Wednesday, February 21, 1973
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Three
Ann Arbor Civic Theatre
PRESENTS
T 'ieves
Carnival
8 p.m. Wed. thru Sat.
LYDIA MENDELSSOHN
THEATRE
Box Office Open Daily 10 a.m.
WED.
TUMBLE-
WEEDS
1925, William Sittart di-
rects & stars in his last
film, a Western ..-.
And Donald Sosin gives
his last piano perform-
ance for Cinema Guild!
THUR.
BUN UEL'S
EXTERMINATING
ANGEL
ARCH ITECTURE
AUDITORIUM
Hicks sings and
swings in Detroit
J
By HARRY HAMMITT
Dan Hicks made his first De-
troit appearance on Saturday
night to a rather odd mixture of
musical tastes and feelings. As
soon as you were in the Masonic
auditorium it was obvious that
Hicks was going to play first:
onstage was a motley array, of
speaker boxes and amps and mi-
crophones; not an overwhelming
mass, just the bare minimum.
Aside from the obvious sparsity
of equipment there werebthe
normal Hicks touches: a back-
drop of a palm tree beach with
the sun setting over the ocean,
a parrot hanging down from the
rafters, and an array of potted
plants placed strategically around
the equipment.
Hicks and his band took the
stage a little while after the
scheduled starting time; from
that time on Hicks was master-
ful, not just in his performance
but also in the way he handled
the audience. Hicks and the Hot
Licks have been together for
some time, though it has only
been recently that he has come
into the national eye. As such,
the band is extremely tight and
precise. The vocals are the focal
point of the band, and Hicks and
his two female consorts, Mary-
ann Price and Naomi Ruth Ei-
senberg, handled them so effi-
ciently and superbly, blending
together very well with great
strength and depth, that they
were a delight to see in action.
When the vocals were not dom-
inating the music, the band re-
lied on their two main soloists,
"Symphony" Sid Page and the
newest member of the band, gui-
tarist John Girton. Girton is a
mellow jazz-oriented guitarist
who plays a lot of tasteful little
runs that embellish the melody-
line. Page is just a very fine
musician who plays both violin
and mandolin.
Hicks and the Hot Licks came
on dressed in superb style; slick
and tasteful, but not at all out-
rageous. Hicks is the obvious
leader of the band; he handled
most of the lead vocals, and in
his rhythm guitarwork he is re-
sponsible for much of the swing
in the band's music. This swing
came out well in Detroit, with
Hicks setting the tempo with his
guitar and Jaime Leopold, play-
ing an acoustic bass fiddle, rip-
ping up and down the neck of
his bass. This rhythmic f o r c e
was complemented excellently by
the addition of a drummer who
played a constant uptempo beat.
The numbers that Hicks per-
formed were all faster than the
norm with only "I'm An Old
Cowhand", sung by Maryann
Price, being a concession to slow
music. Hicks played some of his
standards, but there were re-
quests called out from the aud-
ience that he never got around
to doing. Two songs which high-
lighted his performance w e r e
"How Can I Miss You When You
Won't Leave Me Alone?" and
"Milk Shakin' Mama" which is
perhaps Hicks' most famous song
even though he has never re-
corded it. As has always been
the case, Hicks put aside his
guitar during the middle of
"Milk Shakin' Mama" to go into
his normal dance act. He mas-
terfully builds up an aura of an-
ticipation as the audience thinks
he is about to perform some un-
usual feat, but then comes back
with some absurdly simple step
that contrasts well with the anti-
cipation. He was joined in some
simple vaudeville dance steps by
Price and Eisenberg and togeth-
er they did some simple but ele-
gant choreography. Hicks had a
penchant during his perform-
ance for amusing nuances su1Th
as going down to a hunched posi-
tion or standing on one leg for
no apparent reason.
The band was really swinging
and their interplay was as tight
and relaxed as could be hoped
for. Hicks owes a great musical
debt to Bob Wills in his use of
the Texas swing style, is certain-
ly the dominant element in his
music, but he also synthesizes
elements of big band swing,
prairie cowboy music and Mexi-
can music into a brand that is
completely his own. The band is
very string-oriented and as such
their swing is very delicate and
unique, but still as rhythmically
powerful as a big band.
