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Page Three
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Bly's associations:
Sparklers in verse
By DAVID RUTKOWSKI
When Robert Bly last read on
campus three years ago he seem-
ed to be on a divine mission of
making the name of Pablo Neru-
da a synonym for 'great poetry.'
Neruda has since won the Nobel
Prize and at his reading at the
M.L.B. 4 p.m. Tues., Bly was
mostly into his own stuff, happily
retaining the verve which makes
his readings so fascinating.
Bly began by reading one of
his latest collections, Jumping
Out of Bed (Barre Publishers),
from cover to cover. Ely reads
with his whole body; illustrating
trees, people, mammoths Ind
pavement with the mime troop
he calls his hands. It's as if he
wants to touch the poetry he
loves, and though his reading
wvent overtime, very few people
could walk out in the middle of
an affair.
Bly describes his poetry as
"associative," where meaning or
feeling is communicated to the
reader by presenting him or her
with images that require an ac-
tive "leap" of the consciousness
to be assimilated. As theoretical
as this sounds, the poems them-
selves embody a kind of natural-
ness which can come about only
when the grids of logic are aban-
doned in favor of a more pure
and creative perception, as in
"Another Doing Nothing Poem"
There is a bird that flies
through the water.
It is a whole ten miles high!
Before it went into the ocean,
I was just a bit of dust
under my bed!
Another quality often present
in Bly's poetry is a Chinese-like
simplicity (Bly has adapted a
number of Chinese poems into
English). When the associations
and simplicity appear side by
side, the result is the poetic
sparks almost always present in
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1lly's poems, as in this stanza
from "On a Moonlit Road in the
North Woods"
I sit on a forest road,
cross-legged.
I am an oyster
breathing on his own shore.
Perhaps the most fascinating
aspect of Bly's work is the philo-
sophical frame of reference from
which the poems are often drawn.
In another of Bly's recent books,
Sleepers Joining Hands (Harper
and Row), the poet discusses this
theory of cultural evolution which
was first developed by Bach-
holen in the mid-nineteenth cen-
tury. Very simply, the theory sets
in opposition masculine and fem-
inine types of consciousness, and
attributes various qualities to
each. A society like our own
would be considered predom-
inantly masculine (i.e. marshal
and corporate), at least on the
official level. But the creative
act is a ,function of the feminine
consciousness; and it is out of
this conflict, this need to turn
back to the darker, feminine
areas of the mind, that much of
Bly's work arises, as in these
lines from the "Night Journey
in the Cooking Pot."
For the first time in months
I love the dark.
A joy pierces into me, it
arrives like a runner,
a radio signal from inside a
tree trunk,'
a smile spreads over the face,
the eyes fall.
When speaking about translat-
ing, Bly once said that the more
concrete a poem is in its images,
the easier it is to translate from
one language to another. Yet
doesn't any communication of
feeling. require an act of trans-
lation? At least from one per-
ceiver to another. For me, this
is why Bly's poetry works so
well. It is teeming with concrete
images full of imagination. Bly
often reiterates his themes, but
he never ceases to improve his
method celebrating the creative
process itself. Robert Bly should
continue to be a major influence
on new poetry for a long time to
come.
t.v1
tonig
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Dr. Ho
By GLORIA JANE SMITH
Arts Editor
"Hey, Zipper's out!"
I give Dennis a double-take
and he explained "Yeah, you
know, the magazine. We did a
nakeducenterfold for them-even
got our pictures (waist ' up) on
the cover. Should be out this
month."
Dennis Locorriere, lead vocal-
ist and guitarist for Dr. Hook
and the Medicine Show, leaned
back on one of the two beds in
his East Lansing motel room
Monday night. Beside him, a
woman named Becky was trying
her best to make some cigarette
papers stick together.
The door opened and in walked
lead vocalist Ray "Dr. -Hook"
Sawyer, bringing with him an-
other woman.
. "Hey!" (looking at a room
service tray that had been left
on the dresser) "Has Nine Year
seen this yet?" (lifting up a food
warmer to reveal a Reuben sand-
wich and some potato chips)
"You see, some men have wo-
men and Nine Year (road man-
ager) has a dog named Reuben.
He gets so fucking mad when we
eat Reubens."
