w w ..w

MICHELLANY
A Disneyland with God
Deep in the heart of Charlotte, and waving to the next car.
North Carolina, there is a big, bright "There's Billy Graham's child-
red billboard which says, "THE JOH N hood home, to the left," my friend
DREAM LIVES ON!" A casual pointed out. The sign on the lawn
glance might lead you to suspect it S H EA says so; but the small, slickly de-
is a reference to Martin Luther signed structure rings more of art-
King's "I have a dream" speech. But deco than log cabin, making it hard
it's not, It can't be. Not with the to believe the house was around
smiling faces of Jim and Tammy my friends said. when I was a child, much less Billy.
Bakker splattered across it. My other friend was somewhat As we drove on we noticed the
"Looks like we're in PTL coun- reluctant but after a little friendly skeleton of an incompleted hotel.
try," I said to my two travelling persuasion he relented and we headed You can't be fooled. Despite what
Scompanions who nodded their in. the billboard said, the neglected, un-
agreement. There is no admission fee to finished structure suggested that the
It was a fluke that we were there, Heritage, U.S.A. We were surprised dream" has been put on indefinite
really. Travelling down 1-77 and try- at this since we fully expected an el- hold.
ing to get to the Golf Heaven that is derly gentleman wearing a navy We continued on to the U.S.A.
South Carolina, fatigue set in. We blazer to stick a straw basket Hotel, where we had lunch. "Good
were in desperate need of nourish- through our car window the second afternoon, gentlemen," our hostess
ment and fuel. One of my friends we passed under the archway. In- said in a voice that smacked of
saw a sign on the highway that read stead, we were greeted by a young Southern hospitality. She seated us
"Heritage, U.S.A., next exit," and man standing by a guard house in at a table overlooking the hotel
T Cla ,7,n' Sfavorite guitarist tells we were, well, curious. How many the middle of the road. He was what lobby. "I'll get you your waitress.
newsstories did we see last winter they called a "greeter," and his job She'll be with you in just a mo-
uthy lie s still singing the blues about the gaudiness and excesses of was to smile and wave at every car ment. Have a good meal, and God
this place? Enough to get us through that passes through Heritage, bless you."
INTERVIEW the whole winter. U.S.A., every day. As we passed, he God bless you. My heavens, I
-_ _ _And now we found ourselves flashed us a genuine smile and gave haven't heard that since I went to
only two hundred yards from the en- us a hearty wave. church last Christmas.
Buddy Guy is a fiery guitarist who played with pyrotechnical fury trance. (For those who don't know We were so touched by the ges- "Can you believe this?" one of
before it was trendy to do so. Guy's no-holds-barred playing and stage what "Heritage U.S.A." is, picture ture that we felt compelled to smile my friends said, looking into the
antics quickly earned him a reputation as a live performer, after he Disneyland with God running all the even harder and wave even faster than lobby. Hardly. Talk about excess:
moved to Chicago in 1957 at the age of 21. le became the house gui- rides.) the greeter. But it mattered little. He there was a swimming pool planted
tarist for Chess Records, playing on sessions with blues greats such as "Let's have lunch here," one of didn't see us; he was already smiling
Muddy Waters and Little Walter. le is the favorite guitarist of many See SHEA, Page 9
rock musicians from Clapton to Keith Richards to Sevie Ray Vaughn. _________Yetd
Yet despite years of ravings from such noteworthy musical friends, theETAZ INN
outspoken and affable Guy's fame has not moved beyond the inner cir- OFF THE WALL N
cle of musicians and blues lovers. Guy, who appears at Alvin's in De-
troit tonight and tomorrow night, spoke recently with WEEKEND Edi- ~
tor Alan Paul. (Call 832-2355 for concert information or directions.) Q. What is the difference between a
Daily: What are you up to these days? duck?
Guy: Playing a little bit man. Trying to get someone to record me. You A. One of its wings is both the
know, I don't have a recording contract but I'm not letting that get in the same.
way of my playing. I'm just doing what I do best and that's go out and (in response)
try top make the blues still alive a bit. GOD, THAT'S DEEP..
D: So you're still having a good time most of the time? - Angell Hall
G: Oh man! If I wasn't, I wouldn't play. I just love what I'm doing. I
love blues playing. I often get the question popped to me, you know I Money may not buy happiness, but ,
could probably have been rich if I had switched music butI started with it will buy you the kind of misery -:NA
this and man I'm still fighting with it. You've got to love it to stay with you'd prefer. \
it the way it treats you sometimes. - Nat Sci0-1
D: I saw recently that in an interview Eric Clapton said you were the 1!4 * -' =Ai
best guitarist alive. U - OtAC
G: Yeah (laughs). He's a good friend of mine. Since that I did a BBC Asia
television show with him. It was great. We went in and played some Beastie Boys
blues. We didn't put in no special pieces, we just took a piano, drums, Cream \I"S1HE(JfEflBo
bass and me and him. and it sounded good man. Duran-Duran SU DIE YOU R1
D: What kind of deals are you working on now? Echo and the Bunnyman MEA Om $ OtAi ?
G: I don't know. My manager's talking to the companies but no one Foreigner
wants to record real blues. I could have recorded for one of those labels Go-Gos
that don't get any airplay but I'm just hoping that I can get one where I HeartA
can get some recognition for the blues. (in response)
D: Have you thought about doing something with Alligator? IF YOU'RE THAT BORED THAT/
G: I don't know man. Me and that guy (Alligator President Bruce YOU HAVE TO ALPHABETIZEv
Iglauer) never did settle horses too well. He's a nice guy but I'm the one BANDS, AT LEAST PICK SOME
that play the blues, and I don't doubt anyone about it but I don't want no GOOD BANDS!
one to come into the studio and tell me what to play. I been had that - UGLi
happen to me all my life. My Stone Crazy album is the best I ever had.tA )
I was in France and the guy said, "look this is you, the machines are The U.S. Government spends ten
rolling, we're not going to tell you shit. You play." And that's more thousand times as much on the .o
closer to me than I've had in a long time. military as it does for protecting en- .
D: It really captured what you do live. dangered species. Consider that. MIN TRoUBLE KEEPING YOUR FOOD IN ITS PLACE.?
See INTERVIEW, Page 9 - School of Natural Resources (M5T CAPS DNINCi NAILNOW AVF

