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. _ r h l uT r w N \ "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 NO. JUS~5T IL. YOUV WATffME.WHAT'S GOING YOUR{ PAPRON IN 1K VWORL P... STEVE ? 1ING5 511W - I C!flN'1'NSEI Y5WAY, 1IIE SOVIE;TS ~"COMPE p 10 fR)5NI7 FORCER/WJY TO IME ANDWHW NF.W MISSILEB IN IRAA&AN SAY, WPIO 7 %!/ HE 5AIl? "JUST m1Z SOM11HIN6 YOUr;I VOVKA 5NORTIN(G, FAT- K615TERSV ~ ' LiV y L AT Mlle 9%nT TIY 1w Berke rs.atWA t rA ;1