Spacemen 3 Playing with Fire Bomp! Praise the Lord! Spacemen 3's latest album, Playing with Fire, is available domestically. At last America can hear the Gospel according to Sonic, Jason, and Willie for less than the cost of a Christy Lane bootleg. Spacemen 3 fuse drug and reli- gious imagery to a sometimes gentle, sometimes rough, repetitive music structure. Now more than ever before, the Spacemen rely on soft, drifting music, strumming their gui- tars, sometimes accompanied with a heavenly organ, or a violin. Guest horns bring attention to the Almighty in the closing "Lord Can You Hear Me?" Because of the drug references, it's easy to exile these Anglos to the realm of neo- psychedelia, but the music owes just as much to blues and gospel as it does to Their Satanic Majesties Request. Yeah, this is a very pastoral al- bum. These guys must be in love. Why else would they forsake the Holy Trinity excessive Stooges/ MC5/Suicide dials-turned-to-ten gui- tar effects fests that dominated earlier efforts? The first track on this concept album, "Honey," drips with *love for the owner of said proper name. Smeared throughout the song is organ that could have been stolen from some church. Spacemen 3 continue to walk with Jesus through the fruited plains of their (drug-addled) brains, like they did all over The Perfect Pre- scription, their 1987 LP. Of course, when Jesus isn't around, these Sun- day school rejects are trying to score some more drugs, or else are plan- ning their noisy "Revolution," the great MC5-ish rave-up calling us kids together in order to get the gov- ernment off of our backs. Listen up, promoters of the five dollar Ann Ar- bor pot law! The Spacemen fall out of love, feeling abandoned by their love, screwed up on their drugs, and re- *noved from their Lord. They explore "Suicide," Playing with Fire's other loud track (and an instrumental), a maelstrom, a continuous climax, the ecstasies of Saints Spacemen, what "Marquee Moon" might sound like if it was played on guitars that could only play one note. Once on the other side of "Suicide," the Spacemen float ack into calmer musical regions. *inally, through their trials and tribulations, the Spacemen turn to the Lord, hoping that it isn't too late for their salvation. Although the Spacemen may have their personal highs and lows, Playing with Fire is a consistent high. They know how it feels. Give ,,your offering at the record store and receive vinyl salvation today! -Greg Baise The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 13, 1989 - Page 11 Guild features new American dreamers'' BY JAY PINKA THE magic of the American Dream no longer holds most of us in thrall. That captivating combination of "living off the fat of the land" and the Puritan ethic just doesn't get you that "A," that job, or even get you pub- lished these days. So why doesn't Horatio Alger's America assure you of success after that grueling all-nighter anymore? According to fiction writers Anne Redmon and Don Unger, you must define your own terms of success. There's a new personality to the litera- ture of Redmon, who, already having published Emily Stone, Music and Silence, and Second Sight, is grinding away at her new "large" novel. The book, which focuses on a "Russian family staying on a Greek is- land," differs from Second Sight because, told from the third person, it "deals" with a multiplicity of characters, rather than fleshing out just one. "It's like Frankenstein," said Redmon, who paralleled the creation of character with the motley patch job of the monster. "Run a lot of elec- tricity through it and it becomes a person." Redmon constructs her char- acters from pieces of the people around her, and sometimes even of her- self. Don Unger, too, hints at life's larger complexities which we cannot comprehend, but character is not the channel he chooses. Unger comes from New York, the environment reflected in his works' "urban land- scapes." Unger is working on his master's thesis and acts as a substitute teacher at local schools. His various jobs have given him experiences that complement the "large repertoire of environments" provided by his travel experience. This is no couch potato of an American. "There's something magical about travel experiences... because they give themselves permission to be different," says Unger. Unger has been published in The Quarterly and The Sun, and he also writes non-fiction that serves to communicate ideological views. "It's better to change things with (subtleties) than with neon signs," he says. Now, what do you do to get published? Whatever Horatio Alger would say, Unger insists on a "belief in self" and a "balance" between writing and trying to get published. ANNE REDMON and DON UNGER will read from their work at 8:30 this evening at the Guild House, 802 Monroe Street. , : r,, Spacemen 3 form a trinity of their own to contend with that more popularly worshipped one. On Playing With Fire, Spacemen 3 go to church, but only to get some organ lessons from the blue-haired choirmaster. The Primitives Pure RCA Records I think Tracy Tracy dyed her hair to avoid all the comparisons to Deb- bie Harry. When the Primitives re- leased Lovely, probably the most underrated album of 1988, the press had a field day with the Blondie thing. Sure, they looked a lot like Blondie - the blond singer backed by the brunet guys - and they may even sound a little like Blondie: irre- sistable melodies driven by the band's punk influence. But the whole episode was unfair. So now Tracy has red hair and the Primitives are looking to set things straight with Pure, their second stateside release. While not quite as outstanding as Lovely (but who could do that well twice in a row?), Pure is just that: pure pop songs written with all lofty1 intentions cast aside. You're not, going to hear any philosophical discussions of the nature of time or the universe here, but who really cares? If Tracy chose to sing about what she used to dye her hair, I'd still be perfectly content. For those of you who have heard Lovely, rest assured that things haven't changed much. "Way Behind Me," a track from the second printing of that album, is even included here. The band is still playing songs that are just so catchy you could swear you've heard them before. The melodies soar above the driving rhythms and leave an indelible impression on your mind. Most of the songs clock in at under three minutes, which is the way this kind of stuff should be. If you took early Beatles, crossed it with The Clash and gave it a female singer with an unearthly voice you'd have a rough approximation of the Primitives. Sometimes the sweetness can get a little too thick, as on "Shine," which is sung, interestingly, by gui- tarist P.J. Court (who bears an un- canny resemblance to Blondie's Chris Stein - hmmm). But then again, there are 11 other songs to choose from. The key to liking the Primitives is to leave your preten- tions at the door. Sure, this is no groundbreaking or important work, and you've probably heard it all your life, but the Primitives do it better than just about anyone else around. -Mike Molitor REVIEWS Continued from page 9 down-to-earth artist who dresses with trendy panache and who, until Janeen's death, was still advising her to let go and not worry what people think. Yet it is Laveer who is also unable to deal with the fact that Panzi and Janeen had sexual rela- tions, perhaps because she blames herself for pushing Janeen to be in- dependent. Michelle Wilson's Panzi is a bitter, angry woman in a slim, grey suit that sets off her cold facial glances with fiery intensity. She re- sents being ignored by the family at the funeral and not being asked to help with the arrangements. It is the end of the play, a series of flashbacks involving Janeen which alternate between Laveer and Panzi, that brings the story to its climax. Each bit of information serves to implicate one character over the other in Janeen's suicide in a rather bland fashion. Laveer and Panzi's grief has made them unaware that each is projecting their own guilt onto the other. Torya Beard is exceptional as Babbs Wilkerson, a perceptive, sar- castic journalist who is not beyond telling her friend Thelma to "fluff up some." But the light exterior has given over to alcohol dependency and a foiled suicide attempt. She still loves her ex-husband and longs for safety that does not rely on her being a token Black woman in the white male establishment. Still, Babbs adds comic relief to the most tense moments with Beard's quick wit and delivery. Robin Murphy and Angela Peaks give capable performances as Alisa and Thelma, despite the obvious limitations of the written characters. Alisa is a cool-minded arbiteur pleased with having overcome her impoverished childhood. Thelma is the rational mind for the group and its spokesperson against Panzi's sexual liaison with Janeen, or rather the group's image of Janeen as an impressionable, sheltered girl who cannot act on her own. Having seen the flashback of what is termed the "seduction" by the other four, the audience decides just how accurate its view of Panzi is. Despite the bad psychology of Panzi's final mono- logue which works to absolve her by blaming her homosexuality on her abusive mother, it is her society that really brought on Janeen's downfall. As she reveals to Laveer, Janeen en- visions the eyes of the posh social club "The Trees" - which aims to better the position of family-oriented Blacks regardless of the emotional cost - staring at her in disapproval. This, coupled with the torturous abuse her husband gives her after walking in on her and Panzi, is the cause of a distress that resulted in the taking of her own life. The uncredited set, with its abun- dance of lifelike trees outside the home and painted on the living room walls, lends perfectly to the image of the destructive "Trees" and to the emotional forest in which the charac- ters find themselves. -Jay Pekala UNION Arts and Programming presents SILK SCREENED PRINT SALE! "The Finest Silk Screened Prints From Around the World at Affordable Prices." Monday, Nov. 13 - Thursday, Nov. 16 9 am - 5 pm N. Campus Commons By Univers Designs INTRODUCTORY SYSTEM NAD7020e Regular Pri " "rI bM4A's e 77tO fi NOW39900 V. &~ ec.Lk ' 4k, 1122 South University Ann Arbor. Michigan 48104 Telephone 313-665- 1 09 Join our cantankerous leprechaun this week as he spins tales of his visits to Mexico, Italy, Germany, England, Japan, and Australia!!!!! C; 1> '1C MONDAY Pitcher O'Margaritas Dos Equis Peel and Eat Shrimp TUESDAY Pitcher O'Beer Watermelon Shooters Chicken Fingers WEDNESDAY Sambuca Peroni Pesto THURSDAY Hot Shot Schnapps Paulaner Bratwurst FRIDAY Mug O'Guinness John Courage Whitbread Ale Potato Skins SATURDAY $4.50 $1.00 $2.00 $2.00 $1.25 $1.00 $1.25 $1.00 $1.00 $1.00 $1.95 $1.25 $1.50 $1.75 $1.75 $1.00 "It's fun, real-world experience." Name: Rick Fair Status: Senior Major: Computer Science Position at the Daily: Systems Analyst "Working at the Daily gives me a lot of valuable, practical experience in my field of study. It also helps me to unwind after going to class. The people are very relaxed around here. There's all kinds of personalities, so I get practical experience in working with people, too. Although I haven't been here long, I'm finding I really like this job."