ARTS
The Michigan Daily
Sunday, October 2, 1983
Page 5
Sudsy singing at the Ark
By Deborah Robinson
IT WASN'T easy to spot the teetotallers
last night at the Ark's First Annual Pub
sing, if there were any at all. But the
event, co-sponsored by Guinness
Breweries, was intended to be a depar-
ture from the standard quiet folkclub
fare, and that it was.
The audience, which stood under the
big top on the Ark's front lawn, fulfilled
their role as drinkers and rowdy sing-
alongers quite admirably, especially
considering it was a new experience for
all. Rakish Paddy, alias Gerry O'Kane,
opened the show with spirit, though the
crowd had not imbibed enough of the
same to appreciate him as much as it
did in his second set.
O'Kane is a Belfast native. The rebel
songs he chose to perform, as well as
others from a list of standard Irish sub-
jects - drinking, being pressed into the
army, and illicit sex - served to
promote stereotypes of his homeland
without caring for artistic merit. The
same songs can be played with more,
aesthetic sensitivity for a different ef-
fect. Cultural purity aside, O'Kane was
partially successful at creating a jovial
pub atmosphere. He overestimated the
control he had over his audience, which
cost him a few friendly hecikers'
shouts. But his presentation was
authentic of a pub sing in Ireland - if
the pub is one that caters to tourists and
drunken Dubliners who don't want to go
home.
O'Kane's back-up band, Tanis,
livened things up significantly. O'Kane
himself strums predictable chord
progressions on guitar, and bangs
loudly on the Irish bodhran (pronoun-
ced bow-ron , a goatskin drum.
Tanis's guitar player didn't do much
better, but the McKinny brothers, on
flute and pipes, got the crowd clapping
and- dancing. Technically, Brendan
McKinny on flute could be rivalled by
few players, even in Ireland. Leading
jugs and reels with great speed and
vigor, he injected great energy into the
drunkening crowd.
The acknowledged pros of pub-
singing, drinking songs, and off-color
Daily Photo by JEFF SCHRIER
Life Boys sent. their rock 'n' roll vibrations throughout the U-Club last Thursday night in one of Soundstage's many
offerings.
Live from the
By Barb Schiele
F YOU HAPPEN to hear some odd
ILnoises emanating from the Union on
Thursday nights, don't be too baffled.
The diverse vibrations that rock the U-
Club every other Thursday night are
provided by an interesting mixture of
local rock 'n' roll bands.
For the past several years the
various groups, mostly consisting of
students, attempt to make a name for
themselves in the rockin' world of
music. So you may ask, "Who would put
time and effort into sponsoring locally
unknowns?" Soundstage Productions, a
company established well before the U-
Club existed, has been providing cheap
entertainment for the students, by the
students.
It was created to attract students to
the Union and provide contemporary
musical entertainment. Just as it did
back then, Soundstage, which is run by
University Activities, has been
promoting local talent.
Co-chairpersons Daniel Segal and
Steve Sands agree that Soundstage is
completely student oriented. Along
with most of the bands, the sound crew
is generally made up of students also.
As Segal states, "We're here for the
students, to expose them."
Every other Thursday night from
9 p.m. to 1 a.m., the U-Club offers the
lowest cover charge in town. The price
for this musical entertainment rarely
exceeds $2., and is usually only $1.
The bands that Soundstage promotes
all have one thing in common - their
music is meant to be danced to. There's
even a dance floor, a not small hallway-
like strip set two inches from the stage,
or a 6-by-8 "disco" space.
People come to the U-Club to dance
on Thursday night and Soundstage
gives them not only the music, but also
the room to dance. Beginning winter
term, students are welcome to dance
every Thursday night. The program
this year, varying a bit from last year,
includes two acts each week.
The first act, usually one person or a
small band, is unknown to any regular
bar-goer. Using primarily acoustics,
the music is rather mellow. The second
act, which begins about 10:30 p.m., is a
full band that may be familiar to local
audiences.
