ARTS
The Michigan Daily Wednesday, April 4, 1990
GreekI
by Ami Mehta
H ILL Auditorium is often synonymous
with annual band concerts, annual perfor-
mances by the University Symphony
Orchestra, not to mention various annual
convocations. But there is another yearly
event that takes place inside those walls of
classic tradition. Simply named the Sing and
Variety show, this annual Greek Week event
is to be performed by fraternities and
sororities on campus in order to raise money
for various charities.
Marking the last event of Greek Week,
the show is a m6lange of singing and danc-
ing ability ranging from those who sing
only in the shower and have two left feet to
Week en
those with funky rhythm and trained voices.
With 20 choral and dance acts, the show will
provide entertainment for all types with both
traditional and popular songs as well as cool
and groovy dance moves.
As easy as it sounds for these students to
appear on stage in front of 3000 people do-
ing things they would never even try in the
privacy of their own rooms, a lot of time
has been spent rehearsing prior to the final
performance tonight. LSA sophomore Rich
Aste of Theta Chi fraternity reflects on Vari-
ety: "It can be frustrating at times and there
is a lot of pressure to be the best but the re-
wards after Wednesday night will make up
for the sweat and tears." A sense of team-
ds with
work has been built up within the participat-
ing groups, and according to Aste this really
With 20 choral and dance
acts, the show will provide
entertainment for all types
with both traditional and
popular songs as well as
cool and groovy dance
moves
becomes clear when you realize the chain is
only as strong as its weakest link.
It's easy for the participants to get caught
up in the swamp of competition to win this
event, but LSA sophomore Bessie Lee of
song
and
Page 5
dance
Zeta Tau Alpha sorority reminds people,
"The show is also a good chance to meet
people with common interests in a different
atmosphere other than a social situation such
as a party." Still, she did not deny the com-
petitive nature of the event.
Behind the scenes, LSA seniors Jennifer
Naiburg of Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority and
Jonathan Reiss of Theta Chi fraternity are
the heads of the steering committee, in
charge of everything from making sure that
Hill is actually available for the night to cre-
ating publicity to avoiding technical difficul-
ties. Reiss, who was involved with the event
last year, remarks how different and interest-
ing it is being on the other side. "It's a
whole different ballgame. The best thing
about it (Sing and Variety) is that 1000 peo-
ple get the chance to perform on the stage of
Hill Auditorium. It's an amazing thing."
Having raised a large amount of money
in past years, the Sing & Variety show
hopes to do it again, donating the proceeds
to charitable causes including the
Alzheimer's Foundation, Perry Nursery
School and Prospect Place (an emergency
shelter for the homeless). Although there
will only be one winner for each category in
the show, all these philanthropies will win
in the end.
The SING AND VARIETY starts tonight at
5:30 at Hill Auditorium. Tickets are $4 and
are available at the door.
I I
What goes on, FG III?
In defense of the Velvet Underground
by Peter Shapiro
was originally going to write
about Maurice Starr's brilliant post-
Cosby Show reversal of Sam
Phillip's legendary philosophy ("If I
could find a white guy who sings
like a Black guy, I could make a
million bucks" to "If I could find a
bunch of Fabian wannabes who play
Black music and sound really white,
I could make a million bucks"), but
I felt it necessary to become the
mouthpiece for the offended masses
who are still reeling from F.G. III's
pockmark on the honor of the Velvet
Underground
Hours could be spent and valu-
able space wasted on picking apart
the grammatical flaws and syntacti-
cal errors that abounded in last
week's ignominious affront to the
good name of "criticism," but that
would serve the same purpose as
saying VU sucks because they influ-
enced everything bad that ever hap-
pened to rock 'n' roll. Of course,
this quite simply isn't true. The
Velvets did not play pretentiously
weird music; Cream, Genesis and
Yes did. The Velvets played music
that was uncompromisingly realistic
during an era in which everything
else was awash in the groovy pipe
dreams of white liberal crackpots.
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Pyia-e l1M
There's absolutely nothing pre-
tentious or weird about "Heroin," the
single most devastating piece of mu-
sic ever recorded. The guitar and vi-
ola screamed like tearing flesh, while
Mo pounded the heartbeat of delir-
ium tremens. The song was more
than just the most chillingly blunt
portrayal of drug use that we have -
it was the sheer brutality of human
existence dangling naked from a fork
for all to see.
When groups like the Grateful
Dead, Yes and other art rock mastur-
bators exist, how can one possibly
accuse the band that made "What
Goes On" of spawning bombast in
rock? The closing jam of "What
Goes On" is an absolute mockery of
the Jerry Garcia how-long-can-I-pos-
sibly-play-this-scale-for guitar solo.
The jam is but two chords, D and G
for musicologists, played with the
same violent intensity that drives the
blues and the archetypal I-IV-V rock
'n' roll ditty. Lou and Sterling trade
these rhythm licks for about four
minutes on the live version, proving
that two chords have more power
than any 45-minute-long "Dark Star"
into "St. Stephen" or Rick Wake-
man Bach arpeggio jerk off.
