ARTS

the Michigan Daily

Tuesday, April 19, 1988

Page 8

Silos

store

sounds

of

the

South

By Lisa Magnino
Country-based underground rock-
ers The Silos plow into town tonight
for a show with Ann Arbor's Fully
Loaded, bringing with them the
bumper crop of Southern-tinged tal-
ent that won them the title of
Rolling Stone's Best New Band of
1987.
Since then the inevitable question
of every interview has been, "How
has this award affected the band?" The
answer, thankfully, is that it hasn't.
Walter Salas-Humara, lead singer,
guitarist, and songwriter for the band
comments, "It's made a lot more
people curious about us, so we've
attracted bigger crowds, but the band
doesn't really have anything to live
up to ... we just play like we always
have."
And the way they always have is
to follow their own natural instincts

- to draw from country, rock, clas-
sical, and even Cuban influences.
Critics have compared them with ev-
eryone from The Band to the Velvet
Underground, but again Salas-Humara
doesn't let these categorizations phase
him: "We don't follow current trends
or try to predict what's coming ...
otherwise you get too dated ... we go
for a natural sound. We just do
straight music with a capital M."
The Silos capitalized their Music
with their strong second album,
Cuba. The sound is solid, from the
warm solos of violinist Mary Rowell
to the upbeat rhythms of John Gal-
way. The rough, sometimes discor-
dant blues feel of lead guitarist and
native Detroiter Bob Rupe is accented
by Salas-Humara's folksy strum-
ming.
The downhome lyrics add to the
natural feeling of the Silos' warm
rhythms, but have proved to be a

looking for from memories left be-
hind" and "Going Round," another
acoustic ballad that calls for people to
believe in themselves no matter
what.
Listening to these homespun
tales on vinyl is perfect for a summer
day when you're sitting on your
porch with your feet propped up. But
Salas-Humara claims that this mel-
low flavor changes when they're on-
stage. "A live show should be differ-
ent ... it's more interesting that way.
Live we're wilder ... we go for the
ear-splitting volumin and all that." He
claims that fans, especially Midwest-
erners, appreciate this difference: "The
fans in the Midwest like to scream
and jump around a lot more."
Ann Arbor will have the
opportunity to reap THE SILOS'
harvest at the Blind Pig tonight.
Showtime is 10 p.m. and tickets are
$5.

*

The Silos' barnstorming blend of country, classical, and rock won them the title of Rolling Stone's Best
New Band of 1987.

misunderstood point to Salas-Hu-
mara. He argues with those who
think that his songs focus on every-
day family life: "From three songs
on Cuba, everybody thinks that I
only write about families. I just write

naturally ... which is different from
the posing that most other bands are
doing. But I do work hard on my
lyrics. You don't want people to get
the picture too quickly ... it's got to
be open-ended so people can get dif-

ferent meanings for themselves."
In keeping with the pleasing flow
of the Silos' music, most of these
meanings are optimistic. Cases in
point are the striking "Memories,"
where a man wants to "find what I'm



Kirkland's performance
in otherwise obscure 'A

shines
Anna'

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By Andrea Gacki
The Academy Award nomination
for Best Female Lead Actor bestowed
upon Sally Kirkland for her perfor-
mance in Anna provoked varied
reactions such as "Who?" and "In
what movie?" from a majority of
filmgoers. Those who had heard of
the film suspected it merely to be
supermodel Paulina Porizkova's cin-
ematic vehicle, specially designed to
escape the fickle whirl of high fash-
ion. For such a major Oscar nomi-
nation to evolve from a movie con-
demned to relative obscurity, how-
ever, one knows that the performance
of Kirkland must be stupendous.
In a cruel understatement, Sally
Kirkland's performance in Anna is
indeed amazing. Kirkland fuels a film
that amounts to little more than an
All About Eve about Czech emigrds
and transforms it into an absorbing

and powerful portrayal of an emo-
tionally tormented woman.
Yurek Bogayckicz's Anna is the
tale of Anna Radkova (Sally Kirk-
land), once the greatest female film
actor in all of Czechoslovakia, who
was forced to emigrate to America
after the Soviet invasion of her
homeland. In the United States,
however, she's lucky to win the part
of an understudy in an extremely odd
way-Off Broadway play. Into the
midst of Anna's misery falls
Krystyna (Paulina Porizkova), a
newly arrived Czech immigrant
complete with peasant garb and
earnestly waving a picture of Anna as
a young actress. Anna takes the girl
in, and the film becomes Bette Davis
and Anne Baxter all over again.
The tortured Anna, who clings to
her lover Daniel (Robert Fields) and
her past as ferociously as she deni-
grates and eschews them, is sad and
pitiful while still remaining an icon

of strength and beauty. Such oppo-
sites are deftly interwoven by Kirk-
land, and through her, the film Anna
reaches the apex of character defini-
tion. Bogayekicz also gleans an able
performance from typecast Poriz-
kova, but she is most effective as the
ugly Czech duckling with rotten
teeth and broken English. These
strong characters interact in a
swirling, surreal escapade that,
unfortunately, eventually exhausts
itself. In the end, Anna grabs a fast
and easy exit that cannot compare
with its beginning.
Despite a film that has as many
facets of success and failure as Anna
herself, Sally Kirkland shines
throughout. Her convincing Czech
accent and infectious guffaws create a
very real, very stunning role. Be-
cause of Kirkland, Anna is a film
that will deservedly escape limbo, for
its mark of greatness is her superb
performance.

-

Lightsey lights up the Bird
Pianist Kirk Lightsey, who gained international prominence with his
work with the Dexter Gordon Group, will appear with a trio at the Bird of
Paradise this Thursday - Saturday. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. (all ages)
and 9:30 p.m. with additional late shows Friday and Saturday nights at
11:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for the entire evening, excluding those under
1 who may purchase tickets for 7:30 p.m. shows only for $5.
( STUDENT ACCO UNTS:
Yourattention iscalled to the following rules passed by the
Regents at their meeting on February 28,1936:
"Students shall pay all accounts due the University not
later than the last day of classes of each semester or
summer session. Student loans which are not paid or
renewed are subject to this regulation; however, student
loans not yet due are exempt. Any unpaid accounts at the
close of business on the last day of classes will be reported
to the Cashier of the University and
"(a) All academic credits will be withheld, the grades for
the semester or summer session just completed will not be
released, and no transcript of credits will be issued.
"(b) All students owing such accounts will not be allowed
to register in any subsequent semester or summer session
until payment has been made.'

Kirkland
... well-earned nomination


Your Exams MayBe Over,
Bo ive
A Paper. oFinish?

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Training. Promoting * Growing

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