Sunday, April 8, 1973 THE MICHIGAN DAILY 1age Three Alice Cooper: Decadent theatrics By MIKE HARPER, GLORIA JANE SMITH and DAVID OSHER Alice Cooper calmly staggered into his press conference about thirty or so minutes late last Wednesday afternoon, sat slow- ly - and gently - down in an encumbering chair, and then readied himself for the always- inane questions and such to come . "Ah Alice, is it true about you and Mrs. Cleaver . . .?" "Ah no, Barbara Billingsley and I have never had anything . . . No, I am not Eddie Has- kell . . . Yes, I drink a case of beer a day . . . No, this . .. Yes, that, . . God, I'm drunk . ." Yes, Detroit got its latest taste of glam and glitter - here spic- ed with a bit of the old macabre- inspired Broadway - this past week as the newest edition of The Alice Cooper Show hit town, bringing enough sheer decadence with it to insure its proper place in the wispy hearts of teenage wasteland for light-show years to come. At the press conference, someone hazards to ask Alice if his shows is "all gimmick" and little, if at all musical. Alice tells one and all that such an at- titude is only held by those over sixteen, and they're "having no fun at all . . ." He then adds, "You don't sell a million re- cords on stage gimmick . ." KeepAmericaClean. Keep America Beautiful. {Advertising contributed for the public good. Cooper True though, as a rock 'n' roll hand, Alice Cooper is not great- ly talented, but as a basic out- fit they can - and do - put out good, infectious sound that is deliciously raw-edged and bit- ing. Also true, Alice's stage act is one that often-times greatly overindulges in relatively unim- aginative and unentertaining theatrics, a "show" that fails to live up to the music that supposedly surrounds it, music that somehow ends up being hopelessly contained within. As the press releases - and Alice for that matter - have stated, the band itself is al- ways coming up with "new" and "more exciting" ideas, ideas that make each Cooper tour bigger- and, supposedly, better - than those before it. What this means .is that - if you listen to press releases - Alice has not forgotten his "fans" and he will continue to outdo himself for their sake - if you're more in- terested in the musical asnects of Alice Cooper - as a result of this aforementioned overin- dulgence, the music must play an uncomfortable "second bana- na" to the "show" side of things. This time around, the music has indeed been overrun by the theatrics and sheer wastefulness of the Cooper show. For this tour, by sporting a new, multi- level stage setup with built-in lights, hanging idols and the like, additional back-up musi- cians and flashier stage gear and "tricks" than ever before, and all valued at the great "ex- cess" of more than a quarter of a million dollars, dear Alice and the boys have thoroughly proved their questionable desire to en- shrine their latest album - namely, Billion Dollar Babies- in a solid sunre - structure of gaudv, relatively purposeless showbiz. .As much sheer fun ns Alice - a very witty and intelli- gent guyv in his own off-stage, offhandly 'straight' self-nrov- ed to he at the press confer- ence, his drnken - "I could nrobably drink anyone nder the table" were his words to the crrious onlookers at the Warner Rros. lncheon - excesses did little, if anything to hel the concert, which tended to be somewhat spotty and drag with increasing ronlarity, as it wandered on like some always- lost child. Desnite such new attractions as a real, working aiillotine - which is onl "R0 ner cent sre" (There's a 20 per cent chance that the real Mlade will cet Alice's head off.) according to Alice - and the total chaos of "Tnfinishd Sweet" - a mad d ntist tnrt ring t"star wth a Onnt drll, as well as a dac- ina tooth which Alice rapes with a large. nhallic the of toothonst - The Alice Cooner Show suffers from its constant over-excesses. Thev serve only to detract from their loelv m- sicn sound. Perhans. Alice and the band wanted it as such; but in any case, the final outcome is nothing more than a self-defeat of sorts. 3rd HIT WEEK! INGMAR BERGMAN'S GIESAND WH ISEPS "BEST Picture Director Screenplay0 Actress Liv Ullman) -N.Y. Film Critics Awards Today at 1,3, 5,7,9 P.M. Thurs, Fri, Man, Tue at 7 & 9 only FLAMENCO FREAKS Internationally known Flamenco guitarist Juan Serrano will be taking appointments for private instruction this week. Call: Ann Arbor Music Mart 9:30-9:00 MON.