Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, September 28, 1'968 Page Two' THE MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, September 28, 1968 records 'Super Session' Dear Sherri: - ELN'1'TAINMENT1? - In defense of the maize and bleh and By LITTLE SHERRI FUNN I i Super Expert Perhaps the most important concept that has enabled rock music to, evolve into the incredibly varied and creative forms we hear today is the concept of the group. The group. Three, four, five, eight guys (girls) living part of the same live, alternately clashing and meshing personalities, creating a music out of what they believe together and individually. Creation of a ;whole greater than the sum of the individual parts. Historical Aside. The Beatles gave us this kind of group. When everybody's forgotten the words to "In My Life" rock will still be profoundly affected by their idea of cooperative creation. So the-best music to appear in the last four years has been group music. But musical groupA have several inherent problems facing themA and these problems lie at the roots of much of what's wrong with the rock scene today. ,The problems that bands encounter are usually closely related to their evolution. For example, a bunch of musicians gravitate to- gether. A leader emerges. Conflicts develop. Jealousy runs rampant. The touring- grind wears down built-in protection devices and tempers flare. Some members figure that it's not worth the hassle. Some members want the group to go in different musical directions. Some object. The group eventually splinters into fragments of dejected, dis- gusted, but still extremely talented musicians. Musicians with nowhere to go. Again and again this pattern has repeated itself. It's happened to everybody from the Beach Boys to Cream, from the Byrds to the Gary Burton Quartet. The thing that has bothered me about groups breaking up hasn't been the acutal splintering process, for that must be inevitable, but rather the loss of what the fragments could have created. The high- powered, go gett'em, fat/bald businessmen who control most of the rock industry are not interested in, say, Neil Young because he's pos- sibly the best composer of the decade. They are interested in how much money Buffalo Springfield made for them. So when Young leaves the Springfield, he drops opt of sight. But there appears, on the surface anyway, to be some change in this attitude now, and it's exemplified by the release of Super Session, CS 9701, featuring Mike Bloomfield, Steve Stills and Al Kooper on Columbia. Each of these men is a fragment of former groups. None of them is ready for retirement and all of them, especially Stills, are desperately needed today. The important aspect of this album is not its technical facility, o& its-creativity, because on those scales the album is a failure. Its distinguishing factor is that it is an attempt, however feeble, to recognize the potential of musicians outside of the group scene. And hopefully, much of future rock will lie therein. Let's look for a moment at the album as it stands by iself. I continue to be mystified by the choice of Steve Stills along with Kooper and Bloomfield as the feature attractions. I suppose this is because I consider Stills to be on , an infinitely higher plane, both as a musician and a man, than the other two. Stills' style is one of conciseness. He is not given to long, drawn out, boring bluesy cuts as are the other two. He tells you how he feels and get offstage. Listen to hie work on Buffalo Springfield Again and Last Time Around if you want to hear his particular genius. You won't find it on Super Session. The only conceivable reason for him to be in- cluded on this album is that he would help sales. He did. The album's selling well. As for the others, I confess I've never trusted Al Kooper. I think he's a phoney, a long haired fat/bald business man, and a mediocre organist. He is currently an a and r man for Columbia, taking the post after he left Blood, Sweat and Tears last spring. He produced the, album in his own inimitable manner, char- acterized by poor mixing, poor arrangements and poor use of horns. Kopper may very well, be the king of high class schlock-rock. He wrote ."This Diamond Ring" several years ago and he has yet to progress. He's smart, so hie makes a lot of money. But that's all. Bloomfield is, of course, the supposed cream of the crop of white bluesmen. That's sort of a dubious honor anyway, if you think about it, so I wont' spend any time telling you that I think he has always been overrated, monotonous and sterile. The other musicians on the album aren't so hot either. ,Eddie