Monday
September 27, 2004
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What size Frappucino would you like with that scone?
Despite fame, Hest
sticks to indie roots
Courtesy of
Rogue Pictures
Stop.
Collaborate
and listen.
By Michelle Kijek
Daily Arts Writer
Only about a year ago did Ari Hest
make the transition from indie sing-
er/songwriter to Columbia recording
artist. But if driving his new trailer
while doing a phone interview says
anything about his self-effacing
standards after signing with a major
label, it's obvious that not much has
changed.
"They care about selling records
and we care about making music
that's fun and accessible," Hest
explained. It's a typical response
from the artistic side of the indus-
try, but Hest put his money where
his mouth was at his in-store perfor-
mance at Ann Arbor's E. Liberty St.
Borders on Saturday.
With the usual aesthetics of a
guy you'd see at a campus bar on a
Thursday night, and a sense of calm
confidence in his music, Hest played
a sincere five-song set that caught
the ears of the entire audience. The
many fans who lined up to have their
copies of Hest's new album Someone
To Tell signed by Hest revealed the
success of his appearance.
On the road and promoting Some-
one To Tell, for the past few months
now, Hest recalled the pre-Columbia
days. "I worked my ass off, so I'm
not going to toot my own horn or
anything, but I did a lot of shows in
the last three or four years. I really
started playing for five people in
places and a lot of disappointing
towns ,and disappointing shows and
things that would make some people
want to quit."
DEAD ON
'SHAUN' SATISFIES WITH FRESH TAKE ON ZOMBIE GENRE
By Ian Dickinson
Daily Arts Writer
Luckily for enthusiasts of heart-
felt anthems and honest lullabies,
he's now making national headway.
On Friday, Hest and his band made
an appearance on "Last Call with
Carson Daly." It was "pretty scary
at first, honestly, I was like very
nervous when I was there, know-
ing that I was standing on the same
stage as all the 'Saturday Night
Live' bands. A lot of amazing music
has been played on that stage. It
was quite a trip, but I think some-
thing came over me when I got up
on stage and I realized that I had to
have fun with this, and I smiled and
started playing."
In a time where singer/songwrit-
ers are often plagued with a hit-
and-run status, it's difficult to guess
whether Hest's promising career
will stall out. But amid the concerns
of major label success, Hest makes
his purpose clear. "I'm really doing
things from my heart, so I really
hope that people get that with the
record because that's what I meant
to make."
M
It is rare that a film made in tribute to a genre is
considered great. Few thought Tim Burton's "Mars
Attacks" was a classic and, for all the cameos, the
"Dawn of the Dead" remake was a shadow of its
former self. As so often happens, though, two Brit-
ish filmmakers accomplish the
unthinkable in the horror-com-
edy "Shaun Of The Dead." Shaun of
Paying homage to the pan- the Dead
theon of zombie films that pre- At Showcase
ceded "Shaun," director Edgar Rogue Pictures
Wright and star/writer Simon
Pegg (both formerly of the cult
British TV show "Spaced") successfully mix brutal
and frightening horror with dark comedy.
Having recently broken up with his girlfriend
(Kate Ashfield, "Beyond Borders"), Shaun (Pegg)
wanders home, oblivious to the budding plague of
zombies in his North London neighborhood. He
wakes up the next morning, hung over and exhaust-
ed from a night of Playstation-induced debauchery
with his slovenly friend/roommate, Ed ("Spaced's"
Nick Frost), and discovers a backyard full of slow
zombies, only slightly more dim witted than Shaun
and Ed. Determined to rescue his ex-girlfriend and
mother, Shaun treks through an infested neighbor-
hood with his friends and family to the local pub,
hoping to escape the horror and have a few pints
while he's at it.
"Shaun's" brilliance lies not in its ability to work
as a horror film or a comedy, but in its near-perfect
synthesis of the two genres at all times. Never is
a frightening moment not without its comedy and
vice-versa. At one point, the survivors are invad-
ed by a horde of zombies while Queen's "Don't
Stop Me Now" blares on the jukebox. Every time
"Shaun" looks as though it could nosedive into a
trite horror film, Wright and Pegg break the mold
and throw in a surprise or two.
Wright and the actors do incredibly well remind-
ing the viewer not to take the film too seriously.
While George Romero used the "Dead" trilogy as
an avenue for social commentary, Wright wishes
only to express his love for zombie films and the
film is remarkably well-balanced in that regard,
remaining focused on producing laughs and frights
throughout its duration. The film's lone foray into
the realm of satire is a clever montage of workahol-
ic Londoners going about their weekday commute
as though they were, in fact, zombified. With the
nonstop barrage of gags and gore, Wright stresses
his interest in making a funny horror film, and he
succeeds.
Gore and gratuitous violence, which have sus-
:ained zombie films for so long, are not absent from
the film, in spite of the filmmakers' success at mak-
ing "Shaun" remarkably hilarious. To preserve the
balance between shock and comedy, though, the
use of gore is more subtle. Of course, there are all
the disembowelments and decapitations one would
come to expect, but they're filmed in a clever way:
Partially hidden from the viewer, once again prov-
ing that what isn't seen is often scarier than what is.
