01 Page 8- The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 6, 1989 I, Dugan McNeill In The Velvet Night Wing/Polygram On the cover of his debut album, In The Velvet Night, Dugan McNeill stares pensively ahead into eternity. His five-o-clock shadow and his jet black hair are attempts to accentuate his point. But what is his point? In The Velvet Night is a nine track LP consisting of side one - "The Anger Songs" - and side two - "The Love Songs." McNeill opens with "The Walls Came Down," a catchy tune with mystical chimes and a heavy guitar lick. In this commentary on the de- cline of society, McNeill bellows emotionally: "The walls came down... and the clouds touched the ground... she smiled to herself and just kept walking." The elements combine to form a powerful state- ment. "Israeltown," chock-filled with vague references to the prophet Eli- jah, the rosary, and a rather artificial anger, follows. McNeill attempts to disguise all these inadequacies by undertoning them with an incessant thumping rhythm, but ultimately, the only impressive characteristic of the song is the use of the word "Israel" in its title. The next song, "Stranger Than Paradise," is introduced by a peculiar horn section. One tends toesway to the tune, but the lyrics are wimpy and an interesting guitar and drum combination as an interlude fails to salvage the song. "Eyes Of A Child," the second to last song on side one, and the al- bum's gem, ensues. This is clearly Dugan McNeill's anthem. He initi- ates it with an exotic bagpipe-like prelude and continues with sincerity as he proclaims: "I believe in love... I believe in the strength of the night, and if you trust in me, I will trust in you; in the eyes of a child it will all come true." And he polishes it off with a rapturous guitar solo. "There Goes My Heart Again," "Ghost On The Radio," "I Will Be There," and "Love You Today," the four songs which side two of In The Velvet Night consists of, might as will have been combined and con- densed into one. They contain a con- sistency of dull repetitive rhythms and overused guitar solos. With lyrics such as: "There's time enough for love; there's love enough for ev- eryone" found on "Ghost On The Radio" and "Cross your heart and say my name; I will be there" on "I Will Be There," one cannot wait for the album to end. Boring! Dugan McNeill does nothing revolutionary on this album, but his genuine fury on side one is evident; we can feel it, and:we revel in it with him. However, one feels the necessity to withhold judgement un- til the completion of the album, at which point one concludes that Dugan McNeill may have what it takes, but In The Velvet Night does not. -Kim Yaged up of the war in Central America, Wordsmith sings: "But the women BOP (harvey) and children who die Are they just Bread and Circuses too red to get by?/ The news is King Snake Records burgers and fries while it's genocide Let's face it, not a whole lot of these days." good reggae bands have come out of But not all the songs touch upon Michigan. BOP (harvey) may just be such weighty topics. "Vibe" serves the first. Although they're currently as both a band history and a boast: based somewhere on the east coast "All of the people came around to (Providence, RI, I think), they dance/ They made a discovery/ a band started out at Michigan State Uni- called BOP (harvey)/ Skanking as versity. I was well aware of their real as it can be, understand?" reputation for frenetic live shows and One word can sum up the music: of being the best reggae band this excellent. But let me say more. The side of Jamaica. That reputation may rhythm section churns out the tight- be justified - some firey lyrics and est grooves since The Wailers, the first-rate grooves make up Bread horn section adds well-placed embel- and Circuses. lishments and Wordsmith's singing Start with the cover. At first sounds like a native Jamaican. The glance, it appears to be an amusing band seems equally adept at the brightly-colored cartoon of band slower grooves as with the faster ska members in a roadside forest as the tunes like "Man in Disguise." There circus goes by. A closer look reveals are a few duds on this one, however: some interesting things: the band "Poor Judge Bork" has a good title member with the "Gov't Lies" t- but not much else and the dub ver- shirt, the pink elephant carrying a sion of "Vibe" gets a little tedious at "What War?" banner, the camouflage over seven minutes. But these are fighter plane with the trailer reading minor criticisms of an otherwise fine "Don't pay any attention." work. Same with the music. There is a The band is coming to town current of political unrest (and sometime later this month, so you outright rage) below the surface. have your chance to see 'em while Like a lot of good reggae, BOP they're still playing the bars. If (harvey)'s major key melodies and Bread and Circuses gets the right heavy grooves tend to overshadow support, that time may be soon be the darker lyrics. (Did you really over. It