AT NAT TRAL RESOURCES BALL: Dan ce By ERIC ZORN "This is a real 'good-ole time,"' sparkled a young "Lumberjill" at Friday night's Paul Bunyan Ball. "The dancing and singing and county-fair contests are great!" Another im- pressed reveller, dressed in the suggested costume of dungarees and a flannel shirt, expressed his satisfaction "that the lights are all up and there's no one drunk and being weird and throwing up." The Paul Bunyan fest, an old Univer- sity tradition which hasn't been seen since 1968, was revived this year by an energetic Natural Resources Club. The Union Ballroom wasthe scene for dan- cing, musical performances, and various contest such as tobacco spit- ting, crosscut sawing, Paul Bunyan look-alike, and biggest foot. Prizes for these contests were supplied by a host of area businesses. The evening started off somewhat rs getBt slowly as Art Bently called square dan- ces and about thirty couples pounded the floorboards. Dancing to records is almost always uninspiring when com- pared to the real thing, and it was a welcome change when Ann Arbor's Peter Ruth got out his harmonicas for a half an hour of bluesy folk and jazz. Ruth is a remarkable virtuoso, but he's always seemed to lack that stage charm and ability to capture an audience that many folk performers have. He will be appearing very soon for a weekend at the Ark, and it will be interesting to see how his act holds together over an entire evening. r!a men i Al inyans The Sharon Hollow String Band, a local collection of old-timey musicians, helped to set the place on fire as a good percentage of the over seven hundred people who showed up at the ball jam- med their way onto the dance floor for some well-taught and well-called square dancing. It was a shame that, with all the hoofing and stomping, we didn't get to hear more of Bill Miller's precise fiddling and the tasteful in- strumentation of the rest of the band. For those who could draw themselves away from the center of action, the Sharon Hollow Band was jamming down in the Pendleton Room for a good portion of the evening. The Natural Resources Club had also set up an im- pressive set of exhibits which detailed the scope of their activities, and those accoutred in flannel shirts and jeans who tired 'of battling the crush in the ballroomm found the extra room a welcome and educational retreat. The Ball, which spokesman Chris Polson called "surprisingly suc- cessful," finished up with the Natural Resources Jug Band and the country rock electric sounds of the Steve Newhouse group. The NR Jugband was informal and sloppy, but there were ob- viously several very talented in- dividuals scattered around the crowded stage, especially the two female vocalists. And since the evening was a mixed- bag-of-picklesrentertainment-wise anyway, the rock dancing to the Newhouse band didn't have a twisting efect on the overall mood. Sponsors hope the ball will run next year as well. Sorrels soporiflC By MIKE TAYLOR The first time I saw Rosalie Sorrels was an evening I'll never forget. From the moment she walked up totherArk stage to begin a mar- velous story-song to the moment her set ended, my eyes never strayed. I was immediately taken by her severe, knowing face, and her sharp, almost brittle voice. She was a fierce spirit, and her passion spilled into every song. The next day, I bought her Philo LP Always A Lady, and when Moments of Happiness : came out last year, I was the first to buy it. I guess you could call me a Rosalie Sorrels fan; needless to say, I've been waiting for her to come back to Ann Ar- bor. Friday evening, that night arrived. SADLY, THE magic seemed to be gone. Sorrels performed two lethargic sets of pleasant 'but unexceptional songs-hardly the kindl of stuff memories are made of. Rosalie looked tired and announced before her first song that she had just broken her See SORRELS, Page 7 The Michigan Daily-Sunday, February 18, 1979-Page 5 UNO 1 T - i 7 I I 1 I Owl I 'RQGWg - a-. - a .. Roger visits the Dennison Building BEFORE DISCUSSING THE results of the past week's research in the walls and stalls of the Dennison Building, I'd like to thank those of you who have written in helpful advice and suggestions. Although I would en- joy using this column to respond to each letter with appropriate spelling corrections and counseling referrals, I must'resist the