The Michigan Daily-Thursday, October 26, 1978-Page 7 oug tales an ld olds By R. J. SMITH It was several nickels past eight Tuesday night before the show started, on an evening when the Man-in-the-. Moon skittered sunny-side-up, across the Teflon surface of the skillet-black sky. This truly was Indian summer's last stand. As fall-looked back at Ann Arbor and laughed out loud once before it boarded at the Fuller train station, the wind whipped through those standing outside Hill Auditorium - it was colder than a gravedigger's ass. THOSE STANDING outside Hill Auditorium, waiting to see the Leon Redbone/Tom Waits show, were coun- ting for a special kind of warmth to come from the performances Tuesday night. If they were willing to weather a chilling Redbone performance, they left happily. A bucketful of jalapeno peppers would not have been enough to heat up Redbone's act. Possessing as much personality as a discarded wad of chewing gum, Redbone resorts to a gimmicky stage manner and a throat- ful of phlegm to get the audience behind him. Unlike his records, on which there is at least a beautifully smooth and dated sound to all the tunes, onstage Redbone simply sounds bored and two- dimensional. If you've heard a small portion of Redbone's songs you really have heard them all. Sure, he plays some fine guitar, and does nice versions of blues, novelty and Hawaiian tunes, but so do countless performers who ap- pear at the Ark. If this is some kind of joke he's trying to turn into a career, I don't get it. (AND IF ANYBODY really cares about what diddy-wah-diddy means, would you please write me? I'd like to have your name and address on file.) However, I have to hand it to Red- bone in one way: he can sure get an audience going while exerting almost no energy at all. Who else could enter- tain an audience by making shadow puppets, or receive a round of applause just for looking so funny (his con- figuration of nose and mustache is truly odd), or amuse thousands by taking their picture with an instamatic camera? I almost fell asleep. But if Redbone delfated my hopes for the show (and to be fair, the audience for the most part loved him) the bard of the billiard hall, the poet laureat of parking lots and luncheonettes - Tom Waits - saved the show from biting the green shiboda. YOU'VE SEEN him waiting in the bus station on Huron, and you've perhaps picked him out talking to Shakey Jake in front of Mr. Tony's. He hangs out in the Central Cafe, chain- smoking Old Golds and pouring down cups of coffee. Everyone has seen the character that Waits plays - and on- stage, we have to pay attention to this character which we almost instin- ctively neglect. Waits has often in the past scorned college audiences, opting to keep away from the down-chic gang, with "little silver coke spoons hanging from their necks." But surprisingly, audiences like the one at Hill Auditorium provide a perfect listenership for Waits' low- budget comedy and weird free- associations. Backed by a competent band, the Waits' show included a striking pair of prop gas pumps and an automobile rear used during the song "Burma Shave," and ended with the singer walking out on stage in a bathrobe, sitting down at an easy chair and banging a bad television , set' ("You want to see Kojak?," he asked the crowd, "Tough shit, we can't get it.") before playing a tune at the piano. - BUT TH response he received for his wilder songs and monologues did not force Waits to lean on them unduly: there also were super versions of such songs as "Sight For Sore Eyes" and the striking new "Blud Valentine." Of course, Waits' melodies are as vaporous as the fog of cigarette smoke that surrounds him onstage - he really pens chord changes more than songs. But these changes are fine in concert, giving his band the chance to overlay improvisations on the skimpy melodies and letting Waits dig into the primor- dial layers of his cerebral cortex, let- ting loose with stream-of-consciousness monologues and lyric amendments to his songs more memorable than any of the recorded originals. For instance, "Step Right Up" was stretched out into a much longer rap and a mild put-down of the audience, and the show-stopping "Small Change," narrated beneath a prop street light, was much more effective. AMAZINGLY, Waits' voice improved throughout the show, and by the end, it almost didn't sound as if the singer had spent the previous night gargling with razor blades. But with Waits, the gruff nature of his singing is almost necessary for the tough tales of down- and-out loneliness that he sings. It is a rasp abetted by the consumption of oceans of Jack Daniels and uncountable cigarettes. There is a certain affecting quality when he attempts to wrap his vocal chords around a delicate phrase or a rough interval. Tuesday evening at Hill Auditorium, two sides of a very odd coin were presented. In the world of pop music eccentricity is a sellable, looked-for commodity that is snatched up and marketed with no special regard for the element of expression inherent in that eccentricity. At Hill, two performers showed how the quirky artist may choose to express himself. He can take to gimmicks and affect an im- penetrable mystique, or he may assume a character and share it with his audience, never making it static but never making it simple and obvious. There is hardly anything simple or obvious about Tom Waits - and there is much that is appealing, and that draws one deeper into his vivid, highly imper- sonal music. Studying got you down Take a break . .1 THE UNEX PECTrED GUEST is here at the LYDIA MENDELSSOHN THEARE J Go phone 763-1085 for info. box office hours-10 AM-6 PM Finn RRB& cVIC THERTE The Ann Arbor Film Coo erstive presents at AUD. A THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26 MOSES AND AARON (Jean-Marie Straub, 1974) 7 only-AUD. A This film of the Arnold Schonberg opera, a monument of 20th century music s itself a masterpiece of mini- malistic cinema. "The music of (Schonberg's) opera is sensually ravishing, and however intellectually stimulating the film, its visual splendors ore both sensual and-yes-lush."