Thursday, July 21,-197-1
'Spy' plays
Formula for fun
By OWEN GLEIBERMAN
THE FORMULA-like quality
of a James Bond film is always
such an integral part of it, that
I think half the fun of watching
one lies in checking off each
obligatory scene. And since the
makers are in on the joke (as
they were with Batman), our
pleasure comes in almost di-
rect proportion to the corniness
of the lines, and the ridiculous-
ness of the plots.
The Spy Who Loved Me is
first class Bondian entertain-
ment - it abounds with enough
sexual puns, ludicrous razor-
thin escapes and nasty, villians
to satisfy any hard-corelon-
die-
The plot (if anyone really
cares) is simnle enough: Bond
(Roger Moore) _must stop an
evil millionaire who has cap-
tured an English and a Rus-
sian nuclear asbmarine from
utilizing the weapons on board.
OUR VILIAN'S plan is not
to receive money in exchange
for laying off the bombs. No,
his dream is even more delic-
iously insane- he wants to wipe
out the existing world in order
to create his own, superior ci-
vilization undersea (like Dr.
No, he also has an ocean fet-
ish).
The movie offers all the stock
Bond situations, managing to
overdo them enough to keep
the audience interested. Partic-
ularly entertaining are the
thugs the head villian em-
ploys: an Odd Job-type gorilla
resembling Daddy Warbucks
(who gets killed off early), and
best of all, a variation on the
indestructable - Lurch - t h e-
butler zombie; this one is fit-
ted out with a set of metal
teeth (hence his name; Jaws),
and kills his victims Dracula-
style.
AS FAR AS sexploitation
goes, the minds behind Bond,
flicks don't-seem to have mov-
ed into the seventies in terms
of what they can get away
with. In contrast to Angell Hall,
where any vaguely male chau-
vinistic remark uttered in a
1930stmovie elicits a shower of
hissing from the enlightened
college crowd, the near capac-
ity audience at the Fifth For-
um the other night seemed to-
tally nonplussed at the grad-
ual (but inevitable) submission
and domination of Bnds fe-
male companion (Barbara
Bach), and raised nary an eye-
brow, at least not in condem-
nation, as her body spilled forth
over her clothes.
The Spy Who Loved Me of-
fers a few inventively funny
moments, such as a car landing
vertically in the roof of a be-
fuddled peasant's shack, and
the Lurch-thug getting his by
having to cling to a giant mag-
net with his teeth.
But who wants inventiveness
from a James Bond movie? The
real fun comes with scenes
that are so obligatory, I'm not
sure if they bother to re-write
the lines from film to film:
M telling Bond- not to mess up
the latest version-of his gadget
outfitted car (at one point, this
one turns into a submarine),
Money Penny prudishly protect-
ing Bond from any and all other
women, and a climax boasting
a set right out of Star Wars, as
well thousands of -the special
guest villian's little helpers.
They're all here, and I'm sure
they'll all be back again.
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
David Keeps, Arts Editor
Phone 764-0562
Recors In rief
By TIM YAGLE
STATUS QUO'S latest release Live is packed with the sounds of
live, high-energy rock 'n roll as only Status Quo can do it.
Status Quo has been on the British rock scene since 1965 but
didn't make it in the States until 1968 (they had five previous flop
singles) with the singles "Pictures of Matchstick Men," which
was banned in England because of the title and lewd lyrics, and
"Ice in the Sun" and an album entitled Messages of the Status QuO.
The introduction of the group on this album is unbelievable.
The announcer just about yells his larynx out. Then the British
quartet comes out and blasts you with rock 'n roll the way it
should be heard; live and loud.
"Forty-five Thousands Times" is a long, hard rocker with a
long lead guitar solo at the end.
If you listen closely throughout the LP you can hear the
frenzied crowd start yelling chants of their own during some of
the songs and sing along with the band without encouragement.
"Is There a Better Way" is my favorite cut. It has a good
melody and begins with the lead guitar, then the rhythm and
bass guitars come in and sock it to ya.
"Just Take Me" reminds you of Eric Clapton's "After Mid-
night."
Some of the songs sound as if they have the same melody and
become somewhat long and drawn out at times with extended
guitar solos, but most of the album contains good, live, heavy-
metal rock.
For any Status Quo fan who hasn't seen their band live, Live
provides a good substitute. And for those who have never heard
Status Quo, watch out, because here they come.
gage Five -
Art Fair
ringe
One of the fringe benefits of
art fairs in July is the host of
activities that coincide with the
mobbed streets and tumultous
atmosphere.
Those seeking solitude,
and sophisticated entertainment
would be well advised to check
out a free chamber music con-
cert on Friday in the Pendleton
Arts Center of the Michigan
Union, at 2 p.m. Ann Arbor's
own Ensemble V Woodwind
Quintet, currently composed of
members of the Ann Arbor Sym-
phony Orchestra and U-M music
school grads. The program will
include pieces by Janacek, Mo-
zart, Souris, de Wailley, and
Fine.
And, tonight, the Ann Arbor
Summer Symphony concludes
their season with an 8:34) per-
formance in Hill Auditorium.
