A&E
The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, November 6,1996
4
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$ets Its own comedy dai
Andrew S. Beck
Staff Writer
In America there are several
different places where you can
see stand-up comedy.
You can go to an “open
mike” club where some drunk
and you are the only people
laughing.
You can go to a “theater”
and pay Ticketmaster an over
priced sum to see big-time tele
vision comedians like Jeff
Foxworthy and Jerry Seinfeld.
Why not try a local place
like “Pb&J’s Live” in Oregon
City and see the best local com
edy while you sit at dinner? This
is the thinking that went into the
foundation of “Pb&J’s Live”
when it opened in late October.
“I like Oregort City, and it
is central to so many other local
towns. Our customers can get
the same comfortable atmo
sphere here as they would in any
Portland club,” said Pb&J’s Co
owner Dennis Fioravanti.
“Pb&J’s Live” kicked off its
first comedy presentation ever
with a show featuring Headliner
Robert Jenkins and Comedienne
Valerie Lawrence. The show was
hosted by local Comic Mike
Dragoo. All three comics left the
audience laughing for almost the
entire presentation, which start
ed at 8 p.m.
Lawrence punned to the au
dience, “I don’t have an eating
disorder; I just love to eat. To
illustrate my point: In high
school I was voted most likely to
survive had I been a member of
the Donner Party.”
“The audience members
have been fantastic; the more the
merrier. Pb&J’s is an attainable
size and easy to fill,” said
Jenkins.
Pb&J’s is open every day ex
cept Sunday. The cover charge
for Pb&J’s Live is $8.
There is also a dinner pack
age which includes two dinners,
two deserts and two cover
charges for $39.95.
Stand-up comedy showcases
for editors and writers to express
their feelings about different
subjects involving entertainment
Dan Clark
Staff Writer
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One of the several comics who performed last week at
Clackamas’ own live stand-up comedy club Pb&J’s.
take place on ever Friday and Sat
urday. Events scheduled on other
nights include live bands, mov
ies and open mike singing.
“The comedy headliners here
are all professionals from around
the country,” said Fioravanti.
“I’ve been impressed with the
comedy; it’s relatively clean but
extremely funny,” said Co-owner
Kayla Mohs.
Pb&J’s Live next comedy
showcase will be on Nov. 8 and 9.
Comedian Art Krug, who has
been seen on Showtime’s Comedy
Club Network, is headlining.
Tool rotons with
now albani: Aenima
Andrew S. Beck
Staff Writer
Portland State University • School of Extended Studies
Did you know that you can
get a bachelor's degree at PSU
in the evening?
Work toward your degree or simply
find a class that fits your Interests through the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Join us November 19 and discover what Portland
State University— your university— has to offer.
INFORMATION SESSION
Tuesday, November 19, 6:30pm
Vanport Room, Smith Memorial Center
Portland State University
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Light refreshments provided
Presenters will include
representatives from across campus:
• Admissions
• Financial Aid
• Career Center
• College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
• Information and Academic Support Center
• Returning Students Program
• Off-campus Degree Completion Programs
Meet advisers and university staff who
will be available to review your transcripts
and help you plan your course of study.
Discover your options. Discover evenings!
For information call
the College of Liberal
Arts & Sciences
725-3822
or visit PSU online
http: //www. pdx.edu
c
Continuing its legacy of
gross-out contest, album-liner
notes and mind-expanding pro-
gressive/metal rock ,Tool releases
its third full album Aenima.
Hardcore Tool fans may re
ally dig this album because it is a
product of the band’s need to
change and evolve musically.
Metal music fans who felt their
bones surge towards Tool’s last
creation “Undertow” may be dis
appointed. This album is hardly
reminiscent of such power riff
songs as “Sober” and “Prison
Sex.” This is a band which
hardly follows
conventional pop/
rock trends. In
fact, Tool mem
bers have faced
some major issues
inside the band.
In September
1995 bassist Paul
D’Amour quit,
leaving the band
with a major spot
to fill. D’Amour’s
bass that helped
make the rhythm
section of Tool so powerful is
gone. Tool makes up for this loss
with Aenima’s grandiose album
theme.
