HAR PY CHA PIN A THILL The Michigan Daily-Saturday, February 10, 1979-Page 5
Only a
By MARK KOWALSKY
"I'm not scared to make a fool of
myself - tonight's show proved it,"
said Harry Chapin backstage while
irolfing down his first meal of the day,
after playing 22 songs last Thursday
rmight at Hill Auditorium. Chapin's act
was weak at times and unpolished; but
the crowd loved him.
You can't blame him for appearing a
bit enervated: He is in the middle of
playing 18 concerts in 19 days; and also
has been flying around the country to
hold hearings for the Presidential
Commission on World Hunger. Chapin
is preparing to record a new album next
week and took the opportunity Thur-
sday night to try out some of his new
material. "We tried a lot of different
stuff, some. worked, and some didn't,"
he confessed. The singer-songwriter's
fast pace evidently caught up with him
as he stumbled through some of the
later work, missing chords on his
guitar, forgetting lyrics, and often
breaking character. Chapin, however,
does not apologize for his show. "You
have to de-virginize the songs
somewhere ... If you don't try things
new you don't go anywhere." His band
agreed with Chapin's assessment:
"The band gave it a six . .. a lot of
things went wrong, but nothing in par-
ticular," said bass guitarist John
Wallace.
CHAPIN is known for his works
-which tell a story about characters who
seem real and have everyday
problems. He makes it simple for the
audience to view others with love, em-
pathy, and compassion. It should be
noted that Chapin's latest album,
Living Room Suite, is not as story-
oriented as his older material. Living
Room Suite was relaxed. We wanted to
try something new. Usually my audien-
ce has to listen carefully to get the will be
story . . . this is different." Is this a anythin
trend for Chapin?"No,"he said, the new Wear
album, Legend of the Lost and Found Perrier
'6,
but crowd stillwild about
CHAPIN's VOICE and guitar work
was given much-needed solid back-up
work by his band. John Wallace on bass
guitar, his brother Steve Chapin on
keyboards, Doug Walker playing lead
guitar, Kim Scholes on cello, and Howie
Fields on drums, not only added good
musical backup, which helped keep the
concert together, but helped Chapin in-
teract with the audience. The band's
jokes and comments kept everybody
loose and relaxed. The show was also
aided by an excellent light show which
added new dimensions to the songs.
What is on the horizon for Chapin?
"Tonight we listen to the tape of the
new show, and next week we are going
to record a live album of new
material," a la Jackson Brown? "No.
No songs from hotel rooms or buses,
just concerts." Chapin has 23 concerts
scheduled this month, and in an
average year, he will put on 200 shows.
However, what is really important to
Chapin right now is the 60 or so shows
he does as benefits for the hungry
people of the world.
"We have 20 million people starving
right here in the U.S.," Chapin said
right before intermission as he spoke
briefly about his work with the World
Hunger Year. He has raised $700,000
from concerts, and another $150,000
from selling concessions at the shows.
He asked everyone in the audience to
buy a T-shirt or a songbook. "I have no
heavy plans for tonight. I'll stick
around to sign anything you buy," he
added. Sure enough, Chapin stayed in
the lobby until after midnight, talking
to people.
HUNGER has been Chapin's prime
off-stage concern since 1973. He saw the
issue as a natural political and
charitable outlet for his energies, and
went about setting up a Presidential
Commission on World Hunger. He lob-
bied in the House and Senate, and, ac-
Harry
cording to Ralph Nader and Peter
Bourne, Chapin's effort was the most
impressive lobbying effort by an out-
sider they have ever witnessed: "I've
never seen an example of an enter-
tainer who dedicated so many hours or
so much imagination to a civic cause,"
says Nader, summing up the feeling of
many Washington insiders.
AS FAR AS concerts go, Chapin
provided a great show, a cut above that
offered by most other performers. As
far as a Chapin concert goes, though, as
his band said, it was only a six.
Someone handed him a note saying
"M.S.U. loves you, Harry"'. For-
tunately Chapin had the good taste to
end his concert on a Maize and Blue
note: "Go and win the Rose Bowl, will
ya?"
11EE ATEST
ADVEIiE F ESCPE
'Lt
rl
H arry Chapin Daily Photo by ANDY FREEBERG
more "story" oriented than
g he has ever done.
ing blue jeans and sipping
water, Chapin integrated a lot
I
1::=
B. RQGF N i Iq
r -
.... :..
T HIS WEEK I'd like to lower the usual high moral tone of this column and
turn from political and religious issues to more mundane subjects such
as college life.In these solipistic times, it seems that every outdoor author wants
to talk only. about things that affect him directly. (Notice that the pronoun
"him" is generic and gramatically correct; I acknowledge that many women
also create grafitti, but I'll have no part of any misbegotten attempts to torture
our language on the rock of sexual politics.) Fortunately, while the overall
quality content may have declined grievously in the last decade, there are still
occasional glimpses of style.
