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Archers Frontman Artsy on the Side
BY WENDY MITCHELL
SENIOR WRITER
Eric Bachmann, vocalist/guitarist for
Archers of Loaf, has anew solo project,
Barry Black. The only thing is, it’s not
exactly solo. Bachmann was joined by not
only more than 10 other rotating players,
but also by water pots, train whistles, noisy
keyboards and plenty of sax, pianos and
trombones.
The album —with a seemingly hectic
combination of instruments, including the
above plus trumpets, upright basses, cel
los, flutes, vibraphones and moogs is
amazingly focused for such an eclectic
collection. Bachmann, with help from lo
cal production guru Caleb Southern, man
ages to take all the energy of the Archers
and sift it through layers and loops. Barry
Black is artsy and experimental without the
pretension, from the “Looney ’Toons”-
esque honky tank of “Sandviken Stomp”
to the jazzy, atmospheric “Staticus von
Canborrus.”
Bachmann, in a phone interview from
the Archers’ tour in Oregon, insisted Barry
Black “is not weird, it’s basic instruments
playing pop songs.” Bachmann said the
instrumentation gave him more flexibility
than the guitar-bass-drams of the Archers.
“It’s harder in many ways to write pop
songs because that kind of music is so done
... It’s a lot easier to be original when
you’re adding all kinds of weird sounds.”
Arts&
Entertainment
Calendar
<♦
MUSIC
THURSDAY, NOV. 16
SMALL with J CHURCH and GARDEN
VARIETY. Cat's Cradle, 300 E. Main St.,
Carrboro. 967-9053.
DONKEY. Lizard and Snake Cafe, 110 N.
Columbia St., Chapel Hill. 929-2828.
GREG HUMPHREYS. The Cave, 452 1/2 W.
Franklin St., Chapel Hill. 968-9308.
UNC PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE Department
Of Music, UNC-CH, Hill Hall Auditorium. 962-
BACH.
FRIDAY, NOV. 17
VERTICAL HORIZON. Cat s Cradle, 300 E.
Main St., Carrboro. 967-9053.
ROGER MANNING. Lizard and Snake Cafe,
110 N. Columbia St., Chapel Hill. 929-2828.
THE FAIRLANES. The Cave, 452 1/2 W.
Franklin St., Chapel Hill. 968-9308.
SUE WITLY. Ninth Street Bakery, 776 Ninth
St., Durham. 2864)303.
GLAD HANDS. The Record Exchange, Mission
Valley Shopping Center, 2109-144 Avent Ferry
Road, Raleigh. 831-2300.
MARCHING TAR HEEL SIN CONCERT:
‘STAND UP AND CHEER!': AN EVENING
OF TAR HEEL SPIRIT AND PRIDE UNC
MARCHING BAND. Memorial Hall. UNC-CH.
962-BACH.
SATURDAY, NOV. 18
SUPERCHUNK with SEAWEED and
CORNERSHOP. Cat's Cradle, 300 E. Main St.,
Carrboro. 967-9053.
ANALOGUE with CH'RORA. Lizard and
Snake Cafe, 110 N. Columbia St., Chapel Hill.
929-2828
MODERN PILGRIMS. The Cave, 452 1/2 W.
Franklin St., Chapel Hill. 968-9308.
TINA LOVINGS. Ninth Street Bakery, 776
Ninth St., Durham. 286-0303.
SEMICOLON. The Record Exchange, Mission
Valley Shopping Center, 2109-144 Avent Ferry
Road, Raleigh. 831-2300.
STEVE GILLETTE and CINDY MANGSEN.
The Skylight Exchange, 405 1/2 W. Rosemary
St., Chapel Hill. 4034)028.
SUNDAY, NOV. 19
SUPERNOVA with UNFOUND LOGIC. Lizard
and Snake Cafe, 110 N. Columbia St., Chapel
Hill. 929-2828.
[solutions from your branch office... kinko’s.
No matter what you tell yourself, no matter when you start... you’re going to
find yourself working on that class project the night before it’s due. Probably
all night. And that's why your campus Kinko's is open 24 hours a day, every day.
