ARTS The Michigan Daily Buff1 Pow! W i B * . SVi nce Kueterissapn to bring poetry to Ann Arbor. And you thought * Lord Byron was tough. Tuesday, November 1, 1988 Page 7 MacLaine doesn't age gracefully in Sousatzka 4Z7 41V BY ANDREA GACKI I suppose it's inevitable with "advanced age." That is, actresses who have long and venerable careers behind them are forced to play mothers and grandmothers, wise old ladies, and doddering aunts. These characters, so uninteresting to the viewing public, nonetheless attract the attention of the Academy which perhaps sees a last chance to reward the actress for all the times she was cheated of that all-important Oscar. In Madame Sousatzka, Shirley MacLaine has such a character. Her role as an eccentric piano teacher has been called something like "a cross between Miss Jean Brodie and Auntie Maine." Well, Shirley MacLaine sadly lacks Mag- gie Smith's austerity as Brodie, and Rosalind Russell's composure and hauteur as Mame Dennis would be incredibly welcome. Madame Sousatzka is instead like Irma La Douce with a metronome. MacLaine hasn't quite fallen out of character since her Oscar-winning Madame Sousatzka, for all of its vaunted charm, actually forces its quaint characters to stereotype themselves. performance in Terms of Endearment: her character is still possessive, obsessed, and rather repressed. But this role will nevertheless be praised, not so much for what Shirley MacLaine has done with it as for what she has done in the past, because M a d a m e Sousatzka, for all of its vaunted charm, actually forces its quaint characters to stereotype themselves. John Schlesinger's film is gener- ally focused upon the life of Manek Sen (Navin Chowdhry), a young In- dian virtuoso. He comes to Madame Sousatzka to learn by her odd method, a teaching style that in- cludes summoning music not from the fingers but from the abdomen and constant feasting upon the cookies of dear old Maman. Lady Emily (Peggy Ashcroft) is the sweet concierge and owner of Madame's apartment house; her lilting voice coos continually "the door is open -always open." Downstairs is Mr. Cordle (Geoffrey Baydon), a chiro- practor, and upstairs is Jenny See Madame, Page 8 ter' \ t z=li I Tony Fitzpatrick's no stranger at being a contender - he was an amateur boxer in a previous life. BY MARIE WESAW CONSIDER the Hopwood Awards for a minute - those yearly literary awards that have brought such writers and poets as Arthur Miller, Marge Piercy, and Nancy Willard into the limelight during their years here at the University. No one can deny, with the Hopwoods and various writers' series in mind, that the University's English department provides a venue for the aspiring poet. But imagine now that, during one of the Hopwood presentations, two poets amidst a boisterous and encouraging Rackham Auditorium crowd arm themselves with their poetry and square off for a seven round match, where, in the end, one champion will remain - ten dollars richer. Compared to the University's "academia" approach to poetry, Vince Kueter, organizer of the Ann Arbor poetry slam:admits that this monthly event appears to be "selling poetry like McDonald's hamburgers." In the slam, poets read in front of an audience and judges for money and bragging rights. But Kueter does not think the slam is irreverent to poetry. Instead, he says, the slam provides local poets "who aren't necessarily connected with the English department and don't have financial, emotional, and moral support from their departments" with a supporting community. The concept of theyslam, Kueter states, first began as poetry readings in Chicago jazz clubs such as the "Get Me High Lounge" in the '60s and '70s. The slam gained the form it has now in the early '80s, in the G. Green Mill bar, formerly owned by Machine Gun Jack McGurn and patroned by Al Capone, and presently owned by Marc Smith, who emcees the Sunday night poetry bouts which draw a crowd of at least two hundred people. According to Kueter, the idea of a poetry match, Compared to the University's "academ- ia" approach to poetry, Vince Kueter... admits that (the poetry slam) appears to be "selling poetry like McDonald's hamburgers." complete with judges from the audience, evolved as a parody of what was going on with poetry at the time. "You had these editors of journals and a certain poetic voice that judged that no other voices were legitimate," states Kueter. He also adds that what the poetry slam hopefully does for poetry is "infuse it again with fire and spirit of a multiplicity of voices." Kueter, who experienced the growth of the poetry slam in Chicago from a once a week event at the Green Mill to a nightly event at a different bar each night, came to Ann Arbor in 1987 to study at the University's School of Library Science. Now he sees himself with the mission of building up a close-knit poetry community, including both University and.non- University members, through the growth of the slam See Slam, Page 8 Now Hiring Account Executives for Winter Term Gain valuable business experience while selling advertising to local and regional businesses. You'll be responsible for managing your own account territory. You'll work for a student-run organization, and become a profes- sional representative of the newspaper to the University community. 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INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS FOR: Academic Year 1!989-90 Study Abroad Programs are as follows: 71 I - m - - ----- --. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - i - - V - i..s FLORENCE, ITALY Tuesday November 1, 1988 7:15 P.M. West Conference Room'(4th floor) Rackham-Graduate School AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE Wednesday November 2, 1988' Auditorium D Angell Hall 7:00 P.M. I Wednesday, November 9 IBM INFORMATION DAY Your future in technology could be in software development or engineering. Novemb If you're ready to start a successful career in one of these creative areas of information tech- nology, come meet our representatives at an informal briefing, and find out more about our current openings. Please bring 4 copies of your ILI I I '' 1 y: .:: " ". !;" ;t : FREIBERG, GERMANY Wednesday November2, 1988 7:00 P.M. Max Kade House 603 Oxford SEVILLE, SPAIN Thursday November 3, 1988 7:00 P.M. 2402 Mason Hall -U- er II I I