4
OPINION
ii
Page 4
Tuesday, January 10, 1984
The inside story of Bullwinkle' s
By Mike Buhler
I wanted to make sure before I left
the University (through the proper
channels) that I established, for
eyeryone to see, the proper story
regarding the popularity of Bullwinkle.
Sure, everyone documented the Wave,
but I may be the only remaining soul on
campus who knows, how Bullwinkle
became a campus superstar.
-Many of you thought Bullwinkle was
colorful cartoon character on
television. I always thought he was
knack and white. And some of you will
eaim to have heard him on WRIF. We
9ow for sure that nowadays he is quite
qjlusive in the public sector. But he
lives in our hearts, and on football
$turdays numerous tributes are paid
t' him in the Michigan Stadium.
Whoa! Back up. Time for a trip
through the way way back machine to
see how the band, and the folks from
about sections 24-32, can get riled-up
enough to stand up, dance, and act like
meese. Goose, geese, moose, meese.
Like Edwin, I imagine. It all started
like this:
ONCE UPON a time, there were a
group of undesirable band members.
But 'ol George Cavender didn't have
the heart to kick them out. They were,
after all, fine musicians. So he created
the Fanfare Band. "This elite group,"
he told everyone, "will be allowed to
tour the circumference of the stadium
during the third quarter." Obviously,
he did this to tire them out, give the rest
of the band some peace, and give the
members of the Fanfare their due - to
be booed, hissed, and pelted with toilet
paper.
But Fanfare members to this day
don't know this. Also, they can only
iead music, so printing this shouldn't
cause much trouble, unless someone
outside of the School of Music goes
blabbing it everywhere. But back to the
story.
In the Fall of 1979 Stephen Markovich
was the Fanfare conductor. And he and
his cut-up cohorts found a tattered piece
of music which they resurrected into
their repertoire, entitled simply
enough, "Bullwinkle." The first time
they played it in practice, they all star-
ted to jump around and make a funny
motion with their thumbs to their tem-
ples with their fingers flapping, and
despite the damage to some dropped
horns, Stephen said, "We've got
something here." But they soon found it
hard to carry the tune and also make
like meese. Enter Jimmy Fithian.
JIMMY WAS a nice kid from Ann Ar-
bor Huron, who despite musical talent,
wanted to be an architect. Jimmy was
another of the band members relegated
to the Fanfare, not because he couldn't
read, but because he looked funny in his
beanie. Anyway, Jimmy told the group
that he could get a bunch of students in
the stands to do it for them. "Who would
do that?" Stephan asked. "Well, Dave
and Eric and Paresh, Mike, Dan, Greg,
Dave, Dave, Kevin, Spike, Gordon,
Hiroshi, Tony, Ross.. . " He proceeded
to name off his entire hall.
But of course, the intent of Stephen's
question was, "who would be foolish
enough to stand up and do that." The
answer remained the same, Jimmy's
hall.
And who were they? Why 3rd Lewis
at Bursley, no less. (They have since
placed three in med school, four to law,
produced three scientists, six
engineers, two dropouts, a philosopher,
a musician, and a writer, among other
things.)
ONE NIGHT during Hall Frisbee and
Golf Hour, Jimmy presented the idea.
_
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"The Millwinkle Show." @Joy Ward Productions.
Bullwinkle, Rocky, Boris, and Natasha were launched into stardom in the late 1950s. But it wasn't until the Fanfare
Band and the men of 3rd Lewis got together a few years ago that Bullwinkle's fame was secure at the University.
The Michigan Dai 4
rame
way. And you always wondered wh
happened to that guy.
Rick said, "Do it again next weeIk
We'll be playing Purdue, and when
comes time for Bullwinkle, I'll brie
the cheerleaders over; we'll put th
megaphones on our heads, crash
around, everyone will laugh, and it will
be great." Well, the megaphones
protected them from toilet paper bom-
bardment, and being cheerleaders
protected them from security. But we
needed help, and found it in our sister
hall, 3rd VD.
We tried again at the famous
homecoming game against Indiana (six
seconds to play, Rick Leach to fresh-
man Anthony Carter; we cheered, Ufer
cried, and it was great). Even better
than the game was that section 32 had
some drunks who also wanted to stand
up and be meese. With the development
of this sudden intersection Fanfare-
Bullwinkle competition, another
tradition was born.
Suddenly, the Fanfare Band was
popular. Jimmy was promoted to #1
trombone. Rick was allowed to
graduate, despite being a cheerleader.
No, make that "cheermoose" (it's
singular). Anyway, two years later, the
whole band, with Carl (the guy they.
wave to) announcing and everything,,a
tribute was paid to Bullwinkle, Fan-
fare, 3rd Lewis, and, as Carl announced
that day,". . . the freshman in the nor-
th end zone."
All this, just because the Band had
some misfits once upon a time.
