The Philadelphia Inquirer du lieu suivant : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 117

34 Friday, June 18, 1982 Philadelphia Inquirer This festival has an air of anachronism By Ken Tucker Inquirer Staff Writer Tomorrow afternoon, JFK Stadium will be the site of the season's first major outdoor rock festival, a show featuring the Kinks, Foreigner, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Loverboy and Huey Lewis and the News. And the big question to ask right now is: Who cares about these shows anymore? The apotheosis of the outdoor rock concert was, of course, Woodstock, the festival that defined our ideas of such shows: music, mud, inebriants, mud, traffic jams and mud. As the years passed and rock festivals got more organized, there was only one significant change in this pattern: less mud. That is, most rock festivals these days are held in gigantic stadiums whose acoustics were designed for the grunts and crunches of colliding football players, not music. It's now a matter of relative comfort you've gone from sitting in wet dirt for 12 hours waiting to groove on Jimi Hendrix, to sitting on hard concrete seats for 12 hours waiting to groove on Foreigner? Attending an outdoor rock concert these days in the company of America's youth can be a drag.

Where to park? Don't they sell anything to eat at these extravaganzas except soggy hot dogs? But this sort of show can also be an exhilarating thrill: Thousands of fans rising to their feet to cheer a favorite band is a pretty goosepimpling experience. The five acts at JFK tomorrow have little in common except a propensity for ear-splitting volume, and the underlying philosophy for this show has "something for everyone." In other words, if you dislike Foreigner, maybe you'll be suckered in with Joan Jett, and if you've never heard of Loverboy, you may well be an old Kinks fan. Let's take a fast run through the lineup. The Kinks: These veterans haven't had a hit in years, but most of the time they can be depended upon to put on a rollicking show the wild card being Ray Davies, a songwriting genius who can throw away a performance if he's not in the right mood. At their best, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts will be one Inquirer though, the Kinks can make their hits and their lovely non-hits sound like magic, even in a hollow stadium.

Foreigner: Arguably the most popular hardrock band in the world the group does sell more records than the Rolling Stones, you have to realize it's also one of the most boring. On its last album, "4," the band dove into the middle of the road for a smash ballad, "Waiting for a Girl Like You," but in concert it's the stomach-wrenching rockers that please the crowd. If you're yelling requests, I recommend "Dirty White Boy," Foreigner's best song primarily because it's the most self-parodic. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts: Has there ever been a better female rocker? Jett has accomplished something that many had thought impossible. She's located the meeting ground between punk and heavy-metal and added a woman's sensibility to these two relentlessly macho genres.

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" has been a teen anthem for months now, and I've seen her give live performances that are better than anyone else on this bill. She may not be the headliner, but she certainly behaves like one. Loverboy: Aficionados of tight. pants and hoarse vocals may find something to enjoy On the John Corr John Corr having studied guitar for one year, piano for two years and trumpet for no fewer than nine years. So anything might happen while this duo is performing at Arline.

They play Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. COMICS: A couple of other hometown kids, Bob Myer and Bob Young, are thriving on the West Coast comedy scene but will be making a weekend raid on the Comedy Works, 126 Chestnut tonight and tomorrow. However, the boys tell me that they would prefer to be introduced as "the comedy team of Haldeman and Ehrlichman" in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Watergate burglary. Another Philadelphia "returnee" is appearing tomorrow night at the Going Bananas comedy club at 613 S. Second St.

It is Jerry Dinerstein, who has been working in New York City for some time and was most recently employed at Dangerfield's there. Albums Sippie Wallace, Sippie (Atlantic): This legendary blues singer is now 83 and once again active after a serious illness put her long career on hold several years ago. This new release gives ample indication of the basis for Wallace's legendary status. The voice may be a trifle thin these days, but the vigor and emotion remain. Backed by Jim Dapogney's Chicago Jazz Band, Wallace runs through many of her old classics most of which she wrote and a couple of newer tunes.

Blues buffs should love it. On two of the songs, "Women Be Wise" and "Mama's Gone, she is joined in duets by Bonnie Raitt, a more youthful practitioner of the blues style. Leo Sayer, World Radio (Warner Sayer has never quite fulfilled the exciting promise of his debut several years ago, but that promise is still evident. Of late; Sayer has relied more on interpreting the songs of others and has let his own songs be token contributions to his albums. This is unfortunate, becaue he retains a unique touch.

