The Michigan Daily - Monday, January 22, 1990 - Page 9

Space cadet

Poet Justin Tyme to launch

The Planet

BY JAY PINKA
IF you sit in chemistry class dreaming of giving
commands on the bridge of the Enterprise, scanning
new planets to see if they support life, or visiting art or
science colonies on "orbital recreation biospheres," then
Justin Tyme's literary daydreaming is in your orbit.
Tyme, who has written "10,000 lines of poetry"
after running "into a muse" 15 years ago, is a self-
taught writer. A futuristic Romantic poet, Tyme revels
in "themes of unity - whether it's a personal level,
one man, one woman, or in a planetary kind of way, be-
tween humans on a planet." Framing his language in
meter, this space-age pioneer utilizes structure with a
sense of adventure.
"I like to put together a verbal jigsaw puzzle.... The
discipline... creates (a) new, unexpected turn of phrase,
if I switch the syntax around to arrive at a rhyme that
isn't contrived. The sound and sense should melt to-
gether," says Tyme.
The merging of "sound and sense" is a phrase too
familiar to English majors studying poetry and may
sound like losing touch with reality to others. But ac-
cording to Tyme, stepping out of the earthly sphere to

"exercise imagination" through meditation and day-
dreaming is a key to inspiration.
"I'll be in the middle of meditation and... a phrase
comes to me." said Tyme. But practical studies are
indispensable to this poet. For those who are just start-
ing to write under the Muse's influence, he recommends
they "read all the poetry they can - go back to
Chaucer." He himself dotes on Donne, Keats, Coleridge
and Poe.
"I don't know if I expect to leave the planet," says
Tyme, who dreams of living on a "space island" one
day. But he does hope to publish The Planet by March.
A "quasi-literary underground version of Omni," The
Planet is to include "essays, poems on the 21st cen-
tury." You might find an article by Tyme on the
"Luman," the human of 1000 years from now, beings
who, having "realized their potential, are filled with
light." Until then, Tyme will continue to strive for his
own visionary objectives in poetry. He believes a poem
should be "uplifting in the soul of the reader," and
"illuminate a truth."
JUSTIN TYME will read at Guild House, 802 Monroe,
at 8:30 p.m. tonight.


A scent of psychedelia
Everyone will agree that music is meant to be heard, but it's said by not a few that you can feel the rhythm.
And MTV claims that sight is vital. So get a taste of Sense of Smell tonight at 10 p.m. at Rick's American
Cafe. Experience the missing sense in music before the sci-fi/mystic community succeeds in establishing
ESP as the official sixth sense and you're further behind in your musical sensory perception.

REVIEW
Continued from page 8
to transcend the commercial crap that
Toyz and Bonham relied on. They
wanted you to worship them, but
not without their explosive effort to
grab you. The only flaw came in


their beefing up the songs from
Love especially "She Sells Sanctu-
ary." The harder version made it
sound too much like "Fire Woman"
and only identifiable by the riff.
Astbury's fantastic stage dive during
the second encore song "Love Re-
moval Machine" allowed the rest of

the band to brilliantly jam while se-
curity guards pawed to release him
from the grip of the fans. This seri-
ous move displayed what a band will
give when its fans really respond to
outrageous efforts to gain their ap-
preciation.
-Annette Petrusso

'RECORDS
Continued from page 8
cut, John Easdale and company draw
you into Wonderamaland and leave
you there until the final reprise has
long since faded away. The band ac-
complishes a dreamlike quality in
the music, true to its namesake,
with featured instruments such as E-
0 Bows, mandolins, six- and 12-string
acoustic guitars, piano, saxophone,
and a rain stick to boot.
The result is a beautiful and
unique symphony of sound, and the
psychedelic artwork featured on the
album jacket and liner notes does, in
fact, betray the band's intentions.
From "Wonder-amaland" to "Would
You Like," the attraction to the '60s
sound is evident and interpreted in
*quite original fashion. "Try," a simi-
lar offering, truly captures the spirit
of the album, and with its lofty,
flowing guitar chords contrasting
with Easdale's rough, cutting vocals,
the effect is one of powerful emotion
and pleading sincerity.
"Last Cigarette" opens side two
and reveals the diversity that Drama-
rama possesses. "Cigarette" conjures
up visions of a garage rock 'n' roll
Wband that may have you covering
your ears by the second verse, but by
the final chorus has you singing
along. With this and "70's TV,"
Dramarama shows that it tries not to
take itself too seriously: "Go get


