Page 14
The Battalion
Thursday, March 2,1989
Reviews
Ratt has fun despite small crowd
Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack
Ratt guitarist Warren Di Martini performs a solo during a concert at
the Sam Houston Coliseum last weekend.
Kix vocalist says band
ready for new success
By Keith Spera
REVIEWER
My, oh my, how the rock ’n’ roll
tables can turn.
Three and a half years ago, I saw
a struggling little band from New
Jersey open for Ratt, one of the L.A.
bands who had just burst onto the
scene.
Three weeks ago, I watched as
that once struggling New Jersey
band. Bon Jovi, played in front of
17,000 people at the Summit in
Houston.
Last Sunday, Ratt played in Hous
ton. Did they get to play the presti
gious Summit? No — they were rele
gated to Sam Houston Coliseum, a
dumpy box of an arena.
Did they fill the box? Nope —they
only drew a crowd of 4,000 to a ve
nue that was set up to hold 6,500
(and this was with two of hard rock’s
rising stars, Britny Fox and Kix, on
the bill with Ratt).
I’ve got to hand it to the boys in
Ratt, however. From the looks on
their faces, and from the way they
played, you’d think they were in
front of a sell-out crowd.
They were loose and playful and
apparently pretty darn happy up on
stage.
Part of the band’s attitude was
probably drawn from the Coliseum
itself, which must have reminded the
band members of the rowdy, dingy,
clubs they played in the early days.
Instead of pesky ushers wan
dering through the crowd making
kids put out their cigarettes, the Col
iseum offered concessions workers
who went through the crowd with
buckets of iced-down beer, selling to
just about anyone who could speak
and cough up $2.75 a can.
As soon as Ratt came on, the neat
rows of folding metal chairs disap
peared as the crowd surged toward
the stage, moving, crushing or toss
ing any chairs in their way.
Unfortunately, this mild anarchy
interfered with the performance at
one point. Three songs into the
show, someone threw a beer can that
struck vocalist Stephen Pearcy in the
chest.
Pearcy was not amused. He began
flipping off the person who threw
the beer, and pointed at him and
gestured for security guards to toss
the guy out.
That really was a shame, because
everything had started off so well.
The band hit the stage with “City to
City,” a melodic rocker from their
latest album. They were clad mostly
in black leather, with Pearcy project
ing a swashbuckling pirate image,
with a black bandana over his long,
curly jet-black hair and dangling sil
ver earrings.
Entries for the Visual Arts Com
mittee’s annual Artfest are due by 3
p.m. Friday in the MSC Gallery.
The winning entries will be on dis
play March 6-31 in the Gallery.
The entry fee is $4 per entry, with
a limit of 4 entries. Winners from
past competitions may not enter.
Gallery Coordinator Lucy Monte
said students from all majors are in
vited to participate.
“We want to expose and honor ar
tistic talent at A&M, and it’s an op
portunity for the students’ work to
be shown and get some public reac-
Special effects were kept to a min
imum. The music was the show. Se
lections performed included “Slip of
the Lip,” “Morning After,” “You’re
In Love,” “Back for More,” and a
rousing version of “What’s It Gonna
Be?” The set ended with “Way Cool,
Jr.” minus the distinctive sax solo
that closes out the studio version of
the song.
After a three-minute delay, the
band came back for an encore of
“You Think You’re Tough” and
their first hit, “Round and Round.”
Throughout the show, Pearcy in
teracted well with guitarists Warren
De Martini and Robbin Crosby and
bassist Juan Croucier. The frail
looking De Martini, who in the past
has looked sick on stage, was in Fine
form and added impromptu ex
tended guitar solos to several songs,
most effectively during “Lay It
Down.”
He brandished several guitars, in
cluding one bearing the Latin ver
sion of the phrase “Too fast to live,
too young too die” (the phrase was
taken from a James Dean tribute T-
shirt).
Since the band seemed to be hav
ing such a good time, it seemed kind
of strgnge that they only played for
an hour and a half. Several well-
known songs, including “Dance” and
“Body Talk,” two popular songs
from the Dancin’ Undercover al
bum, were omitted.
What made this stranger was the
fact that this tour supposedly was
going to be spontaneous, with the
band adding songs at will on good
nights.
This was not really the case.
“Things are pretty much set now,”
drummer Bobby Blotzer said. “We
have to stick to the songs that the
crew has a lighting program for (the
lighting for each song is controlled
by a program run through a compu
ter).”
