0 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, March 18, 2011 - 5 * The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, March 18, 2011 - 5 Wooten to woo Ark COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. "There's a 30-percent chance that it's already snowing " 'Red' is hot, plot is not By MACKENZIE METER DailyArts Writer "Red Riding Hood" isn't the most artfully adapted fairy tale. It might not even be that great of a movie. Howev- er, the two men feuding for the heart of Val- Red Riding erie (Amanda Hood Seyfried, "Dear John") are so At Quality16 'v damn fine that and Rave it makes the entire theater- Warner Bros. going experi- ence worth the effort. The word "fine" is not used lightly here. "Fine" barely even begins to describe the chiseled, Adonis-like attributes of Henry (Max irons, "Dorian Gray"), the wealthy fiance of the unwill- ing Valerie. "Fine" also cannot encompass the qualities of Val- erie's true love Peter (Shiloh Fernandez, "Happiness Runs"), whose dark features and scorching eyes basically make audience members (at least the females) turn green with envy of Valerie's good fortune. That being said, the story- line is more or less bland. Since it's an adaptation of the famous children's tale, "Red Riding Hood" obviously relies heav- ily on the images of the grand- mother and the "big bad wolf" but also adds a tiny village that, for generations, has been plague wolf. V hunter that th village The w ances village with h lagers( It'sI ers trie the mi actuall story i be an Riding if it wa film to "Red" Wh7 lea more si only as heavy d by a fearsome were- Valerie, her betrothed and her When a famous werewolf true love is also palpable. And comes in and explains extremely sexy. However, some e wolf is among them, the of the elements of the well- goes into a state of panic. known story are lost. The point olf makes a few appear- of the children's story, at least and says he will leave the in the Brothers Grimm version, in peace if Valerie comes is to show that naivete leads to im, an idea that most vil- harm, but through cunning wit obviously like. it's possible to escape danger. nice that the screenwrit- In the film version, the writ- ed to add a love story into ers seem to focus on the other, x. In fact, the film would lesser-known adaptations of the ly make a very good love tale, which depict Red as a girl if it wasn't supposed to coming to sexual maturity. adaptation of "Little Red So, while Henry gorgeous- Hood." It's hard to tell ly looks on, Valerie and Peter as a good decision for the truly seem like they are unable be both - it seems that to keep their hands off of each might have been a little other, resulting in feelings of empathy (and jealousy) from the audience, which by this time iat attractive has forgotten that the story is supposed to be about Little Red d s you have. Riding Hood. The young actors J * do what they can with the extremely passe script, mean- ing the film might not be met uccessful if it was written with whoops and hollers, but is an adaptation without a certainly appreciated as a good, emphasis on love. How- albeit generic, experience. Award-winning bassist Victor Wooten talks jazz By ELLIOT ALPERN Daily Arts Writer He is a three-time winner of the "Bass Player of the Year" award from Bass Player magazine, an honor never bestowed to The Victor another musi- cian more Wooten Band than once. & The Stanley He is a multi- Grammy CaieBn Award win- Tomorrow ner. He is Vic-at 7 p.m. tor Wooten, and his name- The Ark sake band will Sold out be playing with The Stanley Clarke band at The Ark tomorrow at 7 p.m. Expect nothing short of jazz magic. "The energy of the audience just lifts you up," Wooten said in a recent interview with the Daily. "Sometimes that special energy gets squeezed out of a recording session." Though audiences can expect some songs off of Wooten's recently re-released A Show Of Hands 15, it's rare to find two similar performances of the same song in jazz - a live repro- duction is sure to be unique. However, be cautious - though Wooten is a jazz bass- ist, he isn't just confined to jazz. While he will play what made him famous, don't rule out influ- ences from other genres. "Music is bigger than any one style," he said. "Back in the '60s, we listened to everything. You could hear all types of music, even on the same station. You COURTESY OF BASS FRONTIERS Wooten took up the bass to fill out his brothers' band. could hear James Brown next to The Beatles next to Led Zep- pelin. Nowadays, things are all segmented." Music has deep roots in the Wooten family, so it's no won- der that Victor Wooten eventu- ally picked up the bass. He once learned an entirely new instru- ment - the fiddle - just to land a gig at Busch Gardens, and has been known to play both the dou- ble bass and the cello.. "I was born into the perfect situation, being the youngest of five brothers," Wooten said. "My brothers knew that I was going to be a bass player because that's what they needed in the band." Stanley Clarke, who will play after Wooten at the Ark on Sat- urday, has a long history with the storied bassist. Through their careers, the two have collaborat- ed often, and with bassist Mar- cus Miller, they released Thunder in 2008. Having first met when Wooten was nine years old, Clarke and Wooten re-met each other a few years later as the young Wooten was traveling and honing his skills. "He remembered meeting my brothers and me when we were kids. That was a little connec- tion," Wooten said. While Wooten has played with a variety of musicians includ- ing Bela Fleck, Chick Corea and the Dave Matthews Band, he has expressed interest in continuing to work with other artists. "There are many musicians that I hope, one day, to get to cross paths with in all walks of life," Wooten said. "I could name some jazz guys, there are some rock people - I love Steve Vai as a rock guitarist. There's Robert Randolph, a great steel guitar player I'd never played with - that would be wonderful." The concert tomorrow, then, should be a spectacle to behold. "I always tell people when they come see us play that they're going to hear something and see something that they've never seen before," Wooten said. ever, in the long run, the love story makes up for the lame and unoriginal script. Definitely don't expect a cut- and-dry film that closely follows the popular version of the tale. While the script might be dumb, there are thrills and action throughout, especially once the villagers learn the wolf is among them. The tension between If you are weighing your career options, consider this: US. News & World Report places pharmacy or its 2010 short list of Best Career - and ranks the University of g Michigan College of Pharmacy one of the best in the nation. LIKE CULTURE? WANT TO WRITE ABOUT IT? E-mail join.arts@umich.edu for information on applying to our Fine Arts staff. YOUR THREE LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION .MBA. Introducing the GVSU Full-Time Integrated M.B.A. (FIMBA) Program.