I Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 21, 1989 Hot playing matches Cockburn's lyric images BY MICHAEL P. FISCHER STANDING alone last Sunday night in the Power Center spotlight which isolated him at stage right through the opening measures of "If I Had a Rocket Launcher," strapped into his guitar and harmonica- propping contraption, Bruce Cockburn might have readily earned pre-determined standing ovations from his devoted following on the strength of his complex lyrics and vocal lines alone. Instead, already about six songs in the opening set, the bespectacled Canadian quickly engaged a killer backing duo to charge the hit song with textured rock- and-roll rhythms, a sharp segue providing the evening's first highlight. Their brilliant playing, not to mention the singer's own sometimes explosive guitar skills, helped the durable artist to flesh the color of his music out to a level close to that of his irrides- cent poetry. Particularly, the virtuoso performance of Fergus Jemison Marsh on the Chapman Stick - an amazing 2x4-like stringed instrument hammered-on with both hands' fingers, and whose combined guitar and bass capabilities can trigger a synthesizer like Marsh's un- touched Casio keyboards - proved to be Cockburn's secret weapon. Marsh simultaneously generated a gur- gling, Tony Levin-like deep end as well as lacelike guitar overlays and glossy synth washes from the tre- ble strings to elaborate Cockburn's basic rhythm lines. Indeed, Marsh's thrusting, wildly arpeggiating bass- solo on the impressionistic "Tibetan Side of Town," following Cockburn's own nimble acoustic effort, provided the first moment where the band broke through the songs' normally pedestrian mid-tempos to above cloud level -- but only at the close of the opening set. Up until about two-thirds of the way through, Cockburn had not really manipulated major contrasts and mood shifts. Suddenly, Cockburn and his mates broke into a whistle-filled, sing-a-long version of "Look on The Bright Side of Life," from Monty Python's Life of Brian. The surprise anticipated the variety which brought Cockburn's second set to an exciting plateau. Although his texts incorporate the lucid social out- rage of "Launcher" as well as the tender visions of "Lily of the Midnight Sky," most of Cockburn's older songs fall into recurring musical patterns. The second set, though, emphasized tracks from Big Circum- stance, Cockburn's relatively inventive and fertile new LP. And peaks began to emerge, as the bandmates fi- nally overcame the disproportionately blaring EQ of Cockburn's vocals and guitar- a problem from the start, especially unsuited to his tempered music and the theater's intimate acoustics - with superb flourishes. Skins-man Michael Sloski even took a thunderous drums-solo before the band encored with "Radium Rain," featuring some truly smoking blues leads from Cockburn. The two-and-a-half hour show appropriately closed with the Bourbon Street whimsy of "Anything Can Happen" - as the refrain goes, "is it any wonder/ I don't want to say goodnight." Ironically, the only moments when Cockburn sug- gested a solo folk past was upon shucking the regular accoutrements for a drumstick and a big bass tam- bourine, rumbling out a solemn rhythm behind the Native American-inspired lyrics of "Stolen Land," or choking up momentarily during a reproach of Oliver North and the recent Salvadoran elections in his intro to "Where the Death Squad Lives." Bruce Cockburn's still keenly aware that it's the words which have earned his reputation; "I picked this one to do," he said of the Python ditty, "because of its...searing profundity." "I just know," Cockburn added after a little laughter of acknowledgment, "that's going to show up in a re- view somewhere." t 4 ii rn is known as a solo artist, but a ight the colors of his lyrics into hit ver Center concert Sunday. "one has to consider them... for th ir personal vision and a community vi- sion." MeClane, who will read selectionis from Take Five: Collected Poem's, 1971 -1 986 and give a lecture on the works of Baraka and Brooks, looks