Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, November 12, 1971 Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY _ r cinema Zappa cinema: Zapped By NEAL GABLER Frank Zappa's filmic debut has been in the cooker now for some years, first with the abort- ed Uncle Meat and then with 200 Motels, which he'd b e e n touting as a kind of under- ground Gone With the Wind. As Zappa told it, Motels was to be his vision of America as seen from the lobby of a Holiday Inn. A man in search of his country . , . It sounded great because, after all, the Holiday Inn, as one on the major signposts on the- American landscape and t h e common denominator of North, South, East and West, is mo- dern, plastic America. In fact, one of the absurd things t h a t strikes me about this land of ours is that you can traverse it without ever breaking out of the homogeneity of highway and motel. So far, so good. Zappa's cinematic method was as outrageously cockeyed as his plot: he'd compose the score first and build the film around that. But while the soundtracks, for. both Meat and Motels float- ed around (Motels was given the full treatment by the Los An- geles. Philharmonic), and even found their way onto albums, the moviesrthemselves somehow never got made, and I was be- gining to think that the whole thing was another Mothers' put- on, Zappa simultaneously gibing Hollywood and the freaked-out zealots of the counter-culture. Wow! Another Easy Rider! Well, sorry to say, 200 Motels wasn't a put-on. It's here, and it's so downright awful that, as a pundit once said, they ought to reconvene the Nuremburg Tribunal. Naturally, my first impulse it to lay the blame squarely on Zappa, but there is a joint responsibility here; somebody, anybody, should have halted these shenanigans before they got out of hand. Though the picture is billed -as "Frank Zappa's 200 Motels" with Zap- pa's goateed face dominating the theater posters like some hippie Svengali, and though he is cre- dited with the original story and screenplay, most of the action is improvised juvenilia. What could he have written? What's more, he directed only the "characteri- zations" and not the visuals, he didn't edit the film, and he ap- pears for only a few, very brief, guitar-twanging moments. That leaves only the inspiration, the music and the self-indulgence. Maybe the jurors will spare him. The last, that self-indulgence, seens to trail Zappa, and from the looks of 200 Motels, it's gain- ing on him. Now I don't want to sound like some middle-aged philistine unappreciative of Zap- pa's gifts. I like him. At his best, as in We're Only in it For the Money," he's a deft, needle- sharp satirist attacking all cor- ers. But as his worst, he fancies himself a junkyard Beethoven leading the pack of futurist composers, and managing to ruin tight, funny albums with dreadfully overlong melanges of burps and airplane engines. With 200 Motels the satirist los- es out, and the junkyard Beet- hoven becomes a junkyard Wel- les. This means that the spoof of "road pictures" devised by Zap- pa's better half has finally evolved into a whopping phan- tasmagoria with no direction ex- cept down. The purpose of all this swirling junk, Theodore Bi- kel tells us, is to show h o w "touring can make you crazy." So we get tedious snippets of The Mothers trapped in t h e i r prime mover's fantasies: a hu- man vacuum cleaner beating off, a nun groupie, an exposition on the various names of the male reproductive organ, a town nam- ed Centerville with a cafe call- ed Redneck Eats, an anti-ero- tic nude scene, and an animat- ed instructional film called "Dental Hygiene Dilemma" in which the devil contends with Donovan for the soul of a rock star. Believe me, it's much bet- ter on paper than on celluloid. Threaded throughout are some pithy remarks by Ringo Starr impersonating Zappa ("A mu- sician, if you consider the pat- tern of ordinary modern life, is on the outside of it all"), some brassy accompaniment by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and some Mothers' tunes, afew of which are good, like Jimmy Carl Black's "Lonesome Cow- boy Burt", but most of which are boring and endless. Finally, as if to illustrate another Bikel gem - "It is possible for sev- eral subjective realities to co- exist" - the whole thing is See MOTELS, Page 9 Antonio Pas Mortes <>' BRAZIL, 1969 dir. ROCHA A revolutionary folk epic out of the elements of folk history superstition and social injustice. T HURS.