Hill Auditorium – Page 20

REVIEW:Gal Costa and Romero Lubambo

November 8, 2009November 8, 2009 krithika

Sat, Nov 7,2009

Today was one of those rare days in fall when it feels like a perfect summer day with a cool breeze and a benevolent sun. It also turned out to be one of the most beautiful evenings with the Gal Costa and Romero Lubambo performance at the Hill auditorium. I just LOVE the Hill auditorium. Its awesome acoustics and ambience add that special something to every performance. Close your eyes and you will feel as if the performers are putting an exclusive performance only for you. The Hill just seems to have so much of positive vibes to it and there’s magic in that place. I just can’t get enough of it.

Ok, now back to the evening’s performance.

Mr.Lubambo started by playing a medley that involved a blend of jazz improvisation and Brazilian music, showing a glimpse of his commendable repertoire. It was superb. He has such command over his instrument and is a master guitarist.

Then, the much awaited Gal Costa, in a lovely flowing red and lavender dress entered to thunderous applause. She started with a lovely slow song. I was amazed. Her age (she was born in 1945) doesn’t show either in her voice or appearance. I, at once, knew why she was one of Brazil’s most famous pop divas.

Her voice is smooth, deep and at the same time, so melodious. In these days, with the auto tuning and with singers who lip-sync all the time, it is such a treat to hear a singer who hits her high notes with perfect clarity and so effortlessly, especially in a live performance. I don’t think she ever missed a note in the entire show that lasted one hour and forty minutes. Some singers are born with the magic in their vocal chords and Gal Costa is one of them.

Ms .Costa and Mr. Lubambo shared such a nice camaraderie that comes only when two artists truly respect each other for their mastery in their respective fields. Her deep full-bodied voice blended very well with the twangs of his guitar perfectly. They complemented each other so well and it was evident that they enjoyed it as much as the rest of us.

Mr. Lubambo cracked us up with his humorous introduction of the songs and comments. During the performance, Ms. Costa sang close to Mr. Lubambo’s ear playfully. He was thrilled with it and he said that it was so good to be listening to her so close, something he could get only in a live performance where the musician feels “the love energy” of the audience and responds to it and there is such a synergy of good vibes. Like true performers they also engaged the audience. For one of her other songs, the audience doubled as her backup singers and it sounded so good as if they had rehearsed before.

As for the songs, I wished I knew Portuguese so that I could relate to the lyrics in spite of the fact that I could totally connect with the music. I guess this only proves how music truly appeals to the soul. I noted some of the songs though (by noting words by their sound) and looked the songs up after the show (ah, Google, where will I be without thee?). I loved her “Triste” ,”Aquarela do Brasil” and “As time goes by” .

As the show ended, we wanted more of course and there were two encores. My only regret was that with UMS’s policy, I couldn’t get a picture/video of the performers on stage at the Hill. 🙁

Luckily, I can still listen to their music on the net. Hope you guys do that too.

Krithika Srinivasan

Review: Robin Williams and His Talking Rectum

November 1, 2009November 2, 2009 Bennett

Twas quite a night for Hill Auditorium when Robin Williams and his raunchy brand of comedy came to town this past Friday. Having waited since March (after Williams postponed most of his tour in order to have and recover from open-heart surgery) with expensive tickets in hand, the Hill Auditorium crowd was edging to laugh and laugh hard. A sold-out crowd welcomed Williams, and the two jumbo screens streaming live video of his antics all night, with a long and loud ovation.

Early on, Williams showed he had done his homework. While many comedians have an established nightly routine, Willliams spent his first 20 minutes clowning on local issues. Among other topics, he commented on Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan football team (“Coach Rodriguez is having extra practice sessions – not that they’re really helping right now”), Detroit (Canada’s “neighbor with a meth lab”), as well as noting that “Kwame Kilpatrick makes Marion Berry look like Nelson Mandela”. This local flavor won the crowd over immediately.

