= .4 A

St. Andrew's shelters Britpop
It's the Charlatans UK and Menswear, tonight in the Shelter at St.
Andrew's Ha in Detroit. The Charlatans' self-titled newalbum is one of
their best in years and features the single "Just When You're Thinking
Things Over." And Menswear is yet another of those cheeky, super-
sussed bands that seem to be bubbling to the surface over in the UK.
Call (313} 961-MELT for more information.

Page 5
Tuesday,
October 3, 1995


Steals it
Christopher Corbett as a serie
or the Daily forwards
One early scene in "Steal Big, Steal glimpses
ittle" grabs our attention: Two boys ture of th
tand face to face, each with a stair- Yes, th
ase spiraling upwards behind him. ters and t
dentical twins, they stare at each speed, bt
ther, and we want to know more ("The F
bout them: What are they thinking or enough t
eeling? But in a flash, both boys run keep us it
or a different staircase, become blurs a momen
nd disappear. the film.
Talk.about foreshadowing! "Steal The fa
Big, Steal Little" starts out by absorb-
ing us into the fabric of a frenetic
family.
A wealthy woman named Mona,
having adopted twin boys years ear-
tier, dies, leaving behind a ton of
dough and a sprawling 40,000-acre Dir
Santa Barbara estate lined with palm
trees and fountains. One brother,
Ruben, followed in his adoptive
mother's footsteps and turned out
squeaky clean; the other, Robby, be-
came a slimy sycophant much like his quirks a
adoptive father. us. When
The pair have competed with each to reach
other all their lives, and they now eyes clos
struggle in a tug-of-war over their out $250
inheritance. Along with the brothers had hert
come their wives, ex-wives, girl- money o
friends, children, friends and busi- With s
ness partners - all of whom play we don't
substantial parts in the giant family have: We
feud. What's more, the film unfolds have a g

es of flashbacks and flash-
s - we get alternating
of the past, present and fu-
e family.
he story introduces charac-
heir subplots at a whirlwind
ut director Andrew Davis
ugitive") at first spends
time on each character to
nterested. He doesn't waste
t as he sets up the players in
amily members, with their
Steal Blg,
Steal Little
rected by Andrew Davns
with Andy Garcia
and Alan Arkin
At Briarwood and Showcase
nd schemes, often surprise
nthe sickly Mona tells Ruben
under her mattress with his
sed, he complies ... and pulls
,000 in cash. Mona, indeed,
mind on her money and her
n her mind.
so much going on in the film,
feel as confused as we could
e don't get lost because we
ood narrator to guide us. We

latch on to - and listen most care-
fully to - Ruben because he tells his
story with a calm voice, conveying
patience.
Andy Garcia ("The Untouchables"),
who plays both Ruben and Robby,
gives a performance that becomes
perhaps the best thing about the film.
He displays an impressive emotional
range. Whether Robby is barking at
his clueless girlfriend, or Ruben is
being arrested or begging for his es-
tranged wife to return home, Garcia
does such a good job of losing himself
in his roles that we easily believe him.
When Ruben begins his scheme to
pluck the estate from his dark half's
grubby hands, though, we start to get
that sinking feeling. "Steal Big, Steal
Little" becomes a series of chases and
mistaken identities.
Too bad we end up yearning, dur-
ing the final hour, for the film to be
over. Since so many helpless, inno-
cent people depend on Ruben to win
back the estate, we start to suspect
that there's only one way the film can
end.
Davis goes so far as to proclaim
Ruben a "Ruben Hood" who is trying
to steal from the greedy and give to
the needy. And how do fairy tales
end? Because we can guess what will
happen, we don't feel the suspense.
Tying up every last plot-line in a
neat, palm tree-lined package might
feel like a clich6, but we could have
forgiven the film for that mistake and
still walked away pleased. Davis,
though, makes the wrong call in per-
suading us to hate all the villains (Yes,


we know they're twisted and vile!
Just beat us over the head with it, for
crying out loud!) We don't want to
see them get their just desserts.
Instead, we want to witness the em-

bellishment, the development of the
off-beat characters whom we enjoyed
earlier. The family members become
less like individuals and more like
faces in a crowd; they just about van-

ish in the second half of the film. Who
cares about the crooked sheriff, judge
or tycoon? They, like the film itself,
race from our memories in a flash,
just like a thief in the night.



Prick hits the road with Bowie and Nine Inch Nails

By Ted Watts
Daily Arts Writer
Kevin McMahon is the essence of
Prick. No, not that way. He is the driv-
ing force behind the musical entity
known as Prick. Adept at creating elec-
tronic-type rock not entirely unlike that
of labelmates and current touring bud-
dies (along with David Bowie) Nine
Inch Nails, Prick's recent self-titled al-
bum is a cozy little bit of chaos, running
across the darker spectrum of emo-
tions. Take, for instance, the idea be-
hind the band name.
"The definition is up in the air," said
McMahon. "It's one of those words that
has many meanings. I personally think
of it as one that provokes an emotional
response or draws attention to some-
thing. Prick up your ears, or whatever.
But I don't really have a set definition
for it as a verb or a noun."
The concept of Prick the group seems
a bit equally up in the air, as what it is
exactly keeps changing. McMahon ex-
plained: "The band was formed after
the record. I wrote the songs on the
record and the recording of the songs

was done by myself and Trent, when he
was producing. Trent Reznor, he pro-
duced four of the songs, and the other
songs were produced by Warne Livesey,
and so when I was in the studio it was he
and I, whoever the other producer (who
PRICK
Where: Palace of Auburn Hills1
When: Tonight, opening for Nine
Inch Nails and David Bowie
Tickets:$28.50 in advance
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Call (810) 377-0100
wasn't me) was, were the band at the
time. Since then I've been trying to get
it into a more live fashion. I've started
a band and picked members who could
get what were really the most important
things out of the record in a four-piece
kind of sound. Cuz we're a four piece
band. We use sampling and we have
triggering devices for some of the pro-
cessing effects we used in the studio,
but essentially it's a stripped down
band."

