From Russia, with laughs Escape into art By Alan Paul {Y AKOV SMIRNOFF is serious. The Russian comedian, who has recently appeared in Lite beer com- mercials making anti-Soviet jokes, loves America. Smirnoff, who came to America eight years ago, began performing publicly at age 15. After his release from the Soviet army he found a job working on a cruise ship. Through his contact with American passengers Smirnoff developed a desire to emigrate. Among other things, he was frustrated by a lack of artistic freedom. "You're not allowed to tell sexual or political jokes in Russia," Smirnoff, who will appear Sunday, February 8 at 8:00 at the Power Center, ex- plained. "The setup line of the win- ning joke in the Russian Comedian's Competition was, 'How many Russians does it take to screw Poland?' The comic didn't have a punch line but the Russian gover- nment gave him 20 years to think of one." Smirnoff's routine is made up of jokes playing on American stereotypes of Russian life and humor about being a naive American im- migrant. He also has a question and answer session with the crowd. "About halfway through the show, I open the floor for people to ask questions. In Russia the floor opens after somebody asks a question," Smirnoff deadpanned. Smirnoff's Russian humor has been a big American success. He has ap- peared in three movies, Moscow on the Hudson, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, and Brewster's Millions, the Tonight and Merv Griffin shows, and regularly plays the lucrative Las Vegas and Atlantic City venues as well as comedy clubs across the nation. He also tours college campuses extensively. "I like playing campuses," the 34- year old comedian said. "The audience is bright and young and it's a pleasure to be with sharp people." Smirnoff attributes his success to dedication and hard work, as well as his unique status of being the only Russian stand-up comic in America. His Lite commercials recently have immeasurably helped spread his name, he said. "All of a sudden, people all across the country know my name," Smir-. noff said. "A lot of people who don't watch Johnny Carson or go to comedy clubs, do watch football." Perhaps surprisingly, Smirnoff considers himself a staunch Republican, though he is not an American citizen and can't vote. He says that the highlight of his career came recently when he fulfilled a Smirnoff ... comedy that digs deep dream and performed for President Reagan. "It was at the National Conser- vative Party Convention. There were two thousand people there and I sat at the head table with the president and we talked for two hours," Smirnoff said. "After I performed, I got a standing ovation." "I am definitely a Republican. Not that I have anything against the Democrats but I've lived on the other side and I think the Republicans have a much more realistic attitude. There's no question in my mind." But Yakov, what about Reagan's "Evil Empire" talk? Surely, Russians are ordinary people just like us. "Reagan's absolutely right. It's not the Russian people, it's the gover- nment. They're not hiding it. It's the policy. I went to school there. From day one, they teach you that Com- munism should spread throughout the world." Okay, that may be true, but there must be a normal life in Russia. Everyone couldn't be unhappy. "Happiness is a relative term," Smirnoff said. "People in Russia don't know what they're missing. There's no real concept of America or the Western world - it's very vague. It's like people who live in Cleveland all their lives." Hillel is sponsoring Smirnoff's Ann Arbor appearance so being Jewish must be a big part of his act, right? "You won't see any indications of my religion," Smirnoff stated. "When I grew up, being Jewish meant only one thing - getting hurt, and that's really all it meant. I didn't get to associate anything good with Judaism and it still hurts to talk about it." "Jews face everyday harassment, both mental and physical, in Russia," Smirnoff continued. "They are a scapegoat for the general population, which very badly needs an outlet for frustration and aggression." "I'm just very happy to be here, I love America and I got out of Russia the best way - alive." By Lisa Leavitt YOU need a break from your books? Is studying driving you insane? I have discovered the perfect panacea. Plan an escape into a place where you can let your mind wander and your senses embrace an endless daydream. Forget your worries and go to a gallery. One place to escape to is the annual Member- ship Show at the Ann Arbor Art Association. They are exhibiting the artistic talents of their mem- bers in a wide-ranging show. The vast array of subject matter, use of color, texture, and line in a variety of media provides for never-ending possibilities of interpretations and delight for the viewer. The Best of Show award went to Linda Heckenkamp for "Searching for a Safe Place." In a rapid scrib- ble, a figure is sketched ascending a steep diagonal line longing for a distant home. The sharpness of the geometrical lines suggest a cold and unfeeling environment in which the not completely whole and scribbled figure characterizes an insecurity in this vast desert of lines. Visually, she has expressed the loneliness of being isolated within nothingness. In especially vibrant watercolor, Donna Zagotta, produces "Light Patterns." The scene is mundane and essentially a still life. I say essentially because the objects seem to come alive and be in motion rather than be still. The source of their dynamism is the surge of light streaming in