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Rage in
Eden
Ultravox
Prism Productions
Michigan Theatre
8 p.m., Thursday, March 31
By Jeffrey W. Manning
T HREE MONVHS AGO, if you asked
a music freak what comes to mind
when the word "Ultravox" is men-
tioned, the answer would by Vienna. A
warranted response, bo'doubt; Vienna
arguably culminates the '70s electro-
pop collection. But these times, they
are a changin', and if you ask the same
question today, the reply is "March 31,
Michigan Theatre. Be there, aloha."
Ultravox has been making records
since the middle of the '70s, and in
keeping with their philosophy of con-
stant change and development, they
are not the same band they were a few
years ago. John Fox founded the band
and was a vital member until 1979 when
he opted to make solo records. Midge
Ure replaced Fox as lead vocalist and
the band signed with Chrysalis with a
new manager and began working of
Vienna Financially and artistically,
Vienna remains Ultravox's greatest
achievement. The LP received gold and
platium sales awards in six countries
(not the U.S., of course), and the
mystical single, "Vienna," won Best
Single of the Year in Britain's Rock and
Pop awards for 1979. The band then
recorded Rage in Eden which contained
two moderately popular singles, "The
Voice" and "The Thin Wall," but
nowhere near exceeded the success of
the previous record.
Last December, Ultravox's most
recent album was released. Quartet
climbed to #6 on the English charts and
two songs, "Reap the Wild Wind" and
"Hymn,", surfaced in the Top Fifteen.
The digitally mastered album has
taken Ultravox in an untried direction
due to a new producer and a different
recording technique. Former Beatles'
producer George Martin "sounded like
a more bizarre combination than the
big names who had been suggested to
us, and, as we'd been looking for
something more off-the-wall for this
album, we all agreed he was the man
for the job," commented Ure. The
music on Quartet was not written in the
studio as the songs on Rage in Eden
were. Ultravox experimented in
rehearsal studios for three weeks,dthen
broke for a week before recording, and
decided upon the best bits of the past
few week's work.
After Roger Mulcahy's video of
"Vienna" won France's GrandePrix
award, Ure and fellow Ultravox mem-
ber, Chris Cross, planned to produce
their own videos. "Reap the Wild
Ultravox: Fearsome foursome
Wind," "Hymn," "The Voice," and
"The Thin Wall" are videos which
resulted from this collaboration. The
duo has also produced promo videos for
a score of other English pop groups, in-
cluding Phil Lynott, Monsoon, Visage,
ex-Specials the Fun Boy Three, and
their girlfriends, Bananarama.
Lately, Ure has recorded a single en-
titled "No Regrets," for which he
produced another video. Ure has also
produced discs for some more obscure
British bands such as Strasse, the
Messengers, Peter Godwin, and Steve
Harley.
The upcoming concert at the
Michigan Theatre is part of their first
American tour in over two years.
Regarding the show, Ure remarked,
"We wand a continuity from the release
of the first single to the last gig of the
tour, and we make a point of being in-
volved in every aspect of what people
see as well as hear of Ultravox, right
down to the tour poster."
Though acclaim in America is
lagging, Ultravox is internationally
known as one of the most influential
electropop bands. If you've heard them,
you've probably brought your ticket. If
not, I can only warn you against
missing one of the better shows to pass
through Ann Arbor in '83.W
And if a complaint comes in, he says,
students are likely to get quicker
results. In the past, Yadlowsky says,
before the bureau had a computer to
help keep track of things, "We had
more inspectors and we were doing less
inspection just for not being organized
. the hard ones we'd skip, and we'd
do the easy ones. Now we do them all."
Owners are not only quicker to make
repairs these days, they are almost
eager to make improvements - new
furniture, new appliances, storm win-
dows.
"One of the things I've been doing is
promising washers anid dryers," says
David Copi, an independent landlord
who owns 80 campus-area units. Copi
says he has to dish out nearly $1,000 for
each unit to cover the cost of the ap-
pliances and installation fees, but he
says it's worth it. It works.
"I don't know anybody that has a ren-
tal unit and takes money out of it," says
Robert Andrus of Andrus Davis Co.
"It's the system out there that's going
against us right now.
"I think rents should go up.
Everything else is going up," says An-
drus, who says he lost nearly $3,000 on a
three-bedroom house last year.
A FEW MONTHS ago, Howard Smith
decided he was tired of sharing a
two-bedroom apartment with three
other people. So the engineering
sophomore and his friends got together
and rented a six-bedroom house near
the Hill dorms. By March of any other
eyar, students would be lucky to find
any six-bedroom houses available. But
Smith's landlord was waiting for him
with open arms.
Not only did the landlord agree to
reduce the monthly rent by $65, says
Smith, "He said he would fix anything
we thought needed fixing."
Last year the house got a new kitchen,
a bathroom was remodeled, and
several rooms were painted and recar-
peted, Smith says. "The place was a
real dump. Supposely they were having
a lot of trouble renting it."
Things have changed a lot since 1979.
That January more than 25 groups of
students booked rooms at the Bell
Tower Hotel, hoping to get first crack at
apartments offered by Maize and Blue
Management Company - whose office
is located in the hotel's lower level. But;
the company had only 20 apartments
Paul Teich: Tenant advocate
0
available and some students who had
rented rooms and waited 13 hours for
the office to open were left out in the
cold.
