Tuesday, November 27, 1973
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
Tuesday, November 27, 1 97~ THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
r
Shawi
By GLORIA JANE SMITH
While The New York Times
aptly pegged Shawn Phillips an
"obviously brilliant performer"
last year, there were still cynics
who believed that he would not
succeed. His lyrics were too
complex, too heavily grounded
with social and political convic-
tions. Not exactly the decadent
stuff that stuper-stars are made
of.
"Oh yes," Shawn said with a
knowing smile as we talked in
hillps Expundin
sing room at Detroit's his fifth album in the States ferent f icets of the human psy- oxygen. Jacq
ditorium. "It's reducing (Faces, A&M SP4363), it is just che. It's just human emotional that we hve
ices for success." this blend of orgasmic musical experience." than 18 ear
le don't want to have to exploration and intellectual state- He doesn't compare himself the ocean or
he continued in his light ment that has ironically expand- with other musicians and al- to death. It's
rawl "We'veS gottoast- ed his cult of followers. ., ,-1
his dres
Ford Au
my chan
"Peop]
think," h
Texan di
ques Coiste
exactly a l
s to stopI
we will s
very, very
. O VCt t
ers and washing machines and
everything's easy. Life is becom-
ing very luxurious. I'm not here
just to boogie. We can boogie just
as hard as anybody, but the point
is that I want to move people's
minds, not just their feet."
Following the recent release of
A self-taught musician who be-
gan playing guitar at the age of
seven, Shawn describes his music
as "electronic orchestration," but
adds that it really can't be pi-
geonholed that easily. "You can't
categorize the human psyche
and my music covers lots of dif-
though he admires Procol Har-
em, Yes, and the Mahavishnu Or-
chestra (also in the electronic
orchestration genre), he does not
consider himself influenced by
their work. "When I go back to
Italy to write, I don't listen to
anybody. If I put anything on,
it's classical."
His lyrics are articulate and
well designed. The son of a writ-
er, Shawn also devotes time to
writing poetry, fairy tales and
even ballets. His words carry
a foreboding message.
Phillips also voiced ot
c e r n s, including nat
("Why can't people simp
tifv with the fact that
just one species?") and t
lation explosion ("Peo
afraid. They think tha
they are in a city and
other people that they're
The truth is that the onl
ity that exists is within y
mind.")
Phillips' recent music,
lowed a bit. "I'm veryr
love with this lady I li
is clt
au sa's (longhair) who plays sitar. "It's
ittle less an instrument that really ex-
p-:l'lting nresses the intensity of life
suffocate force," he explained.
real." A philosopher of sort, Shawn
her con- does not align himself with any
ionalism established religion. "I don't be-
ply iden- lieve in anything but energy and
we are life, If you want to call that god,
he popu- then it can be that too. You can
ple are also call that cabbage or mirror."
t when He remembers his childhood,
around which was spent "a little bit in
secure. Texas" and mostly "all over" in
y secur- places like the South Pacific,
our own New York and Los Angeles, as
being a "bit weird."
has mel "My parents were divorced
much in and things happened. Evidental-
ve with. ly, I went through a few trau-
mas that I know nothing about."
This early exposure to various
parts of the world had a definite
impact on his writing. "When I
was very little, I was constant-
ly aware of all the different val-
ues and cultures of everyplace. I
was very impressed. Anything I
do now, I try to relate it."
"I have to deal with the world
as it is, I think, because I have
travelled so much. I can't deal
with it on a small scale."
On stage, Shawn Phillips is
magnetic. He unbinds his hair
ut when and lets it fall to his waist and
and the
atter en- his fingers flash up and down
unch of his guitar in a gentle interplay
a little of sound with his musicians.
"It is very important to me
lady in that the audience have the pa-
n fishing
t refuge tience to allow musicians to
go (for spontaneously create on stage.
, he was That is the important moment,
ngland)' the magic."
nown to
apaloni" copyright Gloria Jane Smith 1973
ARTS
i1.--
"We're about to come to the
end of civilized life as we know
it if we don't quit fucking
around," explained the 30-year-
old artist. "A lot of august ty-
coons are going to have to stop
worrying about the maximiza-
tion of profit. If the human need
doesn't come first, we just ain't
gaing to make it."
His fears are not unfounded.
He cited the oceans as his first
priority. "The oceans produce
86.7-86.8 per cent of the earth's
You can love the world b
you can love someone
world it's a different ma
tirely. I've written a b
songs for her which are
more mellow."
Shawn lives with his
Positano, a small Italian
village. Since he sough
there about six years a
some inexplicable reason
refused e n t r y to E
Shawn has become kn
Italian audiences as a "c
Shawn Phillips
Roy Wood turns out brilliant
parodies on new one-man album
NEW WORLD FILM CO-Op presents
THE LOVES OF ISADORA
WITH
VanessaI
1
based on "MY LIFE" by Isadora Duncan
Redgrave, Jason Robards, James Fox
By TOM OLSON
Do-it-yourself-ism has" been all
the rage among rock stars for
some time now. Look, ma, Peter
Townshend can play 17 instru-
ments all by himself! He don't
need to ask nobody's help!
