Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednestinv Fphrt jnrv' 1 4p
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY
YYICU I r; uuY, FtAuAIuy ),1 7~
arts
festival
iwn in
Perraul
By ROBERT LYTLE
John Perrault's presentation
last night was crude, monoton-
ous, and at times seemed to
make no sense whatsoever. It
was also one of the most bril-
liant, stimulating, presentations
that I have ever seen. In the
course of the evening, he ex-
amined a number of the most
important problems facing con-
temporary artists and writers-
particularly the problem of
meaning.",
Mr. Perrault's kinetic poetry
was not beautiful -."t.v. set,"
his first poem, was accompanied
by a film of images from tele-
vision, and went like this: "I
. . . like . . to . . watch
television . . . doesn't everyone
. . . like . . etc." But here-
and throughout the evening-_
it was the idea, not the aesthe-
tic, that was imporant. With-
out the film, it would have been
as boring as it reads. But, the
film filled the, space between
the words. And the poem as a
whole developed a rhythm and
a movement similar to that of
rock music-using images in-
stead of music to fill it out.
Throughout his presentation,
tapes, slides and, other props
were always an integral part of
Crude,
brilliant,
monotonous
Mr. Perrault's poems. I e a s
very impressed by his attempt
to find new ways of communi-
cating through multi-media.
But in "t. v. set", the effect of
film flickering beneath voice
was a brilliant achievement.
"t.v. set", because of its banal
lyrics, immediately raised t h e
question of meaning. Mr. Per-
rault picked up the question in'
his next poem "interview" and
for the rest of the evening, the
audienced experienced his an-
swers.
Perhaps the most significant
comment all evening was his
comment on meaning in the
poem "interview." "If you need
meaning, you can provide it
yourself." I think that most of
us have been taught-and have
internalized-an incredible lie
-that a work of art (or a cer-
tain look on your girl friend's
face, etc.) must mean some-
thing. That there is some hid-'
den significance that you, must
ferret out and bring to light,
tear apart and understand.
"matches," the next visual
poem, was a brilliant example;
of this. Mr. Perrault lit and
blew out, one by one, a book of,
twenty safety matches. In the
middle of this he stopped and ,
turned on a tape made earlier
at another school. It consisted
of twelve comments on what the
poem "matches" was all about.
The responses rang from one
student who went before the
class and. lit twenty matches
one by one to another response
that began like this: "Mr. Per-
rault is trying to snow the
meaning of life through the
destruction of . . ." Beautiful.
Everybody has his own mean-
ing, even Mr. Perrault.
The final poem, "alternatives",
consisted of five information
sources (two speakers, three
screens), each with its own
poem. The words of the poems
appeared or were spoken one
by one: "He . . . 'She'
"went" . . . 'said' . . . "to"
. . . 'that' . . . "the" . . . 'you'
... etc. In'the incredible collage
of words that kept flashing on
the screens and alternating
from the speakers it was very
difficult to get any poem or
message straight. But I kept
catching one message over and
over as It came on the screen:
"He breais up into smail grey
pieces." After catching that
message-and no other-about
five times, I figured it must
meant to me and I put on my
coat and left.
DIAL 8-6416
SATIRE AT ITS -,.
COLLEGIATE
BEST!
"... EXPLOSIVELY
DON'T
MISS ITI" \
2LA.Times
COLOR
6-'a session with
"THE COMMITTEE"
HILL AUD.
Feb. 7, 8:30
Tickets on sale
NOW
at Hill Aud. Box Office
$1 .50-$2.00-$2.50
1
Exactly as presented UVE on stage in San Francis- and Los Angeles!
R
--
music
Info: 662-6264
HELD OVER
7th WEEK
"
. .
Gamelon: javenese intrigue
SHOWS AT 1 :00-3:00-5:00-7:10& 9:15
By PAT HURD
Last night, a group of students and professors
from the University gave possibly the best per-
formance of the Javanese Gamelon that Ann
Arbor has seen since the University purchased
its gamelon orchestra. More than Just another
annual performance by the group, this year's
concert, under the direction of Mrs. Judith
Becker, was the peak of their achievement. The
repetoire of the group has been improving each
year, with this year's product consisting of e,
pleasingly varied program illustrating the many
garbs of the gamel6n.
The gamelon is an Indonesian orchestra-
the one that thb University owns being, about the
sze of those found by rich palaces. A visual and
olfactory oriental mood was set by the burning
of incense and by the players dressed in sarongs
kneeling before their instruments.:
The beauty of the program was its many con-
trasts. There were two numbers, Surung Dajung
and. Langingita, Srindrendra, which used a chorus
and female soloist singing in archaic Indonesian
verse. There were also two highly contrasted
dances: Bedrong and Bima Kurda, utilizing a
speaking men's chorus. But the musical highlight
was certainly Tukung. The subtle rubatos, quick
tempo changes, and rocking syncopations showed
the groups commendable musicianship.
Indonesian dancing is an extremely confining
art. The movements, which are in imitation of
the Wayang shadow puppets, care quite angular
and sharp. The beauty of this dance is that a
feeling is portrayed in spite of the extremely
sterotyped motions, The first dance, by Hardja
Susilo, Bendrong, was of a young king in love.
Susilo did a masterful job at portraying this gentle
emotion. The scond dance, Bima Kurda, was the
wari'Ior preparing for battle. A sword and shield
strong movements, and occasional angry shouts
from the dancer created a vivid picture.
