ARTS ---- --- . . ...... The Michigan Daily Arriving Tuesday, April 8, 1986 Page 7 at the Crossroads By Seth Flicker D eep in the Mississippi Delta there are two old, dusty roads that meet fhese trails are not used by many people. It's no great intersection- but these are not just two country roads, either. There is something magical in them; something special. In much the same way, Crossroads is no great landmark in filmmating, but it is more than just "two dusty roads." It is a sweet, unpretentious movies, and that is magical in itself. It is unusual to find a "teen-flick" distributed by a major company-like Pcolumbia Pictures, which isn't over- done, or overly dramatized. Of course Crossroads has the main ingredien- ts-a typical love interest, a clash of cultures, and troubled teens, but these elements are handled in an under- stated way. The movie avoids one of the common pitfalls of teen movies by refusing to dwell on any one problem Everything is not resolved, nor does it have to be, and that is one of thesmany fine points in this film. Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid) plays Eugene Jerome, a smart-assed musical "genius" from Long Island. Eugene's teacher at the Julliard School of Music things that discipline will make Eugene a star, but Eugene has other ideas. He feels that to become a great musician, he must fir- st master the blues. Because he can- not do this at Julliard, Eugene decides to go out on his own. Macchio is the wrong actor for this part. He seems uncomfortable and clumsy as Eugene, but maybe this isn't his fault. The part was written so that almost any teenager with a New York accent could pull it off. Eugene's lines are all complaints or commands, which makes him almost unlikable. You want to find something in his per- sonality to grasp onto, but is just isn't there. The real star of the movie is Joe Seneca as the aging bluesman, Willie Brown. Williw wants to get back to the crossroads. It was a place where young musicians made a deal with the devil; to trade their souls for fortune and fame. It was there that Willie got his start and made this deal. Willie promises to teach Eugene the blues "style" if Eugene helps him escape from the nursing home in which he is cooped up, and aids him in getting back to the Delta. Seneca is a gem, and possibly the saving grace of this movie. His per- formance is immaculate. Willie Brown is the epitome of the "tough old coot" out to teach Eugene a lesson. Seneca pulls this off with ease. Together, Willie and Eugene travel to the Mississippi Delta with different goals. For Eugene, it's learning the blues and for Willie, it's changing his life. Willie's aim is to break his pact with the dtevil ana get his soul back. Along the way they meet Frances, played by Jami Gertz (Quick Silver), another smart-assed teenager and a passing love interest for Eugene Crossroads is a breath of fresh air in the world of teen movies. It succeeds because it is different and because it manages to reach a happy medium. It is not too heavy, not is it too thin. Crossroads will not change your life, and that is the beauty of it. Finally there is a movie that focuses on telling a story, rather than making a point. Seeing Butler Brave New Nerk CILA Jj IAII IIIFro4114 Continued From Previous Page HELP WANTED $3.85/HOUR Accepting applications for all shifts, opening through closing. Full or part time positions avail- able. Apply in person. Burger King 530 E. Liberty (at Maynard) MUSICAL 16 CHILDCARE. Through summer or longer, 8 month old baby, regular or occassional hours. 10-20 hours/week. Wage negotiable. Near Cam- pus. Call 769-3027, 9-9. 05H0409 HOUSEKEEPER - 3 hours/week, professor's home near campus. Start immediately. Through "summer at least. Call 769-3027, 9-9. 04H0409 PART TIME minor maintenance. Afternoons and Saturdays. Mechanical ability necessary. Some heavy lifting. Culligan 662-5665. 11H0409 INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: Recently pub- lished, Guide to Greencard from F/J/H Visas. For Free details send refundable $1.00 (P & H): Immigration Publications, P.O. Box 515991, Dal- las, TX 75251. 