Stay Away, Joe - DVD Review

Written by General Jabbo

Elvis Presley plays Native American bull rider Joe Lightcloud, who convinces his congressman to give his father 20 heifers and a quality bull to raise on their reservation in Stay Away, Joe. If Lightcloud's family is successful, then the government will help their tribe financially. Joe asks where his sister Mary (Susan Trustman) is and his grandfather (Thomas Gomez) replies "she's city folk now." The Grandpa character is very stereotypical, even for 1968, as he warns of squaws and relies on smoke signals. While he has some comical moments, he is mostly over the top.

During a wild party celebrating Lightcloud's return, his family, in their drunken haze, mistakenly cooks and eats the prize bull given to them by the government. Lightcloud is unworried at this point, having his friend Bronc Hoverty (L.Q. Jones) get a new bull for him, instructing him to make sure the bull is Blue Ribbon. The bull arrives the next day and spends most of his time sleeping, taking no interest in the heifers. At the same time, Joe's father Charlie (Burgess Meredith) has been selling off the heifers to pay for improvements his wife wants made to their home. Meredith's character is an odd sight for sure, with his dark makeup and strange behavior.

The government gets word of what has happened to the heard and is not pleased. Lightcloud finds out that the bull was indeed Blue Ribbon, but as a riding bull — not as a stud. The bull's previous owner boasted that no one had ever successfully rode him and Lightcloud has an idea to stage a rodeo to raise money to replace the cattle and save the reservation. Lightcloud had previously been raising money by selling parts of his car to a junkyard until nothing was left. It is this strange sense of comedy that occurs throughout the movie.

Part of the Elvis: 75th Anniversary DVD Collection, Stay Away, Joe is a mostly forgettable film portraying Native Americans as sex-crazed drunks with odd performances from Meredith and Gomez. For his part, Presley seems to be enjoying himself, it's just a shame the material isn't stronger. The film is based on the best-selling novel of the same name and while it follows the plot closely, something seemingly got lost in translation.

Article first published as DVD Review: Stay Away, Joe on Blogcritics.

Concert Review: Van Halen – Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, MI – 10/20/07

Written by General Jabbo

Van Halen returned to Detroit Saturday at Joe Louis Arena for the first time in 23 years with original singer David Lee Roth at the mic and for the first time ever without founding bassist Michael Anthony.

In the long Van Halen soap opera, Anthony had a falling out with the Van Halen brothers around 2002, when he joined Sammy Hagar during his joint tour with Roth. This was seen as breaking ranks with the brothers as both Roth and Hagar were out of the band at that point and therefore mortal enemies of Eddie and Alex Van Halen.

Anthony toured with the band on their 2004 tour with Hagar, but only because Hagar refused to do the tour without him. When that tour finished amidst rumors of fighting and substance abuse problems for Eddie (he did a stint in rehab this year), Hagar was once again out and Eddie saw a perfect opportunity for him to take Anthony with him.

Enter Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie’s 16-year-old son. Turns out, during all those years when Eddie was locked away in his home studio, he was grooming Wolfgang to be the new bassist in Van Halen.

Wolfgang rehearsed with the brothers for over a year when they decided they wanted to take the show on the road. Problem is, they didn’t have a singer. David Lee Roth, whose recent gig as a radio personality fizzled and whose recent solo career wasn’t doing much better, needed Van Halen. Likewise, the band could ill afford to bring in a fourth singer, especially considering their third singer, Gary Cherone, was not accepted by a majority of fans. With Hagar on the outs again, Roth was the only option.

The band announced their tour earlier this year, but postponed it soon after as Eddie entered rehab, suspiciously around the time the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Only Hagar and Anthony attended the event. However, when tickets went on sale in August for the tour, fans who had waited 23 years to see the band’s charismatic original front man at the helm would soon get their wish.

In the first of two Detroit shows, the band played to about an 80 percent full house, opening with their cover of the Kinks’ classic, “You Really Got Me.” Roth was a little low in the mix for the first several songs, but that got sorted out and he sang and performed well, punctuating his vocals with Elvis-style karate moves. He described the new lineup as being three quarters original, one quarter inevitable.

Eddie played with great intensity and passion – a far cry from the hit-or-miss nature of the 2004 tour, which was marred by sloppy playing and band fighting. He had a lot of interaction on stage with his son, high-fiving him a few times (and missing cues as a result) and he had some timing issues during “Hot For Teacher,” but for the most part, Eddie was the Eddie of old – playing well, smiling, running and jumping around.

For having big shoes to fill in replacing fan-favorite Anthony, Wolfgang did an admirable job. He doesn’t have the dexterity on bass, vocal ability or stage presence of Anthony, but he didn’t bring the show down either. Roth took it upon himself to educate him in the ways of rock and roll, saying, “Look out there, that’s Detroit.”

The biggest star of the show was drummer Alex Van Halen. He played as well as he ever has and, more importantly, kept the band together when some songs started falling apart.

With a band as volatile as Van Halen, and with no definite plans to continue after the tour ends in December, fans wanting to catch a glimpse of the (mostly) original band should do so while they still have a chance.