4 ARTS 9 4 4 The Michigan Daily Friday, March 31, 1989 Page 8 4 Virgin Machine beautifully erotic BY ALYSSA KATZ The International Lesbian and Gay Male Film Festival continues tonight with the Michigan premiere of Monika Treut's Virgin Machine, a beauti- fully photographed film from Germany. Dorothee Muller (Ina Blum) is a journalist unsatisfied with her life in Germany. Her relationships with men are, well, odd: her editor/boyfriend is a creep, and she is a little too friendly with her half-brother. It's no wonder, then, that she decides to embark on a quest for romantic love. She goes to San Francisco, ostensibly to look for her long-lost mother, but instead falls in with the city's vibrant lesbian community. Although made on a low budget, Virgin Machine is a well-made, highly enjoyable film. The sharp black and white cinematography (by Elfi Mikesch, who also worked on A Virus Has No Morals) is a pleasure to watch, as are the offbeat individualists whom Dorothee meets in her travels. A scene in which the dynamic Susie Sexpert (Susie Bright, a real-life "sex educator" who essentially plays herself) proudly displays her collection of dildoes to Dorothee is absolutely priceless - Susie is especially fond of a black one that has a whip attached to it. Also playing herself, more or less, is Dominique Gaspar, an eccentric and mysterious woman who is simply fascinating to watch. The beautiful Shelly Mars simply radiates sexuality as Roxanne, a sex therapist and stripper in a lesbian bar. Her act is great - dressed as a slick, mustachioed stud, she moves with a strange and erotic grace. A sex scene involving Roxanne and Dorothee is handled nicely; it is erotic, rather than sensationalistic. This low-key approach is evident throughout Virgin Machine: Especially in the film's second half, lesbianism is presented not as an alternative lifestyle, but as the norm. It's also great to see that Treut doesn't portray all lesbians as somehow perfect and above re- proach; here, they are entitled to be just flawed as anyone. Likewise,Virgin Machine itself is not perfect, but it is as entertaining as anything else you're likely to see this weekend. VIRGIN MACHINE and STORME: THE LADY OF THE JEWEL BOX will be shown tonight at 7 and 9:15 p.m. at Nat Sci Auditorium. Tickets $2,50. Vagabond tells story of Mysterious Mona BY BRIAN JAR VINEN MVIAN, a lot of intense shit went down here in Ann Arbor in the '60s. Too bad ya missed it. But ya can relive some of it - if ya got the bread that is, unlike that old decade when ya could enjoy free things like a Grateful Dead concert in West Park. So, ya thought the CIA recruiting protests the last few years were rad- ical, well they tain't nothin - in the '60s local hip-icals BOMBED the local CIA office. These days I bet ya feel pretty proud walking down the street with your long hair, your ripped jean jacket, your too- loud rock and roll destroying your ear drums on your $200 Walkman® on the way to pick up an eighth for the weekend's festivities. Butt re- gardless of what ya may think of the '60s ya gotta thank those OLD - timers for the mostly legal freedoms we enjoy today. I mean, little things like sleeping with your unmarried significant-other in a mixed-race group household could get ya shot, or selling a mere two joints of cannabis (the Man didn't really care if it was killer-indica or spacy- sativa) to a narc might result in a ten year prison sentence in Mar- quette and/or Jackson. The latter harshity happened to local '60s personality John Sinclair. At the time ten years was the max sentence for possession of nar- cotics. Sinclair had one previous dope arrest and a bullshit assaulting- an-officer charge to his credit; he was also the former manager of that righteous band of rock and roll freeks, the MCS, a prolific writin' radical, and one of the founders of the White Panther party. In short, someone the Amerikan system was none too pleased with. So Sinclair went off to JAIL, and his contemporaries in the Tree- town scene were none too pleased. Thus began a string of benefit con- certs (one of which featured the mouth-watering/brain-MELTING combined forces of the 5, the Stooges, the Rationals, the Amboy Dukes, Seger's System, Commander Cody, Mitch Ryder, and Shakey $5 for 1? Ten for Two captures John Sinclair Freedom Rally Not then They waited eight hours for this? John Lennon played a mere four sc Rally, which a crew he hired recorded on film. The film, Ten For Two, w: threats by the Nixon administration to deport Lennon. BY MARK SHAIMAN ER self-given name is Mona and she :is nearly as enigmatic as Da- VinOi's painting of similar name. WJin the film Vagabond opens, Mtina is dead, frozen in a ditch on thy'side of a road. The film con- tinues in retrospect, tracing the events leading to Mona's demise. Unlike DaVinci's Mona Lisa, this Mona has little reason to smile. We meet her as the vagabond she was, travelling about with a back- pack and a tent, living from day to day. She says she does it because she likes the freedom, had hated the life as a secretary. And it is easy to re- spect her for her choice, as we've all wanted to pack it in at some point in our life. And for a while all seems to go well for her; hitchhiking is easy in France, especially for an attractive young lady. Rides are abundant enough and free meals sometimes ac- company them, but there is more to life than food and shelter. Mona has two loves in her life: music and grass. Unfortunately for her, both re- quire money, and any cash that Mona manages to earn or be given is soon spent on food, never able to save enough for even a small port- able radio. Her needs and desires bring her in- to contact with many different peo- ple, and the lives of these people and Mona's effects on them become as important to the film as Mona her- self. While illegally staying in a va- cant mansion with her grass-pro- viding radio-carrying then-lover, Mona is seen by a young house- keeper who views their sleep-em- brace as a sign of true love. Mona representssomething dif- ferent to each person who meets