-9:30 ALICE'S RESTAURANT FR.-~-9:30 F R 1.--7 & 9:30r Alice Lloyd Hall SAT.-9:30 SPECIAL SHORT: "ST. LOUIS BLUES" (1929) featuring Bessie Smith F f st. f {F { $ :i:2:ii4:-{::;i>:>:"Y/ Y:is One Night Only Before Chicago Opening ON ACCOUNT OF SID SHRYCOCK "Musical comedy at its funniest" TICKETS AT DOOR 1.4 Marilyn S. Miller's original play "On Account of Sid Shrycock" opens Saturday prior to its pro- jected five-week run in Chicago. The play is cast and crewed by University students. records Colosseum: Out of obscurity SAT., NOV. 13 Union Ballroom 101 WUOM: In the public interest By HARRY HAMMITT Records are coming out at such a rapid rate that many of the releases are bound to be overlooked by the consumer. It's really a shame because some of these records are excellent. Guillotine (Ampex A-10122) is yet another entry in the big- band brass-rock category. One thing that does set them apart is that they come from France. Nevertheless, they sing in Eng- lish. They have a girl lead who is obviously imitating Joplin, but because of the language dif- ference she doesn't reaaly mas- ter the necessary inflections. The band itself sounds good. The record has too much vocal which doesn't help it any, but on "If You, Don't Call That Love," and particularly "I Can't Believe It," the band really gets together for some pretty good music. When the Smothers Brothers had a show a while back, a new composer-singer was brought in- to the spotlight. This was Mas- on Williams who now has a new album entitled Sharepickers (Warner Brothers 1941). As the title implies, he shares the record with a few people he he knows. The music is never particularly bad, but it never reaches any great heights. The best things are the fiddle tunes "Little Beggar Man/ Hamilton County" and "Orange Blossom Special." John Stewart has a f a i r 1 y strong reputation in the folk circuit in California and re- cently he was put into the studios. The result is The Lone- some Picker Rides Again (War- ner Brothers 1948). There are some nice tunes on the record, including a Stewart song that the Monkees did in their hey- day, "Daydream Believer." All See OVERLOOKED, Page 9 5th WEEK M DIAL 8-6416 At 7-9 P.M. "THE MOST BEAUTIFULLY PHOTOGRAPHED HORROR STORY YOU'RE EVER LIKELY TO SEE. BRING A FRIEND." -Ed Miller, Seventeen Magazine By BILL PRITULA WUOM is a small FM radio station, owned and operated by the University with studios tuck- ed neatly away on the fifth floor of the LSA Bldg. Located at 91.7 on the dial, it broadcasts at 270 kilowatts which means it can reach most anywhere in south- east Michigan. The University also owns WVGR, a satellite sta- tion in Grand Rapids, which covers most of southwest Mich- igan. In addition to this WUOM has a tape service which pro- duces tapes and distributes them to other stations in the state. This wide range gives WUOM a poential listening audience of over five million. Also, the station is a member of the National Public Radio n e't w o r k which occasionally carries educational, informative type ' programs produced by WUOM nationwide. But despite this broad range, WUOM remains relatively obscure. The primary reason for this obscurity is that the station is a non-commercial, educational 'public' broadcast- ing unit in direct competition with commercial stations for listeners. WUOM is funded by the Uni- versity through general funds allocated to the University Rela- tions and Development Service. Since much of the money comes from the people of the state, the station feels it is obligated to operate in the public interests of its listeners. Neal Bedford, act- ing manager for the station, states that the main purposes of the station are 1) to inform, 2) to respond to the needs of the entire community, and 3) to pre- sent materials that will enhance life. "WUOM is simply an ex- tension of the University," says Bedford, who emphasizes the point that the primary function of the station is to inform and not simply to entertain. WUOM was created not only for students and the student community, but as an alternate service to the people of the state of Michigan. The content of the daily program reflects this point. Practically fifty percent of the