| Show Standard-Examin- Friday June 15 1990 er 3D Weekend By yp mger MARILYN ABILDSKOV To hear Katie Webster tell it she started talking ?t age l'j and hasn’t stopped since Now 50 Webster who considers herself “blessed to have' such a gorgeous gospel-styl- e singing voice has talked long enough to earn herself the title “Swamp Boogie Queen by the mayor of Lafayette La And the Queen is loved by musicians as diverse as Stevie Wonder and Lou Reed Known as the Elizabeth Taylor of the blues because of the way she dresses on stage Webster will be one of the headline performers at the Utah Arts Festival this year along with the Anthony Davis Group Art Lande and the Russian Dragon Band and the Lewitzky Dance Company The Arts Festival June 4 features live performances as well as 80 visual arts booths 18 craft demonstrations 20 food booths a literary arts booth street performers and an children’s art yard where kids can get their faces painted or participate in hands-o- n art 20-2- on-goi- ng Proviow Katio Webster The Swamp BooglsfitNm’ has a sound that is all bar own projects New to this year’s festival is indoor stage the where groups such as the Salt Lake Acting Company and the comedy troupe Head Games will perform Publicists for the Arts Festival d pianist say Webster a with a deeply emotional singing style made a name for herself by taking the music that bubbles up from the swamplands of the South be it blues barrelhouse swamp-po- p or soul and for putting those ingredients together in a uniquely Katie Webster way Webster who’s not much for modesty agrees “1 don’t sing like nobody else and I don’t play like nobody else she said in a phone inter-Festi-LIV- What Utah Arts Festival Who: yocafist Katie Webster Whan: 10:30 pm Saturday June 23 on the Plaza Stage Where: Triad Center on South Temple between 300 and 400 West in downtown Salt Lake City Tickets: Admission $4adults $2senior citizens $1 children ages 2 to 12 Children under 2 admitted for free Family passes are also available E! two-fiste- boogie-woog- ie ? passion for jazz “They thought all jazz and blues artists turned out to be drug addicts Webster said But their fears were laid to rest when they realized she wanted only to “play beautiful music for beautiful people to use Webster’s words “I’ve never taken a drink of any alcohol I’ve never touched cigarettes and I’ve not had any of that other funny stuff" No matter where she performs Webster prides herself on going to grab an audience “I don’t hold back for all-o- view from her home in San Francisco “I figure we already had an Ella So I created my anybody" But she warns: “Once I get own style ’em I don’t let ’em loose I hold Webster began recording at ’em I have ’em fasten their seat age 13 working with Otis Reddbelts I try to get people to the standin’-ovatio- n ing in her early days stage after my first song I figure they’ve paid Webster’s musical mentors include Billie Holiday Aretha 'money to see a show And I’m Franklin and Etta Baker But not playin’ a classical concert I’m playin’ happy music" she says her greatest influence If rite Queen’s a tad tired? No was her father a gospel minister matter said she and mean piano player “From the moment the light “I used to say ‘Lord if you just let me have the left hand of hits my eyes I get rejuvenated my father I’ll work on the If I’m tired I take it out on the piano I try to smile and be right’” At first Webster’s parents happy because to me music has were wary of their daughter’s no color" ut ' Pianist to open Utah Arts Festival By MARILYN ABILDSKOV Standard-Examine- staff r Anthony Davis a composer and pianist has no desire to lock himself away in an ivory tower Though he writes operas orchestral works and solos for piano in a way that has earned him a reputation of being one of the most innovative voices in contemporary music Davis keeps tabs on popular culture too occasionally tuning into that basmusical taste: tion of MTV To underscore the point when Davis began a phone interview from New York City the other day he asked to be put on hold not so he could take care of some esoteric music business but to address a more pressing need: the taping of an episode of “Teenage Mutant Ninja son Turtles" for his Timothy “The dominant culture in America is popular culture" said Davis whose upcoming Salt Lake City performance kicks off the Utah Arts Festival “You really have to go out of your way to miss it” Even Davis’ most ambitious works boast modem subjects to which ordinary folks can relate He wrote an