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Page 8-The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, October 24, 1989
Nigel Kennedy: A wild 'n'
crazy (and talented) violinist
Near miss
Fat Man and
Little
Boy
fails in its mission
BY GREGORI ROACH
Nigel Kennedy - this one man may be single-
handedly changing the face of classical music as we
know it. This past Sunday he and the Vienna Cham-
ber Philharmonic shared Rackham Auditorium's
stage and left a packed house in awe of an incredibly
musical but startlingly different performance.
First off, when the 33-year-old Kennedy took the
stage you knew that something was different. Was
that about three inches of spiked hair on top of his
head and whoa, leppard skin shoes? Don't forget the
floral vest peeking out from under the baggy silk
jacket that was purchased second-hand in London's
Camden Market - but by any means this wasn't a
fashion show. Nigel was here to play and play he
di.
With tempi at times closer to vivace than to the
posted (and until now adhered to) allegro sections, he
brought the audience to applause after only two of
Vivaldi's Four Seasons. His actual physical style of
leading and conducting the ensemble while playing
makes Pete Townsend's stage demeanor look calm.
Bounding from one section of the orchestra to an-
other and leaning over the players stands he would
,strike up a duel with other musicians and back and
forth they would go until Nigel would find another
"victim/cohort or just leave to take the show on his
own.
During the "Winter" section the orchestra played
sul ponticello, a scratchy, cold-toned bowing tech-
. nique that is usually reserved for more modern works
that sent windy chills through the auditorium. At the
least this performance could be called daring, but it
was terribly effective and in all honesty more inter-
esting than the standard interpretation.
The first half of the concert was performed by the
orchestra alone. It was marked by a wonderful ver-
sion of Grieg's Holberg Suite and a youthful Bran-
denburg Concerto No. 3 by Bach. Mozart's Adagio
and Fugue in C minor tended to have intonation
problems during the entrances of the fugue but it was
a sound performance. Claudius Traunfeller, the Mu-
sic Director and Conductor of the Vienna Chamber
Orchestra, added a slight bit of entertainment with
his lavish conducting style, although few people, if
anyone at all (including the orchestra) seemed to
know what his break-dancing ability had to do with
the music he was conducting.
But the man of the hour. was Nigel Kennedy. As
encores he showed some of what he had learned as a
student playing the clubs of Greenwich Village with
the likes of Stan Getz and Helen Humes by covering
a Miles Davis tune and a jazzed up arrangement of
Sweet Georgia Somebody. A great end to a great
concert.
Just remeber: if you ever feel like classical music
is boring and stodgy go see Nigel Kennedy sometime
and be aware that he has professed an affinity for the
Sex Pistols.
BY MIKE KUNIAVSKY
On August 6, 1945, the United
States of America dropped an atomic
bomb named "Little Boy" on Hi-
roshima, Japan. Three days later, an-
other bomb called "Fat Man" was
dropped on Nagasaki. At least
200,000 people died in the two
blasts. (The exact figures cannot be
known since many more people died
after the bombings due to severe ra-
diation poisoning and cancer.) The
construction of these two bombs and
the human toll exacted by their cre-
ation is the premise for Roland
Joff6's (The Killing Fields, The
Mission) latest film, appropriately
titled Fat Man and Little Boy.
The film begins in 1942 when
General Leslie R. Groves, played by
Paul Newman, is asked to assemble
the top-secret Manhattan Project.
His choice as the man to lead the
project is young, idealistic J. Robert
Oppenheimer, played by Dwight
Schultz (whom you may remember
as Murdoch in the apocalyptic A -
Team).
The two bring the best young
physicists in North America together
in a secret Army base at Los
Alamos, New Mexico where they
must both create the Bomb and keep
it a secret. One of these men is
Michael Merriman (John Cusack's,
RECORDS
Continued from page 7
Blues Leave," "The Blessing," and
"Compute." The latter is a scintillat-
ing example of the work that
Cherry, Higgins, and Haden all have
done as members of Coleman's
band. Clay, a newcomer to this
genre, plunges in bravely and offers
a fine solo himself.
Don Cherry goes full circle on
Art Deco, beginning with classic
Miles and ending with a free-jazz
masterpiece. He makes a return to
his classic roots, but one thing he
doesn't have to return to is great
jazz. That's something he has been
putting out for some time.
--Ben Aquino
I
I
DRIVING
Continued from page 7
him along with the problem of be-
ing poor and Black in Atlanta, Geor-
gia.
