PETE AND ARLO A T PINE KNOB
Fighting folk spirit still lives on
By STEVE HOOK
In 1942, two popular folk musicians
appeared on the CBS Radio Network.
Their names were Woody Guthrie and
Pete Seeger. They sang a songscalled
"The Sinking of the Reuben James," a
protest song denouncing certain aspec-
ts of American foreign policy.
The next day, an article appeared in
the New York Herald Telegram about
the performance. The headline read:
"Commy Folksingers Try to Infiltrate
Radio." Both folksingers were
blacklisted, and were virtually ignored
by the American mass media from that
time on.
SUNDAY night at Pine Knob, Pete
Seeger appeared with Woody's son,
Arlo Guthrie, as part of a nationwide
tour. The two sang a variety of protest
songs, as well as a wide spectrum of
traditional, less dogmatic, folk and
gospel songs.
Although the Seeger-Guthrie com-
bination continues to be ignored by the
national media, the songs continue. A
large, enthusiastic audience at Pine
Knob affirmed their feelings for the
duo. One could feel a true appreciation
coming from the audience, who made a
point to greet each song with spirited
Area m
SyIn celeb
For years now, the Wednesday night
hootenannies at The Ark have served as
Ann Arbor's only real showcase for the
4 east supply of local folk talent. This
year, the newly-formed Ann Arbor
Council for Traditional Music and Dan-
ce (AACTMAD) is doing something to
change that.
The council, formed this past spring,
is presenting the Ann Arbor Festival of
Folk Song and Dance this Sunday af-
ternoon and evening on the grounds of
usicians will shine
ration of traditions
the Ark. The festival is designed to give
performers a chance to share with each
other and the public the variety of
traditions that survive in the Ann Arbor
area.
Old time country music, bluegrass,
string band music, ballad singing,
original songs, British Isles music,
Morris dancing, square and contra
dancing, and sacred harp singing all
flourish in the area, but many of these
art forms have a low profile because
Horror, comedy films
reflect societal angst
Comedy movies and occult-horror films, such as Dracula and The Amityville
Horror, are in vogue today.
Film tastes are more than just a passing fancy. They offer a measure of the
tenor of the times, and provide insight into our nation's collective experiences and
fears, says a University of Michigan authority.
"Motion pictures have a way of running in cycles side by side with historical
events," says Frank E. Beaver, U-M professor of communication.
Today, for example, the popularity of comedy film rivals the period around the
1930's, when the Marx Brothers, domestic comedies, satires of manners and self-
ridicule began to emerge, he says.
"SOCIALCRITICS tell us that the comic films of the decade - and other types
of escapist entertainment, such as Busby Berkeley's dance spectaculars - saw a
nation through a bleak period. It was a time of economic depression and increasing
international tension, for which miovies became an antidote of escape," says
Beaver.
Today "one can't help but wonder if the predominance and popularity of
screen comedies aren't once again linked to the uncertainties of our present
economic situation and to a general anxiety about the future."
Another historical trend in the film world is the popularity of occult-horror
movies most noticeably after major military conflicts, according to Beaver, who
also serves as film reviewer for U-M radio stations.
"THE FIRST CYCLE of these movies showed up in Germany right after World
War I. In 1922 F. W. Murnau made the first screen version of Dracula - titled
Nosferatu - and shortly thereafter Germany produced a varied collection of mon-
ster films. In our own country, monster pictures appeared about the same time
with John Barrymore's Dr. Jekyll abd Mr. Hyde (1920)."
Now, in the post-Vietnam era, the occult-horror film is back in full force, says
Beaver. "The Exorcist forcefully reintroduced the genre just as the war was win-
ding down, and since then there have been dozens of similar films about demonic
forces at work in the world."
It is arguable, says Beaver, that horror movies, like comedies, provide relief
from tensions. "The channeling off of anxiety by watching someone else's horror
on the screen is often offered as part of the reason for the popularity of the genre.
In these movies, good always triumphs over evil - usually through religious inter-
vention - and in this respect horror-occult films also offer hope through forces
greater than human kind."
Following wartime, there have also been outcroppings of films depicting men-
tal aberrations - such as insanity, nervous disorders, shell shock victims - and
ones in which authority figures are brought into question, says Beaver.
"The mental aberration films in the United States in the late 1940's can be
"viewed as a hangover from the atrocities of the second world war.
"MOST RECENTLY One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has earned the distin-
ction of becoming the most popular, serious film since the end of the Vietnam War.
This picture was set in a mental institution, and like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(made in Germany in 1919) elicited sympathy for the.patients while questioning
the ways and means of the authorities. The lobotomy performed on Jack Nicholson
represented an act of authoritarian control that once again raised the question of
who is really mad.
