_iBB PAGE 8 The Tech TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1987 ~B~ab L~~~~~IL ~ ML-qP a LPIL - L--sPJI~ _ i ·IPP b r ·------, - Iqls lp --· 9 C-- L - - -p)L - - - _ IY--C- - L-- L--. --. -- -- a e I b I - r - - mp ------Ip ePYPL -9 I·l s - L--U ------ ------I` ----- I L- c - I---- I------Y- A R T S -Y -- -- I- c - -- U --- Local Rock and Roll RRRRumbles into Boston's Spit WBCN ROCK and tiny stage, set the mood perfectly for band highly favored to make it to the rock show took the stage for the third act AND ROLL RUMBLE finals, of the evening. The biggest attraction Preliminaries, at Spit. the gritty, no nonsense, no flash .rock and with their tune "I Think She Likes of roll that is distinctly Me" getting a fair amount of airplay and Gotham City has to be its leggy lead singer Monday, June 15 to Saturday, June 20. Bostonian. And de- spite the fact that the semis atMetro were not excluding the fact that they are a senti- with the soaring voice, Lois Holcomb. The made 18+ age shows and the finals at the mental favorite since losing their equip- band's straight ahead hard rock seemed By PETER DUNN Orpheurm all ages, it still required a Mass. ment at the fire at. Jack's. The heavy blues mostly streamlined to show off Lois' pow- 1W1W ITH CRIES THAT THE LOCAL liquor ID to get into Spit, making the influence, intermingled with a hard rock erful vocals and. when the music took over rock scene in Boston is slow- week-long event a blissful reprieve from edge, shone through with David Champa- it seemed hollow. Lois, scantily clad in j ly dwindling in quality and the teeny-hopper crowds that populate any gne's wailing slide guitar and Jim Fitting's sequined dress, seemed dressed to kill with W ~ ~quantity,that perennial sum- major rock concert in the Boston area. crying harmonica. Confident and charis- Gotham City dressed to win. mer bastion of raw rock 'n roll exhube- matic, Treat Her Right drew wild yells Dr. Black's Combo's artful, very differ- rance -the nine nights that make up the Monday - Day I from the large, partisan crowd. ent tone closed the night in yet another annual WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble- The Catalinas finished off the night but musical style. The high pitched, wailing answered' those cries with a resounding Tom Keegan and the Language unfortu- could do little to follow up after the two lead guitar, combined with slow, deep bass "We ain't down for the count yet!" nately suffered from being the first band preceding acts ..Most of the crowd had al- and drums, and added to the twanging of While counting up the tallies at the of the first night of the Rumble, the most ready left and there were few to listen to a second guitar, all mixed to form Dr. Rumble contest recent setbacks in the Bos- unenviable spot in the 24 band lineup their straight ahead rock mixed with a Black's distinctive, stilted hard rock. De- ton local scene (such as the fire at Jack's since it unavoidably draws the smallest slight twang of country. Unfortunately, spite'the thinned out crowd that remained and the annoucement that the Conserva- crowd of the week. Despite a hard, layered The Catalinas showed little variety in their until almost 1 am to see Dr. Blacks, the tory would convert from live band to DJ- guitar sound and Keegan's strong lead songs. Treat Her Right took honors for band's unique style seemed to have im- only format) seemed far from anybody's vocals, the band's-songs showed only a the night, in large part because of pressed the judges who picked them as the mind. Hot rock on stage at Spit was the smattering of upbeat 'originality. Some charismatic stage presence. winners for the night. order of the day. tunes, such as "Watching Them Go" and Each year the rites of summer are initi- "Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy," started the audi- Tuesday - Day 2 -Thursday - Day 4 ated at Spit as 24 local (and nowadays not ence shaking with the music as Keegan so local) rock bands vie for the eight spots galavanted about the stage, but not until The lopsidedness of the WBCN selec- The first real synth/pop band of the open for the semi-finals of the WBCN half way through the set. The band's- big- tion process once again reared its ugly Rumble, Rapture of the Deep, opened the Rock and Roll Rumble contest. Four gest setback, however, was the stiff cormpe- head as the second night of the Rumble fourth day of competition at the Rumble. bands compete every night over a span of tition they had from 'the remaindeir of the rolled around. While Monday had seen Drawing the smallest crowd to date, the six days with the winner of each night and lineup for the night. two top contenders come head to head in band was not very impressive in its many two "wild card', bands moving on to the Big Dipper, favored as a strong con- an exciting night of music, Tuesday's li- attempts to mix the sweet sounds of its semis. The semis take place over two tender to make it to the finals, played the neup did not show as much promise. keyboard with a steady drumbeat and the nights at Metro with the winners facing off second set of the night. Bassist Steve T. H. and the Wreckage opened the gritty, soaring voice of lead singer David for the finals at the Orpheum. The only Michener defined clearly the band's inten- night in a style which had proven favor- Wildman. Displaying little energy on prerequisite to enter the contest is that the tions when he announced