Friday March 5, 2004 arts.michigandaily. corn artseditor@michigandaily.com UbeItdiiwn 1&u ARTS 5 By Andrew M. Gaerig Daily Music Editoro ZACH MABEE CONCERT PREVIEW "The other night we played at a huge club in D.C., and we get up there and the fucking soundman didn't turn on the mics," explained Hamilton Lei- thauser, the plain-spoken frontman for New York City denizens The Walk- men. "I played the first two songs without a microphone, but we recov- Expecting the expected the obvious in Oscar ered. A while ago that would have put us in a cast." That sort of pro- fe ss ion a 1 i sm should probably be expected: Each of The Walkmen Saturday at 9 p.m. At the Magic Stick The Walkmen's five members cut their teeth in successful underground acts, with organist Walter Martin, gui- tarist Paul Maroon and drummer Matt Barrick spending time in hype- machine casualty Jonathon Fire*Eater. The band's second album, the hypnotic, driving Bows and Arrows, dulls the echoes of prior bands and hones The Walkmen's unique sound. Their first record, 2002's Everyone < Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone, mixed gutty guitar jangle, eerie ' piano lines, powerful drum slaps and Leithauser's high-strung vocals with impressive results, but some- how felt higher on potential than delivery. "We opened this recording studio (Marcata Recordings) up in Harlem a few years ago and ... during the first (album) we were just learning" Leithauser said. In contrast, Bows and Arrows is a cleaner, more Can ibe th focused, and ultimately better record. Leithauser explains: "This time, we just knew how to work the equipment a lot better." There was also a greater E sense of direction INEW YORK ~ for Bows. "It was something we had laid out beforehand. We knew what we were going for." Despite the newfound focus, the group's son- ics don't mesh easily. "Usually one person will whole band. And then I take it home to do the lyrics and the melodies." The album, which was recorded in four or five different locations, was considerably more difficult for the band - used to working in its own studio - to mold into a cohe- sive whole. "It was a little weird. We definitely had to bring it back to our studio at the end. We weren't getting everything we needed." The band, however, makes it a point not to over-produce their songs, instead relying on material that they can reproduce live. "That's the most important part. People get so caught up in the studio sometimes. I think that's a big problem with modern music." Leithauser's easygoing demeanor is betrayed by his recorded persona. A passionate singer, Leithauser bucks the trend of disinterested frontmen, displaying a unique abili- ty to make even most inconsequen- tial lines captivating. It is his presence, more than anything else, that sets The Walkmen apart from the spate of New York bands that of Record Collection they are so often compared to. It's the kind of presence that can transform a live show from entertain- ing to intoxicating. The band, already in the midst of a massive tour sup- porting Bows and Arrows, will bring its transfixing art- PON DETROIT rock to Detroit this Saturday. Lei- thauser argues, though, that the band's live presence isn't derived from its sound, but rather its increasing force and improving chemistry."It's all energy,"he explained. "You never know until you get up there." am strongly tempted each year to think that, on the morning follow- ing the Oscars, I'm smarter than the average bear. It seems at times that my Oscar prescience improves annually and that with every passing ceremony I become a more surefire predictor of who will take home what statuette. Usually, though, after a lit- tle reflection on the ceremony, the pride-deflating reality of the situation becomes clear: I'm not the only one. Indeed, the Oscars, in this epoch reigned by big-studio epics, have become less and less suspenseful and more and more unsurprising. The results may in many cases be appro- priate, but certain contenders and eventual winners are studio-bred for success and emerge from the pack sometimes before they even emerge from production. Take Anthony Minghella's "Cold Mountain," for example. The film garnered much-deserved critical acclaim and was a rather well-told and sublimely portrayed Civil War love story. The elements for Oscar success, however, were evident even in the film's previews. It boasts, to accompany Oscar- familiar director Minghella ("The English Patient"), a cast including, in significant roles, Jide Law, Nicole Kidman and Ren6 Zellweger (who took home gold); This isn't to men- tion that Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland played minor, hardly important roles. Zellweger, as mentioned, was the only major player in the film to take home a trophy. The consensus on "Cold Mountain," though, seemed to be that you almost had to like it: There were too many savory ingredi- ents, regardless of how they were thrown together, to discount it. Many of these truths hold for Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" as well. The trilogy's first two install- ments both were unable to win the coveted Best Picture prize. Many, however, complain that "The Return of the King" can't get enough of itself: It drags on purposelessly. Jackson and his team couldn't bear to conclude their precious creation. Nonetheless, the film took home timely Best Picture and Best Direc- tor statuettes that were certainly rewarding the trilogy as a whole more than its concluding element. The result of this predictable favoring of big-studio productions is the tragic snubbing of many worth- while pictures. Sofia Coppolla's "Lost in Translation" is a beautifully wry comedy that utilizes Bill Mur- ray's talent in an absolutely tri- umphant but previously untested way. It was able to earn a Best Screenplay award, but unfortunately, was otherwise sadly ignored (at least in meaningful categories). "Lost in Translation" is a tragic paradigm of this general, depressing trend in modern Oscar ceremonies. It's a deeply lovable and deserving film that alas lacks the epic clout or big-studio drive to garner the praise it deserves from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As long as great films like it fail to win, though, I'll at least have some sorrow to counteract the hubris that I get from predicting the winners. - Zach Mabee is still disappointed that "Gigli"wasn't nominatedfor Best Picture. Console him at mabeez@umich.edu e cute one? No. You're the short one. AMBLE ON ART-ROCKERS STUMBLE U bring in a small idea, a guitar part or a drum beat," explained Leithauser. "If we like it, we'll try to add layers on top of it, and maybe one out of every 1000 times it will sound good with the Angry rap veteran bucks radio on new LP By Evan McGarvey Daily Arts Writer Anything' offers a bit of everything By Katie Marie Gates Daily Arts Writer "For someone who receives a biweekly paycheck in exchange for her professional expertise on love, I can be remarkably dim about it. It's as if all my conviction gets gobbled up between ten and six, and I have none left over f s -Francesca Delbanco "Ask Me Anything" Royce Da 5'9" has been trying to play the commercial rap game for some time now. His Detroit mix-tape classic with Eminem, "Renegade," got lost in the shuffle and eventually resurfaced as a booming street anthem on Jay-Z 's The Blueprint, with Jigga subbing in for Royce. Heck, Royce has been so hungry for some notoriety he Royce Da Death is Certain Make-it-Count ingly designed to spurn radio trends. Eerie and confrontational songs like "Beef" and "Everybody Goes" fill the disc with darkness. Royce can stress different syllables in a word and his graceful flow lets him craft slick internal rhymes with this tried-and-true rap trick. Listening to Royce is never dull; multiple listens let each verse flesh out in a new direction. The DJ Premier-produced "Hip Hop" is a jewel of a track. Premier's chimes and Royce's encyclopedic description of rap combine to make a great song designed for neither booming systems nor hootchie-infested clubs. The angst and weight of Royce's fire sermons holds back the CD's second half. It's not so much that a cameo from Murphy Lee would make the disc bet- ter, it's just that we need an occasional reprieve from the chants of fury. Royce refuses to submit to the pop-rap blue- print tread upon by former under- ground warriors (cough, cough ... 