Wednesday, January 10, 1973
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Wensay-auay1,1973 . THE......N .IL
SFine sounds from
New Heavenly Blue
By TONY CECERE
Writing and improvising in
_ several different styles was one
of the talents that brought Jo-
hann Sebastian Bach out of ob-
scurity into the perpetual lime-
light. On their new Atlantic
" album (SD 7247) the Ann Arbor
based group New Heavenly Blue
displays a similar talent. Dipping
into the realm of Boogie, Coun-
try and Western, Hard hard rock,
Blues and Progressive Jazz, the
NHB have formed a matrix of
many genres, to the point of
farce in some cases.
The first song on the album
"Love You Tonight" is very
much into this farce. The liner
notes call it, "our mindless teen-
age male chauvinist pig song
to end all mindless male chau-
WED.-TIME CHANGE
7 & 10 P.M.
INTOLERANCE
D.W. Griffith. 1916
One of the most famous
movies of all times. With
Donald Sosin at the piano,
first show only.
THURS./FRI.
The Bicycle
Thief
Vittorio deSica. Italian
ARCH ITECTURE
AUDITORIUM
7&10p.m. $1
bIWO. $2.00.
vinist pig songs," a statement
lived up to in the lyrics:
Early in the morning
Hang your head in shame
No matter how you add it up
It totals out the same
This particular cut sets up a
funky boogie in 6/4 with nice
keyboard work and a really piggy
lead vocal by Chris Brubeck.
The song succeeds in putting
down the "Copulate with every
girl in sight" syndrome long
popular in rock music. "Tulsa
Oklahoma Blues" sort of carries
on in the same way with a gross
exaggeration of a blues that
pounds the blues into you in a
Zappaesque fashion. Steve Du-
dash proves himself capable of
the piggy lead vocal in this cut.
All of the cuts on this album,
especially the spoof cuts, feature
some incredible technical accom-
plishments. Although I really
don't like "Hard Lovin' Man"
even as a farce, I have to admit
that the playing put my jae
somewhere on the basement
RP Mass Meetidg
STEERING COMMITTEE
ELECTIONS
THURS. 7:30-
MICHIGAN UNION
Last Tern Textbooks
Cost Too ch
LEARN NOW
Each term we ship thousands of
used books to Ann Arbor and
sell them for one quarter to one
third less than regular. Compare
our new book prices too.
We care about wide selection,
so we service ours with a pro-
cess unique in Ann Arbor. This
Access System tells us what is
in stock and what must be or-
dered via Telex. As classes
start all orders are special de-
livery or special handling. It
helps qet books here fast.
Follett's is at the State Street
end of the diag. If you didn't
shop there last term you may
have paid too much for text-
books.
FOLLETTFS
floor. Jimmy Cathcart's fractious
fingering at the keyboards might
someday push aside the presti-
geous spot now occupied by
Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Spaceman Mason and Dudash's
guitar work has to be another
bonus point for the cut.
Actually, my three favorite
songs on the album are "Raft
Song" "The Battlefieldsrof His-
tory" and "Pegleg (Back in 35)."
Pegled carries on in the odd-
meter fashion that has become
synonomous with the name of
Brubeck. Pegleg is a funny tune
that recalls the tale of a jug
band making it big via the back-
ing of Pegleg the saloon owner.
Listen for the sophisticated
sounds of nature in this one. The
great thing about this song is
the finishing touches-the Jew's
Harp, Wooden Cooking Spoons
and the sounds of nature. The
Harmonica-Violin duet is sure to
make you smile. True connois-
suers of Popeye cartoons will
recognize old friends in this cut.
"Raft Song" is a nice country
tune about a hillbilly who goes to
rescue his gal (who is working
in a bordello). Catch the bacon
grease in the lyrics:
I know it aint nice but I
Warned ya once or twice
You gotta pay the price ...
Or I'll kick them barroom doors
Right off their hinges ....
