The Daily Tar Heel Thursday. March 24, 198813
inking
By KAREN HATTON
Staff writer
if you like variety and art exhi
bits without a common theme.
"The Thinking Reed" at the Carr
boro ArtsCenter is the exhibit for
you. The collective show of nine
eastern North Carolina artists will
be shown from March 13 to April
15.
The show exhibits avant garde
paintings, prints and sculpture. The
artists have attempted to define
the show as organic minimalism or
a grass roots surrealism.
"it's all different." says Bett
Wilson, the ArtsCenter communi
cation coordinator, "it doesn't
have one statement to make, i
guess it's symbolic of North Carol
ina. You think of North Carolina as
a variety vacation land. Certainly,
there is a lot of variety here."
Variety is the perfect adjective
for this out of the ordinary show.
The most eye-catching exhibit is
Tom Crubb's large bamboo and
rope sculpture, "Time-Space
Probe." suspended from the
gallery ceiling.
"Tom put the hanging sculpture
together here at the gallery," says
Wanda Calhoon. gallery director.
"It took him about one or two
hours."
Crubb, who is a Fayettevilie
sculptor, says of his work: "I want
to direct the viewer's attention
Five Guys
By RHYS WIIUJAMS
Staff Writer
Louis Lordan is perhaps one of
the most under-rated influences in
the history of rock YV roll. From
the early 1940s onwards, he pro
duced a series of upbeat dance
songs, which were often loosely
based on the old 12-bar blues
structure but he gave them a
lively, horn-filled treatment by
using a less-than-serious approach
to lyrics.
This resulted in such classic
pieces as "Aint Nobody Here But
Us Chickens" and "What's The Use
in Getting Sober (When You Gonna
Get Drunk Again)." A few years
later, many of these same ideas
were borrowed by a young man
named Chuck Berry, who used
them to help invent rock YT roll.
in 1942, Jordan also recorded a
song about an imaginary rhythm
and blues band, which last year
lent its name to what has become
one of the more popular blues
bands in the region. Five Guys
Named Moe now plays gigs in
North and South Carolina and
Virginia, and they have have also
released a nine-song cassette
entitled "Zack Attack "
Armand Lencheck, guitarist and
singer for the band, as well as
author or co-author of seven of
the songs on the cassette, is clearly
excited about future prospects,
"it's getting better," he says.
Th
Reed' show strives for the
up. It shows the direction man
needs to go in the 21 st century."
Crubb also has three collages
from a series called "The Celestial
star Chart." The collages are
constructed of ink, bamboo and
string on paper. "The Mission,"
"Converging vectors" and "The
void" all show an outer space view
of the world.
Crubb says he uses imagery
based on navigation skills he used
when he was a sea captain in New
England for three years. He also
combines the exploration of space
in his art with his knowledge of
missile technology.
About his art, Crubb says, "I'm
carving space instead of man."
Another example of suspended
art is Durham painter David
Davenport's "Caroline Series 1
to 12." This exhibit is 12 odd
shaped tubes constructed of can
vas and painted with a variety of
bright oils.
Oil on canvas is also the medium
Allen Lee, a painter from Ply
mouth, uses for his three exhibits:
"Co Up under the Tent," "Enter
Virginia With a Platter" and "The
Sound Bridge." All are abstract
paintings done in varying shades.
James Beaman from Greenville
also creates abstract or semi
abstract art works. His first paint
ing is an untitled acrylic on paper
done in subtle shades of browns,
blues and greens. And "Wiros" is
Named Moe is happy to sing
"We're now on the edge of being
able to call ourselves professionals.
I still teach guitar at Oxbow Music
for a living, but this (the band) is
becoming more lucrative the
whole time."
How much is the band's success
due to the recent chart success
of Robert Cray and the Fabulous
Thunderbirds? "They've helped
not only us, but everyone around
here who plays the music," Len
check says, "it's not so much the
older people, but the younger
people who hadnt come across
blues before. They hear it through
people like Robert Cray and George
Thorogood, and it opens up a
whole new world to them
Although Five Guys has only
been together since April,
FREE!
wnoie new wona to tnem. many ui uc (.iomh. ju.i3j yti
Althouah Five Guvs has onlv 1 still feel that I need to pay my
hppn rnnprhpr cinrp Anril dues."
n Pi 12 1. S--Y-J 0 xl ! kv n CM BZi-rM'
& THE PRESSURE BOYS
fi.nn r.rpaf wan
weu., lvictrcu ou
another acrylic on paper abstract
painted in bright colors.
"I just kind of play around with
shapes," he says. "Sort of semi
abstractly." Beaman says he came up with
the title "Wiros" when he was
looking in the dictionary. He was
looking at root words and he liked
wiros, which means "age of man."
Other paintings in the exhibit
include several acrylic and oil on
canvas paintings by Paul Hartley,
an artist from Greenville. His
paintings combine reality with the
unnatural.
