Page 6-Thursday, May 11, 1978-The Michigan Doily Dick Siegel shines By R. J. SMITH singer worth his or her salt, the real ex- Ann Arbor's Dick Siegel is quite a citement is found in what Siegel does character. Although he works mostly at with the voice he has been given. It is the Humane Society, I can still imagine the tension of the artist striding the him lazily chugging wine from the sun- fault-line between safety on the one bleached porch of some southern farm, hand, and, on the other, forcing the or perhaps hitchhiking to nowhere-in- voice to do things it shouldn't. Siegel particular, standing by the side of the really pushes his voice, and he can con- highway wearing faded jeans and a vey his feelings to a satisfying degree. silly grin across his face. For although he played songs of ONE OF HIS favorite tricks is to diverse styles, one picture stands out manhandle a slew of syllables into a from his show at the Ark last Saturday compact musical phrase. This worked evening: Siegel as the carefree, well on "What Would Brando Do?" and sometimes crazy man, mugging and "Coffee Blues," one of Siegel's singing with a generally not-too- trademark songs that was played a reverent grip on his sensitivity. second time Saturday night when a Siegel has a voice that is not hesitant, good-natured late-comer requested the but does seem a bit held back because tune half-way through the show. Both of its nasal quality. But, as with any times "Coffee Blues" exhibited a fine through roughage sense of wit and exciting guitar-playing dexterity. His phrasing technique, however, didn't work nearly as well on an unpolished song about the local group The Silvertones. michigan DAILY Another trick Siegel often fell into was a sort of half-singing, half-talking style, used on the slower numbers. Sometimes Siegel would tella story in 'House Calls': Sitcom cinema By ANNE SHARP House Calls, a revolting little film currently at the Movies at Briarwood, opens on a rather far-fetched premise. After his wife dies, Charley Nichols (Walter Matthau), a successful surgeon, finds himself surrounded by eligible young lovelies panting for his body. The widower decides to try his hand at swinging. Now let me say this: Matthau is a distinguished and very funny actor, but the idea of firm, young flesh co- mingling with his grizzled, flabby body makes me want to vomit. Not only is this Dr. Nichols physically repulsive, he is crude, insensitive, and a blatant sexist. When he first meets Ann Atkinson (Glenda Jackson) while she is in hospital for a broken jaw, he makes several snide references to her sagging chin line. This, considering Matthau's own bulbous nose, squinty Man.,Tues., Tnurs.,Fri., 7-9e Sat., Sun., Wed.,1-3-5-7-9 oI, i eyes and leathery, pendulous jowls, is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. After she heals, Atkinson gets revenge, in an air-headed way typical of women in this film; when they appear together on a TV panel discussion, she launches into an hysterical verbal attack on Nichols and the medical profession in general. NICHOLS SHRUGS this off, remarking that she has "a big mouth," and proceeds to date the woman. Atkin- son soon wins over "Dr. Tact" with cheesecake and "dignified sex." Nichols is, however, torn between domestic bliss with Atkinson and get- ting his rocks off with the beautiful groupies hanging round outside his surgery. A nasty little subplot involves the hospital's head doctor (Art Carney), who is in the hilarious situation of going insane while responsible for the lives of hundreds of people. When a wealthy baseball magnate dies through his in- competence, the other doctors must keep his cheesy widow (Candice Az- zara), who is the biggest caricature of a "dumb blonde" this side of Susan Alexander in Citizen Kane, from suing them. Fortunately, she is dying to get into Dr. Nichols' underdrawers, and Nichols, in his unrelenting search for sweet F/A, has no qualms about betraying Atkinson with another woman. THIS IS COMEDY, not science fic- BATIK CHINESE BRUSH PAINITING COLOR * DRAWING JEWELRY LANDSCAPE PAINTING LEADED GLASS O MASKS NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY QUILTING SCULPTURE WATERCOLOR MWU WEAVING WOODBLOCK PRINTMAKING Classes Begin May b U-M Artists & I Craftsmen Guild 2nd Fl. Michigan Union 763-4430 tion, and there are a few rather in- congruous slapstick sequences in-this grotesque aping of Neil Simon. Matthau and Jackson tangle fully clothed, trying to disprove the old Hays Office conven- tion that two people on a bed