Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Review 3 Dog By Jerry Calabrese Last Friday's "3 Dog Night" concert broke the attendance record for a live concert at Carolina Coliseum. This does not, by any stretch of the imagination, mean that it was the best performance ever given there. "3 Dog Night" is a very highly proficient and polished group of entertainers, they are not a rock group. They were a calculated investment on the part of the promoter, meant to appeal to a broad base of Popular music. teeny-booper JWriented kids. Undoubtedly, "3 Dog Night" is endowed with three of the strongest voices In the business tcday. They wear all the hip clothes, flash just the right number of peace signs and from time to time break through their plastic coating long enough to evoke a response. At the outset of their career, "3 Dog Night" had all the makings of a real like super group. Somewhere along the way however, they opted out. They elected to go for the top 40 market. The AM radio is filled with their brand of ''electric teeny-booper" music and their concerts are always packed with high school tqLippies clothed In the latest from the K-Mart boutique. The air is filled with the usual "right on" and if one closes his eyes and shuts out Tuesday February 16th 8:00 pm 0 Capston Campus9 Room 0 Night the "Elvis" screams, he might even mistake it for "Wood stock", the valhalla of all turned on teens. Like Christianity, rock has been perverted by the ages and what we have left of the original idea is a long way from the initial objective. "3 Dog Night" has managed to create a watered down rock, a kind of light-heavy class of turned on music. They have managed to attract a wide audience of all kinds of listeners; they have prospered. What they have paid for all of the above is continuity. "3 Dog Night" cannot put on a concert, only a series of songs that aren't related in the least. They can turn on the teeny boppers, collect huge sums of money, dress and act hip, but they're about as heavy as whipped cream. LiDine Rv .ferry Calabrese Like the dinosaur, the live concert was a magnificent creature. In its time it accounted for some of the greatest hap penings and changes ever to occur. The live concert however has gone the way of the dinosaur ; its time is over. Anyone who needs proof need only to have been at the '3 Dog Night" concert last Friday. Chi Omega Fashion Show by P appagallo 50* students 75' adults $40 Gift Certificate Tht SCOM saurs a This in no way is meant to reflect on the talent of "3 Dog Night." just as it was not the fault ol the dinosaur that the world could no longer accomodate the collosal beast. "3 Dog Night" is not to blame for the demise of live concerts. What is to blame foi the ob solescense of the concert is a collage of reasons. One of them is Francis had aW dream... He dreamed that He could be an instrument of God's peace Where there was hatred he could sow love Where there was injury, pardon Where there was doubt, faith Where there was despair, hope Where there was darkness, light Where there was sadness, joy. The Franciscans still follow his simple, challenging way. If you are interested in learning more about the Franciscan brothers and priests write to: Fr. John M. Felice, O.F.M. The Franciscans 135 W. 31st Street New York. N.Y. 10001 i percussion sectio nen nd con that in as large an auditorium as is now -necessary to accomodate the crowds it is necessary to attract to pay supergroups. there can be no real rapport with the audience. This is extremely critical I because the purpose of a concert is to create just such a rapport. Another reason is that music itself i is changing drastically and I rapidly. The tvpe of group that is capable of igniting a large audience is one that specializes in over elec trification such as Grand Funk Railroad. This is line. except for the fact that Grand Funk does not - ing more than teeny-booper rock. There is no real rapport with a group like Funk. only noise. It one is stilliciently stoned of course. Irand Funk can be amusing. but they have seldom been responsible for a personal catharsis. The fairest things have fleetest end. Their scent survives their elsc.. Bunt the rose's scent is bit terness T'o him who loved the rose. 'I ti 0 I S Op) oIJvne, Ifive eomnts IL- ne sue certs The other type of group ike CrosbY. Stills. Nash and Young" or any of them individually' is tar rom devestating in a large and -rowded auditorium. Their music imeant to be contemplated in the elative private of ones room or Vet another reason for the end of he live concert is that rock has >ecome popularized. In the early lays 42 or 3 years ago) it was )wI,ib1l)e for a great group like "to i ear s .\tier' to come to Columbia ind play in Township Auditorium or a Iew hundred people. It was il"o probable that the only people here were people who had an nierest in the group and in rock. Today. rock has become the "in" hing. People who have tassel and ilpaca heads are lining up to see ,ock groups just like they lined up o see the -Tams:" not for the ,xperience of seeing the group but or the prestiege of being at a 'groovy" event. ('oncerts have become a spec acle. a tashion show. anything but that they were. anything but t'hat made them relevent. People ass their neighbor a joint not >ecause they w'ant to share your lead. but because it's now~ 'in'' to lo dope like it was in to drink Blue.' It is a sad realization but those rungs that remain constant die. he concert tried to change with lue times. festivals are proof of iat. but pressure. political and her. killed that idea. Words like "wow." "f'ar out," out ot sight." and "foxy" that 'ere once expressions denoting eal meaning have been picked up iy the unthinking herd and rost it uted. Ideas in clothing like tie-die, e'ads. flag shirts and many more hat w'ere once valid expressions of ndividuality have been comn nercialized to the point where they ire meaningless. Needless to say, air now means nothing more than he lack of it. l.ike education. when it is diluted >y being fed to the masses, rock, t'hat it symbolizes and the live