8 - Tuesday, November 7, 2006

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.corr

A Backstreet Boy from Israel
By ALEX DZIADOSZ between blissful stares and wild, ricocheting
DailyArts Writer dancing. Many knew the words to his mostly
Hebrew set listby heart.
As part of a 12-day detour from his usual itin- Lider is in the midst of a campus-focused U.S.
erary - touring sold-out arenas in the Levant tour that has included the University of Mary-
region - Israeli sensation land and New York's Binghamton University.
Ivri Lider stopped by The Ivri Lider Proceeds from Sunday's show went to aid the
Blind Pig to woo a sizeable At The Blind Pig
crowd Sunday night. Sunday
Lider's Kelly Clarkson- Pop stars from the~
style status abroad proved tobe an accurate fore-
cast of his local reception. M iddle East? Just about
"When my Israeli friends heard he was com-
ing here, their jaws dropped," one fan said. the same as they are here.
Against a five-man backdrop, Lider crooned
his way through a 90-minute set of what one
crowd member called "Tel Aviv ecstasy music." victims of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
He pointed. He swayed. He proved that the Over the past decade, Lider's platinum-level
ingredients to pop success in Israel aren't much international success has catapulted him into the PETER SCHOTTENFELS/Daily
different from those in America: a basic grasp of realm of Israeli pop royalty alongside the pseudo- Ivri Lider performed Sunday at The Blind Pig.
the tonic-subdominant-dominant chord progres- androgynous Aviv Geffen and a cadre of "Kokhav Midway through the night, Lider admitted
sion, a subtly attractive lead singer and a consis- Nolad" (the Israeli "Pop Idol") winners. he found the venue's size a bit disorienting - his
tent, danceable beat. As one smiling fan put.it: This made the Pig - more frequently occu- regular performances generally host more than
"Boy bands are the same everywhere." pied by alternative and local acts - a somewhat 10 times the Pig's capacity.
But acts like Lider manage to separate them- quirky host for last year's Israeli "male singer of But unfamiliar acoustics and ambience aside,
selves from flash-in-the-pan artists with a steady the year." Imagine a Levantine Evanescence with his appeal stayed mostly intact. Even with a
stream of fan-friendly hits and the resulting Justin Timberlake's status meandering through three-encore-thick ending, houselights rose to
fan base. The front row spent the night rotating a set in the club's dark, crammed atmosphere. reveal a crowd starved for more.

The finest American
idiots, now on DVD
By BLAKE GOBLE
DailyArts Writer
The teenage morons Beavis
and Butt-Head were the voice of
the self-con-
sciously stu- SHOW AND
pid youth of MOVIE:
the early '90s.
Cementing SPECIAL'F
their rules as FEATURES:
early stars on
MTV and cul-
minating their Beavis and
careerwiththe Butt-head:
release of their The Mike
eponymous Judge
1996 movie, Collection cal sensibilities comes the 10-disc
the boys have Paramoant "Mike Judge Collection."
generally been Parents and politicians united
met with dis- in their front to ban the show for-
gust and hostility. The surprise ever after child mimicry reared its
here is that they're smarter than ugly head and jokes were misun-
you think. And, for the fans that derstood among wide audiences.
picked up on the show's satiri- When Beavis saws his finger off in
a wood-shop because he gets excit-
ed over cutting anything, it's'not
just for shock value, it's an indict-


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Now that you're
old enough to
stay uncorrupted.
ment of adult discipline and their
offspring's resulting idiocy. And
though the show attracted Gen X-
ers in droves, the cartoons remain
a lasting testament to the concerns
for America's youth.
In the collection, viewers are
presented with nine discs of
show creator Mike Judge's favor-
ite sketches, and the film, "Bea-
vis and Butt-Head Do America."
Now-legendary shorts including
"Frog Baseball," "Nosebleed" and
"Most Wanted" are together again
in uncut, pristine, digital form.
Showcasing such great moments as
Beavis ranting and raving, excited
to execute an insect, or Butt-Head
getting a Russian mail-order bride,
this collection is damn funny.
There's a sense of guilty pleasure
in being able to watch these, given
that I was never allowed to watch
the show like many other young
kids. I can now hear these cartoons
for whatthey're saying. Social com-
mentary abounds with a wealth of
parody of the young and stupid.
The movie's great, too. Released
in 1996, "Beavis and Butt-Head
Do America" got largely positive
reviews. The new special edition
jokes about the film causing the
demise of the series, because after
seven seasons, creator Mike Judge
was just plain sick of being associ-
ated with teenage fart jokes. But
the movie is a creative satire, mock-
ing cinematic conventions found in
big-budget fare while still begging
with everyone to look out for their
children. Then again, "America" is
about Beavis and Butt-Head acci-
dentally traveling across the coun-
try in the hopes of getting laid.
The DVD set is great for special
features, offering documentaries,
vintage ads and guest "appearanc-
es" at MTV social events like the
Video Music Awards. The docu-
mentaries are more candid than
expected as they chronicle the rise
and fall of Judge's creative inven-
tion, surprise fan base and ultimate
demise via fatigue andnatural audi-
ence boredom. It seems the public
could laugh at only so many jokes
about "spanking the monkey."
Maybe best of all, the music vid-
eos are back, after being ignored in
previous releases. There are about
20 in each volume, and they're
hilarious precursors to director's
commentary. Classics such as
Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees,"
The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" and
Rolins Band's "Liar" are all skewed
in the simple opinions ofBeavis and
Butt-Head. Listen as the two wax
philosophical to MC 500 Ft. Jesus's
"If I Only Had A Brain," only to end
up in fisticuffs over who gets to
hum the song.
As a collection, the whole set
is pretty stupid. But that was, and
still is, the point.

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