The real work of art on the
album is "Battlefields of His-
tory," a strong anti-war state-
ment concerning the rape of a
Vietnamese girl. Again there are
the odd and somewhat subtle
meters, set against a soft acous-
tic guitar solo. The New Heavenly
Blue prove (unlike many too
many other groups) that quality
is not directly proportional to
loudness with a song like this.
All kinds of textures are allowed
to float to the surface in this
one. The song isn't at all static;
it moves into a contrasting cen-
ter position that graphically de-
picts the subject.
I think that the people who
buy this album will be drawn in
by the NHB's spell only after
repeated playing. Also, I was
more satisfied with the album
through headphones, mainly be-
cause the nice details show up:
things like the windchimes in
"Battlefields of History," the
keyboard and string work, as
well as the wooden spoons.
The best thing about the whole
album is the potential in the
music-the group hangs together
very well, especially in the
flashly technical licks. I am
curious to know, however, why
Atlantic hasn't pushed this al-
bum more. None of the big mag-
azines (obviously Rolling Stone
comes to mind) have carried any
ads yet, and it hasn't come waft-
ing over the airwaves, either.
With so much mediocre offal get-
ting the super-hype these days,
this album ought to get some
special attention. If your willing
to spend the time with it, the
New Heavenly Blue's album of
the same title will favorable im-
press you.
7 To Tell the Truth
9 Beverly Hillbillies
50 I Love Lucy
56 Zoom
7:30 2 What's My Line?
4 Festival of Family Classics
7 Wild Kingdom
9 Irish Rovers
50 NHL Hockey
56 Consumer Game
8:00 2 Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour
4 Adam-12
7 Paul Lynde
9 Talent Festival
56 Leonardo: To Know How To
See
8:30 4 Banacek
7 Movie
"Trouble Comes to Town"
9:00 2 Medical Center
9 News
56 Eye to Eye
9:30 9 Toronto Dance Theatre in
England
56 Evangelos and Lisa
10:00 2 Cannon
4 Search
7 Julie Andrews
50 Perry Mason
56 Soul!.
10:30 9 This Land
11:00 2 4 7 News
9 CBC News
50 One Step Beyond
11:20 9 News
11:30 2 Movie
"Darby's Rangers" (1958)
4 Johnny Carson
7 Jack Paar Tonite
50 Movie
"ThePearl of Death" (1944)
12:00 9 Movie
"Suddenly Last Summer"
(1959)
1:00 4 7 News
1:50 2 Movie
"Della" (1964)
3:20 2 News
- -
0o
S
Holiday notes on
NY entertainment
By DONALD SOSIN
"I like New York in J u n e,
how about you . . ." Generally
New York has been very de-
pressing on my past visits, no
matter what time of year, but
for some peculiar reason, I found
the city wonderfully engaging
these past few weeks. Maybe it
was only the weather - an un-
real 60 degrees on New Year's
Day - but the plethora of unus-
ual and diverse means of enter-
tainment that the city has to of-
fer certainly helped.
I started my round of holiday
concert- and theatergoing with
a trip to Doctor Selavy's Magic
Theatre, which is playing at the
Mercer Arts Center. Subtitled
"The Mental Cure," Dr. Selavy
(pronounced "C'est la vie") con-
sists of 21 songs uninterrupted by
dialogue; yet it is not a revue.
But it's not really a musical ei-
ther: it's actually avant-garde
theater of the most bizarre sort.
The characters move slowly
around the stage, like the me-
chanical clowns on top of Laff
in the Dark at amusement parks.
They hold trays of break in their
hands. They stand in coffins and
tell fortunes. What does it all
mean? Only Richard Foreman,
who conceived, staged and de-
signed the production, knows,
and he's not saying. We never
find out what the patient is suf-
fering from nor whether he is
cured - but that doesn't matter.
Of course, in the process of try-
ig to decipher the meaning of
the action, it may be the aud-
ience who needs the mental cure.
