ARTS The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 9 Courtesy of 20th Century Fox "Yep. Yep. Yep." It almost sounds like a Lil' Jon lyric. Heartwarming Texan toon 'King' on DVD By Evan McGarvey Daily Music Editor 0DIV D E This is a love letter: Social realism is hard. While "The Simpsons" got cultural Courtesy of McCoury Music The bluegrass mafia. FAMILY TIES THE DEL MCCOURY BAND BRINGS ITS BLUEGRASS TO AZ icons for guest stars "serious" television audience swing- ing from its chain for the past decade or so, "King of the Hill" has done its time as the lead- in - despite the fact that it's always and had most of the By Joey Lipps Daily Arts Writer The Del McCoury Band, headed by 66-year- old patriarch Del McCoury, is back on tour to promote their new release, The Company We Keep. The The Del album, released under the McCoury family's new record label, Band McCoury Music, features familial relations - Del's Friday at 8 p.m. sons Rornie and Rob play At The Ark mandolin and banjo, respec- tively, in his five-piece outfit. On Friday evening at The Ark, The Del McCoury Band will play pure bluegrass, inspired by the genre's founders and McCoury's teachers - Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Despite the fact that McCoury has played for more than 30 years, he only obtained this level of recognition with his band in the past decade. The group won four Best Male Vocal- ist awards-and three Best Album awards in the '90s from the International Bluegrass Music Association. McCoury said he can't explain the recent popu- larity of the band or the genre. "You've heard the expression, 'Every dog has its day,' and bluegrass is having its day now. God knows why. "I never figured it out, but there are probably a lot of things that point to this. The movie ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?") helped a lot. They released a single and that song they chose was a great song, and it helped us a lot. It was the pure thing," he added. The Del McCoury band has also gained a large fanbase from cultish jam-band follow- ers after their collaborations with groups such as Phish. McCoury finds his concert audiences have become a mix of bluegrass purists and long-haired, half-baked contemporary counter- culturists. "I tell you the truth," he said. "When some of those jam bands used to come to my shows when they were young, before they were in a band, they were fans. Then they grew up and wanted us to play at their (performances), and that's kind of the reason we have been playing a lot of those things. The jam band community has kind of accepted us." McCoury noticed through his concerts that this younger generation not only appreciates his present work, but have also gone back to explore his older material. He often gets requests dur- ing his concerts for songs he recorded 30 years ago. He said this is what makes his live per- formances exciting. McCoury rarely ever enters a show with a set list; instead, he caters to his audience. "We mostly do all-request shows; we have no idea what we're going to do when we walk on the stage," he said. "I try to do some of the new things, but then I say we'd like to take requests and they start hollerin'. It's more exciting for the audience, the band and me to do things we aren't expecting to do. It makes for a really live show, mistakes and all." The Company We Keep is a record close to McCoury's heart, the work of a man who trea- sures his family and all those who worked so hard to make the group a success. He likes the idea of carrying on the tradition of bluegrass music; teaching his grandkids to play bluegrass is "just a natural thing to do, and sooner or later, they'll be the ones on stage and I'll be sittin' down somewhere," he said. The tradition of bluegrass is what draws McCoury to its sound the most. He said as long as he's alive, the tradition of bluegrass music will remain alive. McCoury also pointed out that all rock stems from his genre - that Chuck Berry's licks are simply an electrified version of Bill Monroe's mandolin picking. He is confi- dent that today's musicians will similarly follow his band's influence. "That's what inspired me in the beginning - Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs," McCoury said. "I think God said, 'Well, if I'm going to introduce bluegrass music, I'm going to get the best musi- cians there are.' And this tradition is what really attracts me to the music. I can't see myself set- ting up a band with anything but that sound." sharper on the social side and sweeter on the humane side. While "Family Guy" grabbed a scat- terbrained fanbase due to an onslaught of hip references and cracked-out scene cuts, "King of the Hill" matured into the best slice of Americana and suburban life since John Updike finished "Rabbit, Run." The show's home in Arlen, Texas is almost magic. It's a town populated by dynamic, hilarious and wonderfully human