07HO410 THE MICHIGAN ENSIAN, U of M's official year- book, is looking for a Business Manager for the 986-87 school year. Responsibilities include man- g ement of a $100,000 + budget. Applicants must ave a background and/or major in Business with a specific interest in accounting. Familiarity with PC's a plus. Time commitment will be 10-15 hours/wk. If you feel you are qualified and in- terested, please send resume to: Business Manager Search Committee Student Publications 429 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 APPLICATION DEADLINE: APRIL11,1986 BUSINESS SERVICES PAPERS JUST 1.50/pg. with this ad. Generic Word Processing Service - 662-1068. cJtc TYPING - all types - Guaranteed work at reas- onable rates. 668-6109. 91JO613 O'OR PROFESSIONAL, accurate, and dependable rates, call: Sweeney's Word Processing and Machine Transcription. 482-7092. 43J0423 "YOU can turn an INTERVIEW into a JOB." CALL - video Interviewing, Inc. - 968-5431. cJtc IT'S ACADEMIC (WORD PROCESSING) for unparalleled. aesthetically magnificent word pro- essing. Our work procures professional praise a d excellent grades. ty4ng. 94J 423 FAST, Accurate Low-cost typing. Spelling cor- rected. 973-0834. 71JO409 COMPLETE Yamaha Stereo System. Must Get Rid Of.668-7816 After 5. 54N0418 TAPE SALE: MAXELL XLII-90 for $2.20 each. TDK SA-90 for $2.00 each. Lifetime guarantees. Call Ron at 996-4266. 30N0409 TAPE SALE: TDK SA90, $2.00/tape. Maxell XLII90$2.20/tape. Lifetime Guarantees, In stock. Call 668-7981. 74N0411 LESSONS - Special Pay for 4, take 5. Best teachers in state. REPAIRS, bows rehaired. Herb David Guitar Studio. 665-8001.302 E. Liberty. cNtc FACTORY LIQUIDATION SALE VSP Labs, a prestigious high-end manu- facturer of amplifiers and preamplifiers in Ann Arbor is getting out of audio. All pro- ducts at prices BELOW DEALER COST. TM 150 transmos amp-150 w/ch - regularly $1072...............NOW $649 TMG 200 Gold edition amp-200 w/ch- regularly $1540 ............ NOW $879 SW2 straightwire preamp - regularly $1090...........NOW $649 HPF-102 subsonic filter - regularly $187,................NOW $59 Quantities are limited. CALL 668-1922 OR STOP AND HEAR SOUND ASSOCIATES, AUDIO VIDEO SERVICE CENTER, 322 S. STATE, ANN ARBOR, MI 48104, LOWER LEVEL. All units have a one year factory warranty. 82NO415 MISCELLAN EOUS DESPERATELY SEEKING previous final exam for Astronomy 101. (ELSTE) will pay top dol- lar! 995-5828 evenings. 38M0410 SHED those unwanted pounds before Summer. No exercise, No drugs. Success guaranteed 231-3740. 65M0414 By arwulf arwulf Marc stood in the big store, looking bewildered. He was stocking record bins, consulting a clipboard. A normal stance. But he had this positively shell-shocked look on him, and I asked if anything was wrong. He answered my inquiry in a dazed fashion, pointing to a row of record bins. "Look what's happened to the Jazz stacks." I looked but couldn't find them. Hundreds of little Compact Discs sat where once stood a reasonably comprehensive Jazz sec- tion. I found what was left of the Jazz in a puny segment of shelves, looking forlorn and forgotten. Marc explained that things are changing. Compact Discs are moving in and the LP inventory is being liquidated. Most of the imports and rarities have been sent back to the warehouses. More would follow. The entire chain of stores would soon deal in CDs ex- clusively. Somewhere up the corporate lad- der, some putty-faced nerk in a blue suit had pushed the button. We were witnessing a change. There's nothing wrong with Change in itself. It is the most consistent law of the universe. Some of the changes perpetrated upon the music, however, have been mindlessly applied by op- portunistic little weasels who have nothing save avarice behind their ac- tions. CDs hit the market with a splash heard round the planet, billed as the greatest leap forward in sound reproduction since, well, the phonograph itself. The big selling point is their apparent indestruc- tability. And the sound quality. Nothing else sells like sounO. quality here in the gibbering