The very essence of college life is studying at the library, and now that
there are no official hangouts for those under 21, the Grad and the UGLI have
become prime nightspots. Based on even a brief examination of indigenous
scrawls, one is abashed to see that only those who got a "C" or worse in English
125 are allowed in the UGLI: There's just nothing good there. Desks and
bathrooms are crowded with insipid limericks, base rumors, and crisp, point-
less epithets.
A MUCH HIGHER time is to be had at the Hatcher Graduate Library
where the carrels carry the evidence of thousands of snappy dialogues (exam-
ple:- "Study hard, and you'll get that 4.0"; "I'll go get the stretcher."). It beats
every building on campus except the Dennison, and it never sinks into puerile
Star Trek trivia or cutesy nonsense like "Phuck Fysics."
The Grad is one of the few places where rar'ionalism ("Descartes thinks! ")
and existenialism ("I'll be here at 4:00 Godot") are considered good graffiti
sources. Of course it has. its darker side; the men's rooms are festooned with in-
vitations for gay liasons and I for one would much prefer such activities carried
on through other channels, say the Classified Ad page of the Daily, leaving the
johns for, the less amorous functions for which they were designed. It is indeed
sad to read "I'm straight and I'm going to use this toilet at 12:30,
11/17/78-don't bother me."
Turning last to East Quad, where graffiti is a way of life, it is interesting to see
the eager topicality of some of the works. Fdr example, in the Halfway Inn
(gratuitous vulgar slang like "Halfass" is why the drinking age went up) has
long had "Too Bad About Sid" featured on the north wall. Well now, it really is
too bad. Instead of listing all EQ has to say and spoiling the thrill of discovery,
I'll ad; just one quote that, by its obvious insincerity, says it all: "College Is No
Fun."
I
of new material into the show, but these
songs did not have the same
storytelling aspect as his old material,
Even his older works were done a bit
faster than usual, and he threw in a few
less stories than at other recent concer-
ts. It is Chapin's storytelling style
which has earned him two gold albums,
a gold single, an Oscar nomination and
two Grammy nominations. Unless the
new album indeed includes this special
element, it will be doomed for the cut-
out racks.
BACKSTAGE, Chapin talked about
what the critics think of him. Rolling
Stone magazine, the rock culture bible,
gave "Taxi" a bad review when it came
out. "Look what they know. They
quoted the first two lines of "Taxi,"
said I didn't know how to tell a story
and dismissed me. If I would tell you
some of the inside politics at Rolling
Stone, you would realize these reviews
are totally arbitrary."
Chapin believes his biggest satisfac-
tion is not having to play to AM radio.
"AM is for the Bee Gees and Mc-
Donalds commercials. I do what I want
to do. I suppose my biggest problem is
that I write for adults: Singles are for
nine- to 13-year-old pre-pubescent
females. But I am making more money
year after year, without getting songs on
the radio . . . I am no factor commer-
cially."
Concert audiences now routinely go
to shows expecting an hour and a half
set and perhaps an encore if they are
lucky. These low expectations helped to
save the day fdr Chapin. Chapin
initiates were overwhelmed with his
energy and interaction with the audien-
ce. This artist feels that participation
with the people is essential for creating
a greater awareness and perspective.
The highlights of the show were his
audience participation numbers, in-
cluding his favorite cuts: "Cat's in the
Cradle," "WOLD," "Taxi," "Circle,"
and "Bananas."
CHAPIN asked the Ann Arbor
Memorial Shoestring Choir, all the way
from the front row back to the "cheap
seats," to join in and harmonize on the
half-hour version of "Bananas" which
shook old Hill Auditorium to its rafters.
Chapin's encore song was introduced
by way of an update on the new
developments concerning the song
"Taxi." His first big hit, "Taxi" tells
the story of a man driving a cab who
picks up a strange fare, his old love
Sue:
She was going to be an actress
I was going to learn to fly,
She took off to find the footlights
I took off to find the sky
The song ends with the promise to get
together sometime, as she stuffs a
twenty in his shirt.
Thursday'night Chapin added a new
chapter to this tale. He recently tracked
down Sue, who was no longer living at
16 Parkside Lane. The butler said she
moved. Chapin found her in an old run-
down house, where they talked for a
while, and he invited her to a few
shows. "She works nights," he ex-
plained, declining to tell the crowd if
they made love again, or even if he stuf-
fed a twenty in her shirt. "The story is
mostly true," said Chapin later. "Do
you think I should put it to music?"
These new developments flowed per-
fectly into his last song, "Circle," in
which Chapin explains how life always
ends up in the same place. He hopped
off the stage and handed his mike to
members of the audience for them to
sing the song. It was a very effective
and moving ending to a three and a half
hour show.
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