4 ARTS Page 6 The Michigan Daily Tuesday, November 20, 1984 'Oh God' brings out devil in Burns 4 By Joshua Bilmes My first thought when I saw a coming attraction for Oh God! You Devil was Why in God's name did they decide to make another "Oh God" movie? A look at the credits made me think it had some promise, though. Paul Bogart, the director, had done four seasons work on "All in the Family." The writer, Andrew Bergman, also had been responsible for The In-Laws. The cast included Ted Wass and Eugene Roche, both of whom I had enjoyed immensely in "Soap." And, of course, George Burns was on hand again, and not just as God. He was also playing the devil. A lot of talented people. The result of this collaboration is summed up by the music which plays before the opening titles. A concerned father sings the opening song from Guys and Dolls, the one that goes "I got a horse right here...," to his young son, suffering from scarlet fever. That is a nice song, like most of the songs in Guys and Dolls. I find myself humming it every so often. Sad to say, this sign of a pleasant movie is quickly abandoned. As the camera lifts out of the bedroom, the music changes to one of David Shire's new pieces, which is an awful- sounding imitation of a John Williams score. That is essentially what the movie is like. It starts off with a few nice touches, and the first half-hour is mildly amusing on a consistent basis. No real belly laughs, but no dry spells, either. Ted Wass plays a musician who is seeing what little career he has vanish. He mutters that he would sell his soul to the devil to just get a chance. Familiar sounding line, huh? George Burns, in the devil half of his role, hears. Just as an aside, the two can be told apart by the reddish tint given to the devil's eyeglasses. He tem- pts musician Bobby Shelton into signing a contract by lying, and saying the deal is just for a trial period.aBobby Shelton becomes Billy Wayne, a very popular singer, and Wayne becomes Shelton. You see, Wayne had had a contract with the devil which expired, and when it did, Wayne has to lose all memory of ever being Wayne. Much to my surprise, Shelton starts to become dissatisfied with his contract with the devil, and decides he wants out. He goes searching for God, and boy, is he lucky. God has been keeping an eye on Bobby since Bobby's father had prayed to God to help his son get over the scarlet fever. The prime impetus for Bobby's decision (remember, Bobby is now Billy, so Bobby's decision is Billy's decision) is when Bobby goes to his and his wife's favorite restaurant on what would have been their anniversary. I could have guessed what happened next. Bobby, now Billy, meets his wife and Billy, now Bobby, celebrating their anniversary. The script did go one bet- ter, though. The wife was carrying a baby which was Bobby's now Billy's. It was during that scene that I started to wonder how much longer I was going to have to watch this. The plot was fast becoming a bit old-hat, and there was nothing in the movie to keep me in- terested. The script was not all that funny, so Wass and Roche had material far in- ferior to what they had in "Soap." George Burns was George Burns, but he seemed to lack the sparkle he had in the first movie. As far as the double role is concerned, the press-kit brags about a new Introvision camera which makes the situation more convincing than METRO AIRPORT THANKSGIVING SPECIAL $750 ROUND TRIP N Advance Ticket Purchase Required TICKETS AVAILABLE AT: U of M Student Union Ticket Office Ann Arbor Bus Station CONTINUOUS SERVICE FROM THE UNION TUES., NOV. 20th, WED. NOV. 21st - ALL DAY THURS. NOV. 22nd - TILL NOON SHORTWAY - JETPORT EXPRESS 800-552-3700 George Burns plays both God and the devil in the latest 'Oh God' movie ever. It was hard to tell, though. The two of them were on screen together for only a short while. That happened toward the end. After much searching, God tells Bobby, now Billy, to contact him in the desert, so the singer sets up a gig at Caesar's Palace. While he gets ready to go on stage, God and the devil play poker with Bobby, now Billy, at stake. I will not tell you who wins, but I will say this: The scenes after the poker game, like God, seem to go on forever. The ending is sickening, kind of like saccharine from heaven. Bambaataa mixes styles at.Joe's I WI QB presents An Evening with RiCkie Lee laJones ITHIS FRIDAY NIGHT! 2 shows: 7:30 & 10:00 pm A'I CASH BAR WITH I.D. By John Bogie Ann Arbor got a bite of the Big Apple Thursday night at Joe's Star Lounge, and that bite was fffressssh! Afrika Bambaataa and rapper/scratcher Ikey-C brought a taste of the New York club scene to the club that wouldn't die. This was not a big Hip-hop, Breakdance event. It was an event fer people who like to dance. It is hard to imagine a better DJ than Bam. He has an immense library of records from which to choose, and clearly enjoys bringing seemingly in- congruous artists together, joining them with a seamless mix, so perfect that songs seem almost to be one. Ar- tists range from Cyndi Lauper to Soulsonic Force, from The Time to Talking Heads. Bam can make you dance to music you thought that you didn't like. Rapper Ikey-C provided a short presentation of the art of rap. Ikey-C