-Richard Roud, FILM COMMENT. AN4N ARBOR PREMIERE. In German, with subtitles SEBASTIANE (Derek Jorman, Paul Humfress, 1976) 9 only-AUD. A This modern and profane rendering of St. Sebastian's death has provoked extreme reactions wherever it has been shown from "liberated" gay euphoria to pious outrage and heterosexual sarcasm. "The most promising sign of new film life in independent narrative cinema in Britain in many. many years."-Tony Rayns. ANN ARBOR PREMIERE. In Latin, with English subtitles. Tomorrow: AMERICAN GRAFFITI Daily Photo by WAYNE CABLE Above, Tom Waits growls his way to success at Tuesday night's Hill Auditorium concert; below, Leon Redbone adds some of his magic to the festivities. Gilligan rescue misses the boat By RICH LORANGER Disappointment literally over- whelmed me Sunday night as I watched the second installment of Rescue From Gilligan's Island. Perhaps I shouldn't have expected so much; perhaps I should have expected nothing. At any rate, the program ended with no more than frustration, almost in spite of its promise.' To begin with, Gilligan's Island was never conceptualized for modern prime time viewing. It was designed for children's enjoyment, but beyond that, for the children of fifteen years ago. This put a tremendous strain on the writers of this supposed "concluding" episode. They had to devise a show along two vastly different, almost op- posing standards: an impossible feat at best. Happily, they stuck loyally to the original concept of the showl, and the characters' familiar antics were a delight and a relief to see. THE ORIGINAL cast returned, ex- cept Tina Louise, who is replaced by Judith Baldwin. At the program's very beginning the characters were somewhat sketchy, and the actors had a little trouble getting back the feel of their famous roles. Soon the pace icked up and began to flow, and the old magic returned in full. Once again it was like watching a harmless but great high-school play endlessly. Poor Miss Baldwin, though, is never given a chance. The audience kept its eyes on the new Ginger to see if she would measure up. Unfortunately, she could not. It is not that she is a totally inept actress Rather, Ginger is given by far the stupidest lines in the script. The old Ginger was delectable for her slyness; this one has nothing going for her but a very tight dress. The Professor, it seems, has discovered that the island will be destroyed by a great tidal wave, and Gilligan lets out the secret. The castaways fumble and bumble to save themselves. They finally strap them- selves helplessly into one great hut. At the last moment, Gilligan dashes out to save Fifi, Mrs. Howell's pooch. They, awaken battered and floating in mid- ocean, and Gilligan is lost! Not Gilligan, never. He is asleep on a log, floating right behind. In a great Jaws parody, they are attacked by a shark. Gilligan sets the hut on fire trying to cook dinner, and the smoke is spotted by a Coast Guard helicopter (in mid- ocean?) They are rescued. Rescued! ADMITTEDLY, THIS became a bit overplayed. The castaways are tugged into Honolulu Harbor, where a cheering crowd of thousands awaits them. They receive the key to Honolulu and a ticker tape parade in L.A. Then, at the end of show No. 1, the great sub-plot begins. Two ever-bumbling Soviet agents discover that Gilligan has returned with the memory bank from one of their top-secret' spy satellites. Dey vill get heem, no doubt. In thesecond episode, our castaways have gone their separate ways. The Skipper has his Minnow II, but to claim insurance he and Gilligan must get the other five islanders to sign a form proving. him blameless for the first wreck. Followed always but unaware of the two Soviets, they succeed in saving Ginger from a nude scene (she should have done it) and Mary Ann from a loveless wedding. The Professor cannot understand his fate as a macho hero, but all the college girls love him. He can't seem to invent something not done in the past fifteen years (like Frisbees), and must sacrifice his work to publicity. Gilligan stumbles in long enough to destroy an experiment, but that is all. The Howells resumb their positions in ultra-high society and Havana cigars (delivered by Fidel Castro himself)., The captain and Gilligan stop in and reveal the hypocrisy of the Howell's business acquaintances, and the Howells retain their humility. Of course, the Soviets are eventually caught. 4 NOW IS THE disappointing part. The fated seven reunite for a Christmas party on Minnow II, and decide to take its first cruise the next day. You can figure the rest. Not only are they ship- wrecked, but they land on the same island. But Gilligan is not depressed. "We're home," he says. Fate is one thing; silliness is too much another. This is all a matter of prerogatives, I guess. The original program was won- derfully frustrating; that was half the hilarity. This "conclusion" (sequel, ;really) is merely aggravating. Does producer Sherwood Shwartz really expect to revive the series? To him I say: Good Luck. There seems no place for innocent comedy in a world enveloped by Charlie's Angels and Three's Company. Personally, though, I'd be more than pleasantly surprised to see him pull it off. Man Of La Mancha A MIUSK ET P RESE NT A TIO N 98 years of Wolverine football nostalgia! From the frst ga me in 1879 and Fielding Yost's "point-a-minute" teams to Bo Schembechier's hard-fought'77 season and all the glory years in be- tween, here are photos, sta- tistics, news clips, memora- bilia and much more, in a big 8"/2" x1l" paperback. Over 150 black-and white photos. $7.95, now at your bookstore. THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SCRAPBOOK by RICHARD M.COHEN, JORDAN A. DEUTSCH, DAVID S. NEFT. Foreword by TOM HARMON EJMBOBBS-MERRILL TICKET ORDER FORM Circle (late ickets desiredl: November s e2s 3 4,8,9,r 0 atx8 .m. $4.50-center orchestra and balcony November 5 at 2 pm. $4.00--side orchestra and balcony November I1I at 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. _. tickets t $ for a total of $ Name Phone I "THE GREATEST MAGIC SHOW IN A QUARTER OF A CENTURY" -L.A TIMES 1STOIF1 Address City State Zip Mail order with stamped, self-addressed envelope and check payable to UAC- MUSKET, 530 S. State St., Ann Arbor, M1 48109. Phone 763-1107 for further information. Daily Phone Numbers: Billing-764-0550 Circulation-764-0558 Classifieds-764-0557 :..... -74A A ICeA yt4. A .I J... .b i .. ltl7i l SUNDAY OCTOBER 29 26.m. & 7Dm.