_ _
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U U U U U U U
W v -6
MUSiC
Wild David Lee
David Lee Roth
EAT 'EM AND SMILE
Warner Brothers
GUESS WHO'S BACK IN
circulation-and he looks wild...
WILD... WIIIIIILD! Well, actu-
ally, he looks pretty silly. The
jungle savage garb makes for a
striking cover, but beyond that
David Lee's looking pretty, well,
effeminate these days. But how
does Dave sound? Not sur-
prisingly, Dave sounds like Dave.
He's still a vocalist-make that
a performer, rather than a
singer-who substitutes style for
skill. But when he grinds into one
of those patented raspy lycanthrope- '
type howls, who really cares? The
big question mark is the new
band-are they really the closest
thing to Van Halen besides Valerie
Bertinelli? Close, but no cigar 1
Guitarist Steve Vai, trumpeted
as an equal to the mighty Smilin'
Ed, is no such varmint. True, he
does employ a reasonably dazzling
batch of fretboard gymnastics, but g
he sounds only slightly better than
the angry legion of Van Halen-
inspired dwiddle-meisters once you,
get past the talking guitar segment
of "Yankee Rose." Greg
Bissonette's drumming isn't Steve Vai, David L,
notably better than Alex Van's, and
Billy Sheehan, called "the Edward
Van Halen of bass guitar," makes
one realize how absurd that label
really is. Bass is the foundation
upon which the rest of a song is
built, and no amount of virtuosity
can remove bass from its important
background role.
That having been said, it's close
enough for metal. This album isX
made up of equal parts of}
overblown fun and overblown junk,
and as such is better than most new
pop-metal. Highlights include the
cover of the Nashville Teens'a
"Tobacco Road" and the brassy,
showy boogie-woogie numbers
"I'm Easy" and "That's Life," thex
latter being a capsule history of the
damage Vegas has inflicted upon w
popular music.
Diamond Dave is an obnoxious
fart, but he knows that, and we
know that, and Tipper Gore doesn't,
and that last fact is precisely what
makes the whole thing fun. Not
art, mind you...fun!
-John Logie
Paul Simon
GRACELAND
Warner Brothers
For years, my worldly Italian
mother has predicted that the
accordion would one day achieve Paul Simon's late
's new state of independence
MICHELLANY
Tender steps into the real 3
I DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE
this summer. I didn't take any MIKE
interesting classes, and I didn't get
tan. This summer I bused tables. F I SC H
I bused big plates and little " a
plates, forks, knives, and spoons;
salad forks, steak knives, soup "Why do you want to be a
lspoons, dessert spoons and weenie busboy? Tom asked
little spoons for the melted .butter. usboy?" Tom ase apab
SI bused pop glasses, wine glasses, I gave him some crap about
water glasses, beer mugs, and 'liking people." How else can you
w g ,gbrandy snifters answer that question? "Well, Tom,
Before I got the job as a busboy, I've always loved sponging...
I applied for a job at The Original really, anything that involves
Y Cookie Company. The em- wiping."
- ployment application asked: "Why The interview was an hour long,
do you like interacting with and I was nervous about the
people?" On the surface it doesn't outcome. A few days after my
seem like such a bad question to meeting with Tom I received a
INTERVIEW ask, but keep in mind that we're phone call. Yes, I had done it. I
talking about selling cookies. would move on to the second tier of
Nonetheless, I wrote that I enjoyed interviews with Lisa, the manager.
sharing emotion and exploring Two weeks after my second
S h a k e yiJa kdeas. I still didn't get the job. interview, I was hired as "part of
the restaurant so I had to fill out an The first couple of days on the
application. My interview was with job constituted my training period.
Energetic campusfixture Tom, the assistant manager. Tom The head busboy, Matt, age fifteen,
P f was thorough. He took notes during was my trainer. Matt showed me-
doesn't let fame go to his head the interview so that when it came how to place napkins on the tables,
time to make a decision he would and where the dumpster was.
Guitar-toting Shakey Jake, one of Ann Arbor's best-known be able to compare my responses During the training period the
personalities,'loves to be around' Michigan's students. Jake's interview, with those of other prospective managers would observe my
which he peppered with instrumental interludes and an occasional song, buspersons. demeanor and skill as I tackled
was conducted by Daily staffer Dov Cohen.
Daily: How do you see yourself?
Jake: I see myself as Shakin' Jake. I know myself better than anyone OFF THE WALL PRINT FROM THE PAST
else. Number One... I work hard to get where I'm at. I can't go back.
D: Where have you been? SOME OF THE BEST GRAFITTI
J: Mexico, Florida, I've been to every city in the world 12 times. Hawaii, IN ANN ARBOR IS ON THIS
Texas, California, out West, entertaining in Vietnam... I get around. WALL
D: How do you get around so much? (in reply)
J: I hitchhike. I got my T-shirts around the world, posters, bumper I think that is because we are near
stickers, records, color posters, five colored ones... the anthropology section, but I
D: Why do you choose to stay in Ann Arbor? can't be sure. It could be because
J: Colegle students come from New Orleans and come pick me up in two there is no window.
cars... in 1956. -Graduate Library
D: You lived in New Orleans and they just came and got you?
