This month REVUE is all about love, which can come in so many forms.

There's romantic love, family love, and the love you feel for your friends. Then there's passion; the love you can feel for an art form or activity that fulfills you.

REVUE Mid-Michigan sat down with Andrew Hawks, assistant principal bass player and librarian for the Lansing Symphony Orchestra (LSO), to learn about his passion for the double bass and his profession as a musician.

What's the best part of performing in a symphony in front of an audience?
It's a form of communication you have. You can share a story or something that you have to say, an emotion with someone. And to be able to do that collectively, with 75 to 80 people (in the LSO), it just enhances the impact that it can have on someone.

Why did you choose to play the double bass?
I'd have to say it's the range. The frequency of the bass, to me, is soothing, it's relaxing. It's not squeaky or screechy. There was a famous bass soloist (Gary Karr) that described the sound, ‘If chocolate could sing, it would sound like the double bass.' It's one of those sections in the orchestra that you don't hear or you won't notice it until it's not there. It gives the foundation.

When did you decide to get serious about music?
I didn't really take it seriously until halfway through my undergrad. I didn't understand the dedication it took and the practicing and trying to pursue perfection in your art until I got older. I figured that practicing music isn't work, and I put my focus into that.

What's the hardest part of recitals and auditioning?
You really have to get into yourself and not worry about the external environment. If you're playing a piece of music and you hear 200 people playing the same piece of music, it can kind of throw off your balance a little bit and take your focus away ... It has to be like you're reciting a speech or something; where every single syllable has the rhythm that you want. It's a language too.

Nights of Musical Romanticism

Swinging sounds and loving lyrics will be featured in this pre-Valentine's Day concert with the orchestra's Big Band. Guest vocalist Ryan DeHues will also perform with the band, performing songs by great jazz singers such as Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

What makes it a great date?
According to Ron Newman, interim director of the Big Band, it's the rarity of seeing a live Big Band performance. "You just don't get a chance to hear a good big band that much anymore," Newman said. "That's a special thing, to hear really good musicians. Ryan is a wonderful singer ... I think that the audience loves him and it's a type of singing that you don't hear often."

Masterworks 4 Appalachian Spring
Wharton Center, East Lansing / Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. / $15-$45 / whartoncenter.com, (517) 432-2000

Selections will include Aaron Copeland's Appalachian Spring and Cesar Franck's Symphony in D Minor, with a special tuba concerto composed by Bruce Broughton.
The concerto will feature Principal Tubist Phil Sinder, who describes the piece as a "colorful and creative romp" for both himself and the orchestra.
"I really revel in attempting to make this ‘underdog' of the orchestra sound just as clean, clear, facile and musical as each of the other smaller instruments," Sinder said.
The originality of the tuba concerto, coupled with the popularity of the other pieces in the concert, makes it a special performance for the musicians of the orchestra.
"Aside from spectacular music, just the novelty of the whole thing will certainly be a strong motivator for musicians involved," said Timothy Muffitt, LSO's music director and conductor.

What makes it a great date?
According to Muffitt, it's the concert's wide range of selections. "Even for people who have never been to the orchestra before, this will be a great first concert to go to," he said. "It has a lot of variety; it has music that will be immediately appealing to listeners who are hearing it for the first time. It's just a very colorful, dramatic and exciting program," he said.

With the decrepit Eurozone economy heading this way and a gallon of gas about the price of a six-pack of Milwaukee’s Best, maybe the best escape this year is a mindless blowing of cash on similarly mindless entertainment.

I’m talking about big buck Rock Shows at Big Buck rock barns like the Palace in Auburn Hills, events that cost more than a car payment.

A $6.50 ticket to see The Rolling Stones at Cobo Arena in 1972 would cost $33.90 today, according to the Consumer Price Index. If the Stones ever hit the road again, prices will reach the thousands of dollars for the top seats, and $33.90 will get you a parking place. Inflation? No, it’s demand. We’re in love with the lights, the sound, the rhythm, the noise. Even the 140 channels of cable isn’t doing the job. So you’ve got a shot at making it through the year, thanks to some major tours.

Few deliver the bomb of heavy like the mighty Rammstein, who bring fire-spewing thud to Auburn Hills on May 6 in support of the retrospective, Made In Germany 1995-2011. This band is synonymous with over-the-top pyrotechnics as well as being the reigning kings of drop D/drop C tuning. Anything sung in Deutsch sounds pissed-off, and it just serves to make these guys more intense. Tickets start at $56 for the rafters and end at $425.

