The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, October 16, 1990 - Page 7

Success doesn't spoil Youth

A

by Greg Baise
M ANY of you (and you know
who you are) probably don't know
'his, but there was once this band
from Ann Arbor called the Stooges,
and their singer, Iggy Pop, is as
much a cultural icon as James Dean
or Marilyn Monroe. Iggy, however,
is still alive, and he's playing at the
Royal Oak Music Theater tonight
and tomorrow night. Steve Shelley,
Sonic Youth's Michigan-raised
drummer, knows this. "We really
wanted to try to do something with
him and Redd Kross the same night,
but it proved to be too difficult."
So you want to talk celebrities?
Talk to Sonic Youth. They've
jammed with Iggy before, on "I
Wanna Be Your Dog," which was
released as a bootleg single, and the
celebrities keep on lining up to meet
one of New York's louder exports.
Shelley tells of one advantage of
4)eing on a major label (David Geffen
Company): "We get to meet a lot
more celebrities. We just met Pedro
Almodovar, the Spanish director. He
came to our show in New York."
Obviously Sonic Youth's
dabbling with celebrity-hood doesn't
end with bassist Kim Gordon's sonic
essays on Karen Carpenter and L.L.
Cool J. Nor does it end with lanky
guitarist Thurston Moore's fixation
*with things Madonna, both Ciccone
and Mother of God. And it didn't end
last Thursday, when Sonic Youth did
a benefit for First Amendment rights
with Eric Bogosian, which Almo-
dovar attended. Shelley explained by
phone from Toronto yesterday,
"We're going to play with River
Phoenix's band in Florida." That's
on the day before Thanksgiving.
But what about tomorrow?
Above the din of a "Dirty Boots"
soundcheck in the background,
Records
Continued from page 5
a bad time you're having") with the
same brusque humor.
Too often, though, Bogosian
seems more like a stand-up comic
doing impressions than a perfor-
mance artist critiquing society.
When he portrays a homeless man
on the subway or a schizophrenic
man obsessed with the polluting of
rivers, the pathos that he tries to in-
ject in his portrayal gets washed
away by his vicious sense of humor.
His sensitivity and depth of anal-
ysis are also hampered by the format
* ofth performance. In a one-man
show, Bogosian is unable to achieve
the one aspect of New York that
separates it from other metropolises
- its vital tension. The frenetic
tension that abounds in New York is
not one that exists only between
ehnic groups, sexes and lifestyles,
but between every human being that
passes another on the street with that
constant uncertainty and fear that
f produces urban paranoia of the worst
kind. Unable to show the collisions
between his characters, Bogosian
can't depict the unsettling twitch of
a nerve that is alienation. As a
result, his version of "Death in
Venice" ultimately fails.
-Peter Shapiro

Shelley told, "Half of the set is
songs from Goo, and half of it is
songs from the last three or four
records, hitting Sister kind of
heavily, and once in a while some
songs from further back." At the
beginning of August, Sonic Youth
initiated a sold-out Bogart's in
Cincinatti, opening with a majestic
"Tom Violence," followed by the
always incendiary "White Cross."
What followed was mostly Goo,
with all'the kids in the audience
loving it, pogoing and slamming to
"Mary-Christ" and other recent
favorites.
"We have one song and one idea
that haven't actually been recorded,"
Shelley continued. He said that the
band plays the new song, an
instrumental, every once in a while.
"It's really hard for us to work on
new material while we're traveling,"
he explained. For the past few days,
the band has been working on a
video for "Disappearer," Thurston
Moore's pensive song about UFOs.
The video is being directed by Todd
Haynes, the director of Superstar:
The Karen Carpenter Story.
Sonic Youth grew out of the
New York No Wave crowd,
musicians into what Christgau called
"skronk," what Bangs called
"horrible noise" (although he really
loved it), and what subsequent gen-
erations have succinctly shortened to
"noise." Guitarists Lee Ranaldo and
Thurston Moore had played with
guitar orchestrator and former
Theoretical Girl Glenn Branca,
Moore and Gordon met through a
mutual friend, and drummers were
culled from other No Wave bands.
Weaned on Patti Smith Group,
Television, Mars and DNA (and
maybe an unconscious bit of Metal
Box, too), an embryonic Sonic

Youth produced an eponymous e.p.
in late 1981.
That dissonance developed
through a metal machine massacre of
Americana in 1985's Bad Moon
Rising, the infinite darkness of
1986's EVOL, the excursions into
the hyperreal cyperpunk world of
1987's Sister, and the brillo pad-
flavored bubblegum of 1988's
Daydream Nation. Whereas all of
those albums seem like consistent
wholes, Goo, like 1982's Confusion
Is Sex (Sonic Youth's debut album),
shows how the band can waver
between intensity and goofiness,
with Goo showing Sonic Youth's
metamorphosing the guitar static
overflow of the Confusion era into
the taut riffage of "Kool Thing" and
"Cinderella's Big Score."
Shelley feels the band is
successful by the independent
standards of the four members of the
band, "by playing music that is
exciting to us, and doing things...
that we're interested in. That's where
most of our success comes from, not
from sales or money." Still, the
band's latest release, Goo, has sold
over 100,000 copies in the United
States, well over twice the number
of copies that their last album sold.
"The sales have been better because
the distribution has been a lot
better," he said. "People can find our
records in stores all around the
world, not just in New York and
L.A., at the cool shops and in
college towns."
SONIC YOUTH and special guests
REDD KROSS unravel their
neurotic tuff gnarls at the Latin
Quarter tonight, with the doors,
opening at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are
$11.50 plus service charges. Bring
extra cash if you want to buy Goo's
green underwear.

