ARTS
The Michigan Daily
Thursday, January 12, 1984
Page 5
UMS hosts musical menagerie
By Jane Carl
ICHARD STOLTZMAN, one of the
R most unorthodox and controver-
sial figures in the clarinet world, and
composer/bassoonist/pianist William
Douglas will present a recital January
12 in Rackham Auditorium at 8:30 p.m.
The duo met while pursuing graduate
studies at Yale in the late '60s and
became reacquainted when both were
on the faculty of the California Institute
of the Arts. Soon they began holding in-
formal concerts, which blossomed into
their current, fruitful collaboration, in-
cluding performances of Baroque tran-
scriptions, the classical, romantic, and
dontemporary repertoire for clarinet
and piano, improvisations to slides of
wilderness scenes, and Douglas'
rhythmic "rock etudes," a kind of scat-
singing for spoken voice.
Stoltzman's first love was jazz, a love!
established by his father, a salesman
for the Western Pacific Railroad who
played the saxophone at church ser-
vices and in dance bands. Richard
began playing the clarinet at age eight
and had serious thoughts about a
musical career, but was rejected by
both the prestigious Eastman and
Julliard music schools. At Ohio State,
Stoltzman found himself majoring in
mathematics and music, playing Sousa
marches in the concert band and
Dixieland at a local bar for free beer,
and occasionally considering a career
in dentistry.
A scholarship from Yale kept Stoltz-
man in music, and his career has been
skyrocketing ever since. Described as
being able to do for the clarinet what
artists James Galway and Jean-Pierre
Rampal have done for the flute, Stolz-
man has won numerous awards and
honors, including an Avery Fisher
Award for "outstanding young in-
strumentalist" in 1977, a Grammy
Award for his recording of the Brahms
sonatas with pianist Richard Goode,
and his presentation of the first clarinet
recital ever in Carnegie Hall.
Stoltzman's long association with
Vermont's Marlboro Music Festival
enabled him to play beside the Boston
Symphony Orchestra's venerable
clarinetist Harold Wright, and led to the
formation of the chamber ensemble
TASHI with fellow festival participant
pianist Peter Serkin.
Although his constant use of vibrato
and extremely individualistic inter-
pretations have been a source of con-
tinual controversy, they have not kept
Stoltzman from a six-figure income and
the unusual distinction of being one of
the few wind soloists who have never
had an orchestral career.
From a cabbage patch
to Marlboro country
Bassoonist/pianist William Douglas and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman make beautiful music together at Rackham
Auditorium tonight.
Dance bands sound off tonight
* L2 NDIVIDUAL THEATRES
DAe at liberty 761. 700
I DAILY 1:00 P.M. MATINEES
ERCEPTION: We are
isolated individuals on the
receiving end of a mass society.
What we want, say, and do is
subtly or often blatantly influenced
by a barrage of external factors,
originating from commercial and
executive sources beyond our con-
trol. Modern economic and mass
media forces are straining
traditional values' to the point
where the individual is utterly
estranged from his environment.
Eventually, in an exaggerated
consumerist variation on 1984,
society will become a homogenized
lump of predictive buying
producing, residency, and
procreating patterns.
Perception IIi The appropriate
response to the above scenario is to
admit our national softness, to
discard most of the artificial trap-
pings of civilization, to, in effect,
return to a simpler, purer time,
shorn of Cabbage Patch dolls, caf'
feine-free sugar-free soft drinks,.
and Dick Clark. This may mean a
return to Grover's Corner.: or
Walden Puddle, depending on y our
literary preferences.
Daniel Horowitz doesn't see.
things that way. Horowitz, a
visiting associate professor of
history, is skeptical about the
isolated individual/imposing
society dichotomy. "Advertisers
do try to shape the market to fit
their own interests, but individuals
don't come to consume as people
who stand naked before the
television set," says Horowitz.
Each of us possesses a unique
mix of family, ethnic, geographic,
and working backgrounds which is
expressed in a variety of diverse
and often unpredictable values (as
Marlo Thomas so sensitively
showed us in "Free to Be, You and
Me"). This diversity leads to a
natural defense against excessive
media influence, says Horowitz.
"Most people are pretty
sophisticated about advertising,"
he points out. "It is wrong to
assume that people use or enjoy
consumer goods and services in
precisely the way that the
manufacturers or advertisers in-
tend."
