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Page 8-- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 29, 1988
Program
traces
spiritual
growth
BYJENIFER BERMAN
S IT back and relax. Get ready to
take a journey with the Intersect
Theatre Dance Company. Don't
expect an action-packed adventure
reminiscent of Indiana Jones;
instead, prepare for an '80s version
of This Is Your Life. K a m -
ikaze/Transcending V is everyone's
life - a chronicle of humanity's
evolution from a state of infancy to
spiritual transcendence.
Kamikaze/Transcending V, the
creation of co-directors Kiro Kopulos
and Ariel Weymouth-Payne,
juxtaposes dance theater and per-
formance art, integrating aspects of
dramatic theater - voice, move-
ment, set, costume - with a
musical and dance background.
The program incorporates a series
of vignettes to convey its trans-
cendental theme. Each individual
segment rhythmically and the-
matically parallels humanity's
spiritual evolution. Beginning (ap-
propriately) with "Begin," the per-
formance unfolds through "Stand,"
"Go Baek," "Burn," "Sing," "Fly,"
concluding with "Into Light." As
Weymouth-Payne explains, the
individual search for spiritual truth is
a transcendence of life - "A Death
to a part of oneself, but the achieve-
ment of a purer life."
The message of K a m i -
kaze/Transcending V is more
spiritual and "organic" than theo-
logical. The symbolism is simple
- basic images of water, fire, air,
Molecules of the Mind
By Jon Franklin
Laurel
Paperback/$8.95
Many books claim to change the reader's view of life. Jon Franklin
has the goods to do so. Since 1973, he has followed molecular
psychology, which has been quietly solving the puzzles of the brain.
Although various discoveries have been publicized, this is the first
overview of the field's explosive progress. The assembled insights
form a disturbing but logical picture of human nature. Commendably,
Franklin does not confine himself to popularized science, but develops
each new concept in its real-world context. Though his reach exceeds
his grasp, he nonetheless creates a remarkable epic of science.
In the opening Franklin depicts a world with a "craziness in the
land," a chain reaction of stress and madness eating up our
civilization. This is the backdrop for the emergence of molecular
psychology, the "brave new science" which sees the brain as a
computer whose "chips" are interconnected by messenger hormones
- an organ that "secretes thoughts as the kidney secretes urine." This
new model has opened the door to a true science of the mind, yielding
technological treasures and a profound knowledge of "who we are and
why we are that way."
To make his point, Franklin weaves together strands of the
"craziness", examining schizophrenia, depression, drug addiction and
violence as society and as the scientists see them. His perceptive
social histories leave no one unscathed in demonstrating the
inadequacy of all traditional approaches to these problems. The
materialistic new science, on the other hand, states that "twisted
molecules lead to twisted thoughts." That does not mean that the
problems are simple, but that they are understandable, perhaps curable.
Franklin devotes a fair amount of his book to describing how
molecular psychology has stimulated the promising new inves-
tigations into depression and schizophrenia and how it has discovered
that street drugs copy the effect of brain hormones.
However, molecular psychology "will not be confined to the test
tube or mental institution." The discipline presents us with unpleasant
truths about the human race: we are mechanisms with Rube Goldberg
three-part brains; our human qualities evolved in response to an
ancient ecological catastrophe, "at a speed that left our minds full ...
of obsolete programs." We are in short a jerry-built species living
beyond our evolutionary means - which would explain a lot of what
we see in the TV news.
Maybe Franklin explains too much, using theories that have not
been verified. What is worse, his writing distracts from his argument,
as in his discussion of irrational violence, which he sabotages by
including the phrase "... his name is John W. Hinckley ... Hinckley,
Hinckley, Hinckley." He further damages his credibility by omitting a
bibliography.
Franklin's half-glimpsed possibilities evoke a gaudy new mil-
lennium out of comic books and an Ollie North apocalypse. Franklin
mentions future pharmaceuticals, such as a possible PCP-based crea-
tivity drug, only in passing, preferring to concentrate on our growing
ability to redefine the human condition. Franklin's nightmare is that
the psychic engineers will thrive in obscurity and in time present the
politicians and generals with something convenient and hideous. Still,
Molecules of the Mind could be read as good science fiction, all the
better for being factual. -Danny Krashin
Kamikaze/Transcending V is an attempt to deal with the possibility of world
destruction and the anger and pain caused by this condition. Kopulo and
Weymouth-Payne posit global consciousness as a remedy for this situation.
and rocks. Weymouth-Payne
describes the piece as "something
like the Origins of Life on the
Discover channel and Beyond
Armageddon."
Kamikaze/Transcending V is an
attempt to deal with the possibility
of world destruction and the anger
and pain caused by this condition.
Kopulo and Weymouth-Payne posit
global consciousness as a remedy for
this situation, and their music and
choreography reflect this message.
The dance and movement of the
piece are clearly ethnically in-
fluenced, drawing on Balinese, Ja-
maican, and yoga influences instead
of typical dance technique.
Kamikaze/Transcending V is an
experimental production, utilizing
various art forms in an attempt to
create a Happening - an immediate
and momentary event of lasting
importance.
