Page 10 -The Michigan Daily- Friday, October 31, 1986 Sonic Youth Breaking barriers By Mike Rubin This Sunday, the second of November, marks the return to the Ann Arbor area of one of America's premier underground bands, New York guitar pioneers Sonic Youth. The Blind Pig show will be the second Michigan appearance by the -critically acclaimed quartet in four months, following a July per - formance at Traxx in Detroit that was as close to Godhead as any four flesh-and-blood humans can hope to acheive. .Through a string of records (Sonic Youth, Confusion is Sex, Kil Yr Idols, and Bad Moon Rising) since their inception in the early 80s (when they featured Richard Edson, Willie ofStranger 'han Paradise film fame, on drums), the band has been twisting rock music through their unorthodox techniques and over - whelming intensity into a nearly unrecognizable beast of massive and noisy proportions. The dialectical result was EVOL, therband's first release on SST Records and the finest American record of 1986. Taut as a buck private's bunk bed blanket and as sharp as the razorblades in Halloween apples, the album is a magnificent exercise in tension, melding styles as diverse as '60s pop, '70s metal, and 80s post-punk grunge together with an avant-garde approach (picked up from guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo's work with experimental composer Glenn Branca) to fashion an attack sonically beautiful enough to crystallize your window's view onto the pane of glass, yet dissonant enough to burn your rug and curl up your wallpaper. Live, this mood of constructive destruction translates into a quasi- namby groove, a throbbing, shimmering hum of out-of-tune and manipulated (screwdrivers, drum - sticks, and such stuck between the strings) guitars that seeps over the audience like San Francisco fog, gently lulling the listener into a state of near complacency, before exploding under the force of a coup de gras performed on the guitar's neck, punctuating the still and smoky air with burning spears of feedback that go careening down the expressway to your skull. "We don't claim that our tuning style is anything new or something we invented," says guitarist Ranaldo on his and Moore's practice of tuning their guitars to a particular chord, rather than a conventional open tuning, "Different kinds of tunings for stringed instruments, especially guitars, have been going on for a long time- The Velvet Underground made use of odd, E chord-only tunings, for example. We've just developed this technique along certain personal and idiosyncratic lines. We know how to play with normal chords like G or C, but that style really didn't interest us. "When we play live, we carry about twelve or more guitars with us, all tuned differently, so that we have a lot of paired guitars: Thurston and I will use a pair of guitars in one song, and a different pair in another song. Sometimes we use a pair of guitars in which we're each using a guitar in a different tune from the other, but they're the two that go together. When you see a most bands play live, the sound tends to get real samey after a couple of songs, unless they're a fabulous band. What I like about what we're doing is that we can vary our sound just by picking up another set of guitars... In a way, we use our guitars like some people use foot pedals." The band just finished taking their act on the road to a strange and foreign place: Hollywood. "We got invited out to do a soundtrack for this film called Made in U.S.A ,which is being released by Dino De Laurentiis in January," says Ranaldo, "There will probably be a record of that music, mostly instrumental and score-type stuff, at some point in the future. Otherwise, we haven't written a major chunk of new material. After the tour ends in December, we'll get ready to record an LP length cover version of the Beatles'White Album. That idea evolved about the time we were doing 'Death Valley 69' and thinking about that whole period of time, and that album seemed real representative to us of a lot of things that were happening then, as well as being an incredible record." Among other activities that this busy band is involving themselves in are the production of a video compiled from footage from the previous tour, as well as the continuation of the Madonna- homaged Ciccone Youth project with Minuteman/Firehose bass- monger Mike Watt, which previously resulted in the band's cover version of "Into the Groove." Why Madonna? "Well, we're totally infatuated with her, we think her music is great, and that what she represents is really cool. She's a megastar. The next thing we do as Ciccone Youth will be a cover of 'Lady Madonna' by the Beatles." Sonic Youth's performance on Sunday will be opened by ex- Minutemen George Hurley and Mike Watt's new band Firehose. "They're great," says Ranaldo, "Don't come late and miss them!" a e F f w q New York guitar wizards Sonic Youth will be performing at the Blind Pig on Sunday with the exciting new band Firehose. Showtime is set for 8 p.m., tickets are $7. Books Alexandra Stoddard Living A Beautiful Life. Random House $17.95, hardcover Most people believe beautiful lives are reserved for the leisure class-- the rich, the famous, and those who happen to be both. Alexandra Stoddard in Living a Beautiful Life: 500 Ways To Add Elegance, Order, Beauty And Joy To Every Day Of Your Life refutes this misconception by describing how anyone can live a more beautiful, and hence, a happier, less ., 1 1, j f , l ,. " 1 n [/ ( 1 = a -.. ,. . t :- ., e z ,J .L i ' ,, , k'. s ."' .