rThursday, February 22, 1973 is-!t mICHIGAN DAILY rage r nree rTh-.~rsday, February 22, 1973 l?-~M!CHIC-AN DAILY rage inree Ann Arbor Civic Theatre PRESENTS Thieves' Carnival 8 p.m. Wed. thru Sat. LYDIA MENDELSSOHN THEATRE Box Office Open Daily 10 o.m. Daily Classifieds Bring Results FRIDAY 11:30 p.m. (7) (24) In Concert A bi-weekly 90 minute music special featuring different, "name" rock ar- tists in live performance. The audio portion is simulcast over WRIF-FM (101.1). 1:00 a.m. (4) (10) (13) Midnight Spe- cial A weekly 90 minute music special featuring a rotating list of guest hosts and a wide variety of "sounds," from rock to Muzak, both live and pre-recorded. The audio is not sim- ulcast over a local radio outlet. Our first column is dedicated to Wally Cox. A nice guy. Picture this: Alice Cooper and his punk rock band on stage, complete with snake, electric chair, and an .asortment of spine- tingling devices and such. Alice suggestively sucks on his ever- present microphone while his band is cranking it up behind him, sounding horribly vicious yet maintaining their sweet bit- chiness. Suddenly the "eye" pans away from Alice and settles on a sweeping view of the audience .. .Yes, now you've focused, and there they are - a list- les throng of (possibly) pubes- cent gum-poppers, looking pretty for you, smiling guilefully in their Sasoon shags' and Pucci- patched jeans. And once again your point of view is changed for you, and your "eye" falls on a tall, angular blonde, her hair flailing madly, her body mov- ing enticingly to a seemingly im- possible beat . . . and then it's over. ... What do they do when the music's over? Yes, it's a fool- ish question to ask, for you shall soon see - a now-awake mob peers anxiously about, hop- ing for some new "cue" to fall their way. A man quickly ap- pears to the left of the stage, pointing his finger at the aud- ience like some swashbuckling rapier set free to do its good deeds. He mats his hands to- gether, swiftly repeating this action till his younger puppets mimick him, thus creating the resounding applause that most, if not all artists live for . . . Does it matter that Alice's performance was a pale impres- sion of his regular show? Does it matter that the band was off- key and virtually lifeless on stage? No, nothing matters - save for the audience's deep de- sire to enjoy their own show. Cut, print . . . that's a take. A new Fellini film? No, guess again. A calculatedly absurd Bertolt Brecht masterpiece? No, neither we're afraid. What we have is something with the like- ly misnomer of In' Concert, a bi-weekly presentation of the ABC-TV television network and your friendly n e i g h b o rhood whoremongers, the Advertisers of America. Yes, in this network's never- ending desire to serve our na- tion's self-deserving "rock cul- ture," ABC has made it possible for you-yes you (!), Woodstock flower child - to sit in your own room and smoke dope, down the old Ripple: and now watch your fab rave rock stars on the video tube while catching the glamor- ous audio in stereo on the local ABC radio outlet! To begin our little escapade: ABC's basic premise of present- ing rock and other pop cultural acts taped live in concert is a good one. Except for shows like Dick Clark's American B a n d- stand and the current reruns of the Monkees shows, television has lately been avoiding rock as an entity in any sense - and both of these examples only fea- ture performers lip-syncing their music. For this obvious lack of such rock entertainment, ABC's final recognition of our little culture was a godsend so-to-speak, and one of great opportunity profit- wise for everyone but the view- er, we might add. It is from this point on that ABC's In Concert series proves to be a dissatisfying rock vehi- cle: from a promising premise down into the murky depths of poor execution, that is. ABC's bigest mistake was hiring Don Kirshner to "execute" their new rock series - something he has t.v.