Archie Bunker/ And we'll watch
Emergency... I fell in love with
Lori on the Partridge Family/ And I
get off watching '70s TV." - that
about says it all. Although the band
readily displays its sense of humor,
there's much to be said for the more
contemplative songs on the album.
From the ballad-like "Hardly
Enough" to "Pumps on a Hill" and
"Fireplace, Pool and Air Condition-
ing" the music is inspired and Eas-
dale seems almost to question the
listener in his simple and convincing
tone. At times the vocals become
nearly imitative of R.E.M.'s
Michael Stipe and even Paul West-
erberg of the Replacements, but the
well-crafted lyrics help him maintain
originality throughout, and guarantee
that Dramarama's unique sound will
find a wide audience through the
1990s and on.
-Scott Kirkwood
Lenny Kravitz
Let Love Rule
Virgin
The man who once called himself
Romeo Blue must be properly de-
fined. You see, whenever an African-
American artist releases a record that
defies contemporary standards, s/he
gets compared to Prince. But outside
of qualitative judgements, there is no
comparison. Kravitz is something of
a throwback, with his rougher,
funkier, grittier musical textures and

pseudo-'60s lyrical idealism. But
then again, to paraphrase the man,
"you can't date love."
The angular, deliberately damaged
funk grooves of "Sittin' On Top Of
the World" and "Freedom Train" will
easily shake the most rigid listeners
out of mental inertia, and just in
time to warm you up to the title
track. Kravitz, who has written pri-
marily everything except for the
songs penned with wife Lisa Bonet,
plays guitar, bass, drums, organ,
percussion, and sings all vocals, lead
and background.
His hippie stylings are
unavoidable. He places his idealistic
verse within an inexorably mel-
lowing bank of daisy-flavored organ
radiation and secondary guitar-scapes,
and then decorates it with a frilly sax
that intoxicates with its simplicity.
Kravitz is a musician in the
truest sense of the word. He knows
to juxtapose his reverberating wah-
wah guitar sprang with bebop synth
interludes and even Isaac Hayes-
styled fuzz metal to create some of
the most pleasing textures (on
"Fear") this critic's heard since...uh,
Sgt. Peppers or Parade, and his
percussive sensibility is equally
clever: random snare fills on the
down beat; hip-swayingly synco-
pated tambourine rhythms; and even
finger-cymbals on "Freedom Train".
He also exploits his own vox to
awesome effect - and this is where

the Elvis Costello comparisons fit
in - pushing his singing way
above range, and the result could
give fellow soul visionary Terry
D'Arby a run for his grit money. In
the timely ballad "Does Anybody
Out There Even Care," he begins by
pushing the more handsome side of
his voice directly into your face, in-
sisting that the listeners must push
on to realize Martin Luther King's
dream, now more than ever.
The final tune, "Flower Child,"
is as throwback as anything else on
the record, with descriptive imagery
like "she's a psychedelic princess on
a magic carpet ride," combined with
a swing-heavy mid-'70s-styled rock
groove to bring the record to a satis-
fying if anticlimactic end - then
again, an LP entitled Let Love Rule
ends with a ditty to the man's own
love. Fair enough, considering that
the bottom line to peace is transcen-
dence; through simplicity, in this
case.
-Forrest Green III

Michigan Alumni work here:
The Wall Street Journal
The New York Times
The Washington Post
The Detroit Free Press
The Detroit News
NBC Sports
Associated Press
United Press International
Scientific American
Time
Newsweek
Sports Illustrated
Because they worked here:
e 1*Iidflgan Dal

 CLAS IED ADS Call 764-0557

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THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY
IS SEEKING VOLUNTEERS TO
TEST NEW THERAPIES FOR:

=_
University of Michigan
Medical Center

Career Planning & Placement's 16th Annual
MINORITY CAREER CONFERENCE
Explore career opportunities with over 100
major employes and graduate schools.
,Tesday, January 23
f OpeivnSssion
10 p n. - 1:00 .
MichIgan Union l.
Informal discussl s with employers and
graduate chl reresenptati vs.
Arrange intervievs for WOne;day, January 24.
For details 6r sp6ciaI dIsance,
contact Career Planning & Placement,
3200 Student Activities Building, 764-7460.

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ATOPIC
DERMATITIS
12 week study
Ages 18-65

PSORIASIS
&
PSORIATIC
ARTHRITIS
STUDIES

ECZEMA
8 day study
Ages 18-65

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Have you considered a career in
Health?
.*Public Health oDentistry *usn Gaut
How much do you.know
about careers in: Medicine Research
*Pharmacy
You can learn more about the variety of career opportunities in the health sciences at
Breakthrough: Opportunities in Health Sciences. This program will help you identify pro-
fessional opportunities through an informal exchange with faculty, staff, and students from
the the University of Michigan Health Science Programs (School of Public Health, School of
Nursing, College of Pharmacy, School of Dentistry, and the School of Medicine.) Please join


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