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March 27, 1987 - Image 20

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Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1987-03-27
Note:
This is a tabloid page

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mUSiC
Four top-notch albums from which to choose

Jon Butcher
Wishes (Cafitol)
Jon Butcher has been the guitar
genius, waiting in the wings
throughout the first half of the
'80s. Now, perhaps his fifteen
minutes in the sun has finally
arrived. His new LP is a fine
collection of carefully wrought
songs that sparkle with Butcher's
"jazzy Hendrix" guitar sounds.
They're honestly produced and
delightfully disarming.
"Goodbye Saving Grace" is
pulsing with funky satin guitar fills
that emerge out of the ether and slip
away like shadows of lightning.
The title track plays on the saying,
"if wishes were horses, then
dreamers would ride." It's a great
piece and should have Butcher
riding high at last. "Churinga" is a
spacey, dynamic instrumental and
my favorite cut.
Butcher's lyrics and singing
contribute to these rockers rather
than distract the listener from his
guitar heroics,, He is honest if not
entirely courageous, and at times,
wonderfully human. During "Long
Way Home" he suggests that
"there's no escaping death and
taxes/ but I could use a helping
hand." So could we all, Jon.
-Marc S. Taras
The Kinks
Think Visual (MCA)
This is no place to be showering
the Kinks with superfluous
accolade. They've had twenty-four
albums and almost as many years
to receive such. But their new
album, Think Visual, is their first
with MCA, and would be short-
changed if it didn't get it's due
recognition, which in this instance
is quite weighty.
The album's major theme is
about corporations, the big bus-
inesses of the world that are
thoroughly evil, corrupt, and a
whole bunch of other nasty things,
all of which causes heartache for the
average Joe.
The chord progressions are
typical Kinks: simple but fresh. As
they've proved twenty-four times
before, the combination is semi-
devastating. A fine example of this
is "Working At The Factory," one
of the album's singles. The song is
a quasi-autobiographical update of
Ray Davies and his views on
modern day music. He belts out the
vocals with authority and feeling, a
Kinks trademark.
With the exception of "Rock 'n'

Jon Butcher's latest should bring him deserved recognition.

which balances originals and
standards. Instrumental highlights
include the French horn of Vincent
Chancey and the trombone work
and arrangements contributed by
Steve Turre. Bowie's scoring of
Willie Nelson's "Crazy" brings that
beautiful heartbreaker into a whole
new emotional context. He also
does the layout work for a great
rendition of "Saving All My Love
For You.''
Bowie is in the fore on his
original "B Funk" - another adult
portion - and Turre's original
tribute to salsa legend Machito,
called "Macho," is hot 'n' spicy.
Brass Fantasy is an idea whose
time has come. Lester Bowie has
brought together the players to
fulfill that idea with joie de vivre
- joy and verve!
-Marc S. Taras
Coln James Hay
Looking For Jack (Columbia)
A comeback album from the lead
singer of Men at Work? Remember,
this was the group that gave us
vegemite, practically invented the
concept of/ idiotic videos, and
dominated the airwaves with its
banalities for a month or so in 82,
making even Paul Hogan
embarassed to be Australian. I hate
to admit it, but Looking For Jack
is... it's... well, pretty good.
Largely thanks to producer
Robin Millar (Sade, Big Country),
the album is a sonically pleasing
excursion. Gone are the whiny sax
and the annoying redubbed vocals of
Men at Work. Instead, crisp
production and lush arrangements
grace the album. The first single,
"Hold Me," and its complementary
track, "Can I Hold You?" bring to
mind the elegance of Steve
Winwood's latest. Hay's voice is
even fuller than ever before.
The Australian artiste has
gathered a more than worthy backup
section. His own guitars, Jeremy
Alsop's bass, and Chad Wackman's
drums form the core. It is
augmented at various times by
Herbie Hancock on keyboards and
on-and-off Pretender Robbie
McIntosh on guitar.
So, if you can, forget Colin
James Hay's checkered past. We've
all made mistakes. Men at Work
was his. Don't let your mistake be
missing Looking for Jack.
-Mark Swartz