-per-fect-ly done with all of the relish of a morbid hangman. To our knowledge, Kirshner's only previous experiences w i t h "rock" was in his development and sugar-sugar presentation of the Archies and the Monkees on both television and records. For these actions alone, Kirsh- ner's view of rock is not neces- sarily in line with that of the average rock 'n' roller - though in both cases he is (or was) aim- ing at the teeny-boper for a good portion of his audience. To date, Kirshner has not been satisfied with the raw power of current rock, so in his search for perfection, he has been a part of the biggest "re-mixing" con- spiracy since the earliest days of lip-sync. The feeling that we sense in Kirshner is that he is a firm believer in the t.v. adage that "every performer - talent- ed or otherwise - should a n d will sound perfect." As w i t h most rock artists, this is an im- possible request/demand. A s such, it is therefore up to the audio men to do - in m o s t cases - the "dirty work" and. work their missions impossible by mixing, re-mixing and re-re- mixing the raw tapes to the point of (almost) certain medio- crity. The result from this type of thorough rock "execution" is an Alice Cooper set that sounds un- necessarily muddled and talent- less, or a Grand Funk Railroad performance that is overly-quiet- ed and powerless. Both of these acts are not especially techni- cally-skilled bands, but in ac- tual live performance their short- comings are successfully over- come by their strong stage pre- sence(s) and,' once again, their power as a whole. Unfortunately on television, "stage presence" by Mike Harper and Ken Altshuler falls victim to the limitations of , the screen, and the music to the severe limitations of Kirshner's rock knowledgability. Just as his stereo re-mix is dry and virtually tasteless, Kirsh- ner's "staging" is equally as ludricous. Our musical "mentor" concentrates as much as is hu- manly possible on including bor- ing solos and extended runs .. "realism" through redundancy, no doubt. As well, Kirshner di- rects the editing procedures as it was not important where or what you cut, as long as you do cut. There are several other ex- amples of this random butchery, generally consisting of poor se- quencing of songs, and, in many instances, the camera angles that are used. Another one of Kirshner's tricks - this one to relieve the viewer from the tedium of watch- ing some half-talented group "get-it-on" - is to provide the home tube idiot with longing shots of female members of the audience a la ABC's Saturday NCAA College Football. This is a practical, "chauvinist" a p - proach to the matter on Kirsh- ner's part, but the women that he generally chooses only seem to fuhher prove the boredom that must be an. incessant part of theaudience's "livelihood." Save for the "tall, angular blondes" in attendance, the aud- ience as a whole appears dazed and confused, as if taken in by some awe-inspiring god of sorts ... The rock stars? Hardly, tives of television, and its mysti- much more likely they' are cap- cal glam and glitter - why else would they "doll" themselves up in such glaring bad taste? That is, the most unsatisfying aspect of the audience is that everyone knows when they're on camera, and it's "smile, and say cheese" given the once-over again. In other words, it's show- time at the Club Telang . . . Though In Concert is unreal- istic in a rock sense, it is a glory-to-be compared to its bas- tard brother, Midnight Special. Special, a NBC-TV network pre- sentation, is aimed at the 18- 35 age group and it features even prettier audiences than In Concert, plus cue cards, applause signs and stringy music t h at rarely rises above the trouble- some realm of Muzak. In other words, television's first 90 min- ute musical situation-comedy. And all unintentional, of course. ." "... .1.:i : :t :}'L:{*V.. } } Vr ..V.. ..