14-The Michigan Daily -Wednesday, May 17, 1995
Sweet's show was 100%7 fun
3y Jennifer Buckley
)aily Arts Writer
During his two-hour set at the Majet
ic Theater Friday night, singe
ongwriter Matthew Sweet bega
hrowing angel food cake at his aud
mce. Sweet had presented the cake i
elebration of his drummer's birthda
md to some the fluffy stuff may hav
;eemed incongruous, thrown into
aloud of smoke hovering above a se
of shattered beer bottles. Unless, of
course, one considered that Sweet had
s- been tossing out something similar all
r/ night: His songs, which are, like the
n cake, crunchy on the outside, bubbly
i- on the inside, satisfying ... and, well,
n sweet.
y, Sweet worked through most of the
'e material from his last three albums, the
a irresistible "Girlfriend," the moody
a "Altered Beast" and the recent, aptly-
titled "100% Fun." And while he
yielded to the crowd's requests for the
hit songs from his 1991 breakthrough
album, the pop masterpiece "Girl-
friend," at 30, Sweet is no longer the
fresh-faced, lovesick lad who recorded
that album, and he didn't pretend to be.
The singer presented his work as
collective and cumulative, filtering the
brighter, more delicate melodies of the
REVWWN
Matthew
Sweet
Majestic Theater
May 12, 1995
"Girlfriend" tracks through the soni-
cally darker, grungier "Altered Beast."
He added his chugging rhythm guitar
to the songs "Girlfriend,"
"Evangeline," "Looking at the Sun"
and "I've Been Waiting," opting for
...... hpower over delicacy with his hard
strumming.
Of course, no amount of distortion
could conceal the songwriter's gift for
writing simple but gorgeous pop com-
positions, accented by lead guitarist
Ivan Julien's bluesy solos.
Although Sweet usually plays
rhythm and acoustic guitar and bass
' and sings all vocals on his albums, he
and his three touring bandmates
sounded very tight and confident, es-
pecially on the new "100% Fun"
songs. Sweet opened the show with an
energetic version of the current single
"Sick of Myself," with bassist Tony
Marcico's backing vocals complimenting
his own nearly perfectly.
In the studio, Sweet prefers to soften
his vocals by layering them several times,
creating harmonies reminiscent of the
Beach Boys. In a live setting, though, such
neat studio tricks are impossible. The
singer's vocals sounded much rawer and
stronger with only Marcico to back him
up, lending an edge to slower songs such
as "Devil with the Green Eyes," "Some-
one to Pull the Trigger," "Not When I
No, it's not Jordan Catallano, It's Matthew Sweet. And he's '100 % Fun.' Needed" and "Time Capsule" and adding
fire to the rockers "Superbaby," "Know-
ing People" and "Ugly Truth Rock."
The singer himself seemed intent on
having a good time, playing as much
music as possible as hard as he could.
He clowned with the band and roadies
in between songs and threatened to
smash his cool clear electric guitar af-
ter an extended jam, grinning wolf-
ishly at the crowd from behind his cur-
tain of longish brown hair.
If Sweet's goal was to make this
show live up to the title of his latest al-
bum, he certainly succeeded.
CAM UPUS LOCATION
FALL '95
ON ALL MICHIGAN T-SHIRTS, 1 & 2 BDRM. APTS.
SWEATSHIRTS, AND COTTON HATS. FOR 2-4 PEOPLE
304 S. State Street - 4 doors South of Liberty Varsity
998-3480 1U Management
Open Monday Through FrIday 9 AM-y PM, 625 Church St. . 668-1100
Sat 10-, Sun 10 Mon-Fri also Sat. andSun. showings
Steel Pole Bath Tub clean up at the State Theater
Steel Pole Bath Tub has been creating recorded music of a driving 4
independent nature for seven years now, to the knowledge of few. From the
picture of Marcia Brady on the cover of their first album, "Butterfly Love," to
all the variations of indie butt-kicking heard on "Scars from Falling Down,"
their newest opus, Steel Pole Bath Tub deserve a look and a listen. Their
power might just fill you with piss and vinegar and purge your musical palette
and/or bowels. And if you missed their mighty performance at the Blind Pig a
month ago with Love 666, you now have a chance to redeem yourself. This
time they're with Faith No More (see story on page 11 for details). So truck
on down, see what the fuss is about, and accost the band after the show to
find out what their name means.
Acing and style all
in 'hP Family'
By Sarah Rogacki
Daily Arts Writer
In 1980, Fidel Castro temporarily
opened Cuba's border for those citizens
seeking political asylum. Known as the
Mariel boat lift, this political immigra-
tion sent over 100,000 Cubans streaming
into the United States via the Florida
Keys. Searching for lost loved ones and
a new way of life, many immigrants
waited anxiously to be sponsored to
claim full citizenship rights in America.
Indian documentarian and director of
the acclaimed "Mississippi Masala," Mira
Nair's third feature "The Perez Family"
begins amid the colorfullchaos of the 1980
boat lifts fromCuba. Adapted from a novel
by Robin Swicord, the film tells the story of
two unlikely matched immigrants who find
love, community, and reconciliation with
the past. After years of confinement as a
political prisoner, former aristocrat Juan
Perez (Alfred Molina) begins his journey
to the States to find hiswife Carmela (An-
gelica Huston) after twenty years of sepa-
ration. Along the way, Juan meets up with
an agricultural worker/ prostitute Dorita,
played by the vivacious and curvaceous
Marisa Tomei. Despite their differences,
the two find comfort in each others com-
pany while caught in the bureaucratic red
tape oftheirnew home-Miami's Orange
Bowl. While Carmela entertains the ideaof
new love after twenty long years of waiting
for her husband's return, Juan and Dorita
set up a makeshift family with a street or-
phan andanelderiyoutcastinthehopesof
attaining citizenship.
Everything is very beautiful in "The
Perez Family." Cinematographer Stuart
Dryburgh's colors are punchy and flam-
boyant; the deep, rich lighting and the
busy set design give a feeling of
celebratory chaos to the film. Entrenched
in a deep Latin flavor, the costume de-
sign, camera movement and pacing seem
to pulse along to the bombastic rhythms
of Jellybean Benitez's musical charms.
The PerezFamily
Directed by Mira Nair with
Marisa Tomei and Alfred
Molina
At the State Theatre
And who could be more beautiful thag
the cast of "The Perez Family"? Proving
her ability as a character actress with every
new project since her premature Oscar,
Marisa Tomei provides comedy, charm,
and a whole lot of sex appeal to the film's
sometimes lagging narrative. As usual,
Angelica Huston gives a graceful support-
ing performance as the patient Carmela.
Alfred Molina rounds out all this astound-
ing beauty as the tall, silent Juan who tee-
ters on the brink of a new life and lover
while reconciling his feelings for the pas*
There can be a danger in being too
beautiful. In contrast to Nair's stark realism
in pastprojects,"The Perez Family"some-
times feels like a Latin American parade
passing by the viewer in a flush of color
and sound. As Nair learned fromthe criti-
cal acclaim of the commercial flop "Mis-
sissippi Masala," portraying third world
subjects for amainstream American audi-
ence can catch a fslmmakerin acomplex-
ity of stereotypical representations. A41
though "The Perez Family" does offer ac-
cess to a little known event in recent his-
tory, the superficial portrayal of very lik-
ablecharactersleavesthevieweraskingfor
more than the flair of festival.