4
ARTS
Friday, March 27, 1987
The Michigan Daily
Page 8
Miles: The 'Bad
Cat'
graces Power
4
By Marc S. Taras
Miles Davis will be in town
tomorrow night for two shows at
the Power Center. This is where
it's at. Miles Davis. The Sorceror.
The Bad Cat. The Dark Magus.
Miles Davis has been an
innovator defining the cutting edge
of music for the past 40 years. He
has been the most influential
performer of the last quarter of a
century. But you don't go to see
Miles Davis for what "has been,"
but rather for what "is." And Miles
is happening.
For the neophytes out there,
Davis was born in Illinois in 1926.
While still an infant, his folks
moved to East St. Louis, which
Miles calls "a trumpeter's town."
He received a trumpet for his
thirteenth birthday, began formal
and informal education, and wound
up at the Juilliard School of Music.
He didn't stay in school long.
Instead, he hooked up with Charlie
Parker. Lacking the range of cats
like Dizzy Gillespie and Fats
Navarro, Miles made up for it by
emphasizing the midrange and
develping a distinctly poignant
sound which became a trademark.
In the early '50s he began
leading his own bands. Following
their recordings means following
the development of contemporary
music itself. The birth of the "cool"
sound with Gerry Mulligan. The
first great quintet with John
Coltrane. The collaboration with
Gil Evans and the modal
experiments of the Kind of Blue
sessions. Then the second "classic
quintet" with Wayne Shorter and
Herbie Hancock.
By the late '60s Miles was
responding to the electric music of
the Aquarian Age and, char -
acteristically, advancing it. Bitches
Brew. Along with Sgt. Pepper's,
this landmark recording remains the
most important album of our
generation. Further electric outings
moved the early '70s along, the
music getting denser, and more
turbulent. And then... he was gone.
Retirement.
In 1981 the hiatus ended. Miles
had nothing to prove. Nevertheless,
he surprised and delighted most of
his would-be detractors. The Man
With the Horn was back. He has led
a series of fine bands since then,
moving social music ahead, as
usual, and turning to current pop
hits as a jump-off point.
Miles would blow off everything
that I've just run down as irrelevant
bullshit. Old News. Instead, what
matters is what's happening right
now. And tomorrow night you can
be a part of it.
Ladies and gentlemen, Miles
Davis.
That should be all I have to say.
See you there.
Show times are set for 7.
p.m.and 10 p.m. Tickets are $16 in
advance at Schoolkids', PJ.'s Used
Records, or at the door.
Stryper rockers bang their heads for Heaven
4
By Michael Fischer
At first the terms seemed to
contradict themselves. "Christian
heavy-metal"? Conjure the scene of
towering P.A. stacks pounding an
arena full of fist-shaking, drugged-
out delinquents with an apocalyptic
flood of flashing lights and scream -
ing power-chords. Through the
years, this very image of heavy-
metal has become synonymous
with anti-social nihilism and
excess. Not exactly the kind of stuff
you'd associate with conservative
America's clean-cut and nifty
version of Christendom.
Lately, though, some curious
new bands are springing up to bang
some heads for God. They try to
channel the electric sense of manic
strength and fury which the heavy-
metal fan craves into celebrating the
power of religious ideals rather than
cliches of teenage restlessness.
A few years back, while
enjoying the frenzy of a Kiss
concert, singer Michael Sweet
wondered why he had to put up
with "all this negative stuff"-
sexism, drugs, and violence. He
later formed Stryper, which has
emerged as the highest-profile and
most credible Christian hard-rock
group today. While others like
i "/ r id___ '
Petra have failed to fully cash-in
like mainstream counterparts such
as Amy Grant, Stryper recently put
three albums into the top 200 at
once. The days of mail-order sales
and high school gym concerts are
behind them.
Their new LP, To Hell with The
Devil, is no farce; they do a pretty
good job of rocking. In contrast to
average MTV-metallists, Stryper
can play. Sweet sings with remar -
kable power, and ax-man Oz Fox
cranks out a full slab of meaty riffs.
Their heavy style avoids the
sclerosis of dullness plaguing most
"Christian music." The sound sug -
gests Boston, what bass player Tim
Gaines calls "melodic hard rock."
Gaines suggests that their fans
usually come for the music, rather
than the message.
Unlike bands such as U2, which
subtly infuse spiritual themes into
songs, hailing Jesus is the whole
shooting match for Christian rock
bands. But are the kids listening to
the incessant Christ-references
which distinguish Stryper? Gaines
estimates that 75 percent of their
audience is secular; Stryper seems
to be changing few minds.