The music, by Stanley Silver-
man, to lyrics by Tom Hendrv,
rins the gamut of styles f r o m
classical parody to ragtime to
gospel, and the gamut of inter-
est from much to very little.
"Life on the Inside," which be-
comes the show's theme song, re-
peated several times, is catchy
and might wind un on the Ton
40 some day. Lyrics, when they
could be heard through the sound
system's distortion, were lightly
satirical, and wittily sung by the
nine-member cast. It's one way
to spend a crazy evening.
Peter Schickele has been do-
ing concerts of music by P.D.Q.
Bach for almost eight years now,
and unhappily, the humor is be-
ginning to wear a bit thin. The
idea of a "last brit least" son
of Bach whom Schieckele "dis-
covered" was brilliant and con-
vulsed audiences, but there is a
limit to how often one can hear
it and still crack up. At first
I devoilred the music and bought
all the records but now suffer
from overexposure to them,
which seemed to be the case with
the Philharmonic hall audience
on December 26 at the F i r s t
Annual Farewell Concert. Old
jokes (like the invention of a
way of playing arpeggios on the
organ pedals, called the tootsie
roll) were greeted with enormous
hisses, to which Schickele replied,
"You know, I can take much
more of this than you can." I
hope so, Professor.
Among the earlier works that
he presented, the cantata "Iphi-
genia in Brooklyn" retains i t s
wit, and the Pervertimento for
Bicycle, Bagpipes and Balloons
and Strings was a riot, largely
due to the sour-faced bagpipe
player ("an old Scotsman, Maur-
ice Eisenstadt"). The newly dis-
covered works like the Serenude
and several madrigals seem to
flounder above the sea of the
great low-quality earlier pieces.
One looks forward toa return to
the depths, where, hopefully, lie
unplumbed many more musical
catastrophes to dull our ears.
For those to whom P.D.Q. Bach
is a stranger or little more, I
strongly recommend the six al-
bums of his music on Vanguard.
Oversaturation takesna long time
to set in, and the stuff is, tak-
en altogether, a great achieve-
ment in musicalfhumor. Old his-
sers like myself will look for-
ward to a new album, available
soon, called "The Intimate P.D.Q.
Bach."
The following evening saw
Joshua Rifkin, William Bolcom
and Eubie Blake participating in
"A Ragtime Xmas" in the same
hall. The up-and-down quality of
the concert stemmed from a very
unfunny MC, masquerading as
Harpo Marx, who should h a v e
followed Harpo's precedent and
kept his mouth shut.
The inclusion of some dancers
and a small orchestra did n o t
really help matters either, for
the choregraphy was, except far
that in Scott Joplin's "Ragtime
Dance," quite ordinary, and the
musicians without any sense of
fun.
Rifkin's playing, too, while
technically good, was rather spir-
itless and academic. To be sure,
he was trying to give an authen-
tic picture of ragtime by play-
ing only what is written, but
Bolcom showed in his set that a
more personal approach could
liven things up. Both men played
piano rags by Joplin and other
ragtime greats. Bolcom, in addi-
tion, offered some arrangements
of Gershwin songs, in flashy,
wonderful arrangements by the
composer.
Andsthere is no question that
Bolcom's technique is far better
ARTS
than Rifkin's; he is a t r u e
virtuoso. Interested listeners can
compare the two's styles on sev-
eral Nonesuch albums.
The real star of the evening
was Eubie Blake, who is one of
the great.ragtimehcomposers,
and still plays a hell of a piano,
despite his age (he turns 90 next
month). His style is never pre-
dictable, and his large h a n d s
make possible juicy chord con-
figurations that don't show up in
works of other ragtime masters.
What made his portion of t h e
evening all the more delicious
was his totally relaxed manner,
and his side comments at the
keyboard while playing; joking
with the audience from the start,
he developed a rapport that won
the crowd completely, and had
it begging for more.