Earlier in the evening, the
group had turned out a high-
energy "raunch and roll" per-
formance at The Brewery, an
East Lansing bar that seats about
1,0010.
At this point, the phone rang.
"Hello?" ... "Fuck, I told them
not to ring the room for a couple
of hours, with this interview and
things . . .
lWhy the name Dr. Hook and
the Medicine Show?
Dennis: "We were playing
Country and Western in a Union
City (New Jersey) bar and the
owner noticed it was always the
same drunks came to see us-.
we had found a cult." One night,
he decided we needed a name
and gave us "40 minutes" to find
one. Ray, with his patch and
hat, gave us the idea . iit
seemed to work.
So the patch is real?
Ray: "I've worn it since a car
wreck about six years ago. I've
only had to take it off ten times
to show folks . . . Jerry Lee
Lewis once came up to me and
said--hey, man, that patch ain't
real-I showed him and he turn-
ed purple and puked."
How long has it been since
ok and Medicine Show
those Union City days?
Ray: "We've been together for
about four years." ("we" mean-
ing Ray and Dennis with Bill
Francis on keyboards, vocal;
Jay David on drums, vocal;
George Cummings on electric
guitar and vocal) "Rik and
Jance are new." (Rik Elswit on
rhythm guitar and Jance Garfat
on bass).
Have you gone through any
changes since then?
Ray: "We're playing better
now."
Dennis: "We've gotten into en-
tertaining each other."
Ray: "Not me."
Dennis: "Turning professional'
- . . we spent time wondering
who we wanted to be . . . just
had to wiggle away the bullshit
. . . act like ourselves,."
Do you usually feel pretty good
about your performances?
Ray: "Usually .. sometimes
you feel as if you could have
been better it all balances
out."
Dennis: "You do everything
you know; you do exactly every-
thing."
How about your audiences?
Ray: "We have fun. Some-
times t h e y throw o r a n g e s,
money ..."
Dennis: "They can do any-
thing, as long as they don't kill
us."
Do you write any of your own
material?
Ray: "'We've been doing most-
ly Shel's stuff. But we do write
some of our own-like 'Bullfrog'
that we played tonight. Our new
album (should be released in
about 6 weeks) has more of our
own material on it." Dennis was
working on a song the other
day. 'I really liked th lyrics,
but the chorus didn't work. Shel
heard it and liked the chorus,
redid the lyrics and it sounds
good.
How did you get together with
Shel Silverstein?
Dennis: "Shel wrote the sound
track for a Dustin Hoffman
movie - 'Who Is Harry Keller-
man and Why Is He Saying
These Awful Things?' He liked
the way we worked with his
material and we've been doing it
ever since.
Did you encounter any prob-
lems getting airplay for your
current single "Cover of the Roll-
ing Stone"?
Dennis: "Yeah. - BBC said
it was againstatheir advertising
code because we sang 'Rolling
Stone' too many times. We told
them we wouldn't ever use the
letters 'B,' 'B,' or 'C' in our
songs. Columbia (Records) came
through with an idea though, and
had a number you could call to
hear the song."
".^.ror },gr y r,.- oN' :.,.:+.,...;; .. r :r is rrrrr .rr}.,^,.;q:.-.":s ";.; : : ..;Y,! irr, 7{i . .... :;"i :r. ' ^};: e"r .qy J f,
: %::: ti" iY ,i .. x - .v:::F:: : .: 'r.?:1 J..:..".nuf+r {::Xbirve}:"2 i}:":";e: rrs.+s'.". Y.:..: vti rt"?: o}:.:5 4 :.. .....
Ray: "We had some trouble
with New York statiois for the
cocaine and pills lines."
I noticed that you switched
leads a lot tonight?
Ray: "We never deny anyone
the right to do what he can 'do
..we won't hold anyone back."
Dennis: "We play how we feel
don't plan anything."
Your first single - "Sylvia's
Mother"-did you mean that to
be a parody?
Ray: "No, we approached it
seriously as a serious love song.
It actuallyahappened to Shel. I
could relate to it-I remember
Shel's 'Soupstone' - "it's univer-
sal " (he sang a few lines of the
story about a family who can
taste the chicken and tomatoes
in their stew when it's really
nothing but potatoes, water and
a soupstone).
