w 9w w w IW IW ii w 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 LI PAGE 10 WEEKEND/MARCH 18, 1988 WEEKEND/MARCH 18, 1988