So you can’t just throw a Led Zep-
plin song into the middle of the set?
“No, but I’d like to,” said Blotzer
with a laugh.
Stephen Pearcy did not make an
appearance in the hallways after the
show, but that was perhaps because
he had other things on his mind. At
one point during the show, he stood
atop a stack of speakers at the corner
of the stage and surveyed the crowd.
He spotted four scantily-clad female
audience members perched on a
railing by the side of the stage.
He gestured to a roadie who was
standing at the bottom of the
speaker stack, held up four fingers,
and pointed at the girls. The roadie
strolled over to them and handed
each one an after-show backstage
pass.
Like I said, the band was having
fun.
tion,” Monte said.
Competition categories are: paint
ing, drawing, sculpture, mixed me
dia, crafts and photography.
Ribbons will be given for Best of
Show, First, second and third places
and honorable mention in each divi
sion. Prize money also will be
awarded, she said, but the amount
has not yet been determined.
Chuck Cooper, director of Air
Gallery in Austin, will judge the en
tries Saturday. Winners will be an
nounced at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the
MSC Flag Room.
army will be dressed as Sam Hous
ton and other signers of the Texas
Declaration of Independence.
The park also plans to offer food
booths, a Texas birthday cake and
square dancing and clogging demon
strations.
To reach Washington-on-the-Bra-
zos, go south on Highway 6 to Nava-
sota, then take Highway 105 West to
FM 1155 Washington-on-the-Bra-
zos. The museum is open from 10
a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is free.
American playwrights.
Set in the west side of San Anto
nio, the play’s dialogue will be spo
ken partly in English and partly in
Spanish.
Despite the mix of languages,
Roberto Villarreal, who plays
Johnny Tenorio, said the play can be
easily understood.
“Someone who is fluent in English
and knows very little Spanish, or
someone who is fluent in Spanish
but knows little English can follow
the play,” he said.
Tickets for the play are $1 and
will be available outside Rudder
Theater before the performance.
By Keith Spera
REVIEWER
Kix is a band on the rise.
After being together for 10 years
and putting out four albums on At
lantic Records, the first three of
which did not exactly put Kix’s name
on the musical map, this band from
Maryland is finally getting national
recognition.
Their latest release, Blow My Fuse
, has spawned two hit songs, “Cold
Blood” and the title track, whose vi
deos have become regulars on
MTV’s most-requested lists. These
popular videos have helped to pro
pel Blow My Fuse into Billboard
magazine’s Top 100, and were in
strumental in getting the band a spot
on the Ratt/Britny Fox national tour.
Kix’s vocalist, Steve Whiteman, is
not your typical hard-rock band
frontman. Besides handling the vo
cal chores, Whiteman takes it upon
himself to act as a sort of rock ’n’ roll
master of ceremonies when the band
plays live. He injects wit and humor
into the between-song banter, which
for most bands usually consists of
one stupid cliche after another.
Steve recently took time out to
speak to me by phone from Odessa,
where Kix was performing Tuesday
night. The interview originally was
scheduled to take place after Kix’s
Sunday night show in Houston, but
the band’s road manager said Steve
was not feeling well after that show.
He gave me a phone number where
they could be reached in Odessa.
So Steve, you weren’t feeling too
good after Sunday’s show?
“Well, we had to have a band dis
cussion. There were a few things we
had to iron out. Afterwards, I was
really drained.”
Everything's cool with the band,
though?
“Oh yeah, we got everthing taken
care of. It was nothing really major.”
You guys played clubs for years.
Now you’ve finally made the jump to
arenas.
“Well, we played short stints in
arenas with a couple of bands, but
this is our First real national arena
tour.”
What do you think about playing
the bigger venues?
It’s great — I love it. You don’t
have to deal with the jerks who are
sometimes club managers. After a
show, you can just get on a bus and
be driven to the next town — you
don’t have to worry about driving
yourself in a van. This is a whole lot
better.
No regrets about moving out of
the clubs?
“None. The difference between
playing in front of 500 in a club and
5,000 in an arena is incredible. It
makes my hair stajid straight up; tire
clubs made it flat and sweaty. Arenas
blow the clubs away.”
Have you had to change your act
any in going from clubs to arenas?
“The main thing was that we had
to shorten our set a lot. Now we only
have 30 minutes to prove ourselves,
so we come out with fire in our asses
and do it.”
You guys started out in Maryland,
which is not exactly regarded as a
Los Angeles, as far as producing
bands is concerned. What’s the scene
like there?
