ARTS
Wednesday, February 1, 1989
The Michigan Daily
Page 5
Mouse: Pick a winner
BY KRISTIN PALM
BY FORREST GREEN
FIRST, let's clear up one thing. The man's name is
Eek-A-Mouse. He got it from a horse which he bet on
every day, and which never won a race until the day he
gave up on it.
Now you're ready to hear about the music. It fol-
lows the form of reggae, but the similarity ends there.
The mouse uses the easygoing rhythms of Jamaica as.
a base for a fun show, and at the same time he tries to
inform his listeners with politically bold lyrics.
Take some of his song titles, "Assasinator,"
"Struggle," and "Terrorists in the City," and you
might assume that Eek-a-Mouse is another radical sto-
ryteller, forcing knee-jerk politics into his audience's
collective psyche; but that's not the big picture. The
mouse does talk from the underground viewpoint, but
there's a balance here.
I can show you the other side of Eek-A-Mouse
with another song, "Wah-Do-Dem." His biggest hit, it
went to number one in Jamaica four weeks after its re-
lease, and remained at the top for 15 weeks. This best
describes the party side of the mouse, a truly original
delivery of nonsensical phrases and convincingly per-
cussive sounds - together, they sound something
like, "billy bong bon billy bay." Sort of different, but
definitely fun.
Eek-A-Mouse's reach is international; over the span
of his ten-album career he's established a substantial
cult following. He remains confident of his appeal and
assures us that his time in the limelight will come, no
compromise necessary. His live show has been de-
scribed as "fascinating" and "unique," and he's been
known to spontaneously move the crowd to hysteria.
He wears elaborate costumes on stage for effect, and he
won't turn down the high energy level until it's over.
So what more could you possibly need? See the
unique, physically fulfilling show of Eek-A-Mouse
and have a great time.
EEK-A-MOUSE plays the Blind Pig with special
guest 1-TAL tonight at 10 p.m. Tickets are $950.
"The Bangles
Everything
Columbia
The Bangles seem trapped in the
wrong decade - they really do be-
long back in the early '60s. They
draw much of their inspiration from
that era, but that's not what I mean.
The Bangles would be much better
toff as a singles act, with occasional
:albums titled, say, Bangles A Go-Go
,or The Bangles' Golden Hits.
The Bangles' recent 45s, the
soundtrack cover "Hazy Shade of
Winter" and their cool new pop-
blues tune, "In Your Room," gave
listeners the impression that they
banished the wimpiness of 1986's
Different Light, but such is not the
case.
The first clue to the real nature of
, sEverything are the fake violins that
drag down the end of "In Your
,Room," the lead cut. From that
'point the guitars virtually disappear
beneath layers of "Keyboards and
Programming" and incessant backing
vocals. The Bangles' first full length
album, 1984's All Over The Place,
succeeded in using the same back-
ground harmonizing on top of ener-
getic four-piece rock songs; when
their sweet harmonies have to com-
pete with already gooey synthesizers,
the results create tummyaches. Some
of their old sparkle reappears on the
harmonica-tinged "Some Dreams
Come True" and on "Bell Jar,"
which makes a great B-side for "In
Your Room," but even that ulti-
mately disappoints 'cuz now it
won't be a single.
"In Your Room" maintains the
Bangles' standard for good pop
lyrics, but once again isn't represen-
tative of the rest of the album. I
never thought I would use the word
bombastic in a Bangles review, but
they approach that term in "Eternal
Flame," where their lyrics reach a
new low: "Say my name/ sun shines
through the rain." Clich6s such as
that appear all too frequently: "Back
in 1973," "You call her on the
phone/ she's got the other guy on
hold," obscuring fair observations
such as "Can't look them in the eye/
just want to drive and drive and
drive."
In short, Everything is a lot like
bad fountain pop - too much for-
mula and not enough fizz.
-Brian Jarvinen
WVORLD peace and the environ-
ment are hot topics these days
among socially conscious individ-
uals. Some approaches to solving
the problems surrounding these iss-
ues range from the canvassing of
groups like PIRGIM and WAND,
the lobbying of concerned members
of Congress and the chanting of
Buddhist monks.