Roy Wood's album Boulders
(United Artists LA168F) is a fine
parody of this whole crackpot
mentality. Wood has not stopped
at mere conceit- he has gone
on to OUTRAGEOUS OBSES-
SION. He makes every noise on
the album! He plays all 76 trom-
bones by himself, and then he
sings the girlie chorus that backs
them up.
Wood's irony is at its peak in
the first cut, "Songs of Praise."
in the chorus he asks for some
help from the folks in the audi-
ence: "Gather round me broth-
ers See how many we can raise/'
Call on all your sisters' Sing
about the songs of praise." The
audience - 26 electronically al-
tered by Roy Woods - roars out
its response.
The western world's first one-
man hootenanny. Pointless,
right? Why didn't he just hire
some Campfire Girls instead of
slaving for days over a hot tape
recorder? Roy Wood seems to be
making fun of somebody!
But even great parodies are
a bore after two listenings. For-
tunately, Wood's music stands up
as brilliant rock and roll in its
own right.
"Rock Down Low" shows how
Wood's formula works. The mu-
sic is pure, 'visceral rock, as
raunchy as anyone coufld expect
from a -law-abiding Enalishman.
But the lyrics are not the usual
"Stay with me baby, or I'll turn
you into peat moss."
Instead, Wood sings about the
missionary life: bringing degen-
erate rock music to the two-bit
sinners of Indiana. How do you
make a sheltered farmer's daugh-
ter understand rock and roll?
Roy Wood has the idea: "Keep
a'rocking till your legs are
achin' like a tractor wheel."
Wood's spry sense of humor
prevents him from ever lectur-
ing at ils or pitying himself in
public (for which we ought to be
9ratef-l). It -lso leaves him a
bit detached from his music.
Wood's self-mockery is agree-
able enough that we forget sin-
cerity can be pleasant once in a
while. His lampoons of rock mu-
sic do not become irritating in
the way that Frank Zappa's do,
because his humor is not Zappa's
crude slapstick.
"I would like to
go down in history
as a qreat
dancer . . . but I
suppose I shall be
rembered ornly
for the number of
lovers I have had."
--Isadora Duncan
This filth is
dominated by
Vanessa Redgrave's
colorful performance
as Isadora Duncan,
th high prietess
of modern dance
which won
Vanessa an
Oscar nomination
and Best Actress
Award at Cannes.
dEMB
231 S. STATE ST.
DIAL 662-6264
OPEN DAILY AT 12:45
UUAL I&WAR
FILM-Ann Arbor Film Co-op presents Bergman's Cries and
Whispers in Aud. A at 7 and 9; Cinema Guild features
Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky in Arch. Aud. at 7 and 9:05;
New World Film Co-op screens Reisz's The Loves of Isa-
dora in Aud. 3, MLB at 7:30 and 9:45;. Women's Studies
Films presents The Black Women and Lavender in UGLI
Multipurpose Rm. at 7:30.
ART-The Union Gallery holds a reception tonight at 8 for
its Holiday Show to include refreshments and music by
the Residential College Woodwind Quintet. The show
includes ceramics, paintings, prints, weaving, photog-
raphy, and sculpture by local artists and University A&D
students. The show continues through Dec. 22.
MUSIC-The Ark presents folk-blues singer and guitarist
David Bromberg tonight at 9; Ralph Vaughan William's
Hodie, a musical anthology of the Christmas story, will
be presented at 8 in St. Andrew's Church. University stu-
dents will participate.
LECTURE-H. Wiley Hitchcock of Brooklyn College speaks on
"A Day in the Musical Life of Louis XIV" in School of
Music Recital Hall at 4 p.m.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
GILBERT & SULLIVAN SOCIETY
Proudly Presents
THE GRAND DUKE
LYDIA MENDELSSOHN THEATRE
Nov. 28-Dec. 1 Fri. 8 p.m.-$3.50
Wed. 8 p.m.-$3.00 Sat. matinee 2 p.m.--$2.50
Thurs. 8 p.m.-$3.00 Sat. 8 p.m.-$3.50
BOX OFFICE-763-1085
ALL i
YOU CAN
., A o
TONIGHT ONLY
Modern Languages
AUD. 3-7:30 & 9:45
$1.25
- i
fill
I
HURRY! ENDS WEDNESDAY
Audiences are standing up .
and applauding.
IN COLOR
"BEST AMERICAN MOVIET.d
OF THE YEAR" TUES. and WED.
--Rolling Stone ?t 1:30,4 p.m.,
96:30 ad9P.m.
STARTS THURSDAY
4
Ten Strings & Five Centuries
he plays on a single instrument, but the effect is as though
an entire ensemble might be on stage, says a Eur-tnean music critic.
Since his debut in Madrid in 1947, NARCISO YEPES has become a
great virtuoso, with his extraordinary ten-string instrument
na rxe rcrr-110 11-- AC tO arar nbvon. His Ann Arbor
6ivERSD Y