“When the drinking age was 18,
there were a whole lot of clubs for
bands to play in. After it changed to
21, a lot of these clubs folded, so we
had to go out of that area some, and
go up to Pennslyvania and New
York and play the clubs there.”
You’ve been doing this for 10
years now. Was there ever a point
that you felt like giving up, especially
after seeing newer, younger bands,
like Ratt and Motley Criie, making it
big?
“Yeah, there were times. But we
just stuck with our guns, and it paid
off.”
You guys’ career is really taking
off now. What’s the most visible sign
of it finally happening?
“This arena tour; its been incred
ible.”
What do you think was the main
reason for this sudden success?
“We hired a new management co-
mapany, and they were a lot better at
representing us to the record com
pany. Radio’s been real good at giv
ing us exposure, and so has MTV.”
How have Ratt and Britny Fox
been to work with?
“Real good. They’re all regular
guys. They come hang out in our
dressing room. Last night we had a
night off, so we all went out par
tying.”
You had 30 songs to choose from
to put on Blow My f use. Are you
going to have that luxury for the
next album?
“I don’t know, we’re not even
thinking about the next album yet.
We’re not legally bound to put one
out in a certain period of time, so
we’ll take our time. We won't just put
out a piece of s—.”
When you play live, you inject a
little humor into your between-song
speeches.
“Yeah, I’m not gonna get up there
like a bunch of other bands do and
just say stuff like ‘Are you ready to
rock?’ That’s such bulls—. Of course
they (the audience members) want to
rock. What else are they there for?
They’re not gonna say ‘No, we want
to be mellow.’”
How have the Fexas crowds been?
“Really good. They’ve been goin’
nuts when we play ‘Blow My Fuse'
and ‘Cold Blood.’”
Sounds like you guys are enjoying
yourselves.
“Oh yeah, this isn’t a job yet.
We’re still having fun.”
Texas independence festival
Washington-on-the-Brazos State
Historical Park will have a cele
bration to commemorate Texas’ in
dependence from Mexico on Sun
day from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
The Houston Pops will perform a
free concert and the original Lone
Ranger, Clayton Moore, also will be
at the park.
The Texas Army and Brazoria
Militia will camp behind the mu
seum and will give demonstrations
with a cannon. Some members of the
Modern Don Juan play
“Johnny Tenorio,” a tragicomic
play examining the Don Juan myth
in modern times, will be performed
by the Hispanic Group Theater
Thursday at 7 p.m. in Rudder The
ater.
The performance will be the first
play produced by the group, which
is a division of the Committee for
Awareness of Mexican-American
Culture.
“Tenorio” playwright Carlos Mor
ton will lead a question and answer
session in Rudder Theater after the
performance about the play and its
meanings. Morton is considered to
be one of the foremost Mexican-
Previews
Artfest open competition
In
Cheap Trick out of plact
but show not inadequak
By Had Binion
CORRESPONDENT
looked like he was in too much of
a daze to be singing.
Something about the smell of
cow dung in the air and the sight
of cowboys and cowgirls sporting
tight-fitting, starched Wranglers
makes you wonder what Cheap
Trick is doing playing at a rodeo.
I thought the same thing as
they took the stage in the Astro
dome at their Feb. 22 perfor
mance at the Houston Livestock
Show and Rodeo.
Immediately after the song,
Petersson treated the crowd loan
interesting solo on his 12-string
bass guitar, an instrument thatis
rarely seen but provides a neat
sound.
Accoustics is definitely not a
word that comes to mind when
you think of the Astrodome, since
it sounds like they’re talking into
a mine shaft in there. Cheap
Trick was no exception to the
rule. In fact, it took two songs be
fore I could figure out what they
were doing.
Nielsen countered with a solo
of his own that sounded more like
guitar vomit. Though he is quitea
showman and a good rock-n-roi
guitar player, Nielsen’s playingin
no way compares to the fiery at
robatics of Eddie Van Halen or
the soulful blends of bluesman
Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The band, lead guitarist Rick
Nielsen, lead vocalist Robin
Zander, bass guitarist Tom Pe
tersson and drummer Bun E.
Carlos hit the Astrodome’s re
volving stage with all of the antics
that made them popular in the
late ’70s and early ’80s.
The wall of sound provided by
eight guitar amp stacks (eight gui
tar amp stacks!?) might have
sounded good to them, but by the
time it reached the crowd, it was a
cluttered mass of confusion.