Hoh on drums really stinks. I could hardly believe anyone that bad could get paid for his work. He can hardly keep a steady beat. Harvey Brooks on electric bass is the same Harvey Brooks who puts us to 'leep on A Long Time Comin'. He's one of the most un- creative, boring, obnoxious bass players of our time. f rKooper notes on the back of the album that he added horns'as an afterthought, and it sounds like it. They don't have much relevance to what is goingion and they destroy part of the idea that this album is purely jam without the intrusion of studio work. Again, I think it must have been Kooper's idea of what is contem- porary to include them. So the album isn't much. It ,merely serves as a milestone, along with Grape Jam on the road that could lead to new horizons for rock. Perhaps the day is not too remote when enough contractual agree- ments disappear, when recording people lose some false pride, and when itnerest in music rather than money becomes paramount. Maybe we'll see .Paul McCartney, Jim McGuinn, Neil Young, Skip Spence, and John Sebastian in on a recording session. S VITOW'S NOTE: Innocent, Little Sherri Funn unwittedly un- leashed a wrathful of criticism with "Let's hear it for 'U' enter- tainment: Bleb!" (sept. 25) Re- sponse has been running five to two against poor Sherri, who com- mented late last night, "Ooly papa cow papa cow papa cow cow." And furthermore, "Lew duh Jew duh Iew dub lew duh Iew, yeah." To the Editor: "Everyone to his own taste," said the old lady as she kissed the cow. How appropriate this adage is. It's not that the Uni- versity has lost its taste, but that "Little Sherri," the Daily's "taste expert", has a .miscon- ception of what it is. Obviously, her viewpoint ex- pressed in "Bleh" is not repre- sentative of the majority of the students, nor does it have to be. However, her impractical sug- iestions for possible entertain- ment show little prescience for the processes involved in bring- ing talent to the University. It is true that a place such as Canterbury House provides a more intimate atmosphere for an entertainer, b u t not even "Little Sherri" could afford to sponsor Aretha Franklin any- where else but the Events Bldg. In reference to the "money- mongers;" who doesn't like to make money? If she were at all familiar with the financial as- pects involved in these concerts, she would realize t h a t their "raison d'etre" was not strictly monetary, for the profits are usually negligible and used for worthy causes. Pleasing as "Little Sherri's dreams may be, the introduction of Sly and the Family Stone's billion volt amplifiers to Canter- bury House's single outlet would blow Maynard Street right off the map. Woe to the Daily. -Joanne Miller, Bob Hope Co-chairman -Cindy Merry, Promotions-Musket Too much .". Sirs: I would like to express my appreciation to The Daily for providing University students with such true-life, smashing, unadulterated unexpurgated and objective articles. One such a splendid piece of material was the five-colpmn spread, "Let's Hear it for 'U' Entertainment: BLEH!" Assuming that it was not , written by a delirium-ridden English 123 freshman, (am I correct?), I find it so refresh- ingly dull-minded and narrow that I am having a hard time figuring out by whom such ex- quisite prose was written. The by-line certainly suggests a rather playful personage - a, "taste expert" such as Miss Funn is obviously unhindered in her evaluations by any sort of cog- -Daily-Eric Pergeauxj Sherri* Arf Bleh Right nitive processes, as it appears she was able to formulate her "tastes" spontaneously through an apparent lack of fore- thought. To put into effect such intel- ligent ideas, as Miss Funn has adeptly displayed through her rough-draft article, I would like to suggest that the 'U' do away with Soph Show and Musket, for obviously, these "bourgeois" endeavors are far beneath the dignity of the 'GREAT U.' Perhaps, in their stead, we could have campus-wide "bana- na blasts" - similar to those held in quads - or even a "Sick-In," where a 11 'students could jointly regurgitate, (to the thundering beat of Procol Harum), over some of the ar- ticles audaciously displayed in Tht Daily. Perhaps these are more to Miss Funn's liking. I, hoped there would be intelligent write-ups covering the excellent entertainment to appear at the Events Bldg. this year. (Or does Miss Funn have a better sug- gestion for entertaining the campus population?) This article was not in keep- ing with The Daily's usually in- formative type of feature (or editorial) article. I had wanted to read some intelligent com- mentary on upcoming entertain- ment