What was odd in the make-up
of the audience was that a good
percentage of the people had ap-
parently come to the concert to
see Bob Seger and didn't care
about Hicks. Seger has been
around the Detroit area for some
time and it was hard to view
him as such an important act,
but he had a very strong core
of fans who were determined to
see him, with or without Hicks.
By the time Seger did come on,
there was a serious energy gap
which he failed to fill. After the
Hicks set and the following inter-
mission, the audience apparent-
ly became apathetic and Seger
did not satisfy anyone but a
small group swarming around the
stage. He finally started to rock
with his song "Rosalee" follow-
ed by a basic rock 'n' roll song
followed by "Ramblin' Gamblin'
Man." By this time, the hard
core had invaded the stage and
Seger left after the song. He
came back to do "Turn On Your
Lovelight" as an encore, but he
had lost his momentary energy.
His fans were devoted, but he
By BARBARA BIALICK
He works methodically at light-
ing his pipe, until the whorls of
sweet smoke caress the room.
Last year when I sat in this same
too-large chair, I awaited some
kind of verdict on my writing
from my creative writing teach-
er, Robert Hayden. His answers,
then, as now, were honest and
unpretentious, even though his
reputation as a fine poet has long
been established.
Now he is staring at a spot in
Robert Hayden: a gentleman,
a scholar, and a fine poet
Robert Hayden
the window, visibly searching for
just the right words to express
himself. "Every creative person
demand everything of you."
Hayden, who has held creative
writing classese here since the
fall of 1969, does not believe that
poetry writing can really be
taught." Poetry, he says, is
something one is "born" into;
one cannot know why he has a
fondness for words, only that his
skills can be developed through
hard work. "If you could know
why you exist, you might know
why you are a poet."
Still, this man who grew up in
Detroit's ghetto in the '20's, has
committed himself to being a
conscientious t e a c h e r even
though the job makes it more
difficult to find time for his own
creative work.
Though they are not the key to
the writing process, Hayden does
cite many values in taking a
creative writing class. "You can
give young writers guidance and
make them self-critical . . . help
them discover what they can do
best . . . introduce them to each
other's writing." There is value
for the teacher too, who receives
"a kind of security which he
needs for his writing" by having
contact with "young people try-
ing to write."
Although Hayden agrees with
poet Donald Hall that there is a
new poetry renaissance in young
people, he complains that a good
deal of the work in his classes is
"lacking in real strength and im-
pact . . . because there is a re-
luctance to learn the craft of
poetry."
Hayden feels that too many
students are influenced by some
older poets who have "misled"
them into thinking that if you
like it, it's poetry. However, he
explains, the "spontaneous ex-
pression of emotions" is not all
there is to poetry. "Each poet
who develops technique puts his
own stamp on it." Even the tra-
ditional sonnet and blank verse
are "changed by the pressures
an individual p u t s to these
forms."
Indeed, for Hayden, form and
content carry on an "organic re-
lationship." He isconcerned with
poetry as "an art which sets up,
certain demands," but his goal
is not to write "puzzle poems."
Rather, he says, "I want people
to understand what I write and
react to it . . . I don't want to be
so obscure that only intellectuals
("the, initiated") can understand
me."
The result is that the gentle-
voiced Hayden is a sensitive,
sensual writer whose poems are
controlled and cut to the mini-
mum words necessary for the
greatest impact, as in "Sole-
dad":
Naked, he lies in the blinded
room
chainsmoking, cradled by
drugs, by jazz
as never by any lover's
cradling flesh.
A black man who grew up in
a society that is prone to make
judgments on the color of one's
skin, Hayden would rather have
his poems communicate to all
human beings. He has been in-
volved with the Baha'i Faith for
over 20 years, and explains that
one of their cardinal principles
is the "essential unity of all
races."
