AMERICAN
ROMANCE
by mike taylor
The Michigan Daily-Thursday, April 12, 1979-Page 7
arts & entertainment
HOP WOODS '79
Smith triumph js after all
By ERIC ZORN deal of subjectivity it, the judging. Her Thomas, $2,000; Charlotte Neckola, Alan Potter, $500. Poetry
I
y: Ruth Hinz,
All the radio stations are populated by old people. They don't have anything new to of-
fer.
-Joel Butler, member of Free Radio Now
People don 't listen to the radio for art. They listen to it to fill up space.
-Lenny Kaye, guitarist of the Patti Smith Group
W ELL, IT'S ALMOST the eighties and what do we have to show for it?
Listen to the radio and you'll find the answer: Boston, Foreigner,
Queen, Rod Stewart, Toto, Trillion. . . I could go on, of course, for we have
many hitmakers. What's shocking is how deadly similar all these mega-
bands sound. Radio these days is imitation maple-flavored instant oatmeal
- light years away from the real thing, and just sweet and mushy enough to
appeal to the broadestof tastes.
I think back and wonder whatever happened to the fun, the romance of
rock and roll? In 1969, free-form radio was a reality. You could switch on
your portable and hear Iggy and the Stooges:
It's 1969 OK; war across the U.S.A.,
It's another year for me and you,
A nother year with nothing to do . .
And then there was Woodstock: the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Jeffer-
son Airplane, Richie Havens, Sly and the Family Stone. I've heard there's
going to be another Woodstock this year, only this time it will feature the
bands who dominate the airwaves in 1979.
GOOD ROCK AND ROLL isn't really dead, of course; you just don't
hear it on the radio. The Clash, Patti Smith Group, the Ramones, George
Thorogood and the Destroyers, Sonic's Rendezvous Band, the Mutants, the
Romantics - these guys all know how to play rock and roll, they just can't
get it past the program directors.
Are we zombies? Will we be treated like zombies? It's no accident that
some of the people who picketed WABX last March 24th and W-4 last Satur-
day carried signs that said, "WE AREN'T CLONES." These people, all
members of a new state-wide media pressure group called Free Radio Now,
have decided to fight for radio they can believe in.
"The radio should be open instead of tightly programmed," says FRN
member Joel Butler. "There should be more Detroit bands on the radio."
"SO FAR, RESPONSE to us has been good," he adds. "We've been
growing in numbers - we've got hundreds of members, and thousands more
sympathizers."
How do you become a FRN member?
"You just come to one of our pickets. Our next one will be held April 21st
at WABX again. We'll have local talent on hand - the Mutants, Flirt, who
knows? All the local bands have offered to play."
Butler also said fans of rock and roll radio should write nasty letters to
program directors. "Most importantly, write to the Federal Com-
munications Commission in Washington. WRIF, W-4, and WABX are all
coming up for licensing renewal in the near future. Just tell them you don't
think these stations are serving the community."
LENNY KAYE ENDORSED the struggle for free radio during his visit
to town last month: "If you believe in something hard enough, you go out and
do something about it. We're not into passivity. If kids want to make the
radio better, boycott the sponsors, write to the stations and say I think you
play ..... music, make your presence felt. If people want to hear punk rock,
the radio willplay punk rock. They don't care; they want the numbers."
Kaye especially took issue with stations that only pretend to play rock.
"If you believe in rock and roll, and if you say on the air that you believe in
rock and roll, then you'd better play it. Otherwise, you're violating the trust
of the people. I don't mind a station that's conservative and says so, but I
don't like hypocrisy."
Most importantly, he said, we must not stop fighting until our goals are
achieved: "I'm old enough to remember the sixties, and what happened with
radio then and the kind of revolution that happened. And maybe I'm some
kind of white panther idealist or something, who is always going to remem-
ber the time a revolution worked, but I hate to have ground gained and then
lose it, and then have it coopted by people who say they're still doing what's
hip."