up front, "We're able to Treat Her Right. With the drums stage, Rapture's lyrics could not carry the band have had airplay on WBCN, have no tickled punk to be here!" Dressed in pastel at stage front setting the hard, driving lack of innovative music. Only towards the national recording contract, and be good dress shirts and dress pants, the band tempo, the band settled into breakneck end of its set did Rapture finally get some enough to be chosen by the WBCN members looked more the part of clean- speed rockabilly and boogiewoogie tunes. of the crowd moving with harder rocking screening committee. cut nerds than hard rockers. But looks can The group showed some of the same blues tunes. The preliminaries of the Rumble took be'deceiving - on top of a slow, hard influence as Treat Her Right, with more Viasco Da Gamma, another synth/pop place last Monday to Saturday with the backbeat, guitarists Bill Goffrier and Gary drive and more guitar harmony, but was band, soon followed with' a slower, more semis tonight and tomorrow at Metro and Waleik created a wall of sound up front, less charismatic on stage. measured beat and more originality in the finals on Friday at the Orpheum. In not so much playing their instruments as Al Halliday and the Hurricanes fol- musical arrangement: with two drum sets keeping with the history of the Rumble, attacking them (they went through an lowed, a group made up largely of Berklee and a lead violin instead of a lead guitar, the prelims were held at Spit, a spot re- average of about one guitar string per students. Despite the most vocal fans in the band looked set to produce original markably similar in atmosphere to the song), while flailing about on stage. the Rumble so far, the Hurricanes' at- music. Quite the contrary, Iasco Da Gam- dark, claustrophobic Rat in Kenmore The injustice of WBCN's random meth- tempts to mix synth music and hard rock ma seemed arty and self-conscious, prime Square where the Rumble, at its inception, od of choosing who meets whom in the fell dismally flat - turn down the volume candidates for teeny-bopper heaven. Their first took place. Spit, with its stark black preliminaries made itself clear as Treat and the music was nothing more than Neil sound was buried beneath the drum line, walls, minimal lighting, anti-conservative Her Right took the stage for the third set Diamond. One could only wonder what all making it difficult to make out the melody dress code ("When in doubt wear black"), of the night. Treat Her Right is another the whooping and yelling was about. and lyrics. Still, they displayed more origi- Following along the same lines came nality than Rapture of the Deep, although The Rain, another mainstream hard rock that might have been more show than sub- DarioFo s "Pinball" only at band but with more speed and less pomp stance. than the Hurricanes.With better harmony All this soon gave way to The Cavedogs, times lights up spectacularily and a faster beat, The Rain clearly out- who lived up to the images brought to shone the Hurricanes, but failed along the mind from their name with gritty power ARCHANGELS DON'T PLAY But while the play remains stylistically same lines: blandness and repetitiveness of rock. Starting off from a hard rock version PINBALL in the fifties, the political humor has been their music. It seemed that the judges of "Fame," the band pushed onward with Written by Dario Fo. updated with references to Chernobyl, would not have much of a choice from the a sound somewhere between heavy metal Directed by Dario Fo and Franca Rame. Three Mile Island, Matthias Rust, Fawn evening's performances. and hard core. Slow lyrics over hard Starring GeoffHoyle, Harriet Harris, Hall, Gary Hart, Vanna White, the New The final group of the night, The Taint, strumming guitars brought to mind '60s Peter Gerety, and John Bottoms. Jersey garbage barge, Imnelda Marcos, con- sank the last nail in the coffin: sporting at- type hard rock recently reincarnated by At the American Repertory Theatre. doms - well, you get the idea. You have tire / la Miami'Vice, they were the most the likes of Power Station. But despite the probably also realized that there are a pop oriented band of the Rumble yet, out respite from the previous stagey synth/pop By JULIAN WEST right way and a wrong way to do this. The of'place on the hard edged Boston rock bands, and the looser stage presence as wrong way is not to bother to make up scene. In spite of their different look, The band members ad libbed jokes back and FATER A SEASON which ranged terribly good jokes but to rely on surprise Taint displayed no more originality than forth, the music from disappointment to disas- seemed dated. and incongruity for humor, exploiting the the other three bands for the night: poor Childhood finished off the night with ter, the American Repertory audience's readiness to laugh at the ex- harmony and weak, straightforward tunes Theatre could rely on Dario Fo their tight mainstream rock. Slick, clean- pense of President Reagan or Ayatollah buried them in the' quagmire. cut, and very energetic on-stage, Child- to help them finish the season on a posi- Khomeini. By and large, this production The judges chose The Rain as the win- tive note. The veteran Italian director, ac- hood got the audience grooving with their heads the wrong way. ners for the night although T:H. and the harmonious vocals and danceable, catchy tor, and comic came through, but less It