opera called “X the Life and Times of Malcolm X” based on the life of the radical civil rights leader It was natural Davis said since Malcolm X was “a heroic figure" who went through “various rings of fire” in his lifetime “I thought that was made for Yale-train- ed low-bro- w opera" His next opera due out in 1992 will center on the kidnapping of Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army Both “X" and the “Tania" focus on people who go through major transformations “And that’s fascinating to me" Davis said “I also like the idea of doing works with political landscapes” Davis’ early training was in classical music His lather was a violinist his mother played piano But by age 18 his interest was mostly in jazz In college when Davis had made the decision to turn music into a career He took the usual classes including a required course in Wagner “I hated it at still-to-co- Preview What Utah Arts Festival Who: The Anthony Davis Group When: 8:30 pm Wednesday June 20 Where: The Amphitheater Stage : Triad Center on South Temple between 300 and 400 West in downtown Salt Lake City the time" been fascinated with opera since" Today Davis is trying to create an American genre of music — one that looks to its own resources rather than European models and one that is “less elitist" He focuses on conflicts in American society as a way of “defining our own culture" And his music itself embodies certain conflicts or if not conflicts per se then a hodgepodge of competing influences both American and European in flavor In the opening of “X" for example “you can hear Wagner in the recurring theme and in the harmonic things I do” Davis said But its subject matter comes from a distinctly I 1 I J J j This year's circus features an entirely new production of inter- national performers from the Co-- 1 a Shriner ronas Circus spokesman said Also on tap are the Berosini Bengal tigers Allen Campbell and his herd of ele-- ‘ phants and a performance by a troop of miniature horses Other acts feature Captain Er-shot out of a cannon acro- - dipsy-doodl- es Broadway genre The surprising thing about this approach is that Madonna pulls it off without a hitch You’ll notice a change right away on the album’s opener “He’s A Man" Gone are the electronic dance music trappings that have become Madonna’s trademarks Instead a big band sound with a slow bluesy bass line dominates the arrangement And somehow Madonna sounds more believable when she's surrounded by a real meat and potatoes orchestration Even more surprising is what she does with the first Sondheim penned song “Sooner Or Later” In an arrangement that will probd ably turn off a lot of her disco debutante fans Madonna shows that she can match flames with the best of the modern day torch singers The next three songs are sheer escapist entertainment If there’s such a thing as it “Hanexists on the ky Panky” with its brisk walking bass line hilarious backing vocal and Madonna’s insistence that “there’s nothing like a good spanky” good-natur- sado-masochis- m ed high-steppi- hi-ji- nx Top records Billboard Publications Inc African-A- merican Top singles past “lt Must Have Been Love” Roxette (EMI) — Gold (More than 500000 singles sold) 2“Step By Step” New Kids on the Block (Columbia) 3- “Poiaon" Bell Biv Devoe (MCA) — Platinum (More than 1 million singles sold) 4- “Hold On" Wilson Phillips (SBK) — Gold 5- “Do You Remember?” Phil Collins (Atlantic) 6“Vogue” Madonna (Sire) 7“Ready or Not” After 7 (Vir- “I even thought about rap music in a way because I’m fascinated with spoken language with the rhythm of it It’s not a ‘rap opera’ " Davis said Listeners will hear nothing close to Public Enemy in the work But “it’s there in the conception of the text Those elements inform 1- -- it Though Davis has no aspira-f- j tions to become popular as in “Michael Jackson popular" he does desire an audience A recording of “X" is slated to come 'out within the year — t something for which Davis is grateful since it will make the opera available nationwide As for the tag “black compos- er" Davis says he feels it can be both boon and bane gin) “Ho!d On" En Vogue (Atlantic) — Gold 9- “U Can’t Touch This” MC Hammer (Capitol) 10- “HI Be Your Shelter” Taylor Dayne (Arista) 8- Top albums “When it’s used to segregate or to limit my expression as an artist I hate it" On the other hand “I can’t run away from my background" “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt MC Hammer (Capitol) — Platinum (More than 1 million units sold) 2Tm