CONCERT REVIEW A Fraction of Wilco
Northampton’s Calvin Theatre transformed into a dark, intimate living room as Jeff Tweedy took the stage last Friday. In a characteristically happy mood, though more talkative than usual, Tweedy sounded up close and personal, his voice naked with only a guitar behind it. Bringing an arsenal of guitars with him (arced around him on stage), he smoothly switched between different guitars, evoking a soothing palette of sounds for his meticulous set list selections. Early in the set he mentioned that he looked through his archives to see what he played the last time he was at Calvin Theatre just to make sure he didn’t play the same song twice.
INTERVIEW The Masterminds Of ‘The Rock-afire Explosion’ Speak Out
T<i>he Tech</i> caught up with the writer and director of <i>The Rock-afire Explosion</i>, getting a closer glimpse of the duo’s documentary and the madness behind those crazy robotic animals.
CONCERT REVIEW Manami Morita Earns Encore, Delivers Beautifully
Manami Morita, a fresh graduate from the Berklee College of Music, celebrated the release of her CD <i>Colors </i>last week at Sculler’s. A young girl from Japan, Morita made her way to Berklee by impressing enough important people with her piano skills — and earning a full scholarship to get her degree in composition. Her short stature says nothing about her sound — when she sat down at the keys she pounded out song after song, flattening the audience with her speed and smooth directions towards her band members.
MOVIE REVIEW ★★★★ / 4 ‘Duplicity’ Reveres Spy Films of the PastJulia Roberts Makes Espionage Sexy
I predict <i>Duplicity</i> to be another blockbuster hit. It boasts a stellar cast, the director of the <i>Bourne</i> series and <i>Michael Clayton</i> and, on top of all that, is an espionage movie. If well-known stars like Julia Roberts and Clive Owens weren’t enough, the film exploits the age-old affections towards spy movies.
CONCERT REVIEW Collegium Musicum Performs Moravec Without Heart, Martin without Soul
Harvard-Radcliffe <i>Collegium Musicum</i>, under the leadership of Jameson Marvin in Harvard’s Sanders Theatre, provided an extremely challenging program at Friday night’s concert, rightly entitled “A Concert of Reverence & Reflection.” The evening’s performance began with Frank Martin’s <i>Messe für zwei vierstimmige Chöre</i>, and concluded with two newer works after the intermission: Michael Schachter’s (‘09) <i>Oseh Shalom Bimromav</i> and Paul Moravec’s (‘80) <i>Songs of Love and War</i>.
RECITAL REVIEW Elisabeth Hon Hunt G Delivers Terrific Performance
Elisabeth Hon Hunt G performed a recital of works largely from the early twentieth century <i>fin de siècle</i> as part of MIT’s Emerson Fellowship Recital Series on March 13, 2009. Her performance was virtuosic in both technique and musical understanding. The recital began with a piano reduction of Richard Strauss’s <i>Grossmächtige Prinzessin...Noch glaub’ ich dem einen ganz mich gehörend</i> (Pei-Shan Lee, piano), a thrilling dramatic aria from <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>. Although a bit tentative at first, Hunt’s performance warmed into nothing less than the acrobatic bravura music offers, gracefully careening through Strauss’s hair-raising feats with sparkling tone and devastating ease.
MOVIE REVIEW ★★★★ / 4 Reviving the Rock-afire Explosion
Do you remember the Rock-afire Explosion? Think back to Showbiz Pizza Club or Chuck-E-Cheese. They’re the animatronic band behind the curtain in the big room where you ate crappy pizza. You sat spellbound, soaking up the noise and music, all the while trying to scheme up ways to extract more tokens from mom and dad. On stage, the really scary life-sized gorilla played the keys and the one-toothed bear sang kid songs.
News Briefs
Tomorrow, MIT Resonance hosts the ICCA Northeast Semifinal tournament at Kresge Auditorium, 8 p.m. The MIT Chorallaries will compete against seven of the best a cappella groups in the country! Tickets can be purchased online at www.varsityvocals.com.
CONCERT REVIEW Video Game Orchestra
Video game music is familiar. It’s even more familiar when a dark screen flashes the large bulky letters at the same time, or when it’s associated with its mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. But instead of sitting in front of a television watching an pixelated blue hedgehog in snazzy red sneakers run into gold rings, I’m sitting in a dark concert hall watching a 40-piece orchestra, a rock band, and a chamber choir perform music from not only <i>Sonic the Hedgehog</i>, but also <i>Donkey Kong</i>, <i>Silent Hill</i>, <i>Myst</i>, <i>Metal Gear Solid</i>, and <i>Final Fantasy</i>, just to name a few.