LOGIE
Continued from Page 8
suggestion that they ought to
work to improve the world leads to
frustration. For this reason, they
have rebelled against rebellion.
Baby Busters are used to feeling
insignificant. Trends are dictated by
people 10 to 15 years older than
they are, who want to be reassured
that being old is as cool as being
young was - witness the
presentation of grandmotherly Joan
Collins as a sex object. Having
become sentient after the bulk of
Boomer action, Busters have lived
lifetimes in which little progress
has occurred. The nuclear threat has
intensified. The President still lies.
Eighteen-year-olds are again signing
up for war. Racism has not been
eradicated, nor has sexism.
Busters have seen a decade of
status quo. The only major change
on the social front has been the
eradication by disease of the sexual
freedom which the Boomers fought
for. And this is yet another
indication that the "revolution"
which Busters have heard so much
about really didn't happen.
So the Busters have become
leeches, speedballing through our
nation's business schools with the
barest required glance at
Shakespeare. They are headed for
the marketplace with a vengeance,
intent upon getting their piece of
the action. The Busters can only
give of their time when they are
assured of financial reward. They
idolize Iacocca and entrepreneurs.
They seek careers in which the only
work is the clever manipulation of
money to make more money.
I am enough of an old-style
Boomer to want to do something
about big bombs, lying Presidents,
racism, and sexism. I am enough of
a Boomer to place giving
something back to the world I am
privileged to live in ahead of
grabbing the best parts of it for
myself. I am enough of a Boomer
to believe that the terms "teenage"
and "conservative" ought to be
mutually exclusive.
But I am enough of a Buster to
put off full-scale dedication to any
of the pressing issues I have listed
in favor of writing my thesis,
looking for a job, and even getting
drunk. I suspect that to really have
the right to write this column, I
should have done more, and be
doing more. Instead, more often
than not, I merely point out the
flaws of my predecessors and my
succesors - without knowing how
to correct them.
INTERVIEW
Continued from Page 8
second in 1975 is a result of my
commitment to equality and oppor -
tunity to all. It is also a result of
my committment and belief that

this country will be a better place if
people are able to interact with one
another and have an appreciation of
one another's culture. That doesn't
mean that I'm asking the white
people to like me, and always
socialize with me and become my
buddy - but what I'm saying is
that in order to take advantage of
me, they have to have an appre -
ciation for my culture and my
differences. I am proud to be of a
' different background and heritage -
it's healthy. I have worked so more
can appreciate that fact.
D: Do you feel that white society
only thinks that blacks have
succeeded when they have integreted
and become virtually whites?
F: That is pretty much the
expectation in this country - the
whites set the standards. Blacks are
supposed to follow those standards.
If you don't follow them it implies
that you are radical and something
wrong.
D: Do you remember any good
examples of this?
F: Sure, a very basic example is
that when I was working in the
Housing division, I used to go out
to eat with my white collegues
once a week in the residence halls. I
can remember some of the com -
ments that would be made when we
would go into one of those
residence halls and see a table filled
with maybe 8 or 10 black students.
Several times individuals would
comment on why the blacks at that
table were segregating themselves
from the rest of the people.
Yet, this dining hall would be
filled with 500 people and all the
whites would be sitting by
themselves. It was okay for 500
whites to be sitting by themselves,
and it would sbe much easier and
much more comfortble for a few
whites to comes and sit at a table of
a few blacks than to expect the 7-8
blacks to go sit at the 30-40 tables
of whites. If people felt uneasy, it
should be the white people that
make that move because if the
blacks make them feel uncom -
fortable they have the protection of
400 other whites. If one of the
blacks tries, where else is he/she
going to go? In other words, the
blacks are outnumbered.
D: Why has the University re-
peatedly failed to live up to the 10
percent black enrollment that they
promised to the first BAM move-
ment?
F: The key issue to me in BAM I
was that we were basically fighting
for open access to this University
regardless of the percentage. We not
only wanted a goal of 10 per cent,
but also the supportive services that
would ensure that we would get
those individuals to graduate from
this University. Many of the things
that we asked for were accom -
plished. We got the Trotter House,
we got changes in the complexion
of the admissions office by having
black recruiters participate in a
Detroit recruiting program, and
there was a concerted effort to get
minorities at this University at this

