ARTS The Michigan Daily Wednesday, December 3, 1980 Page 5 Third World stirs it up, Jimmy Cliffperseveres By MICHAEL KREMEN Third World gave a very strong and entertaining performance as the opening act for Jimmy Cliff, this past Saturday night at The Royal Oak Theater. Truth to speak, Cliff's worthwhile set seemed anti-climactic in the wake of Third World's well paced and superbly staged act. They began their show with "Setta Messagana", a hymnlike tale of spiritual longing for the promised land. The song opened a capella, allowing the pure, high harmonies to be clearly heard and giving added power to the music when the instruments did kick in. "IRIE ITER", a paean to good feelings, followed. Simple uplifting lyrics rode on a solid instrumental groove which was further embellished by power- ful, poly-rhythmic conga playing. The rest of the show continued in a musically and lyrically uptempo fashion. The emphasis was on "positive" images so that there was no place for a provocative group-original, "96" In the Shade", a realistic account of a 19th century slavery auction. What was performed was uniformly well done. "African Woman", a romantic, mid-tempo homage, showcased the thrilling baritone of Rugs, whose power and style evokes Dennis Brown and wouldn't be out of place with such groups as Earth, Wind and Fire or The O'Jays. The vocal is aided and abetted by engaging rhythms, tasteful, albeit Santana-derived lead guitar by Cat and varied and generally inspired keyboard work from Ibo. Other strong numbers included "Street Fighting", "Third World Man" and the band's one American hit, the highly danceable "Now That We've Found Love", a Gamble-Huff composition that was originally recorded by The O'Jays. "UPTOWN REBEL", from the latest studiorecording, "Arise in Har- mony", is a successful attempt at a more "roots" attack. The playing is properly funky and the groups vocals are suitably tough. All of the band members (dressed compatibly and mostly in white), not tied down to a drum set, do a unison dance that equals any moves that The Tower of Power Horns have come up with. For these rebels (like most of us), the rebellion is mostly psychological and transpires uptown, and not in the ghetto. This is at the heart of why Third World is not very well liked by "roots, reggae" aficionados. Third World doesn't fulfill our notion of what a reggae band should look and sound like. Unlike most other Jamaican bands (that have come to international attention), Third World draws heavily from con- temporary Black American popular music. Third World has more in com- mon with Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone than The Clash or Lee Dorsey.' Third World are attempting a Soul-reggae fusion rather than the rock- reggae combination with which (white) Americans are more comfortable. Just as American rhythm and blues, soul and funk bands have traditionally helped to communicate ethnic and roots music like blues and jazz to a wider audience, Third World should be perceived as fulfilling a similar function for "roots" reggae. Viewed in this way, Third World's recent recordings make more sense and the band's substantial creative contributions can be more accurately assessed. JIMMY CLIFF'S SET was substantially stronger than the audience's lukewarm response indicated. Cliff's show this tour is heavily ballad-laden and these songs just didn't gain the audience's attention after Third World's energetic work out. Cliff was in fine vocal fettle. His distinctive tone was clear and ie demon- strated excellent control on "Many Rivers to Cross" from The Harder They Come movie soundtrack and "Bongo Man" and "She Is a Woman" from the very good and generally ignored 1978 recording, Give Thankx. "She Is a Woman" does, unfortunately, sound disturbingly close to "No Women, No Cry", a song identified with Bob Marley that Cliff himself has recorded. Two never up-tempo songs with political messages helped to musically punctuate the too-somnolent set. "Let's Turn the Tables" from Cliff's new American release, I Am the Living and "Stand Up and Fight Back", from the aforementioned Give Thankx, allowed the musicians a rare opportunity' to jam. Given the opportunity, the group proceeded to cook. The emphasis on song format didn't allow Cliff to make full use of the instrumental talents of his backing group. The great Earl "Chinna" Smith, one of the strongest electric guitar players in all of pop music, was on hand, but, alas, had very little to do. The musicians seemed unchallenged and consequently bored, especially in contrast to the spirit displayed by the players of the self-contained Third World band. The songs performed ,rom the 1973 movie, The Harder They Come, in which-Cliff starred, received very good response but the sudience was not otherwise engaged. Cliff, dressed in military garb, has not been able to establish an individual identity (in the U.S.) separate from Ivan, the charac- ter he plays in that seminal movie. Based on Saturday's performance, I'm afraid that Jimmy Cliff will continue to find a clear identity an elusive goal. Sl ence, please MONTREAL (AP)-Pianist Keith said Jarrett, who is reputed to im- Jarrett, unnerved by