The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, April 11, 1979-Page 5
arts & entertainment
PERE UBU'S FUN ANGUISH
Datapanik in Ann Arbor
By MARK DIGHTON
and MIKE TAYLOR
Imagine Eraserhead as a musical.
Then hit it with a hammer.
David Thomas lurches on stage,
pacing back and forth like ofie of those
targets in a shooting gallery. He mut-
ters something into the microphone:
"more junk to kick around/more gar-
bage in the way. more junk to kick
around/more garbage in the way, more
junk to kick around/more garbage in
the way. more junk to kick
around/more garbage in the way."
David makes noises with mysterious
brass and wooden objects. "It's all
noise, but it's the right noise in the right
place."
Imagine a rhythmic sound effects
record. Then break it into a million
pieces with the same hammer.
ALLEN RAVENSTINE waits calmly
at the side of the stage. He strokes his
synthesizer up and down, up and down;
it shrieks in delight. Tom Herman, who
reminds us of Clark Kent, drives guitar
shrapnel into our ears. Scott Krauss is
the only one who looks like he belongs in
a rock and roll band. He sings his own
drum beats. Bassist Tony Maimone
could easily have been an Italian
restaurant owner; instead, he learned
to forge unearthly sounds out of his bass
strings.
Imagine getting only a teasing glim-
pse of another landscape. Then destroy
it witl da power drill.
MIKE WAS almost hypnotized by the
last song. "I stood there. I couldn't
move. The floor was throbbing; I
thought we were all going to fall
through any minute." David was
carried away also. He seemed to be
looking at and talking to people who
weren't really there. "Codex" - "I
think about you all the time"; this
plaintive cry was all but buried in the
relentless confusion. Hammer meets
stell just at the threshold of pain -
"The Modern Dance."
Imagine there's no heaven; it's easy
if you try. Then bake it in a pie.
DAVID: "I'M really excited, about
doing the next album.
Scott: ( breaking into hysterical
laughter), 'Cause he gets all the
songwriting credits. (more laughter)
David: What are you talking about?
I'm excited today; I'll be depressed
tomorrow.
Us: Do you think it will have more
commercial potential?
David: (nonchalantly) Oh, I doubt it, I
doubt it.
Us: Do you think Dub Housing had
more commercial potential than The
Modern Dance?
David: I don't think about that kind of
stuff. It's too much trouble to worry.
about. It sounds. okay - that's all I
know.
Imagine a paperback book called 1001
Private Musical Jokes. Then select one
chapter and burn it.
SOME PASSAGES are under tight
control, others drift off into chaos.
Within chaos there's the most com-
pelling structure. The guitar
masquerades as keyboards in "On The
Surface." David moans, "help me,
help, help." The P.A. breaks down..
David amuses himself: "This little
piggie went to market, this little piggie
went home.. ." Later, David says,
"one man's normal is another man's
poison."
Imagine the first message from outer
space. Then type it on a card and file it
away.
ALLEN RAVENTINE, keyboard
player for Pere Ubu, a musical group
on the rise from Cleveland, had this to
say about the way his band functions:.
"We just have a design in mind that's
far enough back in mind that no one
thinks about it, but it comes out. I mean
that's how the whole thing works.
There's something that exists within
the band that is concrete enough that
we don't need to talk about it. We just
operate from it. It's not so much that
you practice your instrument, it's that
you practice the state of mind that it
comes from."
Imagine a concert at Sebond Chance
Monday night. Then watch the Oscars
instead.
- Books Bought[
Top Prices Paid!
(We'll Pick-up)
WESTS(DE BOOKSHIiOP
113 W. Liberty
995-1891
Daily Daily Photo by SHANNON HURD
What do you do with a drunken sailor-what do you see in Caligari's mirror?
Not easy to answer, sure, but David Thomas, singer for Pere Ubu, pondered it
often during the group's show Monday night at the Second Chance.
Ann Arbor to get
the Careytreatment
By PETER WALLACH
Timothy Carey is a veteran actor who first gained widespread
acceptance in The Killing and Paths of Glory, two Stanley Kubrik films.
His riveting performances in supporting roles have gained him the
respect and admiration of filmmakers and audiences alike. His commit-
ment to portraying a character as he interprets it, however, has caused
him frequent trouble with his directors, who often have other ideas about
how the role should be played. This dedication has even gotten him
fired-more than once.
To avoid such discrepancies in artistic vision, Carey has turned to
making his own films. Thursday night in Auditorium A of Angell Hall,
Carey will speak after the showing of three of his films. The World's
Greatest Sinner, an independent production which he directed and
starred in, was produced in 1962. This midwestern premier is the tale of
an insurance salesman who proclaims that he is God, becomes a rock star
evangelist (a sort of mixture of Elvis Presley and Billy Graham), and-to
make a long story terse-runs for president.
CAREY PULLED NO stops in this controversial film, refusing to
compromise his artistic integrity. Needless to say, films of this sort are
either loved or hated. The World's Greatest Sinner received reviews
ranging from "fabulous" and "revolutionary," to "the rawest made!"