particular time. That is not to say
that the goal was reached, because it
was not.
D: Have you been reminded of
BAM I by the sit-ins of last week
and the recent outrage on campus
about racism?
F: Yes, I have had some real
flashbacks. I was there working all
night the other night. Not only in
BAM I, but in BAM II also, we
stayed in the administration build-
ing overnight. As a staff person, I
was involved with all of them
because to me it's the thing to do. I
believe in the cause. I may not
believe in all the strategies or how
things are done in any of those
situations, but that was not the
issue. The issue was that I was
committed to the cause and was
there as a staff person. I am still
committed to this cause because I
worked for the University for 17
years. This is my community.
I am very involved in my
fraternity, the NAACP, and many
other civil rights organizations that
are working for the equality of
people. I don't think that because
you wear a three-piece suit you
can't be committed to a cause and
show visible support. There are
many other people in this
community that gets results over a
cup of coffee, or writing a letter to
a legislator.
There are different techniques -
my primary purpose is to add
legitimacy to what the students are
doing by having the administrators
and public see not only a stafff
person, but an adult there. It has to
be a broadbased support group of
faculty, students, leaders, and
community members. That's what
Jesse Jackson has done.
D: Did you ever receive criticism
from fellow adminstrators for being
so active with student causes?
F: I never received criticism to my
face, but I was very much critized
for the BAM movements of 1970
and 1975. I'm sure there are those
moral midgets and dream busters
that had problems with it then and
still have problems with it now.
But that's their problem- I sleep
good at night as I result of what I
did. As a matter of fact, I took my
children to the administration build -
ing the other night to just show
them what was going on and try to
give them a little education about
what was going on. I want to give
them a little perspective and appre -
ciation of the continuing effort.
D: How old are your children?
F: I have a 10-year-old daughter and
a 13-year-old son. They understand
why their daddy does it, and they
appreciate the fact that their daddy
does it. If I can leave nothing else
to them in terms of a legacy, I
could leave them a commitment to
equality.
D: What do you think the future
will hold for our University and our
continuing problems with racism
and minorities?
F: I think as long as the University
exists there will always be the issue
of racism that we are going to have

to confront. To me the key issue is
how we confront it. We will always
have racial acts, but I hope that in
future years, the University's
response in dealing with those acts
would of such a magnitude that
they would be strongly discouraged.
Racism is here to stay, but how we
deal with it is the answer. It is
incumbent upon us all to ensure
that this kind of racist behavior is
not tolerated.

AZYMUTH

__

Lwith special guest
KOKA.YI

mml

Nk

-avow w qr w '"mr- 4m

Roll Cities," the only song written
by Dave Davies, the less famous of
the founding brothers, all of the
tracks are consistantly superb.
"Cities" is a subpar pop/metal tune
lacking in originality and overall
quality. Its main backing is a
foundless claim by Davies that he
invented feedback. Personally, I
tend to think it was Bob Keeshan.
But putting this minor blemish
in the back of our minds, we find
that the other ten tunes are quite
good. All the lyrics are witty, wry,
and just Kinks-solid in general. In
final retrospect the record is simply
outstanding, and is recommended to
everyone.
-Akim D. Reinhardt
Lester Bowie's
Brass Fantasy
Avant Pop (ECM Records)
Lester Bowie is a trumpeter, mad
scientist, and founding member of
the Art Ensemble of Chicago. His
second ECM record with his large
ensemble, Brass Fantasy, is as
wonderful as their debut effort.
Perhaps even more so.
Avant Pop is a warm and relaxed
- but swinging hard - session

w
this
imp
cer
not
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that
whi
pers
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whi

NON=STOP CO
Kinko's is open 24 hou
anytime for fast servic
quality, and low, low p
Great copies.Great
540 E. Liberty St.
Corner of Maynar

GET oN TkE SCENE ..
. W oN L1P." GET oN a'-.
LIKE A SEX
M ACWINE ...

h,

Lester Bowie's debut is well worth a listen.

~WEEKEN/MACI:'2?7 1987

4,-t7 WEEKEND/MARCH 27,e1987

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