a spate of provise partly according to how his coughing in the audience, interrupted a audience behaves. "It's very hard to solo performance at Place des Arts. use a cough for anyone but a percussion "Okay, everybody cough," he said af- player." ter bounding to his feet from the piano The concert went well after that ex- bench early in the 2 -hour concert planation and the near capacity crowd Conday night. brought Jarrett back for two encores. And cough people did, in an exaggerated fashion. "I used to think coughing was a national disease but it's happening all over the world," said the 35-year-old American composer and musician,1 known for his creative meshing of jazz and classical music. "People don't Never hear, they don't feel, they don't see. Remains People are bored." Jarrett returned to the piano, but Silent stopped again 15 minutes later. "You 764-8638 see, whatever I get back I have to use," 'SIDE EFFECTS' More of Woody's paranoia By ELISA ISAACSON For an artist whose filmmaking ef- forts in the last few years have traver- sed the spectrum from slapstick to sterile seriousness to trendy autobiographical romance, Woody Allen's literary career has remained strangely static. The individual sket- ches 'in each of his three collections could easily be interchanged without any visible inconsistencies in "style" or "period;" the themes, formats, jokes, personalities are constant. The notable difference, however, between Allen's first two books and his latest, Side Ef- fects, is that the stories, in the retelling, are no longer funny. The paranoid-New York-Jewish- underdog humor is Allen's trademark. He didn't originate the genre when he began writing in the 1950s-it had been done before and it's been done sin- ce-but he certainly has established 'himself as a master. Who else could make his protagonist grow up under a roller coaster at Coney Island and not cause his audience to question its feasibility? The problem is, Allen him- self is so intrigued by his own gags and cultural insights that he's used them to the point of overkill. In "The Lunatic's Tale," for instan- ce, one of the new stories virtually laced with second-hand gags, Allen describes a figure well-known in New York lore: the urban street bum. "And while I roam through Central Park wearing moth-eaten clothes and a surgical mask, screaming revolutionary slogans and laughing hysterically.. ." Sound at all familiar? Annie Hall buffs will recognize this as a mirror image of the type of woman Allen, at a California party, teases bud- dy Tony Roberts about dating. THE LIST OF stock Allen-images and one-liners continues. A mindless photographer's model who looks like a Playboy centerfold asks the protagonist in the same "Lunatic's Tale" with a voice resembling that of a mouse in the animated cartoons, 'What sign are you?" Similarly, if you recall, Allen tells his 17-year-old lover in the film Manhattan that she has a voice like the mouse in the Tom and Jerry cartoons. At the end of "The Lunatic's Tale," Allen tries to relieve his inability to, decide between his intellectual live-in and his airhead sex partner by perfor- ming the classic mad scientist ex- periment. He straps the women to operating tables and by use of electric currents transfers the brain of one into' the body of the other, thus enjoying the best of both worlds. This image is visualized explicitly in Allen's latest film, Stardust Memories and is thus no longer any fun. In fact, it's em- barrassing; it's like standing by and listening to the host at a party tell the same joke to each guest who arrives. But the most disturbing element of all this is not the discomfiture of sitting, through the artist's obvious delight in his own hilarity, but the implication of the message behind these jokes. Allen's values have emerged with increasing clarity during the last few years of his artistic development; though he might appear to be branching out with, say, the uncharacteristically "serious" film Interiors, his fascination with the in- tellectual, the urbane, the precious remains pervasive. Allen's plots still revolve around people who have in- teresting and artsy jobs, who eat ex- pensive deli food, who attend gallery openings and listen to the right kind of music. Both his films and stories-from the most serious to the most slap- stick-are overrun with that same Allenobilia he immortalized when, at beautiful people. In "The Lunatic's Tale" he describes a "highly successful doctor" as "living on the upper East Side, gadding about town in a brown Mercedes, and bedecked dashingly in a varied array of Ralph Lauren tweeds." Allen himself resides in the upper East Side, wears custom-made Lauren suit- s, and is driven by his chauffeur in -though not a Mercedes-a Rolls Royce. By identifying with the hero-or anti- hero, as the case may be-in an Allen tale, we are identifying with the artist himself. Arid the cushy penthouse ur- ban existence is infectiously appealing. The reason for the influx of groupies at such Allen hang-outs as Elaine's up- town or John's Pizza in the Village is not simply because people want to cat- ch a glimpse of the star; it's because they want to be a part of that Allen