#.. Who owns romers face. It's absolutely, incredibly insane. Students everywhere growing beards, buying wirerims doing anything possible to get their faces in shape for Columbia Records' Intercollegiate David Bromberg Look-Alike Sweepstakes. Even local plastic surgeons surveyed report a sudden surge in business from students desperate to look like the man himself. The real madness, however, is yet to come - Wednesday, February 28, at 7:00 in the Fish- bowl - when local faces will compete for the title of Best Bromberg Look-Alike. This local winner will then move to the national contest where he (or she?) will match faces with repre- sentatives from fourteen other campuses. Winner receives AM-FM multi-band portable Masterworks radio and 50 Columbia albums of his or her choice. Facers-up get 30 and 20 albums. The campus with the winning face.... w s' #; receives an all-expense-paid free concert by Bromberg and Friends All-Star Revue and Fol- lies. To enter, stop by either The Michigan Daily or WCBN ofices and fill out appropriate cou- pons. Local winners also receive various com- binations of Bromberg T-shirts and albums. "n""v","r.9::.t+ ." ? :"i:"A n r.,wr".Vr.""." r. w" .. :;r,...}:":.": . . . m" a:.. .. :_~or. ..k".:.rn:.... i.n:Yi".,:;lo"r::.:vii.. nv...""..:.:"a ..:".v.:".. ov.rv..r ,v'ri i:: :" d..:rv4.v:".:i0"..is Aztec Two-Step melts in your mouth I I Last TONIGHT ht,. 4xAheadcl of histimne Showing CULTURE CALEINDAR FILM-Maternal and Child Health Film Series presents It Happens to Us today at noon in 3001 SPH I; AA Film Co-op shows Anderson's If .... in Aud. A, Angell tonight at 7, 9; South Quad Films presents Take the Money and Run tonight at 7, 9 in Dining Rm. 2; Cinema Guild fea- tures The Exterminating Angel in Arch. Aud. at 7, 9:05. DRAMA-Student Lab Theatre presents Wilson's Ludlow Fair; Lennon's In His Own Write this afternoon at 4 in the Frieze Arena. WCBN SPECIAL-Interview with John Denver tonight at 5. POETRY-Donald Hall reads his poetry in the UGLI Multi- purpose Rm. this afternoon at 4:10. 'IDETROIT, Thurs. -Sun. Feb. 22, 23, 24, 25 BY TOM OLSON Maybe Time magazine is to blame. Back in 1971 they printed a cover stor yabout James Tay- lor and announced that it was now possible to sell records by gently stroking a quitar and sing- ing about how you didn't feel so good. Ever since, we have been deluged by sincere young min- strels only too happy to write songs about how hard it is to be a pampered rich kid in Southern California. After a few years of this, the record-buying masses have be- come rightfully wary of these lonesome balladeers who will sell you their songs-of-myself for $5.98. And Aztec Two-Step (Elek- tra 75031) seems to be just the sort of album that any sane record - buyer w o u ld want to avoid. (There are two sensitive young musicians involved here, but the principle is the same.) As if it were not bad enough. that the group takes its name from a Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem, our cynicism is further encouraged by the inclusion of an insert sheet with the lyrics inscribed in the most precious calligraphy imaginable. W i t h credentials like these, how could they be anything butatrocious? They are not. Aztec Two-Step is music that will melt in your mouth, not in your fist. The group is Neil Shulman and Rex Fowler, two guitarists who have been playing cofeehouses to- gether (of course) for about a year an da half. Theirbvocal arrangements sound at times a little like Simon and Garfunkel once did, although their songs are never so turgid as Paul Simon at his worst. Both are tal- ented guitarists, and the inter- play between their styles makes the musicianship here anything but perfunctory. The sound of this album is further brightened by the presence of various cap- able back-up people ("of course" applies here as well), among them banjo wizard Doug Dillard and harmonica man John Sebas- tian. Producer Jerry Yester (a one- time colleague of Sebastian) has not dared to include even one bad song on this record, know- ing well enough that if this group does not find a following for its 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 Classroom Meetings 7:00 2 Truth or Consequences 4 News 7 To Tell The Truth 9 Beverly Hillbillies 50 I Love Lucy 56 Course of our Times 7:30 2 what's My Line? 4 Circus! 