but I see that " . . . it was too much to hope for." -Dennis Faleris, '71 TO hope for Sirs: Once again The Michigan Daily has reinforced its reputa- tion for biased reporting based almost entirely on ignorance and lack of tact. "Little Sherri Funn's" article on "'U' Entertainment: Bleh!" is probably the most tasteless, grossly ignorant a n d tactless piece of journalism nonsense to slap the face of your readers yet. The very fact that such an amateurish effort was allowed to be printed is an insult to your editorial staff. Ifit was serious, it is a dis- grace. If it was intended as sar- casm, it was, to say the least, a regrettable attempt. Miss "Funn" certainly should have the right to her personal tastes regarding entertainment - all I ask is that the rest of the pub- lic be allowed theirs too. I had hoped that the sub- stantial gains in professional en- tertainment this year might be accompanied by enlightened re- viewing by our local aspiring journalists: I had hoped that The Michigan Daily would live up to its reputation as a "pro- fessional" -college newspaper. Unfortunately,,. . . "it was too much to hope for." -Rich McCullen, '71 Hoping again Dear Little Sherri Funn, If you are what The Daily considers a taste expert, no won- der people wrap their garbage with the latest edition. From "dust to dust," as the saying goes, certainly applies here. If you don't like the enter- tainment being presented to the campus, why not do something about it instead of complaining? Try bringing your kind of peo- ple h e r e for a concert. You might then have some authority and knowledge with which to write your article. You might learn, for example, that the Calendaring Commit- tee will assign, you one date on which to hold your concert, and from there you must find an en- tertainer who is willing and available to come. And you might learn that en- tertainers like Aretha Franklin do not work out of the goodnessx of their hearts. And you might realize that the Special Events "Barn" is the only place where you could, sell enough tickets to merely cover your expenses. But being bull-headed, y o u would 'try for a somewhat more personal atmosphere- You might rent Hill Aud. And then you might see the reaction you get vwhen you tell a quaddie that you are sorry he won't get to see the "greatest music, festival in the Midwest" because you are all sold out. And y o u might learn that your taste is just as bleh to someone else as theirs is to you when you get calls and letters asking you when is this campus going to get some real enter- tainment like Bob Hope or Har- ry Belafonte. And you might learn to stand up for your convictions instead of hiding behind some ridiculous phony name. You might 1 e a r n all these things, Sherri. But somehow I think it would be too much to hope for. Sincerely, -Carol Gardner, '70 Casting stones Dear Editor, I attended the Bob Hope Show and enjoyed it very much. It was with much surprise that I turned to The Daily the next day and found no critical re- views on this show. In your paper of Sept. 25, however, I find Little Sherri Funn, your "taste expert" 'de- nouncing the Bob Hope show. She called it "bleh." Just what does "bleh" mean to you? And what's this little bit about "bourgeois students?" Right. You and your newspaper staff probably would enjoy hearing a concert by "The Dead" (sic) and "Sly and the Family Stone." For that is what you all are: Dead in culture, sly in getting what you want to get printed in your "newspaper," and in my opinion, are stoned out of your minds. -Barbara Patterson., '71 Good question Bleh! Amen. How did they ever overlook Lawrence Welk? - G. Marsh '69 Skelton next Dear Editor, Let's hear it for Little Sherri Funn. I came to the University from a small midwest college whose idea of entertainment is The Brothers Four and The Let- termen. Its Homecoming com- mittees never had enough money for Carson or Hope. But now that I am at the big 'U', it's nothing but the best. If I stay until next year can I count on Red Skelton, maybe? -Bill Brashler, 69 3020 Washtenaw, Ph. 434-1782 Between Ypsilanti & Ann Arbor NOW SHOWING Feature Wed.-Sat.-Sun. 1 -3-5-7-9 Mon.-Tues -Thurs.-Fri. i"-MWARKERBROSA4EVEN ARTSW VI NOW 4- TODAY AT i~'3, 5,7,9 P.M. "Yes, 'Belle de Jour' is sensational, it does, let's be honest-turn you on' -ife Mac 1 I r-- LEADERSHIP FRIENDSHIP SERVICE IF THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT, WE WANT YOU!, JOIN ALPHA PHI OMEGA MON., Sept. 30, 7:30 3rd Floor Conf. Room Union Phone 434-0130 Doris Day Bn Keit Get agll Color by Deluxe. Filmed in PanavisionO. 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