Black Sabbath will somehow manage to step, very carefully, very slowly, onto major U.S. stages this summer for a tour with all four original members - Ozzy, Geezer, Tony and Bill. These guys are doddering cool personified. Yea, “Snowblind” might ring a little hollow, given that if anyone in the band lives up to the cocaine tribute tune, a stroke at first snort is almost certain. Sabbath did a press  conference at the Whiskey in L.A. in November, announcing the band was writing new songs bla bla, new album produced by Rick Rubin, etc. Hopefully, the band will save us the pain of the new stuff and blast through “N.I.B.” like it’s 1971 and leave it at that. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will record an album then again tour the U.S. later in the year after a couple months of dates in Europe.

If it sounds like a tired routine, well it’s not to Bruce fans. It’s a true religion and the faith pays off every two or three years. This will be the first series of U.S. live dates since the death in Clarence Clemons, who passed away in June. Akron Ohio’s

Black Keys with Arctic Monkeys as opener will tour the barns of America beginning in March. Both bands are solid in a small venue, the likes of which they rarely see these days. Ticket pimps are getting $432 a seat. Slum it on general admission floor access for $327. Some Keys followers are un-amused. Check this post at the band’s site regarding the date at the 23,500 capacity United Center in Chicago:

“Been a fan of these guys for years. Used to see them in Chicago when they played the Abby Pub. Love the fact that they are making some well-deserved money, but..........United Center? That's killing me. TBK sound does not fit well in a large arena. I guess the days of seeing my favorite band up close are long gone ...”

Yes they are. Today, making it means more than just selling some music; it means shedding fans who can’t deal with the caverns. By the way, the Joe is the same place Roger Waters will deliver The Wall in June. For Waters, tickets start at $102, with a VIP package starting at $550 a shot. Then add fees. Then add parking. But just because you’re riding low wallet side after spending a grand or so on the top dollar shows doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy something a little more indie at a venue a little less like a mall.

Chicago’s vastly underrated Mannequin Men will tour the same alt rock dives the Black Keys used to in support of the new, self-titled fourth full-length release. Not sure how long it’s going to take people to realize that the Men are the only band that can live down the Replacements/Big Star/Wire comparisons and prevail. I hear more inspiration of The Go, Detroit’s brilliant outfit from the late 90s.

What with smoking bans, handling fees for just selling a ticket and long lines, it’s a surprise that the concert industry still prospers. The good money, though, still goes to an ear-splitting barre chord or an energetic show from someone who is happy and thankful to be on stage. When it happens in the right way for the right reason, it’s a magic that can’t be replicated in our short lives.

For the guys of Middle Class Rut (MC Rut), a Sacramento-based rock duo, it was a feeling they had after years of touring and promoting their old band, Leisure, which ended in 2003. It was a jaded feeling they knew they had to circumvent in order to get MC Rut off the ground, which began taking shape in 2006.

"We didn't have enough life left in us to go down the road of ‘Alright, let's put an ad out and try to find a bass player and a guitar player,'" said Zach Lopez (guitar/vocals)."We just didn't have it in us. We'd been doing it too long when we started this band to even care enough to involve anyone."

And so Lopez and Sean Stockham (drums/vocals) went it alone and found the process went smoother and resulted in music they both could honestly get behind. While this is a problem a lot of bands have, for them, it was the many false starts that MC Rut had to overcome before they were even signed. Their first label went under, resulting in dutifully working on their album jobless.

"You may think, ‘In six months I'll be to this point and things are going to go this way.' It just never ever works out that way," Lopez said. "At some point you reach the point of no return; either this is what you're doing or you go do something else. It's always a constant struggle trying to make it make sense."

That constant struggle seems to be mirrored by the bands namesake. Regardless of the political connotation it could have, Lopez knows otherwise. "You should realize it's the name you're stuck with for the rest of the life of the band. Maybe it's more serious a name than we really wanted," he joked.

MC Rut began its career by releasing EPs rather than committing to a full-length album.

"There seems to be a lot of pressure around a record and when you put it out it's like, ‘How did it do? How's it selling?' It's this massive thing that happens," Lopez said.

The fact that any money made off the EPs went straight into their pockets was a sure incentive for the band. But the band decided it was time to get serious.

The duo finally settled on their album title, No Name No Color. A collection of tracks the guys had already written (they have a habit of recording things right away to get the sense of urgency out in the song), their debut studio effort was all but done - all they needed was a label.

The band then signed to indie label Bright Antenna, which released the album in October 2010.

But a record label does not make a music career. In today's economic climate, albums are but a small fraction of the profit artists take in - the real money comes from touring.

"I think we always thought if we're ever gonna have any sort of career it's gonna be around touring," Lopez said. "Touring is where it's at and labels know that. Labels are essentially a massive credit card and your credit limit depends on how much they believe in you.

