ARTS The Michigan Daily Thursday, March 5, 1981 Page 5 Thunder: The shadow of a former 'great' Bob Margolin: Old blues is good blues. By KEN FELDMAN ."Well, I'd better do a few more songs to make sure I get paid," warbled Johnny Thunder midway through The Heartbreakers Wedensday night set. The sizeable Second Chance crowd was riot surprised that Johnny could barely stand or speak, much less play. After all; many of them had seen him before, and on worse nights than this. "Watching the Johnny Thunder show raises the non-musical question, how long can a heroin addict sleepwalk his *9y through his "hits" before his fans lose interest or he collapses? In the past, Johnny has been "escorted" off the stage after only a few songs due to severe vomiting or .exhaustion. While * Thunder spared us anything of that magnitude, the possibility was always there, and that was what attracted much of the audience. THE IDEA OF romanticizing heroin addiction started in the '60s with the Rolling Stones. In the '70s, Johnny was one of many would-be guitar heroes who wanted the lead role in the Keith Richard story. While Johnny matched his hero in the substance abuse depar- tment, he never came close in terms of musical ability. Consequently, John- ny's wasted rock star character began to take on the self-pitying quality of a clown. Strangely enough, it was at this point that Johnny's music became, at least for a moment (the album So Alone), eerie and genuinely affecting. "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory," his best work on record, was great because it combined a gorgeous pop hook with words that showed a tremendous amount of self-awareness. Johnny seemed to be saying "I'm pitiful, I'm just a shadow of Johnny Thunder so don't try to touch me." The insights were short-lived, however, and Johnny became an ar- tifact, surviving on his reputation. And that's the state of things today with Thunder, his central motivation for playing seems to be his next fix. THE CONCLUSIVE evidence was this performance's musical display. The band opened with the instrumental "Pipeline" and than proceeded to play both originals and covers in the same lame manner. Thunder's voice was so weak and thin that one could rarely un- derstand a word. The other three mem- bers were faceless hacks whose prime concern was to keep Thunder going. You could hear them say, "Johnny, are you alright. Can you get it together for this next song? It's in E." Thunder's band, like the audience, seemed to find his condition rather humorous. The other guitar player in particular viewed Johnny as a walking joke. He sang an "interpretation" of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business," changing it to "Too Much Junkie Business." Ha. Ha. Hoi Polli, one of the two warm-up vands, is a vox organ-based combo, in- strumentally reminiscent of The Doors when they rocked. They were mindless and trashy, and I mean that as a com- pliment. The Cult Heroes were good for a while until their redundant power chording became a headache. The most enjoyable aspect of the evening was the video show in between bands. But after Johnny's depressing display, I couldn't even remember the fun. By FRED SCHILL Blues artist Bob Margolin and his band will bring their lively Chicago blues to Rick's American Cafe tonight. Margolin is best known for his stint as lead guitarist for Muddy Waters, and has earned a reputation as one of the world's finest young blues guitarists. Margolin and the rest of the band left Waters last June "over some business problems," Margolin said in an inter- view with the Daily. Several of them formed the Legendary Blues Band, but Margolin chose to go out on his own. "I WAS ASKED to join," Margolin said, "but I wanted to front my own band. If I was in the Legendary Blues Band, I might get to sing one or two songs a night. I wanted to do my own thing." "The thing that I have that is distin- ctive is experience in Muddy's band, a real feel for Chicago blues," Margolin added. "The main focus of (my) band is to be extremely proficient at Chicago blues." He must be succeeding. Waters him- self complimented Margolin despite their acrimonious break-up by telling him, "I'm glad to see you keeping the old school alive." "WE SOUND the way Chicago bands sounded at their best in the early 50s," Margolin said. "I'm really proud to be able to use what I have learned to recreate the old style." Margolin clarified that. "The old sound basically takes Mississippi coun- try blues and plays it with electric guitars and electric harmonicas," he explained. "That's because when guys like Muddy came to play in the city bars, the crowds were so noisy that they had to plug into amplifiers to be heard." "The new style came in during the late 50s and early 60s. It's much more urban sounding," Margolin said. "BUT WE'RE not, just a bunch of guys playing tired old music," Margolin quickly added. "The old music sounds very fresh today, partly because nobody plays it very much anymore. It drives, it rocks, it swings - it has a lot of spirit, it is very much alive. If you expose people to it, it tends to go over very well." You can judge for yourself tonight at Rick's. The show will start at about 9:30 p.m. ROMANIAN FOLK ART: Everything but the kitchen sink By ROBERT TAYLOR The Romanian folk art exhibition at the University of Michigan takes Americans on a tour through the history and culture of a land where East and West have met to create a unique national heritage. The Romanian exhibition, which runs from Feb. 17 through March 13 in U-M's Rackham Galleries, brings together some 300 outstanding examples of folk artistry and craftsmanship from the 19th and 20th centuries. The U-M opening marks the second stop in the exhibition's four-city U.S. tour, the first ever'for this collection. "THE MESSAGE conveyed by this exhibition," wrote Vasile Dragut, "director of the Nicolae Grigorescu