‘Maggie May’ man
wows 8,800 fans
Concert
review
For two hours, 23 songs and one
encore, “forever young” British
rock icon Rod Stewart sang, danced,
joked and more than once surprised
an estimated 8,800 fans at the
Devaney Sports Center on Wednes
day night.
When the curtain lifted, Stewart,
wearing a red velvet suit coat, sat
on a stool center stage and opened
with the classic single “Hot Legs.”
Looking decades younger than
48, with energy to match, Stewart
shook the house with “Every Pic
ture Tells A Story,” “You Wear It
Well,” “Forever Young,” “Stay
With Me” and the sweet “Maggie
May.”
Occasionally, he stopped the
music and encouraged fans to sing
along, particularly during “To
night’s the Night” and “You’re in
my Heart.” His own voice seem
ingly grew stronger withevery note,
climaxing with his recent “Un
plugged ... and Seated” hit “Have 1
Told You Lately” and the song
“This Old Heart of Mine.”
His non-stop show, part of his
“A Night To Remember Tour,”
successfully blended sounds of an
18-piece orchestra, a 12-piece band,
three male backup vocalists and
pianist lan McLagan.
McLagan played with Stewart
in the legendary ’60s band Faces.
The musicianship and camara
derie among band members was as
tight as Stewart’s black leather
studded pants.
During “People Get Ready,” a
song from Stewart’s Humble Pie
days* saxophonist Jimmy Roberts
joined in an incredible jam with
one of the guitarists while Stewart
took a one-minute break and lay
down, watching the duet from a
prone position.
The crowd was a bit restrained
but enthusiastic. It was a mixture of
shrieking women, college-age lis
teners and Woodstock-age fans who
even brought their children.
The restraint lasted only until
Stewart got close enough to the
edge of the stage to touch out
stretched fingertips. And then the
encore number, “Do You Think
I’m Sexy,” shifted hormones into
high as Stewart began closing the
distance between himscl f and fans.
During the last number, “Twist
ing the Night Away,” Stewart and
band members started pulling sev
eral women on stage and invited
them to join their twisting train.
Women rushed to the front —
in hopes of being among the cho
sen few — and a few even chose
to climb onstage uninvited. No
one was more surprised than the
University Program Council se
curity volunteers.
“It’s scary being between a
bunch of crazed women and Rod
Stewart,” UPC’s DougChase said.
And, no doubt, “A Night to
Remember.”
— Jill O'Brien
Travis Heying/DN
Rod Stewart bows during his show Wednesday night.
Winter
Continued from Page 9
He said the two elements fall on a
fine line and the balance is unique to
each individual.
With a focus on this balance, De
Grassi said he decided to take his
knowledge of guitar and develop his
own style of performing.
While playing as a street musician
in London, De Grassi said he met up
with his cousin and childhood friend,
Will Ackerman, who was starting his
own label - Windham Hill.
Since then, De Grassi said he has
recorded seven albums under the label
and plans to continue his work. In
addition to recording, De Grassi said
he taught his guitar style at workshops
nationwide.
De Grassi was an honorary guest at
the National Summer Guitar Work
shop in Connecticut. He said he teaches
at the Omega Institute in upstate New
York during their summer arts week.
De Grassi also does occasional work
shops at colleges nationwide.
“I’m trying to make myself avail
able to people who want to learn how
to play guitar,” he said. “I write out
some technical exercises, and I let
people learn what they want.”
Although De Grassi has established
himself as a nationally renowned gui
tarist, he said he still looks for new
ideas for himself and the Windham
Hill label.
“Hopefully, I’ve contributed both
music to solo guitar repertoire and a
unique approach to writing," he said.
He said he did some collaborated
work with other Windham Hill artists
for the Winter Solstice Concerts.
‘Tve written pieces and arranged a
few parts for this tour,” he said. “We’re
all performing some selections to
gether as well as doing our own reper
toire.”
The Winter Solstice Concerts will
be performed at the Lied Center on
Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $25
and $ 15 for students.
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James Mehsling/DN
French film explores love myth
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“Un Coeur en Hiver”
Of course the poster shows a naked woman
asleep in bed. It is, after all, a French film, right?
But “Un Coeur en H ivcr,” now playing at the
Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater, is something
other than the erotic masterpiece the ads would
have you believe.
There arc some sexy moments, and the
required willowy, doelike woman, with big
eyes and pouting mouth, is present and ac
counted for.
But that’s all just French background. The
French need a bedroom scene as American’s
need a car chase: It just fills space—without it
you’d know something was missing.
Rather, “UnCoeur’Hs about the winter of the
heart, as its title implies.
It’s about love — and the impenetrable
fortress some people build against it.
Stephan is such a person. A violin maker, he
spends his days in his shop, working for Maximc,
his friend. At night he makes delicate musical
toys, puppets. He lives a bachelor’s life.
When Maxime falls in love with the beauti
ful Camille, a blooming violinist, Stephan
embarks on a program of seduction that will
shatter all their lives.
Why seduce the lover of his friend?
Not for love. Stephan wants to reject love.
He wants to live free of the bounds of friendship
— without responsibilities, without feeling.
~--U-r i '_:_ . ‘
He sees himself floating — free and without
remorse — above the frozen terrain of his own
heart.
His attempt to wrest Camille away from
Maxime is like an affront to love, as he wants
to show love for what it is, a myth, a fantasy.
But he is not the complete sociopath he
makes himself out to be, and here lies the
tragedy of the film.
Stephan is mined by the lives he mins; he is
dragged down into the horror of losing the love
he abjured for so long."
His coldness gives him the strength to take
action when others are paralyzed by grief. But
it leaves him unconnected and alone.
It’s not uncommon in real life to see a
woman attracted to just such a man, perhaps
under the belief that there is a mystery at the
center of him, an old wound, which she will, by
the force of her own will and her power of love,
have the strength to heal.
Something of the sort happens between
Camille and Stephan, and he does not escape
untouched by her. Still, he must carry out his
deceit to the last, like a machine with no one at
the controls.
Director Claude Sautet won a Cesar —
France’s Oscar — for this film.
It’s a deep groping about in the darkness of
the human heart. Over and over again his
characters try to tell the tmth about their situa
tion, only to further cloud it for themselves.
The simple tmth is nowhere apparent, and
all must fumble through in their own way.
Light becomes darkness until, by the end of
the film, no one has found what they want.
The film is a bit of an introspective downer,
perhaps — but it is French.
— Mark Baldridge
