The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 5R Mos Def performed at the Hill Auditorium on Monday in a tribute to Detroit's J Dlla. PAYING TRIBUTE AT HI] Reflection and remembrance at show for late MC By TED CULLINANE Daily Arts Writer When a show with the title "Mos Def Big Band: A Tribute to Detroit's J Dilla" comes to town, it's hard not to have high expecta- tions. Not only was one of the most talented rappers performing the work of one of hip hop's unsung heroes, but he was doing it on Martin Luther MOS Def King Jr. Day for Big Band the University's Martin Luther At Hill King Jr. Sym- Auditorium posium. While Monday Mos's recent track record of rambling live shows and uneven studio albums may have made some concert-goers wary of the ambitious event, Mos's impres- sive performance put to rest any thoughts that his rap career is waning. Along with members of Robert Glasper & The Experiment, the veteran MC orchestrated a fit- ting tribute to the late James Yanc- ey (a.k.a. Jay Dee, a.k.a. J Dilla). At the acoustically perfect Hill Audi- torium, Mos delivered a series of extended covers and brand new Dilla-inspired cuts. After opening with a quick warm-up rhyme, Mos began with a call and response chant that refer- enced albums from Dilla's discog- raphy and shouted out his various collaborators. The chant included the refrain "We keep it ghe-tto like a plastic cup / It's fantastic" - a blend of phrases from the intros of Slum Village's Fantastic, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and Dilla's Ruff Draft EP. Moments like this that hinted at Dilla's past work may have gone over the heads of much of the audi- ence, whose attendance was more predicated on Mos's star power rather than the tribute itself. But aside from some mild crowd reac- tions, Mos and his band (dubbed "Watermelon" during the set) did their best to convey Dilla's spirit to an audience largely unfamiliar with his legacy. Instead of running through Dil- la's more popular works (such as Common's "The Light" or Q-Tip's "Breathe and Stop"), Mos focused on the Rhodes pianos and snap- ping drums of Dilla's trademark early work. He paid brief tribute to Dilla's hardcore compositions like "The $" and "E=MC2", but left out notable bangers like "Raise it Up" or "Fuck the Police." Various omissions aside, the more laidback selections were appropriate for a reflection on the life of Dilla. Backed by a soul-jazz band that has worked with Q-Tip and Com- mon, Mos easily created a wealth of exclusive material that refer- enced hip-hop and R&B songs. Highlights included Mos rhyming about the first time he heard Slum Village's debut Fantastic, Vol. 1 in 1996 and a version of Rakim's verse from "Paid in Full" over Dil- la's rumbling "The $." Perhaps the most transformative segment was Mos's "D Mix" - a blend of "Ms. Fat Booty," the Pharcyde's "Passin' Me By" and Floetry's "Say Yes" over an instrumental rendition of Slum Village's "Intro" from Fan- tastic, Vol. 2. one of the most poignant moments was Mos's adaptation of Robert Glasper's "Paint the PROFESSOR MOS DEF: CL SESSION Before his first encore, Mos D with Lester Monts, the Unive provost for academic affairs., background on "one that wef (MLK Symposium) in the cou sented Mosswith a "King, Cha ing ProfessorAward" and ins to call the MC "Professor Mo World." Over a gro cent of the live ins on Dilla's Welcome 2 encouraged the cro their own artistic v Dilla's MC'ing pers occupied with music material assets an ing prowess, his pe alike are quick to r spirituality inherent lime creations. As th neled the warm text: work, Mos emphasiz contributions of his laborator. In a spok he described Dilla beautiful," and remin ence that "when you things, you live forev Oh, the humanity! W e were driving into an unsubstantiated sense that the city to see an something was about to happen artist friend and just as the screen turned black, had started joking about the it acknowledged that life is life stereotype of the flamboyantly and that "The Sopranos" is a TV tormented artist. "Maybe art- show. It showed us how badly we ists don't think happiness is the wanted the TV show to give us most important thing," I said. My an answer. We don't know what companion, someone close to me, the import of the final shot is, we laughed briefly and said "That's don't know the story. But the shot why I'm glad I'm not an artist." happens all the same. Such is life. I had begun to suspect that A work like this has so much to art might be detrimental to do with the reality of death and happiness. the uncertainty that gives to life. This past It makes me feel more aware of summer I'd being alive; it makes me feel more been reading human. In the philosophy that "Buddhism provoked this line of reasoning, without going beyond the human condi- Beliefs" by .' tion is kind of the point. Maybe Stephen ' art that increases our sense of Batchelor, ABIGAIL B. humanity pushes its viewers to a book on COLODNER something beyond happiness. Buddhist I read an essay - under ten principles of pages long - by Kurt Vonnegut living, and had been struck by its on creative writingin which his observation that we spend much narrator diagrams classic sto- of our energy and time "reliv- ries as line graphs. He arrives at ing an edited version of the past, "Hamlet," whose graph is blank planning an uncertain future ... since, as he argues, we don't Who 'tIam' appears coherent only know whether the events (the because of the monologue we ghost's appearance, for instance) keep repeating, editing, censoring are positive or negative. Von- and embellishing in our heads." The book presented this mental process as a common habit, one W hat if art RiGO GAYA/Day that ties us to suffering. The alternative - as I under- makes people stood its explanation -is to live instead of to rehearse. unhappy? But what is the practice of art - something I've held to be a purely redemptive feature of a world where anguish of some negut concludes: "the truth is, kind is everyone's lot - if not a we know so little about life, we ASS IS NOW IN repeated, edited, censored and don't really know what the good embellished extension of indi- news is and what the bad news viduals' experiences? I've been is ... And if I die - God forbid - I lef took the stage mulling over a logical chain: If would like to go to heaven to ask rsity's senior vice art makes us more human, does it somebody in charge up there, After giving some also make us more unhappy? 'Hey, what was the good news feel is the largest We tend to rehash our experienc- and what was the bad news'? " ntry,' Monts pre- es as stories. They have begin- Hamlet, toois concerned with ta ed the crowd nings, middles and a moral that the lack of resolution life holds os Def. wraps the end - and there is an while we live it and with our end - up nicely. Many stories try need to make sense of it anyway. to filter experience as though our? Appropriately, play-watching memory of it can end up a little self-consciously replicates this ove reminis- closer to the truth. Stories edit a concern in the audience. trumentation non-editable past and imaginean I'm beginningto believe th , Detroit, Mos uncertain future. part of what people do when they wd to fulfill I hope, and I think I can seek out works of art is search isions. While believe, that great art finds a for narratives that feel more ona was pre- way around this delusion. Some "telling" of their lives than the ngs about his enduring works acknowledge not facts of their lives do. Facts exist d beat-mak- only the limits of our capacity to as briefly as they occur, but the ers and fans resolve the world, but our dogged desperation of our inner mono- ecognize the impulse to try. I'm thinking of logue endures. By deliberately in his sub- plays thatremind us thatwe're constructing meaningful stories e band chan- watching a play instead of try- using "untruths" (which is in ures of Dilla's ingto seduce us into a fabricated fact the activity of any attempted ed the lasting reality, literature that in its struc- work) Tim O'Brien in his novel peer and col- ture makes us confront what we "The Things They Carried" takes en interlude, want out of reading this story in responsibility for the subjectivity as "raw and the first place. of the story he narrates to him- tded the audi- While researching the play- self and to others. By grounding do beautiful wright Samuel Beckett for anoth- it so obstinately and so obviously er." er column, I came across the in human fallibility, he tran- playwright Harold Pinter's evalu- scends his own life and creates ation of Beckett's work: "He's not something others look to. It leading me up any garden path, makes his novel a work of art. he's not slipping me a wink, he's Once a piece admits to its not flogging me a remedy ... he's willing fictionality, when it not selling me anything I don't "conceals" the man behind the want to buy ... he leaves no stone curtain in atransparent cloth, unturned and no maggot lonely. it reflects on an intrinsically He brings forth a body of beauty." human dynamic. We gather a Although I can find emotional sense of relief in what great art relief in music, when I truly feel expresses and we discover that low I resent its beauty. I resent we require artistry to access that its articulation of emotions into feeling. It is up to individuals, meaningful wholes, when in then, to decide whether they life, catastrophe flummoxes. Art want to reside in humanness or .r that acknowledges its limits in whether they want to eclipse it. describing life and how we can use it to grasp at answers has Colodner thinks sunsets