culture, part of the sophisticated set who make the news in rumpled Lauren tweeds. The humor has stopped being funny because it's been heard many times before by any die-hard fan; its new appeal now seems to be that of a cult-worship nature. In spite of all this, Allen is still a deft story-teller. Two of the tales in Side Ef-. fects are fresh enough that they are well worth reading. "Fabrizio's Criticism and Response" is a hilarious parody of artistic criticism, which focuses on the merits and failures of an Italian restaurant rather than on the usual recent novel. The reviewer analyzes the pasta in both political and philosophical terms, and the respon- ding letter-writers address him on Connecticut based manufac- turer wishes to hire student for on campus sales. Flexible hours, high commission rate. Product is a newly developed heat- ed windshield wiper. Call collect (203) 481-6207 social history, algebraic logic, and Soviet domination. The plot of "The Kugelmass Episode", in which a humanities professor is magically transferred into the land of literature and has an extra-marital affair with madame Bovary right on the pages of the book, is engaging enough that it is not bogged down by any of the stock Allen one-liners. THETI DRUM (R) "An artistic masterpiece" TUES-7:00, 9:25 WED-2:00, 4:25, 7:00, 9 25 S INDIVIDUAL THEATRES sh A.e at iberty 761-9700 M Y BRI LLIANT CAREERv (G) "No wonder the audience cheered" -VILLAGE VOICE TUES-7:10, 9:00 WED-1:30, 3:20, 5:20, 7:10, 9:00 M.D. 12/4/80 * With this entire ad - * one admission $1.50 any film * * Good Mon. thru Thurs. * This coupon valid thru ' " m '"" - - m " m - , the end of Manhattan, he recited into a tape recorder a list of things he believes make life worth living. That roster in- cluded Cezanne's still-life fruit, Louis Armstrong, and his girlfriend's face. When writing a new story, Allen merely plucks from his list a few choice items and plugs them into a given framework. He can produce in bulk now, because he writes according to such a formula. Read enough Woody Allen and you could write your own rib- tickler in a matter of minutes. All you have to do is follow the rules. * Mention odd foods and animals in otherwise serious situations. " Use a liberal dose of yiddish phrases, and give some of the charac- ters heavily Jewish-sounding names, as if their grandparents had forgotten to change them at Ellis Island. " Come up with various ways of ex- plaining that you're lusting in your heart after every attractive woman in the story. d Throw in occasional references to sodomy and profound. philosophers.. Combine ingredients in any order you want to, add water, shake well-and presto! An instant Allen story. Woody Allen writes about the things he thinks are important-which would be okay except for the fact that he makes it clear that those who don't realize their significance 'just aren't cool. For instance, he has taken to dismissing any character who does not appreciate the Marx Brothers. Again, in "The Lunatic's Tale," the author says about his first wife, "Of the Marx Brothers, she was convinced the amusing one was Zeppo." This obser- vation, though obviously absurd, never- theless makes the readers feel the only way they can appreciate the finer things in life is to agree with Woody Allen. Now by comparing what Allen says on paper and on. film to his actual lifestyle could be considered a bit presumptuous. Yet the facts have been documented to show that Allen's writing very much reflects his own values and experience. Allen in his work celebrates good taste and the Double Indemnity Directed by Billy Wilder. With BARBARA STANWYCK, FRED MACMURRAY, ED- WARD G. ROBINSON. Screenplay by Wilder and Raymond Chandler. A wom- an and her insurance agent cut corners to collect on her husband's life in- surance policy. All goes well except the cold feeling in inspector Robinson's gut that won't go away. He won't give up until he finds the truth and his in- digestion clears up. Tight-paced and tense, it flares like a match. 7:00 & 9:00 at LORCH, near the elevator. CINEMA GUILD THE XENON LIGHT OF THE WORLD Guitarist wins OBE LONDON (AP)-Australian-born classical guitarist John Williams received an Officer Order of the British Empire medal from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace Tuesday. After the investiture, the 39-year-old guitarist left quickly to return to Scar- borough, where he is "updating" his style by playing mainstream pop music with the group Sky. "I am going straight back to join the lads," Williams told reporters. "The best way to celebrate is by doing a con- cert." MAJOR EVENTS are pleased to incooperation with announce in concert CIN.EMA II Presents EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION BY HARRY SMITH A selection of the magic of Harry Smith, long renowned medicine man/magician of experimental animation. As Smith himself puts it: "I like my films because I didn't make them; God made them." Included in his show are: Early Abstrac- tions, Heaven and Earth Magic Show, Late Super Impositions, and Mirror Animation. 7:00 and 9:00. TONIGHT, MLB 3 $2.00 kNVW VfDV M FW VinD , Band sl: . I with special guests TULC A II I A WC I I I I