technocratic quag of the nineteen eighties. Unfortunately, there are zillions of records floating around, and only a marginal slice of them are in print right now. An artists like Rahsaan Roland Kirk is difficult enough to find on wax as it is. Will his music find its way onto CDs? Oh yes maybe three of his best sellers, possibly. Best selling anything is prioritized in our culture, and if something hasn't sold well, we might as well forget it. This goes back a long ways. When 78 rpm records went into extinction in the late 1950s, how much of that music went onto LPs? Not much. Reissues emerge, but the true archivist has had to collect those old platters in order to catch the full drift. The same thing is more than likely to happen with these indestructable lozenges; the com- panies will feature what they damned well please, and the rest of the Twen- tieth Century's music can go float in the void. Marc's position on this issue is, naturally, more clearly defined. After all, phonograph records are his business. He claims that the CDs are easy to shoplift, they cost a helluva lot more to stock, and consequentially the profit margin is smaller. I notice that PJ's Used Records has some used CDs already. This cracks me up, as the little wafers are boasting of lifetime durability. So much of the recording industry's suc- cess has always been attributable to the fact that records wear out and are often bought again and again by the same customers. With the CDs, this principle will go out the window. Is that why they're so expensive? I guess we'll just wait and see what happens. When they bring the cost of this thing down a bit, lots of Jazz and other honest music might begin to ap- pear on CDs. But don't hold your breath. Me, I'm gonna start hoarding old turntables. And I'll keep playing those scratchy 78's on the radio so you futuristic folks don't become completely out of touch with where you culture has been. By Lauren Schreiber It is not surprising that the original production of Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw was delayed by a threatened lawsuit by the Churchill family. I, too, would be apprenhensive about having my private parts subjec- ted to such impotent comedy. Produced this weekend by the Suspension Theater, What the Butler Saw is a lusty bedroom farce about a psychiatrist, Dr. Prentice, who gets in trouble when he attempts to seduce a woman who has come to apply for a job as his secretary. The play preten- ds to be a farce, yet comes out as pure slapstick as misunderstandings -develop, characters switch identities, and clothes are discarded. The comedy is questionable. Though I was not offended by the promiscuous nature of the material, I was not amused. Unlike the outrageous comedies of Aristophanes and Oscar Wilde, which Orton tried to emulate, What the Butler Saw lacks wit, subtlety, and originality. It loses its comedy in its lewdness. Had the script been shor- ter, less repetitive, and less ridiculous, the production could have been remarkably successful. What saved the play from complete failure was the competent directing and acting. In a play dependant on quick timing, director Andy Mennick kept his actors moving- also essential due to the too-long script. The movement was interesting and rarely overdone. Most of the acting was excep- tionally good. John Nicolson as Dr. Prentice, who reminded me a bit of Monty Python's John Cleese- funny in a dopey sort-of-way was con- sistently good. Christopher Flynn, who played Dr. Rance, an insane Psychiatric Commissioner who comes to inspect the clinic, had the good fortune of having the funniest lines in the play. His often witty pronouncements were enhanced by his marvelous speaking voice and his intense involvement with his charac- ter. Alison Maker as Dr. Prentice's sexually frustrated wife had great physical presence and a lot of energy. Unfortunately, Kaarine Quinnel as Miss Barclay, whom Dr. Prentice tries to seduce and Dr. Rance declares mentally unbalanced, did lit- tle with her character except whine and look frightened.. She never developed as a character