in concert
Photo by Steve Twedt
Van Morrison
Morrison's music shines,
but audience rapport nil
I guess love means you never have to say you’re sorry, in the case
of Van Morrison and his special Valentine’s Day concert at Mac Court
last Thursday might.
The biondish-red haired Belfast cowboy was playing well, doing a
lot of his old things like “Ballerina,” from the “Astral Weeks” album,
and a real golden oldie, “Brown Eyed Girl.”
Dressed in a white sport-shirt and blue jeans, Morrison’s stage
presence, even though the music was good, was barely felt. After two
lengthy numbers by the Caledonia Express, Morrison joined in
opening the set with a jaunt to the past, a mellow version of
“Ballerina.”
From the beginning notes of “Ballerina” to the encores of “Wild
Night” and “Domino,” not a word was spoken by Morrison, who ap
peared to be suffering from a lack of personality and balls.
“That’s just the way Van is,” said Stephen Pillster, Morrison’s
manager “He is a man of few words. He’s not what I’d want to call
another Bob Hope, and like, he’s not filled with a lot of clever con
versation.” And as I found out over dinner that evening. Van really
doesn’t have much to say, other than what’s in his tunes.
One thing I did find out during the process of pulling teeth was that
there are several things Van has in the can that haven’t made it on
vinyl. In layman’s terms, Morrison has a lot of unrecorded material
which he hasn’t had the opportunity to release on record. One such
tape, “Caledonia Soul,” recorded several years ago in the studio in
California, is an excellent example of what can be expected someday
if he ever cuts it loose. As it stands, a studio tape of “Caledonia” is
around, and in one instance, up until six months ago, was being aired
on a Portland FM station.
The magic and sensation of the legendary Van Morrison was
never in the concert or at the dinner table that evening To make
things a bit clearer, one must look at the show in perspective: with
close to two hours of good music from Van Morrison, little if any
feeling or effort to communicate with the audience ever appeared
Entertainers who care very little for their audiences, and show it, can
just shove it as far as I’m concerned, Van Morrison included
drama
“Just come in, sit down, get totally relaxed, and don’t expect a
conventional theatrical experience.”
Joseph Gilg, who shares directorial duties with Frank Kelly in
Arena Theater’s production of “An Evening With Samuel Beckett,”
sees nothing but hasslement in the conceptual baggage which some
theatergoers may feel obligated to bring to a theatrical treatment of
the Irish author’s work. He and Kelly view the production, which
opens Friday, as a piece of ‘Total theater” which exceeds the bounds
of theatrical or literary experience, possessing tonic properties for the
heart and the senses as well as the mind. Their emphasis is clear: Be
open. Leave your learning athome for an evening.
The show comprises roughly a dozen pieces from the Becket oeuvre,
ranging from excerpts from the celebrated Waiting for Godot and
Endgame and passages from the novels Malloy and How It Is, to the
reductionist experiments which have come to characterize Beckett’s
work in the last decade or so. Because of the brevity of the latter, four
complete recent plays are among the pieces featured. “Play,” “Act
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Without Words II,” “Come and Go,” and “The Old Tune,” which
Beckett adapted from French dramatist Robert Pingot.
Kelly and Gilg collaborated on the show’s initial conception,
selecting the material and more or less arbitrarily dividing labor, with
each taking entire responsibility for certain excerpts. TTie sharing of
duties makes the task of rendering Beckett’s varied material less
formidable, they explain, and on the whole more stimulating. “It’s
interesting to have a diversity of viewpoint,” says Kelly. "Ideallly
one piece would be directed by one director.”
“An Evening With Samuel Beckett” will be performed at 8 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, Feb. 28, and March 1 and 2. Tickets are $1.50
each for adults and 75 cents for students with student body cards. They
are available at the University Theatre box office (686-4191), open
from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and until 9 p.m. on
performance nights.
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An Evening With
SAMUEL BECKETT
Arena Theater
Feb. 22, 23. 28 March 1 & 2 8:00
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Box Office open 12-5; 686 4191
The wa*ted 20 minutes past show time (9:20 p.m.) outside of
fi!0?*1 France to the haU. I was told that
several Morrison people had dispersed among the crowd to tell them
w a was going on I saw none of the them No explanation other than
there were hassles” ever surfaced
„ la,Thegl!,t0ithuPr0b‘em stemmedfrom several “hassles,” namely,
fart problems in getting electricity to the stage, and the
fact that the University basketball team had practiced tiU 7 p.m. that
evening. The team left promptly when its time for the court had
elapsed, and should not be blamed for the lateness in the show. Usually
the sound equipment is set up jn advance and checked, which didn’t
happen Thursday. Nevertheless, the show went on.