her. To an old woman whose relatives are waiting for her to kick off, Mona is her long-past youth, and to a career- oriented middle-aged woman, she is unrestrained freedom. But little is ac- tually known about Mona herself, and after she exits various people's lives, comments like "I don't even know her name," and "I don't even See Mona, Page 9 Jake [how much would you pay to see a movie of that concert?]), and protests culminating in a com- bination of the two in a huge event attended by 15,000 people at Crisler Arena on December 10, 1971, billed as the "John Sinclair Freedom Rally." Like so many important things back then, it was recorded for posterity (I'm getting to that). As a political rally starring members of the Magnificent err ummm Chicago Seven, Allen Ginsberg, and a bunch of other ac- tivists, it was a mixed success. Of Bobby Seale's speech, Michigan Daily writer Herb Bowie said it "certainly proved, if not his political prowess, his speaking ability." A telephone call from the beneficiary of the whole event, Sinclair, drew a better reaction when he emotionally declared "I wish I could be there, man." But most of the fans came for the music, which was donated by ap- propriately political (read: lame) rockers The Up, unsurprisingly po- litical folk musician Phil Ochs, Teegarden & VanWinkle, Stevie Wonder, David Peel, and Ann Ar- bormites Commander Cody and the pre-lame Bob Seger. The real draw, however, was John & Yoko. Memories of The Beatles were still overpowering, and thelmagine LP had just come out. So when the Lennons came on after eight long hours and played only four songs, the average fan felt cheated (at least John had the good taste to use a National Steel guitar). I mean, just how think disappointing it would be to not get a chance to use your lighter during a mass sing-a-long of "Imagine." Most of the effort went for naught anyway, as the Legislature pre-empted the concert the day be- fore with a bill that reduced the ongs at the John Sinclair Freedom aited 18 years for release because of penalties for use of "The Sacrament" (dope) to a misdemeanor, resulting in Sinclair's FREEDOM soon af- ter. The footage shot by a crew hired by Lennon was edited down to a two-hour flick, (to get to the point of this article), Ten For Two, which premieres locally Sunday night. The movie was never released because Lennon's lawyers felt it wouldn't help his already precarious position with immigration officials. The money raised by this screening is going to fund the mak- ing of another documentary on those groovy times A2 experienced 20 years ago; Now, by my logic (10 for 2), the $10 admission would get you into this next documentary free (the people in the movie once called for "the end of money"), but I doubt that will be the case. TEN FOR TWO premieres at the Michigan Theater Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10. i t 3 { . .. Yawp varies artistic forms, approaches Z BY JAY PINKA FROM poet Laura Sagolla'scontemplationstof the complete love of the Platonic world to the exotic fictional reflections on Africa of Stryk Thomas, literary magazine The Yawp (formerly Barbaric Yawp) exposes a diversity of undergrad- uate creativity. "This year's issue breaks a lot of ground," says editor Mark Kolar, emphasizing the maga- zine's additional features of photographs and line drawings, including a startling photograph of a man swathed in linen, posing as Rodin's "Thinker." Luckily, however, you won't have to concentrate as intensely as he, or be an English major, to enjoy the magazine. The simple, sharp language and focused voice of Stryk Thomas in Collision Course magnifies haunting images of Africa, while embracing you in an intimate ex- ploration of the surge and balance of emotion in relationships: "Becky fought to stand, but I held her there for a few moments more, wanting both of us to feel the rising tide of fear at the sound." An 80's Love Idyll, by David Levien, shocks with its rap-like lingo and raw treatment of top- ics such as abortion. This story strips the issues down to nakedness, stimulating a provocative insight into typical college life. In this way, breaches the assumed gap between literature and how we live. The above are two among three stories. The third, Communion, puts human charity and compassion triumphant up against the waste of nuclear war. Its length shows the emphasis on fiction in this issue. Yawp's poems offer a speedier gratification that you might seek between classes. Lisa Haselby's straightforward narrative maps out the rift between father and daughter in the free verse of Graduation, whereas Eric Peterson's untitled poem startles contrastingly in its disjunctive stream of images: "A dessicated apple/ someone left it after the/ firetruck rang by/ two weeks ago." In the realm of literary allusion is David ; Manchel's "Dachau the First as he shares a dream uprooting mythic figures in the frame of personal journey. Poetic variation in form, content and structure "appeals to a broader audience," says editor Kelly Schell. The staff worked intentionally for these changes, as seen by the omission of "Barbaric" in its title. Editor Damon McParland maintained the democratic practices in selecting which submis- sions will be published, re-emphasizing the UEA t magazine's pull away from tunnel-vision litera- ture that interests only a few. "As long as the { majority of people like it, it gets in," he said. The public is invited to an opening reception for,' THE YAWP, this afternoon at 4 p.m. in the Michigan Union Pond Room. Authors will read from their work, and refreshments will be served. JOSTENS GOLD RING SALE IS COMING! __ 4 The RC Players TWO ORIGINAL ONE-ACT FARCES (BY HOPWOOD AWARD WINNING PLAYWRIGHTS) LawsCM80I re - Take a look into the future. Compufair '89 Thursday and Friday, in the Union 4 .1 I; "The foolishness of God God haS a SenSe of humorI join us in some is wiser than human wisdom" St. Pau. ul 4 Order your college ring NOW. Stop by and see a Jostens representative, Wednesday, March 29-thru Friday, March 31, -nnn m t Ao .nnn m