"Although Ken Kesey wrote his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest some
years earlier, the film version attracted its huge audience in the United States at a
time when the quality of our own authorities was being seriously questioned
following Watergate and the long period of involvement in Vietnam."
Beaver notes that some'social observers and psychologists believe that these
types of mental aberration and horror films attract interest because they satisfy
curiosity about atrocities, which develop during periods of real life conflict.
Following a period of intense interest, the curiosity eventually wanes and these
films begin to lose their appeal, says Beaver.
those participating in them tend to
work together rather than for an
audience.
AACTMAD includes representatives
from the University Folklore Society,
The Ark, the Ann Arbor Morris Team,
Cobblestone Country Dancers, and the
Sacred Harp Singers. Through future
projects, the Council hopes to en-
courage the growth of the folk com-
munity in Ann Arbor, which many con-
sider to be on the wane.
The festival will begin at 11 a.m., with
the front porch of the Ark being the
main stage for the host of performers
who are donating their time and talen-
ts. A special treat for real music fans
will be the return appearance of Bill
Miller, erstwhile fiddler for Ann Ar-
bor's Sharon Hollow String Band. It is
rumored that Miller is travelling from
Boston back to Ann Arbor for this
reunion.
Other performers include instrumen-
tal virtuoso David Cahn, the Clydesdale
Cloggers, the ubiquitous bones player
Percy Danforth, Footloose, fiddlin' Bill
Meyer, scruffy Dick Siegel, Jay\
Stielstra, and soul man David West.
Around the lawn there will be
workshops throughout the day on the
playing of different instruments and
other aspects of the folk tradition.
Promoters urge festival goers to bring
their dancing shoes, as a highlight of
the day promises to be old time square
and contra dancing.
ovations.
Seeger and Guthrie have managed to
do something few prominent musicians
do. They have transcended, if not by
choice, the mass media superstructure
in the United States; and have
developed successful careers indepen-
dent of the publicity channels used by
most contemporary musicians. They
continue to espouse their political
views, making them a prohibitive risk
for the national media, yet they
manage to draw thousands to forums
like Pine Knob for highly enjoyable per-
formances.
ALTHOUGH THEY continue with
their apparent infatuation with the
darker side of modern day society,
corruption, prejudice, pollution and the
like, and their views are no less con-
troversial than in the past-they seem
to have found a comfortable shelter in
the schizophrenic jungle of the
American music industry. .
Although their tone and philosophies
seem essentially in line, Arlo Guthrie
and Pete Seeger display two opposite
styles of showmanship. Seeger likes to
become intensely involved with the
audience, including them in every way
he can. He says, "I like to sing with a
group of people so the first thing I'do is
make the audience my group. If I can't
get them all singing with me by the end,
I feel I haven't really succeeded."
Guthrie, on the other hand, would
seem to prefer performing in the dark
background, solemnly strumming his
guitar or playing his piano. He makes
no attempt to connect with the audien-
ce. He makes no attempt to impress the
audience, to the extent that he appears
on stage like he has just dragged him-
self out of bed.
YET THE CROWD loves Pete
Seeger, and the crowd loves Arlo
Guthrie: They enjoy Seeger's energetic
style as much as they revere Guthrie's
apparent indifference.
"We've got to pay attention to the
media," Seeger says, "but at the same
time, I think you've got to work at the
other end . . . I'm going to work on;
since I can't get on TV, I'll work at the
other end. . . One thing we learned from
(the sixties) is that good music doesn't
need the media if you know how to
make it. On the other hand, the funny
thing is that the world has the media
now and I'm anxious to see the media
used better."
THE
LOOK.
The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, September 11, 1979-Page 7
Part-elime Employment-Nights
The College of Literature, Science, and the. Arts is
currently interviewing students interested in parti-
pating in an alumni fund raising telethon. ISA
alumni across the country will be called from campus.
The telethon runs four nights per week, Monday
through Thursday, October 8 through November 5.
You will have the option of working a mimimum
two nights per week to a maximum four nights.
LSA students only
Hours: 6:30 to 9:30
Pay: $3.50 per hour
Phone: 763-5576
737 N. Huron
{at Lgwell, just E. of EMU Campus)
"Michigan's answer to Rod Stewart"
"Great Band"-Eddie Money
"The Look are a tight, exciting rock and roll band"-
Mark Coleman, Michigan Daily
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
THE BLADES
Coming NEXT TUESDAY only
MUGSY
Appearing Tomorrow only
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TONIGHT
Introductory Lecture
on the
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MEDITATION,
and TM-Sidhi. Programs
founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Tuesday, September 11
7:30 P.M., Multi-Purpose Room
3rd floor Undergraduate Library
offered by
Students' International Meditation Society
668-8256
International Association for the Advancement of the Science of Creative
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