time spent on the air is de- voted to informative lectures, discussions, and guest speakers. WUOM frequently goes about campus taping lectures and broadcasting live events such as concerts and sports event. The station has separate divisions Airplane hijacked Due to an injury sustained by Paul Kanter of The Jefferson Airplane, the Airplane will play in Crisler Arena on Jan. 14 in- stead of the previously an- nounced date of Nov. 20. All tickets will be honored for the new date. Ticket prices will be refunded starting Monday morn- ing at the Union for those who would desire a refund. for news, music and sports, with specific directors in charge of these areas. In addition to this, WUOM presents a complete and comprehensive news program three times daily. The remain- ing half of the broadcast sched- ule is given to music, ninety five per cent of which is classical. With this type of program- ming, WUOM feels that it is accomplisshing its main objec- tive of informing instead of en- tertaining the listener. The sta- tion also is in constant search of change in order to upgrade the quality of the programming and to better inform the public. Bedford explains that the sta- tion follows no set pattern or formula (in contrast to a more conventional, commercial sta- tion), and is ready to change the format when the staff feels change is needed. When asked to estimate the size of the station's audience, Bedford simply shrugs his shoulders and honestly replies that it is difficult to even guess. WUOM has a mailing list of over 17,500, (who receive its monthly Program Guide), but receives so little feedback that it is impossible to judge the numbe.r of people listening in. The problem lies in the fact that the general public turns on the radio primarily for entertain- ment and very few are concern- ed with learning from radio. Therefore, the station is broad- casting to a specific minority and tries to be as responsive as possible to their interests. But those who do listen give little feedback, so Bedford and the staff are not nearly as aware as they would like to be about their audience's reactions to a given program. Working under the auspices of the University andsState does indeed restrict the staff as to the type of political viewpoints they- voice, and it also affects the selection of topics and is- sues to be discussed on the air. Despite this restriction, the staff takes it as a challenge and tries to work around it. The week to week programs show that em- phasis is placed upon the more controversial issues - issues which are relevaiit to the entire See INFORMING, Page 9 GODAR'D I AT Cinema Guild NOV. 15-22 IHELLSTROM CHRONICLE I I Z,_ One of the most exciting C films you'll see this year Det. News CLINT EAST WOOD01 I 4 __- --- --. -- - _ - - i, COME TO FANNERIO'S Grand Opening Featuring LINDA- FORD FRIDAY, NOV. 12 9:00-12:00 F,(1 rI GODARD! AT Cinema Guild NOV. 15-22 Sociology Colloquium Dael Wlfle (Professor of Public Affairs-U. of Washington) "PH.D. MARKET FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS ,IN THE 1970'S" 4 P.M.-FRIDAY, NOV. 12 Rm. 429, Mason Hall (il i I lip ;jig f i I! ) i I I i, k ?I '{ ( jE i l (a : i'' I, i f I , !,, , .__ ~FOREI[5N FAKE' Arevealing portrait of the new liberated woman * BLAZING COLOR *A PIus 2nd feature* ' C'1efEM 492330012 2 N - PARKIN I The School of Music and Department of Art present MOZART'S OPERA The Magic Flute English translation by Josef Blatt NOVEMBER 19, 20, 22, & 23-8 P.M. MENDELSSOHN THEATRE $1.50& $3.00 ($1.50 tickets for U-M students only) Conductor Josef Blatt Stage Director: Ralph Herbert TICKET INFORMATION: 764-6118 MAIL ORDERS: School of Music Opera, Mendelssohn Theatre, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 Please enclose self-addressed, stamped envelope BOX OFFICE OPENS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, AT 12:30 P.M. I i f Thursday and Friday BAKER'S WIFE Dir. MARCEL PAGNOL, 1939. The vilage baker cannot work because he laments his wife's depar- ture with a stupid, sexy at r I - Bursley's Panneri' C .-____________ ___________________________________ 0o THE ALLEY presents IT NOV. 11-12-13 * I Thurs.-Fri.-Sat. TONIGH BUDDY GUY and JUNIOR WELLS 2 Shows Each Night 7:30-9.30 Adv. Tickets- 'Salvation Records 330 Maynard eEUt d43~da ~*s Ei~ -m ~~ N-'- v 17_..1Ad II -. ~ m I I