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Confident Voices Define Indie Rock Genre at Cradle
By Aaron Freeman
Staff Writer
Guided by Voices is not, by any
means, the original indie rock band. It
has, however, absolutely defined the
genre.
The definitive article, it seems, remains
a mirage in the wide margins of the main
stream and the hot
new single, yet the
band remains an
icon of the not
too-distant under
ground.
Icons have
shows like
rey/W?
Guided by Voices
Cat's Cradle
Saturday, Oct. 26
★★★★☆
Saturday night’s at the Cat’s Cradle.
Frontman Robert Pollard is the Mick
Jagger of Generation X. His heavy
drinking, heavy-smoking, mic-swinging,
fist-pumping, lip-pursing flamboyance
wrapped the stage in unabashed, unre
penting confidence. Pollard was a mad
man who never once let the fans down
- which worked out well because the
Cradle was packed to its guts.
From the start, with “From a Voice
Plantation,” a cut from the band’s latest
record, Pollard thrashed and wailed the
L | ...
PHOTO COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES
The "Jackass" crew brews mayhem in an oversized shopping cart
packed with a midget, "Party Boy," and a guy with one testicle.
Shocking 'Jackass' Lives
Up to Television Fame
By Ashley Harrell
Staff Writer „
Johnny Knoxville is living the new
American dream - making lots of money
with not much effort - exempt from
respecting anyone, including himself.
He’s brilliant.
“Jackass: The Movie,” a Dickhouse
Production starring Knoxville and some
of his sadistic and
willing cronies,
succeeds in every
thing it sets out to
do. Much like the
former television
,— ~-^^7ndwe>
rey/ew
"Jackass: The Movie"
★ ★★★☆
show, each of the unrelated scenes is
hilarious, vomit-inducing or just plain
absurd, stimulating a variety of reactions
from the audience for all its 85 minutes.
On board are the token midget
(Jason “Wee Man” Acuna), the fat man
with an unusually shaped butt (Preston
Lacy), the guy with a near-life-sized tat
too of himself on his back (Steve-O) and
the two guys that get naked a lot (Chris
Pontius and Ryan Dunn). They all have
one thing in common -a love for the
inappropriate.
Let’s just face it, most of daily life is bor
ing. Most people are boring, and if you
really think about the world for too long,
you’ll realize nothing matters. It’s about
time someone decided to perform asinine
stunts for the sake of having a good time
and entertaining America’s youth.
Of course, there are people who will
disagree - people who think watching a
grown man fake a dump in a display toi
let of a hardware store is “a bad influ
ence” on their children.
People who believe hiding in a bush
and repeatedly blowing a foghorn as
golfers swing isn’t funny but mde.
People who fail to understand why
anyone would stick a toy car in his or her
rectum just to see the look on the radiol
ogist’s face while interpreting the X-ray.
These people are what’s wrong with
planet Earth.
Sure, “Jackass” doesn’t have a plot,
Join Us Before
Or After TU Movie
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crowd into something like a drug-fueled
golden dream.
Indeed, new album Universal Truths
and Cycles was ever-present, delivering
both hits and misses at the show.
“Cheyenne,” light and poppy with a
twinge of Lennon vocals, created a
scene of hopping, smokey delight.
Heavier “Everywhere with Helicopter”
used brash guitar riffs and omnipresent
cymbal crashing to unmitigated perfec
tion. Indie pop introduced itself to
grunge rock with hundreds of fans to
happily bear witness.
“Skin Parade,” however, illustrated
the downside to Universal Truths and
Cycles , where radical rambled with
unpleasantly obscure. About the time of
Pollard’s final screechings, the crowd -
for the first time - silendy beckoned for
the next song.
This moment was easily forgotten as
track after track of quality music strutted
into the audience’s ringing ears. “Glad
Girls,” perhaps the band’s best five song,
simply jubilates, “Hey hey, glad girls
only want to get you high.” Reckless and
fun chorals resulted in hundreds of flat
tened cans underfoot in a scene of bliss
induced bouncing.
but neither do most movies that aim for
one. “Save the Last Dance,” “A.1.,” and
anything with Jennifer Love Hewitt are
just a few examples.
Feeble-stomached persons be
warned: This movie contains yellow
sno-cones and violent paper cuts
applied to the webbings of fingers and
toes. The cameraman and the urine
eater both vomit, and you might also -
but it’s all in good fun.
A question of social responsibility
invariably comes up with scenes like
these, and that question is best
answered by the midget when he farts
in the face of a woman pointing out that
his panda costume has no tail.
“Jackass” should be commended for
its raw and unadulterated pursuit of
what’s funny. Although Knoxville and
his friends make it look easy, humor is
actually a delicate issue that easily can
be botched if the wrong person gets to
express an idea or give input
“Jackass” is not to blame for giving tat
toos while off-roading or for fighting fire
works attached to male genitalia because
if humans weren’t sick enough to find
these funny, there would be no need.
Johnny Knoxville is successfully giv
ing people what they want and enjoying
life for its less serious pleasures. Deep
down, every American wants to be him
- except for the ones who don’t.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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Take 15/501 South towards Pittsboro
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3:30-7:00-9:30
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DIVERSIONS
Also impossible to ignore was “As We
Go Up, We Go Down,” an appropriate
ly placed piece of mellow pop genius.
The show ambled along this way
through nearly three hours, two encores,
an on-stage cooler of beer and a fifth of
Jack Daniels.
No question about it - the spectacle
of on-stage performance more than
equaled the music on this night. For a
final, wowing display of devotion, fans
banded together to wail out the lyrics to
“A Salty Salute” in a scene akin to a
shady after-hours Irish tavern, bringing
the band out for another extended
encore.