No matter, the high spots here are Sayer's versions of a Bee Gees song, Heart (Stop Beating in Time)" and Bruce Cockburn's "Wondering Where the Lions Are." Duran Duran, Rio (Capitol): This second U.S: release by the five-member British group indicates a strong feel for the pop market. As "new bands the approach is straightforward quite accessible, featuring strong melodies and uncluttered instrumental work. Most the tunes are upbeat, such as "My Own Way" and "Hold Back the Rain." But Duran can also do justice to mellower numbers, such as "Lonely in Your Nightmare" and "Save a Prayer." Jon Anderson, Animation (Atlantic): Anderson's high, distinctive voice and his penchant for lush backgrounds will certainly draw comparisons with his old group, the now-defunct Yes. But Anderson scores impressively with this attempt at adding a few new wrinkles to "progressive, rock." While there are no radical variations on the theme here. Anderson has moved ahead with an interesting assortment of material and some imaginative instrumental arrangements, The sound is generally big, such as with the acoustic folk-flavored "Boundaries." Jack Lloyd Excellent.

Very good. Good. Fair. Poor. one of five groups performing tomorrow here, and it's true that the group's FM hit, "Working for the Weekend," contains many vivid details of what it's like to be a kid laboring for the love of rock.

But this Canadian band of hard-rock veterans is still a chancy proposition, since its albums trot out the usual cliches the rest of the time. Huey Lewis and the News: Since they'll open the show, you can feel free to arrive late. Lewis postures like Bruce Springsteen without the vocal muscle to back it up, and the band's top10 hit single "Do You Believe in Love?" suggests that it'll do just about anything to crack the big time. As I said, it's hard to see whose dream show this one could be; more than likely, fans of one or two bands will be waiting until the rest of the acts are finished. If it's a sunny day, it'll be a good time to socialize and to swap summer vacation plans.

If you go The show plays JFK Stadium tomorrow from 10 a.m. until about 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.75, available at local ticket agencies and at Electric Factory Concerts box office. 1231 Vine St. Also on the bill this weekend is one of my favorite performers, musiciansinger-comic Paul Solari.

A currently hot comic, Woody Henderson, is the headliner this weekend at the Laff Lounge, 2121 Arch St. Woody, in a telephone interview the other day, said he was trying to hit all of the big cities just now to help promote his new album, one of those "live in concert" productions. A couple of the tracks, he says, were recorded during appearances at the Bijou Cafe here. Woody says his material is "social, political, topical. Anything but lemme-tell-ya-a-joke kind of come- RESTAURANTS: There's a special deal tonight at the Little Table restaurant, 937 E.

Passyunk Ave. Order one entree and you get another one Usually. they at least break even at Leo Sayer 'Back a cabaret act tunes up The newest cabaret act in town, and a good one, has landed at last "back home in Philadelphia." Jeffery Shepherd and Linda Green, playing now at Arline, 1823 Sansom both grew up in Philadelphia but didn't meet until they were in college in western Pennsylvania. After playing for several years in the wilds of the west (Pittsburgh and environs), they decided to cast it all aside, and head "back east. They were a little surprised at how easy it was to find work here.

Jeffery sings and plays piano. Linda mostly sings, but she admits to 0'Hara's Fish House, 39th and Chestnut Streets, on their all-you-can-eat special ($13.95) on Alaskan king crab legs. Most people can handle two or three orders of the legs before they start to lose interest. The other night, however, a medium-size gent, a quiet and friendly type, sat there and consumed 22 orders. A lass with a lovely voice, Jean McIntosh, is now singing during the cocktail hour at the Dubliner, an Irish pub at 250 S.

Fifth St. The Garden restaurant on Spruce Street will be closed Saturdays during July and Pianist Kurt Martin is now playing during the cocktail hour at Reflections, the posh dining -nightclub in the Holiday Inn, 18th and Market Streets. As soon as I walked into the place, Eddie Horowitz, owner of the Bull Saloon, 1907 Sansom St. stopped playing the Ms. Pat Man machine, allowing a red electronic monster to eat the little yellow dot.

Right away, I knew that something was on his mind. Eddie is a former Philadelphia policeman with wonderful powers of concentration. He would never abandon the little yellow dot for anything trivial. "You know what I got here?" he asked. "Not quite 4,000 points," I said.

"Forget the Ms. Pac-Man," he said. "What I got is onion "Lots of people have onion soup." "I'm talking onion soup the hard way, the good way. No mixes. 110 WHAM Eddie went on to explain that he is organizing the first Philadelphia onion soup contest to establish, beyond all reasonable doubt, that his onion soup is the best in town, better even than some of those fancy French restaurants that don't even have a Ms.

Pac-Man machine. free..