, Ir I Air., 11F&kI r~S Ii~, rage inree Thursday, Septemiber 28, 1972 THE M.IHIGAIN DAILY Page nree - - -M" Join The Daily CIRCULATION DEPT. Come in any afternoon 420 Maynard UNION GALLERY 1st Floor-Mich. Union OPENING SHOW FRIDAY, SEPT. 29 7-10 p.m. REFRESHMENTS MUSIC: The Paulus Hofhaimer Ensemble l ipt records Kinks... a silly relief By HERB BOWIE In these troubled times, when nearly every advance in rocl; further justifies a disbelief in progress, when just about every new release is a foregone disap- pointment, when it looks like Nix- on is going to alternately amuse and horrify the country for four more years, and, to top it all off, when it seems I'm finally go- ing to be pulled away from the comforting teat of academia in seven more months .. . The Kinks are a great re- lief. Not that their new album Ev- erybody's in Showbiz remedies anything. Reality, like the com- fon cold, has no reliable cure. The most you can hope for it to feel good while suffering from it, right? Well, the new Kinks album is a fine anesthetic. Let me take you on a little trip. My supersonic ship's inclined. As your disposal if you feel so inclined. Well alright. We're gonna travel faster than light, So do up your overcoat tight And you'll go anywhere you want to decide. Well alright. One of the nicest things about this album is its total lack of pre- tensions. It's the very antitheses of "heavy." Take, for example, the song from which the excerpt just quoted was taken. "Super- sonic Rocket Ship" bears a sup- ficial resemblance to some bat- tle hymn of the counter-culture that Paul Kantner might have written, but in the hands of Ray Davies it's a self-consciously es- capist, delightful, fantasy. Where Kantner would have massive electric guitar chords, Davies starts his song with a tinkly riff played on acoustic guitar; in- stead of Grace Slick screaming as if she were leading an assault on the Pentagon, you have Ray delivering the lines in a funny mincing fashion; where Kantner would have a guitar solo with maximum sustain, The Kinks have a Herb-Alpert style trum- pet. On my supersonic rocket ship, Nobody has to be hip, Nobody need to be out of sight. ("Outasite, man! Far out!") Nobody's -gonna travel second class. There'ss be equality An dno suppression of minori- ties. Well alright. The triumph of this album is that it's so light without being insubstantial. In a world wherre everything must be either mean- ingful or outrageous (John Len- non and Ingmar Bergmann on the one hand, The Mothers and The Marx Brothers on the oth- er), The Kinks are silly. Con- trary to your probable precon- ceptions, though, that doesn't mean they're bad. Paul McCart- ney is often silly, but he's also almost always stupid. The Kinks are geniuses at being silly. Lis- ten to Ray Davies crooning at the beginning and the end of "Maximum Consumption;" lis- ten to the horns on "Look a Lit- tle on the Sunny Side," sounding like they came straight from a Betty Boop cartoon; hear Ray Davies pack more syllables into a bar than you ever thought pos- sible, all over the album! What's more, The Kinks are unqualified pop music music gen- iuses, despite their silliness. As a composer Ray Davies can ri- val the best in rock, including Lennon and/or McCartney. Ray's voice is great technically, fully capable of serving as merely an- other musical instrument; yet he also has a dramatic sense equal to Mick Jagger's or Bob Dylan's, able to create enough personae on a record to people a small town. His lyrics are about the most intelligent you can find anywhere. The imagination dis- played in the group's arrange- ments approaches that of The Beatles at their best. If you don't believe that all these vir- tues can be embodied in a group as silly as I've just told you The Kinks are, try "Sitting in my Hotel" , or "Celluloid Heroes." Either of these songs can beat producers of more tra- ditionally music on their own ground. It ain't no magic, It ain't no lie. You'll laugh so hard you'll cry. Un and down. Round and round. On my supersonic rocket ship. By the way, inclhded in this do'ible album is a full record of The Kinks in concert. Kinks de- votees will cherish it, since it captures the atmosphere of a Kinks concert fairly well (When I saw them, Ray Davies anoint- ed the front row with beer; it's been reported that in New York he wns so drnk that he fell over into a flowerpot without re- alizing it.) Less ardent fans will probably react with a little less enthusiasm. INTELLECTUAL INSIGHT LONDON ( ) - Shortsighted children are often brighter than those with normal vision. Dr. Charles Brown, an eye specialist who conducted a survey for the medical publication "Practitioner," discovered that most children who excelled in intelligence tests were bespectacled. "Persons who wear glasses often have large eyes, in- dicating larger brains," Dr. Brown concluded. 