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MICH.ELLANY
A bitter man speaks out!
A LETTER TO MY HIGH 2) Many have said that Michigan
SCHOOL FRIENDS AROUND football is Michigan. Whoops!
THE COUNTRY WAITING TO JOHN What an unfortunate analogy.
HEAR IF THEY GOT INTO THE Michigan football is boooooring.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: SH EA Yeah, Bo's boys are mighty fine,
but being a fan of the king of the
Dear Friend, Big Ten means politely sitting
m Der Fren, through 72-6 massacres, an agony
I bet you're pretty nervous right come here badly and are accepted, I only intensified by sitting in the
now. Believe me, I know what can only tell you one thing: mass of inhumanity that fills
you're going through. I went Don't do it. Michigan Stadium every other
through the same damn thing - Don't come. Saturday in the fall. You go home
racing to my mailbox, everyday in Take it from a man who has been from these affairs with a headache
the middle of March, peering inside here for three years. I am the voice sooo big it lasts the whole week,
hoping to find BIG, FAT envelopes. of experience and if you listen to and then you can't read the 3,000
And I bet what you would like to me, I can guide you to a better pages you were supposed to read.
see, more than anything else in the place. Like Oregon. And then you fail.
whole world, is a BIG, FAT What, you say? I am speaking 3) The administration, in these
envelope from the University of poppycock? No. I'm looking out for trying times of racism and sexism,
Michigan. I don't blame you. We #2 - you - and if we can just sit treats everyone equally; they have an
A b m a d J a m a l are, after all, the best school in the down together and go over the pros equal disregard for both Blacks and
Wolverine state. Don't listen to and cons of the University, you will whites, males and females.
those folks in East Lansing. We know I speak the truth. Are you 4) The winter. It's cold. Damn
Jazz pianist talks about Miles Davis, have a better football team that they with me? Good. cold. You wake up in the morning
. dadonna, and the record o, we haveadbetter...uh... forget First, the pros: and look out your frost covered
M d n a an th reodindustry tha. Never mind. 1) Impressive diploma when you window and then you go back to
Anyway, we're pretty damn good. graduate. bed. And then you fail.
INTERVIEW I can understand why you would 2) A winning football team. 5) You can't walk through the
want to come here. And any day Okay. That about does it. center of campus, affectionately
Ahmad Jamal, 57, is that anomaly known as a living legend. Jamal, now, you will peer into your Now, THE CONS: called the "diag," without tripping
began playing professionally as a teenager in his native Pittsburgh. By mailbox and you will find a letter 1) To get the impressive over a shanty. God knows how long
21, he was leading his own trio, the format for which he became well from Ann Arbor; you will know one diploma, you have to go through the they've been there. And whenever a
known. In 1960, Jamal's "Poincinia" landed in the pop charts for 108 way or the other. If you want to burning flames of hell and back. new injustice in the world comes to
weeks, a rare hit for a jazz musician. The elegant pianist appears with come here badly and are turned away, And I'll tell you right now, the devil
his trio at the Ark tomorrow night for two shoes, at 7:30 and 10 p.m. I am truly sorry. If you want to does not make deals. See Shea, Page 11
le spoke recently with WEEKEND Editor Alan Paul
Daily: Does being from Pittsburgh have any kind of effect on your SKET 4IA br£ZIN N
music? OFTHEW L
Jamal: That's quite a question. Pittsburgh is the birthplace of some of OFF THE WALL
the greatest musicians in the world. Coming from Pittsburgh is a great
big asset because some of the best musical talent comes from there, and I ANO000
that's one of the interesting and unique aspects of that town. Because Have fun, oh youth, while you are
here we had, just in my high school alone, we had Errol Garner and still young. TIRED....
Mary Lou Williams. We had Billy Strayhorn; I sold papers to him -Alvin's Bar, Detroit
when I was a kid. We had George Benson, Stanley Turrentine. It goes
on and on and on. It's a very ri-h city artistically. It is one of the most
important, and unknown, cultux. 'enters in the country. Man are as trapped by their social
D: Do you feel fortunate? There have certainly been a lot of great jazz roles as women are.
musicians who never had a hit record. - Alvin's CWOSE THE. DOOR/
J: Yes, but my approach was never to make a hit record but to make a -o .
good record. If you make a good record, you're going to get some kind t . CA NT YOU G 7 1.o °
of audience. Somebody's going to listen to it. I don't care where or how S M W iN al ° o
many, but you're going to get an audience. Of course sometimes this Live simply, so others may simplyC
happens in greater proportions than others, but you're going to get an live.ER?
audience if it's a good record. And the main thing is to go and make a - Alvin'st
good record. a
D: Has classical music been a large influence on you?I.t .
J: Well in Pittsburgh we didn't have the separation of church and I feel nude without graffiti.
state(laughs). We studied everything. We grew up studying Bach, (in response)
Beethoven, Duke Ellington, and Jimmy Lunceford side by side. I FEEL GRAFFITI IN THE NUDE.