has the potential to lead think Bob Marley's "Buffalo Sol- these guys on to much greener pas- dier" was a cute little number spe- tures. Then you can tell your grand- cially written for frat parties?) On kids that you saw them when... the title track concerning the cover- -MIKE (molitor) 'Always look on the Graa Chpa' et rmcne tteaeo 8i n ftoabsurd things, dhe kind of flawS you tefuse to belicvc. This rnembxr of Monty Python starred as King Arthur in Monty Python and the I~hly Grail and as the pseudo- Chuist tide figure in L f of Iri an. He usua~y piaycd the traight guy (actually, he was the only gay Python), but hey, somebody had to do it, and he did it to pefection. Now the harsb realization: Morey Python will never be together again, meaning that we will forever be subjected to screenings and rescreenings of sctatchy ptints of Italy Grail and endless MTV teruns, which is too bad. Fortunately, they have left one last legacy: a recently filmed 20th anniversary Monty Python revdlutionized film and television comedy with their wild 'n' wacky anarchic social critique that despite its brilliance (or ntaybe beCause ot it) as spawncd a precious few descenxlants. Last year's masterpiecelleathers, playing at the Michigan Thcater tonight at 7:15 and 1.1:30 p~m., is a shining example of this genre of films that say a resounding flick you tD American socieay. The film is funny as hefi, with a funky script ("Come on ]9kather, bulimia is so '87.. ") and a caricature of high school frighteningly close to the i'eat thing4 And this flick has not one but two up-and-coming teen stars who ate actually kind of'coot - watch Winona Ryder act charismatic and Christian Slatet act like Jack Nicholson. One warning, thoughf some people inevitably find this a sick, sick movie. Obviously they've never seen anything by prc- I/air~pray John Watets.+ -A:..::yssa:::~, Katz Stratford's strata Merchant of Venice to be' Season GUARNERI Continued from page 7 Their new feature-length film "High Fidelity," showing on campus tonight, opened in New York last week to the critics' delight. It's a documentary of the life and times of the Guarneri Quartet during their long history together. "It shows us rehearsing, arguing, relaxing, per- forming, checking into Holiday Inn and traveling by plane, bus and even donkey!" Steinhardt says, surprised at the success of the movie. "Allen Miller," (who produced and directed the film, as well as his other bril- liantly conceived musical documen- tary From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China) "is a fine musician, and when he asked us 'do you want to make a movie?' we said sure... In the future it will probably be good reference material for young profes- sionals and aspiring students." Their goals for the future are not definite. They work on a sponta- neous level, planning each season as it happens. This process flavors the Quartet's musical and personal style. The sky is the limit for the Guarneri Quartet. THlE GUARNERI QUARTET will be performing tomorrow night at 8 p.m. in Rackham Auditorium. Re- maining tickets are $18 and $14. HIGH FIDELITY will be presented tonight in MLB 3 at 7:30 p.m. Ad- mission to the film is free. BYLORENZO BUJ JOHN Neville is exiting on a high note with this, his last sea- son as Artistic Director of Canada's world class Shake- spearean Festival held annually in Stratford, Ontario. He has been magnificent in bringing audiences back to this small town (a three- hour drive from Ann Arbor) and making recent years a critical suc- cess after his predecessor, the late John Hirsch, struggled financially in the '70s and early '80s. While Hirsch was psychoana- lytic in his aesthetics, giving dramatic lessons on the churning dark-side directives of human pas- sion, Neville has been graceful, civil, and refined. His lineups have been somewhat conservative but rarely dull. I recall two mo- ments of Chekhovian bliss in par- ticular: the deep spatial resonance of John Wood's Cherry Orchard (1987) and this season's Three Sisters, directed by Neville and made most memorable by Lucy Peacock's portrayal of Masha. Peacock presented audiences with a figure whose dolorous anomie and stoic nobility brought to mind nothing less than a vision of Garbo on the edge of violence. I also recall a particularly zesty and foppish Troilus and Cressida on the Avon stage in 1987. While most critics panned it or came away grumbling out of the stuffier sides of their mouths, I thought it was a marvelous success, brash and gaudy and decadent - TV mini-series material for the edu- cated "adult" audience. As far asthis year goes, there's still Sir John Vanbrugh's Relapse playing at the Avon Theatre until October 28. The wholesale outra- geousness of a pre-rococo aes- thetic of self lives on in Brian Bedford's role as Sir Novelty Fashion. The production is scrumptious and the script is thoroughly wit-ridden, so you won't go wrong if you check it out. Actually, I think it's much better than A Midsummer Night's Dream, currently playing at