With everything you need to make sure your project looks it’s best.
114 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill. 967-0790
Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week..
M
Bachmann, a
former music
major in alto
saxophone at
Appalachian
State University,
said he dropped
out because he
“pretty much
sucked” at the
rigid playing re
quirements. In
stead, he ex
plored less struc
tured musical
styles after com
ing to UNC and
switching to an English degree. He re
cently bought a piano for $250, but again
Mr. Modesty said he “can’t play worth
anything. I just beat on it and try to come
up with cool parts.” Though Bachmann
wrote all the songs (except for a few piano
parts), he recruited a swarm of local play
ers to assist in recording Barry Black. Ben
Folds (of, surprisingly enough, the increas
ingly nationally-hyped Ben Folds Five),
was a key player, adding his piano and
drams over Bachmann’s chord progres
sions on some songs. Bachmannsaid, “He’s
a really good player, he gets things.”
Other local musicians featured on Barry
Black include Chris and Jim Clodfelter
(Geezer Lake) on trombone, and fiddler
Bill Hicks (ex-Red Clay Ramblers). Even
V './ JIB . '
Cornershop will appear at Cat's Cradle on Saturday, Nov. 18. Contact
Cat’s Cradle for additional information.
WILLIAM S. NEWMAN ARTISTS SERIES:
ENSEMBLE COURANT AND CAROLINA
CHOIR. Department Of Music, UNC-CH, Hill
Hall Auditorium. 962-BACH.
"WIND OF TIME*: FROM CHAMBER
WINDS TO WIND SYMPHONY. UNC
SYMPHONIC BAND. Department Of Music,
UNC-CH, Hill Hall Auditorium. 962-BACH.
MONDAY, NOV. 20
JAMES HALL BAND. Lizard and Snake Cafe,
110 N. Columbia St., Chapel Hill. 929-2828.
STU COLE. The Cave, 452 1/2 W. Franklin
St., Chapel Hill. 968-9308.
TUESDAY, NOV. 21
THE BOUNCING SOULS with SCREW 32.
Cat's Cradle, 300 E. Main St., Carrboro. 967-
9053.
JILL FRIDAY with BARRY AND JIMMY.
The Cave, 452 1/2 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill.
968-9308.
UNC GLEE CLUBS. Department Of Music,
UNCCH, Hill Hall Auditorium. 962-BACH.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 22
THE TROUT BAND. The Cave, 452 1/2 W.
Franklin St., Chapel Hill. 968-9308.
ART EXHIBITS
‘EMINENT CAROLINIANS: PORTRAITS
FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE DIALEC
TIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES.*
Ackland Art Museum. 966-5736. Through Jan.
21.
‘REFRAMING DOCUMENTARY' and ‘AND
22 MILLION VERY TIRED AND VERY
ANGRY PEOPLE.* Ackland Art Museum.
■THE STORY OF A PICTURE* North Carolina
Museum of Art 2110 Blue Ridge Road,
DIVERSIONS
notoriously quiet Cat’s Cradle owner
Frank Heath takes on soothing spoken
word vocals on “Cowboys and Thieves,”
and Todd Goss of Jettison Records and
Blue Green Gods fame adds his touch to
“Rabid Dog."
Bachmann said he would love to see a
local Barry Black show sometime in De
cember, but he said the logistics of taking
eightto 10 people on the road werejusttoo
hectic. Time is also a factor since the
Archers plan to head into the studio in
February possibly working with pro
ducer Brian Paulson, (Slint’s Spiderland )
for an album to be released this sum
mer. He said the next Archers’ album
would probably be on Alias, but nothing
was definite. “We don’t want to go to a
major label and have all this pressure to
write a sellable record,” Bachmann said.
“We don’t want to do that right now, or
ever.”
Bachmann doubted his solo work would
rub off on the next Archers album. “The
Barry Black thing isatotallydifferentworld
... I’m not worried about crossover.” He
said the Archers’ experimentation with a
sampling machine (heard at their Cat’s
Cradle show in late August) would prob
ably have happened regardless. But he does
want to try out some ideas tossed around
during the recording of Barry Black , and he
plans to do another side project someday.