Obvious, right? But that bit of
astuteness ° points up the unfor-
tunate tendency to look at culture
from the perspective of grand and
powerful institutions rather than in
terms of everyday, humdrum
lives. As 'Horowitz observes,
"Culture is something that is built
and built again from the. bottom
up.
Furthermore, consumerism is
not necessarily an evil process
replacing individualism. Basic
values and needs persist in the age
of music videos and Chicken Mc-
Nuggets, despite predictions made
in the late '40s and '50s that con-
sumerism would become the
dominant shaping cultural force.
For example, Horowitz cities
research done at Michigan's In-
stitute for Social Research and
elsewhere indicating that at many
levels, additional income does not
bring additional satisfaction,
which is more closely associated
with family, good health, frien-
dship, and working proficiency.
A curious twist arises when con-
sumerism attempts to appeal to
individuals. The lone Marlboro
man takes a drag out on the
prairie, the Maidenform woman
flouts it as only she can, etc. This is
an appeal to the "Me" decade days
when uniqueness was touted about
all else. In response, Horowitz
argues, "I don't know if there ever
was a Me Decade." More ap-
propriately, advertisers in the '80s
have switched to more group-
oriented, chummy beer commer-
cials and Players parties positing
the simple joys of comradeship.
Miller time in 1984; still tastes
kinda flat.
By Michael Fisch
A RE YOU FINALLY ready to put
some weekend into your week?
Well, if you're ready, Soundstage sure
is. No, Soundstage is not one of my
beer-drinking buddies - it's a student
run musical production firm.
So, what can they do for me? you ask.
A hell of a lot. The leaders of the
production firm, seniors Steve Sands
and Daniel Segal, have been working
their hearts out to bring you the best
dance bands in town at an affordable
price.
Soundstage is part of UAC and it has
been around for awhile. A few years
ago Soundstage consisted of small cof-
feehouses and an acoustic guitar player
jamming away. Since then, Soundstage
has evolved into a full musical produc-
tion firm.
Last year Soundstage lost money.
This year has been sharply more suc-
cessful and UAC is pleasantly sur-
prised. Why the turnaround? According
to Segal, it's because he and Sands have
kept things organized and worked as a
team. The main reason for the upswing
is hard work and good ol'-fashioned ex-
citement. They love the job they do
(without pay) and each show they
produce is a new challenge.
Show after show they ask themselves
the inevitable question: What do
students want to hear? Most often the
answer is "hot dance music," but
Soundstage supports a wide variety of
music from folk to jazz to . .. anything
" they're open to all suggestions.
Anyway you slice it, Soundstage
produces quality entertainment for
students (and anybody else looking for
a great time) at a low price - usually
the cover charge is only a dollar. Soun-
dstage also gives exposure to local and
student dance bands offering them a chance
to break into the bar scene.
Last semester Soundstage alternated
Thursdays with Eclipse Jazz. This
semester the format has expanded:
Soundstage will take place every Thur-
sday, that totals 14 shows. Shows
usually start with an acoustic guitar
performance, a pianist, vocalist or un-
tried band. On some nights a folk or
jazz band will open. The key here is
diversity. If you're just a dancin' fool
there's no need to worry, after the
acoustic guitar performance or
whatever, a hot local dance band will
take the stage.
Soundstage is aiming to make Thur-
sday nights at the Union a weekly
student activity. The atmosphere at the
U-Club is friendly and relaxed, the ban-
ds want to be there, and they're hyped
up, which makes for a great show, and
a wild time for everybody.
Soundstage is kicking off the new
semester with the Dance Band Bash
(LaBatt's beer is the sponsor). This
celebration will tell you better then any
writing can what the production firm is
all about. The bash is being held to sup-
port the Union, and the U-Club, to get
exposure for local bands, and most of
all for us students.
The Blue Rays, a brand new seven-
piece band of experienced rhythm and
MUSKET ANNOUNCES ITS WINTER PRODUCTION:
THE FOLLOWING STAFF POSITIONS
ARE AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY:
-lighting designer
-stage manager
-set designer
-sound engineer
-technical director
-make-up designer
-promotions director
A
GEORGE CAulK
Applications are available in the UAC OFFICES on
the second floor of the MICHIGAN UNION
CALL 763-1107 or stop by.
The Professional Theatre Program
BEST OF BROADWAY
Presents the
NATIONAL TOURING COMPANY OF
OF THE
ART
A Play by
lAcbf-h IFTPti 1 Pv
I