Surprisingly, they have found
little acceptance from even the
Christian anti-rock forces. Crusader
Jimmy Swaggart has attacked them
for participating in the "devil-
music" lifestyle. According to
Gaines, Stryper just wonder why
Christian music "always has to be
so wimpy," call record ratings
"ridiculous," and don't believe that
their loudly costumed image is a
vexation of a Christian sense of
dignity. "Some people believe that
if you have long hair you won't get
to heaven," he says.
Still, they aren't martyring their
pocketbooks. Smart Christ-rock
groups like Stryper know how to
get the Word to speak the language
of sales. But their breaking of the
conservative religious mold is, if
absurd in nature, perhaps refeshing
to see. They simply believe that
rock's ethical wasteland could use a
few positive values for a change.
Stryper will rock Hill
Auditorium tomorrow night at 8
p.m. Tickets are $14.50 at the door.
0
0 DROP SHOP
Complete Shipping Service
Need to send a package?
Need boxes or packing supplies?
PACKAGE DROP SHOP
617 E. University, Suite 211
668-8806 Above Taco Bell
Heavy metal/Christian rockers Stryper will be at Hill Auditorium
tomorrow night, shooting the Word.
I,
UNION
Arts & Programming
This week at the Michigan Union...
March 30, 31,
April 2, 3
Xavier Mie jewelry sale
Noon-8 p.m.
Michigan Union Ground Floor Mall
April 2
Arts at Midday
12:15 p.m.
Pendleton Room
N . )
7'.
''
77,
MAC IN THE MORNING
- .- ,
{,I/ r '1( :{" . :.Yy :~ .'tip
J ^'2c""
MArN H VENN
MAC ROUN THECLOC
kinko....'s
I
eclipse
presents
Miles
Da'
I1
I
I
I
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power
center
OPEN
24 HOURS
SELF-SERVE
MACINTOSH CENTER
-FULL-SERVICE LASERSETTING-
RESUME SPECIALS
540 EAST LIBERTY STREET
ANN ARBOR
CORNER OF LIBERTY AND MAYNARD
761-4539
2
show
sat
mar
28
7 am
Ns
t
ch
d
d 10pm
tII\
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4
A ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A J 1 A A A A A
A A 1 L_.
ATTENTION STUDENTS
ARE YOU:
-enrolled as a full-time undergrad (12 or more hours)
-looking for part-time work (up to 20 hours/week)
during the school year and full time work during
vacations (summer, spring and Christmas breaks). '
-a needy student, who can meet certain
low income criteria
IF SO:
we have Student-Aid jobs for engineering technic-
ians, safety technician, clerk-typists, clerks and
computer support personnel.
Pay Rates $5.66 to $6.35 PH '
C depending on qualifications
The English Composition Board's
ACADEMIC
WRITING SERIES
presents
2 "USING COMPUTERS AS A
WRITING TOOL, PART II"
April is the cruelest month. Only four weeks of
classes remain, yet a semester's worth of papers
need to be written. Would using a work processor
facilitate and improve your writing tasks?
The last Academic Writing Series workshop of
Winter semester provides a hands-on opportunity to
learn to use computers as a writing tool ECB lec-
turers Jan Armon, Emily Jessup, and Michael Marx
will offer mini workshops on text block moves,
windows, searching functions, and printing. The
workshop will use Microsoft Word on Zenith PCs.
All levels of computer users are encouraged to at-
tend; you need not have attended the January work-
' DOMINO'S
®= WPIZZA
Protect Concern's
Walk for Mankind
Project Concerns Walk for Mankirnd isa community-wide volunteer event
made up of people who want to make life better for people in poverty in
counltries atl over tne world. icluding the Unted States Project Concerns
Walk for Mankind was the fist of its end n America
Funds rased from the Walks enable Project Concern to provde health care
and training for needy people all over the world Project Concerns
grass'ootv approach to low cost healthn care teaches people how to take
care of themselves and hrow 1o keep their childrennhtealthry Your
commuinbes can benefit through our urnique "sharing' agreement.
whereby wakers can donate up to 20 percent of collected pledges to the
nconproft cause cfthireir choce In e past. Project Concern's sharing nov
helped schools, chr.ches, local food programs anrd chartes
WHAT:
PLACE:
TIME:
DISTANCE:
Washtenaw County Walk for Mankind
Start and finish at DOMINO'S FARMS
Earhart Road (north of Plymouth Road)
Register between 11 am and 2 pm
20 kilometers (12.5 miles)
Average walking time: 3/2 hours
There will be a Farm Walk of 3 kilometers
for those with less time, small children,
or other obligations.
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