Steve Shelley (obscured to invisibility by the towering Thurston Moore) lends the sonic dynamite to such explosive
Sonic Youth standards as "White Cross" and "Silver Rocket." Erstwhile art critic/hip hop commentator Kim Gordon
plays bass on the left, and behind her guitarist Lee Ranaldo screws around with some amp knobs.
The Michigan Daily-- this is what college was meant to be!!!

INFO*FEST '90
Where else can you eat, drink, be merry and
learn something at the same time?
Need to satisfy a sweet tooth? Like to win prizes?
Then you'll love what we have in store for you. But
wait! There's more. We also have practical things
planned. Visit our study skills booth, and get some
helpful hints on how to manage your time. Or take
a look at our CD-ROM display, and get a chance to
play with a computer. We also have campus maps,
giveaways, and lots of valuable information on the
Library. Join the fun. Come to INFO*FEST. You'll
be glad you did.


Coming to a Residence Hall near you!
Tuesday, October 16, 5-7 p.m.
South Quad Hall, East Side Lobby
Wednesday, October 17, 5-7 p.m.
Markley Hall
Thursday, October 18, 5-7 p.m.
Bursley Hall, Main Lobby

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Games, door prizes, candy giveaways!
Computer demos, study tips,
term paper assistance!

Auditions for the University of
Michigan's Children's Theater
production of the Fabulous Fable
Factory will be next Monday and
Tuesday evening. For more
information and to sign up for
times, please check the call board in
the Frieze Building Green Room
(first floor.) Call Ilana Trachtman at
761-9936 or Blake Robinson at 668-
8639 with questions.
AUGUST
Continued from page 5
Abest friend) without ever taking ship
himself. Matt Letscher was wonder-
fully boyish as Neal, having the
charm of Huck Finn and the ageless-
*P mess of Peter Pan.
AUGUST SNOW is continuing this
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8
p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. in the
Trueblood Theater of the Frieze
building. Tickets are available at
the Michigan League ticket office
for $9, $5 for students with I.D.

Health Care Clinic of Ann Arbor
3012 Packard Road " 971-1970
-t
SCHLUMBERGER FIELD
ENGINEER
DON'T:
" wear suits and ties
" shuffle papers
" answer phones all day
" sit at a desk
DO:
" take charge
* work long hours
" assume heavy responsibility
" work outdoors
" make decisions
" face many challenges and risks
" perform data acquisitions and measurements of
physical properties of subsurface formations
" interpret that information
ENJOY:
" working with a great deal of autonomy
" acting on an idea and risk carrying it to fruition
" taking pride in a job well done
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
(and other engineering disciplines)
GEOSCIENCES
APPLIED SCIENCES
INFORMATION MEETING:
Date: October 25, 1990r
Time: 6 pm - 8 pm
Place: GG Brown, Room 1504
INTERVIEWING:
Date: October 26, 1990
Place: Please check with Placement Office
PLEASE NOTE: Ybu must attend the information meeting
at the time and place indicated oran interview cannot be
scheduled.
Exceptional People.
Exceptional Technology.I
Worldwide.
0~ *c

Ir


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/I-

- I
After your education comes action-and revolu-
tion. Because as a new grad, you're out to change
the world. At Mentor Graphics Corporation,
you can. The pacesetter in Electronic Design
Automation, we are revolutionizing the way
the world designs. We've broadened our focus
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We back our people with a stable, yet progres-
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and resources. In turn, we look for that same
spirit as we add new talent to our engineering
teams. If you're up to the challenge, contact
us today about the following exciting and re-
warding opportunities nationwide.

Brought to you by the Undergraduate Library
and the Residence Hall Libraries.

THE SPI-RIT
OF REVOLUTIO.N
activities will include helping with system im-
plementation plans, supporting product demon-
strations, keeping abreast of current trends, and
acting as the liaison between our customers
and management. To qualify for this role, you
must have a BSCS/EE.

ON CAMPUS INTERVIEWS
Wednesday, October 24
Schedule your interview through
Career Planning & Placement.
COMPANY PRESENTATION
Tuesday, October 23
See Placement Center for Location
If you cannot attend, please send your resume to:
Professional Staffing, Mentor Graphics Corporation,
Dept. UM, 8500 SW Creekside Place, Beaverton,

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