In- stitute of Fine Arts in Bucharest, "is that of a people with deep roots in history. It is the message of a people whose very existence and spirituality, whose everyday creations reflect a rich historical background in which one fin- ds -the everlasting communion with nature and search for harmony.,, Romanian folk art reflects the rich diversity of the region's history, shaped by a geographical location that has put it squarely in the path of military and cultural waves from, both East and West. Since the fall of an independent Dacian kingdom nearly two thousand years ago, Romans, Tartars, Poles, Hungarians, Russians and Turks all have played a role in military conquests ,and political intervention in the region. The unique cultural character of the Romanian state that emerged from the Versailles Treaty testifies to its diverse historical heritage - a nation where the Romance language Romanian was the common vernacular, yet where the Slavic Eastern Orthodox faith was the predominant religion. O THROUGH THE CHANGING tides of Romanian history, Dragut finds a strong current of continuity in the region's peasant culture, developed over the centuries in the people's dependence on the land for their livelihood. The folk art now on display at the U-M represents a peasant civilization "in which the essence of living of many centuries of historical existence is melted together," Dragut says. 4"The exhibition taps the cultures of all regions in Romania, including Tran- sylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia, and covers a wide diversity of folk art forms ranging from the household necessities of daily peasant life to the special creations for village ceremonial rites. These are some of the exhibits that provide an introduction to a peasant culture preserved and enriched amid the turbulent currents of history: * Wood crafts. The Carpathian Mountains, the hills of Moldavia and Transylvania and the Danube River plain provide the rich forest lands that have created a "wood civilization" in all areas of Romanian peasant life. Exhibits reflect wood's common use as the material of both the peasant's home and the household within - dowry eases, kitchen utensils, tables, chairs and spinning tools. Wood has also brought music to the peasant's home through home-carved shepherd's pipes, flutes, ocarines and mountain horns. " Rugs and bedspreads. Wool is the common material for the wide variety of weaving styles, color combinations and geometric decorations displayed in this exhibition. Rugs range from the elegant simplicity of Moldavia and the classical designs of Wallachia to the vivid colors of Oltenia and the vigorous designs of Transylvania. Rugs have served as the peasant home's main or- married women. From the age-old celebrations of the cycle of life, con- temporary Romanians have continued the traditional creation of masks such as the winter festival masks in this exhibition. A favorite is the goat, "a headmask that underlines the qualities and foibles of the human character,' S--Drugat says. The Romanian Folk Art exhibition at the Rackham Galleries features costumes, tapestries, pottery, instruments and a wide variety of other ar- tifacts. The exhibition will run through March 13. * Home-woven textile goods. From cotton, hemp, flax and silk,j Romanian peasants have woven the highly color- ful and decorative textiles that add grace to' the home interior - em- broidered towels, wall towels, pillow cases, sheets, table cloths and blinds. Some have become part of special ceremonies, like the towels used in weddings, christenings and burials and the traditional handkerchief of the bridegroom. " Pottery. The pottery craft, "han- ded down from generation to generation almost unchanged," has found a place "in almost all compartments of day-to- day and spiritual life of the traditional community," Dragut says. At the kit- chen table, the pots, mugs, plates, pit- chers and cups serve their functional and decorative purposes; special pit- chers and cups rich in detail and color are part of ceremonial rituals, and- animal-shaped flutes have long been children's toys. Romanian ceramic styles include both the red and black forms of nonenameled pottery, and the enameled pottery commonly used for decorative vases. " Glass paintings. From its start in the early 1700s in Transylvania, glass painting flourished in Romania in the 18th and 19th centuries, and continues at a lesser scale to this day. Peasant- craftsmen used watercolors to create glass icons illustrating religious scenes and favorite protective saints, which became a special element in decoration of the peasant home. Contemporary glass painters have taken up themes of village life. " And costumes and masks. Peasant costumes developed over the centuries reflect their traditional roots in their evident similarities in cut, artistry in ornamentation and purity in style. Woven from wool, hemp, flax, cotton and silk, different styles of clothing suggest the person's age, home region, social status and marital status. Towels, head veils and caps long provided the required head covering for WITH THIS ENTIRE AD - n* e admission $2 00 any film Good Mon. thou Thurs. Eves. valid thru 3-5-81 "M" 7 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS D~JWT5PG) D iC DI { THURS., FRI-7:16 9:30 U POETRY READING with DAN GERBER, MARTIN GROSSMAN, and KIM LEITH Reading from their works Thurs., Mar. 5, 7:30 p.m. ADMISSION: FREE NOON LUNCHEON Home-made Soup & Sandwich 754 Friday, March 6 DON POSTEMA, CAMPUS CHAPEL: "Prayer and Justice" I GUILD HOUSE, 802 MONROE (662-5189) 2 Days to the Event .4 x.. , '1 CiARSUMMER JOBS CEDARPOINT AMUSEMENT PARK, Sandusky, Ohio, will hold on-campus interviews for sum- mer employment: Date: Thursday, March 19 Saturday March 7, 8 8pmij theUnion Carnival Games o Casino o Prizes I 4 UofM Jazz Band " Magazine' Dancing M Club o Roaming Performers oMovies I I F