There is no admission charge
and the 100 piece orchestra will
be led by msical director/con-
ductor Gabriel Villasueda.
The orchestra will perform
J.S. Bach's Orchestral Suite No,
3 in D, and selections from
Mendelssohn, Weber and Rich-
ard Rodgers' Oklahoma.
An hour before the concert,
there will be a carillon recital
in the Burton Tower, by caril-
loneur Hudson Cadd.
Have a flair for
artistic writing?
It you are interest-
ed in reviewing
poetry, and music
or writing feature
stories about the
drama, danee, fies
aria: dotact Arts
Editor, c/o The
Michigan Daity.
Concerts: Getting what you pay for
By TIM YAGLE
NO DOUBT many of you have bought tick-
ets to rock concerts before, but have you ever
wondered why you paid what you paid for the
ticket and where your ticket money goes?
Suzanne Young of the Major Events Office
in the University Activities Center, a major
concert producer in this area, says that the
cost of the ticket is figured to cover the of-
fice's expenses in producing a concert.
The following is a typical list of the ex-
penses incurred in the course of producing a
concert: the concert hall rental fee, electricians,
lighting personniel, stagehands, security, much
of the advertising, the printing of the tickets,
the group's limousines, stand-by doctors and
ambulances, and, if needed, policemen to keep
order in long lines at the ticket window. The
entire process culminites in the expenses list-
ed above, plus the group's going rate.
MAJOR EVENTS has to price the tickets
to cover these expenses. The office had estab-
lished something similar-to an equation to fig-
ure out what each ticket will cost. They figure
out (it's actually a guess) the number of seats
they will sell and divide that number into their
estimated expenses.
For example, for a 10,000-seat arena, if
they figure to sell 2,000 seats, Major Events
would have to charge five dollars per ticket
just to break even. If they figured they would
sell only 200 seats, they would have to charge
$50 per ticket to break even. If a seat will
cost $6.18, Major Events would charge $6.50,
"to cover surprises" as Young put it. She says
that the hardest part of it all is to guess "how
many seats will we sell?"
But, then a lot of what they are doing is
guess work. "It's all guesses," they say. When
they don't break even on some shows, Young
told me, "you have to go over (charge a high-
er price) on some shows to make up for the
shows you go under on. We have to sell 70%
of the house to break even." She asked plead-
ingly, "can you get anybody to buy bad seats?"
Then she said matter-of-factly, "if we don't
sell the bad seats, we don't break even." If
they sold only the good seats, they would have
to raise prices to Detroit's level to make up.
for the loss.
YOUNG SAID pricing and selling tickets
for Crisler Arena is very deceiving. "There
are 5,000 seats behind the stage" and parallel
to it and as you might expect, it's hard to
sell those. That's why they are priced $1-$2
cheaper than the best seats.
Young pointed out that the major differ-
ence between the Major Events office and ,the
Detroit promoters when producing a show is
that the Detroit promoters are in it "to make
a profit." UAC is in it "to pay expenses."
The expenses, as I said before, include the
money the act wants and each act might have
different-expenses of their own to pay. Kiss,
for example, with their elaborate stage show,
might bring their own stage hands which means
their fee must be higher because of this added
expense and because they are a popular band.
On the other hand, a band that is not as
elaborate as Kiss might have fewer expenses
to pay and therefore demand a little less mon-
ey. If UAC doesn't offer an act what they think
they're worth, the group would probably play
Detroit where they would get more money.
"WE LOSE ONE-THIRD of all of them,"
Young says. We lost Neil Diamond and the
Grateful Dead." Ann Arbor lost a night ,with
the Beach Boys last winter because Crisler
Arena was being used for something else. Ann
Arbor also lost Boz Scaggs, Joni Mitchell, and
a few other major acts either because Crisler
Arena was being used or the groups got a bet-
ter offer to play somewhere else.
One of the secrets to the Major Events
Office's success, according to Suzanne Young,
is that we "get 'em on the rise," meaning groups
that are on their way up in the charts. This
way, UAC can get groups while their demands
are still low, or lower than other bands.
Another secret to their success or an "ad-
vantage" as Young put it is that their office
employs four full-time staffers to handle their
daily routine. The people there have worked
with professional promoters before, coming to
UAC. Other colleges just have a committee of
students to look after things and the schools
often give these student committees some mon-
ey ($20,000-$40,000) to produce some concerts.
A UNIVERSITY might say, "Here's some
money. Put on some concerts." We (UAC) don't
get a single penny" from the University, Young
says. "We raise our funds."
The only phrase that can describe the way
the Major Events office works is that they
do a thorough job. They have a back-up for
everything, and I mean everything. You name
it and they have someone taking care of it
and a back-up for it. They do it right and it
shows when people attend concerts at Crisler
Arena or Hill Auditorium.
When the Eagles came last fall, after the
concert they said that that show was the best
show they had ever been involved in.
Just to add a footnote to this, Suzanne
Young was recently named "College Talent Buy-
er of the Year" by Billboard Magazine at their
annual convention.
So the next time you buy a ticket to a
concert, at least you'll know what you're pay-
ing for.