ARTS OThe Michigan Daily Page 5 Monday, September 30, 1991 ..> N ~ ~ ~N 4.\ ' ~ ...~. N\NNN~.~N. 'N'SS'NS >,~ .%...&.., N N ~. N...N .5".. 5. 'SN> .................................................. NN N' S~. ~.~ ~ Briwri writes about >5 "'>5'. N" .../.,...,. .0. ,>,, NN4"N>'4 .5.. ~0.4~N> N'....N>' N. .N4~4.,N" ~ '~\. *4* *~N. . . 4,. 'N N ~4~4444..:,.44, , ~4.4>.~4.454>.4>4. 4> .4>'..~..55'.....'.~'..>2>555>5'>..:.......... . <:5:.:.:...>..:.:.>.:.Z.:.:.:.>..................,...............- ............................................................ ... xx.:.:..................................... S4>......7.~ real people, issues by Kevin Stein or doing it all ourselves. That's not our schtick. Our schtick is a bout d evoutly doing what we want to do." *Arizona guitar punks probably aren't members of FE TA A, either R osellen Brown writes to give voice to those who would otherwise not be heard, to the people who do not make the headlines. Her subjects range from the colorful strangers on Brooklyn's Georgia Street (in a book of short stories called Street Games, reissued this year by Milkweed Press) to a small-town New Hampshire woman who wants to "understand light years" in Cora Fry. Brown's novels often deal with the situations that arise after a tragedy has occurred: Tender Mercies begins just after a woman is paralyzed by her careless husband, and Civil Wars deals with civil rights pioneers facing the aftermath of the glorified coverage of the late '60s and early '70s. In fleshing out the anonymous people, Brown allows them to speak some of the most important truths simply in the way they lead their lives. In Street Games, the incredible patience shown by a woman with a severely hyperactive child stands in contrast to the brutal frustration of his teachers and playmates. Sireet Games looks into the thoughts of its characters as if through a window - perceptive, but not intrusive. The book is filled with vivid people that are, in part, drawn from Brown's own memory. "The characters are based on life," she says. "I look at people and squint to nar- row my vision until they become fuzzy, and then I have to create new de- tails." Some characters are heard and forgotten, becoming just a whisper over time. Civil Wars deals with people who are no longer daily considerations - two civil rights workers living in Mississippi in the '80s who still take their beliefs and goals seriously. But allowing these chaters tbeherdh times. Brown's treatment is objective, not ingratiating. She presents the el- ements that make her characters whole people, and thus their situations be- come realistic and plausible. Teddy, the white main character of Civil Wars, is seen as trying to ease his own conscience instead of truly helping Blacks. The novel was influenced by three years that Brown spent teaching at a s m l B l c co l e e i M i s s i p i u rin g h e l a e ' 0 s ( t s ) an a tt m p Mississippi is just one of the many places which find voice in Brown's stories. The settings in which her characters survive speak as loudly about social issues as the people themselves. The first Southern integrated communities in Civil Wars and the nondescript urban block with "the statue's stone sober sickeyed face" in Some Deaths in the Delta make the issues immediate. The questions Brown's characters face are sometimes questions that go unasked because they make people uneasy, and her latest book is no ex- ception. Before and After, to be published next September by Farer Strauss, is a story of a teenage boy in a small town who is accused of committing a murder, and the moral dilemma his parents face in the wake of the crime. The book has captured the attention of Hollywood, with Meryl Streep, di- rector Barbet Schroder and scriptwriter Ted Tally of Silence of the Lambs fame interested in producing it. Brown has mixed emotions about this - while she doesn't like the idea of having her work redone, she respects the people involved. It is, however, somehow fitting that the controversial is- sues dealt with in her books have the opportunity to find voice in such a pervasive medium. ROSELLEN BROWN will be reading from Before and After in Rackham Amphitheatre today at 4 p.m. Admission is free. by Annette Petruso C ris Kirkwood called from a bowling alley in Nebraska. Was the band taking in a little on-the-road amusement? "If I could fuckin' bowl length-wise down the thing, if I didn't have to go straight down the little straight parts. I like the balls, definitely, they're definitely *cool. They're really big and they have holes in them and they're dif- ferent colored and shit. There's a po- tential for fun in here, but I just have to stand here and toss the little thing down.., that doesn't get me off," explains Kirkwood, Mr. Humo an Sa ca m lphilosopher demented Dr. Seuss, really) and bassist of the Arizona-based trio the Meat Puppets. He called me from the Ranch Bowl (a combination bowling alley/club) in Omaha, Nebraska, where the band was slated to perform that night. The Meat Puppets is arguably the tightest, most eclectically cool "alternative" guitar band, and one of the most intense three-pieces in the States at present. Their truly .,original blend of music cannot be categorized simply as another major player on the .college circuit. It's hardcore, countryish stuff, with a little speed, maybe some early ZZ Top or some other unexpectedly commercial uncommercial music, topped off with bizarre, fantastic, earth-based imagery. The band takes the seemingly mundane, enlivens it with their own personalities, and >*transforms it into this music - the best intense concert experience this side of Metalli-fuckin'-ca. The Puppets' new album (their first on a major label after about ten years on independent SST) is Forbidden Places. The sound is bereft and deft, with the band taking its varied musical el.ements and separating them on some cuts. This creates a different, dare I say more mature, Meat Puppets. But hey, that doesn't matter. Just ask Cris, representing the band, which also includes his brother Curt as guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, and their friend Derrick Bostram, as drummer. Annette Petruso: So why'd you leave SST? Cris Kirkwood: Well, we didn't. We, because, you know, they had just wasn't as fun. The opportunity came up to do something else that was more fun. And we tried for years to maintain it as something equitable and cool. We were only giving. Fuckin' righ- teous, we gave and gave and tried to help those guys out as much as we could by continuing to stay there and make records with them through their less than, you know, perfect times.., it just never came together. They just kept being too stand-offish, so... A P: How is London/PolyGram working out? 