w w w w w w w w w _-S -W -qw- -w- -w- -wl-- MUSiC Moonlighting as a singer just isn't for Bruce Willis INTERVIEW Continued from Page 8 Bruce Willis The Return of Bruno (Motown) Ah, those prime-time TV series stars; they're never satisfied. A hit show, the cover of People, the millions of adoring fans, the millions of adorable dollars, the Rolling Stone interview, the multi- movie deals. That's all fine and good. But nothing can soothe these savage egos until they've proven their musical merits to the world. They will find no inner peace, all their glory will be for naught, unless they can sing. It happened with Cheryl Ladd. It happened with Don Johnson. And now Bruce Willis has been bitten by the singing bug and unveiled The Return of Bruno, the soundtrack to his upcoming HBO special. To tell the truth, his voice is okay, not exactly bursting with vibrancy and character, but it's serviceable for the rave-ups he's chosen to record. At least he seems to know his limitations. Unlike Don Johnson, whose la - mentable Heartbeat displayed his as - pirations to be the Neil Diamond of the yuppie set, Willis is content to moonlight as nothing more than a high-spirited party boy, the kind who jumps up on stage on Open Mike Night, gives it his best shot and doesn't worry if the rough edges show. A free-for-all atmosphere prevades on Bruno, with all involved seemingly having the times of their lives. It's only when Willis tries to force his voice into an Otis Redding groan, as in "Jackpot (Bruno's Bop)" that one wishes he'd kept his party private. Producer Robert Kraft obviously didn't have much confidence in Willis: after the first verse, Kraft lets the Pointer Sisters carry "Respect Yourself," and he dresses up the ubiquitous "Under the Boardwalk" with a string section straight out of the Drifters in an attempt to soften Willis's approach. These tracks also serve to point up one of Bruno's major stumbling blocks: overly familiar material that invites unflattering comparisons. Sure, "Respect Yourself' is pleasant, but it isn't going to tarnish anyone's memories of the Staple Singers - or the Kane Gang, for that matter. Willis doesn't pull off "Youngblood" any better than the local garage band would, and after versions by everyone from the Tom Tom Club to Rickie Lee Jones, does the world really need one more take of "Under the Boardwalk"? Bruno is also plagued by artistic indecision, as Willis and Kraft don't M: About 120 old cars, I would say. D: What about the Frank Lloyd Wright center? M: We want to set up a center for the study of Frank Lloyd Wright. That way people can come from all over the world and see a full range of his work from drawings to furniture and windows. It would have artifacts and a complete library of his work. We are doing that in conjunction with the University of Michigan Architecture school. D: Will it be by Domino's Farms? M: Oh yes, it is now. What there is now is in our main building right off of the lobby. We don't have nearly enough room for all of our collection - most of it is in storage. We have the complete bedroom wing from one of his largest houses, including the master bedroom with a big fireplace and all the furniture and all the windows. In that alone, there are some fifty glass windows. D: Will it be like a museum? M: Yes, we had an exhibition house that was torn down and we want to rebuild that on the site as soon as we get the master planning and the zoning straightened out. D: When did you first become interested in Frank Lloyd Wright? M: I've always been interested in architecture ever since I was in the first grade. I discovered a book about Frank Lloyd Wright when I was 12 years old in the library. I was really into Frank Lloyd Wright, and I have been ever since. D: When do you want to start the Frank Lloyd Wright Center? M: We'd like to start it in August and it will probably take two years to build. We would also like to complete the main building that we are in now - it's only about 40 percent complete. When that's done, I think it will be a mon- umental piece of architecture. D: You are a long time Ann Arbor resident, aren't you? M: I was born here. D: Did you attend the University? M: For six weeks. Two different semesters, three weeks apiece. I didn't have the money to stay in school. D: So you didn't graduate from college? M: No, I never got any further than my freshman year. I took a quarter at Ferris and six weeks at Mich- igan. D: I know you have told this story probably a hundred times, but could you tell me just one more time how you got started in the pizza business? M: It was 1960 and I was in and out of Michigan, mostly out, when this pizza place in Ypsilanti became available. I went into it with my brother and it was a $500 down payment, so we borrowed the money for that. I thought it would be a way to pay my way through architecture school. That's why I bought it, but I was working so many hours and losing so