D: Can you tell the difference in influences on you or does it all come
together?
J: It comes together. Repertoire is very important. If you read Arthur
Miller that's good. If you read Arthur Miller and Shakespeare that's Concentrate, mediate, alleviate, try
better. So music is the same thing. The strength of a musician depends not to hate, love your mate, don't
on his repertoire. suffocate.
D: You seem to have developed this reputation as Miles Davis' favorite - Grad Library
piano player. How did that come about?
J: I have heard that many times, and the fact is I think my group has ~TROU s OF StDEtS tNw
influenced more people than Miles Davis. I've had a lot of imitators
through the years, and I think to be emulated by one's peers is the But Bush is better than Reagan. JG02?T,.
highest form of flattery. - UGLi AN ) T GA E ONE
D: You're a pretty avant garde player but to a casual listener, it mayDO-
not seem so. It can sound more simple and pleasant. NO CODE! AS A RMM A'fE.,
See INTERVIEW, Page 11 UGLi
RESTAURANT
Experience the hottest Sze-Chuan cuisine.
By Stephen Gregory
and Alan Paul
If fortune cookies came to your
table before anything else at the Sze-
Chuan West Chinese restaurant, the
messages inside them would almost
certainly read: "You will soon find
complete contentment and satisfac-
tion." And unlike most of the
cookie-encased forecasts, this one
would come true every time. Con-
tent and satisfied are exactly how
you'll feel after a meal at this former
cocktail lounge which used to boast
the largest waterfall in Southeastern
Michigan.
True to its name, the restaurant
serves up Ann Arbor's tastiest Sze-
Chuan cuisine which has been de-
scribed by one devotee as "a brilliant
freak which breaks all the rules of
conventional Chinese Mandarin
cooking and gets away with it."
Head rule-breaker Chef Nie Y ie
Chang sinks all of his Sze-Chuan
dishes into a tangy, spicy, sweet and
sour sauce that he refuses to make in
the presence of others. Palate-tick-
ling Sze-Chuan dinners are offered
up in plentiful servings which will
appease even the biggest appetites.
Customers are offered a choice of
slightly, medium, and extra hot
spice levels, and if you're into really
spicy food, you'll probably want to
opt for extra hot since we didn't find
the medium hot dishes very eye-
watering. That doesn't mean you
should eat the red peppers floating
around the General's Chicken, how-
ever. One bite of these peppers, and
your eyes won't just water they'll
fall out of your head. Trust us.
The crunchy-textured General's
Chicken was not as exciting as
dishes bathed in Chang's Sze-Chuan
sauce; it had a more one-dimensional
flavor but was good nonetheless.
On the other hand, the Jumbo
Shrimp in Spicy Sze-Chuan Sauce
was, well, HMMMM. It was that
good. The sauce had us dropping rice
into our plates to sop up every last
drop.
The entrees were good, very good.
But they were only- the jewel in the
Sze-Chuan West crown. The egg
drop, wonton, and hot and sour
Read
a~S
Un
1 D I
CRaoo edo
soups were all excellent. Our per-
sonal favorite was the hot and sour,
but beware; the requested "extra, hot"
broth brought tears to our eyes and
sweat to our brows. The wonton
soup was also excellent. The won-
tons were uncommonly, plentiful,
but the biggest surprise of the soup
was the highly-flavorful Chinese
pickles, rare in if not absent from
most other wonton broths in town.
The egg drop was the weakest of the
three soups, needing salt and pepper
to bring it to life.
If you have the money, order
some appetizers; they're as good as
everything else. The spring roll was
a bit on the skimpy side, but the
spinach, sprouts, chicken, and pork
inside were fresh and tasty; the roll
didn't need sweet and sour sauce.
Spring rolls, however, are par for the
course. The Wrapped Spicy Chicken
was the real treat. While not very
spicy, the four pieces of meat
wrapped in tin foil and deep-fried
were succulent and juicy.
The service was polite and almost
elegant in its straightforwardness.
The atmosphere was mellow and
comfortable. This is not the place to
head to if you're looking for a
rockin' time but is a great spot to
hang loose and talk with a good
friend. Prices are reasonable, though
a little steep for the average student
budget.
One look at the decor of the
restaurant, located at 2161 W. Sta-
dium, and you'll realize that if Fred
Flintstone were around, he'd call it
the Sze-Rock West. The ceiling and
walls are caked with rounded,
smoothed plaster making the place a
cave. But even if you're not a fat,
prehistoric pop-culture icon, you'll
say, "Yabbadabbadoo" to Sze-Chuan
West. M
Bring you friends to easiest,. :llowes
cave in Ann Arbor.
M
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PAGE 10
WEEKEND/MARCH 18, 1988
WEEKEND/MARCH 18, 1988