'It's like, 'Oh, what are we going to do with all this CD reissue money? Well, let's hire this shit that won't sell and we'll put money into it.' 'Cause the money, you know, just cir- Culates around within the industry anyways, so every ti me it ch ang es ha nds, there's a tax write-off, so... But that's cynicism and everyone knows that's not the answer' with all this CD reissue money? Well, let's hire this shit that won't sell and we'll put money into it.' 'Cause the money, you know, just circulates around within the industry anyways, so every time it changes hands, there's a tax write- off, so... But that's cynicism and everyone knows that's not the answer. AP: What happens if you're dropped after a couple albums? CK: I'll kill myself. I'll go on a killing spree and then I'll kill my- self. No, you know, we'll go pawn our crap off someplace else or... do indie releases, or whatever. It won't kill the band.... nU. AP: What about working in a trio? What works, making them so loud and strong and powerful like Cream, Hiisker Du and you guys? CK: Oh, throw the Minutemen in there too. They're real powerful. But it's the barebones thing. What more do you need? You know, I think it takes a lot of commu- nication between the three people... It's just magic. What makes good music? I don't like to look at it too closely. I think it has a lot to do with trusting the music to be something special, be- cause life in itself is way more spe- cial... It's such a magical thing, ev- ery waking instant, and a lot of time it takes tragedy or war or something to remind people of that. But some people are able to be there all the time and, you know, some three pieces are, and there are a lot of great bands that have more than three, but those are some good three .pieces. You don't see a lot of good three pieces cause it's hard.., it's just not See PUPPETS, Page 7 kind of dissolved and stopped being the same company that it was. At one point, it was a lot more fun, kind of back when the people that owned it had their own band. Even then, it was a problem, 'cause the guys who owned it are the guys in Black Flag, the guitar player espe- cially, Greg... the problem back then was Black Flag always got preferential treatment, and then once Black Flag broke up, they still did, and they weren't even around. So their reissues were getting preferential treatment and then fuckin' Greg went psycho 'cause he didn't have his band anymore and his other bands didn't work, and before you knew it, I mean, you're dealing with somebody's frustration and it CK: It's real good. Not too bad. PolyGram's huge, but it's worked out fine so far. We've got a lot of money into this thing, and if it doesn't sell more or the next one sells more or something, then we'll get dropped. That's the main differ- ence there. AP: Are you worried about that? The Bob Mould syndrome or what- ever? CK: Those guys (HUsker Dii) wrote the book on it. It's been obvious that's what the score was for a long time. I mean, everyone knew it back then. Once they started signing alternative bands.., it just became apparent that alternative was an- other name for tax write-off. It's like, 'Oh, what are we going to do Ennuyant Years is just a pretty postcard My Father's Glory dir. Yves Robert by Michael John Wilson Just what you need - a gentle, nostalgic, turn-of-the-century dra- ma of childhood memories, set in the lush French countryside. In France, My Father's Glory is one of the most popular films of all time. But to an American audience, this blockbuster plays like The Wonder Years in the Countrv Sans Fred Savage. The film is based on the autobi- ography of the famed play- wrig ht/writer/director Mar cel Pagnol, whose novel Jean de Florette served as the basis for Claude Berri's wonderful 1986 film starring Gerard Depardieu. Though in the same vein as Florette, My Father's Glory falls far short of the former's achievement. Both contain stunningly beauti- ful views of rural French land- scapes. But it's a beauty we've seen before, most recently in Louis Malle's May Fools and Diane Kurys' C'est La Vie (both of which spun tales of childhood memory). In terms of story, My Father's Glory pales in comparison to all of these films - beauty alone isn't enough to carry its mediocre script. The plot surveys the first eight much-better-life-used-to-be whin- ing, which was the problem with re- cent nostalgic films such as Avalon and Cinema Paradiso. Once we reach the sticks, how- ever, the film flounders. Its title refers to the most momentous oc- currence in Provence, when Pagnol's father (Philippe Caubere) success- Ironically, Pagnol himself held serious doubts about the artistic merits of cinema... MVy Father's Glory... would have done little to persuade him of film's artistic possibilities Blue train: Miles Davis dies at 65 Jazz lost one of its living legends Saturday with the passing of trumpeter Miles Davis. He was 65. Davis spent his four-decade long career on the cutting edge of jazz, creating innovative and controversial styles that have defined the music's evolution. He was at the center of the be-bop revolution in the late '40s, he defined cool jazz and he ushere d in the fusion movement of the 70's. Just last summer, he headlined at the JVC Jazz festival in New York City. Along the way, Davis collaborated and played with virtually every major jazz performer. Billy Eckstine and Coleman Hawkins g ave Davis his first major gigs, while Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Gil Evans, Max Roach and Thelonius Monk were his peers. In Davis' bands of the 'S0s and Ca HuereO Yves Robert directing, it's a yawn. Though primarily a playwright, Pagnol himnself wrote and directed ======