baby gurgles. However, it is not the setting that is emphasized in this theatrical world of make-believe; rather, the focus is the intense human emotion of the characters. French choreogra- pher Maguy Marin tries to depict children's feelings through the show's doll-like characters. Marin has been described as a post-Romantic, creating a sophisti- cated, innovative production of appeal to many audiences of all ages. Marin has choreographed for many highly acclaimed dance com- panies, including the Paris Opera Ballet, the Dutch National Ballet and of course, the 1985 version of "Cinderella" for the Lyon Opera Ballet. Although trained in both classical dance and modern, she does not incorporate either style by itself into this production. Most of the dolls move in "stiff-knee" jerky movements, much like those of a real doll (if real dolls could move by themselves). The show ends thematically, the way everything should end for a CourtesyofU uMS The kind of guys you wish could be your parents, or at least your crazy uncles from Arizona. Cinderella in full swing. TV Actor Urich loses battle with cancer By Ryan Blay Daily TV/New Media editor Actor Robert Urich, best known to the world as Spenser from TV's "Spenser: For Hire," passed away yesterday at the age of 55 in Los Angeles. After a prolonged battle with a rare cancer that once went into remission, the actor, whose credits include Dan Tanna on "Vega$," Peter Campbell on "Soap" and Jake Spoon in the "Lonesome Dove" miniseries, succumbed to synovial cell sar- coma. The Ohio born actor has sev- eral Michigan connections. He received a masters from Michi- gan State University, and also co-founded, with his wife, the Heather and Robert Urich Fund for Sarcoma Research at the University of Michigan. Besides acting on shows such as "Emer- il" in his last days, he was active in the attempt to gain funds to find a cure for sarcoma. Long after his first TV role, on the show, "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," Urich received a Cable ACE award for one pro- gram, as well as an Emmy for narrating "U-Boats: Terror on Our Shores." His career spanned the 1970s ("S.WA.T.," "Tabitha") through this decade with his brief stint as Capt. Kennedy on "The Love Boat: The Next Wave," his final appearance on TV in "The Presi- dent's Man: A Line in the Sand. ..? V- . ,k YHaCemBv < ilt~wrRdrcw rx~yr~xoirpn, ih ..-.. . .._ ____ fistpb-m, enio, anvwlVbeeve PIerln Co ~U~~I v rS Q Wle piouisApis0,huingesu m r o ! 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