The people within the band have been
changing as well, even since the shoot-
ing of the video for their song "Ani-
mal." "The giraffe (in the video) is in
my band. And the lizard is in my band.
I think the guitar guy is still there.
We've had a few changes since going
for the live band and trying to see what
works on the road and who fits musi-
cally into doing this kind of music live,
we've had to make some changes, but
it's a question of fit. Fit is the word.
Someone can be a good musician and
not work with another group of musi-
cians doing a certain style of music, so
it's kind of trying to find the right fit for
the performance of this record."
The band has been working at its live
show, and has had little time for frills.
"At the moment, we have stripped down
production, and pretty much we per-
form as humans do without too much
aid of props. It's kind of hard to be
thinking about that right now because
building a show up on that level is
something one is able to do after being
out on the road for a little while. Since

on thistourwe'retheopeningact, there's
not a lot of time or stage space for us to-
develop much of a production, other
than ourselves. I obviously believe our
stage show is worth seeing, or hearing,
or else I wouldn't be doing it."
Of course, playing the huge arenas
necessitated by the drawing power of
this tour's bill both creates an audience
and makes it difficult to create as good
a presentation because of the size of the
concert loci. "That's the challenge, I
guess, trying to turn it into a place,
where you can enjoy music at, more
than just being an event," agreed
McMahon. "And there's a lot of con-
cern for that as far as the sound and the
size of the venues we play in that the
people who work on the audio end of
things are trying to load up the produc-
tion end for the music portion to reach
as far and efficiently as possible. Con-
sidering the size of the places, I think
people will be pleased."
All in all, Prick seems well prepared
for a tour of such monstrous propor-
tions as this. So go early enough to see

Seam tears up Blind Pig

By Jennifer Buckley
Daily Arts Writer
Sooyoung Park was pissed. His band
Seam had encountered a few false starts
and"miscommunications," as the singer
/ songwriter called them. He needed
more vocals in his microphone. He
needed another beer.
What he didn't need at Friday
night's show at the Blind Pig were
hecklers in the audience. He got them
anyway.
From the moment Park and his
bandmates William Shin, Reg Shrader
and Chris Manfrin stepped onstage,
three drunken men hooted and
hollered at Seam. They distracted
those trying to watch and listen to the
band's gorgeous guitar rock. They
repeatedly groped several women in
the audience, making both Park and
the crowd uncomfortable.
Finally, Park had had enough.
"Clapping hands during songs is con-
sidered assholish behavior," he stated.
Mentally, it wasn't the best of nights
for Seam. But musically, the band
proved more than able, showing the
packed Pig just how powerful, emo-

And while crushing blasts of guitar
noise did drown out Park's vocals
during the choruses of"Berlitz," "Two
Is Enough" and the climactic "Bunch,"
they couldn't obscure the angsty, con-
fused passion of Park's lyrics. The
singer doesn't exactly belt out his
lyrics anyway; Park's anguished whis-
per merely changes volume.
Seam sounded tighter on Friday than
f Seam
Blind.Pig
September 29, 1995
at their last Pig gig; newest member
William Shin has fully assimilated
into the band. His strident bass lines
anchored "Bunch" and "Berlitz," giv-
ing those songs balance and weight.
Although his band played an excel-
lent set, Park wasn't pleased with the
outing and called it a night just over
an hour after taking the stage. Per-
haps the crowd was driving him crazy.

Soup
Blind Melon
Capitol
It's not hard to create music that
sounds just like everyone else. What IS
hard, however, is to create music with a
distinct style and carry that sound over
into your next album...uninfluenced by
what everyone else is doing. Add to that
the difficulty of trying to follow up a
freshman album that contained a soar-
ing number one hit which was "No
Rain," These were all problems that
Blind Melon was faced with when re-
cording their second album, Soup. And,
judging from the success of the first
single, "Galaxie," Blind Melon has
found the combination of down home
tunes and heartfelt simplicity to win
their audiences over a second time.
Soup is not musically unlike the first
release, Blind Melon. The music still
contains jangly, folksy songs, though
this time around, Blind Melon has made
the decision to conquer some tougher
moral issues than whether or not the
BeeGirl can tap dance. "CarSeat(God's
Presents)," was written as a reaction to
the Susan Smith case in which the
mother drowned her two young boys.
Other songs worthy of noting for their
depth ofsubject are "St. Andrew's Fall,"
written after Hoon witnessed a women
fall to her death from a Detroit build-
ing, and "Skinned," ajaunty, bluegrass
style attempt to explore the psyche of
serial killer Ed Gein (also commemo-
rated in "Silence of the Lambs").
But, while many ofthe songs do have
a somewhat morbid appeal, Soup is
also filled with more pleasurable fare.

"New Life" celebrates the birth of the driving (no pun intended) lyrics infusing it with more controversy and a
Hoon's first child, and "Vernie" is a backup by the Little Rascals Brass Band little more jazz. These additional musit
beautiful ode to Hoon's grandmother. and you have the single that has caught cal elements only add to the mixture,
Even "Galaxie" has a happy side to it. on to the airwaves as quickly as any- making Soup a delicious addition to
According to the story, "Galaxie" does thing off their first release. any CD collection.
not refer to a celestial body, but instead Overall, Blind Melon has managed -Lise Harwin
to a 1964 Ford Galaxie that Hoon pur- to leave their sparsely acoustic sound
chased while recording Soup. Add to intact for their second album, while See RECORDS, page 8

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