Page 8-The Michigan Daily-Thursday, February 22, 1990 Poet Hayden remembered I BY CAROLYN PAJOR A S a young poet, poetry was for him no doubt an escape, a release. It was a way of discovery, discov- ery of self and the world. It was too, he often thought when older, the ex- orcism of personal demons who must leave the spirit when their tormented unwilling host learns to say their names... Ah, yes, he knew their power to hurt or heal. Nigger. F ur-eyes, sissy. -excerpt from the first and only chapter of The Life, Robert Hay- den's intended autobiography It is time to observe and celebrate Robert Hayden. Hayden was a poet of profound integrity and intense righteousness; he was as. lyrical 'as he was just. This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the death of this former University professor, and he will be remembered in a four-day conference titled "Words in the Mourning Time." Hayden wrote on the Black expe- rience yet extended his craft to sundry topics, always making clear that he was not only a Black poet. "He was an American poet writing out of the totality of life's experi- ence, part of which was racial," 4 r ALI Such appeal was the product of an arduous ascent that began in De- troit in the notorious, ironically named Paradise Valley. "Respectable people," wrote Hayden, "shunned it as the devil's." He was a precocious child, always reading, and one day, Hayden later wrote, "this scared, hopeful, bedeviled boy from a family none of whose members had ever finished grade school, became a freshman at Detroit City College" (now Wayne State). Thereafter he re- ceived his M.A. from the University (where he won two Hopwood awards) and began teaching, eventu- ally accepting a professorship at Fisk University, where he taught for 23 years. He joined the University English department in 1970 and taught for 10 years, where he was, according to ProfessorLaurence Goldstein, "an ideal teacher - in- spiring, a wonderful artist and craftsman." Throughout his life Hayden amassed numerous presti- gious awards, including being named Poet Laureate of Senegal and Poetry Consultant at the Library of Congress for two terms. The conference is an amalgama- tion of creative, literary and schol- arly approaches to Hayden's poetry, beginning on Thursday at 4 p.m. in Rackham with Iowa professor Dar- win T. Turner's Keynote Address and ending on Sunday at 8 p.m. in the Power Center with Angle of Ascent, a multi-media presentation featuring music, dance and drama. Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Gwendolyn Brooks and Rita Dove will give read- ings of Hayden's poetry. Turner says that Robert Hayden was a poet "very concerned with the idea of the need for people through- out the world to love each other." In that sense, Williams wrote that "This man... lived in such a way that we must be grateful. I cannot mourn the ending of a life that was lived so well." GWENDOLYN BROOKS and RITA DOVE will read at Rackham at 8 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday, respectively. All sessions. are free and open to the public. Call the English Department, 764-5272, for information on other events. I., 0 Robert Hayden writes Pontheolla T.Williams. Michael Harper, friend and corre- spondent to Hayden, simply states, "He is a poet with universal appeal." , I Confusion reigns supreme Average guy Klestakov (James Ludwig) has a run-in with some foul soup in the University Players production of Nikolai Gogol's Inspector General. This farce, about mistaken identity in a small Russian town, 'was intended by Gogol as political criticism of the czarist era. A while back, it was made into a movie starring Danny Kaye. The Inspectori Generalwill be performed at the Mendelssohn Theatre in the League tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 Z-- . . -. - .." Ir1 ln - a - aAd7. .+I - - Music legend Mose Allison overcomes Daily insensitivity BY FORREST GREEN- M OSE Allison is a bona fide jazz and blues legend and he deserves top coverage in this rag they call a newspaper, but unfortunately, Ter- rance Simien and Ministry are somehow more relevant, so this is the reduced version. Also quite irri- tating is the fact that you won't be getting any direct quotes from the man, so it's the generic version as well. Allison's songs have been cov- ered by the Who, Bonnie Raitt, and John Mayall, so even if your idea of jazz is Kenny G, you probably know his stuff anyway. He started his ca- reer as a trumpeter; and yeah it'd be great to get his perspective on how he switched to becoming a pianist, but oh well. Over his 20+ year span of popularity, he's played country, jazz bebop and yeah, the blues. In the '50s he played with Al Cohn, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and Zoot Sims. His cleverly sardonic and cyn- ical lyrics have garnered him critical acclaim, and his voice is twice as charismatic as Michael Franks'. His personal style of piano playing is a wondrous show of dexterity and mu- sical showmanship, so check him out while he's here. MOSE ALLISON plays at the Bird of Paradise tonight through Satur- day, at 8 and 10 p.m. each night, at the Bird of Paradise, 207 S. Ashley. Tickets for tonight are $5; Friday and Saturday they're $5 students, $8 others. Early shows are all ages, late ones 21 and over. for students with ID, $10 and $7 others. rs , Son of Fame crew has faith in funw$ BY KENNETH CHOW "THERE are a lot of plays out there that make a statement, but we're sick of plays that have to change the world. So we said, 'Fuck it! Let's just, hang out in the theater and have an hour and a half of fun,"' said Alicia Aiken, director of the Basement Arts production Son of Fame. And that is what this play is all about - pure fun. Son of Fame, written by University theater student David Kosky, is about the understapding and lack of understanding between fathers and sons. Boom Boom Czevrnowski, a lively, flamboyant, retired football legend, pays a once-a-decade visit to his son Chris, a conservative, introverted workaholic, in an attempt tdmold his grandson into his own image. But upon Boom Boom's arrival, an old conflict between him and Chris is revived. The quarrel is classic: father wants son to be a chip off the old block; son doesn't. As the disagreement continues, Chris faces another prob- lem: his own son, Peter, is looking up to Grandpa Boom Boom more than he is to Chris. Of course, Chris does everything within his power to get rid of the bad influence, while Boom Boom does the same. "Each of them argue that they are unlike one another, but they arg very much alike. They react the same way, tell the same lies. And the wife (of Chris) just mediates the arguments throughout the play," said Aiken. In general, the plot is straightforward and easy to follow, with interesting twists here and there, and of course, a happy ending. It isn't meant to be moralistic or even intelligent at that. But the point is that it's fun. And funny. And here is a word for the wise from Kosky himself: "A play shouldn't be cast off as unimportant just because it doesn't make a point." Jazz and blues legend Mose Allison is playing all this weekend at the Bird of Paradise. Maybe you'll get a chance to talk to him. all 1e3O3t 1 Make a computer SON OF FAME is playing today, tomorrow and Saturday at S p.m. in the Arena Theatre in the Frieze building. Admission is free. 0 p I I The price of going downhill at legendary Boyne Mountain just wen downhill. MIDWEEK LIFT AND LoDGING. Per person, per day. Multiple occupancy. 10 t fI dweller lodgingdl y day of the mmates and ow, groomed ly entertain- eservations and ing break spe- nd Boyne 0 p Offer good Sunday- Thursday lodging at Boyne Mountain's Cliff Dweller Lodge with Monday-Friday skiing, beginning Sunday, March 4, through end of season. 1 Save a spot on your calendar for IBM's PS/2 Fair. We'll show you how the IBM' Personal System/2' can help you organize notes, revise papers, produce high-quality graphics, and more. It's easy to learn and easy to use, and if you're After March 18, Cliff L and lift just $30 per day ar week. Get together with roon friends and enjoy great sn runs, heated pool and live ment. Call toll-free now for r ask about other Boyne spr cials at Boyne Mountain a I f ----------------