Thursday, April 10, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five co eron culls By GEORGE LOBSENZ and ROBBIE GORDON A tall, raw-boned figure, a goatee fram- ing a mobile face, he projects a com- manding, almost prophetic image. His speech still retains traces of the street dialect picked up on the corners and playgrounds of Harlem. Only an occa- sional expressive metaphor betrays the poet within. Gil Scott-Heron is 25-years-old, black, and is of proven literary quality. In an electrifying election cue performance at the Union Ballroom, sponsored by the Friends of the Ann Arbor Sun, he served notice of his increasing prominence on the contemporary music scene. A prodigious and versatile literary tal- ent, he penned short stories, novels and several books of poetry which impressed enough people to land him a job teach- ing at Federal City College in Washing- ton, D.C. At the same time, he slowly developed his musical sensibilities by way of the piano. Eventually, these two abilities con- verged, which is where we find Gil Scott- Heron today. He strongly espouses the cause of black 'for solidarity. He continually emphas concept to his pre-dominantly b diences. "What we need is each he says. Scott-Heron's more general me directed at a larger audience-p Basically he calls for the estab of a new order, not a particularl view-point, but one that is articul, driven home by his provocative,i rive poetry. Songs like "Essex" and the we "The Revolution Will Not Be Te and poems such as "We Beg Y don, America" vividly illustrate i laden lyrics his observations an tives In the end, his poetry has a d pose. First, it is a personal decla his belief in the possibility and r social change. But perhaps more antly, he attempts to educate, s make people aware of the nee change in society's fabric. At the Union Ballroom; his ni ber Midnight Band demonstra ability to suddenly change technm fying categorization. From thec opening spiritual chant to the coo changes izes this and to unrestrained, energetic electro- lack au- jazz, their music appealed to many tastes. other," But whatever form it was, the band never failed to satisfy the audience in ssage is bringing their music's rhythmic tension America. to a climax. lishment Brian Jackson's very fast and funky y unique solos on electric piano were jazz-oriented, ated and but occasionally repetitive and simple. imagina- Jackson composes most of the music, and provides the impetus for Scott-Her- ell-known on's lyrical interpretation. devised" our Par- Bilal Sunni Ali's sax had a rich, jaded n image- tone. His solos were daring and creative, d objec- though his harmonica-work clashed with the music. Both Jackson and Ali played lual pur- flute competently, though the instrument ration of is grossly over-used by the band. eality of The core of the music is the synco- import- pated rhythms of the percussion section imply to which is the best since Santana's. d for a Victor Brown's vocals are commerc- ne-mem- ially superior to Scott-Heron's. But Gil ted the attracted the audience's attention by sing- ique, de- ing each word with feeling for its mean- concert's ing, evidenced most powerfully in "Win- )l school, ter in America." PRESENTS PATHER PANCHALI Part I of Satyjit Ray's Apu Trilogy. Made in India. Subtitled. TONIGHT-Thurs., April 10 700&9:00 Aud. A, Angell Hall $1.25 Daily Photo by STEVE KAGAN Gil Scott-Heron -cAnpu4 ticks Oscar picks: Same story, different twist By JAMES VALK " WITH THE 47TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS now behind us, the 47th annual grumblings over the choices begin, with millions of dissatisfied movie goers swearing never to watch again, just as they did after the 46th Annual Academy Awards. The most noticeable difference this year was the fact that the Academy realized a year-long aesthetic debt owed to director Francis Ford Coppola, and payed him back in sweeping fashion. With the second installment of the Corleone saga even more penetrating and literate than the first, Coppola was a virtual hands-down winner, as his The Conversation was also nominated for Best Picture along with Godfather 11. By the time the night was over, and Coppola and crew (and family) sported a handful of Oscars, the entire ceremony became a tribute to the young director, and rightly so. AND AS WITH EVERY YEAR, there are the give-aways. Art Carney, although a fine gentleman and actor, loved by millions, was no competition for Jack Nicholson's performance in Chinatown. But Carney mustered the now infamous sentimental vote that helped John Wayne and Jack Lemmon walk off with the Sig one in recent years, leaving Nicholson screwed for the second time in a row. How Ellen Burstyn won over Gena Rowlands is undoubtedly contingent on the fact that Burstyn was edged out for the same award last year by_ a surprise winner, Glenda