Friday, October 24, 2003 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NIGHT BEAT: Cellist making waves

In October 2002, a cellist made news by performing a note-for-note cover of Jimi Hendrix's wild ride, "The Star-Spangled Banner," at CBGB, the legendary hotspot in New York that is better known for rock-era stars who have played between the club's famed walls of layered posters.

"I tried to stay true to what (Hendrix) did," says cellist Matt Haimovitz. "What's incredible is when he did it, he controlled the distortion and was reacting to it with all that execution. With my version, it's totally acoustic cello. There's no effects added to it."

Because this cello concert was an unusual event, ABC-TV and National Public Radio covered Haimovitz's show. At 32, he is an accomplished player who performs with symphonies and teaches music at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where his life is ensconced in the academic aura of a five-college neighborhood.

Even more unusual at the CBGB concert, Haimovitz performed no other pop songs. The rest of his set list included classically structured songs.

"You had punk rockers sitting next to suits and just taking in the Bach cello suites," the cellist says.

With a new album out on his own Oxingale Records called "Anthem," Haimovitz is touring more rock bars and clubs, from the Elbow Room in San Francisco to Joe's Pub in New York. In Vegas tonight, he plays the at the Icehouse.

"I'm kind of an unlikely protagonist, in a way, for this tour, because I didn't hang out at a lot of clubs and bars when I grew up. So for me, this is making up for lost time," he says.

Why, out of the lot of 20th century rock songs, did he choose Hendrix's anthem? He first heard Hendrix's version while in college, when he jammed on cello along with electric guitarist Steve Mackey.

"I was fascinated with how a cello could create these electric guitar sounds," he says.

Then, last year, he decided to perform the song as an echo of counterculture, after announcing to the crowd that he disagrees with U.S. leadership on war matters, and that his "sense of patriotism doesn't stem from military might."

"I'd never gone political," says Haimovitz, who moved with his family from Israel to the United States at age 5. But "we were just about to go to war with Iraq, and the symmetry really resonated for me, what Hendrix was doing."

Like counterculture, this is not an anti-American sentiment, but an exercise of American freedom, which he is hoping to play out again in his tour of the 50 states to "celebrate our own culture," he says.

The Hendrix cover has netted Haimovitz quite a bit of publicity, including this very column. Naturally, he expects someone in attendance to point out a deviation from his effort to replicate Hendrix's version.

"I'm sure somebody's gonna come up and say, 'Hey, you didn't do this.' "

Showtime is 6 p.m. today at the Icehouse Lounge, 650 S. Main St. Admission is $10 at the door. For more information, call 315-2570.

Horseshoes

I got to talk to Abe Cunningham the other day. He's the drummer for the Deftones, my favorite heavy rock band. They're playing at the Cox Pavilion on Thursday. A full interview with him runs on that day in this very newspaper.

He claims the Deftones are big into Las Vegas:

"We're very excited about being in the city of sin," he says. "We got some boys in the band with some serious gambling addictions. ... If I gamble, I only play slots. And if I do, it's only if I feel good that day. Some say that I was born with a horseshoe up my ass. I beg to differ. It's not there. But I do like to go into the belly of the beast."

Opening at 7:30 p.m. are Denali and Poison the Well. Denali has been compared favorably to the excellent female-powered acts of PJ Harvey and Cat Power. Poison the Well does hard-core. Tickets cost $27.50 at the Thomas and Mack Center box office, East Tropicana Avenue and Swenson Street, and through UNLVTickets.com. To charge by phone, call 739-3267.

Hear and there

The very talented rockers of Saves the Day play the Hard Rock at 8 p.m. today. Tickets cost $20 at the box office, 4455 Paradise Road, and through Ticketmaster. To charge by phone, call 693-5066. ...

Also today, Peter Frampton and skilled blues man Joe Bonamassa play at 8 p.m. at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. Tickets cost $30-$50 at the box office, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South, and through Ticketmaster. To charge by phone, call 632-7600. ...

On Saturday, the House of Blues has the rock of Tantric, Sloth and Dichotomy for $18, in an all-ages show that starts at 7 p.m. Sunday's House of Blues headliner is the, um, classic metal of Stryper and 7 Hours Later, for $25-$30, starting at 8 p.m. ...

It's that time again for Studio 54's and Golden Rainbow's annual Beaux Arts Ball. It's on Thursday, starting at 10:30 p.m. Plenty of extravagant entertainers are on the program. There'll be a Halloween costume contest. Many dress way up, although one previous winner was a guy who wore nothing but one real pumpkin for underpants. Tickets are $15 in advance, and $20 on the day of the show. For advance tickets, call 384-2899. ...

And the Double Down has the local band the Pervz, a pretty good group for real, and an act called Country Willie & the Space Shuttle Debris, whose drum kit is actually made from real-life space shuttle debris. Admission is free as always. Showtime is 10 p.m. at the Double Down, 4640 Paradise Road. For more information, call 791-5775.