the greatest insight into its own are prettier than art. Discuss i w modus operandi - it may not, at abigabor@umich.edu though, provide the greatest For a more in depth comfort. When the series finale of discussion of the topic visit "The Sopranos" left viewers with michigandaily.com/thefilter One is the loneliest number By ANNIE LEVENE DailyArts Writer There's nothing quite like the happiness of others to remind you of your own misery. For Jane (Katherine Heigl, "Knocked Up"), relationship-based misfortune is stuffed away in her hall closet: 27 bridesmaids *** dresses, each more ridiculously 27 Dresses hideous than the At Showcase next. Jane, who and Quality16 at age eight devel- oped a deep love Fox 2000 for the ceremony of matrimony, lives vicariously through her friends. She plans their showers, acts as moral sup- port and even serves as a stand-in at dress fittings for the bride-to-be. No, she's not a wedding planner, just a pushover. Of course, a girl so unlucky in love has to have an unrequited crush. Jane's boss George (Edward Burns, "One Missed Call") fills the role of the nice guy who is pain- fully oblivious to her adoration. Even worse, her blonde bomb- shell sister Tess (Malin Akerman, "The Heartbreak Kid") steamrolls into town and into George's arms, soon saddling Jane with the pros- pect of fitting one more dress into her already jam-packed closet. In between handling every aspect of Tess's wedding, Jane also has to deal with constant phone calls and interruptions from writer Kevin (James Marsden, "Enchanted"), who is looking for a way up and out of the "Commitments" section of his paper. "Dresses" is first and foremost a romantic comedy. It's chock full of moments designed to make the audience melt - like Jane's wid- owed father serving his daughters smiley-faced pancakes. However, the performances, especially by Heigl and Marsden, place the film on a more respectable level. The two actors, neither with much s i ,I l t r "Look at me now, my career's almost over already. experie well al abunda CO con mar notE trying montag lous alc bar - s good w: the se: Jane an to rais why Jq nce in leading roles, do now-engaged boss. He might be a ongside each other. The mountain-climbing entrepreneur, nce of cliched scenes - the but he's too boring. While part of that lameness could be attributed to Burns's lack luster acting, the .m i film barely tries to create suspense A romantic about who will end up as Jane's mate. ywith too Not that it matters. "Dresses" dresses and is all about fulfilling the romantic fantasies of women who haven't enough laughs yet found the One. Luckily, lest the film gets too cloying, cynics get a breakfromthelove-festinthe form of a strong supporting cast. Judy on clothes and dancing Greer (TV's "Arrested Develop- e and the always fabu- ment") stands out as Casey, every- ohol-fueled singing at the one's favorite drunk and slutty, till come off reeking (in a but always loyal, friend. Watching ay) of adorableness. In fact, Jane bounce from party to party xual chemistry between like she's trapped in a G-rated ver- ad Kevin is strong enough sion of "Wedding Crashers" can e some questions about make one wonder what the point rne is so set on wooing he is? It's nice to know sgneone else in the movie is somewhat doubt- ful of the optimistic blind faith that rules Jane's life. Akerman also does her part as the typical "other woman." She looks hot and is blissfully unaware of her own sister's feelings, but there's a little bit of humanity buried deep, deep inside. You come off not hating her too much - just enough to always root for Jane. Which, of course, means you are rooting for Heigl. Clearly, the girl has her eyes on the treasured title of "America's Sweetheart," currently held by the Reese With- erspoons and Julia Roberts of Hol- lywood. You can practically see the beads of sweat on Heigl' forehead as she strives to come off as a beau- tiful, yet relatable, character. Luck- ily, she pulls it off. Too bad you can't say the same for the dresses she's forced to wear. Heath Ledger, the 28-year-old Australian actor known alternatively for raw prestige work in movies like "Brokeback Mountain" and "Monster's Ball" and as a box-office pin-up in others like "A Knight's Tale," was found dead ina Manhat- tan apartment yesterday afternoon. The actor, increasingly respected in critical as well as commercial circles, had been the subject of intense speculation for his forthcoming stint as the Joker in the "Batman" sequel "The Dark Knight." Though the details of his death remain unclear - Web conjecture produced several rumors discounted by the star's publicist - many noted last night that the rabid media response to his death recalled the instant pop mythology that followed the haeath of other rising young actiors like liver Phoenix.