temptation to exist in the higher spiritual plane of Dear Abby or Ann Landers, and thus it's back to the bathrooms. The insinuation is none of the aforementioned letters (see last Sunday's Edit page) that I had not actually been' in the Dennison Building served as the impetus for my tour there this past week. And a sad tour it proved to bie. The old place has never fully recovered from its last coat of whitewash. Some prime locations remain depressingly bare, particularly in the basement stairwells. But let's start at the top. The single highest piece of writing on "U" proper- ty is the bon mot "scumbag" on the service tower stairs, 11th floor. After that, one must descend to the sixth floor for anything beyond an occasional "Where's all the graffiti?" The sixth floor men's room contains two remarkable artifacts: "Nixon is a Coxsucker" and the even more ancient ".Johnson is screwing Vietnam, make him pull out." How many thousands of people must have read that message over the years? This is truly in- spirational for those who wish to reach a large audience. THE SIXTH FLOOR west stairs display the first sample of the oft- repeated "Dream Carefully", and the bathroom has a stall filled with "I Love Finals", "Finals are Great", and a rather inexplicable "Hi Mom!". The fourth floor john offers sexual bathroom philosophy, while the stairs show the first real signs of life. A graffiti war between some children from Markley's Butler house intermingled with rock 'n' roll debates, for exam- ple: "Clapton is God", "No, Jesus Is.", "Who?". On the east stairs, the first traces of Tolkien trivia are visible. The third, second, and first floors are where the gooJ stuff is, and I suggest you see them yourself. Here are some landmarks you'll not want to miss. Each floor's lavatory contains vulgar remarks almost too salty for the Daily, such as "Your mother sucks off illegal aliens (3rd one on the left) and the second floor features a lively "engineers vs. LSA" debate, while the first floor can boast a cliche-ridden political fracas and little more. The stairwells are generally not as bare as the bathrooms, but they have one tremendously annoying item: trivia quizzes.,Perhaps it is a mark of the ,physicist's mind that he cannot listen to Steely Dan for musical values or read Lord of the Rings for theme or style; instead, the P. & A. authors are driven to memorizing trivia details and showing off their pointless knowledge. I greatly enjoy both Tblkien and Steely Dan, and am saddened whenever Lsee their work trivialized by calculator-bearing neanderthals. The caustic question added by one writer, "OK asshole, how many words in LOTR?", comforts me only slightly, because somewhere in this University someone is usually counting. EQUALLY USELESS are the fervent dedications of loyalty to one dead. rock star after another. Housing authorities will be interested to note that Jim Morrison not only lives, but apparently holds the leases to both 4228 Markley and 556 Williams, West Quad. All is not dull, fortunately. Among the bright spots are obscurities like "Suck Off My Atwood's Machine" and the "Clone Order Sheet," or the nicely lettered "Your mother is no stranger to the embraces of several furry mammals." Old favorites like "Reality is for those who can't face drugs" and "Bomb Toledo" still thrive, along with tasteless topical remarks such as "Free the Guyana 900" and "Sid Vicious Lives" (Note: He doesn't). For the literate, there's a tombstone for Holden Caulfield with the epitaph "Fuck You". A few Star Trek comments still hang on, including the famous " 'Bones?' 'He's dead, Jim'," and downvn the first landing of the east stairwellis the best example of all, the Star Wars debate. This discussion of scientific ac- curacy in the popular movie is notable for its emphasis on good spelling and logical rigor. I gave it four stars and recommend it highly. Beneath it is scrawled "This is nothing like Music School graffiti! You physicists are all so intellectual." This may be, but I think I'll look at the Grad. 1 Dinner theatre serves up light, fluffy opera Department of Romance Languages Summer Study Program SALAMANCA, SPAIN and 1A ROCHELLE, FRANCE SECOND INFORMATION MEETING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22 4:00 PM Lecture Room II, MLB AGENDA: Fees Deadlines Applications TICKETS NOW ON SALE! The