QUOT 'When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line
OF THE between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on
IF earth. So what the hell, leap.'
0
Wili1 _ _ _
- Cynthia Heimel
Take it or League it,
Ivy vamps 'n camps
A League of Their Own Dugan/Foxx (Tom Hanks)). To what
end? League barely has a plot after the
dir. Penny Marshall girls make it to the League. It becomes
I shoulda known better than to ex- a series of unknown games, none com-
pect agreat, deep movie from director/ plete or with meaning, with shots of the
executiveproducerPennyMarshall.The women playing baseball -always the
story behind A League of Their Own perfect catch, the nailed throw. It's like
has the potential to be a consummate watching sports highlights, instead of
baseball movie (like Bull Durham) or telling more about the League and what
the next "feminist" film (like Thelma it meant to the people who played in it.
and Louise). The All-American Girls The acting of the ensemble cast is
Professional Baseball League existed uniformly delicious, but they have
from'43 to'54 to replace major league little to work with in the script and plot.
baseball if it had to shut down for the Though I'm glad Marshall made it (I
war. The Girls' League out-lasted the would have loved to know as a kid
war, proving that women could play, baseball fanatic that women actually
but Marshall doesn't do them justice. played pro ball), she could have done it
If it's Hollywood, it's sanitized, but so much better, so less tritely feel-good.
Marshall always goes for the most ob- ALeague of TheirOwn is playing at
vious emotion, the superficial reading, the Ann Arbor I & 2 and Showcase.
and the standard shot. Instead of re- -Annette Petruso
counting the story as it was, Marshall
employs some real names but changes
their situations (the Hansen sisters'
saga), or makes up a new name for a
character that really existed (Jimmy
Poison Ivy
dir. Katt Shea Ruben
When Sylie "Coop" Cooper (Sara
See FILM, Page 8
0
0
0
Tom Hanks and Geena Davis hang out in the dugout and, right off the bat, catch up on the hits.
Wolfgang and The Charlatans
The Charlatans UK with
The Wolfgang Press
St. Andrew's Hall, Detroit
July 2, 1992
by Annette Petruso
Packed,sweaty,andsmelly,thesold-
out The Charlatans and The Wolfgang
Press gig at St. Andrew's Hall last
Thursday was the perfect example of
crowd enthusiasm bonding with band
energy.
The elder opener The Wolfgang
Press distilled the bright but weird
sounds of Queer into a smooth-edged
performance. The Press emphasize
rhythms on their albums-fromdisco,
dance,reggae,hiphop, even industrial,
giving Queer a feel for a collage of
styles and a mess of ecclectic sounds
working together. It seemslike a search
for the ultimate groove.
Keyboardist Mark Cox prefered
another term, however. "I think it's a
kindofsoul,"hesaidinaninterviewthe
day before the show. "You say soul
musicandpeoplesay, 'WellonlyBlack
people make soul music,' whereas I
don't agree. I think everyone's got soul
really ... For me, that's a term which
describes anhonestexpression of your-
self musically. And I think that's what
we do."
Live, the band reverberated less of
the soulful rhythms and more of guitar-
oriented music because the core three
Th a nk
UN'O
UNION
members (Cox, vocalist Mick Allen
and guitarist Andrew Gray) brought
three other musicians along to fillin the
cracks. Even on records, Cox said, the
band is becoming more cohesive, all
the rhythms of the recorded material
flow.
He explained,"One thing that we've
done in the last couple of years (is
become) a bit more focused musically.
Certainly our first album was. I always
think of it as a collection of ideas badly
done, really, and it was too diverse. It
was all over the place. Our LP now,
feels like one thing to me. It feels all
related to itself."
Cox said he thinks this path is quite
the opposite of most bands.
'Traditionally, groups come out.
They startoff.Ifthey'redoing well, and
getting a buzz about them and kind of
playing good gigs and stuff. And their
first LP and their second LP tend to be
their freshest, most vital sort of work.
And often their biggest. And then they
start meandering concept albums and
experimental things, kind of losing
people really. They start at a peak and
go downhill, whereas we've been go-
ing the other way.
"We started with all the concepts
and all the experimental LPs. Each
record that we've made has been better
and better, better than the last one. I
think we're heading towards an up-
wards sort of peak really."
Purists of The Press' albums might
havebeendisappointedatSt.Andrew's
because the noise action wasn't
dependant solely on the sampling and
synths the band would have needed to
recreatefully theirstudiogroove-heavi-
ness.
"To me, one of the things about
for Keeping the
Study Lounge Open
A big THANK YOU to all
the Michigan Union Study
Lounge volunteers who
have donated their time to
keep the Study Lounge
open and available to all
U-M students this past
term. Your time and
dedication is appreciated
by students and the
Michigan Union staff.
being alive is being an individual and
being free," Cox explained. "And I've
always felt that we're an individual
groupandone of our things that we seek
is originality."
But by exploiting the elements of
their sound that can be reinterpreted
live, The Wolfgang Press' 45-minute
set accessed their music to a broader
audience. Say, like that the young fans
of the Charlatans would appreciate.
Em.
Live, The Charlatans reflected the
dreamy, yet haughty attitude Tim Bur-
gess reeks in interviews. For example
in an interview before the start of the
tour we had this exchange:
Annette Petruso: "Do you think
you've lost the baggy, Manchester la-
bel?"
Tim Burgess emphasized his point by swinging his arms at St. Andrew's
Tim Burgess: "I don't care. "
AP: "Why not?"
TB: "'Cause that's where 1 was
born."
AP: "Is there a scene there or was
that media-created hype?"
TB: "Media-created hype."
Live, though, while the rest of the
band remained stoic, funneling their
energy into the music, Burgess enter-
tainedbymumbling incoherent phrases
into the microphone to introduce songs
likeaJimMorrison,clappingandpreen-
ing during instrumental breaks like a
Bobby Gillespie, and looking, as al-
ways, like a young Mick Jagger.
There's something beautifully vul-
nerable about Burgess and his band's
album Between 10th and 11th. If the
Stone Roses had become more alive
after their self-titled debut instead of
See CHARLATANS, Page 8