is fast, loose, and clever, but tended to rely a little to heavily on the call-and- answer style of rap. While this style is a crowd-pleaser, it prevented Ikey-C from launching into a more extended rap. Bam backed him with an over- whelming instrumental groove. While Bam has been billed as a Hip- hop and Scratch act, there wasn't a whole lot of scratching Thrusday night. One gets the sense that Bam refrains from muddying other musicians' work out of a sense of respect for their product. When Bam does scratch it is supportive, rather than destructive. The music always remains the first priority. Bam uses deejaying as a means of exposing people to music they might not otherwise hear. In keeping with this he gave Thursday's audience a sneak preview of his band Time Zone's yet-to- be released collaberation with ex-Sex Pistol, and (*-rent P.I.L. leader John- ny (Rotten) Lydon. This is the post- election gripe rap for the terminally disaffected. Lydon's sneering, ranting vocals are among his best, and they are coupled with Afrika's latest in a series of irresistable hooks. The chorus features Lydon shouting, "KA-BOOM, KA-BOOM, KA-BOOM!" Inspired. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Bam's deejaying is the sixties-ish feel of the gathering. While Bam's music is light years ahead of that from the 1960s, the message remains one of peace, unity, and having fun. You might be surprised at how good it feels to hear these words again. They seem somehow appropriate. They're not at all hackneyed. They're ffresshh! I WJZZ welcomes 23-year-old Trumpet Wizard WYnton Marsalis THURSDAY, NOV. 29 CASH BAR WITH I.D.* ...And raps about his life and his music Rap man Afrika Bambaataa (Center, with glasses) says he believes there Afrika Bambaataa is one of the founders of the hip-hop and breakdown music. He deejayed in Ann Arbor Thur- sday and Friday nights, and in both his deejaying and in the first part of his interview with Daily arts staffer John Logie, Bam demonstrated a desire to use his music as a unifying force for peace. Daily: How did you get started? Bambaataa: Well, basically it was in 1970. I was in a lot of street gangs at the time, and music was a way of calming things down. Two of my friends got into deejaying, Kool DJ D, and another guy by the name of Kool DJ Here, who was one of the founders of hip-hop. After those two guys got into the deejay business, I decided to follow behind them. Basically from then on I just kept going. Taking it easy. D: You're consistently listed in critics' polls with acts like Prince, The Preten- ders, Michael Jackson, and The Police, is life on other planets. all of whom are drawing immense ticket prices. You're in Ann Arbor at five dollars a head, does that bother you at all? B: Oh, no. It doesn't bother me because I play for a lot of different things. I'm deejay Afrika Bambaataa, I'm Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force, Shango, Time Zone. I'm Afrika Bam- baataa with the breakdancing groups like Rock Steady Crew and New York City Breakers. I have a lot of different functions, do a lot of different things. A lot of people are trying to pinpoint what I do. I'm basically into everything. I can come and tour with grafitti artists Winner of 2 Grammy Awards, 1984 "Musician of the Year, 1983"' - Los Angeles Times and dan-ers, or with my rap and/or singing groups. I love to deejay, because deejaying is positive. You can use all types of people's music instead of your own, and see people getting off and dancing to other music, all influen- ces and nationalities, and I like to go around deejaying. I can deejay for five dollars, or do concerts for ten, fifteen, whatever, but I'm not so much into the money thing. I'm more into just going around, partying, and keeping people happy. D: Could you expand on the theme of unity that runs through your music? B: Music is the message throughout the whole world. If it weren't for music, I feel there would be no changes. In the '60's, there were a lot of problems... the Vietnam War... negroes becoming black... young people didn't want to go to war for what the older people were doing.. It took music to change all that. It took people like James Brown to tell all the negroes to be black and proud; Joan Baez, Country Joe and the Fish, Woodstock, to tell people, "We ain't going to war," and all that. It took a lot of people that got together and gave big concerts, and let the system know that they weren't going for it, that young _ FA MED. Productions Presents: i _ T - - __ ...- P~ w. . I..A...Y\A...:-- I W(a Thanksgiving Day social happening) * THE MAJOR ASH 111 Rock about at this classy Thanksgiving Day blowout! NOV. 21 * MR. LAFFS * 8 P.M. "UNITED STATES - ISRAEL WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?" WOLF BLITZER is Washington Correspondent for The Jerusalem Post and is a contributor to several international pub- lications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The New Republic. He will speak on the above topic and the significance of the recent elections in Israel and the United States to the relationship between both countires. AMPLE QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD WILL FOLLOW. 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