ETTA JAMESThe Strand, March 6

ith a voice that couldcut through steel, 54-year old blues singer

Etta James has eamed her placein the Rock and Roll Hall ofFame, with her recent inductionin January of this year. It's nowonder her Saturday night showsold out ar this South Bay night-club and a Sunday night show,also did very well. With Etta'smost recent recordings, "IfteR igh t T in rc " i n I 99? and " Stickin'to my Guns" in 1990, she hasfinally earned acclaim from theentertainment industry - with twoCrammy nominations to date. Inthat regard. it was disappointing

by Pat Kramer

that her show on Saturday was soroutine and the set was so short.

Arriving nearly two hours pastthe 8:00 p.m. showtime, with nowarmup band on the schedule, Enawas greeted with enihusiasm bylrcr audience who had been anx-iously awaiting her appearance.Though it was a shortperformance,it wasclearthat she was puttingallshe had into her show, runningthrough such favoriles as"DamnY our Ey e s," and " I Would RatherBe Blind."

Etta's show was the usual bumpand grind variety. A large womanwith an extremely powerful andcommanding stage presence, Ettahas a way of taking songs withsad. moumful lyrics and translat-ing them into bawdy, sexy showsthat wind up making you feel likelaughing instead of feeling theblues. Herdramatic showmanshipand ability to duplicate other bluessinger styles (Muddy Waters,Ella Fitzgerald) are her strongpoints. Herweak points. however.are the brevity of her shows andher failure to perform encores.

Saturday's show lastedjust overan hour, with Etra's band fillingfor 15 minules at the start of theshow, atier it was announced Ettawas "on her way from the hotel."For their pan, her band put on a

lively side show with guitarists

Capitol recording artistsSchool of Fish will hit the roadwith a series of U.S. and Cana-

dian club 'dates in support of itssmashing new sophomore effort,

"Human Cannonhall." Showswill kick off March 2 in Phoe-nix, AZ, and are scheduled torun through April with a showat The Palace in L.A. on April16.

With comparisons to everyonefrom the Beatles to the Jesus

and Mary Chain, School ofFish garnered critical raves andsaw their 1991 debut featured in

Josh Sklair and Bobby Murray.bass player Richard Cousins anikeyboardist Dave Mathews eachsoloing on their respective instru-ments. When Ettadidarrive, ratherthan choosing songs from her ownrich repertoire, she chose instead(for at least half of her 8 songs)cover tunes by other afiists like"Cometo Poppa," by Bob Seeger,'Hardto Handle," by The BlackCrowes and standard well-womblues covers that short changedthe show.

For a singer with such amazingvocal abilities and interesting in-terpretations of blues material, itwas not a show that featured EttaJames' sfongest traits. When theset was done there was no encoreand she left her true fans, withouthaving ever reached that "peak"that audiences seek from the per-

formance. Perhaps when she re-turns on lour this summer withB,B. King, we'll get to see a moreoriginal set.

Inthe meantime, Island Recordswill be releasing a new recordingfeaturing Etta James, called,"TheIsland Sessions." On the previ-ously unreleased material, Ettasings with Art Neville, DavidLindley and David Hidalgo fromLos Lobos, According tothe latestreports, that music shouldbe out instores by the end of this month.l

year-end "BestOf. . ." lists inpublications suchas the L.A.Times, DenverPost, The IlardReport, Hart-ford Advocateand VirginianPilot,

"Human Can-nonball" onceagain spotlights

Josh Clayton-Felt and MichaelWard's uncanny knack forcombining pop hooks with agrungy, neopsychedelic edge.Tracks like "Fuzzed and Fad-ing," "Jump Off the World,"and their first single, uTake MeAnywhere," emphasize theharder guitar sound that Wardhinted at on the first album andso aptly displayed in their ag-gressive live sets.

The group gained Top 5 Com-mercial Alternative success '3Strange Days," the first singlefrom their debut album. r

j, Mustc NorEscontinued from page 26

rhat relieve stress or aid in heal-rn8. assertiveness, strength, pros-perity, etc.) than anything hehas done in the past.

Oddly enough, this collectionof tone paintings is anything butlhe elevator music one mightnormally attribute to instrumen-lal covers. I can't tell you howmuch pain I go through when Iam shopping and hear an oldChicago tune with oboe andmarimba in the melody line.

Instead, Fisher has managed tocapture just enough of l-ennon'stunes to be recognizable (ustbarely enough in some cases).He's slowed the meter to it'sfunhest point and literally cov-ered a canvas with some verybeautiful and haunting orches-trations. If you are not nor everhave been into TM, this may beyou're chance to catch up. Orpick it up to help you winddown on the freeway - just stayout of the left lane please.

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