seems that Fo cut the headlines out of Wreckage might just as- easily have won. spectacularly than one would have hoped. tunes. The band really let loose as the set the papers over the last six weeks and progressed, bopping all about the stage to One cannot fault Fo's talents as a direc- pasted them into the script. A blow for Wednesday - Day 3 tor, or the abilities of the company. It is the beat of their own songs. Childhood topicality - what other major production could do well to let their music come out a clear, however, that a few mistakes were could possibly have mentioned Donna made early on, notably After the disparity of the first two days bit more over the'lyrics but the judges in the choice of the Rice yet? - but not for humor, of competition, one was unsure material. "Archangels" was a big hit of what to were impressed enough by the energy of I do not fault Fo. It is hard for him to expect on the third. Fortunately the around the world Rum- the band's songs to give them the nod for in the 1950s, but scan- tell when jokes are falling flat - he speaks ble settled down to, more consistent dalously was never performed in the Unit- lineups the night. In a mostly pop oriented eve- no English, and relies on a translator to of bands. ning, Rapture of the Deep also scored ed States - owing, doubtless, to the po- converse, make speeches, and direct. And litical climate The Wicker. Men opened Wednesday's enough points to move on to the semi- of the time. (Restrictions the audience does not help by tittering ap- show placed with their brand of funk based rock. finals as a wild-card band. on Fo's entry into the country were preciatively whenever there is a gratuitous The strong bass only lifted last year, line, and complementilg Friday - Day 5 at which time he sex scandal reference. guitars mixed well, promptly showed up in Cambridge.) with Bob Gifford's syn- The fifth night of competition at the Translator Ron Jenkins deserves to copated talk-sing vocals. In addition, Gif- Redressing this ancient wrong Rumble returned to some of the mediocri- is not suf- catch a share of the flak, however. He does ford was spellbinding on stage ficient reason for staging this particular in a Mick ty that plagued Tuesday's performances. It a fine job of providing a real time inter- Jagger sort of way: it would be impossible also proved to be metal night with the only play, however. face between Fo and the English speaking The not to notice his oversized mouth, long two heavy metal bands of the Rumble sad truth is that "Archangels" has world. But plays should be translated by face, and neither aged nor travelled huge bushy eyebrows. Again, coming head to head. well. Certainly playwrights, not academics. Many of the The Wickermen -had to deal its pronouncements about with the small Ammo, fronted by lead singer and lead the arbitrary jokes have been misplaced, and the overall crowd associated with being perversity of bureaucracy and the universe the opening guitarist Joey Ammo, began the onslaught tone is a little stilted. band, but this only allowed more freedom in general have the ring of truth. But it is with his brand of bass heavy hard rock. But enough griping: the production is a for the many dancers near the front of the But Ammo's high pitched voice seemed at also a memory of a more innocent time, disappointment but not a disaster. The before stage. odds with the band's slow, deep bass video games, the Iranian revolu- plot, which I will not try to describe, Moving tion, the Targets followed, the second sound and his vocals were out of sync with Thatcher revolution, the oil bounces around like a pinball, occasional- hard shocks, core band after Big Dipper. Another the music. To make matters worse, Ammo or the AIDS scare. ly lighting up spectacularly or making en- set of cherub It may still have played well as a-period faiced choirboys, these boys insisted on making contorted, googoo eyed tertaining noises. It does have a habit, were revved up for speed: they even let facial expressions as if he were on drugs. piece, but the producers seem to believe however, of suddenly flying out the nearest that the play is simply transferring to Bos- loose with a faster,' more furious version Basically a wliole lot of noise and leering. outlane, leaving us with the feeling of of Led Zep's "Rock ton after a successful run in Milano and Roll" (if faster is Struggle gave the audience's ears a - in having lost a quarter. at all possible). And their 1959. They have made a few changes, of lyrics and sing- breather from the volume. with a more As the farce runs through a series of ing-were even intelligible, instead course, in both place and time. The of just mainstream sound added with a slight action disconnected vignettes, it seems to make screaming above the volume. now takes place in Boston and Washing- Unfortunate- twinge of reggae. The band's music in- little sense. But those who manage to pay ly for the band, the crowd ton, which makes was not really volved a lot of melody from the keyboard, sense: canelloni can be attention to the end will be rewarded by a into their type of music. found in the North End, and bureaucracy several tempo changes, and demanded clever twist ending which makes sense of In stark contrast to Moving Targets' no in abundance in DC. (Please turn (Please turn to page 9) nonsense music, Gotham City s slick hard to page 9)
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