arts & entertainment

The Michigan Daily-Sunday, April 8, 1979-Pages

ISRAEL INDEPENDENCE
DA Y CEERA TION

F


I


I


ITT!r

_I-

R 6E f~ji11

W11 TT~ 7
A 3

_- ,

Roger geht zum MLB
"G RAFFITI: THE SILENT MENACE." For those who may fear that
yellow journalism is no longer with us, the above headline should
supply ample relief. It was found this past week accompanying an article in
Maize, an otherwise responsible and useful student-oriented publication, and
the piece asserted mainly that graffiti messes up the Graduate Library. The
logic used to express this point was convoluted and contradictory, the
style ranged from adequate to painful (n.b. "I realize this school is not a
bowl of cherries, sometimes it's the pits"), and the background research
was obviously superficial. Aside from these flaws, it was not a bad story, and
offers further support to my theory that wanton wall scribbling is perhaps
the chief menace to civilization as we know it.,
Speaking of wanton scribbling, last week's "Nuke Me" April Fool's
column elicited a more favorable response than ,any of the preceding,
serious columns. I, of course, did not write it, and must congratulate the
clever Arts editors, one of whom used to be a close personal friend. These
same churls are also responsible for the mysterious disappearance of the
last twenty lines of my March 25 "Roger Visits East Quad" column. Suffice
it to say that the Quaddies were spared some of the chilliest and most con-
descending rhetoric ever to see print, and it's time to send their magic
markers to training camp. These lines, lost forever to Daily readers, have
since been published in a large, Eastern newspaper, and are rumored to be
under consideration for several international journalism prizes.
ONE MIGHT BE ILL advised to bring a first date to the Modern
Languages Building in order to read the walls, though one could do worse,
say, by attending a synchronized swim show. The wall wisdom at MLB
yields itself in surprising quantities, with the stairways the far perferred
location over the usually base and twisted bathrooms.
The exception, to be sure, is the second floor men's room urinal which
has the eye-level inscription: "You now hold Lou Belcher by the neck."
The most rewarding approach to the building, as always, is to be
systematic. The "humor" magazine, The Gargoyle, which, I am convinced,
was not so much written as stolen from high school publications near and
far, does boast the eerily true "MLB Corollary" to Murphy's Law: "Which-
ever corner you ente the building, it will be opposite from your

-.:. .

destination." The graffiti buff can start anywhere, however, and find at least
a little something.
The southeast stairway displays the ubiquitous and arcane "Joe Licks
Taint" buzz-phrase as well as another one of those pointless arguments
about the efficiency of mind-altering substances. A message from Derrick
"Sweet D." McGaughey reminding us that, indeed, he "was here" about
finished it up for this dull area, matched in tedium only by the northeast
stairs where the pens-men and pens-women only offer a rock-n-roll
discussion so stale it smells.
THE FABLED NORTHWEST PASSAGE is where the fun begins. A Mid-
East conflict tract descends to the following vulgar wrangling:
Same to you, Zionist
Same to you, Idiot
Same to you, epiphenomena list cow
and music fans stoop to their own brand of tastelessness
Chicago Lives "Baby what a big surprise/
But Terry Kath doesn't Right between my very eyes."
Best of all is the stunning, second floor exchange between the adherents and
opponents of disco "music." Although the case in favor tends to be
weak-"Just 'cause all y'all can't datice . . ."-the debate itself is
fascinating. Next time you have a class in the MLB, skip it and read this
wall: You will shake your booty, as I did.
The northwest stairs are a hard act to follow, but the southwest stairs
make a noble attempt. "How's this for graffiti?" chalenges one rather
lackluster vandal, to which a helpful commentator writes, "Die now. It is
easier." Though some students-certainly not ones invited to Friday's
Honors Convocation-persist in wasting ink on that most tired of highbrow
scratchings "God is dead-Nietzche; Nietzche is dead-God," the spark of
whimsy has added:
"God is alive"-Billy Graham
"Who is Billy Graham?"-God
"There is no God because if there were, men's
and women's orgasms would be more compatible."
The succeeding comments, like the disco discussion, are not to be missed,

Monday, April 94/-4.00 p.m.
Illustration Lecture: "The Tribes of Israel, Their
-film and dancers Cultures and Dancers"
-featuring AYALAH GOREN,
Israel's leading folk dance teacher


KUENZEL ROOM, MICHIGAN UNION
MONDAY, APRIL 9th -8:00 p.m.

b

Seek and ye shall find. That was
all my father ever told me about the
facts of life, and all I have to say
about quality graffiti at the MLB.
Contrary to popular belief, little of it
is written in confusing foreign tongues,
and, despite what Maize says,
much of it is useful. How about
the following want-ad? "Has anyone
seen my son? I sent him to New York
and haven't heard from him
since. Signed. Sam."