J: They heard about me in Ann Arbor from New Orleans, and they come Q: How many Dadaists does it take
and got me... When they got to New Orleans, they knew who to look for, to screw in a lightbulb?
cause people in New Orleans told 'em I was the man who do my thing. A: Two. One to squeeze the new-
D: What's your thing? born pig and another to pour
J: I do my thing my way. Nobody else can do my thing but me. Can't brightly colored machine parts into ,
nobody else copy me 'cause they can't be me. I've had people try to the bathtub.
imitate me but they can't do it. They can't dress like me or nothin' and I -Frieze Building
got my own music.
D: Did you like coming to Ann Arbor in the beginning? GIVE ME DRUGS OR GIVE ME
J: I enjoy Ann Arbor. I was ony supposed to be here 2 days... and I been DEATH
here 30 years. They won't let me leave... The college students don't want (in reply) THE DALY ALMANAC
me to leave. And the police don't want me to leave. They told me they They are rather similar, after all
want me to stay here. They enjoy seein' me... I'm a peace lovin' man. (second reply)
D: How old are you? I'm sorry buddy, we don't have 10 years ago-September 18,
J: Eighty-six. I was born October 31, 1900. I'll be 87 next month... I've any drugs. NOW DIE. 1976: It was expected to be a close
been an entertainer all my life since I was 2 years old. I started playin' this --Graduate Library match, but the Michigan football
thing (his guitar) and I'm stayin' with it... team trounced the visiting Stanford
D: Where were you born? I always thought Ph.D. work would Cardinals 51-0. The 103,741 fans
J: Little Rock, Arkansas. culminate in a year of being in attendance were treated to an
D: Where did you go from there? blissfully alone with books and my impressive ground assault that
J: New Orleans, Saginaw. You know I got 13 brothers and sisters. I go own thoughts. Instead, it's hours of netted the Wolverines a total of 546
see 'em whenever I get ready. I go visit 'em about every two or three trying to see my committee and yards,
months. answer their objections to things
D: Who are your heroes? they really don't understand. Under- 20 years ago-September 19,
J: I got many thousands of heroes... B. B. King, James Brown, Cab grad was better. 1966: Philippine President
Continued on Page 8 -Graduate Library Ferdinand E. Marcos, in a max-
WEEKEND / SEPTEMBER 19, 1986
Gee Roth, Billy Sheehan and Greg Bissonette: Dave's backups aren't quite what they're cracked up to be.
mainstream acceptance. Thanks to
Paul Simon's Graceland, an
outstanding and culturally diverse
musical celebration, that day has
apparently arrived.
Simon's newfound interest in
South African "accordion jive"
music spurred him to team up with
a handful of that nation's finest
groups and session players. The
glorious result of these
collaborations is a testament to the
richness of styles that can emerge
from an environment of social
strife.
To his credit, Simon's
songwriting shows remarkable
understanding of the South African
genres. Nowhere is this more
evident than on the a capella
"Homeless," in which a choral Zulu
folk song is melded beautifully
with Simon's own wistful passages
in a gripping lament: "Strong wind
destroy our home / Many dead,
tonight it could be you."
Elsewhere, the collaborations
fall closer to the mainstream, as on
the straight-rocking "The Boy in
the Bubble" or the country-flavored
title cut. Yet "Graceland" achieves
its greatest success on tunes like "I
Know What I Know," a cross-
culture funk romp punctuated by
fly-buzzing guitars and high-strung
female vocals. It's unlike anything
you've ever heard, and it defies
categorization.
Simon also gets a little help
from his Northern Hemisphere
friends. Adrian Belew .is present,
lending tasty guitar synth stabs
throughout. So are the Everly
Brothers, although the staccato title
track hardly provides them a fitting
musical showcase.
Most notably, Linda Ronstadt
turns up on "Under African Skies,"
a gorgeous, reggae-tinged duet with
Simon that offers a warmth merely
aspired to by cold-fish Sting's
similar "Love is the Seventh
Wave." So who needs Art Gar-
funkel, anyway?
For Simon, any accordion genre
is fair game as he goes stomping
through the zydeco bayou ("That
Was Your Mother") en route to the
Tex-Mex border ("All Around the
World or the Myth of the Fin-
gerprints") with a supercharged Los
Lobos along for the ride.
"Graceland" marries some of
Simon's finest songwriting with an
impressive spectrum of cultural
and instrumental influences. So
start shakin' those bellows, Ma,
because the accordion is back. And
it's not just for polkas anymore.
-Joe Acciaioli
st inspirations are from South Africa.
PAGE 4 WEEKEND/SEPTEMBER 19, 1986