Lead vocalist Maynard James
Keenan decided it was time for a
change of scenery and collabo
rated with members of Faith No
More and Rage Against the Ma
chine on the “Kiss My Ass” Kiss
tribute album. Guitarist Adam
Jones, whose art work can be seen
in the stop-motion animated vid
eos of “Sober” and “Prison Sex”,
concentrated on this other pas
sion. D’Amour resurfaced on the
ever-popular tribute band circuit
with the group “the Replicants.”
“One of the goals of the
record, among a lot of things, was
to make it obvious to all the ma
terialistic idiots that energy is pri
mary and the illusion of matter is
secondary,” said drummer Danny
Carey.
This is not a new root in the
ever-changing progressive rock
scene. Rush Syrinxers and Jethro
Tullers have gone the road of anti
establishment and pseudo-society
motifs for years. But those bands
cannot protest popular culture
with the bitter, demented twist
that Tool fists upon its listeners.
In the opening song,
“Stinkfist,” an introduction of
synthesizer-produced Vox chimes
precedes Jones’s searing guitar.
In the song “Message to Harry
Manback,” a piano accompanies
what sounds like a
enraged old man
shaking his fist at
society. And in
“Useful Stinkfist”
a scratchy record
player acts as an
other introduction
to Jones’s guitar
and
Keenan’s
screaming.
Not everybody
may like Aenima
because that is defi
nitely what it is. A
lot of Tool’s signature sound has
been changed or given way to the
band’s new musical taste.
Keenan’s voice, one of the most
clear and unique in rock, has an
angrier tone with a lot of reverb
and texture modification. The
amount of editing and dubbing on
this album must have been im
mense.
Aenima shows the amount of
musical growing Tool has done to
create its voice. It is a voice,
screaming not only amazing butt
kicking rock and metal, but also
a voice adding messages of
stream-of-consciousness lyrics to
its tone.
Aenima proves there are rock
bands out there interested in art
that makes a statement, not just
sex and drugs.
It sucks being a teenage
rock-and-roll fan in the ‘90s.
It is not that there is a lack
of good music widely available
to today’s youth. It is not that
my music (now recognizable by
the title “classic rock”) is so old
or out-of-date I cannot find a
decent copy of the last Styx al
bum. It sucks to be a teenage
rock-and-roll fan in the ‘90s be-
cause all the bands I and my
counterparts across the nation
listen to are touring, they are
touring to rekindle their popu
larity and the fan support they
lived on in thè ‘70s; and they are
giving us the bill.
It is no secret that concerts
in the past decade have been
growing steadily more expen
sive. I remember when I shelled
out $15 to see Def Leppard at
the Memorial Coliseum and
thought I would never be able to
afford a concert again. The truth
is, I paid over twice that amount
to see a concert this past Septem
ber, and I expect to pay even
more when U2 comes to town
next sunimei
It is amazing that the Who,
Jethro Tull, Journey, Styx,
Pink Floyd, Boston and bands
of the like are returning to the
stage; but how much should the
average music follower have to
pay to see the bands they love?
Perhaps one of the more
frustrating-elements of this
whole scenario is the old-school
rockers who have seen Pete
Townsend on 12 different types
of narcotics at 15 different
shows. These are the same
Woodstock-veterans-turned-
businessmen who respond “Hell!
I’d never pay that much to see
those hosers! They were better
when they had long h.ur at Red
Rocks in *69!” when you cageiiy
Sow them your $50 ticket lor llie
upcoming Rush tour.
What they fail to understand
is that I, and many like myself,
was not even a shimmering
thought in ‘69. Much of the
young “classic rock”-listening
public today was raised in a mu
sical decade that gave birth to
groups like Devo and the Cul
ture Club. Just think about it:
the ‘80s spawned glam-rock. It
makes me love Yes even more.
Perhaps I will just have to
keep saving for the next big Who
“reunion tour.” Perhaps I will
never be able to pay less than
$100 for a decent seat at'an
Eagle’s concert. But to me and
my generation, it is the only way
we can see the groups we love.
Sure, I would like to pay less
and go to more concerts, but that
is what La Luna is for. The truth
is, every time David Gilmoure or
Robert Plant takes the stage; it
may be their lash Every time
Boston or f Journey pushes an-
other album, they may not make
it to another one. All we can do
is enjoy these pioneers of rock
and roll while they last, even if
they are making us pay for their
retirements.