Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, December 6, 1969 P 111uageo1 IIli Tw THEMICIGA DILYSatrda, eceber6, 96 L music Messiah: Packaged for Xmas Rum bli By BERT STRATTON Ramblin' Jack Elliott dropped into Canterbury House last night on his way across the country- a lot of people really appreciate that fact. Jack Elliott is one of the last of the originals, he's one of those singers whose talk about jails, trains, and drunks is a reality. As just about everybody knows by now, Jack started hanging around with Woody Guthrie back in the 1950's, when Jack was still in his teens - and there's no arguing that Woody was one hell of a teacher. When it comes to pupils Woody had quite a few, like Dylan, Paxton, Seeger, etc., but there's been no more dedicated a student than Elliott. Jack sings Woody's songs with a reverance a feeling that transfixes an aud- ience (like Woody is watching over us all), as Elliott works through "Pretty Boy Floyd" or does a long talking blues num- ber with plenty of jokes. Jack is not just a Woody Guthrie rerun, which would have been enough, he's also adept at singing just about everybody Jack is here else's songs as well - but it shouldn't be forgotten that his way of doing a song is quite unique. What makes Elliott so different is his incredible stage presence and voice which com- bines to create the impression he is constantly on the verge of falling asleep before your very eyes. He barely opens his mouth when he sings, he doesn't hold a note any longer than you would a spoken word, and he mumbles quite a bit. The effect that all this has on the listener is somewhat like the hypnotic grip that Dylan's early voice has. Believe it or not Jack's voice is more jagged and uneven than Dylan's ever was. What he did to "Lay, Lady, Lay" was similar to putting Dy- lan's smooth version on a roller coaster and taking it for a ride. However when Elliott wants to, he can take the edges out, for a moving broken-love tune like Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," It figures that if Elliott's voice can cross the entire musical generation from Guthrie to Dy- lan, then he should be able to do almost anybody else's songs too. He did just about every- body - the blues featured in Jesse Fuller's theme "San Fran- sico Bay Blues," Elizabeth Cot- ton's "Freight Train," and quite a bit of country and western like Jimmie Rodgers. In fact, Jack was recently in Nashville to cut a new record, using the same back-up band that Dylan used in "Nashville Skyline." He opened up the show with a plug for his new record, and proceeded to play a few tunes from it-some of which are talk- ing blues originals. Actually Jack does a lot of truly original ma- terial, most of which takes the form of a quick joking aside. His humor is reminiscent of Woody, and it even sound a lot like Arlo, in that Jack feigns complete stupidity and he goes from there. It's a real pleasure to see somebody so simple and un- pretentious as Jack. It's almost as if Jack is afraid that financial success would spoil his reputa- tion. Last night, he was talking about Herb David's guitar studio, and he happened to say this: "Herb David's a good guy, he's not commercial." Well, Ramblin' Jack Elliott isn't commericial either, and if he ever makes a lot of money from his twenty some albums then he sure deserves it, most likely Jack won't ever get any of that money though, he's too good. By JIM PETERS If audience reaction is any criterion by which to judge a concert, last night at H i11 Aud. the Choral Union presented an easily digestable version of Haendel's Messiah. All t h e items which make-up the festive aura of an extravaganza could be found, groomed singers in dressy clothes, a familiar hum- able score, edited so as to move quickly, and, now and then, some inspiring playing. But the whole group, includ- ing most of the audience no doubt, missed the point of what the music's all about. T h e Messiah was not written in 1889: but listening to last night's performance, no one seemed to remember that. It would be foolish to call conductor Donald Bryant's interpretation wrong, but I am very tired of hearing this Baroque oratorio performed as if it were Wagner. For what is the beauty a n d lasting appeal of Haendel's 'masterpiece" (hopefully, n o t the lyrics), if not the intricacies of his writing, the balance of strings and winds with voice, the musical-not aural-power of his choruses? And one does not need 1000 people on stage to ac- complish that. With one exception the solo- ists sang well. Tenor Waldie An- derson's understated, almost dry approach to his recitatives and arias was indeed refresh- ing.sRosalind Hupp's contralo solors were accented by the cloudy sobre timbre of her voice, but her power is rather limited. The soprano, Janice Harsanyi, is a competent and expressive singer, but her enthusiasm was more religious than musical. Bass Robert Oliver sang