"So as soon as someone changes their mind it's, ‘OK, your limit gets bumped way down.' You're not a primary customer," he added.

So far, MC Rut has been lucky in getting great tour offers opening for some heavy hitters in rock music. They're labeled as somewhat of a touring band and are currently touring across the map.

"We've been doing nothing but touring for three years, but I feel like there's still enough life in this thing and enough people who don't know about it," Lopez said.
Lopez's experience shows in his tone. He and Stockham have been around the block a time or two and know the moves they have to make in order to keep the ball rolling. And playing music together for so long means they can at least count on each other.

"You know how there'll be an old couple who will go three months without even speaking but they have a routine and everything works fine; that's kind of us," he said with a laugh. "We're in the golden years right now."

"Dead Babies" would never have been born without the inmates of a small state prison outside Pontiac, Mich.

The song that defined Alice Cooper for a time in the early ‘70s came together in a barn the band rehearsed at in 1970. The barn, which neighbored a prison, was part of a dilapidated 10-acre Cooper compound that held a five-bedroom house and sat off Brown Road in Oakland County.

Nine people lived at the farm, including roadies and girlfriends -plus pets. Oftentimes, the prisoners acted as a makeshift audience during the band's barnyard rehearsals.

"Yeah, you could throw a rock and hit [the prison] practically," says Dennis Dunaway, the original bassist for Alice Cooper, the band.

"[The prisoners] didn't clap at everything, but when we played something that we really nailed you'd hear them at the prison farm cheering," Dunaway added. "So the song ‘Dead Babies' never would have happened if that prison farm hadn't cheered for it."

When Alice Cooper plays Saturday, Nov. 26 at Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant, Dunaway won't be on stage with Cooper, nor any of the other original members, which included guitarists Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton, and drummer Neal Smith. That original lineup was once called by music scribe John Grissim "a rock group composed of what appears to be four amphetamine drag queens gone mad."

The band broke up in 1974. Buxton died in 1997, and the rest of the guys went their own way.

This has been the year of Alice though, and for it, he brought the old band. At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in March they played the dubious gala as a band for the first time in a zillion years, with session man Steve Hunter filling the shoes of Buxton.

In June, a 4-CD box set called "Old School: 1964 - 1974," - eBay price at last check $350 -- was issued, full of goodies like a full 1971 set in St. Louis, the band in its prime. It's a gem for devoted fans that haven't gotten a Cooper fix for years.

Finally, there's the latest album, Welcome 2 My Nightmare, a sequel to 1975's Welcome to My Nightmare - Cooper's acclaimed first solo effort. The new disc hit in September and was produced by Canadian wunderkind Bob Ezrin, who took the band to fame by corralling their metallic hamming and jamming tendencies in 1970 and arranged the band's first hit, "Eighteen" into AM radio friendliness.

Alice has defied the years as a money-making machine, still raking in big bucks as a headline performer with a tireless work ethic. The show in Mount Pleasant comes on the heels of a 2011 tour that has taken him to Europe, Australia, Asia and North America.

At least half of the set list is still culled from that perfect era that defined the band - "Love It To Death," "Killer," "School's Out" and "Billion Dollar Babies." It remains a string of flawless rock‘n'roll notable for both the song structures and the lyrics.

But recall that it all started on that tract in rural Michigan, sleeping on mattresses they scored from the Salvation Army, pulling props from Dumpsters and living on $10 a day.

"It had boarded up windows," Ezrin recalls. "It looked like a derelict farm house that no one had been in for 50 years."

Oh, for a real diversion, there was always the pet monkey, dyed green, that they kept in a cage in the kitchen.

"This monkey, anytime he saw anybody, he'd start jerking off," Neal Smith said.

Self-gratification aside, Alice today is a star who is sealing his legacy as a creator of myth, an entertainment genius who came out of the gate with something no one had ever seen or heard.

The years have seen much less, though. Many Alice albums simply stumbled through, selling on the back of those initial bursts of brilliance, much like Iggy Pop's later career cruised on the uncanny ass-kicking of the three Stooges LPs.

Today's light from Alice is his prolific nature and steadfast belief in music and beyond. But there's more; he is also a giver, and next month he will hold his annual benefit for his Solid Rock Foundation, which raises money for troubled kids.

Alice Cooper, the human, sets a bar higher for humanity these days than for music. And when you support Alice, you back not only a history of rich music but also a man who is trying to make a better world. Not a lot of rockers can say that.

And "Dead Babies"? He hasn't played it since 2009, according to his rabidly active online forums. But maybe it's worth a gamble at Soaring Eagle.


Thanks to  www.robertmatheu.com for the Alice Cooper image.