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By PAT O'DONOHUE
Special To The Daily
Last of Two Parts
NEWPORT, R.I. - The New-
port '68 Jazz Festival closed with
big names, big bands and a big
afternoon. It also hit a few sour
notes - one being the quality of
the sound - or lack thereof.
You could never be sure if a
mike was on or not. A performer
would come up to do a solo, every-
one would hold their breath wait-
ing for the sound, and if y_
were lucky you could hear it. It's
hard to understand why a festival
of this size and stature was un-
able to come up with an! equally
good sound system.
One performance that was lost
through the malfunctioning of
the sound system was that of Joe
Venuti, a 74-year-old jazz violin-
ist. His performance, along with
the Alex Welsh Band and guests
Ruby Braff, the "leprechaun of
the cornet," (Bud Freeman and
Pee- W~e Russell, opened Satur-
day evening's show. Their rendi-
tions of Louis Armstrong-Dixie
type stuff was corny but I'm sure
it pleased some of the older fans
in the audience. There's always
something for everyone at New-
port.
Duke Ellington followed, with
an introduction from actress Joan
Crawford, and an "honorary" cit-
izen of Newport, that drew cat-
calls from the audience. The Duke
placated her with four kisses, "one
FRIDAY, JULY12; 1968
.
NIGHT EDITOR: STEVE NISSEN
Jh FedKam' John
THE STUDENT power movement, which
is often interpreted as a reaction
against the cold unresponsiveness of uni-
versity administrations, tends to be exe-
cuted in solemn, bureaucratic ways of its
own.
For example, the current controversy
here over the adoption of Interim regu-
lations on disruptive student conduct has
been waged in an almost annoyingly le-
galistic argot. The tone of the arguments
being offered by students, faculty and
administrators has been notable mostly
for its gravity.
Thus, it is refreshing to see student-
administration battles personalized, and
even more satisfying to see personalized
tactics gain a measure of success which
is often missing from more sober, more:
serious confrontations.
4 S STUDENT Government Council Ex-
ecutive Vice President Robert Neff
tells it, the Great Bathroom Controversy
of 1968 began several. months ago when
the University made plans to convert
Mosher-Jordan from an all-women into a
coeducational residence hall.
The conversion plans, of course, in-
cluded the restructuring (a favorite word
in all student power issues) of lavatories.'
But the actual work on the Mosher-
Jordan bathrooms began only a week ago,:
at a time when the hall was being used
to house summer orientation groups.
Neff, SGC at-large member, E. 0.
Knowles, and Matt Keefe were orienta
tion leaders living in Mosher-Jordan,
and as the remodeling work began, they
found themselves incommoded for lack
of a lavatory.
As in most such instances where the
administration flagrantly violates the
rights of students, Neff et. al. did not
immediately stage a three-man sit-in
the Student Activities Building. Instead,.
they made an effort to work through
normal channels, only escalating their
tactics after existing channels for con-
flict-reconciliation were exhausted. Neff
called University Housing Director John
Feldkamp, who told him, "Oh, come on
Bob, you can stand to be inconvenienced
for a couple of days."
Repulsed in their efforts to remain
within the system, the three sadly con-
cluded that disruption ("creative dis-
order," as one activist theoretician puts
it) was their only recourse. That night,
they donned towels and bathrobes and
made the long trek out to the housing
director's suburban Ann Arbor residence.
When Mrs. Feldkamp answered the door,
she found Knowles with shaving cream
on his face, Keefe with a toothbrush
hanging out of the side of his mouth, and
Neff in a semi-final stage o preparing
to shower. Thirty seconds later, Feldkamp
arrived at her side and upon surveying
the scene before him went into a fit of
uncontrollable laughter.
1UAN- OF the students who know John
Feldkamp on occasion disagree with
his policies, but most concur that he is
a nice guy. Thus, the administrator's
laughter turned to shock as it became
evident that Neff, Knowles and Keefe
were deadly serious. They demanded to
use his bathroom, and he stood gaping as
they marched triumphantly past him.
