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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Thomas[/i] [br]http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/news/ny-etledew4307513jun18,0,6701051,print.story MUSIC REVIEW [size=4][b]Black's magic spears Pixies' beach landing[/b][/size=4] BY RAFER GUZMÁN STAFF WRITER June 18, 2005 Fifteen years ago, Pixies' live shows were Hobbesian affairs: nasty, brutish and short. Hammering out one rage-filled song after another, they didn't try to entertain their audience - they tried to obliterate it. Tuesday night, Pixies added another adjective to that list: fun. The Jones Beach show was part of a reunion that began with a few tentative warm-up dates last April and has blossomed into a world tour. A short-lived cult band in the late 1980s and early '90s, Pixies' stature and influence has grown in their absence (thanks largely to Nirvana, who copped the band's dynamic chords and loud-soft-loud constructions). Now the band finds itself headlining amphitheaters and even such festivals as last year's Coachella festival in California. Pixies' breakup was less than amicable, but during this tour they've rekindled their mutual affections. They are, and always were, an unlikely group of art-punk heroes: a painfully shy but fierce guitarist (Joey Santiago), a rock-solid drummer (David Lovering), a tough-chick bassist with a vulnerable voice (Kim Deal) and hefty front man Black Francis (now known as Frank Black), whose inhuman screams give Pixies their strange power. Tuesday night, these oddball personalities found the humor that runs underneath their howling songs. The 90-minute show began with "Is She Weird," a typical Pixies mix of spooky chords, a self-devouring rhythm and utter nonsense ("Is she weird? Is she white? Is she promised to the night?"). Black's lyrics, for the most part, aren't as important as how they're delivered. During an astonishingly aggressive version of "Stormy Weather," he repeated the song's only line ("It is time/For stormy weather") until it sounded like an oncoming apocalypse. On "Tame," he screamed that word as if it represented a childhood nightmare. Black's latest solo disc, "Honeycomb" (due next month on Back Porch) may surprise Pixies fans: It borders on country, with Black singing in a plain, intimate voice. He took a similar approach with a trio of Pixies songs that served as the concert's centerpiece. "Nimrod's Son," "Mr. Grieves" and "The Holiday Song" all began as frenetic, galloping workouts - but the band also played them slowly and deliberately, turning them into Southern Gothic ballads. "You can cry, you can mope," Black sang while strumming an acoustic guitar, "but can you swing from a good rope?" Just as surprising were the occasional sloppy notes and impulsive moments, which gave the show an enjoyably loose feel. On "La La Love You," Black and Deal almost missed their opening lines - "Kick-a butt!" "Not too hard" - then gave the song to Lovering, who crooned like Elvis while punching at his kit. On "Vamos," Santiago tweaked his guitar to match Black's short vocal squawks. And at the close of "Gigantic," Deal urged the musicians to do something truly uncharacteristic: They smiled and, one by one, said good night. PIXIES. New and improved. Tuesday night at Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theater. Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc. [hr]"Our Love is Rice and Beans and Horses Lard" [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.