Although Maize and Blue still
remains popular, fewer students this
yer lined up outside the office than in
previous years and they didn't arrive
until 6:30 a.m., according to Suzanne
Gubachy of Maize and Blue.
Other landlords aren't so lucky. Last
summer, some were so desperate to
rent their units they offered new tenan-
ts everything from cash to TV sets. The
Wilson White Company, for example,
advertised gift certificates totaling $250
for stores including Schoolkids Records
and Ulrich's bookstore in exchange for
a signed lease.
Students are also in a better position to
negotiate because they are more in-
formed, says Maureen Delp, program
director for the Ann Arbor Tenants
Union.
"I think tenants are becoming more
aware of what they're getting for their
money."
Says University housing's Rumsey:
"The students have been coming in
here (the housing office) by the
droves."They're not just looking at the
landlord listings like they used to, she
says. They are asking questions about
the landlords, the leases, and the
neighborhoods.
Rumsey says she has also seen the
landlords more willing to negotiate
than ever before. In one case, she said,
a landlord took a house off the market
for a week while the students made up
their minds. He asked for a small
deposit, but said he would return it if
the students chose another place. "That
was unheard of five years ago," she
says.
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14
lime
Weather Report
Eclipse Jazz
Hill Auditorium
8 p.m., Wednesday, March 30
By Jerry Brabenec
T HREE TIMES is not enough. The
cosmopolitan jazz group Weather
Report makes their fourth Ann Arbor
appearancethis Wednesday in one of
this season's major concert presen-
tations. For their latest Hill Auditorium
concert, coleaders Wayne Shorter and
Joe Zawinul will feature a new rhythm
section of younger players, adding new
ideas and sounds to the band's 12 years
of jazz innovation.
Winners of two Grammy Awards, two
Gold Discs (Japan) and France's
Grand Prix du Disque, Weather Report
has been selected Best Jazz Group by
the readers of Downbeat magazine for
the last seven years.
Keyboardist Joe Zawinul is the real
force behind the group, and writes most
of the music. A native of Vienna,
Austria, Zawinul came to the United
States in 1959 to study at the Berklee
School of Music. During his first gig,
Zawinul picked up big band influence
'(In the last), landlords wer
crease rents as they wanted
landlords would rent out any
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indepent
Weather Report: Fearsome fivesome
that is reflected in Weather Report's
material with trumpeter Maynard
Ferguson. During a ten year stint with
the late alto saxophonist Julian "Can-
nonball" Adderly, Zawinul honed his
compositional skills, penning Adderly's
biggest hit, "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,"
one of the first electric piano features.
Shorter and Zawinul first worked
together in Miles Davis' fusion groups
of the late '60s, Zawinul contributing
the title tune to the album In a Silent
Way.
Newark, New Jersey native Wayne
Shorter has been voted Best Soprano
Saxophonist by the readers of Down-
beat for the last 13 years, joining Sidney
Bechet and John Coltrane as a truly
distinctive stylist on this difficult in-
strument. After starting out playing
with Freddie Hubbard in Art Blakey's
Jazz Messengers, Shorter became a
close associate of Miles Davis in the
mid-'60s, contributing tunes like "Foot-
prints" and Nefertiti" and playing
tenor and soprano sax up to the album
Bitches' Brew.
Weather Report's first album came
out in 1971. Featuring the virtuosic
Czech string bassist Miroslav Vitous
and Brazilian percussionist Airto
Moriera, the new band's music pulled
together sounds from all over the world
in ethereal, improvised textures. Ten
years later, Weather Report has settled
into a groove that is more stylish and
funky, and musicians like drummers
Chester Thompson, Alex Acuna, and
Peter Erskine, and bassists Alphonso
Johnson and Jaco Pastorius have all
contributed to the band's sound.
The new rhythm section features
bassist Victor Bailey, drummer Omar
Hakim, and percussionist Jose Rossy.
The 22-year-old Bailey studied at
Berkeley, as Zawinul did two decades
earlier, and has recorded with Hugh
Masakela and Larry Coryell. Hakim,
23, graduated from New York's High
School of Music and Art and has played
with David Sanborn, George Benson
and Roy Ayers. Rossy, 28, studied per-
cussion in Puerto Rico and played with
the Puerto Rico Symphony before
moving to the studios of New York to
record with Labelle and Cameo.
Procession, the band's latest album,
features moody electronic sounds, high
speed bopping, and vocals by Manhat-
tan Transfer. As always, the rhythm
section is tight and the sounds and
arrangements are tasty and
sophisticated, with unique sonorities
and infectious beats. A good time is cer-
tainly in the forecast for Wednesday
night, when Weather Report plays Ann
Arbor.
Landlords realize they have to cater
more to tenant requests. "We're quite a
bit more in tune for individual
requests," says Dave Williams of Old
Town Realty. Old Town recently
relaxed its policies on pets in its units.
Ravalp's Dick Vale says he has
noticed students looking around more
before choosing an apartment. "Going
out and looking at 15 to 20 apartments is
not uncommon," he says. Vale has been
showing houses every hour, he says,
and his showing schedule is booked a
few days ahead of time.
In order to rent his places, Vale says
he is going to have to change his
strategy. "Five and 10 years ago the
deals they're
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