-SAT. 769-4980 336 S. State St. i j By DONALD SOSIN London Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn, conductor; Fri., April 6, at 8:30 p.m., in Hill Auditorium. Choral Union Series of the Uni- versity Musical Society Walton-Overtures: "Portsmouth Point" Vaughn Williams: Symphony No. 3 ("Pastoral") Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 73 A scintillating orchestral pro- gram closed this year's Series Friday night, as Andre Previn took the podium to lead one of the world's finest orchestras. The emphasis was on rich, flowing lines, and a sheen in tone color that makes this group so reward- ing to hear. The strings are at the core of this sound, and Previn has form- ed them into a truly unified body; this was particularly evident in the sinuous, undulating parallel chords of Vaughn Williams' Pas- toral Symphony. Previn, who has tonight 6:00 2 60 Minutes 4 News 9 I Dream of Jeannie 50 Star Trek 6:30 4 Movie "The Wizard of Oz" 7 Half the George Kirby Comedy Hour 9 Beverly Hillbillies 7:00 2 TV 2 Reports 7 Parent Game 9 Tom Jones 50 Lawrence Welk 7:30 7 Police Surgeon 8:00 2 M*A*S*H 7 FBI 9 Kingston Tercentenary 50 Mancini Generation 8:30 2 Mannix 4 McCloud 9 Bandwagon Da ily Photo by TOM GOTT L IE B Andre Previn with London Symphony Orchestra Andre Previn conducts beautifullly* flowing music had an afinity for things English since his student days, created here a sound of etheral beauty, soft and shimmering. He relies heavily on flowery, expansive gestures, and often keeps his arms high over his head, which gives an airy quality to the play- ing. In the Brahms Symphony No. 2, Previn highlighted the individ- ual parts in a most illuminating way, and in so doing added im- measurably to the element of sound he was concentrating on, which, beautiful though it was, could not have carried through such a substantial work by itself. In his attempt to keep t h e sound elegant, however, Previn did something of a disservice to the passionate qualities of the music, and kept such a t i g h t rein on dynamics that the spirited finale threatened to disappear from audibility. Fortunately, the performance gathered momen- tum and built to a magnificent- swell of sound, as Previn and his musicians finally sank their 50 Johnny Mann's Stand up and Cheer 9:00 7 Movie - "The Long Duel" (English; 1967) 9 50 To Be announced 56 Masterpiece Theatre 9:30 2 Barnaby Jones 50 Detroit Show 9 Weekend 56 Firing Line 50 Lou Gordon 10:30 2 Evil Touch 4 Profiles in Black 11:00 2 4 News 9 CBC News 11:15 7 News 9 Nation's Business 11:20 9 Religious Scope 11:30 2 Movie-Drama "Adam's Wo- man," 1968. 4 Big Valley 9 Movie - "The Iperess File." (English; 1965) 50 For My People 11:45 7 ABC News 12:00 7 Movie - "Black Water Gold" (1969) 12:30 4 News 1:45 2 Wagon Train 2:00 7 News 3:15 2 News DAILY CLASSI F I EDS BRING RESULTS ------- teeth into something they had only been nibbling at. The program began with a pep- py overture by Sir William Wal- ton, which served as an effec- tive display piece for the orches- tra; Consisting almost totally of melodic material played in uni- son by a striking variety of in- strumental combinations, t h e catchiness of the rhythms was not enough to offset the f a c t that the work only glitters on the surface. And wonderful though it was to hear the Vaughan Wil- liams, whose music, apart from two or three short works, is still too seldom performed in Amer- ica, one was grateful for the Brahms to provide some solid musical meat (I use the word ad- visedly). The final University Musical Society events this season are the four May Festival concerts, May 2-5, with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Information about these and next season's concerts is available at Burton Tower. MONDAY 6:00 2 4 7 News 9 Courtship of Eddie's Father 6:30 2 CBS News 4 NBC News 7 ABC News 9 1 Dream of Jeannie 50 Gilligan's Island 56 360 Degrees 7:00 2 Truth or Consequences 4 News 7 To Tell the Truth 9 Beverly Hillbillies 50 I Love Lucy 56 Passion, Death and Resurrec- tion of Jesus 7:30 2 What's My Line 4 Mouse Factory 7 Let's Make a Deal 9 Wacky World of Jonathan Winters 50 Hogan's Heroes' 56 Para M1 Pueblo 8:00 2 Gunsmoke 4 Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in 7 Rookies 9 Beachcombers 56 VD Blues 50 Dragnet 8:30 9 David Frost Revue 50 Merv Griffin 9:00 Here's Lucy 4 Movie - "The Secret War of Harry Frlgg." (1968) 7 Movie - "Situation Hopeless - but Not Serious." (1965) 9 News 56 VD Blues Followup 9:30 2 Doris Day 9 