bad- ly; often he found himself lost in the long runs of his allegro arias and his timing and precis- ion were awry most of the eve- ning. None of the singers, how- ever, paid the slightest attention to Baroque ornaments a n d stylistics in their work. A brief passage from Joan Sutherland's version of Rejoice Greatly" or even the recitatives will show just how much musical intent was lacking last night; her trills and ad libitum embellishments r'eveal a studied knowledge of 18th century singing. And such is not impossible here at the University. The Choral Union displayed power and tight ensemble, but little else-the former coming from its enormous size and only the latter from skill. The alto section's one-voice precision was impressive, but I cannot re- frain from imagining how much more sensitive singing could come from a group one-third that size. Their massive sound worked well for choruses such as "The Lord Gave the Word" and "For Unto Us," but for those requiring more than bombast (most of which had been de- NATIONAL GENERAL CORPORATION FOX EASTERN TWEATRE FOH VILHGE 375 No. MAPLE RD.-"769.1300 HURRY! ENDSSOON MON.-WED.---7 :10-9:20 THURS.-SUN.- 100-3:05- 5:10-7:15-9:30 B {CH LASSM~ N THE SUNDANCE KID When in California Visit Grauman's Chinese Theatre leted) such as the entrances in "Glory to God" their sound was muddled. The Interlochen Arts Aca- demy Orchestra could have used another rehearsal; so bland and shakey a performance is disap- pointing from such a group. I think, perhaps, the hodge-podge score from all the cutting and compressing bothered them, be- cause they often did not to know what would happen next. I realize I am criticizing all kinds of hallowed traditions surrounding this pseudo-scared entry into mass culture; but having heard Cofin Davis' deli- cate, almost madrigal sound, it is hard for one to settle for Franz Liszt. STATE Shows at: 1-3- 5-7-905 P.M. "An Eloquent, Important Movie! It Reached Out and Profoundly Shook Mel" -NEWSWEEK PANOO COMOOl . ~ISO,Qba .-h RMOCRt P*0OVCIONS Vvnat% PETER DENNIS FONDAI HOPPER JACK NICHOLSON COLOR - Releed by COLUMBIA PICTURES Hurrah TV, motels, war; hurrah America By DEBORAH LINDERMAN The first thing to know about America Hurrah, which the University Players are doing through Dec. 6, is that its title, lest you would think otherwise, is ironic. The second is that it gets two cheers. As conceived by Jean-Claude van Itallie, it was really a very radical play-theatrically radi- cal as much as anything--but as executed by the University Players it has been much re- duced, possibly to keep out the police and bring in the alumni. Although it could be snappier, still it is worth seeing. It was first done in 1966 by Joseph Chaikin and the Open Theater in the mode of pop art and theater of cruelty. It is a play rich in theatrics, being embellished with dumb show, choreography, masks, panto- mine and gibberish, and is cal- culated to reflect the neon men- tality and rote visciousness of American life. The trio of one-acters called Interview, TV, and Motel are metaphors for the national n i g h t m a r e s of Johnsonland, which incensed the national spirit five years ago but which we have by now grown rather intimately used to. The night- mares deal with violence, of course, and with calamity, war, murder, indifference and de- plorable stupidity. Van Itallie is audacious, witty and astute in devising instances of the na- tional mechanization of life and the national dislocation of cul- ture. Interview is a harrowing spec- tacle in which four people ap- plying for jobs are interrogated by four others. Their responses in this situation are all alike no matter what side they are on and indeed as the interview continues they bring to bear the same automatic tactics of ingratiation and manipulation. Thus devoid of personality, they become so many inter- changeable parts, b 1 e e p i n g, humming and jerking along like robots. Bet ween times, they de- liver pained monologues in in- direct discourse (Oh, I said; Smiling, I said) about their lives which are all revealed to be made of the same sad and empty stuff. An unhappy man goes to his shrink and is given rote advice: blah blah blah blah HOSTILE. Blah blah blah blah PENIS. Blah blah blah blah MOTHER. Blah blah blah blah MONEY. Another getsrote si- le :ce from his father-confessor (God, I said, deliberately tak- ing the Lord's name in vain). In TV three viewers sit at stage front monitoring a video panel as a succession of pro- grams and commercials is car- ried on at stage right behind the frame of an outsized TV screen. The viewers, though in- terested in the ratings, are pre- occupied with their own silly affairs (why not, is the point). But at the end the TV perform- ers come out of the box and join the viewers, showing, I presume, how the banality of mass cul- ture and the silliness of our lives are the same thing. The skits catch the TV image