Page 6 Portland Obaarvar July 23. 1881
entertainment
HAPPENINGS
ENTERTAINMENT
Phon«: 284 1887
h o t C U T S S P E C IA L
Grassroot News N .W . - Black styles o f dance has never seen such waves
and movements as it’ s seeing now with the latest dance.
No, the youngsters aren't having seizures; it's just the pop. The pop has
swept the country and the Northwest is no exception. A t any given moment
you can walk down the street see yong men waving their arms, jerking their
bodies and shuffling their feet. They are poppin.
Clarence W illiam s, 13, explains how he does it. “ When I pop, i t ’ s like
bouncing up and down real hard. The feet slide back and forth and my hands
just start waving. M y friends taught me last fall and now everybody does it.
Leo Taylor, 18, is a practitioner o f this art form with his group called the
"R o b o tn ik s ." "1 learned how to pop when I was in the seventh grade in San
Francisco. A t that time it was called the pop-lock. It ’ s like robot mixed with
the lock. There are many styles o f poppin, like the tidal wave and the flo o r
wave. The flo o r wave is when you lay on the flo o r and wave through your
body. The moon w alk is when yo u ’ re stepping fo rw a rd but y o u ’ re really
moving backwards. And sometimes when you’ re poppin, you just keep your
feet s till.”
J.W . Friday, a funk-soul D .J., who spins many o f the songs to dance the
pop, stated that the pop is the aggregate o f the je rk , tw ist, ro b o t, freeze,
modeling, mime and the Philly dog. "Y o u really have to have a very limber
body to do all the body twists and shaking, th a t’s why you only see young
bloods poppin.”
Bruce Sm ith, percussionist fo r P o rtla n d ’ s own "Pleasure, ’ says that a
co rre la tio n can be made between tra d itio n a l A fric a n dance and contem
porary A fro-A m erican movements. “ The parallel starts when you begin to
see the same physical movements because you’ re working Irom the same con
cept. I t ’ s the beat. Black people have a natural instinct fo r rhythm . I don’ t
know whv. but it ’ s there.” Smith plans to go to A fric a soon to learn more
about traditional A frican dance and to search for reasons for this qualitative
correspondence between two comparable entities.
Benny Bell, a professional dancer from the Kathryn Durnham School o f
Dance, believes that the roots o f all popular forms o f Black dance stem from
the historical dances o f A fric a . “ I dance the A fro -H a itia n form o f dance
w hich deals ’/< in voodoo movements. We dance fro m the premise that
Africans communicate through movement and it’ s a universal m otion that
has been in the body fo r years and years. I t ’ s dictated by feelings and has
found its way into Afro-Am erican culture through the church. In watching a
Portland's Robonlcks -- “ J .P .” , "J o n a th a n " , "H a m m e r" and
"Leo" - will appear on Ullysses Tucker's television show. Dialogue,
on KPTV Sunday.
voodoo dance, many youngsters would swear that they are doing the pop.”
"H is body twists and bends/directions never end/they named him after the
pop- ”
The above musical lyrics are from the 1980 sounds o f "Shalamar. ” Jeffrey
Daniel, a member o f "S h a la m a r” was instrum ental in sliding across stage
w ith the pop during their 1980 concert tour. Shalamar was among the first
nationally known groups to choreograph the pop into their act.
R ight now the pop is b u ild in g a new dance ca lle d b re a k in g , where
youngsters pop fo r a while and then flip onto their backs, and slide to stand
up and start again. Among the Black dance forms, the pop calls upon the in
dividual creativity o f the dancer. So the next time you sec a young man doing
unique waves w ith his arms and body, don’ , think he’ s freaking o u t...H e s
jus, poppin!!
butch caare
S * I5 .
F r » « i t ,r xJtt.it »»>•’ »y t r f r t t r r >»r i t w i t h i H v t t r y c u t
1406 NE Broadway, Portland. Oregon 97212
MAZE: Top Row: Ron Smith, Frankie Beverly. McKinley Williams.
Bottom: Sam Porter. Roame Lowry. Billy (Shoes) Johnson. Robin
Duke.
MAZE
Featuring Frankie Beverly
“ We are a people’ s b an d,” explains Frankie Beverly o f Maze. “ A very
self-contained one at that. People realize that at the start when they felt our
music, our personality, our presence come ro llin g out from concert stage
speakers. We create all our music from w ithin and therefore it ’ s very distin
ctive. Maze doesn’ t share its sound with anyone else.”