While Knowles shaved and Keefe brushed
his teeth, Neff attempted to operate the
shower, in the process drenching the
bathroom floor with water. As they exit-
ed, Feldkamp looked aghast at the scene
of the disruptive activity. Restraining
himself, he said, "You can't leave the
bathroom like that, without cleaning it
,,
Neff promptly grabbed a towel from
the rack and mopped the floor with it.
Feldkamp, whether out of relief or tact
or nervousness no one knows, again be-
gan laughing. A brief reconciliation fol-
lowed, during which Feldkamp promised
to inspect the situation at Mosher-Jordan
personally within two days. And as the
three activists walked out the front door,
Neff shouted back ,over his shoulder:
"We'll be back at 6:30 tomorrow morn-
ing, with our orientees."
WHILE THIS tactic is unlikely to be
successful too many times or on more
complex issues, the flexibility, it demon-
strates can only be commended. Like the
threatened UGLt study-in last fall and
the Voice guerrilla theatre skit at Flem-
ing's tea, it exemplifies how students can
get results while avoiding the bor-
ing and sometimes counter-productive
sit-in syndrome.
-URBAN LEHNER
for each cheek" and soothed the
audience with his usual impec-
cable performance,
The second halfhof Saturday
night's program, however, was
what the record-breaking audi-
ence of 20,000 had been waiting
for.
Hugh Masekela, the trumpeter
from South Africa, came out re-
marking "Look at all those peo-
ple" and left "all those people"
cheering, stomping, and scream-
ing for an encore. His group. (Wil-
liam Anderson on piano, Henry
Franbly on bass, Chuck Carter on
drums and Al Abrew on reeds),
plays their unique blend of mod-
ern music, jazz and African tunes\
with contagious energy. Masekela
moves with the notes from his
trumpet and almost becomes part
of the music itself. In "Swazi-
land," Masekela displayed his vo-
cal ability, complete with an al-
most-tribal chant quality to it.
Some of the words are screamed,
some are rasped. His performance
is the type that always people
yelling for more until they get it.
They got it Saturday night -
"Grazing in the Grass" as an en-
core.
Dionne Warwick closed the
show singing as many of her songs
as she could pack into 45 min-
utes. What can you say about
someone who has sold 11,500,000
records? She's a very moving, ex-
pressive performer who even
makes songs like "I Say a Little
Prayer," "Walk on By," and "Al-
fie" sound as good as they did
the first time.
Sunday afternoon brought Ray
Charles back to Newport after
nine years. His orchjstra played
for the first hour, relieved by vo-
cal breaks from Billy Preston,
his organist who used to play for
"Shindig," and the amazing Rae-
lets. Then out came the Genius
of Soul himself. Everything that
can be said about his has been
said.
Charles is an unequaled musical
institution. He closed his perform-
ance with "High-Heeled Sneak-
ers," bringing the house down 8
times. One highlight of the re-
markable afternoon was the per-
formance of "Ode to Billie Joe"
by Sister Clara of the Raelets.
The '?Ode" will never sound the
same.
Roland Kirk, a one-man band
who plays alto and tenor sax, the
stritch, flute, nose flute, siren, and
manzello, received the only stand-
ing ovation of the evening. After
what appeared to be a slow start,
he had the crowd standing in the
aisles with "One Ton" - a num-
ber in which he plays everything
at the same time with amazing
agility. He became as ecstatic as
the audience during the cries of
"more, more," and did a medley
of John Coltrane tunes as his
encore. "His ability to play all the
instruments at once is astonish-
ing in itself; the fact that he can
play all of them so well is almost
unbelievable.
The Horace Silver Quintet was
good in its dedication to the late
Wes Montgomery, "Kindred Spir'-
its,,A but the set was a rather dis-
appointing performance to those
who are familiar with Silver's
composition - he writes better
than he plays.
The Don Ellis "Electric" Band
closed the show and the Festival
with exuberance.
Ellis is a California bandleader
who has injected electricity and
amplified, bandstands into jazz.