the same stage. The Athenians are at- tired in post-WWI Balkan dress while the fairies prance right out of the Arabian Nights. But aside from Kevin Guidahl's sharply-vis- aged Oberon and Keith Dinicol's genially-rounded Bottom, there's not much to choose from. I think director Robert Ouzounian could have benefited from any of Jan Kott or Rene Girard's essays on the play. If you forego Dream or Re- lapse, then by all means don't miss The Merchant of Venice. highlight One of this year's certifiable hits, the Merchant runs through Octo- ber 28 at the Festival mainstage. It's a play I never enjoyed much, due largely to an almost deperson- alized sedateness in Portia's char- acter and the ineffectual old-before- her-time comportment of actors who took on the role. All this changes with the irrepressible vi- talism of voice and movement in Seana McKenna's performance. Speediness of wit and intellect be- come attractions all their own. Portia's lovely island-blown youth, so often a matter of textual cosmetics, suddenly takes on a flesh-and-blood womanhood shot through with comic grace and magnetic restlessness. The confident, nervy bounce in McKenna's step and talk throws into glaring relief the overplayed bombast of Hubert Baron Kelly's Prince of Morocco and the spidery slo-mo affectations of Peter Don- aldson's Prince of Aragon. Choos- ing caskets under the sour counte- nance of a mother (Michele Muzzi) who could only be a freaky derivation from Velazquez or Goya, Donaldson draws whoops of laughter with his disaf- fected, effeminate unenthusiasm. But the star of the show is Brian Bedford as Shysock. Bed- ford's Jew is a magnified, broadly humanized patriarch who effec- tively puts to rest all that early- season complaining about the play's anti-Semitism. Bedford prefers dignity and self-assurance to aggression and bitterness. A fullness of life rumbles about in Shylock's laugh; we see immedi- ately that he has been generous enough toward himself to have endured as an alien among racists. And when Jessica (Susannah Hoffmann) runs off with Andrew Dolha's gauzy, transparent Lorenzo, I felt she was a daughter well worth losing, so grand and complex are the charms of such an embattled father. Old Shylock's hostile isola- tion, his usury, his calculated the- ologies of transaction are com- pletely transvalued. There's no hint of quickening malice or ghoulish opportunism when he takes up Antonio's offer. Yet he is formidably sharp when it comes to dealing with the hypocrisies of Venetian capitalism and (almost) out-duelling the Christians at their own cynical, legalistic game. If you feel like spending the weekend in Canada, don't pass up the Merchant. Bedford won all kinds of kudos as Shylock in a re- cent staging of the play in Wash- ington, D.C., and if you see him in Stratford, you'll know why. 0 0 TIME IS RUNNING OUT! 1 1 g l 9 3 8 4 77. TO FIND AN APARTMENT Some Efficiencies, 1-bedrooms, & 2-bedrooms still available. Most include parking, heat, hot water, dishwashers, laundry, and garbage disposals. DON'T WASTE ANOTHER MINUTE! Call Prime Student housing *761-8000* 616 Church Street k inko's the copy center Live ana Rudy a pun! --Th . -- OPEN 24 HOURS 1220 S. University 747-9070 OPEN 7 DAYS Michigan Union 662-1222 OPEN 24 HOURS 540 E. Liberty 761-4539 .I Departments, Faculty, Staff and Students of University of Michigan: Information Technology Service Center is your ON CAMPUS authorized computer repair facility 0i S 0. XA~COMMJNTYI CEIOLLEGE " 8 weeks at LCC (January 4-February 26) " 9 months in Japan (March 1-December 10) " 57 Academic Credits " Sponsored by LCC and Biwako Kisen Steamship, Co. 535 W. William St. 763-5897 M-F 8-4:30 " 8 weeks at LCC (January 4-February 26) @ 6 months in Japan (March 1-August 31) "@45 Academic Credits " Sponsored by LCC and Keihan Fisherman's Wharf The Bowling team and the Michigan Union Billiards and Game Room are looking for representatives to send to the 1989 Big 10 Bowling and Billiard tournament held at the University of Iowa on October 28 and 29. lb" 0 Qualifications for Selection of Participants for Japan Adventure and Japan Horizon Programs Must be a student at Lansing Community College or another Michigan college or university. Must be mature, of high moral character with a good academic record, and able to work well in a group. For More Information or an Annlicatinn Contact Program Benefits Include Round trip air ticket between Detroit and Japan Furnished apartment Food and living allowance stipends Health insurance Other miscellaneous benefits Public Information Session Sunday, October 8, 1989 2:00-5:00 p.m. Rnnm 129 Old Central Bowling : The Bowling team is seeking 5 team members and 1 alternate for both the men's and women's divisions. Qualifiers will be held from October 2- Oct. 11 at Colonial Lanes in Ann Arbor. There is an entry fee of $4.50 and appointments are necessary. All interested students should contact Ed Rondot at 769-8271 or 665-4474 as soon as possible. Remember, qualifiers end October 11. 6 i