and by the second act she had become a distrac- tion from the rest of the play. Scott Palmer and Chris Korow, as the hotel pageboy and a police sergeant respec- tively, were, though not outstanding in any way, competent and amusing. For those.of you who enjoy really bawdy, half-baked humor, What the Butler Saw is a worthwhile experien- ce, I suppose. If you prefer your comedy more on .the well-done side, pass it by. What the Butler Saw runs Thur- sday-Sunday, April 10-13 and 17-20 at the Performance Network, 408 W. Washington Street Thursday through Saturday performances begin at 8 p.m. and Sunday performances begin at 6 p.m. Call the Performance Net- work for ticket information. Correction: The Daily arts page incorrectly printed that RC Players Present: An Evening of One-Acts will be perfor- med April 11 and 12. The productions will be April 10 and 11 at the RC Auditorium at East Quadrangle at 8:00 p.m. EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF CAMPUS LIFE* ENGLISH DEPARTMENT Present loufis Simfpson Pu itzer Prize Winning Poet THURSDAY, APRIL 10,1986, 8:00pm GOING PLACES WRITE ON.. . Student editing and typing $1.50/page 996-0566 cJ042 HOME ROW TRANSCRIPTION/WORD PROCESSING 572-0649 cJ042 k23 23 SANDI'S TYPING & WORD PROCESSING * 10% off 1st paper (with this ad) * Fast & accurate. Papers, briefs, resumes, letters, theses. Campus pick-up & delivery. 426-5217. cJtc COMPLETE WORD PROCESSING - Expressive Images Studio, Reasonable rates. 971-1870. cJ0423 TYPING SERVICES - $2 per page - Letter Quality. 663-1871. cJ0 423 A- TYPING - On campus. Professional. Rush service available. 668-8898. cJ0423 THE LETTER WRITER - Resumes; creative/ letter writing; secretarial services; student rates on typing. 455-8892. cJtc TYPING - ALL KINDS - Fast, efficient service. Seasonable rates. Laurie, 973-1592. cJtc WORD PROCESSING Everything in memory, low prices, free proofing, rush service. PRONTO PRINTING 761-TYPE Michigan Union 769-COPY cJtc Read and Use Daily Classifieds SCOMPUTER MDSE. FOR SALE: Brand new Apple Ile 80-column text card. Price negotiable. 764-5937. 76T0414 ROOMMATES FEMALE SUBLET: (May-Aug.) to share 2 bed- ,&oor apt., 121/mo, 665-0602, evenings. 83S0414 Sail BAHAMAS Snorkel, Dive -65' ketch 7/12-7/19 & 8/9-8/16. $330 inc. meals, send for brochure Out Island Charter PO Box 47994, St. Petersburg, FL 33743 or call 813-347-7817-lv. msg. 22K0417 AIRPLANE RESERVATIONS - best fares: Job interviews, going home, mini-vacations. Domestic & International. Call Complete Travel - 761-6500. cKtc "(VISIT NICARAGUA)": Spanish language courses, family living, community work in Esteli. Apply now for 1986 sessions. NICA, P.O. Box 1409-QQ, Cambridge, MA 02238. (617) 497-7142. cKtc Think You're Pregnant? Free Pregnancy Test Completely Confidential Pregnancy Counseling Center 529 N. Hewitt, Ypsilanti Call: 434-3088 (any time) IT'S GREAT HAIRSTYLES BY LICENSED BARBER STYLISTS - new creations at reasonable prices DASCOLA STYLISTS SAC presents: TRUE BLUE WEEK APRIL 9 -11 Sponberg Theater Partially funded by Student Government WEDNESDAY Reception Following - April 9 The Residence Hall Repertory Theater and present ... MASKS A SHOV ABOUT SFX ROI F STEREOTYPFS /1 Al) o WELCOME TO CONDITIONING A SHOW ABOUT DISCRIMINATION SOFTBALL GAME at Palmer Field 5 p.m. - Come show your True Blue Spirit' A Collage THURSDAY - April 10 of Poetry, Improv, Music, Dance & Comedy+ to provoke you, make you laugh & challenge your basic assumptions. Directed by Scott Weissman APRIL 9 9:00 P.M. designed FREE Maple Village Liberty off State... .761 2733 668 9329) MICHIGAN TRIVIA CONTEST in Fishbowl 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. DIAG RALLY! 12 Noon BAR NIGHT at Dooley's " $1 off admission if wear maize and blue drink specials WED., After words Aud. 1429 Hill St. U- The University of Michigan CENTER FOR CHINESE STUDIES presentsthe fifth annual ALEXANDER ECKSTEIN MEMORIAL LECTURE LUCIAN PYE Professor of Political Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology Quality Books at uncommonly low prices t FRIDAY - April 11 MICHIGAN TRIVIA CONTEST in