He said, “It keeps you fresh, it keeps you
excited about other things you are doing.”
Raleigh. 839-6262. Through June 2,1996.
“ART AT TOWN HALL' Chapel Hill Town
Hall, 306 N. Columbia St, Chapel Hill. 968-
2743. Through Dec. 3.
“ECHOES OF EDEN.* 101-2 Bryan Center,
Duke University. 984-2911. Through Nov. 17.
‘SCULPTURE IN METAL* by Peggy Burke.
N.C. Crafts Gallery, 212 W. Main St., Carrboro.
9424048. Through Nov. 31.
‘CAROLINA CHRISTMAS SHOW.* Raleigh
Civic Center. 7584)877. Nov. 14-19.
“MARITIME PAINTINGS* by Louis Rubin.
Somerhill Gallery. 3 Eastgate, E. Franklin St.,
Chapel Hill. 968-8868. Through Nov. 18.
‘SOWING FIELDS OF WISDOM* African
American Cultural Center Gallery, 2nd floor
Witherspoon Center, N.C. State University.
419-8063. Through Nov. 29.
“THE ANCIENT ONES: PHOTOGRAPHS BY
HANS U* Duke University Museum of Art,
Durham. 681-8065. Through Dec. 31.
THEATER
“TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.* The Playhouse
Community Theatre. The Playhouse, 1169
Nashville Road, Rocky Mount. 972-1266. Nov.
17-18.
“TWO TRAINS RUNNING.* NCSU Thompson
Theatre, NCSU, Raleigh. 515-2405. Nov. 15-
18.
‘NOISES OFF.* Company Carolina, Studio 6,
Swain Hall, UNC-CH. 929-5631. Nov. 15-20.
‘INTO THE WOODS* Pauper Players, Old
Play Makers Theatre, UNC-CH. 962-1449. Nov
16-18.
“LOVERS* Lab! Theatre, Basement of Graham
Memorial Hall, UNC-CH. 962-PLAY. Nov. 18-
21.
Calendar compiled by Nicole Quenelle.
All calendar annoucements must be submitted
a minimum of one week prior to the event or
concert.
1995’s Popular Crowd Pleasers Are
Often Nothing But Hollywood Fluff
As I gaze forlornly out my window into
the disheveled backyard that has be
come my home, a plethora of im
pulses and desires are bom and die a tearful
death in my breast, ‘insert dramatic sigh
here*
We must never forget how wondrous these
dew-covered moments are, my friends.
We must grasp them and embrace their
memory with the strength of a hundred
sappy poets.
Everyone is special, and small tragedies
can and do occur every single day in every
friggin’ place you could imagine.
I found out yesterday my hometown
was the accidental test site of a nuclear
warhead, my entire family has recently
developed gangrene and my dog has an
ovarian cyst and.... wait a minute. Oops,
sorry, that’s Doug’s column. Let me start
over...
Ah-hem.
As I gaze longingly out my window into
the parking lot of Ehringhaus that has
become my home (for those of you living
on north campus, Ehringhaus is a dorm
just south of the Georgia border), a plethora
of impulses and desires are bom in my, um,
breast, as I ponder the swimming pool
scene from “Showgirls.”
Just in case a few of you haven’t seen the
movie, I won’t comment further on this
potentially Oscar-winning scene, for fear
of raining the complicated plot or dimin
ishing the suspense that builds incessantly
throughout the picture (C’mon, full frontal
nudity one more time! Just once more!! Do
it for Slater!).
Which brings me smoothly to my next
topic: cooters.
Now put down your gender-sensitive
arms for a second, because “cooter” does
not mean what you probably think it does
(you pervs).
Cooter is slang for “snapping turtle” in
certain parts of die state, often the same
parts where “picture box” is slang for tele
vision and musicians have one finger for
each guitar string.
