ARTS Monday, November 27, 1989 Page 9 the Michigan Daily dh F w Poets bring magic to Guild BY JAY PINKA IT'S quite chilly out in these gray November days. While finals loom ahead, you realize that once again, your student income will turn you into an unwilling Scrooge. You're dreaming of volcanoes humming over the steamy tropical landscape of Guatemala, made gothic with monasteries superimposed on the superstitious supernatural vision of peasants. Or maybe you're whizzing back in time to the beat of couplets, back to the wit of metaphysical poet John Donne, where people's teeth glitter while they laugh through their melancholia under a crescent, melon rind moon. Stop those bah-humbug blues and let fic- tion writer Ian Gonzales roll your frozen imagination into Guatemala, where women claim to have been impregnated by unexplained beams of light that have menaced the city for five years. Push yourself out of the chill and into the warmth of Guild House, courtesy of poet David Grove, who will extend you into a metaphorical, record-playing adolescence laced with astronomical imagery: Once I was a ,planetl Orbited by black moons I'd remove onel From its cloud/ And the stylus/ Would walk on it like an astronaut. "Language is a woman, in a way," says the Hopwood winner, who writes about "death and aging, memory, solitude, self-absorption as opposed to involvement with other people, and, love poems - when not in love." Grove calls his eroticization of language, filled with "witty concerns with dualities... puns, paradoxes... conceit... figures of speech elaborated to the point where you can't elaborate anymore." Occasionally accused of "extending metaphor" until it seems absurd, Grove has accommodated his free-wheeling, image-flushed intellect by using more traditional designs, for example couplets, in his poetry. "It forces you to say something," says the Flint-raised poet. Grove likes how structure, unlike his previous habit of free verse, forces him to change his original idea, giving him closure in his writing. He explains his poetic dilemma in human tones, creating literary self- reflexivity, his humor verging on self- deprecation: Now I use couplets like a pair of tongs To drop hot coals of feeling in my songs. The poet recreates this intimate insight and humor in his clipped, poetic biography, that, in depicting Flint, alludes to Carl Sandburg's words on "the city" of Chicago. If only he could return! to his halcyon youth! to his birthplace! city of the carrion- strewn shoulders! cement boot he grew out of like afoot. If you're inspired by the stained glass win- dows and light plays of church architecture, but intensely bored by sermons, the ornamental scope into eternity of Ian Gonzales' narrative escorts you into a spark of Christmas-like imagination. You'll experience the multi-cul- tural, colonial Guatemala, filled with Indians, Spaniards, nuns, and priests through the eyes of 93-year-old Esperanza, who narrates the first part of Gonzales' novel. Gonzales' own heritage as son of an anthropologist and a' Guatemalan architect is evident in his use of historical information in the work. Esperanza's experience, of beng raped by a Franciscan monk and drowning her only child in a monastery pool, shoots an uncanny intensity, of emotion through Gonzales' lyrical, iconical language. The writer weaves an invisible cur- tain of Gothic by imposing the supernatural through his visionary narrator, who laces fragments of magic, onto his "changing cot- ceptions of the city." Time becomes folded up in dense layerings' and then she increases it with effortless violence and prises a final cusp above zb memory quick beating and fragrant that wings her back over all the staled time in between. And it is as though her thick callused soles are still damp with piss and warm with friction and the original morning is imprisoned in the net of- her hands which undo themselves now. Gonzales, a visiting lecturer and M.F.A. graduate, is also innovative in his teaching' practices. He presently teaches a creative writ- ing class, in which he blindfolds students: "I pass around a ginger root and ask them what- village this man or woman came from." DAVID GROVE and IAN GONZALEZ will read tonight at 8:30 p.m. at Guild House, 802, Monroe. v Samuel Ramey's wonderful bass voice will reverberate in Hill Auditorium this evening. Bass Samuel Ramey sings with stature BY ELLEN POTEET ALMOST any experienced operagoer has his or her stories to tell of moments when the whole fantastic enterprise of an opera performance wavered between debacle and stunning success. One evening in January, 1984, I sat in the rafters of the Metropolitan Opera House waiting for the bass Samuel Ramey to make his debut entrance with the Met in Handel's Rinaldo. He rode in on a chariot, in the elaborate style of any Met production, but then something went wrong with the brakes and the chariot came to a sudden halt. All the laws of physics demanded that Ramey take an embarrassing fall. With the agility of a stunt artist, Ramey turned the cards in his favor, catching his balance in time to the music and singing his aria in superb form. The audience, of course, went wild. Ramey's voice, however, can carry a show without the unexpected display of showmanship. He himself is a tour de force and a reminder to American audiences of the range and power of a bass. Will Crutchfield, music critic of The New York Times, has written, "One thinks of Mr. Ramey's singing mostly in athletic terms." Born in Kansas in 1942, Ramey