U

Israel Independence Day
Party -Workshop
with AYALAH GOREN
Pendleton Room, Michigan Union
For information call 663-3336
APRIL 20-21 Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
NO MATINEEThar
me
L.4 cen Kb
Stephen Sondheim
bak by
Hugh Wheeler u %
,uuN011d by aIflm by ing,',, Bergmani
presented by
ANN ARBOR CIVIC THEATRE
CURTAIN EVES 8 p.m.
Tickets available at Tix-Info. in Jacobson's J Shop
312 S. State St. 662-5129 all seats $5.50

FOUR ARTIST
INVITATIONAL
Paintings-Drawings
Al Hinton
Charles McGee
Allie McGhee,
Adam Thomas

16


I

RECORDS

apri11-ma 6HOURS
april10-may 6 Tues-Fri. 9-5
reception:april13 Saturday, 12-5
7-9:30pm 764 - 3234
N R
FIRST FLOOR MICHIGAN UNION

By MIKE TAYLOR
Ten years ago, I thought it necessary to
fight ideological fanaticism. Tomorrow it
will perhaps be indiffernece which seems to
me to be feared. The fanatic, animated by
hate, seems to me terrifying. A self-
satisfied mankind fills me with horror.
-Rayond Aron, "The Opium of
the Intellecturals," 1962
Elvis Costello is driven by the same
dialectic that concerns historian Aron
above-the clash between -action
without purpose and life without action.
It's this' dynamic that makes Elvis'
third album, Armed Forces, an exotic
listening experience, and moreover, the
best farewell-to-the-seventies record
we'll get.
The album combines a me-generation
perspective (the glossy I-am-the-artist
conceit that permeates the disc) with
one that promised fiery revolution in
the eighties ("You can please yourself,
but someone's going to get it" from
"Green Shirt"). Musically, it's a com-
pendium of the first quarter century of
rock'n'roll, running from the earnest
romanticism of Costello's handsome
lookalike, Buddy Holly, to the pop
spirituality of the Beatles, to the bitter
anarchy of late seventies punk.
BUT I DON'T think Costello had a

ts Will Happen." Still, with the able
assistance of crack producer Nick
Lowe and his band, the Attractions,
Costello has fashioned a delightful,
even uplifting, piece of pop. The conflict
between music as merry as it comes
and lyrics from the darker side of one's

soul reveals a tormented artist, a man
who's desperately trying to resolve his
inner conflicts in public, in his music. It
makes for terrific rock'n'roll, but it also
lends a haunting ambiguity to the whole
proceeding.
See COSTELLO, Page 10

IVER ITY efMUSICALc8OCIETY present.

The University of Michigan
Gilbert and Sullivan Society
Presents
Or
'The Lass That Loved A Sailor'
April 5 - 8 and 12 - 14, 1979
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, Ann Arbor
Tickets available at the Mendelssohn box office 10 am-8 pm.
Call 763-1085.

Armed Forces
Elvis Costello
Columbia JC 35709
Radar 14 (British import)

political treatise or a musical history in
mind while he was making Armed For-
ces. He made it for people who love to
dance above almost anything else in the
world, who don't care what the neigh-
bors say if they turn their stereio up full
blast at 4 a.m., and who are reciting all
the lines from his albums before
they've even had them for a week.
Luckily, Armed Forces is good enough
to make us all a little crazy.
Costello draws you in with hooks
more potent than the Beach Boys ever
dreamed of, holds you in a death grip,
and subjects you to all his dirty night-
mares. "I don't want to hear it 'cause I
know what I've done," he laments in
the record's stirring opener, "Acciden-

SPECIAL STUDENT ROTE
Students with U of M I.D. may purchase tickets at a
discount for performances on April 5, 8, and 12.
These tickets will be on sale only from 2-4 PM at the
Mendelssohn Box Office the Wednesday preceeding
the performance.
PRICE: $2.50 LIMIT: 1 Ticket/U of M I.D.


Musicals

Straight Plays

Original Works

UAC MUSKexpanding!,
numerous positions are available:
DIRECTORS
DESIGNERS WRITERS