The show closed with an un
believable rendition of Joplin's
Maple Leaf Rag, performedby
all three pianists on separate in-
struments, Rifkin pounding out
the bass, Bolcom improvising a
middle, and Blake doing every-
thing at once and having the time
of his life.
Nothing less than,
total insanity
i.
6:00 2 4 7 News
9 Courtship of Eddie's Father
50 Flintstones
56 Maggie and the Beautiful
Machine
6:30 2 4 7 News
9 1 Dream of Jeannie
50 Gilligan's Island
56 Making Things Grow
7:00 2 Truth or Consequences
4 News
Have a flair*f'r
artistic writing?
If you are interest-
ed in reviev ing
poetry, and music.
or writing feature
stories a b o u t the
arts: Contact Ari
.Editor, c/o 'lhe
drama, dance, filn.
Michigan Daily.
By PAUL TRAVIS
Associate Managing Editor
Oh! You guys are so crazy.
And today with the satellite nest
crammed with the stupid dribble
of the Hot Humorous 100 where
c-n a gone cat like yourself get
the lvnghs made just for you?
Well they are all yours on a
double-fun, double-deal - Dope'
Humor of the '70s vol. 1 and 2.
With that, Firesign Theater
opens their latest piece of plas-
tic insnnity entitled Not Insane.
For FT buffs, this album may
be something of a disappoint-
ment. The story line is not as
involved as in previous albums,
there is a lot of wasted space
given to sound effects and over-
dubbing, and it is a live album.
It's at times frustrating because
some of the jokes are sight gags
and while the audience laughs
on the record the listener has to
trv and figure out what hap-
pened.
BUT. It is Firesign Theater.
No doubt about that. There are
a lot of zany characters, com-
plicated allusions and lines from
previous FT albums. Definitely
an album to spend some time
really getting to know.
FT has taken on the challenge
of Shakespeare. The first part of
the album is taken up with
"Waiting on the Count of Monte
Cristo or someone like him." A
play of five acts-"three unnat-
ural and two against the state"
-is the structure they tise and
they use it well.
Scene 1: Edmund - Edmund is
being taken by ship back to his
land under orders of the king.
Edmund - Edmund - "He is a
prince the minstrels sing, but
among fools he is a king" - is
crazy. The ship runs into a bad
storm. Lots of outrageous puns.
\ Commercial - "Some call it a
commercial but I like to say
thanks for theinterruption."
Scene 2: Guards wandering
the battlements spot the ghost
Arch Balls who wants to speak
with Edmund - Edmund. When
he arrives he shows himself
equal to Hamlet. A guard warns
of the ghost leading himto hell
and he breaks into a stunning
speech:
'ell 'ell what's 'ell? They tore
it down. What's 'ell to me or me
to 'ell? What knell? As a tot was
told not to cross the moat but
then the monkey did bespeak me
cast the moat from mine own
eyes. So thus, I crossed my eyes
and doublecrossed the monk who
fell into the moat. Then soon
they bade me warning play not
by myself 'twould make me
blind but I was deaf and so I
jumped into the burning bush
and to although consumed I rose
again to bite yet another apple
on yet another Eve I spit out
half a snake. Afraiof 'eli? I've
left my senses many times and
dreamed I've fought great mon-
sters, pink behemouths..
Commercial.
Scene 3: The plot thickens.
Edmund - Edmund goes to see
the King who tells him that he is
the true heir to the Count. The
King dies and Edmund-Ed-
mund's uncle tries to poison him.
The glasses are switched and the
uncle dies. Edmund .- Edmund
rushes to tell the Queen who is in
reality Edmund-Edmund's long
lost brother Edmund. They fight
and Edmund-Edmund kills Ed-
mund. The uncle rises from the
dead and claims he is Edmund-
Edmund's father. They rush into
each others arms and their
swords kill each other. "There's
nothing left to say and no one
left to write an ending to this
dumb-ass play."
