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 --- - -.~ w . II .