Rick Nielsen, with his baseball
cap and foolish expressions, did
most of the talking for the band,
mainly to announce the next
song.
Carlos did an excellent job of
drumming in his usual disimer
ested style. But the chubby, bald
ing drummer, who is known for
chain smoking while playing,
wasn’t sporting any smokes that
night.
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Nielsen also managed to
change to a different guitar after
every song. He had guitars in ev
ery shape and size, inc luding one
modeled after him, his legs being
the neck of the guitar and his
chest and head being the bodv
He even had a five-necked model
that looked like it weighed about
500 pounds.
Robin Zander looked emba-
rassed to be playing at a rodeo
and the only thing he said all
night was “I want you to want
me!,” a phrase made famous on
the band’s “Live at Budokan” al
bum.
They ripped through their 13-
song set with ease, spitting out the
songs that Cheap Trick fans
know best: “Dream Police” (com
plete with lyrics changed to in
clude something about the Astro
dome), “I Want You to Want
Me,” “California Man” and some
of the newer songs like “Ghost
Town” and “The Flame.”
I he crowd of more than
17,000 came alive with whoops
and screams as the band got inio
some of their later material. Ro
bin Zander’s vocals, which areal
ways good, were especially inspir
ing during their rendition of
Elvis’ “Don’t be Cruel."
The screams only got louder
on the tender ballad “The Flame
when everyone raised their
lighted cigarette lighters to give
the dome a soft glow. This song
was perplexing — although there
were a lot of nice keyboard part
there was no keyboard player.
I can only guess that someone
was playing them from behind
the stage. It’s annoying that some
bands need musicians off stage as
well as on.
About halfway through the
performance, the vocal chores
were turned over to Petersson for
“I Know What I Want.” Peters
son, who was dressed like a cross
between Slash of Guns-n-Roses
fame and the local undertaker,
should have stayed off the mike.
His voice was off-key and he
Cheap Frick reminds me of
Kiss — they’ve been around fora
long time because they constantlv
change theif style to match the
trends of the times. The idea ob
viously works.
The teenage girls sitting be
hind me put it best when the'
said: “Well it’s not Def Leppard
but it will do.”
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Fish
(Continued from page 13)
Ray recently obtained some f ron-
tosa, African fish from deep within
the same lakes as the cychlids,
around 300 feet below the surface.
“They’re really hard to get be
cause they have to come up in de
compression chambers, and they’re
hard to breed too,” he said. “It takes
three or four years for them to get
used to the new environment and
breed.
“Just the babies go for $20-$30,
and a full breeding pair can go for
$400-$500.”
However, the frontosa hear 100-
150 offspring at a time. Ray said he
never has managed to bleed fron
tosa successfully — he acquired his
by trading three of his recently-bred
puppies for seven freshly-hatched
fish.
Building a Tank
Putting a tank together isn’t as dif
ficult as many think, said Terrazas,
who is writing a research paper on
the topic. He uses a wet/dry filtration
system in his aquarium and said that
it requires no maintenence.
If you’re planning to start your
own aquarium, he recommends
going to a full-set \ ice store, and sug
gests the following:
• Buy a tank that holds no less
than 30 gallons (lor saltwater).
• Use an under-gravel fib
which is less expensive than a w
/dry filter.
• Buy a strong, submersib
pump with a power head. Hi
power head helps to keep the wan
c leat and chemicallv balanced.
Carolyn Wheeler, a junior eii'
ronmental design major, recen
started a saltwater tank, and she
still waite water to be ready.
It takes some time for the appr
priate bac teria to build up in the"
ter and grav el, at least three montlt
but she said she is looking forward
getting her f irst tropical pets.
“I can hardly wait until it’s read
and I can put some really cool fish(
it,” she said.
Terra/as recommended t»
books to look into if you’re intfi
ested in seeing the available fish a#
corals: / he Encyclopedia of Mini
Fish and Marine Invertabratesin
Aquarium.
201 (
f
4
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Several stores in town can lid
you set up a tank. Some of themm
come to your home, set ihetankuj
and maintain it every month. Tk
pet stores in town with aquariumstf
ups are:
• Pet Paradise, 693-4575
4202F. Texas Avenue South (W
Kroger)
• Animal World, 822-9315
Manor East Mall, Bryan
• .Aquarium Concepts, 7 76-7387
1863 Briarcrest Drive, Bryan
• I lardy Gardens, 776-5557
2004 FT Villa Maria, Brvan
4
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