Overlooking Morrison’s attitude and composure, I must admit the
musicianship was excellent. Who can deny Van Morrison his title as
the only White to really know how to sing the blues? His sax solo
during Kay Charles I Believe To My Soul” was well above par and
well received. And the Caledonia Express (or the Orchestra, whatever
you wish)... whew! They were so powerful and funky that I was afraid
Van was going to be cooked right off the stage. The keyboards of
James Trummell were quite tasty as were the guitar licks of Ralph
Walsh, all highlighted by the sax of Charlie McCarthy and rounded out
By the deep down drive of the bass by David Hayes, and the slick
drumming of David Shaw.
By the t ime Morrison had gotten to his old standard “Gloria” (the
real set rocker), people were on their feet and dancing, which lasted
through three encore numbers.
Opening the show for Morrison was an excellent Marin County
band, Clover, who played one hell of a soulful set. The opening
icebreaker was laid back, but from then on, all hell broke loose.
Cookin, “Chicken Butt.” and “Peaches Tree” provided room to
move, and certainly broke the ice for Van Morrison. Clover is
definitely a band to watch as a followup to a diversified Tower of
Power-Elvin Bishop sound
Not much else can be said about the show — it was all said by
Morrison. After two calls for encores, there was reason to believe
many of the persons attending had enjoyed themselves. Yet, at the
same time, it was also evident that Van Morrison couldn’t have given
shit or shinola about Valentines Dayor Eugene, Oregon. I guess it’s all
a question of whether a crowd wants to fork out the cash to hear a pale
zombie play some good music.
Greg G. Lee
\ w
Photo by Steve Twedt
■
■W"\
Morrison played acoustic guitar (above) and sax as well as singing at his concert last Thursday night in Mac Court.
It’s kind of interesting to watch the musical trends that spread
across the country. One of the funny little quirks that keep record
promotion men up until all hours of the night is why acts are received
so differently in areas of the country.
Since Tower of Power will be here next weekend, it might be in
teresting to take a look at the problem they are faced with. Their
problem is that they are one of the biggest name bands on the west
coast, but their popularity on the east coast is just nominal.
Why, with a sound that is definitely urban-based, are they less
popular in the biggest urban areas of the country? The reason given
by the band’s management is that they don’t get the chance to play
many club dates in the east. They are in and out for one-nighters and
don’t hang around to gain the kind of appeal they would have if they’d
play extended engagements at clubs. But that could be refuted by
noting their popularity here in Eugene dnd the fact that they have
never played a club date here. Another reason for the lack of
popularity in the east is the lack of FM airplay. Tower gets almost all
of its air time mi the east coast on Top 20 stations and they need to get
more play of album cuts to bring up their popularity.
Eon Vamett, the group’ manager, says their main objective in
1974 will be to try to bring the popular acceptance the group has
received cm the west coast to the east.
At any rate, that really isn’t our concern. I hope they make it, but
I just hope they keep playing in Eugene since last March when they
sold out a concert at the Lane County Fairgrounds. Needless to say,
Mac Court should be quite a bit more pleasant place to watch and
listen to Tower of Power.
In the aftermath of the Van Morrison concert, we have finally
convinced the populus and the local officials that we can indeed have a
“rock” concert in Mac Court without the problems that plagued
concerts there for years.
The Eugene Fire Department official who was at the concert told
me he thought there was less smoking at the concert than at basketball
games. And why? Why after so long and so many problems have we
been able to convince concert goers to forego smoking?
I have some ideas of my own. First, I think people realized that if
they wanted to see top flight entertainment in Eugene, they would
have to see it at Mac Court, for Mac Court, despite all its sound and
seating problems, is the only facility we have in this town that’s big
enough to allow us to put on big name shows. Second, I think people
were aware that the sitation was critical and were prone to try to keep
the smoking down than they were in past years.
Whatever the reason, the crowd at the Morrison show should be
congratulated for its cooperation.
I can only hope that we will not let ourselves become complacent
and let the situation get out of hand again. We now have Mac Court
because everyone tried to do just a little, just their share. But let’s not
forget the troubles we have encountered during the past three years
and fall into the same problems that originally kept us out of the court.
Bruce Micklus
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