}?ge $ - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 9, 1987 'Bonsai' : for college crowds only PIRGIM films C1 orco a fl " By Peter Ephross A New York Times columnist once wrote "Uncle Bonsai's music, while a bit too precious for a mass audience, seems tailor-made to cap- ture the hearts of smart college kids." It is always refreshing to find a reviewer who understands the appeal of a musical group. When Uncle Bonsai played the Ark last winter, they performed for one show. That show drew 55 people. After a little more exposure, most notably their crowd-catching performance at this winter's Folk Festival, the trio will be playing four shows at the Ark this weekend, two on Saturday night and two more on Sunday night. Andrew Ratshin, Arni Adler, and Ashley Eichrodt first met as stu- dents at Bennington College in Ver- mont, (best known as the most expensive institution of higher learning in America). It's no won- der, then, that their songs mix a high level of sarcasm with a certain amount of envy. Uncle Bonsai con - stantly make fun of society's successes. "Isaac's Lament" grieves at the firing of Gopher from the television show The Love Boat, while "Suzy," a song that Ann Ar- bor's Chenille Sisters have covered extensively (and even performed on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion), ridicules the plasticity of a woman living in, shall we say,. a material world. Currently based in Seattle, Uncle Bonsai - the name, not surpris- ingly, does not mean anything - perform in a style fairly reminiscent of the Roches. Their stellar har- monies are evidenced by their vocal version of Mozart's "A Little Night Music." They have also performed their own version of "The Star Spangled Banner" before a Seattle Supersonics basketball game. Uncle Bonsai frequently mocks their own - or perhaps society's - obssession with sex. This is not surprising, considering that the title of their current LP is Boys Want Sex in the Morning. On the rec- ord's back cover the trio's members are sitting in a kitchen, surrounded by twinkies and copies of The Na- celebrate diversity tional Enquirer. A closer glance reveals that Adler is squeezing the cream out of one of the twinkies. Their songs provide further evi- dence; their biggest crowd-pleaser is their overtly Freudian-influenced "Penis Envy." To quote lines from the song would be detract too much from its performance, so suffice it to say you'll just have to hear it for yourself. Uncle Bonsai's performances this weekend are guaranteed to de- stroy any bit of sanctity left in our society. Performances are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday nights at 7:30 and 10 p.m.. Tick ets are $10 and can be purchased at the Ark, Schoolkids, Herb David's, and the Michigan Union Ticket Office. (Continued from Page 7) who must. The festival began on Monday with The Left-Handed Woman, the story of a German housewife who decideds to move to a little suburb in Paris. Starting tonight and extending through Saturday, PIRGIM will show a film nightly. This evening's presentation is Word is Out, a documentary focusing on the lives of 26 homosexuals. Through these interviews, we learn about what they've been through and what it means to them to be different than anyone else. The film is not what one would expect. When listening and watching the people being interviewed, there is a noticable absense of sentimentality or self- pity. Ranging in ages from 18 to 77, those who are being interviewed simply relate what they have been through. One turned to the Catholic Church and found it oppressive; another had enough of being rejected by society and ran away to France to join the Woman's Army Corps, only to dress in drag and be dishonorably discharaged; and yet another had a psychiatrist try 'to "cure" his homosexuality-by having him eat two salads a day. And lots of vegetables. "A Celebration of Diversity" is being held at Angell Hall, Auditorium D. Showtimes for: Word is Out are at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday's show, Quilombo, is about multi-racial nation defending itself against the Portugese; showtimes are at 7 and 9:30 p.m. The festival concludes Saturday with Faces of Women, an erotic film about fem- inism in modern-day Africa. Showtimes are at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. 4 4 i Danish Film Festival explores adolescence By Kurt Serbus A six-film festival sponsored by the Danish Cultural Institute and the Danish Film Institute will be shown free of charge to Ann Arbor residents this weekend. The festival, which features all new (post-1980) Danish films will include Ann Arbor in its five city, four month tour thanks mainly to the efforts of University of Michigan Danish lecturer Gitte Mose, though the Danish Language Endowment Fund, the Department of Germanic Languages and Lit- eratures, the Center for Western Euro pean Studies, and the Scandanavian Club all had a hand in bringing the festival to A-town. Mose, who sees the .series as "part of a promotion of Danish language teaching" as well as an entertaining and enlightening cultural experience, expressed hopes that a festival of this sort could become a bi-annual event in Ann Arbor. The films were selected to appeal to the theme of adolescence, though the connecting thread is not always clear. Such films as The World Of Buster (about a young boy who refuses to let gritty reality shake his optimistic faith in the power of dreams) and Samson and Sally (the animated adventures of two young whales searching for the legendary Moby Dick) seem custom made for a younger audience. On the other hand, The Traitors, which deals with two young men during WWII whose disdain for communism causes them to throw in their lots with the Nazis, and Thunderbirds, a buddy-buddy film about the relationship between an extrovert and an introvert, explore male- bonding and maturation in slightly older characters. The remaining two films, Beauty and the Beast and A World Full of Children, focus on adults and their feelings about and relationships with children. The former portrays a father who must learn to let go of his nearly grown daughter; the latter concerns a young couple who must stare down the maw of a childless marrige when they find they are medically incapable of conceiving. The films will be shown in Angell Hall, auditorium A, at the following times: Saturday: 4:00- The Traitors, 7:00-Thunderbirds, 9:00-A World Full Of Children. Sunday : 2:00-Beauty And The Beast, 3:40-The World Of Buster, 5:15-Samson And Sally. Michigan Daily ARTS 763-0379 I [EEL ~F I IN CONCERT 'p U s i { IF = OR ! TUESDAY LUNCH LECTURES 12 NOON at the INTERNATIONAL CENTER - 603 E. Madison April 14: "Report on the Revolution in Nicaragua: "Hope and Reality" Speaker: NILE HARPER, Director of Ecumenical Campus Center. Spons ored by THE ECUMENICAL CAMPUS CANTER & THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER WHEN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA VISIT UIVERSAL AN MCA COMPANY I' The University of Michigan School of Music presents Friday, April 10 WIND ENSEMBLE, H. Robert Reynolds, conductor. works by Strauss and Mozart. Rackham Auditorium, 8:00 p.m. Saturday, April 11 SYMPOSIUM ON COMPUTERS AND THE PERFORMING ARTS Public event: Computer Music Videos, Auditorium 4, Modern Language Building, 2:00 p.m. Tickets $3 at the door CONTEMPORARY DIRECTIONS ENSEMBLE H. Robert Reynolds, music director. Icl. computer music by Tod Machover and Roger Reynolds. Rackham Auditorium, 8:00 p.m. MEN'S GLEE CLUB Patrick Gardner, conductor. Hill Auditorium, 8:00 p.m. Tickets, 764-1448. 4 4 a Worn, I Th1URidAYApRiI9 STUDIOS TOUR MICHAEL J. FOX TNE NoT TICKET TO EUROPE i F: T_ q T SOME IT'S4 C0 M/M'Eool PR/CE 41 . Icelandair Direct to Luxembourg from Chicago is only $689 round trip! " Free express motorcoaches to Germany, Holland and Belgium. * Only $15 by train to Switzerland and France. 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