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WEDNESDAY. MARCH IQ
Closed for Spring Breah
THURSDAY. MARCH 11
Slackiladdy
S.M.O.
WORMBELLY
(Units open at 10pm j. four dollars
FRIDAY. MARCH 12 .
Seven Foot
'^3 Politic
' THE RENT BOYS
doors open at 10pm five dollars
SATURDAY. MARCH 13
The Music Tapes
THE WEST SEVENTIES
(From Ireland)
doors open at 10pm four dollars
★ * it*
* /%.
imx
•SjECibo**^
I Matto'
*%> JACK DIIAG^
J^^dmirs open at 9:30pin seven dollars A**
TUESDAY. MARCH 1G . ’
Sleater-Kinney
FUN FLON
SARGE .
doors open at 9:30pm five dollars •'
smmm
'Elliott Smith 3/18
‘ErArliAr 't/IQ
Prince Paul IDe La Soul) 3/20
-■ 'Morphine 3/22
. 'Salt&Pepa 3/23
* Tix On Sale Now .
285 W. Washington St. Athens. GA
Call 549-7871 for Show Updates • www.40Watt.com
Wc serve Righteous Juices
Unidos En Armonia. Los Exitos Grandes del
GRUPPO LEVI
Up the hills and down, fading in and out. it comes chat
tering in on AM 1550, then 610, then 1130, then 1460 then
1600, even FM on 101.9 these days. As you drive through
Northeast Georgia twisting your dial one way or the other, you
can't avoid it: those rolling R's, those half-mad booming
announcer voices racing headlong through those shameless
pre-ironic sales pitches, and that syrupy-sweet lonesome home
sick sound — the sound of Mexican pop — flirting with polka
hokeyness and a 21st century gumwrapper sheen all at the
same time. And what you're lis
tening to might not be from
Mexico at all. It may very well be
the sound of Gainesville, Ga.'s own
Gruppo Levi, the biggest Mexican
pop group in this part of the
world.
If you're wondering what hap
pened to country music, Gruppo
Levi keyboardist and bandleader
Misael Avila, 26, has an answer for
you: it's still here, and Gruppo Levi
plays it. “All of our songs follow
that classic formula," he says,
laughing. "You know, 'My girlfriend
left me, my wife left me, I lost my
job.' If you play our music back
wards. it's the same as that joke
about country music: you get your wife back, you get your
truck back, you get your dog back..."
The state of Georgia is in the midst of one of its most pro
found demographic changes. According to the U.S. Census, the
number of Latinos in Georgia has doubled since 1990. There are
an estimated 300,000 Latinos in the Metro Atlanta area,
according to the Georgia State University Center for Applied
Research in Anthropology, with countless more streaming to
dries like Gainesville and Dalton to work in the carpet facto
ries and chicken plants. Today, one-third of the students in the
Gainesville school system are Latino.
While the work ethic of recent immigrants is welcome, very
often, language and culture cut them off from mainstream
Anglo culture. This is what can make a Gruppo Levi concert
more important than your average pop show. "If you really look
at it, the dances are their only form of entertainment and their
way of keeping their heritage." Misael says. "They work all
week, but there are no theaters for them, and we don't have a
local TV station, so they go out and sodalize in the clubs."
Much like rap music, Mexican pop has its good guys and
bad guys. Recently, the bad guys have been getting a lot of
press. They’re the singers of the narco-corridos, the songs glori
fying the lives of drug smugglers, turning them into folk
heroes. It’s a bandwagon that Gruppo Levi won't jump on.
Consisting of five Avila brothers — Misael, Chuy, Miguel,
Raymundo and Efren — as well as Guanajuato native Cesar
Lara — the group refuses requests to play the narco-corridos,
and even lost a member, brother Felix, over their decision not
to cave to this popular taste.
In all other departments, how
ever, Gruppo Levi's music is
designed to please. Their current,
self-released CD, Unidos En
Harmonia, is a fun mix of dance-
able, mainstream pop that's not
afraid to nick the melody from the
Supremes "Where Did Our Love
Go?" ("Dime") or translate
drummer Chuy's love letter to a
girlfriend back in Mexico into a
bittersweet Tex-Mex rave-up ("Te
Mande Rosas").
The sound follows the familiar
Mexican formula of applying
modern instruments to traditional
arrangements, a possible reflection
of a culture where the past is never quite past and tradition is
the glue that binds families across borders and thousands of
miles.
"A lot of the old songs are coming back," says Misael. who
says a typical Gruppo Levi show draws enthusiastic response
from teenagers and grandparents alike. "It's not that we re
out of ideas, but our parents used to play those songs for us,
and that's the way you do it — show your pride in where you
grew up."
Richard Fausset
Catch Gruppo Levi with Ballet Folklorico Mexicano at 1:30
p.m. on Sunday, March 21 at Georgia Hall in the Tate Center.
Admission is $10/person and $20/family. All proceeds benefit
Catholic Socal Services.
Guitar Quartet), stretching the sonic boundaries of the instru
ment. And while it should be stated that they do appreciate
some of the more intimate aspects of formal performances, the
four mus'cians also enjoy playing for rock fans and local booze-
hounds. According to GGQ member Phil Snyder, the audiences
at the High Hat have been surprisingly receptive and fun to
play for.
But the influence game has been a two-way street. "Since we
started bringing classical music to the bar, we've also kind of
started putting a little bit of the bar in the concert hall as far as
trying to break down the formalities and a lot of the preten
tiousness that's often attached to classical music," says Solomon.
The result: surprising music, no matter what the venue.
Chris Morris
The GGQ will play the prestigious Piccolo Spiletto festival in
Charleston this summer, and release a new CD of mostly local
live performances. You can pick up their diverse and beautifully
textured self-titled CD at Wuxtry, Big Shot, and the Georgia
Museum of Art gift shop.
Scarlatti for the People:
THE GEORGIA GUITAR QUARTET
It's not illegal for a classical guitar quartet to perform in
sneakers. It's not illegal for them to follow a piece by Telemann
with the theme horn "Peanuts." Or turn their guitars upside
down and beat them like congas. Or to do all of this in a bar.
It's alt legal, but unlikely. Unless you're the Georgia Guitar
Quarter. "One of our goals as a group is to bring classical music
to a younger audience and to people who might not normally
seek it out," says lason Solomon, a member of the quartet
that was assembled by renowned UGA guitar instructor John
Sutherland aDproximately three years ago. Although the GGQ
has performed m more formal settings, such as the UGA
chapel, they have also managed to boldly cross over into
Athens' club and bar scene by playing gigs at gritty local rock
venues like the High Hat.
It's not uncommon to witness the group playing the guitar
in all sorts of novel ways (much like the world-famous P.A.
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MARCH 10, 1999 FLAGPOLE D