For the first part of the season, Segal
and Sands have chosen bands to play
with danceable tunes and known, or
semi-known names. The bands are all
different from one another in order to
attract all types of music listeners.
"Diversity is the key word," Sands
says.
To provide bands for the rest of the
school year and to give new bands the
chance to be heard, Soundstage will be
holding mass auditions on November
3rd and 5th. Anyone is welcome to play;
call UAC for more information.
Diversity is the middle name of the
band which helped start the season of
shows for Soundstage. Life Boys
headlined last Thursday night at the U-
Club. A variety of music, all of which
the band members themselves have
written, kept the not-so-crowded U-Club
dancing. The songs were a combination
I-Club
of The Stones, The Who, and The
Psychedelic Furs all rolled into one.
Doug Heller, lead guitarist and
vocalist, believes that what sets their
band apart from others is the idea that
all the songs are "home-made.'"It's not
easy to get people into songs they've
never heard before. That's why Life
Boys like to play a little bit of
everything. "We play a variety of
music - all styles; it's dance music,"
Heller says, attempting to put a specific
label on the type of music. Life Boys,
which includes Kurt Vandervoort on
bass, Fritz Paper on the saxophone,
Phil Berman on drums, songwriter and
singer Bill Papineau and Jim Gertz on
special percussion, headlined at Joe
Star Lounge and Rick's last year. They
also competed in the Soundstage spon-
sored "Battle of the Bands" under the
name of Boy's Life, which they changed
after a group in Boston under the same
title cut an album.
"Dogs and Kids and Older People," a
song about growing up, is a favorite of
Life Boys listeners, along with "Luck is
a Matter of Timing."
The crowd was kept dancing off and
on throughout the two-and-a-half hours
that the group performed, as a few of
the tunes had quite irregular back
beats. But by the end of the night, the
dance floor was full.
As Heller says, Life Boys plays for
the people and "just to have fun." Life
Boys will be opening for SLK on Oc-
tober 7th and 8th at the U-Club.
Symphonic pleasures
at the right price
By Stephen Vann
IF YOU THOUGHT that enjoying
Beethoven and Brahms was beyond
your budget, guess again. The Ann Ar-
bor Symphony Orchestra gives closet
classical buffs a chance to come out in
the open with a free concert today at
3:30 at the Power Center.
The program consists of selections by
Brahms, Beethoven, Saint-Saens, and
Raymond Zupko of the Western
Michigan University faculty. Though it
reads a bit like a Chinese restaurant
menu (one from column a, one from the
classical period, one from the roman-
tic, one from the neo-romantic, and one
from the 20th century) it really is quite
promising.
Brahms' Tragic Overture (op. 81)
contains a great deal more drama and
pathos than is usually recognized by the
critics. Its themes are masterfully in-
terwoven in three somewhat deceptive
sections.
At the opening it is bold and vigorous,
trailing off into a pensive melancholy
with the introduction of new themes. At
first the listener thinks Brahms has
wandered just shy of the mark, when
(Deus Ex Machina) all of the themes
are played out contrapuntally, and lead
to a powerful positive Beethovenesque
conclusion. More than likely the epithet
"Tragic" was coined by some glib
journalist who drifted off during the
middle section. For better or worse,
I'm afraid it stuck.
The short Eighth Symphony of
Beethoven (F major op. 93) rests com-.
fortably in the shadow of the leviathan
Ninth, but should not be underrated. As
Beethoven's composition technique
developed, he became more concise.
Thematic ideas work themselves out
without unnecessary digressions, and
always (in the Eighth with playful
panache).
In July of 1812, Beethoven composed
a humorous canon in honor of his friend
Maezel, the inventor of the metronome.
The rhythmic jokes of this canon fur-
nish the material for the second
movement, where the horns and reeds
are reminiscent of Maezel's
"chronometer."
Variations for Orchestra by Ramon
Zupko of Western Michigan University,
will have its first Ann Arbor perfor-
mance. As yet this work remains (if you
will forgive me) the enigma of the con-
cert, with no additional information
about it or its composer currently
available.