If one can rag on a band because
of what subsequent bands took from
it, then one might as well say that
Led Zeppelin is the worst band ever
because they gave birth to heavy
metal and that insufferably boring
SubPop crap. When, in fact, Led
Zep is the worst band ever for de-
stroying the blues by taking music
that gave oppressed people a vehicle
for expression that is both personal
This man is wanted for commiting heinous crimes against the Velvet
Underground.
and communal and changing it to a
music of no-talent milquetoasts wav-
ing their genitalia around. Then they
had the chutzpah to fuse this blues
travesty with some pseudo-mystical
vision of British medieval folklore.
But, even if we could accept this
line of reasoning, it is an absurd ar-
gument. Sure, The Cure and Morris-
sey can claim a spot in the post-
Velvets family tree, but not because
of any direct inheritance. Rather,
they are related through some vague
and amorphous set of connections
with bands that actually understood
what VU was all about.
Ann Arbor's own MC5 and The
Stooges were the Velvets' first off-
spring. The MC5 played high-energy
music that sought to liberate dope-
smoking hipsters from the tyranny
of boredom of a backward and hypo-
critical culture, while The Stooges
released the sexual frustrations of a
man who had his cock in his pocket
and was headed down the old high-
way. The second generation included
bands like The Ramones, Sex Pis-
tols, Richard Hell and the Voidoids
and The Clash who raged with con-
fusion and bitterness. Six or seven
generations later come whiny wimps
like Robert Smith and Morrissey
who are not "post-punk," but, rather,
the record industry's way to deal
with the masses of confused
teenagers on the fringe - '80s ver-
sions of Pat Boone, except that they
exist to please the kids, not to pacify
the parents.
Finally, if you think that Phil
Collins could have done a better job
than Lou. did on New York, then you
might as well ordain the Trumps and
worship at the feet of the Statue of
Bigotry. Hey, F.G. III, did you hear
"Another Day in Paradise?"
Marianne remains Faithfull
by Nabeel Zuberi
LET Sindad cry her big, dripping, dropping tears and Tanita tick us all
off with her yuppie angst. They can't touch the more painful places quite
like Marianne Faithfull. Listening to Faithfull's songs is like being
pinched sharply by a loved one: enjoyable at first but then really painful.
Faithfull's songs are written with blood and drenched in acid. Her 1979
album Broken English is as brutally honest and confessionally cathartic as
anything on John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band record. The beautiful blond
singer of such mid-'60s melodramatic pop gems as "As Tears Go By" went
through a whole series of sordid incidents involving boyfriend Mick
Jagger, drug addiction and a heroin overdose. Faithfull's voice is cracked
and has the Rdge of a rusty razor blade. She sings with a brutal honesty and
without unnecessary affect. "Sister Morphine" is the kind of
unsentimental, non-proselytizing drug song that should be heard in these
times of anti-drug McCarthyism. But the killer song on Broken English is
"Why D'ya Do It," possibly the greatest, most obscene song of jealousy
committed to vinyl. Faithfull rasps, hurling vocal barbed wire at her rival
and the scumbag she's in love with. "Why d'ya spit on my snatch?....
Why d'ya let her suck your cock/ Why d'ya put me in the dock," she spits
with venom. It's a wonderfully purgative song.
Her more recent material is torchier and suffused with loss. Blazing
Away features live versions of old songs as well as "Prisons of Roi," an
Edith Piaf song. Tonight she'll only be accompanied by guitarist Barry
Reynolds, so we'll be able to hear only the power of that incredible voice.
MARIANNE FAITHFULL performs tonight at 7:30 and 10 p.m. at the
Ark, 637 1/2 S. Main. Tickets are $17. SO and are available at
Schoolkids, Herb David and Ticketmaster.
Save the LP!
. Daily Arts
I
The "First Lady"
brings the White
of the Media
House to Campus....
1 4
Helen Thomas
United Press International
White House Bureau Chief
" Kennedy through Bush -- she's handled the challenging assignments
. White House press conferences begin with her questions
- Elected first woman officer of the National Press Club
" Watergate...Iran Contra - she deals firsthand with the issues
" Authored "Dateline: Washington"
Residence Hall Competition
Arts 'n' Crafts
Battle of the Bands
Casino
Carnival
Jazz Cafe
Tues-Friday:
Th, Fri, Sat:
Wed, Th, Sat:
Saturday:
Saturday:
Friday:
6pm-10
10am-6
8-Mid
7-Mid
7-Mid
8-Mid
For info
763-1107
Monday, April 16
5:00 p.m.
Pendleton Room, Michigan Union
All interested faculty, students and staff welcome
Career Planning Plac lent
jdAI2 YEARS OF-
M '"PDUC SERVICEz
MRDIGRAS COMES TO ANN ARBOR.
ALL EVENTS IN THE UNION
April 6
8-10:00 P.M.
Tickets $3.00
Union Ballroom
starou
Campus wide talent competition Another quality activity by UAC
The University of Michigan
Premiere of
by Dr. Stephen Rush
composer in residence of University of Michigan Dance Department
and member of Campus Chapel
for choir, soprano and baritone soloists,
harp, organ, handbells
and congregation.
SUNDAY, April 8,10:00 a.m,
Work commissioned by Campus ChaDel
i
Men's Glee Club
G, ,C cJerry Blackstone, Director
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