has sung with most of the leading opera companies in Europe and the U.S. He made his debut with the New York City Opera in 1973, quickly earning the praise given to his predecessor Norman Treigle. But Ramey's strong technique, imposing stature, and, at times, electrifying stage presence, distinguish him also in his own right. He moves with ease and command from the tragicomic in the title role of Massenet's Don Quichotte, to the egotistical grandeur of Escamillo in Carmen, to the gothic evilness of the four villains in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. Samuel Ramey's performance tonight is an opportunity to hear one of the most renowned bass singers, both for vocal and dramatic talent, in the U.S. and Europe today. SAMUEL RAMEY will perform tonight at Hill Auditorium at 8 p.m. Student rush tickets, if available, can be purchased at Burton Tower. GET ITtE The Pr rsonal Column MICHIGAN DAILY CLASSIFIED ADS Monroe. p woo KM1 I Dizzy and Mr. B get down for The Count The historic Michigan Theater proved to be the perfect setting for Saturday night's musical extrava- ganza honoring one of history's most loved musicians. "Dizzy And Mr. B Salute The Count," starring Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Eckstine, along with The Count Basie Orches- tra, captured all the abandon and pre- cision of the big band/be-bop sounds, of yore. Performing separately and together, the two stars showed that they weren't getting older, only bet- ter. The one thing missing, of course, was the late, great William James "Count" Basie. As well as backing up Gillespie and Eckstine, Basie's Orchestra, led by Frank Foster, kicked off the evening. Twelve of the 20 perform- ers in the ensemble were hired by and performed with the Count, who died in 1984. Johnie Williams' bari- tone sax solos were a highlight, as was drummer Duffy Jackson's daz- zling, floundering, acrobatic time- keeping. Numbers like "Splanky," and the band's signature tune, "One O'Clock Jump," were given spirited, polished workouts. Hefty vocalist Carmen Bradford trotted out a bluesy "Ain't I Good To You," but left the stage all too soon. Always suave and silly, Dizzy Gillespie paid his tribute to Basie, whom he described as "one who has created innumerable foibles," with exquisite readings of "Night in Tunisia" and "Lover Come Back To Me." His famous inflatable cheeks are indeed something to behold; they expand so fast and so much that they threaten to explode messily. But the only thing that grossed the audience out Saturday was Dizzy's disman- tlin{ )f his contorted trumpet so that he could spill about a quart of spit onto the floor. Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight" and the Afro- Cuban "Manteca" more than made up for that oversight in etiquette. Billy Eckstine, the crooner's crooner, turned 75 on his last birth- day but was vital enough to crack dirty jokes and to deliver heartfelt versions of some of his most loved ballads. Simons and Marks' "All of Me" in particular sounded fresh. Everybody liked "Beautiful People" so much that Eckstine sang it twice. A Duke Ellington medley, featuring, among others, "Beginning To See The Light" and "Lush Life," might have been out of place technically during a night dedicated to Count Basic, but nobody seemed to mind. A hapless attempt to transform "I Apologize" into a sing-along was about the only failure of Eckstine's set. The entire company got together for the finale, an energized romp through "Gee But I'm Lonely." A little more time for Dizzy and Mr. B to share the stage might have been an added bonus, but as it was the night had more than enough magic moments. -Mark Swartz NTHE SPOTLIGHI Free tickets for Bert Hornback's ever-popular reading of A Christmas, Carol (to take place December 9 an4 10 at the Museum of Art) will distributed starting today at 8 a.m.a the Union Ticket Office. Get som before Scrooge takes them all. FEELING D9WN? We're here to el It's a new Write: Help I advice c/o Michigan Daily column in 420 Maynard the Daily. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 'a Partlcfpat r Democraqy This 124 page book presents practical solutions to correct the decay of out federal government. Your government Your f ture In a unique but basic way it combines the conflicting philosophies of Hamilton and Jefferson to produce a stronger national system with total local control at the congressional district level. You risk nothing.'You will be billed $8.50 + $1.50 p&h when you get your book and you may remit the $10.00 (or not) after you've read it,but we do want your comments and we hope for your BY phone only. Call at any time. Read ad~ Ube Vaify C-t461jed6 U Qate- Gold Tidings 'Ad ii TIFo OF FEELIAN LIKE ice Big, beautiful 2 bedroom apartments available now for as little as $550.00/month. This includes heat for the long, icy winter, hot water for cooking and bathing, parking, and laundry facilities. Convenient and secure campus locations., You don't have to be cramped up like a sardine anymore. Call Prime Student Housing today. Prime Student Housing I WJ RESTAURANT "24 YEARS EXPERIENCE" CHEF JAN--- TOP GOLD MEDAL WINNER OF DETROIT COBO HALL NATIONAL CONTEST Sponsored by Michigan Restaurant Associatiom Michigan Chefs De Cuisine Association BLUE RIBBON BEST CHEF AWARD IN WASHINGTON D.C. r __ __-- I I " """"- " """" ""-"" OFF with coupon 1 10% Dinner only' expiresf 1/31/89 J L - - - tI'"I Szechuan-Hunan-Peking DINE IN OR a vs vasaaaaa aaa/y ffa iaa Y f -.f V QalY \1V 1 l1fL{ L1j1V i i I DINE IN OR a