can't have sex if one of them has a foot on the floor. Matthau, awkwardly sprawled in a beanbag chair, assures his gorgeous young date that he liked the "Boz Scraggs" concert. And, as usual in films like these where yocks are few and far between, the plot is twisted so as to allow Nichols to go to work in bedroom slippers, a kerchief and a frilly woman's bed jacket. This film is obnoxious, unfunny, and cinematically worthless; in orther words, it is a TV sitcom slightly too rude for prime time. But wait six mon- ths and it will be shown in motel rooms and dens all over Middle America. COLLEGE HAS DANTE IN 29 LANGUAGES SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (AP)-Most students read Dante's "Divine Comedy" in English or Italian, but Mount Holyoke College can supply the classic in 29 translations. Gaelic, Chinese, Turkish, Dutch as well as the international Esperanto language are represented in some 200 illustrated editions and translations collected by Valentine Giamatti, retired Mount Holyoke professor of Italian. The Divine Comedy collection, believed to be the most complete in the United States, includes a 1481 edition illustrated by Botticelli, an illustrated and autographed six-volume edition by surrealist Salvador Dali and a 1920s, ornate, tooled leather version that covers nearly the entire top of a card table. Giamatti donated the valuable collection to Mount Holyoke in 1974. His son, A. Bartlett Giamatti, president- elect of Yale University, serves as honorary curator. his songs in a particular character's dialect, straight-out talking to his own musical accompaniment. In a funny song about California, Siegel - slowly strumming while speaking the part of an Ann Arbor hippie who has trekked to "the promised land" of the west coast - intones in a golly-gee voice: A 'le o matbeaici houh ido and inving, ore l j thers llbeeenftorinsta te waves wl e our hathroom boor . Domoh nowsomethi fCJalifhornia n NOW, OF COURSE, this is not Woody Allen material; it is though, a kind of humor that is immediate, unassuming and inviting, more like the jokes one hears between two friends than something you'd pick up from Johnny Carson's monologue. It is the kind of humor right on-target for the Ark audience. But although the humorous tunes made the greatest impression, Dick Siegel has much else to offer. Exhorting his digits "alright, fingers, make your- daddy proud!" he demonstrated a quick, startling flurry of hands on the instrumental "Thomas A. Edison." "He Thankful," inspired by the Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence, was a jumpy song which also relied on some snappy fretwork. A steel slide whichwas brought out several times did not sound terribly effective. THROUGHOUT the show, he also sprinkled songs inspired by personal events. Many of these were quite striking, and Siegel showed off an ability to simply express an image, and yet charge it with much feeling by his striking word choices. The simple starkness of his word usage uplifted the too-rudimental "Molly Rose." "The Ranger Knows My Name," a mysterious and touching blues song, segued well into "Dear Sam," a song as light as the wind about leaving the pain of daily life behind. Both were major highlights of the show. Quoting singer Bill Broonzy, the Ark promised of Siegel: He'll make you loose/He'll make you tight/He'll make you shake it/in the broad daylight. Perhaps things didn't go until broad daylight, and certainly the Ark has seen more talented voices and musicians. Still, Dick Siegel's simple strumming and "look-at-me!" picking, along with his numerous songs of introspection and gregarious silliness, rarely took a wrong step, or failed to entertain and touch. Siegel is a modest performer, and a good one. We shook it. SPRING ARTS STAFF ARTSEDITOR Owen Gleibermaif ARTS STAFF: Michael Baadke, Bill Barbour, Susan Barry, Karen Bornstein, Patricia Fabrizio, Douglas Heller, Paula Hunter, MatthewKletter, Peter Manis, Joshua Peck, Stephen Pickover, Christopher Potter, Jeffrey Selbst, Anne Sharp, Eric Smith, R. J. Smith, Kerry Thompson, Tim Yagle The Ann Arbor Film Cooperative presents at AUD. A Thursday, May 11 TAXI DRIVER (Martin Scorsese, 1976) 7 & 9-Aud. A ROBERT DeNIRO is Travis Bickle, a New York City cabbie whose boredom and loneliness finally erupt into a paroxysm of violence. Written by Paul Schrader, with Cybit Shepherd and Harvey Keitel. "No other film has ever dramatized urban indifference so well."-Pauline Kael. Tomorros: Howard Hawks's "HIS GIRL FRIDAY" and "BRINGING UP BABY"