That's right - the chanting of
Buddhist monks, the likes of which
will grace the stage of Rackham
Auditorium tonight for a perfor-
mance of Sacred Music/Sacred
Dance: The Sights and Sounds of
Tibet. The monks, from the
Drepung-Loseling Monastery in
southern India, will exhibit a vari-
ety of traditional Buddhist art forms
including chanting, dancing, play-
ing traditional instruments and per-
forming a debate.
The concert serves a dual pur-
pose, one mundane, one spiritual.
"Monks still have to eat and they
have to live," said Residential Col-
lege junior Matthew Krichbaum, a
member of Jewel Heart temple,
which is sponsoring the perfor-
mance. The monks hope to raise
money for their monastery which
has had to turn students away in re-
cent years due to lack of funds. The
Drepung Monastery was originally
located near Lhasa, Tibet and was
relocated during the 1959 Chinese
invasion of the country.
However, the foremost reason
for the tour, according to its orga-
nizers, is to contribute to world
peace by allowing the audience to
share in the spirituality of the sa-
cred Buddhist traditions. This spiri-
tuality will be manifest in pieces
such as Kha-dro Ten-zhug Gar-cham
or "The Longevity Dance of the
Sky People" featuring dancers rep-
resenting the five colors of the
rainbow asking the Wise Ones to
stay and beautify the world, Nyen-
sen or "Invoking the Spirit of
Goodness" via vocal and instru-
mental music and Sang-sol Shi-jo,
"Environmental Purification and the
Prayer for Peace."
The music of the monks has
been most closely identified yith
free-form jazz. However, said
Krichbaum, this is not an accurate
description.
MUSICAL'
MONKS
There's more to chanting for peace
than 'Hell, no, we won't go.'
Auditions and Opportunities
...Monday, Feb. 6
Auditions for Daphne, a one-act farce being performed by the RC Play-
ers, from 6-11 p.m. in Room A03 in the basement of East Quad. Looking
for four men and three women. Auditions are not limited to East Quad resi-
dents. Copies of the script are available in East Quad's Benzinger Library. If
you are interested in working Backstage, call Beth Arman at 995-2660.
Auditions and Opportunities runs Wednesdays in the Michigan Daily
Arts section. If you have items for the column, contact Cherie Curry at 763-
0379.
"It's ridiculous on one hand to
compare it with jazz," he said. "I
mean, jazz is the closest thing...
You really have to be there to know
what it's like."
Although they may not be able
to describe it, people who attend the
performance will definitely feel
something, said Krichbaum.
"I think the people who come
will be affected by it. At least they
will be exposed to a new culture,"
he said. "There is a great potential
to experience something profound
and different than what we're used
to."
Krichbaum used Dur-du Dak-po ,
"The Dance of the Skeleton Lords,"
in which dancers represent the En-
lightened Ones, as an example of
this difference.
"It's not something we're used
to," he said. "We're not used to
thinking of demons in this way.
They look like demons and we're
not used to thinking of them as a-
positive force."
Despite all this mention of
demons, spirituality and the like,
the performers are not a somber
bunch. While the monks have a se-
rious side, said Kirchbaum, "They
also have a really jubilant side. It's
really great."
Kirchbaum also emphasized an-
other aspect of the performance he
thinks is great. "One of the things I
really like about Buddhism, and its
characteristics and its traditions, is
it's lasted so long," he said.
The Drepung Monastery dates
back to 1416 A.D. That's a bit
longer than PIRGIM and WAND
have been around. Maybe these
monks are on to something.
SACRED MUSIC/SACRED
DANCE will be performed at 7:30
tonight at Rackham Audito-
rium.Tickets are $12.50 for adults
and $8 for students and senior citi-
zens and are available at the Michi-
gan Union Ticket Office.
r
"There Was A Time When":
The Muthic Community
Before the War in
Japanese American Literature
a lecture by
Stephen Sumida, Assistant Professor
Washington State University
Sponsored by the Department of English
and the UMASC Asian American
Lecture series
4:00 pm, February 2, 1989
Room "0", 3rd Floor, Michigan League
,A
A-
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For the career-or
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For more information, see us on campus.
We'll be here
February 14
WIAFER PRCESSING. - Prov'css Eng~ineer - Devuice EngineerI