Page 8-Thursday, June 8, 1978-The Michigan Daily St arship plays Pine Knob By TIM YAGLE As part of their national tour, suave Grace Slick and the Jefferson Starship touched down at a virtually sold-out Pine Knob Tuesday evening, enter- taining the earthlings as only the rejuvenated Starship can. The members of the Starship really seem to think they are in a class by themselves. Not that they're more egotistical than any other rock per- sonalities, but one can sense a more sophisticated aura about them; their stage show was more precise than the Michigan DAILY comparatively ragged performances one expects of Ted Nugent and others of his ilk, and the expertly timed lighting cues and elaborately colored backdrops combined for a visually attractive set- ting. IN SPITE OF the large, white- framed sun glasses she donned for over half the show, almost as if to remain anonymous, Grace Slick could still command an overpowering stage presence when she wanted to. She kept on one spot for most of the evening, but when it was her turn to solo, there seemed no doubt as to who was running the show. The nine-person ensemble began their two-and-a-half hour set with an exuberant "Ride The Riger," however the boyancy of the number did not typify the spirit of the evening. The sound the Starship is after was better reflected in the smoothness of "St. Charles," and in the ttnes from their recently-released Earth that comprised a good half of the show. Technically, the concert was a rather impressive feat, and the way the band spruced up songs off of Spitfire and Earth kept the show from lapsing into the canned type of performance one often runs into from an overly-slick rock ensemble, THE SONG selection was, on the whole, pleasing, although the audience certainly fell short of being stirred to new heights of frenzy. The bouncing, vigorously ryhthmical "Dance With The Dragon" was the best tune of the evening, but it was unfortunately followed by a rather anticlimactic "Somebedy To Love." Most of the songs had tension-filled beginnings, but a fair amount seemed to drift into never-ending finales, as if the group had decided "the longer the better." Still, the crisp performances and tasteful selection indicated that the Jefferson Starship has not succumbed to the superficiality of many 70s bands' stage facades, and that I find somewhat refreshing. The Jefferson Starship performed Monday and Tuesday nights at Pine Knob. Pictured above are Starship premiere members Grace Slick, left, and Paul Kantner, right. 'CAPRICORN ONE': Rescued by technology By OWEN GLEIBERMAN Ah, the marvels of technology. Technology can provide small, black boxes that allow for world-wide com- muniction with nary a second's delay. In the case of movies, it can transform a potboiled concoction like Capricorn One, which otherwise wouldn't be worth its weight in celluloid, into passable en- tertainment-enough, at least, to keep one numbly glued to the screen for two hours on a lazy summer afternoon. If you've missed theadvertisements thus far, hear now that Capricorn One concerns the means by which a coniving, Jack D. Ripper-like Nasa commander (Hal Holbrook) embarks upon an intricate scheme to fake the first Mars-landing. It seems that the com- pany which provides life support systems has shortchanged the space program-the fatally faulty apparatus can only do its stuff for three weeks-and Holbrook won't tolerate any screw-ups for fear of having the program permanently axed out of the federal budget. IN THE MIDST of this already outrageous plot, the movie sustains it- self by including some gratuitous action sequences, throwing plausibility to the winds, and tossing in a bevy of gover- nmental conspriacy cliches and un- believably stock conversations concer- ning the mertis of the space program and the cynicism of our age. What is disappointing, even in a thriller as obviously canned from the start as this one, is that the premise could have been exploited to the ends of an intriguing, though admittedly far- fetched, satire on the manipulative potential of our hyper-technological society. Just think if the moon landing, which had more teary-eyed individuals of all nations gathered around their television sets thananyother single event, was an out-and-out fraud. The satirical overtones, let alone the humorous possibilities, are large in- deed. IT APPEARS, though, that such social speculation is not well-enough grounded in television thinking to have interested Peter Hyams, Capricorn One's writer-director. Instead, the movie misplaces its Mars-landing hoax idea in the second half, diddling away time by chronicling the exploits of a bumbling journalist (Elliot Gould) who is inspired to investigate the bogus mission by a clue (give by one of the astronauts in his "Mars-to-Earth" communication) worthy of one of the Riddler's on Batman. No, Capricorn One wastes no time exploring either the social or purely human interest aspects of its story; why, one of the few actually interesting-. characters, a wise-cracking astronaut played by Sam Waterson, is given all of twenty lines. (His space compatriots, O.J. Simpson and James Brolin, are so uniformly bland, that one doesn't much care whether they live or die). HAD THIS movie been made back in the glorious days of Escape From Plan- et X, it would no doubt have aspired to nothing higher than a Roger Corman level of H-picture amateurishness, without that director's flaked-out sense of humor. But that is where technology enters, in the guise of machine-smooth camera pans, diamond-edged editing, and flashy cinematography. All of this gift-wrapping gives the film the aura of a samsonized synthetic artifact, unoriginal, perhaps, but carried off with a dash of slicing flair. The result? The movie is palatable! But, only up to a point. Oh, I suppose that the sequence with Gould racing around town in his brake-less car at 100 miles per hour is fun, and that the helicopter chase at the end rivals the ski chase in The Spy Who Loved Me'for kinesthetic thrills. The question is, when will the effect of pyrotechnical polish wear off? When will "filmmakers" like Peter Hyams have to throw in an idea or two to make theirrancid-little-creations stick? Arits briefs The Professional Theatre Program (PTP) yesterday an- nounced its schedule for the up- coming year's Guest Artist Series. The schedule will run as follows: She Stoops To Conquer-Octo- ber 18-22 Richard II-November 29- December 3 The Inspector General - February 14-18 The River Niger-April 11-15 The Inspector General, univer- sally conceded to be one of the great European comedies, is Gogol's high spirited satire on of- ficial crookedness and human stupidity. She Stoops To Conquer is a classic 18th century Ren- naissance comedy. IN A MORE somber vein is The River Niger, which centers around a Harlem housepainter, poet, drunk, and patriarch, whose son returns from service in the air force. Richard II is Shakespeare's historical drama bout the struggle with Boling Broke (Later Henry IV) over possession of land. The guest artists for each of the productions have yet to be determined. Auditions for all the plays are open to anyone, and students are encouraged to par- ticipate..