Some of his figures are almost
grotesque. For example, in "The
Gold Tooth," a one-eyed figure
holds a gold tooth in his hand and
stands over a bloody and ban
daged figure of an uniformed
soldier. The left side of the soldier's
head looks as though it has been
blown away.
Hartley also paints some objects
in such detail that they appear to
be photographs, while others are
obviously painted. In "The Secret,"
a painting of Albert Einstein, the
details are executed in a photo
realistic style.
Curt Vandervere, an artist from
Greenville, uses gouache (a method
of painting using opaque water
colors mixed witrh a preparation
of gum) on paper to do his com
ponent charts. His four exhibits
include "Liquid-Solid Components
Armand's pedigree stretches back
further. "Like most kids, I listened
to rock at first," he says. "But I
began playing in a real blues band
about 1 0 years ago, in Washington,
D.C., with the Short Note Blues
Band. We played stuff by Paul
Butterfield, the Fabulous
Thunderbirds."
But he adds that this doesn't
mean that he feels he can now
treat original bluesmen such as
Muddy waters as peers, instead,
when the band plays covers,
Lenchek feels he has something to
prove. "I feel like I have to play
these songs well, to prove that I
can do it. We havent reworked
many of the classic songs yet
I still feel that I need to pay my
dues."
r" FREE!
i
2" and "Liquid-Solid Systems n,
2 and 3."
Greenville artist Michael Voors
exhibits two charcoal sketches.
"Shrine Study 5" and "Shrine
Drawing 7" look like architectural
sketches of a proposed tower.
Greenville artist Bob Ray uses
two entirely different media
styles in his exhibits. He uses
canvas and paint to create "The
Ghost Strap," which is over 10 feet
long, words are painted on the
strap. At first, "light" and "dark"
are alternately written several
times; farther down the strap
there is a variety of random
words, including "chair," "cold" and
"paper." Toward the bottom of
the strap, the words begin to form
an odd message "We - were girls
- together - old - animals
move shoes - under - curtain."
And Ray's "Twelve ScenesRice
Bump" consists of 12 mixed media
drawings with black outlines and
shapes on cream paper that
together resemble an appliqued
quilt.
Greenville sculptor Norman
Keller shows great imagination in
his choice of media. For "The Mind
is in Pain," he uses a wooden
folding chair, bones, fur, hemp
string and a flashing light.
And his "Dont Look Now (Valen
tine)" is a mixed media sculpture
of a odd-shaped wooden heart
with nails driven around it. it's
Does this reveal a slight cynicism
towards blues bands that are now
appearing in the wake of the
commercial success of Cray et al?
No, he says, but went on to point
out, "You cant just turn around
and play rock 'n' roll one day, and
blues the next. It's very hard to
make it sound authentic. Blues is
a feeling, and you have to work
to get that feeling, it isn't easy.
It takes work."
The hard work is beginning to
pay off for Lenchek and the other
band members, as they begin to
insert more original material into
their set. "We have about 10 of
our own songs in the set at the
moment," says Lenchek. "and one
of the things we're debating is
what vein to move into. At the
Estes Park Royal Park
967-2234 967-2239
Kingswood University Lake
967-2231 968-3983
Sttlrhe Apartment People
unusua
decorated with a tarnished mirror
and feathers suspended by leather
thongs.
Keller's "Waiting in Bakersfield" .
has a wooden stand with a roughly
formed saddieblock which has
spikes driven around it. On top of
the block are blue plaster boot
forms and hanging from the side
is a small pitchfork with curled
prongs. The hemp string used on
the sculpture has a smell that
reminds you of a hay-filled barn.
"The Quiet Stick" is an oddly
carved piece of cherry wood
painted with a yellow-orange
paint and decorated with bones
and colored string. And Keller's
"Coasta Dolman (Reliquay)" is
constructed of smooth and rough
stone, rusty nails and rusty bits of
steel.
"Keller normally does formal
works," Calhoon says. "He had been
doing fun pieces over a long period
and he thought they would fit
into the show."
When asked about the lack of
common theme in the show,
Beaman said, "I don't think it
should (have a theme). Each artist
is an individual. It all relates in a
way."
The show is challenging for
viewers because it is thought
provoking, Wilson says.
"It's one of the more colorful
shows," she says. "It doesnt just
sit there."
the blues
moment we cover everything
from zydeco to funk, but we want
to make it more us." Certainly the
cassette reveals these various
influences in the songs, and it still
maintains a surprising overall
coherence.
Five Guys Named Moe. who are
actually four guys and a girl, will
be back in Chapel Hill at the
Carrboro ArtsCenter on April 1 , and
they guarantee that they will
sound nothing like Louis Jordan.
They are, however, well worth
checking out, and if you miss their
April 1 gig, you can probably catch
them playing somewhere around
Chapel Hill every couple of weeks.
Go see them, and add a little
rhythm to your life.
Beer and wine permitted with proof of age. .
1 in t n f t.MM