The rest of the story, I will grant you,;
is history. At least now you know its
obscure beginnings.
Buhler, an original of the meese,
is a regular contributor to tie
Opinion page.
And it was a smashing success! Even
the night we ripped off seventy trays
from the cafeteria doesn't come close.
It was then decided that on the next
Saturday, in section 33, 3rd Lewis
would stand up, shout "Bullwinkle! ",
the Fanfare band would stop, play, and
the rest, as they say, would be history.
But not so.
Security allowed them (us) to stay,
provided we didn't get high again.
What Bullwinkle needed was an of-
ficial sanction. Enter Rick Knapp.
RICK ALSO lived on the hall, but as
an upperclassman and living in a
single, he stayed out of the day-to-day
affairs of the hall. However, Rick was
also a cheerleader - a hall leader - a
school leader, admired by one and all.
He was also the guy that walked across
the end zone on his hands. The whole
y
Ehe dm ide atT anQ
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Stewart
14
Vol. XCIV-No. 82
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
A Kiss(inger) for Reagan
NOT MANY suprises are coming
out of the Henry Kissinger-led
commission on Central America -
which isn't suprising. The conclusions
drawn by the supposedly bi-partisan
panel are essentially an endorsement
of Ronald Reagan's current misguided
policies.
The commission urges support of
Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries
and the formation of a Central
American Development Organization.
Its conclusions ignore the political
voice of the Sandinistas and the
Salvadoran left.
The panel's analysis equates support
for Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries
with regional settlement. This kind of
logic skips over Nicaragua's right to
self-determination and feeds the
Reagan administration's bi-polar
paranoia. Regional stability will come
only with stable representative gover-
nments. In seeing Soviets around
every, corner and ignoring overtures
made by the Sandinistas, Reagan does
anything but move towarc a set-
tlement. The predominantly Marxist
Nicaraguan government is a grey area
in our foreign policy that should be
dealt with as such - not as a Cold
War anomaly.
The report suggests that six times
the amount of aid Congress was con-
sidering will be, required in El
Salvador over the next two years. In
addition a long-range proposal calls for
$8 billion in aid for all of Central
America by 1990. These funds would be
distributed largely by the proposed
development organization. The
organization would combine monetary
resources from the United States,
Western Europe, and Mexico into a
fund that would channel aid and police
compliance with human rights stan-
dards in the region.
In and of itself, that's not such a bad
idea. Human rights violations need to
be patrolled and aid is needed, but the
potential for impotence is great. The
organization will stress regional
solutions where national ones will be
more effective. Lumping the nations
together simplifies conditions that call
for individualized solutions. Such a
policy would allow Reagan to continue
to not recognize Managua because
he'll be able to deal with a much more
general body.
The organization's effectiveness as a
judge of human rights progress also
must be called into question. Among
the commission's conclusions is a
provision that requires conditioning
American military aid on legislative
reviews of human rights conditions.
Democrats on the panel pressed for
this condition which is a setback for the
Reagan administration - no more aid
carte blanche.
Six weeks ago Reagan vetoed a
proposal that called for similar con-
ditions placed on aid to Salvador. Thus,
the success of any American-
dominated organization conscien-
tiously patrolling the condition of
human rights has to be viewed with
skepticism. That such a body is needed
goes without saying, that such a body
could perform effectively under
current administration policy is a pipe
dream.
The Kissinger Commission won't
persuade Reagan to rethink anything. He
will continue to ignore the Sandinistas,
will continue to fight the Salvadoran
left, and will continue aid policies that
ignore fundamental questions of
human rights. Reagan could have writ-
ten the report himself. It's exactly
what he wants to hear.
H
GO AF.AD-MAK MY 'DAY AFTERs.:
-4.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Jackson opens door to understanding'
To the Daily:
I would like to express a few
thoughts and observations con-
cerning Jesse Jackson's trip to
Syria and the return of the pilot,
Robert Goodman.
There are a few things that I
find irritating about Jesse
Jackson, as I do with many
politicians on today's presiden-
tial campaign scene.
But I have to admit that I have
some admiration for anyone who
"has the guts" to go and
negotiate with Syria, a nation
we're supposed to be quarreling
with, for the return of our cap-
tured fighting pilot. I really have
admiration for anyone working
for some kind of peace, in the
midst of constant Reagan war
provocation.
What is more important about
Jackson's trip is that Jackson's
(Reagan has also been largely
responsible for provoking the
Soviets into withdrawing from
detente through his insistence on
the deployment of missiles in
Europe, more than what is
BLOOM COUNTY
adequate for "protection" against
Soviet expansion into Europe,
and through the ridiculously pet-
ty invasion of Grenada.)
For the first time in three
years, someone like Mr. Jackson
has opened back up -the road to
constructive coexistence between
the U.S. and nations that we need
not be at war with.
- Dee Ann Sojka
January 9
by Berke Breathe4
/- 9
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