ARTS The Michigan Daily Strike a pose, wear Wednesday, September 11, 1991 Page 5 control top hose, vogue aris is Burning dir. Jennie Livingston by Jen Bilik "I want to be a star. I would like to be a spoiled rich girl," asserts Venus Xtravaganza, a participant in the flamboyant drag balls of Harlem and one of the transvestites interviewed in Paris is Burning. Xtravaganza looks with longing at airbrushed magazine advertisements of glamorous, women, convinced that her path to success can corre- spond with the female version of the American Dream. Of course, she is a he, which, on the surface, twists her and her peers' ambitions into something pathetic. But rather than packaging its sub- 'Oects in a fishbowl of freakdom, Paris is Burning focuses on the cruel standards that created the charac- ters, standards that value beauty over merit, Anglo over negroid fea- tures and heterosexuality over ho- mosexuality. The documentary's humor is sometimes ironic and sometimes outrageously enjoyable. Direc- or/producer Jennie Livingston's Interviews showcase the mischie- vous zest of the players. Their enthusiasm is all the more touching when it is contrasted with their poverty and outsider status. The drag balls provide adulation, applause and social belonging for black gay cross-dressers such .as Octavia Saint Laurent, creating a respite from, their native (and cruel) world of hustling. But the irony of their partially-realized fantasies glares as they attempt to adopt the lifestyles of the white, the rich and the beautiful - impossible realities which are asserted in every media. The characters constantly refer to Dynasty and Vogue as if they were weekend getaways. have captured the Great White Way of living, or looking, or dressing, or speaking, you is a marvel." Between the ball scenes and the interviews, Livingston briefly turns the camera to the upper-East Side streets of New York or to a mass- meeting for the Ford Modeling Agency, and suddenly, the real town and country-ites seem just as pa- thetic as their imitators (if not more so, since they're not acting). Livingston, a white, 29-year-old Beverly Hills High and Yale gradu- ate, films the transvestites as they define the modes and vocabulary that create their inner world: "reading" means participating in a verbal showdown; "voguing," which Madonna took directly from these balls, indicates a posing dance style; "mopping" is stealing; and a "house" is a voluntary family orga- nized into honorary mother, father and child roles, banding together to help each other in the balls and on the streets. Paris is Burning is a brilliant ethnographic film. Without being didactic, it showcases a marginal group of people who antithesize the mainstream. Their appropriation of the mainstream and their interpreta- tion of its significance shed an em- barrassing light on their similari- ties to the "real," showing exactly how absurd "real" is. Like abnor- mal psychology, Paris is Burning studies the pathological to elucidate the healthy. However, the vibrant personalities turn the mirror back to society itself, so that their obses- sions seem like a normal by-product of a sick standard. PARIS IS BURNING is playing at the Michigan Theater through September 20, and is preceded by the Warner Brothers cartoon, "What's Opera, Doc?" in which Bugs Bunny cross-dresses with se- ductive acumen. Northside (I-r: Cliff Ogier, Timmy Walsh, Paul Walsh and Warren Dermody) even ripped off "Louie Louie" on their latest single, but hey, it's a catchy riff. Pop go the rhythm chickens? Northside masters imitation, LSD, being'dissed uctavia Consisting of runway competi- tions for beauty, style and convinc- ing performance, the drag balls in- clude categories such as Town and Country, Back to School, Dynasty, High Fashion Evening Wear, and Military and Executive "Realness," which tests the ability of gay men and transvestites to act straight. These categories, as indicated by the editorializing emcee, are spoofs meant to mock impossible wealth and happiness, showing that poor black homosexuals can imitate the "upper class" with uncanny skill; however, they also highlight the misbegotten dreams of people at the furthest reaches of society. As the emcee says, "This is white America. And when it comes to the minorities, especially black, we as a people is the greatest example of behavior modification in the history of civilization... That is why if you by Annette Petruso third of five parts "Continuing our most popular se- ries in which we allow you, the be- leaguered reader, to write in and air your problems - in response to which we simply BLAME NOR THSIDE! That's right! If it's anyone's fault, you can bet your boots it's those roomy-topped Manc lads called Dermo and Walsho and Manco and Bloggso." - New Musical Express, May 18, 1991 "I think it's just poking fun at us," says Tim Walsh, guitarist of the Manchester-based band North- side, on the telephone from that fair city. "I don't like it... I think they're making fun of us... It's just a band to take the mickey out of for this week or this month. It's just NME. Clever." Clever is a word most people would not use in conjunction with Northside. It would be easy to pi- geonhole them as an unoriginal power pop band flying on the coat- tails of the Happy Mondays, play- ing clich6d riff rock and singing about drug use and other mindless, soul-less subjects. But Northside's American debut, Chicken Rhythm, isn't that bad. Like EMF's "Unbelievable," the first song on the album, "Take 5," has a catchy guitar part and a short chorus that you'll find yourself constantly re- peating after you hear the song. The rest of the album also con- tains tunes that could be compared to some other band. (At least, it's not the same band for each song.) But I like Chicken Rhythm, despite the embarrassment I'm told by the rest of bands in this series that I should feel. It's common, familiar, cheesy and amusing - pop that doesn't particularly make you think. Put the CD on and it's a smooth, in- offensive sound that makes you See NORTHSIDE, Page 8 Are you tired of the humdrum routine of classes? Is your life LACKING something? We know what you need! The aesthetic nirvana that is the Daily Arts beckons to you. Write about MUSIC, BOOKS, FINE ARTS, FILM and/or THEATER, and enjoy good folks, good times, comp tickets and an air-conditioned office. Come to the MASS MEETING tomorrow in the Student Publications Building, 420 at 7:30 p.m. Maynard. jinn er your college ring NOW JO STENS More and more PhDs across the coun- try are recommending Hewlett-Packard financial and scientific calculators to their students. And for some very strong reasons. "The HP 48SX Scientific Expandable has powerful graphics tools that are remarkably helpful to students learn- ing mathematical concepts. And with th - -u Li, c_ -irntinW v~- functions. These free the students from computational tedium so they can think and interact on a higher level;' says Dr. Lee V. Stiff, a professor of math education at North Carolina State University. So go check out the HP calculator line at your college bookstore or HP retailer. You'll agree, there's no faster relief from th ninn.niahnrhim Stop by and see a Jostens representative, September 9-14 11 a.m. to 4 D.m.