The orchestra utilizes an electri-
fied reed section, electric piano,
and Ellis himself plays his four-
valved trumpet with an electron-
ic pick-up and echo chamber.
The band erupted through its
set propelled by three drummers
and two bass players in numbers
th ing
marked by crazy time signatures
and material ranging from fugues
to boisterous Dixieland. Yet the
band escapes the tag of a stereo
phonic . gimmick with brilliant
leadership from Ellis. His best
numbers, "Open Beauty," a soft,
flowing number bUilt with elec-
trically augmented horns, and
"Casey Blues," a Charlie Parker
solo Ellis orchestrated, displayed
the range of Ellis' creativity. His
creative use of electricity in jazz,
however, is difficult for some jazz
purists to fathom and the crowd
gave him a mixed reception.
Festival Field may be trans-
ferred to a new site next year due
to the construction of an inter-
state highway. However, Produc-
er George Wein said the state will
rebuild the "field" ataanother lo-
cation, in Newport and ;assured
the buffs that there will always
be a Newport Jazz Festival. It's
something the jazz world couldn't
do without.
1i~
*
Roland Kirk
Hugh Muse ela
1I
Second class postage paid at An Arbor, Michigan,
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48104.
Daily except Sunday and Monday during regular
summer , session.
Daily except Monday during regular academic
school, year.
S pock,i
By DAVID DUBOFF.
THE CONSCIENCE of Amer-
ica stood in a courtroom
in Boston Wednesday and was
sentenced to two years for con-
spiring to violate the law.,
Dr. Benjamin Spock, Rev.
William Sloane Coffin, Mitchell
Goodman and Michael Ferber
will serve their two years in
prison (should appeals lead to
failure) and come out to lead
fulfilling and perhaps produc-
tive lives. But the right of
Americans to express their con-
scientious protest against 11-
legitimate actions of govern-
ment nay never recover from
the blow dealt by Judge Fran-
cis J. W. Ford, the government
prosecution, and the Boston
jury.
THERE IS something para-
doxical and perhaps prophetic
about the fact that the four
will go to prison not for vio-
lating the draft law, but for,
"conspiring" to do so. Conspir-
acy law - so vague and so
broad that even prominent le-
gal scholars have been con-
fused by its application - has
been used throughout the his-
tory of our country as a means
of stifling dissent.
he law, the nation
their part in the so-called
"conspiracy to sell the secret
of the atom bomb."
The whole philosophy of the
cold war which created the
Vietnam war is based upon the
assump'tion that there exists ant
"international communist con-
spiracy" bent upon destroying
our form of government.
A charge of conspiracy -
which, according to law, is
committed by a "meeting of
the minds" of persons "known
and unkhown" bent upon vio-
lating the law - makes it pos-
sible for people who don't even
know each other to be linked
together with a mythical "sub-
versive element" which need
never be defined. Somehow, the
law implies, it is possible for
minds to meet and plot togeth-
er without bodies ever coming
in contact.
BUT THE defendants say
that wl.at they did was done
for reasons of conscience. Is it
possible for consciences to meet
and plot together? It is not
only absurd, it is criminal when
four men, protesting the war
openly and publicly because
they believed that they were
rixtavD tcg.nf ,1 I-f tol1$isnn
persons "known and unknown"
-breathed that something and
were revitalized in their com-
mitment. In the best American
tradition, they stood up for
what they said they believed
in, and took actions consonant
with these beliefs. . am proud
to call myself part, of this "con-
spiracy."
EVENTUALLY, the courts
will have to rule on the de-
fendants' claim that there is
insufficient evidence to sustain
a conviction on the conspiracy
charge. But the four will never
be acquitted; the seeds of sus-
picion and fear of the four men
and all that they stand for
have long since been planted.
Even if their convictions are
overturned; the door has been
opened for the thousands of
others, "known and Unknown,"
to be tried as part of the same
conspiracy.,
And the young men charged
with violating the draft law
will continue to be tried and
given long prison terms for
their association with this evil,
monolithic "conspiracy."
CONSPIRACY law, like all
the other laws that govern us,
Ray Charles
Raelettes
p
10
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