Poetry Reading with
Tina Datsko and
Dottie Jones
Reading from their works
Monday, October 3, 8 pm
GUILD HOUSE, 802 Monroe
humor rallied the Ark-goers with their
usual professional style. John Roberts
and Tony Barrand, who have played the
coffeehouse since its opening, said they
have wanted to participate in a pub sing
here for 15 years. Barrand added, "We
have been (participating in pub sings),
but it is the first time for you."
The presence of drink in the audience
(as well as on. stage) produced a very,
different performance from the pair of
English singers. Though they have a
vast repertoire, they opted, naturally
enough, to restrict themselves to
drinking songs and bawdy songs.
Before Friday night, not many people
would have guessed that "Swing Low,
Sweet Chariot" could be an obscene
spectacle. But under the big top, in an
atmosphere afog with exhaled particles
of Guinness Stout, it was pantomimed
hilariously.
Thus was folk music brought to the
masses this weekend. Perhaps :new
faces -will appear at the Ark on: dry
nights. Probably, events such as the
Pub Sing will ensure the folkclub's sur-
vival.
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Law dean trys to humanize the institution
(Continued from Page 2)
decent, logical thing for me to do but to
grant their request," she said.
SHE FEELS SHE is successful in
dealing with students because she can
relate to many of their anxieties about
finding a job or deciding where to-move
after graduation because she went
through the same things here.
But the job has its drawbacks also.
Eklund said she finds it frustrating
when she is forced to assume the role of
the school's executioner.
"The most painful occasions are
those when students don't make it for
academic reasons. I usually know them
very well and typically think well of
them too," she said.
DESPITE THE devotion Eklund
brings to her job, she tries to leave it all
behind her when she goes home at the
end of the day. Once she trades in her
business suits for jeans and a sweater,
Eklund has another job to attend to -
that of being mother to David, 5, and
one-year-old Kate.
Sometimes this double role, or
"schizophrenic lifestyle" as she puts it,
takes its toll on Eklund.
"I think there is always a constant
tug (between home and work)...I notice
that women in professional positions
about my age are starting to (realize)
that there really are costs. We can't
pretend that the inability to work past a
certain time at night is without cost to
our employer or client."
AND EKLUND, whose husband Steve
is !a professor in both the public health
and dentistry schools, is quick to point
out that there also are costs to the
family when both parents work outside
the home.
"As another friend put it once,
every time the husband worries a little
more, spends a little more time with the
kids, makes dinner a couple more times
a week or whatever, the husband is
looking more and more - like the ideal
male - such a wonderful father, such a
wonderful husband, willing to make
sacrifices. So at the very time when you
are feeling pressed like you may be
sacrificing the well-being of your
beloved child, you're faced with the
perfect spouse who seemingly does
more than his share."
"So even having a cooperative spouse
doesn't help you get over the hurdles of
feeling bad about what you're doing,"
she said.
YET EKLUND said there is "not a
chance" she would give up her life with
her family for her career if forced to
choose between the two.
When whe can, Eklund tries to tie her
two "jobs" together. As a member of
the board of directors of her children's
daycare organization, Eklund said her
duties such as designing activities and
working out schedules for students are
"not all that different from my duties at
the University."
When asked what advice she would
give to an aspiring female law student
thinking about balancing a career and a
family, Eklund is cautious.
"One message I'd give (to students)
is that while there are costs, it is quite
possible to join the two and look at the
inevitable calamities with good humor
instead of frustration. My best female
support groups are those that find a lot
of women sharing horror stories and
then laughing about them instead of
those support groups that have
everyone end up -crying about how
tough things are... On some days it is
very tough, but not always."
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Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Directed by Ed Stern
r Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
October 5 & 6 Previews, October 7-9;
Wed. -Sat. 8 P.M.; Sun.,-2 P.M.
v
13-16
Tickets available at the -
Professional Theatre Program Ticket Office
Michigan League Building, (313) 764-0450
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