'I I 01// P I II OlI/ 1 11 // 1 / / \I I 1 / los ell l/ I e / 1 11/ I 11/ IM II/I/I I / \IIO I 0( WED.-SAT AT 9:00 AND HIS SUN.-TUES. AT 9:00 WOLFGANG ;C UII vt URkE AL EI E)A k FILMS-Ann Arbor Film Coop shows Two-Lane Blacktop in Aud. "A" at 7, 9:30. About this film, Daily reviewer Pete Ross writes: "There's one redeeming quality about this otherwise horribly incompetent movie and his name is War- ren Oates. He's been doing psychopathic heavies for years, and here gives his best performance since In the Heat of the Night. Warren plays the freewheeling compulsive liar "G.T. O." who challenges co-stars (the real) James Taylor and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson to a thrilling winner-take-all car race. Neither singer can act, and the killer ending was un- fortunately a mistake; but Oates is almost worth the dollar admission." Also tonight, Cinema Guild features American Underground Retrospective Program 3 in Arch. Aud. at 7, 9:05, while the People's Ballroom (502 E. Washington) brings you a collection of women's films at 8 and 10. DRAMA-The University's Student Laboratory Theatre pre- sents William's Lord Byron's Love Letter and Bowen's Trevor this afternoon in the Frieze building's Arena theatre at 4:10. Also, No Place to Be Somebody is being performed tonight at 8:00 at Detroit's Vest Pocket Theatre. UPCOMING CONCERT TIPS-Muddy Waters will appear in concert at Schoolcraft College in Livonia next Wednesday. Tickets $3. For information call 591-6400 (ext No. 355). ART GALLERIES-The Union Gallery on the first floor, Michigan Union, will hold their opening show this Friday from 7-10. Daily Photo by DENNY GAINER( Student Lab Theatre Two women embrace each other in an opening scene from yes- terday's performance of "Trevor," produced by the University's Student Lab Theatre. Symphonic pleasure tonight' 8:00 2 The Waltons 4 Flip Wilson Don Knotts, 'Melba Moore, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. 7 Mod squad 9 World Hockey (taped) Canada vs. U.S.S.R. at Moscow 6 Duffy Daugherty Football 9:00 2 CBS Movie "Mackenna's Gold," '68, Greg- ory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Julie Newmar, Ca- mina Sparv, Keenan Wynn, Ted Cassidy. A group of men and women experience an Apaches rampage while seek- ing a legendary lost canyon in the Southwest during the 1870's 4 Ironside 7 Assignment: Vienna 56 The Last of the Mohicans 62 Big Time Wrestling 6 CBS Movie 10:00 4 Clean Martin 7 Owen Marshall: Counselor-at- Law 9 News-National; Local 11:00 4 News-Local 7 News-Bonds-McCarthy Team 9 The Cheaters (B) 50 The Golddiggers 11:20 2 News-LeGoff-Caputo Team 11:30 4 Tonight-Johnny Carson 50 Movie "'Rere Comes the Navy," (B) '34. James Cagney, Pat O'- Brien. 7 Dick Cavett 9 Movie "The Ugly American," %63, Marion Brando, Eiji Okada, Sandra Church, Arthur Hill, Pat Hingle. Personal and po- litical disasters come to U.S. diplomat in Southeast Asia. 10 Tonight Show 11:50 2 Movie "The Shoot," (B) '64, Lex Barker, Marie Versini, Ralf Wolter, Rik Battaglia. Two_ men pursue a kidnapper-ban- dit. (German; English dub- bed) 1:00 4 7 News 1:50 2 Movie "Captain China," (B) '49. John Payne, Gail Russell, Jef- frey Lynn. an old friend, Beethoven's 7th Symphony. The orchestra un- folded a tapestry of interwoven melodic and contrapuntal voices withithe utmost clarity and con- viction. 'Alcantara, as a pied piper, coaxed his followers on, at times expressively violent to gentle, but always with effusive enthusiasm. His exuberant and highly enunciated style inspired the musicians on to greater and greater emotional expression throughout the evening, but at no point was this interaction as evident as in the rich, majestic performance of the Beethoven. What minor unprofessional char- acteristics the orchestra did pos- sess were more than compensat- ed for by its vibrant spirit and sureness. By ROY CHERNUS Contrary to popular belief, there are still many ways to get "something for nothing" to- day; Tuesday night it was a free concert by the University Symphony Orchestra at Hill Anditorium, under the direction of Theo Alcantara. The perform- ance was magnificient, and