As Shaun and his band of survivors attempt to walk
to the pub, they see, distorted by a fence, a school
headmaster being gnawed at by former students.
Because of the fence, though, the viewer can't
exactly tell what's going on, and that uncertainty is
a source of fear throughout the film.
The filmmakers' passion for the genre is another
of the movie's driving forces. For all their tributes
to Romero and the Italian zombie films of the '70s,
Wright and Pegg strive to reinvent the genre while
remaining true to its core. Straying from the pack of
recent zombie films ("28 Days Later," the "Dawn of
the Dead" remake), "Shaun's" zombies are straight
out of a Romero film: slow and dumb but harbingers
of creeping death when they travel in packs. "Shaun"
diverts from fawning to its predecessors, though, by
making the protagonists almost as unintelligent as
their foes. Ed and Shaun spend the first night of the
plague drunk and unaware of the creeping infection.
The next day, they spend hours trying to figure out
the best means of killing an approaching zombie
before settling on a cricket bat and Sade LPs.
Ed and Shaun are regular, thick-headed guys with
dead-end jobs, bad taste in music, foul mouths and
few redeeming qualities, but the film works best
that way. Much to the delight of zombie enthusiasts
the world over, "Shaun" tells the story of a zombie
epidemic from the perspectives of a pair of "losers,"
putting on the silver screen what many horror geeks
dream about in class, at work and in chat rooms on
Saturday nights. A movie like "Shaun" will never
win an Oscar, but it can easily win the hearts of the
masses and for what it is, it is a brilliant and clever
work of art.
Claypool brings multi-faceted collective to Royal Oak
By Jared Newman
Daily Arts Writer
The most shocking thing to know
about bassist and vocalist Les Clay-
pool - aside from being influenced
by the late Mel Blanc - is that he
is a remarkably normal guy. No one
would guess this upon listening to
any of his music, from his extensive
work with freak-rock trio Primus to
his recent endeavors with the impro-
visatory Colonel Claypool's Bucket
of Bernie Brains (C2B3)4 Surely the
contrast between his twangy, silly
singing voices and his calm, easygo-
ing speaking voice is enough to throw
those who have never met him for a
loop. Now a father, Claypool admits,
"My kids go through that dilemma as
well."
Behind the mask of Claypool's
larger-than-life
persona is a man
who isn't confi-
dent enough in
his own singing
voice. What he
relies on instead
is an ever-expand-
ing repertoire of
freaks and geeks
Colonel
Claypool's
Bucket of
Bernie Brains
Tuesday at 8 p.m.
At the Royal Oak Theater
actor. You're able to come out of your
shell. It's more satirical ... I find it to
be more effective."
The feelings that Claypool conjures
on the C2B3 song "Hip Shot From
the Slab" certainly achieve an effect
that no average singing voice could
accomplish, as he taunts in a sicken-
ing redneck growl, "Whatcha gonna
do about it, huh? Whatcha gonna do
about it?"
Like the 10 other tracks on the new
C2B3 album entitled The Big Eyeball
in the Sky, "Hip Shot From the Slab"
is focused heavily on improvisation,
which isn't surprising considering
that the band - Claypool and drum-
mer Brain of Primus, Praxis guitarist
Buckethead and veteran keyboardist
Bernie Worrell of Parliament - was
formed by chance at the 2002 Bonna-
roo festival.
"I like to be as spontaneous as pos-
sible and this project is incredibly
spontaneous," says Claypool. Luckily,
the supergroup has enough chemistry
to keep their jams afloat, even in lon-
ger grooves like "Elephant Ghost."
Part of the allure of The Big Eyeball
in the Sky is how loose it is, favoring
priceless instances of group unity over
flawless cuts. "I don't care if there's
pops or glitches. It's more about cap-
turing the moment. I think there is a
lot of over-sterilization that goes on
with production. But that's other peo-
ple's personal tastes. Lord knows I'm
not king of the pop world."
Claypool is anything but a pop
junkie - he has always been accus-
tomed to doing things his way, pro-
ducing and engineering most of his
albums on his own label, Prawn
Song, and never compromising his
work, even when his success is on
the line.
"Long ago when I was working as
a carpenter, I would come home and
there'd be a message on my machine
(in a classic Claypool satirical voice)
'Oh this is such and such from Poly-
gram, and I heard about your band.
Did you ever think of getting a lead
vocalist?' I have the luxury and I
think it's expected of me from my
fans to keep throwing pasta at the
wall to see what sticks."
That will certainly be the case with
the upcoming C2B3 tour, where noth-
ing is guaranteed with the exception
of Claypool's funky bass runs and
witty, satirical lyrics. "How much
we're going to stick to the script, I
don't know. The great thing about
to mimic, all with their own per-
sonalities and world-views. "Sing-
ing songs through the viewpoint of
another character is like being an
rUtesy o frawn song
Do you like my hat?
The University of Michigan College of Literature Science and the Arts
presents a public lecture and reception
this band is that we're all lunatics. I
can't imagine any two shows being
the same."
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"THE GREATEST
BURRITO OF ALL
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