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Strolling Gypsy Musicians
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1Viixed Media
News 6- Reviews.
OF NOTE ... NEW ON CD
Those hoping to hear a reprise of
the sunny optimism of "Day by Day"
or "Magic to Do" won't
1235 Ottawa Street • Windsor
5 mins. from Tunnel • U.S. Exchange
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or (519) 252-0246
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• Top quality catering and party planning is
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5564 DRAKE ROAD
WEST BLOOMFIELD 48322
248-788-5131
The Chefs
formerly of Giorgio's & Peter's K
(248) 626-3722 • OPEN DAILY
from 8 p.m.-9 p.m.
6393 Farmington Road
Next to the Sports Club) • West Bloomfield
Stephen Schwartz: Reluctant Pilgrim.
find it on Schwartz's latest disc, Reluc-
tant Pilgrim (Midder Music Special
Projects).
His rose-colored vision of a quar-
ter-century ago is shadowed by a
creeping cynicism, and like most aging
baby boomers, Schwartz the lyricist
seems to have fewer answers now than
he had as the dewy-eyed composer of
Pippin and Godspell.
Schwartz turns inward on this CD,
and his musical reflections are often
tinged with ruefulness. He tends to
luxuriate too much in self-indulgence,
but there are some interesting tunes.
"Dreamscape," the CD's most pol-
ished number, is a song about the fear
of splurging into life. "Snapshots"
comments on the fleeting nature of
happiness, and "Life Goes On," writ-
ten after a friend died of AIDS, con-
cerns survivor's guilt.
Still, Schwartz's landscape is not
entirely dominated by the gloomier
sides of life. His outlook may not be
as sanguine as it once was, but he's not
exactly bitter. "Crowded Island" is a
silly ditty about finding relationships
in New York City. Schwartz unimagi-
natively slips in a few strains of
"Heart and Soul," and offers up these
sorry lyrics: "Hopeful and horny, I
smile at you/Feeling I
could use more
charm/Then you smile on
back/And all I feel is
alarm."
Other songs concen-
trate on the fragility of
romantic relationships.
"Code of Silence" is
about a couple whose
ardor cooled long ago
but who pretend not to
notice, while "Ten-Day
Heartbreak" concerns
the disappointment of a
fleeting love affair. The
passing years seem to
have made Schwartz a
sharper observer of the
human condition.
Schwartz's voice
may be a little thin on
top but it's pleasant,
and he accompanies himself with skill
on the keyboards. His facile but large-
ly uninspired lyrics reveal
that he has a talent for being
direct, but sometimes he
strains to find a word that
rhymes. Clever, ironic word-
play, like that crafted by
Alan Jay Lerner or Stephen
Sondheim, isn't in his reper-
toire. Yet, Schwartz is capa-
ble of some thoughtful
phrases, as well as some
fetching melodies.
Reluctant Pilgrim is a lot
like Schwartz's career: filled
with ups and downs.
— Reviewed by
George Bulanda
BETWEEN THE PAGES
In the Book of Genesis,
Jacob has a dozen sons and
only one daughter, Dinah.
That daughter wants to be
more than a footnote in
history," and when she
begins to understand that it
is only through the mascu-
line voice that biblical tales
are told, it becomes her aim
"
to give a female perspective to her
own story, retold here in The Red Tent
by Anita Diamant (St. Martin's Press;
$23.95).
Dinah begins her first-person
account with the tale of Laban and his
four daughters, who become the wives
of Jacob. Although Dinah is the birth
child of Leah, she considers her "aun-
ties" to be her mothers as well.
From the time she is born to the
time she becomes a "woman," with
the onset of her menses (when she
may enter "the red tent" with the
other women), readers come to know
her thoughts, dreams, hopes and dis-
appointments. As she listens to the
stories of the other women, she real-
izes that "women want daughters to
keep their memories alive."
As told in the Book of Genesis,
Dinah's is one of the most shocking
stories in the Bible. She is raped by a
Canaanite prince, and her brothers
seek revenge and murder the offend-
ing Canaanites.
In The Red Tent, Dinah tells of her
true love for the Canaanite prince and