10 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 7, 2003 Free Wilco gig worth every cent i By Scott Serilla Daily Arts Editor CONCERT REVIEW There's smoke pouring off barbe- ques all along West Grand Blvd., rising up against Detroit's aging skyscrapers in a vaguely post-apocalyptic, "Blade Runner" sort-of way. An inadvertently creepy reminder of '67 to stupid subur- banite eyes. But the streets are full of life once more as a steady stream of people crowd past the food venders from all over Metro Detroit on Wednesday evening. It's the first night of Tastefest, D-town's annual Fourth of July week- end of food and free-music festival. Most folks seem content to fill their faces and people watch, yet by 7 p.m., there's a select group of fans already drifting away from the smells of ribs and sweet corn. They head for the Fisher's parking lot where the main stage sits empty, wait- ing for opening night's headliners, Chicago's heroes of all-things-alt, Wilco. It feels like a bit of a coup for the festival's promoters to have landed ihe critically-lauded band just before they start a string of opening dates for R.E.M's latest tour. In fact whoever pieced together the list of performers for Tastefest chose their acts surprisingly well; college sta- ples Rusted Root and Guster, Latin rock kings Los Lobos and '70s organ jour- neyman Billy Preston -all performed over the holiday weekend, as well as local favorites the Waxwings, the Dirt- bombs and Carl Craig. It's still sunny and steamy an hour later when the men of Wilco hit the stage, in what must be a rock 'n' roll first, precisely at 8 p.m. Those who've been waiting right up front feel a small twinge of vindication for being so close. A hefty crowd has fallen in behind them Hi, Todd! Egos, values clash in 'Rider' The band that always looks like they just woke up. for the free show. A small segment of freak-outs do little to endear Tweedy and smart fans have taken refuge in a nearby Co. to the -outdoor festival audience, parking garage which allows for a com- most of whom unfortunately aren't pletely shaded, overhead view of the familiar enough with the band to let stage. experimental feedback hold their atten- While, it's still too light out for the tion for too long. stage's video screen to be visible, the The band doesn't seem to mind losing first half of Wilco's set doesn't stray far a few people here and there, pulling out from last year's acclaimed Yankee Hotel ballads like YHF's tender closer "Reser- Foxtrot with a few older favorites and vations" even as middle-aged guys in new treats like the unreleased "Muzzle Hawaiian shirts start striking up loud of Bees" thrown in for good measure. conversations or heading for the beer Guitarist/singer Jeff Tweedy is tent. Wilco didn't seem to mind a bit, plagued by sound problems early, but he playing not so much to the cross-section takes it in stride. He grimaces when his of devoted indie kids spread throughout mic keeps crapping out during the cho- the crowd but more for themselves. rus of "I'm Always in Love," but the But Tweedy still knows when it was frontman tells the crowd as the roadies time to pull out fist-pumping pop sing- scramble to put on new cable that it alongs like "Heavy Metal Drummer" "sounded kinda cool." and Being There's "Monday" to hook It's this breezy attitude that seemed to everybody back in.' define the whole of this night's perform- Surprisingly Wilco stayed onstage ance. The fellas are comfortable, loose for the better part of two hours (most and casually confident after well over a of Tastefest's performers were held to year of touring behind YHE Neo-psy- abbreviated time slots). More than chedelic jams and mini-noise-rock once it seemed like the show was over, as the parking lots' lights are slowly but systematically shut off during the first encore, and after almost every song, another few people started head- ing for their cars. But even as the lights fade, Wilco seemed to be still in their own world, diving deeper into their back catalogue trnaX for old gems like the now appropriate "California Stars" and the epic "Mis- understood," when Tweedy does his ocustomary studder of "I wanna thank ya / For nothing / For nothing / Noth- ing at all." The success of Niki Caro's "Whale Rider" may be attributed almost entirely by the locale in which the film is set. Filmed in the coastal village of Whangara, New Zealand, Caro's newest work expresses not only the intense beau- ty of the island, but the rich Maori traditions that lay embedded deeply within, as well. Like the novel by New Zealander Witi Ihimaera that it is based on, "Whale Rider" gently portrays the evolving traditions of a provincial town as it looks forward to the future and searches for a new leader. "Whale Rider" begins violently with a hallucinatory childbirth sequence. Porourangi (Cliff Curtis) watches in quiet desperation as his wife struggles to give birth to a set of twins, a girl Whale Riderj and a boy, who Atthe Michiganl will someday Theater become chief of Newmarket his tribe. Koro, (Rawiri Paratene) Porourangi's father and leader of the tribe, waits anxious- ly; thinking only of his next heir, his dreams disintegrate when his daugh- ter-in-law and newborn grandson die. Koro callously implores about the future of his tribe and immediately disowns his infant granddaughter. In angry defiance, Porourangi names his daughter Pai, after the ancestral founder of the tribe, Paikea, the Whale Rider. Koro and Porourangi clash often, as Porourangi leaves the tribe behind for a new life and a new set of values in Europe. The chem- istry between Paratene and Curtis is some of the film's most electrifying. Years pass, and although Koro still refuses to acknowledge Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes), now an adolescent, as the natural inheritor of his tribe, he has grown to love his strong- willed but obedient granddaughter. Paratene plays the role of the gruff- old-man-with-the-heart-of-gold well; contrasting him is Vicky Haughton, who plays Pai's encourag- ing grandmother, Flowers. Still lacking a male heir, Koro starts a "chieftain training school" for young boys, hoping to single out one of them as his successor. Values clash as Pai, eager for the chance to prove herself to her grandfather, secretly trains for the position on her own. Pai remains determined to-show everyone, including herself, that she can be the leader of her people. The real core of the film, however, is the triumph of a girl who dares to challenge the archaic ways of an entire people; Keisha Castle-Hughes is exceptional in her heart-wrench- ing performance as Pai, showing remarkable emotional depth, ranging from a scared young girl to a strong and respectable leader. While the film concludes pre- dictably, it maintains its momentum throughout with warm humor, lush cinematography and engaging per- formances by its players. Yet perhaps the finest aspect of "Whale Rider" is its capacity to provide an honest per- spective on an ancient culture and its struggles with changing values. 4 Modern Style Tobacco Accessories Wooden & Glass Oddities Puzzle Boxes Carved Boxes State Glass Jewelry Mai 322 AshleyE 734.930.6699 EAsh c750CALL TANQUE3 P FRIDAY I I I II Z 75 cent BOTTLES SATURDAY 310IMAYNAII'115,121 &OVIIERNTIIPIIPElII