The moral of this story? We will always be saddled with elevator-rock
unless we start saying, "NO!" Of course, fighting back does not ensure im-
mediate victory, but if we promise never to give up, eventually we will win.
THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO DO
" Free Radio Now can be contacted by calling 892-1834 or 364-7625, or by
writing to "Free Radio Now, P.O Box 1077, Port Huron, Michigan, 48060."
" WABX can be found at 20760 Coolidge, at the intersection of Eight Mile
Road and Coolidge in Oak Park. Call FRN if you would like to go to the April
21 protest and need a ride.
Write to the Federal Communications Commission at room 332, M Street
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20554.
"I convinced myself I wasn't going to
win," said Carrie Smith, the smiling
Residential College senior who was
awarded top money in yesterday's
Hopwood creative and expository
writing awards contest. "Talking it
down helped keep me calm. Last year I
really wanted to win, and was
devastated when I lost. I spent the three
days afterwards with Johnnie Walker."
In Wednesday afternoon's awards
friend and teacher, Warren Hecht,
director of the Residential College's
creative writing program, heartily
agrees. "People have a tendency to get
discouraged if they don't win, but no
writer should believe that the winners
are the objective best.
"Good and bad in writing is subjec-
tive, but it's that way with editors,
publishers, and the general public. No
writer can really make it until he or she
$1,500; Essay: Fracie Oscherwitz,
$1,000; David Bornstein, $800. Drama:
Peggy Russo, $500; Diane Haithman,
$500.
MINOR AWARDS
Fiction: Sharon Deskins, $800; Andy
Kurtzman, $800; Heather Damp, $500;
$1,200 (Special Award); Tanya Wendling,
$900; Barbara Schroeder, $700; Leslie
Bayern, $700; Essay: Jon Udell, $1,200
(Special award); Craig Leon, $900; Rich
Loranger, $500; Andy Kurtzman, $501Y.
In their wisdom, the judges did not
deign to give a prize for minor drama.
FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT'S
1973
DAY FOR NIGHT
Truffaut fills this movie within a movie with continual references to cinema-
from the dedication to the Gish sisters to the film books he carries around in
his altarego role as the director of "Meet Pamela." JEAN PIERRE LEAUD
plays Alphonse, a spoiled young actor, who must learn that wanting is not
always getting, particularly where beautiful women are concerned. JACQUE-
LINE BISSET got her big break in picutres as the inspiration of Alphonse's
uery, "Are women magic?" Truffaut's most lightheartened film. With
GRAHAM GREENE in a cameo role.
FRIDAY: Russell's THE DEVIL
CINEMA GUILD
TONIGHT AT
7:00 A 9:15
OLD ARCH AUD
$1.50
Uaily rnoo ny AND Y-REUE
Francie Oscherwitz, a sophomore in the school of Literature, Science, and
Arts, from Chicago, Ill., won $1,000 in the major essay category for "Two
Essays."
ceremony, Smith, who hails from
Grosse Pointe Woods, won a total of
$2,400 for her short story collection,
Forget Harry, and Endings, a novel.
This very same novel was entered in
last year's competition and failed tc
please Walker Percy, noted American
author serving as contest judge.
"Percy didn't like my use of the first
person or my subject matter," Smith
explained. "It's my first novel, and
deals with a succession of crisis points
in the life of a woman writer. At the
time I finished it I thought it was won'
derful. Of course, now I go back and
read it and can see the flaws."
THE SHORT stories, which together
won the other half of the money, dealt
with the strains of divorce on a subur-
ban housewife. "I have tried to publisT
some of them in Redbook," Smith said,
"but maybe the best place to start is in
the smaller magazines."
As a high school student, Smith wrote
"primarily melodramatic, drivelly,
philosophical poems which won prizes
in the Detroit News. I've wanted to be a
professional writer now for about five
years, and, yes, I've had my moments
of despair."
No doubt the prize money will go tc
finance Smith's summer in New York
City where she'll be checking the lay of
the land and investigating her persona]
future. "I don't want to be a teacher,
waitress, anything like that. I do have
to make sure I make enough money anc
still have the time to write."