From there, Williams physicality and character humor took center stage. As we know from his many roles in film, Williams truly becomes his characters. In his 90-minute set, he became celebrities (Gregory Peck reciting porno lines, Arnold Schwarzenegger failing to pronounce “California”, former MLB pitcher Dock Ellis who pitched a no-hitter on LSD, Joe Biden campaigning for “Barack America”, Walter Kronkite telling a sexual joke- to name a few), animals (Scottish raccoons protesting recycling, a cat antagonizing a dog, and more), and he was, often times, himself- speaking about his heart surgery, his alcoholism, his movies, and his family.

Unfortunately, Williams’s material lost its edge in the second half of the show. Gone were the local references or the riffs on current events. Instead, Williams took turns with “Fuck”, “Asshole” (usually referring to his actual ass hole), and “Rectum” to pull laughter from his audience. His especially vulgar set- a slightly uncomfortable scene for this 19 year old surrounded by the 50+’ers that could afford the tickets- relied upon material that, although consistently drawing a strong response, is no longer fresh. Along with his talking rectum, Williams continued to mock the already most-ridiculed person of the decade, former President George W. Bush, as well as prolonged rants on the 2008 presidential campaign and Sarah Palin, along with many other not-so-current events. Yes, Williams has not toured since 2003 so this is perhaps new material for him, but, in the meantime, the rest of the stand-up world, not to mention Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have squeezed this material dry.

Williams left Hill Auditorium to a standing ovation and a pleased crowd. He made funny faces, did impeccable impersonations, and shocked the crowd with his slew of obscenities and innuendos. However, despite his early success in commentary on local issues, Williams’s material failed to showcase his status as a master of modern culture.

Bennett Stein. Ann Arbor, MI. bstei@umich.edu. No Shirt, No Radio-Wednesdays @ Midnight-1:30am. WCBN.

PREVIEW: Robin Williams’s New Aortic Valve

October 28, 2009October 30, 2009 Bennett 2 Comments

First off, an introduction is in order- My name is Bennett Stein. I’m a second year undergraduate student from Ann Arbor. I’ll be writing on this here blog with some type of regularity. I do encourage you to comment on the posts (“Oh man, Bennett, you’re so full of it.” or “Oh man, Bennett, you’re so god damn handsome” or “Meh, Bennett, you’re pretty so-so”), or, in addition, feel free to email me at bstei@umich.edu. Finally, tune in to No Shirt, No Radio every Wednesday night from midnight-1:30am on WCBN (88.3 or live stream) where I will continue to spin the funky and the weird every week.

However, the real deal is that Robin Williams is finally performing at Hill Auditorium this Friday night, October 30. Scheduled to perform here on March 28, Williams was out of commission for the past six months after a surgery to replace his aortic valve, repair his mitral valve, and correct his irregular heartbeat.

We know Robin Williams mostly from his extensive cinematic career that includes an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Good Will Hunting- one of his least funny roles- as well as outstanding performances in classics such as Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Mrs. Doubtfire and many others. But, he has also found great success as a stand up comedian. In 2004, Comedy Central named him 13th on the list of “100 Greatest Stand Up Comedians of All Time”.

Williams is back- he grew up in the Detroit burbs – and healthy and should rock a packed Hill Auditorium. Ticket prices are steep but there’s no better working comedian out there these days (broken link, updated!). Find a cracked window-get into Hill this Friday evening.

Robin Williams Stand Up

Bennett. Ann Arbor, MI.

No Shirt, No Radio, Wednesday night 12-1:30am, WCBN (88.3 or wcbn.org)

REVIEW: In A Sea of Shadows, Wilco Floats

October 18, 2009October 19, 2009 Sarah

Everything was setting up for the perfect enjoyment of a crisp October night. It was fall break, I had no worries (albeit momentarily), and I was about to see one of my favorite bands perform live. After a very booked week, I had almost forgotten about the Halloween treat I had been waiting for since school started and if it wasn’t for some minor obstacles, it would have been a nearly perfect night.

I guess I can be grateful that after an hour of searching for my hidden tickets in a sea of papers, I found them. And I guess I could also be grateful that despite being eons away from the galactic center of Hill Auditorium, it still felt as if I was floating peacefully above the action. And yet even more, I must be grateful that although I haphazardly forgot my glasses, the miniscule blurs down below swirled to create a larger, more pleasing image. Most of all, I am grateful for my courage to “not wilco” in a move of utter defiance at a most crucial moment (read more to find out why).