ARTS The Michigan Daily You Thursday, October 8, 1987 Page 7 gotta 'look fine an By Brian Bonet Rayon, lava lamps, and the Hollywood mock metal band Redd Kross. All bring back memories of the glorious '70s, a time when cotton was a fashion taboo and Marcia Brady was every adolescenta girl's idol. The decade of colossal, collars was the period many of usM were weaned on. Too young to understand Vietnam, we spent our time worrying about the color of ourt mood rings and John Travolta's next career move.{ Upon reflection, the trends of the '70s seem a bit silly, but that was the beauty of a generation which ' preferred disco over Descartes. It's the same beauty that Redd Kross carries into the uptight, conservativeN '80s, a band that penned a song about Linda Blair, calls Kiss one of_ their premier influences, and starred in the touching rock e X - They're not the Partridge Family but Redd Kross are true pet rock collectors. Left to right: Jeffrey McDonald, pose/saga/documentary video movie Steven McDonald, Robert Hecker, and Roy McDonald. Local author celebrates irst novel d be] Desperate Teenage Lovedolls and the sequel Lovedoll Superstar. After I woke him up from an afternoon nap, lead guitarist Michael Hecker talked about life on the road, The Brady Bunch, and the practical versus aesthetic reasons for wearing spandex. Daily: What's the reason for the current tour? There's no new record you're supporting. Hecker: There's do real support. The back of our shirts say Chaka Con Holly which is the concept. Anyway, our tour is in the namesake of Chaka of Land of the Lost fame. We've been on the road about five or six months out of this year. It just like second rounds before we go away for a half year. We'll scam Europe or whatever we can do. D: I've seen both of the Lovedoll movies. Is there anything a young, aspiring rockstar should get out them? H: Yeah, sure! You gotta, like, look fine and be pure! pure' - D: Do you think that rock 'n' roll is too serious today? H: No. I mean sometimes it's too much pent on a self destructive vein and then that's serious and pathetic. I suppose it can be serious like on a... I don't know, whoever is serious, Neil Pert level or something like that. But not everybody's serious. You gotta figure the Beatles aren't even serious. Kiss obviously can't be serious if you know any of their lyrics. D : What about Bruce Springsteen? In Lovedoll Superstar you have Gene Simmons (of Kiss) killing Bruce. Is there any statement there? H: Sure it was a statement. It was a statement on... I don't know! (laughs) '80s music or all music. I won't say '80s music because that rules, too. You know, whatever. Its just a vein. Probably more an attack at his listenership than himself. See KROSS Page 8 By Keith Hersh For one of the characters of Charles Baxter's new novel First Light, "Adulthood is a puzzle. Its logic is unknown." The tools he uses for building additions to his house serve as puzzle pieces of his own search for some way to "nail, down" his life. This character experiences a theme that runs throughout most of Baxter's work - the search for a foundation, a starting point from where one can begin or start over. Many readers are thankful that Baxter opens this search to spectators, for they are struck by both the precise construction and the humanity of his writing. Baxter, a well known short-story writer, is spending this year as a visiting professor at the University. An Ann Arbor resident and professor at Wayne State University, Baxter has published two collections of short stories, Harmony of the World and Through the Safety Net, before the recent publication of his first novel, First Light. Baxter's work is often difficult to define and categorize. Many of the stories inThrough the Safety Net have a mysterious, mystical element in them. "Gryphon" is a child's story of an unusual substitute teacher. She teaches the class many ideas that intrigue the narrator, from the "fact" that six times eleven is sometimes sixty-eight to what is underneath Venus' dense cloud cover - "Angels. Angels live under those clouds." Yet Baxter does not lose himself in this mysticism. He lives very definitely in the present, and the combination of these two aspects often leads to fascinating stories. First Light is the story of a brother, Hugh, and his sister Dorsey. It explores their deep filial love for each other and the distance that time, aging .and different ambitions have placed between them. Baxter, however, chooses an unordinary and intriguing technique to tell the siblings' story - he tells it chronologically backwards. Working from a middle-aged Dorsey's return to their hometown of Five Oaks, Michigan, back to her childhood with Hugh, the novel details the events that changed the two and isolated them from each other. Readers have found this technique, along with Baxter's subtle and pro- vocative style of prose, to make for a stunning, moving novel in First Light. Charles Baxter will read from First Light this Saturday night at 8 p.m. at the Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth. Alan Cheuse, known writer , will also read. Tickets are $5 for students. DON'T MISS THE KICK-OFF! GREAT DEALS * INCREDIBLE PRICES * COMPUTERS * * SUPPLIES * SACCESSORIES* COMPUTER KICK-OFF DAYS October 9 & 10th, 1987 U of M Coliseum at the Corner of Hill & 5th ComputerLand - Learning Center Ltd. - Inacomp Computer Center ME" ILel INTERESTED IN SALES or BUSINESS EXPERIENCE? Learn the "ins and outs" of newspaper operations and advertising sales. As a Junior Account Executive, you'll work 5 hours per week organizing, creating, and processing ads for a student-run organization. Deadline for applications is Friday, October 9. For more information, call Anne Kubek or Karen Brown at 764- 0554. DO IT NOW. Your Future Depends On It. 420 Maynard Thurs.-Sun., Oct. 8-11 Fri., Oct. 9 Sun., Oct.11 The University of Michigan SCHOOL OF MUSIC A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum- by Stephen Sondheim. Presented by Music Theatre Program, Tim Millett, director. Tickets $9, $6 and $4 (students). Call764-0450 Mendelssohn Theatre, 8:00 PM (Th.-Sat.), 2:00 PM (Sun.) Concert Band/Chamber Winds Donald Schleicher, conductor; Dennis Smith, trombone soloist Program includes Eklund, Concerto for Trombone and Wind Orchestra Hill Auditorium, 8:00 PM Stearns Lecture, "The Early Clarinet and Its Development" McIntosh Theatre, 2:00 PM Michigan Chamber Players: Andres Cardenes, violin; Yishak Schotten, viola; Jerome Jelinek, cellojJeffrey. Solow, cello; John Moher, clarinet; Harry Sargous, oboe; Ellen Weckler, piano. Program includes music of Beethoven Dorati, and Dohnanyi School of Music Recital Hall, 4:00 PM OVERVOORDE Opening a show of wood-cuts and "cloudscape" paintings ... __ t ".- :, eLj / ° /. 'I i J i ? FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9,7:30-9:00 p.m. Lecture on the works at 8:00 p.m. at CAMPUS CHAPEL 1236 Washtenaw Ct. 668-7421 (one block south of Geddes and Washtenaw) GOLD RING SALE. Get the experience you need for the job you deserve. You're working hard in your classes, but good grades alone won't get you a job after graduation. Get on-the-job experience-with We have openings for two dedicated people Jostens Gold Sale. For one week only. Order and save on the gold ring of your choice.