Actors Ensemble Presents THE ARDICA FlOW Ruth Wolff's powerful play about Queens, Pontiffs, Power, and Love March 15-18, 8 pm L tydia Mendelsso/,n Theatre Tickets $3.50 & $4.00 at UAC Ticket Central Michigan Union Call 763-1107 or 763-1543 Sponsored by UAC & MSA UAC-MUsket Presents Leonard Bernstein's 1 st Musical Comedy ON -THE TOWN.. Power Center-April 5-7 Tickets On Sale Tuesday, Feb. 20 Ticket Central Michigan Union "New York, New York! It's a Helluva town!!" For Info. call 763-1107 Use Daily Classifeds By DIANE HAITHMAN If you 'find yourself particularly hungry for fine food and musical frolic all in the same evening, visit the University Club for a highly amusing if highly-priced combination of both. Some of the Music School's best voices combine with cuisine this weekend and the next for two nights of operatic playfulness in "Opera Opera" and "Telephone." Dinner theatre lends a strange hint of class to the Ann Arbor bill of fare-but don't let the word "opera" scare you away. Don a tie with your jeans and enjoy. r'le Tlephone, Opera Opera By Gian Carlo Menotti; and William Saroyan n ,err v ( o Dinner eater Feb. 16, 17, 2:, 21 Opera Singer. Gangster......... Sister............. Lucy............ Ben ............ .Julia Broxholm ........Michael Doll .......Carol Madalin Julia Broxholm .Michael Doll telephone, he wails, is a "two-headed monster . . . with miles of umbilical cord." Even his feeble attempt to mur- der the telephone by clipping the wires is thwarted. Broxholm's soprano is, as usual, breathtaking. However, this musically fascinating piece waxes a mite tedious simply because an in- fatuation withatelephone can't sustain an audience even fors the few frivolous minutes it requires. Those who go only to the performance and skip dinner should be warned that each mini-opera is only about half an hour long, and there is a twenty-minute intermission during which one feels obliged to drink. So, if you go, try to make a full evening of it-it's one you'll delight in frittering away. Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture Lisa Levit & Richard Tuschman Feb:6 - March 2 Reception. Feb.9, 7-9 p.m. Tuea-Fri. 10-6 Sat, Sun. 12- 5 764-3234 FIRST FLOOR MICHIGAN UNION Russell B. Collins, firod'd(ic or , i .ad dci nrii The first offering is William Saroy an's "Opera Opera," in which a troupe of guileless performers unite for no reason whatsoever to be directed by a hard-sell candy vendor to enact a spontaneous murder/tragedy. It's quite funny, but the astonishingly lovely. voices of Julia Broxholm and Carol Madalin seem almost wasted on this lit- tle bit of fluff. The scene is admittedly silly, and made even more enjoyably so by the performance of Michael Doll as a confused but obliging gangster. "The Telephone," by Gian Carlo Menotti, involves a man in love with a woman who is in love with her telephone. His repeated attempts to propose marriage to her are interrup- ted by telephone jangles so well-timed that they even begin to annoy the audience. The frustrated Michael Doll is once again a pleasure to watch. The D IVE1 ITY c5MUSICAL G8O d"Mrnv The first baby carriage' patent in the United States was issued in 1829. I E A Play by THEf Nikolai Gogoi INSPECTOR GENEPAL- Featuring Philip LeStrange as the Mayor Wed-Sat Feb. 14-17, 8PM Sun., Feb.18. 2PM Tickets at the PTP Box Office ed. pse _/fD ~JAZZ ARTISTS ON TOUR! GRO"GLX Good:I er University Symph Gustav Mc Fifth Annual Be o GRIOT GALAXY SAM SANDERS & VISIONS THE PARADISE THEATRE ORCHESTRA Featuring ALLEN BARNES MARCUS BELGRAVE RON ENGLISH KENNY GARRETT ED GOOCH LMONTE HAMILTON DOC HOLLADAY RON JACKSON LEONARD KING $350 DON MAYBERRY KEITH VREELAND 4.50 LYMAN WOODARD 5.50 Tickets on Sale Now Mon.-Fri., 11:30-5:30Michi n Union Box Office. Also Schoolkids' and both Disco u man and cony Orchestra Icr, Conductor at the nefit Concert N! gan at )unt The 'King of Swing' plays with the University Symphony ,for an evening of classical music and Broadway hits to benefit the School of Music Scholarship Fund and the University Musical Society. Goodman joins the orchestra for Concertino for Clari- net and Orchestra by Weber and a medley of Broadway hits. Tickets are' $5, $7, $8, $9; and $25 (which includes a 'Meet the Artists' reception and tax-deductible gift.) By mail or at Burton Tower, Ann Arbor 48109, weekdays 9-4:30, Sat. 9-12. f