much money that-I pretty much had to abandon the idea of being an architect. I was so heavily in debt and I wasn't getting any younger. I was 23 when I was got into the business and still a freshman, so my career as an architect wasn't going very far. D: Then you opened another one shortly after that? M: That was a year later, 1961, in Mount Pleasant. I was probably selling as much pizza per unit then as I am now. My first store in Ypsilanti became the highest volume pizzeria in the U.S., that was about 1965 or '66. D: How many stores do you own? M: About 3,800 in eight countries including Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Puerto Rico, England, Germany, and the U.S. D: Are you going to keep going? M: Yes, we are opening one in Honduras now. We are doing it for the Missions - it's not going to be ours. It will be owned by the missions. D: I heard that the domino with three dots on the box stands for your first three stores. M: That would be two in Ypsilanti and one in Ann Arbor. By that time we had sold the one in Mount Pleasant, that was around 1965. See, the year I split up with my partner after I bought my brother out, I got another partner and we took on a couple of resturants in Ann Arbor. One is where the Bagel Factory is on South University and the other was where the Wolverine Den is. Then we, split up and my partner took the two resturant and I took the three pizza businesses. D: Does he still own them? M: No, he died. Well, he went bankrupt shortly after we split up, but it was his idea to split up. D: What's your brother doing now? M: He is working for the Ypsilanti school system as an electrician. He also is president of the local steam engine group. He runs the steam engine event we have every year. D: I understand that you have a promotional group that tours the country? M: Oh yes, our pizza ponies - they go all over North America. They are becoming quite famous. I hear they are upstaging the Budwiser horses. D: What do you do with all of your agricultural products from Domi- no's Farms? M: We sell a lot of stuff to our employees and the guests that come out here. We get about 3,500 people a week out here. We have a big field full of pumpkins and we give the pumpkins to kids. D: Do you come up with these ideas on your own? M: Some of them, but our people come up with a lot of them. There is a pig that they trained to do a lot of tricks and our dog does- some tricks too. The kids love it. D: Anything else? M: We are looking for an order of monks to run the farm, we want to turn the whole thing over to them. D: Why monks? M: It will give them a way of raising money to sustain themselves and do theirswork. That's what I would like to do with the farm, just turn the whole thing over to them. D: Where are you going to get them from?, M: Poland, because that's the only place I know of that's exporting, or creating more than they can use. We will build a monestary for them and they would sell the farm products-it would be their show. D: When will you do this? M: Gradually, we may start with just four of five monks out there in one of our little houses that we have here on the property and then go from there, that's the way things start. We hope to fill all the various types of needs for the community, from day care centers, an orphanage, retreat house, alcohol abuse, drug abuse. Whatever the needs are, that's what we want to do. D : How do you feel about development in Ann Arbor in general? M: I think Ann Arbor is the greatest place in the world. There is a lot to support that. I think its got great medical facilities, great schools and a high morale. D: Would you like to see it keep growing? M: We have to grow some to maintain our identity. We don't want to be swallowed up by Detroit. We have to be great on our own, and I think Domino's Farms is going to contribute to that. We are trying to build quality archi- tecture and preserve the atmosphere around us, that's why we are bu wa bu an be D: M: wil con it wo D:' M: cot thiu but the $1 LOGIE The Pointer Sisters, credited as "The Heaters" and "The Brunettes," do more singing than Bruce on "Respect Yourself" seem to know if they're saluting '50s and '60s R&B or lampooning it. They could take a cue from the recordings of Tracey Ullman, another TV star-turned-singer, whose covers of girl-group classics strike a balance between campy send-up and genuine affection for the stylists of the period. The Return of Bruno is not a full-blown ego excursion, nor does it seem a serious bid for acceptance as a pop star. If this is the best Bruce can come up with, he'd do well to stick to his day job. -James Sanford Kate Bush The Whole Story (EMI America) A few days back, while brow- sing through a record store, I found some words scribbled beneath Peter Gabriel's name on the artist-section divider: "otherwise known as God." Finally, I thought, America has caught on. Perhaps Kate Bush's chance is now. She