0
this
is
You'll abstain from acts of idle or wrongful
gratification.
You'll abstain from abuse, from profit and
exploitation.
This is no consumer product.
Help us with the war against inequality:
Racist, sexist, and economic.
Before its too late
CONSOLIDATE
- Consolidated
The question surfaces once again: consume or
fight? Or is it, rather, fight consumption?
Whatever the answer may be, one thing remains
certain. Because Ann Arbor has so affectionately
been deemed the love-me-I'm a-liberal bastion of
the Midwest, everybody is finally tapping into
what Time magazine recently called the free
market of the "twentysomething-lost-generation".
In other words, all you socially-aware types
standing up for morals instead of marketing will
finally be completely pacified with something to
really sink your money-bags into. Yes, perhaps the
ultimate of
oxymorons will
triumph:A
politically-correct
artistic products.
Never mind .
inherent by Donna ladipaolo
contradictions
that may (or may not) linger in these newly
produced "art forms" displayed and promoted
around town. After all, some objets d'art are simply
there for the buying. Art for art's sake and all that
kind of stuff. So here's a consolodated list of the
week's artistic exploits and fashion-filled guilt
supressors:
ROCK AND TOLL WILL NEVER DIE
How 'bout that industrial-funky-syntho political
band Consolidated? They drummed a message of
"compassion" and "accountability" loud and clear
Wednesday night.
And how 'bout that highlight: MC 900 Foot
Jesus with DJ Zero? Their preaching about the
sinful nature of our system was never made more
glorious. While truth may definitely be out of
style, the messages of these two bands - when
put to a heavy hip-hop bass-line - have definitely
created their own fashionability. How much were
the tickets anyway?
While I actually love these two bands and
believe their music is affecting their listeners, I
can't help but apply some scientific laws of
relativity upon witnessing species-being. If
energy can really neither be created nor
destroyed but only transformed, where does it
all eventually go? Does it fizzle into all the
service charges? Is it swept off the Nectarine
Ballroom's floor after all the stomping has
ceased? Does it trickle down to the masses? Or
do people actually believe their performances
are more important than the causes we are
supposedly fighting for? Do flashing lights,
trendy clothes and spiked hair amount to
fighting for a pig-free campus?
Surely this band cannot be completely
blamed. "If music is inspired to make money
how interesting can it be?" says Consolidated
before they begin their synthed bebop in one
song. So where does "selling-out" as an artist
(or consumer) actually begin? This band, like
others, stand clear. Art and action must go hand
in hand.
Maybe somewhere out in Pettybourgeoisland
someone's consciousness is awakening.
JUST LIKE A FARE
Recently, a group of pointy-heads (like
myself) have found it relevant to look at the
social, political - and dare I say - economic
ramifications of Madonna.
Specifically, this self-deemed "Boy-Toy's"
"Like a Prayer" video along with her once-
shown Pepsi commercial were shown in 4051
LSA with a subsequent analysis to decipher any
possibly subversive dimensions in her mood
and music. (Once Pepsi found out what her M Tv
video was about they pulled their ad because of
controversial associations. They probably loved
the controversy, however. Controversy seems to
be selling lately.)
Anyway, I was pretty dismayed by the entire
event. Of course, you don't have to pay to
become involved in any of these wonderful
forums on pop stars (unless you consider tuition
a kind of expenditure). And I'm not denying
that I haven't become absorbed in the whole
pseudo-feminist-anti-repressive thing when
arguing about "Express -
Yourself." In fact, it's Y
refreshingly different from
studying Chaucer and the like. 0
But how 'bout really gettingf =
into the nitty gritty about
Madonna as a very shrewd
capitalist? After all, she did o
recently make the cover of
Forbes magazine. Her greed
was mentioned during the
discussion but was brushed .
aside. How much money is she .
making off us and where does it
go? <..
And what will happen with
the academy and pop-ish topics?
If the study of television ever '
gains academic respect, we may
end up analyzing "Leave it to .
Beaver" with the same zeal we
once had in dissecting
Shakespeare. Will we CRISP for
"Cop Rock" 101?
FASCINATING FASHION-ISM
This was also the week
Bloomingdale's of Ann Arbor -
Bivouac - decided to change
their "politically charged"
window display. The manager there told me
they changed the display every couple of weeks
to promote more merchandise. "Eyes and
minds for change" and "End Racism" were just
some of the phrases printed on a minimalist-
styled shirt to grab the fashion mongers of this
city who believe they can make the difference
(even if it's only when they get up and Vogue).
This kind of promoting is similar to Collected
Works' recruiting of shoppers by displaying an
"End Racism" bumpersticker in their own
window displays. (Never mind that the same
racism now used as a marketing tool by the
garment industry was used to produce the
cotton that launched, and continues to support
the textile industry.)
So I called up the designers in San Francisco.
. it turns out one of the two designers,
Matthew Wong, is originally from Ann Arbor
(Wow, what a concept!).
Wong, from MM Sherman Wong Work Wear
described his new line as "politically aware and
utilitarian clothing."
"Fashion is more than fashionable things. It's
the way you feel," said Wong. "People are
becoming more socially and politically aware."
Aah, I'm glad somebody created such things
to satisfy our needs and end product alienation
once and for all. Wong's new clothing line has,
by the way, received raves in such fashion
magazines as Details.
But when I started asking Wong about the
$70 price tag for these clothes he didn't seem as
comfortable discussing any economic
ramifications. In fact he asked me, "I don't
know, is $70 expensive for a shirt?"
Well, not being,one of the exploited, I
wouldn't exactly know. But it would take over
seven of these stories for my paycheck to allow
me to buy such authentic "work wear."
BELOW MM Sherman Wong Work Wear had 1
at Bivouac this week. This "utilitarian" shi
(originally from Ann Arbor) described it, m
seventy dollars.
October 12, 1990