Still, Hayden has always had a
great interest in Afro-American
history. His poetry, which for
him is a way of "coming to grips
with reality," naturally is the
outgrowth of his own life. Thus,
Hayden often presents in his
poems beautifully carved sketch-
es of people who have come into
his realm of experience. His
"purpose" is to emphasize the
"humanity of the people (he)
writes about, their human di-
mensions," rather than race. In
his poem about Malcolm X, from
the book Words in the Mourning
Time, Hayden seems to seek out
the heart of the man whose
struggle inspired his people:
Sometimes the dark that gave
his life
its cold satanic sheen would
shift
a little, and he saw himself
floodlit and eloquent; ...
He X'd his name, became his
people's anger,
exhorted them to vengeance
for their past;
rebuked, admonished them,.. .
He fell upon his face before
Allah the raceless in whose
blazing Oneness all
were one. He rose renewed,
renamed, became
much more than there was
time for him to be.
ARTS
Tin dimes neither. So long, pal.
Hayden's most recent pamph-
let is The Night Blooming Ser-
ious (London, 1972), which was
written for the Michigan Chapter
of Phi Beta Kappa.
Although he thinks "the aca-
demic environment is not con-
ducive to real creativity," the
academic world has often hon-
ored him. He received a major
Hopwood in 1942, the Grand Prize
for Poetry at the First World
Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar,
1966, and the 1970 Russell Loins
Award. (National Institute of Arts
and Letters).
Hayden was educated at Wayne
State University and then man-
aged to become a part-time stu-
dent at Michigan; he won a
minor Hopwood that summer in
1938. He had a fellowship.here
from 1944-46, and then taught at
Fisk University for 23 years.
After brief periods at the Uni-
versities of Louisiana and Wash-
ington, he was invited back to
.Michigan as a professor of Eng-
lish.
Both a scholar and a poet, Hay-
den believes "poetry as art is
a worthy! enterprise." Indeed, in
the poetry of Robert Hayden we
must certainly find significance
for ourselves. A powerful sense
of understanding and v is i o n
comes through in the work of
this man who 'declares a life-
long fondness of words. As a
teacher or as a poet, Hayden
would not force his methods on
r
7 & 9:05$ . .. ..received only polite response who is teaching in a university
I I .$ which contrasted sharply with faces a dilemma," he says.
The Residential College Players Present: the large response that Hicks re- "Teaching is a full-time job, and
ceived. poetry is a full-time job. Both
2 ONE-ACT PLAYS a
THE LESSON by IONESCO CU I'WUREdC I r A
AND
SOMETHING UNSPOKEN by WILLIAMS ART-.UAC-Creative Arts Festival presents "Expanded Cine-
8:00 p.m. ma": discussion - screening with underground filmmaker
- Feb. 23-25 EAST QUAD AUD. $1.00 Donation Stan VanDerBeek at noon in Angell Hall, Aud. B.
m~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ------------.A."--..A"..............d............L.......... .T,........,:::s.reP. resent.Ts- T p Wpnrsn s iso ' L dow F i
}::{}:r::WINNERSt} }r}.;;S}:;$4
DAILY
AT
1, 3, 5, 7, 9 P.M.
G-RATED
"I'd Bet on
'Sounder'
to Sweep
This Year's
Academy
Awards.
I Can't
Recall Any
Film That
Was So
Visually
Moving."
-Dave Sheehan
KNXT-TV
WINNE R
OF
4
ACADEMY
AWARD
Nominations!
" BEST
PICTURE
. BEST
ACTOR
" BEST
ACTRESS
*BEST
SCREENPLAY
and Lennon's In His Own Write at 4 in Frieze Arena.
FILMS-AA Film Co-op presents Arkin's Little Murders at
7 and 9 in Angell, Aud. A; Cinema Guild presents Hart's
Tumbleweeds at 7 and 9:05 in Arch. Aud; New Morning
Films presents End of the Road at 7 and 9 in MLB, Aud. 3.
MUSIC-U Symphony Orchestra, with Josef Blatt conducting,
can be heard at 8 in Hill. Roosevelt Sykes appears at
Blind Pig at 8:30 and 11:30; cover
WCBN-A taped interview with director Frank Capra can be
heard on WCBN (89.5 on your FM dial) at 7:10 tonight,
Questions and comments on Capra and his movies can
be phoned in to Prof. Marvin Felheim following the in-
terview.
