Arts
The Michigan Daily Thursday, August 6, 1981 Page 7.
Sneaking a peek at Nighthawks
By MITCH CANTOR
Daily Arts Writer
GENE: Well, today's Sneak Postview looks at The
Nighthawks, who appeared'at Rick's Tuesday
night. They are a blues band that do more than just
the standards. They are a little less true to the form,
more flexible than most of the other blues acts that
appear at Rick's, and I found that quite refreshing.
The material was a bit more rock-it-up than you'll
usually find at these things, and guitarist Jim
Thackery, with his flashes of heavy-metal insanity,
lent an especially amusing air to The Nighthawks.
The group-which also includes Jan Zukowski on
bass guitar, Pete Ragusa on drums, and Mark Wen-
ner on harmonica-is from Washington, D.C., so
it's unlikely that they'll be by for a while. But if they
do return, don't miss them-they're fun. Roger?
ROGER: Gene, I agree with you about Thackery
on guitar. He was certainly a character at times.
His brief tour around the audience during "Route
66," complete with two-minute guitar solo, was cer-
tainly among the more entertaining moments at
Rick's this summer. Thank God for wireless guitar
pickups.
I also agree with you that the song selection was
somewhat different, and that I found rather en-
joyable. But The Nighthawks were too much craf-
tsmen for my taste. Their enthusiasm was
somewhat lacking-they seemed to be sleeping out
there a lot of the time. Even a lightweight such as
Bob Margolin, who was at Rick's a couple of weeks
ago, exhibited more liveliness on stage.
The Nighthawks have alot going for them: They
play well, the vocals (split among all four mem-
bers) were up to par, and the song selection was
good. But I just don't think that's enough. Next time
they're here, go see a good movie instead.
GENE: You didn't think they were really into it?
Jim Thackery, who Roger E. Burt calls "a character," leads The Nighthawks in proving that white
boys CAN play the blues ... or at least they can TRY.
ROGER: No, I really didn't. They could've
passed for mannequins part of the time.
GENE: OK, so we disagree. I thought they were
refreshing and somewhat expanded from your
typical blues bar band. Roger thought their hearts
weren't in it enough. Next week we have a special
show for you: a look at the new fad around
town-nren rnk .Until then hannov istening
'Start Swimming'
'Start Swimming' (Stiff
America)-There was a really good
idea way back at the start of this affair:
Take New York's top dance bands-the
Raybeats, Bush Tetras, Fleshtones,
dBs, Bongos-to London to play one big
show.
Unfortunately, things went bad soon
after that. They chose as a venue for this
venture the Rainbow, a place with no
dance floor. As a consequence of this,
the audience was forced to sit and listen
to stuff that was meant to go straight
from the eardrums to the feet with no
interference from the brain.
The record of this event is also
somewhat problematic. The recording
is good ... but not great. And the bands
sound very questionable.
THE BONGOS have an excellent
guitarist in the person of Richard
Barone. But it's hard to overlook the
fact that behind his search-and-destroy
slide guitar style there are completely
standard and ignorable songs and
musicians.
The Raybeats don't fare even as well
as that. In fact, they sound pretty damn
boring on this record. Someone must
have decided to include two safe songs
closer to TheVentures side of their
repertoire than The Contortions side.
Bad choice!
From there, things start looking up.
The dBs, a hit or miss group, are fairly
well-represented here-they've got one
hit and one miss. "We Should Be in
Bed" iis real naively cute, as the dB's
are at their best. "Death Garage" is
real affectedly artsy and intellectual,
as the dB's are at their worst.
THE BUSH TETRAS are the only
band that come off as impressive on
both of their cuts. Both tunes are
in The Tetras' usual, chaotic funk style
that almost every female band since
The Slits has adopted. The original,
"Punch Drunk" features some good
guitarwork from Pat Place (for a
change-she hasn't stretched out this
much on vinyl since her days with The
Contortions), and their version of John
Lennon's "Cold Turkey" proves that
song remarkably well-suited to their
frenzied style.
The Fleshtones end the album on the
upbeat. Again, they're firmly rooted in
standard rock and roll, but without the
pretense of The Bongos. They're sim-
ple, straight-ahead 50s rock and roll
with nothing to indicate that they've
listened to any music at all since Danny
and the Juniors. Only the abandon with
which they undertake this 50s rock and
roll is an indication of their 80s origin.
Even though this record isn't all it
could have been, it's certainly fun fun
fun. And if you aren't familiar with any
of these bands, then you really owe this
record to yourself.
-Mark Dighton
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