The customs of the gamelon are another in-
tegral part of its tradition. There are no shoes
worn near the gamelon, and no one steps over an
instrument so as riot to anger the gods. When
the dancer is performing, he is believed to be in
another world. All considered, the program was
From 't.v. set'
Tharo
arse
bad cops
and there
are rood
COPS,and
then
there's
ATTENTION
Creative Reform Sabbath Service
and Oneg Shabbat
With Special Guest Stars
YOUNG-HOLT
UNLIMITED
RHETTA HUGHES
FRI., FEB. 7 at 8:30 P.M.
COBO ARENA
Tickets: $5.75, $4.75,
$3.75, $2.75
Available at-Cobo Arena
and ol J. L. Hudson &
Grinnell stores.
An Irving Gronz Production
a
STEVE MCCUEEN
AS1TBULUTL ' E
SBESTED FOR MATURE AUOIEtICEZ TEHNICOLORSI ROM WARNER IROS..SYE ARTS 'a~q
FRIDAY, FEB. 7
Markley Lounge
outstanding in
clanship.
ORGANIZATION NOTICESM
authenticity, variety, and musi-
TODAY.
Stanley Kauffman
Speaking on Richard Lester's
"How I Won the War"
immediately after its
screening.
Trueblood Aud. 8:00 p.m.
Join The Daily
*
8:15 P.M.
, No. 3
Hot Flamenco Music to be heard
from Carlos Montoya - at Hill Audit.
Friday night - Feb. 7th at 8:30. Tickets
are on sale through Friday 9-5 at Hills'
Box Office.
"Freedom and True Identity" is the
subject of a Christian Science Lecture
to be heard at 8:00 p.m. Friday nite.
Feb. 14th in the UGLI Multi-purpose
room.
You may become better acquainted
with Christian Science and hear satis-
fying -answers to your questions about
it at an open discussion. This discus-
sion' begins on Weds. afternoon at 4:00
p.m. In rooms .4 and 5 of the league.
or- appointments for individual inter-
views and more information call Bill
Woodworth at 761-9890.
UM Amateur Radio Club: Meeting
Fri., Feb. 7th, 8:00 p.m. Room 1042,
East Eng i.nGuest Speaker: Mr. Donald
Grimm of Collins Radio, Topic: Ama-
teur Radio Equipment".
* * * *
UM Scottish Country Dance Society:
Dance meeting, Weds., 8:00. p.m. to
10:30 p.m. W..E lounge 0, instruc-
tions given - 'beginners welcome.
* * * *
Hillel Foundation, 1429 Hill St., on
Thurs., Feb. 6th, 8:00 p.m. Symposium
on "Implications of the Artificial Pro-
longation .of Life", with Dr. Donald
Kahn.
-* * * *
UM Chess Club: Feb. 4th 7:30 p.m.
3A of the'Union -- weekly meeting. %
University Lutheran Chapel: Feb. 5th
10:00 pdm 1511 Washtenaw, Sermon: Bs
Rev. Alfred Scheips, "Straight Toward
the Goal."
Call 761-8456 for further informatior
Sponsored by
THE REFORM JEWISH ACTION COMMITTEE
Join us in a completely unique
worship experience
.-V
I
I
Daily Classifieds Get Results
"SO YOU THINK, IN THESE DAYS OF TICKLE-AND-
TEACH AND SNICKER-AND-SMUT, THAT YOU KNOW
SOMETHING ABOUT SEX IN 'THE MOVIES, EH?
FRIEND, YOU KNOW FROM NOTHING ... BUT NOT
TO WORRY. 'THE LOVE GODDESSES' IS-AND ARE-
HERE, TO DELIGHT OUR SOULS WITH ONE OF THE
MOST ENJOYABLE FILM ANTHOLOGIES IN AGES!"
-N. Y. Herald Tribune
SYMPOSIUM ONr
"IMPLICATIONS 'OF THE
ARTIFICIAL PROLONGATION OF LIFE"
THURSDAY, FEB. 6,-8:00 P.M.
with:
DR. DONALD KAHN
U-M Thoracic Surgeon, on U-M's heart transplant teams
LAW PROF. WILLIAM PIERCE
Director of Legislative Research Center,
Studying "Uniform Anatomical Gifts" Act
RABBI IRWIN GRONER
of Congregation Shaorey Zedek, Southfield, Michigan
PROF. ROBERT ETTINGER
of Highland Park (Mich.) Junior College
President of Michigan CRYONICS
(Body-Freezing) Society, and author of a book on the subject
I
K.
HILLEL FOUNDATION
663-4129
1429 Hill St.
E
UNION-LEAGUE
FEB. 13 LOVErSEX and RELI
Union Ballroom
A teach-in conducted by
10 P.m.-Down Robert Rimmer, author c
Admission free "The Harrad Experiment
d
MTONSHIPS
'69
of
,t
PLUS: "IdOL OF THE JAZZ AGE-
RUDOLPH VALENTINO"
PLUS: "BOGART'S BEST"
PLUS: "TWO TARS-Laurel and Hardy
two sailors on shore leave-
a rented Model T roadster-
two girls-a traffic jam-
a great comic destruction scene
l _. " J_5 ... . All A
The Learning Experience
in the University
Circus of Educatio
Feb. 16 WAYNE MORSE
Union Ballroom
2 P.M. $1.00
Feb. 19 & 20 GENESISI
League Ballroom An underground film festival
7 P.M and 9c30PM.
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