*a, , ,t *6 ,; , . ; - _, - ,. G;- .ti :. :, : . - Y . '' ^ _ ! j 7 (r , *'( wy j + e i .* -., UIVN UNION Arts & Programming This Week at the Michigan Union. . Nov. 2 Beginning Woodworking Class Sundays, 1-4pm, 6 weeks Student Woodshop, 537 SAB Students $20, materials provided Nov. 3 Woodfinishing Workshop Hands-on-workshop with Master Woodfinisher, George Frank. 12-4pm & 6-10pm Student Woodshop, 537 SAB $15; $5 for registered Student Woodshop users Nov. 4 Concert of the Month The Harmonettes, U-M Womens Glee Club Rosalie Edwards, director 8pm, Pendleton Room, free Nov. 6 Arts at Midday Nick Palmer, piano Schumann, Brahms, & Gershwin 12:15pm, Pendleton Room free Nov. 8,9 Safety Class for New Users Nov. 8: 9-1lam, Nov. 9: 1lam-lpm Student Woodshop, 537 SAB All Week Banners Exhibit Silkscreen prints on fabric by artist Sue Moran The University Club For further information, call 764-6498 , j ', , :I S- 1 .'. ; t a G t . t' iY/+ ° I ' Ii 1yC r 1: rt'ti ,j ' ', fj, . _ o .° T . is r 'l . ~ j . - , ? l 1 ¢"ti l :'. ~77 - _>% stressful life. In this finely made book, Stoddard takes the reader on a tour of everyday life, showing how daily activities such as eating, sleeping, bathing and working can be transported from the realm of the mundane to the world of the sensuously beautiful. As Stoddard notes, "many people have a tendency to save up 95 percent of their money and effort to spend on 5 percent of their lives-- festive occasions such as birthdays, SZ All Shows Betore L V 6 PM Daily GEOnAA 0 AsoES COPRATUNs 1214S UNIVERSITY 668.6098 COLOR OF MONEY (R) Sat. &Sun.2004:30,7:00,9:30 Fri & Mon Thurs 4:30, 700,9 30 !1..,GEOE KERASOTES aCAPORIACN 3020 WASHTENAW AVE. 434-1630 COLOR OF MONEY (R) Sat. & Sun. 2:00, 4:30,7:00, 9:30 Fri. Mon Thurs.4:30.7:00,9:30 TRICK OR TREAT (R) Sat &Sun 115,3:15.515 7159:15 Fri. & Mon.-Thurs 5:15, 715. 9:15 anniversaries and holidays, and the special, more public places in the home . . . . Instead, the way to live a beautiful life is to make the daily 95 percent of your life wonderful." While, as head of her own interior design firm, Stoddard speaks chiefly to those in permanent living arrangements, her ideas can easily be modified to suit those still on the move. Stoddard bases all of her suggestions on the idea of the ritual as life essential: "'Rituals' is my term for patterns you create in your everyday living that uplift the way you do ordinary things . . . . The difference between feeling bored and feeling alive, I believe, lies in a stimulating daily life that is elevated into a fuller experience through pleasing details." Stoddard's ideas range from writing letters with a broad-tip fountain pen and unusual colors of ink to 'scheduling' mornings in bed, complete with breakfast trays and heaps of pillows. She includes the practical--ideal lighting, proper nutrition, organization--as well as the simply pleasurable--uses for fresh flowers, tips for perfect winter fires. Stoddard is, however, not "trying to be definitive .... I'm trying to provoke and inspire you to set up your daily life for effectiveness and grace." Indeed, what elevates this book from the world of the 'how-to' book is Stoddard's insistence on beauty as the food of the spirit. With quotes from Samuel Johnson, Rilke, Emerson, Homer, Chaucer, and others she illustrates how anyone can share to some degree in the heightened awareness of the artist. "Rituals," says Stoddard, "create moments where living becomes art." Although it is unfortunate to find Stoddard occasionally addressing the reader as a woman, her ideas are invaluable for both men and women, and the reader who can ignore this flaw will find the book otherwise superb. Insightful and beautifully written, Stoddard's book would be a fine gift to give to a friend, or simply to oneself. --Suzanne Misencik Japanceyz Tcech Cerntezr SOUL MAN (PG-13) Daily at 2:30,7:00,900 A FINE MESS (PG) Daily at 5:00 RUNNING SCARED (R) Daily at 2 00, 5:00,7:15.9:20 TRICK OR TREAT (R) Daiy at5:15,930 THAT'S LIFE (PG) Daily at 2:00. 7:20 STAND BY ME (R) Daily at210.730,9:45 OUT OF BOUNDS (R) Daily at 5:15 only SOUL MAN (PG-13) 91/2 WEEKS (R), TRICK OR TREAT (R), STAND BY ME (R) Midnight Fri. & Sat. * Halloween Night." Wayside Cinemas 9:00 Show State Cinemas 12:00 Show - Come Dressed in Costume - WIN PRIZES Domino's Pizzas, Movie Passes, and a Trick or Treat Poster (Let's Party) SPECIALIZING IN THE MAINTENANCE & REPAIR OF TOYOTA - HONDA - MAZDA - SUBARU - DATSUN - MITSUBISHI - ISUZU - SUZUKI MAINTENANCE. * We can tailor make maintenance inspection to meet your individual needs. 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The Program will be held at the Villa Corsi-Salviati; the Michigan Study Center on the outskirts of Florence. It will run from May 10 to June 21, and will offer intensive courses in beginning and inter- mediate Italian, and contemporary Italian Culture. The Program F.