has risen to superstardom in Europe, while adored by scattered cult-fans in North America. Her new com- pilation album, The Whole Story, makes a strong case for holy status. While the ancients had many deities, like Venus (love) and Clapton (guitar), today's goddess can do everything by herself. Unlike generic corporate puppets like Whitney Houston, Bush has total control. She writes music and lyrics, arranges, plays, and produces her uncompromisingly original songs. She sings in an amazing three octaves, with an obsessive range of emotions matched by few in rock. She creates her own stunning, acclaimed videos. Beyond all this, Bush is breathtakingly attractive. This all could make her millions in a career of calculated hit-making. Instead, artistic integrity (her last album took her three years to make) drives her to perfect her creative pop craft. From 1978's wispy piano ballad "Wuthering Heights" to the Abor- iginal chants and odd sampling- keyboards of 1982's "The Dream- ing," The Whole Story chronicles the evolution in Bush's breadth of sounds: the melodic dynamics of 1980's "Babooshka" ultimately gal- vanize her perceptive lyrics in the lover's lament "Running up that Hill," a minor U.S. hit in '85. Along with her colleague Gabriel, and Simple Minds and World Party, Bush works cleverly within the pop system to reach the masses with meaningful ideas. This insidious style captures the practical spirit of our times. Her new single, "Experiment IV," is about a h6ror time capsule from audio-scientists who created lethal sounds. Amid its eerily dramatic, militaristic drum- rolls and stinging guitar, Bush seems to be warning against chemical-style warfare as well as questioning the way technologized modern music designs hooks to make you helplessly want to dance. Such "big" ideas have sunk lesser talents, but Bush's keen pop- sensibility brings her universe of imagination down to Earth. Indeed, as an NME review said of 1985's Hounds of Love, "The company's daughter has truly screwed the system and produced the best album of the year doing it." Her American breakthrough is imminent. If Ga- briel can do it, then Kate Bush's Story ought soon to make believers out of the rest of us. -Michael Fischer The Three Johns Demonocracy (Abstract) The Three Johns are one of the best bands around. Their live shows are the best money can buy - good jokes, good dancing, good music, good drunkeness, and good politics. But they have yet to put out a definitive piece of studio vinyl. I mean they've put out some very good studio vinyl, and some very, very good studio vinyl, but they have yet to put out very, very great studio vinyl. sTheJohn's Do The Square Thing 12" was very good - it had two great songs and two good songs. The Death Of The European single had three great songs and one good song. Atom Drum Bop has a whole host of very, very, very good songs, but it comes across a bit disjointed at times. These are all really, really good releases and worth having, but they haven't completely lived up to the John's potential. Their latest, Demonocracy, shows them at their best - and why not? After all, it is a collection See MUSIC, Page 12 Continued from Page 8 substances, filched materials from the office, punched people without having a really good reason, cheated on their taxes, or driven while way under the influence. I make a moral distinction, I suppose. Some of these things I write off because they didn't hurt anybody. Some of these things I write off because they didn't hurt anybody very much. Some of these things I write off because it's convenient. But I draw the line at Jae Kim because I'm sure he hurt people. He assaulted women, and he may have stolen from people who had worked with him and trusted him. And dumb as it seems, I feel hurt, I feel that Jae had no right to befriend me and then do such rotten things. I hope that Jae Kim will find a way to deal with his problems, and develop a genuine respect for other's rights, their rights to pro- perty, and more importantly, to their bodies. I know there is a good side to Jae Kim. I want that side to go on, and the other side to die. But this is little more than pontificating. I am prepared to do very little to help Jae Kim. If I see him, I will probably, if possible, avoid him, and I certainly won't tell him how I feel. As things stand, I have little interest in hearing any sort of explanation from Jae Kim. I want Jae to be indisputably cured, preferably somewhere far away from where I have to think about him. My response is more or less a full- tilt retreat, and I'm not sure whether I should be ashamed of myself or not. a Incltad enas Conac Complete Instc aCContact Len Convenient eN Start-UP Care Complete Folic Ccontact Len, e dsoversize platC~ ntal n r an #~ e s o e Ti s prior orders son le on* Y and in tal i mi ted ti m OPTOME1 eye care < ARBORLAND CONS] 973-7035 PAGE 4 WEEKEND/FEBRUARY 20. 1987 WEEKEND/FEBRUARY 20, 1987