forward to his stay at the University. Bruce Cockburi crack band brow music at his Pow DO YOU KNOW Who's Your Spending Money? $ $ $ $ $ McClane Continued from Page 7 the world of musicians in his under- standing of his jazz player brother is paired with McClane's exploration of the prison society in the collection of essays. He acknowledges that these two places "now are where most of the great writers get... the least hear- ing." The title essay, first published in The Best American Essays of 1988, contain McClane's experiences teaching creative writing courses at the Auburn Correctional Facility. Such an environment, "a musical chairs for prisoners" which con- stantly moved prisoners around in the prison system, is seen by McClane to hinder the voice of the prisoner that he tries to carry across in the es- say. WhileWalls points out the need for a better forum for the voices in literature, McClane is optimistic about the future of the Black voice in American literature. "Black people continue to celebrate themselves. That will be the voice." Although he feels the upcoming Norton Anthology of Afro-American Literature demonstrates advance- ments in whose voices are being heard in literature, McClane also adds that "it's not the Academy that makes writers." (McClane) points to the idea that there exist beyond the academic world "people with more authenticity with ideas that have to be said. People who need to be listened to, need a platform." McClane attributes the develop- ment of his own voice to the poets Imamu Baraka and Gwendolyn Brooks, whom he considers his "spiritual leaders." "Both have been the profoundest teachers. I love then for different reasons." A friendship began between Mc- I Ma ke sure it s", olme one y o u" wan t Clane and Brooks in 1972 when he mailed the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet a published pamphlet of his own poetry. Brooks response back in one and a half days encouraged Mc- Clane in his efforts. He was honored further when Brooks later asked him to read at the Library of Congress. McClane believes that Baraka's influence on his own poetic devel- opment is deeply ingrained. "In po- etry there is Before Baraka and After Baraka." "Whether one buys- into Brooks and Baraka or not," McClane adds, "A lot of students that I taught at Cornell are here at Michigan in the graduate program. I want to give them an accounting of myself, where I'm starting and where I'm going." KENNETH McCLANE will read from his works today at 4 p.m. in the Rackham East Conference Room, where he will also present a lecture on the poetry of Imamu Baraka and Gwendolyn Brooks Thursday at 5 p.m. Both events are sponsored by the English Department's Visiting Writers Series and the KingICha- vez/Parks Program. I ; Ar MSA Elections a March 21& 22 @0@ A IN CLASS ACT ,, Y 4 L I N E F O R '8 9 I .1 MICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY 1989 WINTER ELECTION POLL SITES SUPER SITES I Location FISHBOWL Information Table 1st Floor; Bell Tower Side MLB UGLI Main Lobby UNION SCHOOL OF ART & ARCHITECTURE LAW SCHOOL BUSINESS SCHOOL MEDICAL SCHOOL By Mug; in Front of Ride Board 2nd Floor, Across From the Loung By Student Mailboxes Cafeteria Student Lounge Tuesday 9:00 am-5:15 pm 9:30 am-5:00 pm 10:00 am-11:00 pm 9:15 am-10:30 pm 11:00 am-2:30 pm e no hours 10:30 am-1:00 pm no hours Wednesday 9:00 am-4:45 pm 9:30 am-4:15 pm 10:00 am-7:00 pm 9:15 am-7:30 pm no hours 8:30 am-12:30 pm no hours 10:30 am-12:30 pm r - Join the line-up of activities on Tuesday, March 21 in the Union, on the Diag and on North Campus. to am - 4 pm Thomas J. Bridenstine Melinda S. Griffith Amy Rose Marisa R. Bahn Julie Ann Barkin Cristin B. Clauser Cheryl Drongowski Jill A. Freeberg Kristin Gudan Senior Advisory Committee: FI k Gail J. Herriman John C. Kolr. Lauren K. Lane Jenifer J. Martin Laurie J. Michelson Pamela E. Michelson William F. Spicer Candy J. Steele Laura A. Stuckey Lynnette M. Tethal Steve C. Vielmetti DORMITORY SITES Location Tuesda I Dttnct C1/ IA-:- 1 -LL,.. r--1C rrvn r-"iCZ nrtn M006H M006H M006H .I LL rf*.4 I m f'.M006-H'A 19