4 Page 10 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 5, 1989 Sonic segregation Prejudice still keeps jazz from mainstream BY LIAM FLAHERTY THE fact that jazz is the one origi- nal American art form is not due to some fortuitous geographical acci- dent. The music was born out of the American experience, from the crux which remains our self-defining na- tional shame. That is, the relations between Blacks and' whites - or, as Amiri Baraka expresses that eu- phemism, "our peculiar mode of mutual mistrust." It is an organic reality, not an isolated field of study running parallel to the real story of America. It is a tumor we have not yet excised. Jazz was created out of this fun- damental tension, urban Blacks tak- ing the instruments of European concert music and setting them to dance to ancestral rhythms. It was from this original subversion - the instruments of the oppressor appro- priated back to the homeland - that jazz has grown from. The musical expression found itself on the other side, Blacks telling the story that for so long was available in white ver- sion only. The tension has remained inherent in the music; from Louis Arm- strong's unrestrained riffs, Charlie Parker's frantic bebop lines, the an- gular mysteries of Monk, John Coltrane's extensions, and Ornette Coleman's dense counterpoint flow- ering into melody. The creative ten- sion is of the essence, not an aca- demic contrivance of classical music or the masturbatory, guilt-ridden angst of much pop and rock. After almost a century, jazz has survived the clich6s assigned to it, as well as numerous raids and co-opting strikes. Yet it remains, for the most part, music played by Blacks. This must go a long way in explaining its unceasing struggle to survive on the market place. The only music it outsells is classical, and even that has not always held true. However, classical music is firmly institution- alized; Lincoln Center isn't going anywhere, but no such guarantees exist for the Village Vanguard. Even those who support the mu- sic have hurt it in no small measure by their misproportioned attention. Quirks of personality grow larger than the music, creating the pitiful fact that some people think of bebop as berets and Jack Kerouac rather than Charlie Parker on alto. Even discussions of the music centers on the extremities of style. Composi- tion has always been neglected, but the written legacy of "Confirmation" and "Naima" are just as important as Parker's speed and Coltrane's screeches. The importance of groups such as the Modern Jazz Quartet lie in their ability to rectify these prejudices. They can take even an ephemeral piece such as Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" and lay open its structural beauty. These days it is said we are in the midst of a jazz revival, but nobody would deny its limit in scope and impact. As far as television and radio are concerned, jazz is still largely an anathema - either wholly ignored or subsumed under an amorphous term such as "jazzy," which can slapped on anything faster than rock or with a horn solo. Europeans have always held jazz in higher esteem, and many Ameri- can players have traveled there to make a living. They are expatriates in the truest sense, bringing across the ocean something far less portable, and more rooted, than pen, paper, and mind. Perhaps Europeans, grounded in the classical tradition, can appreciate the freedom and adventure more. Or perhaps they are free of the weighty baggage Ameri- cans barely manage to conceal, the uneasy marriage that causes a native art to take flight. How many stereotypes can you find in this picture? In a scene from Sing, streetwise Italian youth Dominick Zanetti and the Cheap Chicks prepare to perform in the Senior Sing. Sing too imbecilic for words BY DAVID LUBLINER The catch phrase for this new film musical offers the following advice: "Sing! When The Feeling Gets Too Strong For Words!" Well, unfortunately (or may- be fortunately), I can't sing this review, so I'm forced to use words, despite my intense dislike for the movie. In a blatant ripoff of such films as Fame and Foot- loose, Sing attempts to combine the Italian culture in Brooklyn with the song and dance of a high school talent show. The similarities aren't surprising, consid- ering that the same team (producer Craig Zadan and lyricist Dean Pitchford) who created Footloose is re- sponsible for this endeavor. The school and the setting may be different, but the concept remains the same. The movie is based on an annual city-wide high school musical competition in which each class selects a theme and produces its own show. Sing 's tradition dates back to 1947 and has included such famed performers as Barbra Streisand, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. The only performer with any real talent in this film is Patti LaBelle, but unfortunately she is given just one number. The community of Brooklyn Central High learns that the board of education is planning to close down their school. The students' last chance to express their freedom is to put together this show on their own. What follows is a montage of scenes depicting their renewed dedication and commitment to the cause. (Ugh! The feeling's growing stronger already.) Sing overflows with stereotypes of the Italian community, overexaggerated Brooklyn accents, and one-dimensional characters. Peter Dobson (Pla in Clothes) stars as Dominic Zametti, the typical streetwise Italian youth who grudgingly comes to the aid of his school when he discovers how much he cares for the traditions of the community. Lorraine Bracco (Someone to Watch Over Me, The Pickup Artist) plays the idealistic, yet street-smart teacher who returns to her home town of Brooklyn to help restore its floundering Central High School. Although Bracco is herself a Brooklyn native, her portrayal appears forced and overemphasized. As the characters in this film work overly hard to convince us of their ethnicity, their performances become hardly believable. (Here it is: I have got that queasy feeling in my stomach.) Sing fails where films such as Moonstruck andCrossing Delancey succeeded: in bringing the spirit of a community and its culture alive. Because the char- acters are so dry, the film provides no reason to care about what happens to them. Sing lacks the sense of realism which made these previous films so appealing. Sing's last chance