Frank Zappa assembled a fifty-two piece orchestra to score the film in his
inimitable style, completing all the ingredients needed to make a cult
classic.
Another film made by Carey, Tweet's Ladies of Pasadenia, will be
shown Thursday evening. Made in 1974, this is a sixty-minute comedy
starring Carey as Tweet-Twig, the only male member of an old ladies
knitting club.
These two films, along with a short, Tarzana, which stars Carey, will
both be followed by Timothy Carey in person, who will speak, probably,
on whatever he feels like. (His talks are rumored to be shows in them-
selves.)
Stones pair coaing
to rislper Arena
-I
The Ann Arbor Film Cooperative presents at Aud A
Wednesday. April 11
LA NOTTE
(Michael Antonioni, 1961) 7 ONLY-AUD A
An afternoon, an evening and a night in the lives of on Italian couple whose
existence had become bleak and hollow. Among Antonioni's best works, LA
NOTTE is a slow, intent and moving examination of the barrenness of love in
contemporary society. Stars MARCELLO MASTROIANNI, JEANNE MOREAU,
MONICA VITTI. Subtitled.
ILLUMINATION
(Krzysztof Zanissi, 1973) 9 ONLY-AUD A
This is an uncommonly engrossing film about a young physicist who isn't quite
sure that science alone holds the key to life, yet doesn't know where else to
look. ILLUMINATION builds steadily, beautifully, and surprisingly, layer after
layer, managing to be at once tantalizing and refreshing. "Leaves the spectator
breathless. The year's best film."-INTERNATIONAL FILM GUIDE. Subtitled.
Tomorrdw: Timothy Carey in person with TWEET'S
LADIES OF PASADENA &
THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER
Yakshagana dancers
confusing, lack spark
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119M Vcls
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By ANNA NISSEN
The University Musical Society's
Asian Series events usually draw spar-
se audiences, but asubstantial group
turned out for the Yakshagana South
Indian troupe Monday night at
Rackham. Unfortunately, only a few
audience members could understand
the dance-drama's Hindi dialogue, and
the body gestures were not emphatic
enough to carry the narrative alone.
Despite a language barrier, the story
from the great Indian epic, the
Mahabharatha, was not totally lost on
the average Western spectator. A
classic descent into the underworld
showed the demon king Trigartha
primping before battle. Trigartha wails
a paean before attacking the young
warrior-hero Abhimanyu, a Hector of
the' East who dies fighting. The
program even opened with an epic in-
vocation to the patron god of poetry, the
elephant-headed Lord Ganapati, whose
task it is to remove all obstacles from
the course ofsuccess.s
THE PERFORMANCE might have
been more successful if Lord Ganapati
or even a program note could have
revealed the significance of obviously
critical stage ornaments. For instance,
what did the fig leaves strung across
the stage symbolize? Fertility and
regeneration? The reincarnation of
Abhimanyu into a higher form of life?
Some of the dancing was capable of
being appreciated without literary
See YAKSHAGANA, Page 8
All Media Company
present
multi-media-musical theatre
YOU NEVER KNOW
WHAT THEY'LL DO NEXT
starring the
NON RETURNABLES
Residential College
Auditorium E.G.
Aprl 3&14 8:00pm $1.50
TICKETS-Michigan Union Box Office
Sponsored by Ml Student Assembly.
LSA-S.G., R.C., U.A.C.
will be announced
Wednesday, April 11, 4:00 p.in
RadlrhLednre Hal
Main Floor, Rackham Building
Open to the Public
"Making Up Stories"
Lectinfcby
Essayist and Nwlist
Author ot
- Run River (1963)
Slouching Toxwrd Bcthlchem (1968)
Play It as It Lays (19)
A Book of Common Prayer (1977)
Spawned by Keith Richard's penitent
promise to perform in Toronto for
charity after the guitarist was convic-
ted for possession of heroin, the group*
called "The Barbarians" will roll into
Ann Arbor April 24, playing at Crisler
Auditorium.
Tickets for the show are $12.50 and
$10.00, and will go on sale this Friday,
April 13, at 10:00, and will be sold out
soon after.
The Barbarians as of now consist of
Rolling Stones Richard and Ron Wood
on guitar, Stanley Clarke on bass, for-
mer Faces member Ian McLagen on
keyboards, and pseudo Rolling Stone
Bobby Keyes on saxophone. The
drummer has not been named yet,
although a torrent of rumors surrounds
the event.
The group will also be appearing in
Detroit, playing to a sold-out Cobo Hall
audience. Unlike the Detroit show,
however, a spokeswoman for the
University's Office of Major Events,
who are promoting the concert, have
announced there will be a limit to how
many tickets will be sold to each person
in line.
There has been no word on whether
Richard is planning to donate proceeds
from the Crisler show to charity.
listening.. c
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Gooc
great
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DRACULA
Your
favorite pain
in the neck
is about
to bite your .
funny bone.
A 1-2-3-4
COMING
SOON! -
E VE
Joe Sample
"Carmel"
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