all the more so when one consid- ers that the group has rehearsed only since the beginning of the term, and that almost half of its members, students in the School of Music, are new.'' The program consisted of three works of contrasting styles: Charles Ives' Decoration Day (early 20th century America), Joaquin2Turina's Sinfonia Sevil- lana (20th century Spain), and Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Ives' unique style is a collage of many separate American musical ele- DELTA SIGMA DELTA Dental Fraternity FR1., SEPT. 29 7 p.m. .1502 Hill, Ann Arbor LIVE BAND REFRESHMENTS ments such as spiritual hymns, patriotic songs, folk tunes, as well as highly dissonant con- structions. Decoration Day is an example of Ives' stylistic me- lange. This strongly nationalistic work, part of his symphony "Hol- idays" depicts the many emo- tions and facets of the holiday: somber and melancholy ceme- tery scenes, joyous and pompous parades with military-like fervor, patriotic inspiration, and fun- ereal bell pealing. The orches- tra's splendid rendition of the work illuminated all these moods in a surreal aura. Turina's Sinfonia Sevillana, a multi-faceted portrait of the composer's birthplace (Seville, Spain) is a spirited and dynam-. ically rhythmed work of Spanish flavor. It ranged from lyrically light and airy to brazenly fast and furious. The work explored the orchestra's full rhythmic and dynamic potential, and spotlight- ed certain instrumental sections; particularly the percussion in complex and subtle counter- rhythms including some flam- boyant castanet work. The con- cert-master had some beautiful solos, but was clearly beset by nervousness which affected his vibrato control, intonation, and projection. The climax of the evening was S2PM. - 2A M STUDENT LABORATORY THEATRE LAST PERFORMANCE LORD BYRON'S LOVE LETTER I~ORDby TENNESSEE WILLIAMS directed by JENNY MARTIN AND n TRE VOR TiEte by JOHN BOWAN directed by DEBRA POGATS 4:10 p.m.-ARENA THEATRE -< (FRIEZE BUILDING) --JAMES TAYLOR WARREN OATES LAURIE BIRD e DENNIS WILSON A UNIVERSAL PICTURE.TECHNICOtORI ANN ARBOR PREMIERE! -TONIGHT- September 28th -ONLY!- 7 & 9:30 p.m. in Cinemascope 11 Thursday, Friday and Saturday Only! EVIL EYE JUST RETURNING FROM CANADIAN-MIDWEST TOUR FULL MENU-REASONABLE PRICES (4:00 P.M. to 2:00 A.M.) GOLDEN FALCON 314 S. FOURTH AVE. 761-3548 "ONE OF THE FEW GOOD TRULY FUNNY AMERICAN POLITICAL COMEDIES EVER MADE!" -Vincent Canby, N.Y. Times 'IT'S RIGHT ON THE NOSE SO OFTEN THAT IT MAKES YOU GASP AT THE PERCEPTIVITY OF THE DIRECTOR AND WRITER." -Jack S. Margolis, L.A. Free Press 0 "ONE OF THE MOST AMBITIOUS AND INTERESTING AMERICAN FILMS OF THE YEAR . . . immaculately crafted, funny, and quite beautiful, resonant with a lingering mood of loss and loneliness. There are extended pauses and dialogue ex- changes full of deliberate paradox. Few film-makers have dealt so well or so subtly with the American landscape. Not a single frame in the film is wasted. AN AMERI- CAN POP EPIC!" -Jay Cocks, TIME MAGAZINE 0 "A REAL MOVIE! REMARKABLY ENGAGING! VIVIDLY CATCHES THE TEM- PO AND RHYTHM OF AMERICAN LIFE IN MUCH THE SAME WAY AS GOOD ROCK DOES." -Vincent Canby, NEW YORK TIMES 0 ". . . EASY RIDER, with which Monte Hellman's film will inevitably be compared, came on more portentously, its characters enlisting our sympathies as representatives of a whole generation of mis- understood counterculturists, its tragic ending implying an indictment of the whole straight world for it willful misunderstanding of its youth. BLACKTOP, in contrast, indicts nothing and doesn't make any of the customary moves to enlist sympathy or understanding for its principals. It simply, coolly, quite objectively shows us the lives they lead-the integrity of its silences unviolated by a single abstract thought. As a result, it seems to me, in its stranqe and even disconcerting way, it is quite THE MOST INTRIGUING AMERICAN FILM OF THE YEAR-AND MAYBE OF SEVERAL YEARS .. . The result is a flat, deliberately inelegant film that, by its manner, reinforces its essential morality in every frame. It suggests, of course, that the essentially middle - class ideal of happiness achieved through the living of a balanced life is not attainable, that in a monomania akin to that of the artist lies the hope of some spiritual satisfaction. It is the message of the counterculture at its most serious that the art spirit can be thus democratized and applied to technology as well as to the i 11'1111Vm1I .A.U11t .ini