through the window cascading onto the brilliant green plant and the easy chair. The light cast on the objects create shadows on the floor in an array of textured patterns. The viewer can sense the plant coming to life and growing before their eyes from the nourishment the light brings it. "Mother and Child" by John Rocus is a beautifully sculptured pair of sharks in smooth and polished wood. The grain of the wood echoes the sensuous curves of the sharks as they glide through the continuous rippling of the waves of an imaginary ocean. The mother, bigger and stronger, protects the child curved under her in safety and as they seem to ride the same serene wave. A scantily dressed woman looking semi-distorted haunts the canvas in Mary Louton's "Yester- day, I . . ." Her long, thin neck, gaunt face, and dark eyes present an emaciated figure emerging from a mysterious and foreboding background. Her eyes tell the story, however. Bold, sad, and tired, they express deep despair. As though about to confess, she crosses her arms in front of her to show her defensiveness as well as her despair. P . D. Q. T1 I _1 By Rebecca Chung THIS EVENING at the Michigan Theater, even those "who like music but don't know why" will have an opportunity to laugh at classical music's greatest failure, for the dedicated and courageous Professor Peter Schickele, the world's foremost (and, thankfully, only) expert on P.D.Q. Bach (1807-1742)?, will be presenting a concert of his works. P.D.Q. Bach, for the uninitiated, was the twenty-first child of the Baroque master Johan Sebastian Bach. P.D.Q 's music is infamous for its lack of musical originality (although many other kinds of creativity are plentiful). He has been called "a musical blight," "a one- man plague," and "a pimple on the face of music." Yet, Prof. Schickele, tenured at, but on "a sort of per- manent leave of absence" from the University of Southern North Dakota (at Hoople), has continued to impose this lack of talent upon audiences everywhere, much to their delight. Speaking with this vigilant crusader in his hotel room, I learned a little about what it is like to champion such a nonentity. Michigan Daily: Why have you become so persistent in exposing P.D.Q. Bach to the suffering yet delighted ears of your audience? Prof. Schickele: The therapeutic value of P.D.Q. Bach is that, instead of making us feel insignificant, as many of us do when we listen to the beauty of J.S. Bach or Mozart, we feel as if we could do that well ourselves, which probably accounts for all of us laughing when we leave. MD: Someone once said to me, "I consider myself musically ignorant. Thanks to P.D.Q. Bach, nothing has changed." Is this a fair- D D Support the March of Dimes ...BIRTH DFECTS FOUNDATION THS SPACE CON U TEDBY 'HE PUBtSHE J - acn:" generalization? PS: Well, it depends on how you look at it. It certainly has been said that P.D.Q. Bach has set us back 200 years, but it's also been noticed that the more one knows about music, the more one gets out of it. A P.D.Q. Bach concert has a lot of different things going on, from slapstick visual humor to quite subtle musical humor, so that the concerts are often enjoyed by people who don't know much about classical music, but the more you know, the more you pick up those bits of musical humor. MD: P.D.Q. Bach's complete lack of musical talent is amazing to behold; yet, I have heard from musicians that the pieces actually require effort to perform properly. Can you explain this apparent con- tradiction? PS: In the first place, P.D.Q. asks things of musicians that they didn't study in music school. For instance, ri classical gas he often asks oboists to play on their reeds without the rest of the in- strument attached . . . Also, on the serious side, people often assume that if something is funny, it is easy to do. But the better played it is, the funnier it is. So, as your musical friends have indicated, people who attend a P.D.Q. Bach rehearsal are sometimes im- pressed with how hard we're working. MD: What is it like to be the only driving force behind P.D.Q. Bach's ressurection? PS: A lot of nice things have come indirectly from P.D.Q. Bach. For in- stance, the arranging and composing I did for Joan Baez in the late sixties came about because, at that time, we were on the same record label, and a lot of the commissions I get for serious pieces are from musicians I've met through P.D.Q. Bach. But, as you know, P.D.Q. Bach is the only dead composer who can still be com- missioned . . . I get a lot of * s..o*...e...s.. COUPON *O*e@OSOO@ee@@e with this entire ad $1.00 off adult eve. SO F F= admission. 1 or 2 tickets. Good TuesSeniors and Late Shows. "discovery" commissions, from in- dividuals to the Boston Pops, who commissioned the 1712 Overture . . I'd also like to mention that in a couple of weeks, P.D.Q. Bach's only full-length opera (3 acts), The Abduc- tion of Figaro, will be available on videocassette. It remains to be seen whether or not excerpts will be shown on MTV. Featured on the program will be the Concerto for Bassoon vs. Orchestra (S.8'), the Hindenberg Concerto (of- ten called "the original Hindenberg disaster"), Watchet Arf or "Sleeping Dogs Awake" (S.K9), which features soloist Dietrich Fischer Bauau ("he's very touching; there won't be a dry seat in the house"), and, "in the way of relief", Haydn's Andante Cantabile from his String Quartet op. 3 No. 5. For tickets, call the Ann Arbor Cham- ber Orchestra at 996-0066, or the Michigan Theater at 668-8397. 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