Jackson. Ingrid Bergman, who was probably the worst of the entire Orient Express crew, nabbed the Supporting Actress award for her comeback rather than her performance, a fact that she herself seemed embarrassed by upon receiving the statue. THE REAL STORY, THOUGH, is in the lesser publicized awards, in which the true reflection of the academy's in- competence shines through, ultimately revealing the obvious: that the voting members either haven't seen all the films or simply don't know what the criteria is for the technical awards. They always latch onto the obvious-Robert Towne for Chinatown's screenplay, The Great Gatsby's costumes and Earthquake's noise. But how The Towering Inferno won over Bruce Surtee's excellent cinematography for Lenny or John Alonzo's stunning work in Chinatown is beyond me. Perhaps it just isn't polite to ignore a movie so big that it took two major studios to produce. However, the Academy has operated this way for years, and there is no indication that there are any startling changes in sight. Occasionally a year will come along where the true cinematic accomplishments will win out (as this year with Godfather II, but generally the voting doesn't lean too heavily n quality. 0 OFTEN MITIGATING FACTORS enter into the process, with past performances bearing more influence than the current standards. Many times the voters simply haven't seen all the films that have received nominations, thus eliminating minor films from genuine competition, reducing their listing to a mere token representative, Undoubtedly, the awards have their place in the motion picture industry, serving as a gigantic 2 hour advertisement to generate enthusiasm over current produce. And in that capacity, the awards serve a legitimate function-but as a forum for choosing excellence, the entire concept is a joke. The procedure that makes up the awards system simply has too many flaws to be corrected. The Academy Awards are responsible to the motion picture industry as a whole, and to present a film of limited interest a major award would be a slap-in-the-face to the thousands of Hollywood filmmakers and craftsmen responsible for the Towering Infernos and Orient Expresses. THUS, THE 1974 ACADEMY AWARDS ARE, as would be expected, typically Hollywood, with an occasional Woman Under the Influence or Conversation thrown in to make the whole thing look intelligent. It is to no one's surprise that this "intellectual spice" never wins; it just serves as a complement of diversity in the Academy's window. As for next year, watch the charts in Variety for an indica- ion of where the bulk of the nominations will fall, and check back in past film history to see who will ultimately be repaid. Admittedly, it's not a very accurate method of prediction, but then, accuracy has nothing to do with it. BAR NOTE Dr. S: Bop revives golden age By ROBBIE GORDON to the jitterbug. Playing the ping Buddy Holly, they consid- The 50's revival has reached songs accurately is less import- er preserving an era to be an different peaks recently, but ant to the headliner than creat- art form. Dr. Bop and the Headliners ing the image of a 50's band. "It was courageous to play proved that Ann Arbor fans So for effect, guitarist Spee- rock and roll in the 50's," noted can't get enough of it. Featur- do poured beer on his instru- White Raven backstage, while ing White Raven as lead vocal- ment. And as the band was signing an autobiography. "It ist, the band had Chances Are playing "Peggy Sue," White was so new, even Ed Sullivan' hopping and bopping to the Raven jumped from the stage didn't understand it." golden oldies last weekend. to the balcony, spilling beer Their dressing room was Each set provided a solid over his head and onto the dan- draped with antique tuxedos, combination of the era's stand- cers below. | glittering argyle socks, hair ard hits. The act has the feel- The headliners take their rock spray, and shoes painted silver ing of "hop," drawing even the and roll seriously. Having and gold. most avant-garde dancers back grown up in the 50's worship- The Headliners mostly tour, 4Air wliaves: McCartney'S latest, Iowcie, and 'ommy Big Ten schools, and claim that Ann Arbor crowds are among the most receptive. But the band must consider how long their act will survive. White Raven, an ex-school teacher, states that 50s' music isn't go- ing downhill. But when his high- ly dramatic career ends, he will accept it honorably in the 50's tradition, because: "My rock and roll shoes have served me well." DANCE BANDS have a ten- dency to play easy, predictable rock music that does little else but keep your feet moving. But Rabbits, playing at Bimbo's this week approach rock with a sense of integrity., The baind performs complex funk and jazz tunes that other local groups wouldn't attempt. Where you might expect to hear "Smoke