characters who all have at least one irreplaceable and often brilliant gimmick: Dale's never-ending government para- noia, Boomhauer's whiplash, ion-quick mumble and, of course, the trials of Khan, the Laotian neighbor and executive whose adjustment to middle-class American life is the most telling and nuanced aspect of the show. As for the titular family, Hank Hill still sells propane with a sweet zeal, his wife Peggy is still the best substitute teacher in Arlen and their son, Bobby, the prop-com- edy loving, chubby young lad who gets along better with adults than his plodding classmates, is still one of the most consis- tently irreverent figures in recent TV lore. King of the Hill: The Complete Fifth Season 20th Century Fox Even in its relatively brisk and brief fifth season, the cast manages to party with former Texas governor Ann Richards and explore Veterans' Day with Hank's always-surly father, Cotton (yeah, the guy with no shins). In the season's most brilliant episode ("Yankee Hankie"), the proud Texan Hank finds out that he was actually born in (gasp!) Manhattan. Texas usually gets a bum rap from those Manhattan critics, college kids and other pseudo-intellectual bobos, but what "Yan- kee Hankie" does better than anything is throw decades of Texan history at viewers as if we're expected to know what's going on. It's a self-confident move, and one that lesser shows couldn't pull off. And sometimes, "King of the Hill" actually informs as much as it blissfully entertains. It grabs ahold of the foibles of the honest- to-goodness middle class (SUVs and pri- vate school are thoroughly mocked by the series) without becoming mean-spirited or condescending. As for the DVD, don't expect anything much from the special features. What's there is mildly entertaining at best. The set's picture and sound are crystal clear and better than the standard broadcast version. Those lesser shows, such as the increas- ingly inane"Family Guy,"claimtobe more absurd and off-the-wall, but "King of the Hill" sticks to the daily bread that's often more uproarious than it looks (Bobby sav- ing a drowning pig, Dale's lawsuit against his favorite cigarette company forruining his wife's skin). In doing so, "King of the Hill" makes real, heartland American life into slanted magic realism. And that gives it one thing no other animated comedyon television has right now: a heart. Show: ****,A Picture/Sound: **** Features: * Basement puts on creature musical By David R. Eicke Daily Arts Writer Rehearsals for Basement Arts' newest production, "Bat Boy: The Musical," have echoed through the halls of the Frieze build- Bat Boy: ing for the past few weeks in prepara- The Musical tion for this weekend's performance. "Bat Boy," another example of Base- Dec. 8-10, 7 p.m. ment Arts' versatility, revolves around Free the story of a small town's discovery At the Arena Theatre of a half-bat, half-boy hybrid and the moral conflict that ensues. Ryan Foy, the show's director, has wanted to stage this play since high school, when he was denied the rights to perform it. Now, with the resources to the Bat Boy's zany tale, he is up to the challenge. "The show itself is huge undertaking," Foy said. "It requires a lot of props and special effects." "I love the story, and the show is so funny," he added. "It's the kind of comedy that I really enjoy." He said that the play is a sort of campy comedy in which the play's world is so absurd that theatergoers cannot help but laugh. Choreographer Marjorie Failoni, whose credits include a stint as an assistant choreographer at a profes- sional theater in Indiana said, it even breaks into "crazy vaudeville numbers," complete with top hats and canes. Other bizarre costuming includes a loincloth and fangs for Bat Boy, a bear, an elephant, a bumblebee and a liz- ard. The dancing has even been fine-tuned to fit the cos- tumes' themes. Failoni is a special addition to the traditional Basement show crew, along with an orchestra and a musical direc- tor. Most Basement shows normally employ only show director, a lighting director and a stage manager. The 10-person cast is also larger than normal. "It's a huge show for the basement, and (Foy) is doing a very good job with it," Failoni said. The cast is extensively involved in the onstage work and quick costume changes. Most of the cast also knows each other very well, she said, which helps everything run smoothly. The show kicks off Thursday night at 7 p.m. and the music will play on through the weekend. D ARS 'AA O f ' A 2i e " " " #' ra 19&$0. TTES.- AKIGLT 62 I LA $1.00 BEFREn b:OOPM -1.50 AFTR 6e :00rM TUESDAY 50C ALL SHOWS ALL DAY PRIME 12:45 3:00 7:15 PG13 FIUGHTPLAN 12:30 3:00 5:15 1:30 9:45 PG13 CORPSE BRIDE 12:00 2:00 3:50 5:40 7:30 9:20 PG JUST LIKE HEAVEN 5:109:30 PG13 MARCH OF THE PENGUINS 12:152:15 G THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN 4:15 7:00 9:30 R . "Don't let your :H A I R