very well. Among the best are a weather report and an ad for soap-more than a soap, more than a cream, its a soap-cream. (James Hosbein and Wanda Bimson are very good in these two.) Among the worst are those involving several of the Nixons, for the directors have done some enthusiastic updating which- the program notes notwith- standing-seems to me needless botheration. ;Motel, the finale, is an abrupt and climatic paroxysm. A motel keeper in the form of a giant doll with a dubbed voice recites the prerequisites of her estab- lishment. While her voice drones on about decency, respectability and a taste of home at very rea- sonable rates, a floozy and her boyfriend in huge papier-mache heads with cupie doll smiles, amiably tear the place apart. First the bed, then the Bible, NEW MAGAZINE NEEDS POETRY, SHORT STORIES, ES- SAYS. $5.00 per printed page or part thereof. Manuscripts will not be ret'd. unless accompanied by self-addressed, stamped envelope. Mall to KEN GAERTNER, 605 E. Williami. then everything else including the motel keeper. The floozy writes obscenities on the walls with her lipstick. At least she is supposed to be writing obscenities. The script calls for lewd words and explicit pictures, but there are no pic- tures and the words are rather mild-"sex" being an example. The script also calls for the debree of their destructive orgy to be fanned out at the audi- ence and that this does not happen is another instance of the taming of van Itallie. Still, mitigated though its shock is, the play undeniably works very well.. Everything is so unlikeable as to be delight- ful, for it is a pleasure to see this perverse limbo of human energy, which one always be- lieves to be one's particular op- pression, broadly and cuttingly exposed. I admired Melvin Foster, who plays Wonderboy, a Gym In- GOOD LUCKt during finals FROM Student Book Service structor, an Announcer, etc., for his natural control and bodily eloquence. The rest of the cast is good too. Director Richard Burgwin has achieved some nice configurations and images, but the transitionsand juxtaposi- tions of the script should be more briskly timed. I cannot tell from the playbill whom to name in credit for the sardonic gray costumes worn by all the players and striped down the sides with white five-pointed Read and Use Daily Class iieds A couple of years ago, when the Hollies pulled into famous Dulles airport in D.C., the Sun- -hine Company's pet rabbit crawled up Graham Nash's sleeve. Nash has since quit the group. Who's covering what up? stars. S_ I i. Do you REALLY know what's happening inside the army? Hear GI ORGANIZERS FROM FORT KNOX These people, who run a coffee house at Fort Knox and publish FTA, an underground paper that talks about Vietnam, racism and GI rights, have been arrested, harassed-and face prison for organizing against the war. ALSO---- "ARMY" A new Newsreel film Sunday-8:00-N EWMAN CENTER, basement 331 THOMPSON Sponsored by Resistance-Newsreel-SDS No Admission-Donation Welcome A benefit for the FTA legal defense fund CINEMA H PRESENTS "THE SONG AND THE SILENCE" THE FILM DESCRIBES BEAUTIFULLY AND SIMPLY THE TRAGEDY OF A HASSIDIC JEWISH COMMUNITY IN POLAND. IT IS THE STORY OF LOVE, HUMILITY, DEVOTION AND COURAGE. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 8:30 P.M. 1429 HILL ST. ADMISSION 75c EVERYONE WELCOME THIS CAN GET YOUR HEAD TOGETHER Arlo, Princess "he made the Margaret, Johnny smoke in the small Cash, Bob Dylan, basement club Charlie McCoy, seem as if it Steve McQueen, were coming from Warner Bros., even a pile of freshly Canterbury could raked autumn tell stories about leaves" Jack N.Y. Times Nov. 15 RAMBLIN' JACKELLIOT F RI.-SAT. -SUN 665-0606 $2.00 HELD DIAL OVER 1 11u% /56290 "Liza Minnelli has given a performance which is so funny, so moving, so perfectly crafted and realized that it should win her an Academy Award but probably won't, because Oscar is archaic and Liza is contemporary!" -Thomas Thompson, LIFE MAGAZINE "Brilliant! Fresh light on the subject of youth! Liza Minnelli plays Pookie to perfection! Marvelous" --Joseph Morgenstern, NEWSWEEK t { ?i S Lead your own life. Enjoy it. Don't let life let you down because of a silly head- ache. Happiness is as far away as an Anacin"bottle. Anacin is twice as strong in the specific pain re- liever doctors recom- mend most as the other well known extra strength tablet. Anacin may not bend your mind, but it sure will get your head together. BO ACNE/EtJRGI A A1GtSI BATTLE of the BANDS "The best of Ann Arbor" TODAY 2-4 P.M. UNION BALLROOM Featuring "The LIBERTINE' COMES ACROSS persons under 18 not admitted HWRY Friday and Saturday 7:15, 9:00, 10:45 HMOR AT Sunday -7:15,9:00 - Harper's aaar .Cth rn pu>"Makes "Caterie S~aakHugh Hefner's iiousenv Greeand. Playboy Penthouse with nvy..andlook like a decides to become nursery school I" a one-woman - Kinsey sex survey. e ,...nA a ~mn WIN' nAdi. i I I :::;...