, Hayden has a cosmic strength
of vision. But he can also write
of the ironies of the daily human
experience, in a vaguely comic,
"humane" casual rhythm, which
movessas natural conversation
does, as in "Aunt Jemina of the
the Ocean Waves":
Jemina sighs, Reckon I'd best
be getting back. I help her up.
Don't you take no wooden
nickels, hear?
tev.
tonight
6:00 2 4 7 News
9 Courtship of Eddie's Father
50 Flintstones
56 Operation Second Chance
6:30 2 CBS News
4 NBC News
7 ABC News
9 I Dream of Jeannie
50 Gilligan's Island
56 Making Things Grow
7:09 2 Truth or Consequences
4 News
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 News
50 Hogan's Heroes
56 Consumer Game
8:00 Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour
4 Adam-l2
7 Paul Lynde
9 NHL Hockey
50 Dragnet
other people but his lessons are
worth remembering. As a poet
he stands somewhat apart from
his 7a experience and struggles
with his reality:
Alien, at home-as always
everywhere-I roamed
the cobbled island,
and thought of Yeats,
his passionate search for
a theme. Sought mine.'
56 America '73
8:30 4 Movie
"The Norliss Tapes"
7 Movie
"And No One Could Save Her"
(1973)
50,Merv Griffin
9:09 2 Medical Center
56 Eye to Eye
9:30 56 Joan Sutherland: Who's
Af raid of opera?
10:00 2 Cannon
4 Search
'7 Owen. Marshall
50 Perry Mason
56 Soul!
10:30 9 Irish Rovers
11:00 2 4 7 News
9 CBC News
50 One St Beyond
11:20 9 News
11:30 2 Movie
"No Time for Sergeants"
(1958)
4 Johnny Carson
7 Dick Cavett
50 Movie
"The Fighting 69th" (1940)
12:00 9 Movie
"Deadlier than the Male"
(English 1967)
1:00 4 7 News
1:50 2 Movie,
"Sitting Bull" (1954)
3:20 2 TV High School
3:50 2 It's Your Bet
4:20 2 News
cable tv
channel 3
3:30 Pixanne
4:00 Today's Woman
4:30 Something Else (rock)
5:00 stratasphere Playhouse
5:30 Local news and events
6:00 Consumer Forum
6:30 NCAA Sports
7:00 Community Dialogue
wicbn
89.5 fn
9 The Morning After
12 Progressive Rock
4 Folk
7 Frank Capra
8 Rhthmn and Blues
11 Progressive Rock
artistic writing?
I1 you are Interest-
ed in review ing
poetry, and music,
drama, dance, film,
or writing feature
stories a b o u t the
arts: Contact Arti
Editor, c/o The
Michigan Daily.
"SOUNDER"
LAST SHOWING
UAC-Creative Arts Festival
ACADEMY AWARD
NOMINATIONS !
I
Presents a Discussion-Screening with
STAN VANDERBEEK
UNDERGROUND FILM-ARTIST
East Quad Auditorium, 3 p.m.
FREE ADMISSION
NEXT WEEK-TWO MORE FILMMAKERS
Monday-MICHAEL SNOW
Tues. & Wed.-STAN BRAKHAGE
-BEST
-BEST
-BEST
-BEST
PICTURE
DIRECTOR
ACTRESS
SCREENPLAY
One of the yeo
10 best film;!
-N.Y. Film Cri
Wed. at
1 p.m.,
3:30, 6p.m.
& 8:45
Thur.-Fri.
at 6:40
& 9:05
or s
" 1 s. university
tics I V
Theatre Phone 668-6416
I
Screen
play
by
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Max von SydowvLiv Ullmann
The Enigrante
Technicolor'From Warner Bros, AWarner Communications Company
starring Country Joe and the Fish, The James Gang,
New York Rock Ensemble, Elvin Jones (formerly
of the John Coltraine quartet), Doug Kershaw and
White Lightnin'.
plus SALVADOR DALI'S
"Un Chien Andalou"-an avante-garde excursion
into a land of surrealism and mind twisting pipe
dreams. (16 min.)
m
UAC-DAYSTAR presents
HERBIE HANCOCK
septet
and
FREDDIE HUBBARD
I
Contact the Placement Office.
A representative of The Institute
I