Word: riffs
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...their opening days, much of the B-52's act has been visual, as they try to mask their disjointed live performances with outrageous outfits, wild stage antics, and a jaded, hedonistic style. Timing and musical clarity fused to make their music danceable--simple riff followed simple riff and their lines of action were both easy to follow and easy to latch onto. Crisp, clear, and minimal, it was all a matter of a weird note at the right time...
Zydeco, Chenier's musical style, sounds initially like rhythm and blues, mostly New Orleans with a pinch of primitive Chicago. Sometimes the saxophones break honkingly loose, sometimes they lay in one foghorn-like riff through an entire song. But the real musical underlay is Cajun, a musical cross-fertilization of Acadian immigrants driven from Nova Scotia by the British and Africans brought to rural Louisiana by slavery. Which explains both Zydeco's compelling rhythmic patterns and the fact that several of Chenier's numbers are sung in Cajun French...
...ethnically star-crossed lovers are Maria (Jossie De Guzman), sister of Sharks Leader Bernardo (Hector Jaime Mercado), and Tony (Ken Marshall), the best friend of Jets Leader Riff (James J. Mellon). In a switchblade rumble between the two gangs, which Tony tries to prevent, Bernardo/Tybalt kills Riff/Mercado, and Tony plunges a lethally avenging blade into Bernardo. Love conquers clan loyalties as Maria clings unswervingly to Tony...