50). But after a while, the bared fangs just wear dull. "The 20's are the decade of most change in your life," novelist Francesca Delbanco said, quoting her mother. "Because when you enter them you're a kid, and when you leave it is time to be an adult." Delbanco captures this moment in between college and the rest of life in her witty first novel, "Ask Me Anything." The Ask Me story follows 26 Anything year-old Rosalie By Francesca Preston who Delbanco works in New W. W. Norton & Co. York City as a teen magazine advice columnist by day and a small time theater actress by night. Rosalie is likeable and complex as she endures a tumultuous year comprised of acting rehearsals, an affair with her friend's father and the daily task of advising angst filled teenagers. The first person narrative immediately brings Ros- alie to life with profound honesty. "I wanted her to be a really smart ver- sion of a 26 year-old, but still like a kid who is figuring everything out," Delbanco explained. While Rosalie is the leading lady of "Ask Me Anything," her support- ing cast is an entertaining ensemble of varied characters including best friend Grace, rich girl Bella, friend- with-benefits Cam, director Evan, lover Berglan Starker (Bella's father) and Irish playwright Declan. Fans of "Sex and the City" will notice some similarities in the antics of these characters and the sexual nature of their single lifestyles. However, Delbanco admits she had never seen the show before this year. Unlike the racy HBO drama, "Ask Me Anything" manages to be sexy without long, descriptive sexu- al encounters. A humorous addition between chapters are the letters Rosalie receives as "Annie Answers" and her responses about love, life and relationships for teens like "Wig- ging in California" and "Not Popu- lar in Montana." The idea for Rosalie's day job actually came from Delbanco's real- life work as an advice columnist for Seventeen and Teen People in New York. "I did receive hundreds of those letters over the years, so much so that they ring in my head," she laughed. Delbanco graduated from Harvard University before receiving her Master's of Fine Arts from the Uni- versity of Michigan. Her father is also a professor at the University and a writer, but Delbanco said she didn't get interested in writing until her junior year in college. Coming home to Michigan in February for a reading from "Ask Me Anything," the new author received a warm welcome at Shaman Drum, where family and friends squeezed into the crowded shop. Delbanco's humorous text and entertaining presentation had the audience laughing despite the close quarters. Delbanco spent four years creat- My advice: Read more! even did an amazingly awkward (and hilarious) cameo on C-list teen-queen Willa Ford's "I Wanna Be Bad." Even with all the mishaps that have marked Royce's career, Death is Cer- tain has no stink of desperation. All the scorn on the disc comes from frustra- tion, not for lack of fame. Instead of going the crossover route and using a fsmattering of hot producers and nubile female singers, Royce's album is seem- ing "Ask Me Anything" and is cur- rently working on a second novel while freelancing for women's mag- azines in Los Angeles. Her interests center on true-to-life modern fiction and she strives to achieve a distinc- tive voice in her writing. "I hope that is what makes my writing dif- ferent from the next book that you pick up," she said. Rosalie's charac- ter lets Delbanco's voice shine through in this insightful and light- hearted tale of love and the search for self after college. Shakespeare's tragedy brought to campus By Sarah Peterson Daily Fine Arts Editor Arguably one of the most emotional- ly intense and expertly crafted dramas of Shakespeare's career, the Guthrie come to a head. Cheyenne Casebier (Desdemona) described the play as a story of the extreme love of a very powerful black military man (Othello) and a white woman (Desdemona), and how Othel- lo's trust and friendship in Iago leads to his demise. "It is about the fall of a great man due to pride and jealousy," Casebier said. The costuming and sets come from the Victorian period, but, as Casebier already written down on the page and then fleshing out the character using her own real-life characteristics. "After all," Casebier explained, "everything that you have experienced is really what is speaking up on stage." Casebier admitted that one of the biggest challenges she has faced has been dealing with the violence, both physical and mental, that her character is exposed to. "It is strange to go through something so violent over and COOKER SPECIALIZING IN FILLETMIEGNONS,, HAWAIIAN CHICKEN, AND PRIME RIBS' HAPPY HOUR: M-F (4-7) a g GREAT DRINK SPECIALS! Plymouth Rd. across from theatertowersro (2000 Commonwealth Blvd.) (734)7?61-5858 - ix 'NJo's Theater performs the tragedy of "Othello" this weekend at the Guthrie Theater's I , i