7 Michigan Outdoors 9 Movie "Tarzan's New York Adventure" (1942) 50 Hogan's Heroes 56 Behind the Lines 8:00 2 The Waltons 4 Flip wilson 7 Mod Squad 56 Advocates 50 Dragnet 8:30 50 Merv Griffin 9:00 2 Movie "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" 4 Ironside 7 Kung Fu 9 News 56 An American Family 9:30 Happy Though Married 10:00 4 Dean Martin 7 Streets of San Francisco first album it is unlikely to get a chance to make a second. The material is all original, mostly written by Fowler, the senior partner. Their songwriting suf- fers from little of the self-indul- gence that one expects from young writers' efforts. There are 11 different songs here, not 11 variations on a single theme. If they lack for inspiration, they calmly wait to be inspired again instead of bleeding an old idea dry. Fowler's o t h e r compositions are less commercial than the two mentioned above, but they are equally worth the price of admission. "Almost Apocalypse" gives a half-dozen fast pickers the chance to show off, and is d e n s e and absorbing without sounding unnecessarily b u s y. "Prisoner" brings the first side 0 0 to a gentle close, relaxed and simple but never soporific. "The Highway Song" is Fow- ler's epic, but fortunately this is not the same maudlin highway of hard times that we hear so much about from every phony gypsy who ever wrote a song. It runs to 6% minutes, but hardly seems that long. There is no dead space, and the album as a whole bears scarcely a trace of filler. But for the superfluous strings that intervene in the final moments, "The Highway Song" would be a complete suc- cess Young Shulman has confined himself to writing two brief songs, but both are conspicuous- ly fine. "So Easy" is almost in- solent in its refusal to take things seriously, and the music and words agree perfectly in that attitude. "Dancers All" is dominated by Doug Dillard's banjo, which is surprisingly at home in what is essentially a rather tense and urgent piece of music. Shulman deserves to play a less modest part in writing -sonsg for future albums. 9 Adieu Alouette 50 Perry Mason 56 Masterpiece Theatre 10:30 9 Countrytime 11:00 4 7 News 9 CBC News 50 One Step Beyond 11:20 9 News 11:30 )f News 4 Johnny Carson 7 Dick Cavett 50 Movie "City for Conquest" (1940) 12:00 2 Movie "The Swimmer" (1968) 9 Movie "Scalplock" (1966) 1:00 4 7 News 1:50 2 Movie "Strangers at Sunrise" (1968) 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 Love and the'law 6:30 NCAA Sports 7:00 Community Dialogue 8:00 Yesterday's school board meeting 89.5fm 9:00 The Morning After 12:00 Progressive Rock 4:00 Folk 5:00 Special broadcast of interview with John Denver 7:10 Lecture by Paolo Soleri on "The Future of Aesthetics" 8:00 Jazz 11:00 Progressive Rock 3:00 sign-off I A.M.-2 A.M. ---- --------- VALUABLE COUPON WORTH $1.14!! 1 IBuy one delicious I I Mr.Tony Sub... $1.14, I I get another FREE!! I GOOD FEBRUARY 22 TO MARCH 3, 1973. State & William . 1327 S. University 1 l Washtentaw) Lin E E NNNN N N NNNN N =NNeN N - - -- - -- - - aT The First Electric Western LAW SCHOOL FILMS PRESENTS "THE BABY MAKER" starring-BARBARA HERSHEY Friday, Feb. 23,1973 7, 9, 11 p.m. The entire Ann Arbor area is talking about what a great picture this is-you must see it to appreciate it! HELD OVER-3rd HIT WEEK! screen play by the' FIRESIGN THEATRE WINNER OF 4 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS, including * BEST PICTURE * BEST ACTRESS-LIV ULLMAN THURS-FRI at 6:40 & 9:05 SAT, SUN & WED at 1 PM, 3:30, 6PM, & 8:45 I starring Country Joe and the Fish, The James Gang, The New York Rock Ensemble, Elvin Jones (formerly of the John Coltraine quartet), Doug Kershaw and White Lightnin'! - " "MASTERFUL !' OF A SECURE LISTS OF CI "A FILM WORTHY INTEGRITY, PLACEON AN ARTIS N EMA'S MENT AS OF IMMENSE , AS CERTAIN TIC ACHIEVE- I HAVE SEEN D fit I 11 I II