on the Water" from a tvnical bar band, Rabbits plays the music of Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana. The group's 3-man lead vocal- ist section adds depth to the tight sound of the music. Gui- tarist Duncan Soule appeared entranced while developing his creative leads. The group plans to add a the- atrical dimension to their act, along the lines of Frank Zap- pa's Mothers. By WABX and ROY NASCHTRA Paul McCartney's new album, recorded in New Orleans, will be titled Venus and Mars are All Right Tonight . . . Ringo Starr has reportedly turned down a large cross country tour of the U. S. because he didn't want anything to interfere with his film career. Mad magazine is suing United Artist Records over the cover of a newly released Man album, Slow Motion. The cover depicts a man holding a fish by the gills. The man's jaw resembles Alfred E. Neuman, the Mad cover character. Man's manager, Barry Mar- shall, says, "What's really amazing when you think about it is that Mad makes its busi- ness spoofing people, and now United Artists is being sued for spoofing them." Former baseball shortstop (New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers) turned rock czar, Bart Shirley, claims that his new act Tomorrow's Sea Wolves can "blow the pants off any other heavy metal rock group now playing," in Shirley's own words. Their first album is entitled Eat It Before It Bites Back, the "it" admittedly rath- er vague in its identity., Ralph Bakshi, the producer of Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traf- fic, is going to do another film. This one will be about war in a futuristic society, called War Wizards. A federal judge in Dallas has scheduled a hearing to decide if persons under 17 will be per- mitted to see the movie Tom- my. Dallas officials, after viewing the movie, ruled that it was unfit to be seen by teen- agers. The city's classification board objected to the sex and Sdrug implications of the film. Auditory Memory recorded by Jerry Cammarta has sold more than 12,000 copies in the past eight months. This is usual when you realize that Auditory Memory is 52 minutes of re- corded silence. Cammarta be-, lieves that part of the album'sj success is that it sells for half the price of most albums. Rock czar Bart Shirley has signed another new act for hisI recently formed Bela Records.I It's a former small-time bar band called Hep-Huggers, and despite the fact that they "can kick 'em out even heavier than Deep Purple or the funky Moody Blues," says Shirley, "we're going to have to change that name anyhow." Richard Nixon records are hitting it big. A Chattanooga op- tician has released a ballad praising Nixon set to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Within r -__----- its first three days on the mar- ket, it became the hottest re- cord in Chattanooga. David Bowie is promising to stage the biggest rock show ever. Bowie says his next con- cert will feature five different stages with simultaneous acts on each stage. He adds that he'll be jumping around from stage to stage to keep things lively. Rock czar Bart Shirley, the man who included cans of tuna fish with each of his Bela Re- cords as a promotional gim- mick, finds the lyrics to Carl Douglas's "Kung Fu Fighting" demeaning to Chinese people. "If I were Chinese, I certain- ly wouldn't tolerate it." t t 3 r I THE CENTER FOR RUSSIAN and EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES is sponsorinq a PUBLIC LECTURE by Professor Slavko MilosoYlevski on "Revolution and Anti-Revolution" APRIL 10-4 P.M. East Conference Room RACKHAM THE GOOD WOMAN OF SETZUAN by BERTOLT BRECHT Thurs.-Sun., April 10-13-8:00 p.m. East Quad Auditorium $1.25 FOR ADVANCE TICKET RESERVATIONS CALL 763-1172-5-6 P.M. MON.-FRI. An RC PLAYERS PRODUCTION o KIMGUIDOR'S 1928 THE CROWD ) (AT 7) A social silent full of small details that combine to make a portrait of one person whose very individuality makes him the mirror of us all. JOHN HUSTON'S 1952 ) MOULIN ROUGE (AT 9:05) Jose Ferrer as Comnte. Heri De Toulouse-Lau Trec, the brilliant but tortured French artist. An exquisite explora- lion of the color and squalor of the 90's Parisian night life with a fine musical score by Geoizqes Auric. Cinema Guild BOTH SHOWS OLD ARCH. FOR $1.50 AUD. ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE- BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE a... incredibly powerful and inspiring ... University Theatre Prog~rams ffIT"'S A COM CD K IT'S5 A MUSIc.4L1 ITS I91rORIANEs.' A'~i'%& AI UW~I~ ~ J I~ '" ~ 9 tbhere' thru Classified POETRY READING with RUSS GREGORY Reading from his works April 10-7:30 p.m. GUILD HOUSE-802 Monroe CDlIDlITIIAI £fKA AIIkIP I ~T C F II "Strong stuff." --John Barbour, NBC-TV Bob Thomas, Assoc. Press "Should be seen by every American." 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