LOOKING AT the contest from the
perspective of both a loser and a win
ner, Smith said that she has been telling
herself all along that there is a great
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finds the right market. All a judge, or
anyone, can say is 'I like it'."
Before a speech by novelist Joan
Didion, the following other awards
were presented:
MAJOR AWARDS
Novel: Gwen Hood, $1,800; Erick
Hildinger, $1,500; Frank James, $1,000.
Fiction: Charles Chiavarini, $800;
Stacy Olster $800; Tish Ezekiel, $600.
Poetry: Martha Clark, $2,000; Harry
ProissinalTheare roga o
THE
RIVER
NIGER
By Joseph A.Walker
Faturing ML WINKLER.
Wed. April Il - Sat. April 14 8PM.
Sun. April 15.2 PM Power Center
.Professional Theatre Program
The Uniersity of Michigan." Guest Artist Series
Tickets at PTP, Box Off ice in the Michigan League
313, 64.,0450 & through all lludsons Ticket Outlets
Parental Guidance Suggested
12 & Under Not Admitted
The Ann Arbor Film Cooperative presents at Aud. A
Thursday, April 12
TIMOTHY CAREY is a legendary character actor who first gained
attention for his brilliant performance in Kubrick's THE KILLING
and PATHS OF GLORY. Tonight we are proud to present Timothy
Carey in, person (and he is quite a showman) with THE
WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER and TWEET'S LADIES OF PASA-
DENA. Tim Carey will speak after both shows.
TWEET'S LADIES OF PASADENA
(Timothy Carey, 11974) 6:30 only-AUD. A
Says Carey: "My most satisfying role to date. Tweet-Twig, the main character,
is the only male member of a knitting club run by old ladies who teach him
to knit without dropping a stitch."
Plus short: TARZANA (Steve DeJarrnet, 1977) A dramatic short starring
Tim Carey as Benny Coglin. With EDDIE CONSTANTINE.
THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER
(Timothy Carey, 1962) 9:30 only-AUD. A
Carey starts as Clarence Hilliard, an insurance salesman who denies the
existence of any supernatural deityand proclaims himself God (Jimmy
Jones??). He becomes a rock-and-roll evangelist and enters national politics.
This film combines sensationalist elements with an ultramoralistic wrap-up
and a genius kinky-kinetic sense of movie-making elan throughout. Music by
Frank Zoppa. "Carey has the emotional brilliance of an Einstein! "-John
Cassavettes.
Tomorrow: THE PINK PANTHER and
REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER
APRIL 20-21 Lydia Mendelsohn Theatre
NO MATINEEydsT
Stephen Sondhem
H ugh Wheeler
r -tdb~~nb~Ig~rBrm
presendby
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
STAFF
ARTS EDITORS
R. J. SMITH ERIC ZORN
THEATER EDITOR
JOSH PECK
STAFF WRITERS
bill Barbour, mary bacarella, tony
bloenk, mark coleman, anthony
chen, mark dighton, eleanora
diliscia, jim eckert, scott eyerly, pat
fabrizio, owen gleiberman, kurt
grosman, diane haithman, katie
herzfeld, steve hook, mark johans-
son, matt kopka, mark kowalsky,
marty levine, lee levine, rich
loringer, peter manis, anna nissen,
gerard pape, lily prigionero, kim
potter, alan rubenfeld, anne sharp,
nina shishkoff, mike taylor, keith
tosolt, peter wallach, dan weiss,
carol wierzbicki, tim yagle.
STARTS URRICANE
TODAY ier S nq(e,/epte' 1 -(i/ /r~
SHOWS
Mon.-Fri. s../hlha713.
6:45, 9:15
Tickets
Sat.-Sun. on Sale
S.u15 Mm.
1:30, 4:00 Prior to
6:15, 9:15 Show
Time
MIANN THEATRES
PG
m V(LLAGETWINPG
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