MOVIE REVIEW ★★ ½ / 4 Watchmen Simplifies, Distorts Original Novel
There is a scene in <i>Watchmen</i>, directed by Zack Snyder (<i>Dawn of the Dead</i>, <i>300</i>), when Laurie Jupiter, the crime-fighting heroine of the story, pounds against an ornate glass structure in anguish at a horrific revelation, screaming “No!” with each impact. I too exclaimed “No!” in my mind while putting my face into my palms several times during the course of the 2 hour, 43 minute film.
CONCERT REVIEW Punk Rock and Folk, All Rolled into One
Girl power incarnate Eleni Mandell is currently on tour promoting her latest record, <i>Artificial Fire</i>. Stopping in Cambridge last Sunday, Mandell and her band provided an energetic performance and stayed true to the intricacies of their studio recordings.
CONCERT REVIEW Phamily Reunion
The four and a half years of waiting are over: Phish is back. Better yet, they sound good; I mean <i>really</i> good. Phish’s farewell tour in 2004 exposed a band at its absolute worst. As drummer Jon Fishman (whose surname inspired the group moniker) later admitted, their final concert in Coventry, Vermont was one of the “greatest train wrecks in live music history.” Pianist Page McConnell wrote a letter to fans last summer hinting at a reunion, and last October Phish uploaded a video to their website making a reunion official with a run of three shows at Hampton Coliseum in Virginia, a prized venue of the band.
RESTAURANT REVIEW Hipster Dragons and Funky Haikus
A blizzard may keep me from going to class, but I refuse to let the elements hinder my food critiquing endeavors. So, I braved the cold on Monday night with a friend to try Myers+Chang, an Asian fusion “funky indie diner” in the South End. Run by owner and chef Joanne Chang and executive chef Matthew Barros, the place gives off an upscale yet casual, retro-modern feel, with mod off-white cushiony seats and pink, borderline-kitschy bar stools. Bright pink dragon designs adorn the glass exterior, and inside are red and white lights amidst white bauble lanterns. We were pleasantly charmed before the food even arrived by the playing music, which included Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” and Death Cab for Cutie’s “A Lack of Color.”
CD REVIEW Ben Folds Lets You Play the Producer
The Ben Folds fanbase has spoken: 2008’s <i>Way to Normal</i> was TOO LOUD and we want our money back; or, at least, a remix.
Phish Friday (and Saturday and Sunday, too!)
Tonight, legendary jam band Phish will perform their first concert in over 4 years at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia. Their highly-anticipated three night residency will answer the question on every hippie’s mind: is Phish good again? If you’re not already on your way down to the venue, then don’t worry. Head to <i>http://livephish.com</i>, where you can download free mp3s of each night’s gig. Check out next week’s edition of <i>The Tech</i> to read about the highlights from the weekend and predictions for Phish’s upcoming summer reunion tour.
CONCERT REVIEW When Sound Worlds Collide
Collage New Music, performing in Longy School of Music’s Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall this past Monday, articulated contemporary voices in music with a unique and refreshing ability. This isn’t a complaint about contemporary music performances: it’s not difficult to see that most contemporary music is performed by competent musicians and that it takes a very talented musician to play contemporary music in the first place.
INTERVIEW Hsunami Merge the Old with the New
At the CSC Chinese New Year banquet, the closing performance featured Hsu-Nami, a group named after founder Jack Hsu. The band labels itself as part of the “progressive Asian soundscape.” An instrumental rock band, they feature a traditional Chinese instrument called the erhu. The erhu is sometimes called “southern fiddle” and its sound can be compared to that of the Western violin. The usage of an amplified erhu lends a touch of classic Chinese folk to the predominantly rock songs.
CD REVIEW Nels Cline Drones On…
You either know Nels Cline as the thin-framed lead guitarist for the alt-folk collective Wilco, or as one of LA’s most experimental composers of avant-garde jazz guitar fronting the Nels Cline Singers. Either faction of Nels-fanatics would find something new in the accomplished guitarist’s latest endeavor, <i>Coward</i>. Though Cline’s canon dates back to 1979 (including myriad collaborations, trio projects, and a fraction of the Wilco discography), this is his first true solo album in that he composed all of the music and plays all of the instruments.
CONCERT REVIEW Antony Delivers, Johnsons Support Outstandingly
I touched Antony Hegarty’s ass. Both hands, both cheeks.