FILM

'Vice

By Lisa Pollak
"You're gonna pay to see Vice
Versa ?" the cynics cried. "You're
gonna endure that stupid Freaky Fri-
day ripoff?" "You're gonna give it a
good review?"
It's not easy convincing the cyn-
ics - especially when .the movie
poster pictures a man skateboarding
off the top of his desk. But director
Brian Gilbert could have made it
easier by including this disclaimer in
the opening credits:
Please abandon any desire to
doubt, disregard, or utterly despise
this movie. Try not to dwell on the
fact that the old parent-switches-
bodies-with-kid story has been reused
and abused to death. Try to resist
the inevitable comparisons to the
juvenile 'Freaky Friday' or the inane
'Like Father, Like Son.' Try to ig-
nore the stupid title and the idiotic
poster. And critics, try to avoid
jokes like "The movie is boring, and
it stinks. And Vice Versa. Ha-ha-
ha." This movie is good. So there.
If nothing else, such a disclaimer
would save reviewers the trouble of
writing sarcastic remarks in their
notebooks during the first fifteen
minutes of the film- remarks like
"what the hell do the first two min-
utes have to do with the rest of the
movie?" "Could this be any more
predictable?" and just plain "yuck,"
especially after exchanges between
11-year-old Charlie (Fred Savage)

ersa' pul
and his father Marshall (Judge Rein-
hold) like this:
Charlie: I wish I could change
places with you.
Marshall: (Earnestly) Yeah! I
wish I could too.
Loud explosion, followed by
flashing lights and great clouds of
smoke flowing from an "ancient Far
Eastern skull."
Charlie: Wow, you're me!
Marshall: (Earnestly) And
you're... me!
If it seems hard to believe that the
parent-to-kid transposition could oc-
cur at all (let alone in movie after
movie), it seems harder to believe
this film could be entertaining,
amusing, and sincere. But Vice
Versa - a movie which practically
dares us to hate it - in a sense lets
us down.
It's actually good.
And it's good primarily because
of the unbelievably believable
switch between the two distinct, if
not entirely original, personalities.
The divorced Marshall is a somewhat
bumbling department store executive
juggling his son, his job, and his
girlfriend Sam (intelligently acted by
Corinne Bohrer). He is successful
(clue: he calls his waiter Pasquali
and drinks Perrier), high-strung, ar-
gumentative, and frankly uninspir-
ing.
His son Charlie came right out of
a file marked "Hollywood 11-year-
old." He hates school, loves heavy

is a switch on

the



metal, keeps a frog in his pocket,
and typically endures taunts about
his height.
But two characters that are dull in
writing and merely adequate in the
proper bodies become so sensitive
and clever after the well-acted meta-
morphosis - from Reinhold's
clumsy "Charlie" walk to Savage's
perplexed "Marshall" stare - that
the switch will convince even the
most cynical viewer. That doesn't
mean we don't have to suffer
through spurts of predictability: yes,
the "really 11 year-old" Marshall
goes on date with Sam; yes, the
"really 35-years-old" Charlie has to
kiss his mother. ("This is the
woman I couldn't live with as a
husband and now I'm going to be
her son," he says.)
But Reinhold, Savage, and direc-
tor Gilbert realized that the film's
comedy, to be sincere in the face of
such a ridiculous premise, would
have to come from characterization
and not situation. Although the
cynics might cringe, the "switched"
personalities do offer their intended
and proverbial insights into fathers,
sons, and their relationships in such
a way that... well, let's just say the
word "heartwarming" wouldn't be
entirely inappropriate. If you can
forget your cynicism for an hour and
a half, then you can laugh (and not
derisively) at this movie. And vice
versa. Ha-ha-ha.

K.ABUK
I (BETH
° East meets West in an
extraordinary account of
the Macbeth legend in
The Acting Company's
production o
KAB JKI MACBETH.
This is an entirely new
play that blends the poetry,
music, dance and visual
brilliance of Kabuld
theatre with Shakespeare's
classic themes of fate,
greed and ambition.

r I

I

Join us
for
Sunday
Brunch
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Judge Reinhold is actually convincing
father's body in 'Vice Versa.'
Albei
, 170

ON TOUR FOR THE
JOHN F.KENNEDY CENTER
Coming Sat. March 19,1988,8 pm
Michigan Theatre
Tickets $19.50 & $12.50
Charge by phone 668-8397
WEEKEND
MAGAZINE
Fridays in The Daily
763-0379

uW

IL

17

OUNTAIN
5ACK'S.
300S.Maple . Ann Arbor
665-1133


Open
March
We have somet
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(313) '

11

WEEKEND/MARCH 11, 1988

PAGE 8

WEEKEND/!AARCH 11, 1988


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