Slightly confusing, huh? FT's
accents add even more to the
confusion. And that is just the
beginning.
The other two sections of the
album feature the now famous
kickoff campaign of Papoon for
President and Young Guy-Moto
detective. Young Guy is a japa-
nese Nick Danger whose main
enemy is Lt. Brad Shaw of the
Atomic Occupation Forces. Both
of these cuts are really too short
to be developed fully. The
Shakespeare segment s h o u 1 d
have been cut and these other
two themes expanded.
As usual, some of the best
spots are the commercials. The
dope album and the ad for the
La Bomba Shelter are some of
the best.
i _
HELL,
UPSIDE
DOWN
TA
Fri .-Sat.
Ed
Trickell,
and the
Golden
complete
AN MEALS l
resh vegetables,
ices, homemade
serts. herb teas'
Offering
VEGETARK
whole grains, f
salads and jui
breads and des
and more.
Who will
survive-in one
one of the
greatest escape
adventures ever!
CULTURE CALENDAR
FILMS-AA Film Coop shows Ford's Stage Coach tonight,
Aud. A, 7, 9; Cinema Guild shows D. W. Griffith's Intoler-
ance tonight, Arch. Aud., 7, 10. About this film Daily re-
viewer Jeff Epstein writes:
Intolerance was voted the eleventh most significant
American film in cinema history. D. W. Griffith was a
pioneer in the industry and this film a classic equal to
"Birth of a Nation."
DRAMA-the Theatre Company of Ann Arbor, Inc. presents
an original adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula
tonight at 8, Mendelssohn.
ART EXHIBITS-Lantern gallery features "From N.Y. via AA
With Love!" which focuses on works by selected New
York artists; University Museum of Art features draw-
ings and photographs of European architectural monu-
ments by Albert Kahn; AA Public Library shows a pic-
torial exhibition which depicts the countryside and life
of the people of Bangladesh; AA Women Painters spe-
cial awards group show displayed at North Campus
Commons.
PANAVISJOLOR BY DEILE"
Ring
7
omanI
I
I
"Ed Trickett's
musical taste, a
legend among
performers, was
impeccable" .
the Golden Ring
generated warmth,
good feelings, and
beautiful music."
-Mich. Daily
0
Tonite-
FREE Hoot
feoturinq Ain
Arbor's finest.
next week:
i. "fah,
Phfllips
the Golden Voice
of the Great
Southwest.
f X7WRL IFOOD5 )SJWIfTI
3)5 57a47E Sr. A1O( RDOP T'I-7"'
Attention: Students, Faculty, and Staff
Nomination forms for D I S TI N G U I S H E D
TEACHING FELLOW AWARDS are available
in Room 1020, Rackham Building. The dead-
line for submission of forms is
F RA Y2, 19 7 3
Submit nomination forms in quadruplet to.
Frank Zimmerman. Secretary
r
"HAROLD AND MAUDE" says:
TODAY MINNEAPOLIS-
TOMORROW THE WORLD !
The HAROLD AND MAUDE success story began in Minneapolis
weeks ago when the fiim comedy opened at the surburban
Westgate Theatre to smash business.
Despite good reviews, HAROLD AND MAUDE was a boxoffice
disappointment in most cities (including Detroit) in the holiday
season competitive scramble.
Paramount Pictures was ready to consign HAROLD AND MAUDE
to the televiison scrap heap until Minneapolis entered in the
scene. The Westgate Theatre felt the film was too good not
to give it a second shot, so HAROLD AND MAUDE was brought
back in a second "first-run" engagement.
The film has grossed a sensational $125,000 and it's still run-
ning. The We.stgate thinks word-of-mouth advertising will
keep it going.
Most of our patrons agree with Free Press critic Susan Stark who
called HAROLD AND MAUDE "the most easy-to-take comedy
I
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