Dennis: "We're trying to get
it down to personalities . . . no
-matter what we play, it's the
same seven guys with the same
show.
So where does your tour take
you next?
Ray: "We've been on the road-
for 18 months now . . heading
down to Ohio next . Akron, I
think . . . then to Europe in f
Oh, we're big rock singers
We got golden fingers
And we're loved everywhere we go.
We take all kinds of pills
To give us all kind a thrill§,
But the thrill we've never known
Is the thrill that'll getcha
When you get your picture
On the cover of the Rolling Stone.
-.Shel Silverstein
9:00
14:001
7:00
8:00
11:00
Morning After Show
Progressive Rock
Folk
Talk Back
Rhythm and Blues
Progressive Rock
vra:."r:"}: '"}i i;'fi:p$":!$.a"}S:"::;}'{r Y.,+.;::a;.:"Yg".. :M, ?""rr: ''l:: e'!r, .; :v;:S;c};Yr:$;i:" ye.}"prrr,:},r,??;;1 ;F3:rrr.;.;r: ,sag, ar'
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not seeing a chick for four days
and calling up to find she was
married."
Both singles have been so
totally unlike each other. What's,
coming next?
Ray: "Yeah, we came off like
two different bands . .'we just
went somewhere else, that's all."
We're stillsnotdsure aboutthe
next one (should'rbe released in
2 weeks). We're thinking of
June.
How do you feel about going
to Europe?
Ray: I'm not sure . . . rather
be established as 'American'
first.
Do you ever have any regrets?
Wished you'd produced a song
differently?
Ray: "No .
them exactly
them . .
We've done
as we felt
CULrURE CALENDAR
CINEMA-Cinema Guild shows Gebhardt's Ten for Two:
Dec 171 rally for John Sinclair tonight at 7, 9:05, Arch.
Aud.; Friends of Newsreel shows Kramer's Ice tonight
at 7, 9:30, Aud., MLB; Rugby team shows Them tonight
at 7, 9, Nat. Sci. Aud.; Women's Studies shows Women
on the March, The Women's Film tonight at 7, UGLI
Multipurpose room; New World Film Coop shows I Am
Curious (yellow) tonight at 7:30, 9:30, Mendelssohn.
MUSIC-John Calloway, bass, Cady R., Stearns Bldg, NC,
tonight at 8.
Poets-
The Michigan
Daily Arts
E Page is now. >
accepting
poetry .for
publication.
Submit work
to Arts Editor
c/o The Daily.
1m ea~w
Anw
those Fabulous Philadelphians!
Eugene Ormandb and his magnificent Philadelphia Orchestra
are returning to \nn Arbor to help celebrate the 80th Annual
May Festival in four concerts, May 2, 3, 4, and 5.
This marks the 38th consecutive appearance in this Festival of the
Philadelphians, whto have won the admiration of countless millions of
mousic lovers over the decades.
STi ' +sretrain for the Thursday. N ay 3rd concert only, which stars the
iestra, under Mae. tiro Ormandy, in the following program:'
Brahtn.s: Symtphoniy No. 4 in E minor
trauss: Ei n leldenlehen' i ith Norman Carol, solo violin)
Tickets from 83.50 to $8.50 available at:N
5%MUSICAL 8OCIETY
Presenting the Jay Ward CARTOON FESTIVAL featuring
ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE
and DUDLEY DO-RIGHT and FRACTURED FAIRY TALES
" WOSSAMOTTA U. " PINOCCHIO 0 SNIDELY WHIPLASH
* MEMBER OF THE PEACE CORPS e MOUSE THAT BELLED THE CAT
* GERONIMO (Sherman and Pebody) *'I LOVE LITTLE PUSSY
0 SECLUDED VALLEY M INTERVIEW OF THE SCIENTIST
WITH THE SECRET PROJECT C PONY EXPRESS 0
SNOW WHITE ! SINGING WAITER a CROW AS PEACOCK
TORONTO 0 WOSSAMOTTA U. VS. MUD CITY
TON IGHT!-April 18th-ONLY
7, 8:45, & 10:30 p.m.
COMING n the best
TfikAf^D iA%"ent b