This Is The Law 10:00 2 Bil Cosby 9 Nature of Things 50 Perry Mason 56 Speaking Freely 10:30 9 Man Alive 11:00 2 4 7 News 9 CBC News 50 One Step Beyond Star Trek fans to hold convention Star Trek lives at Equicon '731 All you Star Trek freaks who participated last spring in the campus club to reinstate the popular television series or who attended last summer's Star Trek convention in Detroit will just be thrilled to hear of Equicon, the first major West Coast con- vention devoted solely to Star Trek. Held April 20 - 22, the conven- tion will present celebrities in- cluding Gene Roddenberry (who has recently worked on a propos- ed new science fiction series), creator of Star Trek, DeForest Kelley who played Dr. McCoy, James Doohan who played Scot- ty, and various other actors from the show. Theodore Sturgeon, author of many science fiction works, in- cluding Star Trek episodes, will be guest of honor. Activities during the weekend include a futuristic fashion show, exhibits of Star Trek "goodies," a science fiction an fantasy art show, auctions of Star Trek sou- venirs, a showing of uncut Star Trek episodes, a banquet and a costume parade followed by a "Shore Leave" party. By the WABX Air Aces Eric Weissburg's suing about the Deliverance albums. As peo- ple who bought the LP found out, only one track on the al- bum is new - the rest is a re- issue of cuts from a 10-year-old Elektra album, New Dimen- sions in Banjo and Bluegrass,. featuring Weissburg and Mar- shall Brickman. Have a flair for artistic writing? If you are interest- ed in reviewing poetry, and music, drama, dance, film, or writing feature stories a b o u t the arts: Contact At Editor.c/o The Michigan Daily. 11:20 9 News 11:30 4 Johnny Carson 7 Rod Sterling at Lax 50 Movie - "Green Grass of Wyoming." (1948) 12:00 9 Movie - 'The Perils of Pauline" (1967) 1:00 4 7 News 1:30 2 Movie - "Full Hearts and Empty Pockets." (Ital., 1964) 3:00 2 TV High School 3:30 2 News wcbn 89.5 fm 9 Classical 12 Broadway 2 Jazz 7 Black Edition 8 Rhythm and blues d 11 Progressive rock -MONDAY- 9 The Morning After Show 12 Progressive rock 4 Folk 7 The New, Release show 8 Blues 11 Progresive rock cab'le tv channel 3 3:30 Pixanne 4:00 Today's Woman "Peiheas and Melisande" 4:30 Something Else 5:00 Stratosphere Playhouse - King of the Rocketmen 5:30 Local News 6:00 Black Vib'rations - Black student filmmaker Rufus King 6:30 NCAA Super Sports 7:00 Community 4Dialogue I' TONIGHT-April 8 A second film by KENJ I MIZOGUCHI LIFE OF. O AB IIII U This is another of Mizoguchi's best films, noted especially for its extraordinarily beautiful photography. The story concerns a woman who, despite her high birth, becomes a prostitute, and learns what life is really like. - COMING: TOP HAT, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers 7 and 9:05 Architecture Auditorium $1 I- - Department of Romance Languages & Literatures Presents a Lecture' "RACE AND REVOLUTION IN HISPANIC AMERICA " by Professor Sylvia Wynter University of the West Indies MUSKET '73 WEST SIDE STORY Lecture Room No. 1 MLB Tuesday, April 10 8:00 P.M. CULTURE CALENDAR FILM-Cinema Guild presents Mizoguchi's Life of Oharu to- day in Arch. Aud. at 7, 9:05; Cinema II shows Lang's You Only Live Once in Aud. A at 7, 9, today; Hillel pre- sents The Siege (Matzor) at 7 and 9 today; The Blind Pig shows Scarlet Street tomorrow at 8:30, 11. Cinema Guild shows Mizoguchi's Utamaro and His Five Women at 7, 9:05 in Arch. Aud. tomorrow. DRAMA-Musket '73 presents West Side Story at 3 in the Power Center today. MUSIC-The Ark presents Biff Rose at 8:30 tonight; Colla- gium Musicum presents Music for Renaissance Instru- mentu today in Museum of Art at 2:30; tomorrow CAAS and Trotter House present a Jazz Symposium at 8 pm at Trotter House. MUSIC SCHOOL-Willis Patterson plays bass and Charles Fisher plays piano today at Rackham Aud. at 4:30; Theo Alcantara conducts U Philharmonia at Hill to night at 8. April 5, 8:00 p.m. April 6, 8:00 p.m. April 7,2:00 p.m. and8:00 p.m. April 8, 3:00 p.m. Good Seats Available for All Performances & e ~ 10inem~a II SUNDAY 8 APRIL Yi ONLY LIVEOCL Directed by FRITZ LANG 1937. HENRY FONDA. SYLVIA SYDNEY ' The U. of M. Players Guild Presents: .JOHN GUARE'S THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES TICKETS AVAILABLE fnlArn frkiTrfl CDfoV in the nrir'r "Enchantingly original little of 1971 N.Y. zany, desperately sad, thoroughly farce."-New York Times. Winner. Drama Critics' Award for the Best i i