Breathless” Madonna 1- ’Em” One of Davis’ goals is to “bring to recognition the African American culture" — something he feels he has done in part through works like “X" (Sire) 3- “ I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” Sinead O’Connor (Ensign) — Platinum 4“Pretty Woman’ Soundtrack” (EMI) — Gold (More Production features new international performers OGDEN —- The tigers lions and clowns of the Shrine Circus will make their annual appear-- i ance Wednesday in the Ogden Stadium If you’re reading this column to catch my annual trashing of Madonna’s latest album you can probably stop reading now This week’s review will be doing something that I didn't think was possible: actually praising Madonna Why this change of heart you ask? It’s like this: “I’m Breathless" subtitled “Music From And Inspired By the film ‘Dick Tracy’” is the most entertaining album Madonna has ever released It’s the first time that the Dance Floor Diva has divided herself from her formulaic disco and tried something radically different The three songs on this set from “Dick Tracy” were all written by Stephen Sondheim better known for his lyrics to Broadway musical shows like “Sweeney Todd" and “West Side Story” And Madonna has chosen to surround these songs with seven more that fit right into the die-har- he said “But I’ve Shrine Circus to perform ! Madonna wins with new sound! Previcw What Shrina Circus When: 2 pm and 8 pm Wednes- day June 20 Where: Ogden Stadium Tickets: Advance: $7adults $6children General admission at door $6adults S3children bats trapeze artists and of course lots of downs Proceeds from the circus will benefit Shriner activities in Ogden Following its Ogden performance the circus will move to Salt Lake City performing June 23 and 24 in die Salt Palace Performances times for the Salt Lake shoes are also 2 pm and 8 pm each day Advance tickets for the Ogden performance will go on sale Monday at the Shriners’ office room 314 in the Kiesel Building Ogden Tickets can also be purchased at the circus door or from any local Shriner or Mason For information in Ogden call 0 in Salt 4 or Lake City 392-845- 363-710- Bananas” with its drummed Caribbean rhythms conjures up visions of an Italian Bette Midler or a “I’m Going steel dance routine from an old Carmen Miranda movie How authentic is the island sound? Just don’t step on that peel on the way out of your listening room On “Cry Baby” Madonna emulates Betty Boop’s little girl war- bling as she tells of her blubbering boyfriend’s tendency to cry at anything The orchestration reminds you a little of The Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty Four” but the crying clarinet and Mai donna’s humorous asides make it ' much funnier It must be said that Madonna’s vocal characterizations on these three songs are probably the best acting job she’s ever pulled off “More” the second Sondheim song reinforces Madonna’s repu-- l tation as the supreme “material d girl” as the 1920s arrangement enhances the tale of a girl who can’t get enough of a good thing The final Sondheim number “What Can You Lose” is a duet between Madonna and the mu!-Mandy Patinkin That Madonna is able to sing at level is a surprise to say the least but the natural blend of their voices will make you a believer After the Fred Astaire and “Now I’m FolGinger Roger-is- h lowing You (Part I)" on which Madonna is joined by Warren Beatty you’ll hear the current number one single “Vogue” In the context of this album though the song sounds tacked on and out of place It’s still one heckuva fun listening experience even with that In fact I can’t minor foul-u- p think of one more negative thing to say “I’m Breathless” has left me speechless flapper-inspire- ! HHBHMHnHHBnH than 500000 units sold) 5- “Polson” Bell Biv Devoe (MCA) — Platinum 6“Brigade” Heart (Capitol) — Platinum 7- “Shut Up and Dance” Paula Abdul (Virgin) 8- “Wi!son Phillips” Wilson Phillips (SBK) — Gold 9- “Violater” Depeche Mode ! (Sire) — Platinum 10 “Soul Provider” Michael Bolton (Columbia) — Platinum Country singles 1- “Love Without End Amen”: George Strait (MCA) 2- “Walk On” Reba McEntire’ (MCA) 3- “Ps$s It On Down” Alabama (RCA) “She Came From Fort Worth” Kathy Mattea (Mercury) 5“Dancy’s Dream” Restless Heart (RCA) 6- “The Dance” Garth Brooks ' (Capitol) 7- “He Walked On Water Randy Travis (Warner Bros) 8- “Runnin’ With The Wind” Eddie Rabbitt (Capitol) ' 9“lf You Could Only See Me Now” T Graham Brown (Capi4- ’ tol) 10“l’ve Cried My Last Tear For You” Ricky Van Shelton (Columbia) |