The audience will see the inter-
play between these two people boxed
in a car with each other. The audi-
ence may also be able to identify
with many of the characteristics of
Miss Daisy and Hoke. According to
Lange, "A lot of the characteristics I
saw in my grandfather I put into this
character." For example, Lange de-
scribed how his grandfather always
put a handkerchief in his back left-
hand pocket that he used for every-
thing. This trait is carried along with
Hoke in the play, adding a personal
touch.
Based on the real-life story of
playwright Uhry's grandmother and
her prickly relationship with her
chauffeur, this play brings out not
only pride and prejudice but humor
and humanity as well. Driving Miss
Daisy takes a blank canvas and
paints a realistic picture of life in the
old South between Black and white
and still leaves room for the audience
to create their own perspective of the
spectrum of colors in between, creat-
ing a picturesque representation of
all that a work of art should be.
DRIVING MISS DAISY will be per-
formed tonight at 8 p.m. at the
Michigan Theater. Student tickets
are $8.
Paul Newman (General Leslie Groves, right) and Dwight Schultz (J. Robert
Oppenheimer, center) regard John Cusack (left) skeptically. Cusack, as
physicist Michael Merriman, turns in the best performance of the film.
who turns in what is arguably the all, though, the blame must be lev-
best performance in the film and one elled at Joff6's direction, lackluster at,
of the best in his career) who risks best and grossly heavyhanded at
his life - and ultimately forfeits it worst. There is one scene where Op--
- for an ideal he's not sure he be- penheimer stands, his shadow -
lieves in. Merriman falls in love cast by the mast of the tower where,
with a young nurse at the camp, the scientists are about to make the,
played by Laura Dern (Blue Velvet, world's first nuclear explosion -
Mask), and the two of them try to stretching away from him, and asks
make sense of what they are doing. "Why me? Why did he pick mee
This and the Oppenheimer-Groves Neither Newman's performance (he
relationship - as well as Joffd' seems to be acting like George C,
own questions about the meaning of Scott in Patton even though he
these events in the light of the late playing a different WWII general})
20th century - are what the film nor Schultz's lack of energy help.
focuses on. things. 71
It'ufouns Though the film ends with a
Its unfortunate foroff6 that, as slow motion shot of 0ppnheimer's
with a chess tournament, most of ppeotioshotrozaOnheimerwed
post-Hiroshima realization followe4:
the turmoil and conflict his charac- by a shot of the earth from space, we.
ters face is internal, and there are few don't really understand what these
ways to represent this externally events - this birth of the Atomic
(unlike in The Killing Fields). Thus age from the unity of the earth-egg
the film must try to make the action and the bomb-sperm - have to do
more exciting, but it can't. The dia- with our Atomic middle age now k
logue, written by Bruce Robinson that all of the "fathers" pictured here
(again, The Killing Fields and more are dead. All that we have left is the
recently How to Get Ahead in Ad- image of Merriman, the first victim;;
vertising) and Joff6, ends up sound- of lethal radiation exposure, calling-
ing stilted, with Groves repeating re- out in pain.
Read Jim Poniewozik Every
ligious references whenever destruc-
tion is mentioned and cardboard G-
men saying, "He kissed his brother,
he's oytta he na Communist vr
FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY is
now showing at Showcase Cinemas
I
Boo
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- 7
8Uua U d%-U1iiiu11S- V~l and Briarwood
'Congratulations' from Lucky
Alana Polcyn is the lucky winner of a pair Bob Dylan tickets. She and three
other fact mongers - Jeff Kasser, Jeff Pierson and Brenda Torres - °v
answered every question on our tricky Dylan quiz correctly, but Alana paid
us off, er, was chosen at random. Thanks to everyone who gave it a shot. Q
As for the answers, my friends: you know where they are.
-lTHUNDERBIRD a
AMERICAN GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Glendale, Arizona 85306 USA
A representative will be on campus
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1989
to discuss
GRADUATE STUDY
AT YOUR Ia
- DON'T BE AFRAID TO S A E 50% ON
DEAD ERCHANDISEI
ONE WEEK ONLY - OCTOBER 24-31
SELECTED BOOKS, CLOTHING, AND MORE
AND WHILE YOU ARE HERE......
COUNT THE CANDY PIECES AND WIN A
$50 GIFT CERTIFICATE!
CRADUATE SCHOOL AND IBA DAY
10:00 A.M. - 3:00 P.M.
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