PREVIEW SHOWBIZ LEGEND LIZA MINNELLI SECC, Glasgow, Fri 6 Jun
There aren’t many people for whom the word ‘legend’ is applicable, but Liza Minnelli is certainly one of them. Tales of marital woe and substance abuse may have dogged her personal life, but Minnelli’s career highlights put most people’s in the shade. With copious column inches devoted to divorce, drugs and dieting, it’s easy to forget that the daughter of Judy Garland and \fincente Minnelli has racked up an Oscar, an Emmy, three Tony Awards, two Golden Globes and a Grammy.
Playing Glasgow as part of a UK tour, Minnelli will perform classic showstoppers such as ‘Cabaret’, ‘Maybe This Time’ and ‘New York, New York’. Having worked as an actor, dancer and singer, does Minnelli have a preferred way of communicating with an audience? ‘I think it all comes from the same place,’ she says. ‘Singing is acting with music, dancing is acting with your body. I started as a dancer, so that’s really my first love, and then everything else fell into place because I wanted to be on Broadway.’
Hailing from such a famous family, accusations of nepotism must have been rife in the early days. At what point did Minnelli feel she was accepted on her own merit? ‘I think it was when I won my first Tony Award,’ she says. ‘I never did anything in Hollywood, I thought making movies was boring. For a kid to witness it, it’s so dull, they do it over and over again. So when I went to Broadway, it wasn’t our family business, that was film, so it was a whole new thing.’
Almost 60 years after her first performance, Minnelli is still going strong and will pepper her show with anecdotes from her life both onstage and off. But is it possible to create an intimate atmosphere in a large theatre? ‘Oh God, sure,’ she says. ‘That’s why I keep the lights up a little, so I can see everybody. I’m very open on stage and can feel what an audience likes. When I’m talking to somebody in the crowd, I’ve been told that everyone feels like I’m talking to them, which is a wonderful compliment.’ (Kelly Apter)
Mark Stewart
PREVlEW PUNK FUNK MARK STEWART AND THE MAFFIA Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Thu 12 Jun
A CERTAIN RATIO Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Sat 14 Jun
Somewhere between Manchester and Bristol there's a punk- funk ley line. How else to explain the umbilical link between The Pop Group and A Certain Ratio. two bands who married rudimentary white-bOy messthetics with Funkadelic—inspired disco grooves, free jazz skronk and dub clatter. Often in the same song.
Both bands produced classic singles; The Pop Group with 'She is Beyond Good And Evil,‘ ACR with their cover of Banbarra's ‘Shack Up‘. Both appeared on Andrew Weatherall's The Nine O'C/ock Drop compilation, released retrospectives on Soul Jazz. and have new albums pending. How thrilling, then. for both ACR and former Pop Group vocalist Mark Stewart to turn up on your front doorstep within days of each other.
‘We were in competition.‘ says ACR's Martin Moscrop. ‘They were the only other band trying to fuse things other than just rock.‘ ACR were irnmortalised via Factory Records flick. 24 Hour Party People. An episode of flashback cop drama. Ashes to Ashes. meanwhile. was based around a Pop Group tan daubing the slogan 'We Are All Prostitutes.’ plundered from the band's most anti-capitalist single. around Thatcher's London. Some 27 years on. Stewart is warming up for a 80th Bank appearance at this year's Massive Attack-curated Meltdown.
‘My philosophy.‘ says Stewart, ‘is to go to the source. So I've been working with Berlin techno guys. and there‘s talk of working with Ornette Coleman. But basically all I've ever done is try and lob square bricks into round holes.‘ (Neil Cooper)
PREVlEW HIP HOP ATMOSPHERE
Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Tue 17 Jun
No matter how tired commercial hip hop becomes there‘s always a smattering of inspirational characters to breathe some life into the scene. Innovators like MF Doom, Madlib and Shape of Broad Minds keep us on our toes, and so too do Atmosphere. a Minneapolis duo pushing out a strain of hip hop with real substance. in both the production and lyrical departments.
Slug and Ant are in Scotland for the first time. Slug describes Atmospheres music as ‘like chewing on rubber bands. and Spreading frosting'. but in truth it‘s way more accessible than he claims. He appears to be keeping expectations at a minimum too. ‘I just wanna make peOple smile and have some fun,‘ he says.
So what should you expect when you go see Atmosphere? Slug again prefers to keep his cards close to his chest. ‘I don't know how to answer that. There will be no nudity though.‘
They're known for their more experimental and somewhat unconventional approach to hip hop yet their latest album When Life Gives You Lemons. You Paint That Shit Gold is more accessible. Why?
‘The new album is simply the stuff that's on my mind this year. No intentional moves but upwards. and progress.’ What about the children‘s story book in the album? Is this an alternative career for when they become uncool’? 'Nope. We are already uncool. That's why we make music. We are nerds in every sense.‘
Atmosphere may seem a breath of fresh air but seem unwilling to delve beyond the surface about hip hop culture. a notion furthered when Slug is pressed on what defines his band within a scene that is notoriously materialistic and shallow.
‘I don't resent any scene within hip hop. I love hip hop like a brother. Sometimes he's ugly, other times he's smart. but no matter what. he's always they're for me. I don't get mad at anyone who makes music. It's a waste of my anger. There are so many more progressive things for me to be angry at.‘ (Steve Glencross)
1') ~19 .Jun 9008 THE LIST 73