Arts
The Michigan Daily
Tuesday, July 14, 1981
Page 7
Radio marathon
of local music
Psychedelic Furs
WCBN (88.3 FM), the scourge of the
airwaves and all-around enemy of the
corporate mentality wherever it rears
its ugly head, started a special radio
marathon yesterday that will continue
through this Friday. Their regular
programming has been preempted for
a special tribute to the music and
musicians of. Ann Arbor. This festival
will run each day from 10 a.m. until
midnight, with each day separated into
special shows focusing on different
aspects of the local music scene.
The first two hours of each day will be
devoted to music recorded live by WC-
BN's Reel Live Music recording
project. Eric Glatz and Joel Mabus
(Tuesday), Antares (Wednesday),
Jango and the Friends Road Show
(Wednesday), Dick Siegel (Thursday),
the Silvertones (Thursday), and Bud-
dies in the Saddle (Friday) will be
among those heard in this 10 a.m. to
noon slot.
FROM NOON until 2 p.m. and from 4
until 5:30 p.m., the time will be con-
sumed by features on some of the
musicians from the Ann Arbor area.
Included will be Scott Morgan
(Tuesday 4 to 6) talking about his long
history of involvement in Ann Arbor
bands like the Rationals, Sonics Ren-
dezvous Band, and his current vehicle,
Brothers of the Road. Late Wednesday
afternoon there will be a feature on the
short-lived People's Ballroom, in-
cluding the only recording made
there-of the Rockets, incidentally.
Also among the guests heard during
these segments will be David Swain (II-
V-I Orchestra, the Urbations) Brian
Medwed (20th Century classical com-
poser), Hiawatha (the Cult Heroes),
and Gary Quackenbush (the SRC)-
In that missing 2 to 4 p.m. space will
be highlights of the 1972 and 1973 Ann
Arbor Blues and Jazz Festivals. A dif-
See WCBN, Page9
Psychedelic Furs-'Talk Talk Talk'
(Columbia). Undoubtedly many will
reject the Psychedelic Furs because of
their name alone. This would be a real
loss. Lyricist Tim Butler deftly attacks
contemporary problems with the eter-
nal vision of the malcontent. On their
second album, Talk Talk Talk, much of
the laughing disgust of the first LP has
been replaced by a sad melancholia.
The chorus of "Mr Jones," a pre-
release single and now a standout
album cut, expresses in a nutshell the
brunt of the album's concerns:
"Movie stars and ads and radio
define romance.
Don 'tturn it on, I don't want
to dance."
This viewpoint also manifests itself in
one of the strangest love songs ever,
"Into You Like a Train."
MUSICALLY, guitar and sax weave
in and over each other, all to the paten-
ted heavy-beat drumming of Vince Ely.
In the best punk tradition, effects are
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The Michigan Daily
420 Maynard Street
AND
Graduate Library
Nuevo Wavo from
te King oTex-Mex
By STEVE HOOK
Daily Arts Writer
Welcome aboard the New Wave Express, folks. Just hand me your ticket
as you enter the train. It's becoming marketable now, so there's plenty of
room for everyone.
Hello, rockabilly stars. Nice to see you, Dave and Nick. And you reggae ar-
tists, the Express welcomes you, especially those that dabble in ska and dub.
Specials, you're right on time. English political rockers, take a seat in the
club car. Australian and Japanese apolitical bands, you belong too.
Oh, and you others, you unclassified combos. You genre makers.
Greetings, B-52s. Hi Devo, Dickies, and XTC. Next! And your name, sir, you
with the Parkay Margarine crown? Joe "King" Carrasco? And the Crowns?
How do you describe your music, sir? I'm afraid even the New Wave Ex-
press has some restrictions. Tex-Mex music, eh? Sounds wonderful
welcome aboard.
TRENDY ROCK came to Telegraph Road Friday night, in a bizarre,
slightly overwhelming outer Detroit nightclub. renlete with laser lights,
twisted purple neon tubes, a black ceiling crawling with pipes and ven-
tilation gear, and a waxed dance floor. They call it Nitro's, and you can hear
the distant echoes of the disco days long gone.
Trendy rock it is, in that Joe Carrasco has been scaling table tops and in-
terpreting Mexican fiesta rhythms for almost a decade, and-garbed in
regal costume (for just the first moments of the show, before he disrobes and
performs in t-shirt and clown pants)-he has suddenly found a market.
We've had sock-hop-inspired Farfisa-driven Latin sounds before, when the
Sir Douglas Quintet toured to less diversified audiences.
Father Time simply appointed 1981 "The Year of the Oddball Combo," and
Joe and the Crowns fit the bill. They are much like Split Enz-a pack of kooks
from the Southern Hemisphere, who struggled with their plastic flutes and
striped suits through the 70s, only to find themselves oddly in demand today.
AT FIRST APPEARANCE-let's face it-Joe "King" Carrasco is
repugnant-a flaming asshole with a 60-foot guitar cord screaming "Pah-
tay! Paaaahhhh-taaaay!" into his microphone. Watching him arrive on-
stage in his gaudy costume with a full-length dress draped over his front and
shouting "For Lady Diiiiii-annnna," it all makes you a bit queasy, especially
considering the locale.
But, poof. Off goes the cape, away goes the crown, and the music begins.
Fun music, happy music, dance music. Kris Cummings' dominant organ
progressions-bouncy chops that make up the backbone of this band-weave
between Carrasco's guitar riffs and a rock steady bass and percussion foun-
dation executed by Brad Kizer and Mike Navarro, respectively. You hear
traditional Mexican and Texan music, rhythm and blues, calypso, and rock
elements, craftily-if at times pompously-intergrated.
Nuevo Wavo. Music gone awry, slightly demented. One oar in the water,
oddball rock. Ignoring conventions while desperately grasping for in-
novations. Roaring into uncharted waters, for better or for worse.
Their appearance at Nitro's, therefore, was an exhilarating thrill.
kept to a minimum, yet authentically
psychedelic sounds often emerge.
"Pretty In Pink," with its Sweet Jane
chording, continues," the saga of
Caroline, Lou Reed's deathly Berlin-
days creation. We may all be useless,
stuck in a miserable world but at least
we can look pretty.
The commercial success of last
year's first album on these shores came
as a shockingly pleasant surprise.
Hopefully, this album and tonight's
show at Nitro's in Detroit will continue
to bring their strong statement across
to an American audience.
-Jim Hallemann
Thanks to Schoolkids Records for
the use of some of the albums
reviewed in our records columns.
DISTINCTIVE
HAIRSTYLING FOR
MEN AND WOMEN
Try a 1981 NEW LONG or SHORT STYLE
THE DASCOLA
STYLISTS
Liberty off State .. 668-9329
East U. at So. U.... 662-0354
Arbor"and. 971-9975
Maple Village .... 761-2733
LONG NECK BEERS
2 forl
GEORGE BEDARD and
THE BONNEVILLES