Finishing the show with The Who’s
“Baba O’Riley” and the Beatles’ “Hard
Day’s Night,” guitarist Doug Gillard
took control with fick-for-lick authentic
guitar solos.
Said plainly, Guided by Voices
rocked the Cradle in every way imagin
able. The band got drunk, the band
played enchanting music, and the band
showed Chapel Hill the meaning of
indie rock and the meaning of fun.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Merritt Comes Home With Perfected Talent, Thanks
By Allison Rost
Staff Writer
Even though it was physically impos
sible to stop tapping your toes at Tift
Merritt’s concert Saturday, there’s no
way your feet could have missed the
vibrating currents tearing outward from
the guitars on
stage through the
floor of the Great
Hall.
That’s how
hard she rocked.
In a homecom
ing concert, for
mer UNC student
,
/reviews
Tift Merritt
Great Hall
Student Union
Saturday, Oct. 26
★★★★★
Merritt and her rock/country band
Stillhouse set up in the unlikely campus
venue. But despite the slighdy off-kilter
acoustics, their obvious enthusiasm for
playing in front of a hometown crowd
overpowered any noticeable flaws.
Merritt was capping off her promo
tional tour for her new album Bramble
Rose with this stop at the University -
and she had a few surprises in store for
the crowd.
During one of several amusing asides
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7:1 5, 9:30, SAT-SUN 2:30, 4:40
“A BRILLLIANT NEW FILM!
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Lead singer Robert Pollard and guitarist Doug Gillard of Guided By
Voices perform at the Cat's Cradle on Saturday.
between songs, Merritt said, “I don’t do
these confessional speeches for other
audiences.” But that wasn’t the only
treat she had on reserve.
A longtime fan in the audience shout
ed out a request for Merritt oldie
“Cadillac.” Despite the singer com
menting that she hadn’t played that song
during the entire tour, she and her band
whipped up a rollicking version that had
more heads bobbing than any other
song all night.
But the highlight of the show was eas
ily their cover of an old Delaney &
Bonnie tune, which had Merritt -
armed with only a tambourine - slith
ering and slinking in front of the micro
phone in a powerful demonstration of
her sensual stage presence. She belted
out die bluesy song with an incredible
spark that left the crowd dazed.
The members of Stillhouse deftly
provided excellent backup and proved
they could hold their own by opening
the show with a 40-minute Merritt-less
set. Dave Wilson and Jay Brown were
especially impressive with expert guitar
playing, harmonizing and occasionally
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providing comic relief.
Case in point: Merritt later made a
comment about the inevitable informer
cial segment of their show. Brown
immediately launched into a stereotyp
ical commercial announcer’s voice as he
plugged the merchandise available out
side, much to Merritt’s delight.
Another break gave the two guitarists
the opportunity to tease their front
woman about leaving her suitcase in
Washington, D.C.
But there was no question over who
was the star of this show. Merritt flitted
about the stage, effortlessly switching
from acoustic to electric guitar or from
keyboard to harmonica when the
applicable mood struck her.
Even with the powerful instrumenta
tion, her brassy, beautiful voice soared to
the forefront every time. Merritt seemed
incapable of delivering a vocalization
that wasn’t infused with energy and fife.
She made her way through a set con
sisting of songs both old and new and
mind-boggling in quality. Her ballads
were just as uplifting as anything with a
faster tempo.
Thursday, October 31, 2002
dive
• ‘
recommends
■ abandoned-places.com
Whether you’re into photography
or enjoy vicarious breaking and
entering, this site features haunting
ly beautiful images of abandoned
European casdes, hospitals and fac
tories.
■ “After Hours” by Martin
Scorcese This early ’Bos dark come
dy follows a boring computer pro
grammer’s night trapped “after
hours” in SoHo with a cast of bizarre
characters including sado-masochistic
sculpters, homosexual bikers and go
go waitresses. Cringe and cackle as
the protagonist faces mohawk night at
the neighborhood punk club and a
mob led by an ice cream track in his
pathetic attempts to get back home.
Duncan Pittman can be reached
at dunkabob@hotmail.com.
The group’s last song was the quietest
it played all night -a tribute to the band’s
hometown of Bynum. This song only
reinforced the pride inherent in Merritt’s
performance - if she’s out representing
her state like this to the rest of the music
world, North Carolinians are pretty lucky.
Even as the guitars faded out, Merritt
kept singing, “I’m not quite ready to go”
over and over, her voice as steady and
powerful as always.
Trust me, Tift. We didn’t want you to
go, either.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
CAT£-CAADI€
919-907-9053
300 E. Main Street ■ Carrboro
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IFR (Early 7PM show) STEVE FORBERT. STACEY
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IFR (10:20PM show) MEUSSA FERRICK / Edie
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2SA CALEXICO w/Black Heart Procession" (S10)
3SU LESSAVYFAV"w/Pretty Girts Make Graves
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12 TU MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KIU KULT
13 WE BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucef (SI2 /SIS
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15 FR KIM RICHEY w/ Jay Bennett and Edward
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16 SA COSMIC CHARUE
18 MOFRANK BLACK & THE CATHOLICS w/ Bennie.
Reid Paiey and David Lovering
19 TU JENNIFER NETTLES BAND, VIRGINIA
COALITION
22 FR ACOUSTIC SYNDICATE" (Sl2/SI4)
23 SA BUDDY & JULIE MILLER w/Peter Case"
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12 TH NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL-STARS" (sl2)
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11/12 K (Karla from Ida)
11/13 Freeloader
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7