However, for those ofus ignorant of the
ways of the “mountain folk” (mountain
folk is slang for “NC State students”), the
word “cooter” conjures a very different
image. You can imagine my distress when
I first heard my suitemates having the fol
lowing conversation:
Chad: “Yep, it’s cooter season again.
Time to get out the old clubs and do some
cooter bashing!”
Frank: “You know what the problem is
with cooters? They look so innocent - al
most friendly - when you first touch them.
But one false move and ‘SNAP* they bite
Robert Sharon Joe
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OPENS NOVEMBER 22ni)
your whole
damn finger
off! ” FROM GUMP TO
Chad: COOTERS
“Yeah, but
once you beat ’em around a little, they sure
are good eatin’.”
Me (in distress): “Hey guys, what did
you think about the swimming pool scene
in “Showgirls?”
(Writer’s note: To protect their privacy
and throw any would-be hecklers off the
trail, I have swapped the names of my two
suitemates.)
The point is that cultural differences are
an important factor to consider when talk
ing to people you’ve just met.
The other point is that it takes a surpris
ingly small amount of camouflage to hide
an excuse to write about oral sex.
Which brings me smoothly to my cen
tral topic: The Worst Movies of the Year.
5 - "FOREST GUMP"
Okay , so maybe this movie didn’t come
out within the last year, but it was so bad it
should be on every “worstmovie” list until
the end of time.
Every scene was obviously and patheti
cally filmed forthe sole puipose of winning
an award: (Okay, we’ve done the “war
buddy gets killed/hurt” scene and the “last
words of the mom before she dies” scene,
time for the “long-lost son I never knew I
had” scene...) This movie is like a box of
chocolates - too much of either makes you
want to puke.
4-"A WALK IN THE CLOUDS" &
"HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN
QUILT”
Everything about these movies sucked.
There was no car chase and not nearly
enough cursing, and not one single person
was mashed into goo by industrial machin
ery. The real problem with these movies,
however, is that they give females the en
tirely wrong impression about us guys in
general.
In these movies, men are able to sweep
women off their feet with colossal feats of
valor, undying devotion and the ability to
have every friggin’ word that comes out of
their mouth sound like lines from a
Shakespearean sonnet.
Meanwhile, most “real” guys consider
renting “Friday the 13th part XI - Jason
Gets His Legs Waxed” followed by a re
laxing dinner at Taco Bell to be a romantic
evening.
Thursday, November 16,1995
“Apollo 13. ” Tom Hanks does
it again. This movie is further
testimony to the fact that real
life is simply not that interest
ing. If it were, I wouldn’t go to
see movies. Furthermore, the
movie was particularly dull
because, unless you happened
to be an astronaut, you had
no idea what was going on
half the time.
3- "SOMETHING TO TALK
ADOUT"
I never actually saw the movie, but it
was named after a Bonnie Raitt song, for
Christ’s sake. That’s really all the evidence
I need.
2 "FREE WILLY 2"
I HATE animal movies, and I hate
movies about little kids even more, and I
hate Michael Jackson songs most of all. I
would like to see Babe the pig, the panda
from “The Panda Adventure”, and Willy
locked in a steel cage and forced to fight for
their lives.
1-" APOLLO 13-
Tom Hanks does it again. This movie is
further testimony to the fact that real life is
simply not that interesting. If it were, I
wouldn’t go to see movies. Furthermore,
the movie was particularly dull because,
unless you happened to be an astronaut,
you had no idea what was going on half the
time: the movie was particularly dull be
cause, unless you happened to be an astro
naut, you had no idea what was going on
half the time:
Tom: “Houston? Wehaveaproblem up
here. The oxidizing lactose reriprocator
seems to be malfunctioning!!’’
Houston: “Oh, no!! Try adjusting the
red immunizing proctal lobotomy bulb!”
Tom (after slight pause): Whew! That
worked. Now we’re fi - oh no! The gastro
astronomical radon gasket is loose!”
Houston: “What? Repeat last message
please.
Tom: “We were watching that pool
scene in ‘Showgirls.’”
11