P ro o f o f Beverly’ s statement lies in the g ro up ’ s last three albums: Maze
fe a tu rin g F rankie Beverly, the band’ s debut, gold w ith in seven months o f
release; Golden Time O f Day. gold after two months; and Inspiration, gold
inside o f six weeks.
Now the fourth and latest installment o f this success story opens with the
release o f Joy A n d Pain, the soul and pop charted g ro up ’ s latest C apitol
albums (July 1980).
Some people th in k th a t a ll o f th is ju s t happened o v e rn ig h t,’ ’ smiles
Beverly. “ I, may seem that way, but that’ s not the way the band sees it. Most
people don’ t realize that this band has been together and w orking hard tor a
lot o f years.”
And the hard work begins w ith Frankie Beverly. The band’ s lead singer
and ryhthm g u ita rist, he also writes, arranges and produces all o f Maze’ s
material. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Beverly formed his own band. The
Blenders, while s till in high school, then began singing w ith The Butlers, a
group that recorded several regionally successful singles. A fte r high school,
the group evolved into Frankie Beverly’ s Raw Soul, recorded tw o singles
(C olor B lind and While I ’m Alone) and toured with K o o l A The Gang. M an
d rill and Issae Hayes. But though they were making a name fo r themselves in
the burgeoning Philadelphia music scene, Beverly and company weren’ t quite
satisfied. “ We d id n ’ t want to be part o f the Philadelphia sound,” Beverly
explains. “ We fin a lly decided on San Francisco because the city has both
charm and funk and a great club scene.”
So, in 1972, Beverly, Roame Low ry, McKinley W illiam s, Sam Porter and
fo u r others, who later left the group, headed West in an old bus. In San
Francisco, the group came under the tutelage o f M arvin Gaye, who offered
them creative guidance, support and the opportunity to perform.
Maze Featuring F rankie Beverly, the band’ s debut (Jan. 1977), quickly
earned the tag, “ The quiestest gold album o f the year.” Not only did it earn
gold, it yielded two strong pop and chart charted singles, "W h ile I ’m Alone
"a n d "L a r/v O /A /tiff/c ” and a sizable disco hit in "T im e Is On M y Side. ”
The group’ s next I P, Golden Time O f Day (Jan. 1978), added still more
credits to Maze’ s growing list w ith such hits as "T ra v e lin Man, ” "W o rk in
Together” and " I Wish You Kell. ”
Inspiration, the group’ s th ird outing and th ird gold album (M arch 1979),
also produced several hits during its run on the soul and pop charts, among
them, the title track, "F e e lT h a t You’re Feelm” and " T im in .”
Now Maze has committed themselves to vinyl a fourth time w ith Joy And
P ain. Once a gain, p ro d u c e r/a rra n g e r/c o m p o s e r F ra n k ie Beverly has
delivered seven superb tracks, showcasting the d ive rsity o f this talented
group.
“ This tim e we tried a few experiments, but we s till tried to keep in our
stride what the people actually w ant,” Beverly explains. “ We have used more
moogs and keyboards fo r this album, because we were looking fo r a fuller
kind o f sound. As far as using horns and strings though - not until 1 feel that
our sound is starting to get tired.”
The album also marks the debut o f two new members, Ron Smith and Billy
Johnson, both o f whom toured with Patti LaBelle, who have replaced Wayne
Thomas and Ahaguna Sun. Among the selections on this latest album are the
flu id instrumental "R o o ts ” which Beverly explains “ I wrote that some time
ago during a period when I was listening to John M cLaughlin’s Mahavishnu
Orchestra. It really isn’ t too commercial with the 6 /8 time, but I put it in to
show the fans what we can d o.”
Other outstanding selections are the funky "C hangin Times. ” "Southern
G irl, ” a trib u te to the area where the group first gained p o p u la rity , and
"Fam ily, ” written for anyone and everyone who feels they belong.
No overnight success, talent and hard w ork have put this group on top.
And with ablums like Joy A n d Pain, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly is going
to rate star billing fo r a long time to come.
X T H E FINALLY^
~
Lady C. • The Berry Bros.
AND
%
For One Night Only
An evening of soulful vibration of all the
latest jams - featuring Portland
celebrities. Come dress to impress - Door
Prizes.
Sunday, August 2nd - 8:00 p.m. - 2:30
$3.00 Donation
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•
One jum bo jet airplane costs about 25-million
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II Ô3
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Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, was known as the "For
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allowed to set foot in it.
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Portland. Oregon 97212
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"On The Rocks”
Second place winners In the Dance Fever contest held in Portland,
Leo Taylor end Ruble Pledger
(Photos: Richard J Brown)
15 N. W. 6th Street
Portland, Oregon 228-1306