to save itself rests in the big musical finale. Somehow it manages to fail here as well. Although the dancing sequences are a lot of fun, the annoying pop music (like Nia Peeples and Rachel Sweet) which accompanies it ruins what's left of the experience. My friends who have taken part in the actual Sing competition tell me that the movie hardly resembles the real show. The filmmakers have transformed a low- budget talent show into a high-tech, multicolored event. I'm not surprised, though. We should expect such things from Hollywood. That's it. The feeling has definitely become too strong for words. R.E.M. Continued from Page 9 sizable dedicated core of fans and virtually no enemies. Like the Who, R.E.M. is steered by two captains whose navigational instruments are not always perfect- ly aligned. Stipe, R.E.M.'s Townshend, can't separate his social consciousness or his aesthetic goals from the immediacy of the music he is performing. Buck, while not as talentless as Roger Daltrey, seems to aspire to more moderate plateaus of musicianship and good times. Wait a minute. The similarities and differences between the two can be posited and hedged and sculpted 'til Lassie comes home, but when it comes down to the very bottom line, R.E.M. is left choking on the Who's exhaust. In terms of chart success, they have only one moderate Top Ten showing: Document's "The One I Love." It's tempting to blame the radio programmers, the shallow public, or the promotions managers for the scarcity of R.E.M. on the radio, but ultimately it comes down to the boys in the band. If they never come through with a "Magic Bus," a "Baba O' Riley" or even a "You Better You Bet" of their own, then the promise of the no-longer-brand-new band will go unfulfilled. Something about these guys won't let them connect with a large audience. Somehow it all seems insulated and untouchable, like they're encased in JelloTM. With Green, their first release on Warner Brothers, R.E.M. makes some tentative advances into stardom. Singles like "Orange Crush" and "Stand" will alienate some fans in the self-involved college brat demograph- ic, but will potentially win them a whole new follow- ing. And who can argue against the numbers of a gig in Cobo Arena, where tens of thousands once saw Huey Lewis and the News? R.E.M. will performtonight at Cobo Arena in Detroit at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $18.50. _ _ Dead Continued from Page 9 But not all of the Dead's public- ity has been so, ummm, rosy (ouch!). They recently cancelled a string of March concerts at the Kaiser Convention Center in Oak- land, California. Neighbors of the Center complained to the city coun- cil about Heads cooking on their lawns, littering, using all sorts of non-appropriate bathrooms, and sleeping in the area several days be- fore the Dead arrived. The Dead have always been plagued by the less than considerate actions of a minority of their fans; if the recent Oakland incident proved anything it is that Deadheads are no different than most people - in most bags, there will be seeds and stems. . The only way these problems are going to go away is for Heads to clean up their act themselves, which you can take literally at the Recycle Ann Arbor recycling booth in the parking lot. The romance of travelling around the country without has appealed to Americans since at least the 1760s (cf. Daniel Boone, Tom Sawyer, Kerouac, etc.). It really is eas- ier/cheaper than you might think, and for many people, getting to a Dead concert is half the fun. But ultimately, all the travelling, retread fashions, drugs, and now progressive politics come down to is the music. In the first four shows of the Spring Tour, the only repeat was one of the new songs. But the Ann Arbor shows will still have some pre- dictable bits: we'll get to hear the new tunes, they will do a Dylan cover o; three, and you can always bet on the three most played songs in ' R ."I Need A Miracle" 12 times], "Playing In The Band," and "Hell In A Bucket" [24 each]). In Pittsburgh on Sunday they hauled out three comparatively rare ones, "Dire Wolf' (5 in '88), "Shakedown Street" (5), and "US Blues" (11). Personally, I'll be hoping for an album-speed version of "Friend of the Devil"; I'm sure all of you probably have your own favorites. Last fall they wowed a Maryland Audience with "Ripple," and who knows, they've got to play "Dark Star" again someday, but regardless of the set list (clich6 alert!), there really is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert. THE GRATEFUL DEAD appear at Crisler Arena tonight and tomorrow. Tickets are $20.25. 4 i UAC/SOUNDSTAGE PRESENTS E Odd y - IMPACT ---Sunday, April 16 Auditions for Submarines and Weltschmerz, two original one-act plays, will be held in Room 2518 Frieze Bldg. from 4-8 p.m. Roles available for three women and five men; age ranges from 20-30 years. No prepared mate- rial necessary for audition. Persons interested in tech, set and light design and/or crew should drop by during auditions or contact Dan Plice through his mail box, 2540 Frieze. Needed: Prop master, an L.B.O., and four crew people to help put to- gether (and run) the $5 Revue in the Arena. A deal can be made where those workers won't have to work every performance. Performance dates are April 6, 7, 8, and 13, 14, 15. Call Michelle at 995-0935. Auditions and opportunities runs every Wednesday in the Michigan Daily's Arts section. If you have information regarding any auditions or theater-related events, contact Cherie Curry at 763-0379. Read Jim Poniewozik Every - - 1FREE SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS WHO NEED MONEY FOR COLLEGE | Every Student is Eligible for Some Type of Financial Aid Regardless of Grades or Parental Income. - We have a data bank of over 200,000 listings of scholarships, fellow- Sshpsgrants. and loans, representing over $10 billion in private sector - Many scholarships are given to students based on their academic interests, career plans, family heritage and place of residence - There's money available for students who have been newspaper carriers, grocery clerks, cheerleaders, non-smokers... etc. . Results GUARANTEED. CALL For A Free Brochure S I ANYTIME (800) 346-6401 ATTENTION! Michigan Daily subscribers and university departments: 4 DANCE THEATRE Open Dance Free!! Classes Wednesdays 9-10:30pm Union Ballroom Beginners and Intermediates Welcomell