Like the representation of
humanity in the piece, the Ann
Arbor performance of Kamikaze
Transcending V is a product of
gradual evolution - the fifth and
final production in two years of
progressive development. The result
should be an experimental and
original production, both socially
relevant and spiritually moving.
KAMIKAZE/TRANSCENDING V
will be performed tonight,
September 29th through October 2nd
at 8:30 p.m. at the Performance
Network, 408 W. Washington.
Suggested donation is $5 to $8.
Quartet
Continued from Page 7
material for the second movement of
this quartet. The somber tone of the
movement pervades throughout the
quartet, underlining the motif of loss
and despair.
Bartok's Third Quartet was one of
the first prize winners of an inter-
pational chamber music competition
sponsored by the Musical Fund
Society oPhiladelphia. This com-
position is the third of Bartok's six
quartets and is the shortest and the
most intense of this composer's
works. It is also one of the least
performed of Bartok's quartet due to
its demand on the musician - both
technically and musically.
But Bartok's quartet should pose
no difficulties for the ensemble,
since it is internationally celebrated
as one of the world's great quartets
and has achieved a stature that places
it among the great ensembles of our
time. Audiences and critics world-
wide have marveled at its precision,
balance, astonishing clarity, and
incomparable intonation. Of a recent
performance, the New York Times
declared, "This was a quartet playing
at the Melba level, or the Horowitz,
Sutherland, or Heifetz level, if you
prefer."
Their many recordings have
earned several prestigious awards
including the Grand Prix du Disque
du Montreaux, Best Chamber Music
Recording of the Year awards from
Stereo Review and Gramophone,
and three Grammy nominations. The
Quartet's diverse repertoire inclides
not only traditional classical but also
music of 20th century composers,
among them avant-garde Japanese
composers. In North America, the
Quartet has engagements each season
on scores of distinguished chamber
music series at colleges and univers-
ities, and are artists-in-residence at
the American University in Wash-
ington, D.C. The University is in
luck to be one of the chosen few to-
night.
THE TOKYO STRING QUARTET
will appear at Rackham Auditorium
at 8 p.m. tonight; tickets range from
$8-$17. There will be a brief lecture
one hour before the peerformance by
Dr. William Sloane, an authority on
Amati string instruments.
Nin1.e s
Continued from Page 7
problems getting booked for shows.
Bergh extrapolated, claiming that the
problems they run into are that the
local bars are more apt to book cover
bands than originals, because the
cover bands draw the crowd that will
spend a lot at the bar.
"The only place that doesn't seem
to be scared to book lesser known,
non-cover bands is the Blind Pig,
but that place is so far away no one
really wants to go all the down there
unless they are familiar with the
music," Bergh said. "Rick's wants to
draw in the crowd that spendsta great
deal at the bar, and we just don't
draw that crowd when we play."
Live, the band shines through
with all the personality and vibrancy
the individual members themselves
possess. That they are able to bring
this energy onstage with them
creates not only an interesting stage
presence, but rounds out their live
show. Looming an average six foot-
three inches from the floor, these
hairy jokers know how to have a
good time with a serious set.
And Nines have no plans to stop
after graduation. "We don't want to
work on Wall Street or go to law
school. We all want to play music.
It's what we want to do with our
lives."
BIG BOX OF NINES will be
playing tonight at the U-Club.
Opening for the band will be Battery
Acid Vacation, a power four-piece
from Kalamazoo. Doors open at 9
p.m. and cover will be three measly
dollars.
0-
Who Do You Call
When You Want To
Identify A Soccer
x BallA t 22,300 Miles
In Space?
A company called "TRW". Here's the story.
The U.S. Air Force asked us to build a ground-based
electro-optical deep space surveillance system that
could identify an object the size of a soccer ball at
22,300 miles in space. We did it, utilizing 3 telescopes
and a large 4 computer system. Then they asked us to
6 build four more system sites. Quite an achievement,
but it's just one example of TRW's impact on the future.
TRW offers you the freedom to move among a wide
variety of opportunities in microelectronics, high
energy lasers, large software systems, communica-
tions, and scientific spacecraft. If you're majoring in
engineering, computer science, math, or physics, and
want to be with a company that's driving technology
into the next century, it's not too soon to talk. Tomor-
row is taking shape at a company called TRW.
If you are unable to see us on campus, please send
~f your resume to: TRW, College Relations, E2/4000,
Dept. AD88, One Space Park, Redondo Beach,
CA 90278.
Because Anywhere Else Is Yesterday.
TRW Inc. 1988. TRW is the name and mark of TRW Inc.
An Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer
United States Citizenship May Be Required
TRWwill be on0
camnus Oct. 6th. I /V
The Department of Philosophy
The University of Michigan
announces
THE TANNER LECTURE ON HUMAN
VALUES
1988-89
TONI MORRISON
Schweitzer Professor of the Humanities
State University of New York at Albany
UNSPEAKABLE THINGS UNSPOKEN:
AFRO-AMERICAN PRESENCE IN AMERICAN
LITERATURE
Friday, October 7
4:00 pm
Rackham Lecture Hall
SYMPOSIUM ON THE TANNER
LECTURE
TONI MORRISON
AMIRI BARAKA
Department of African Studies
State University of New York at Stony Brook
HAZEL V. CARBY
Department of English and Women's Studies Program
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