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Page 8-The Michigan Daily- Monday, November 11, 1991

CARTER
Continued from page 5
"(T)his is a lean, mean effort that
pulls no punches and pushes no
drugs."
Fruitbat says, "I mean, it's not
that much of a departure, but it is a
progression. It's a very hard to say'
what sort of progression. It's a de-
velopment on from 'Anytime,
Anyplace, Anywhere' and 'Blood-
sport for All.' It's the next stage
along," adding that the reviews
were "very good reviews. It's a
good record."
I say I haven't heard it because
it's only available here on import,
so check the pricey bins, kids. But
the two songs Mr. Bat mentioned
are on Carter's new American re-
lease, 30 Something.
The new album sounds more ma-
ture, a functional combination of
the electro and the rock side all
melded together almost flawlessly.
"101 Damnations was just a record-
ing of all the songs we had been
playing live, whereas when we came
around to recording 30 Something,
like ninety percent of the album was
brand new songs, and we were actu-
ally writing them as we were
recording them. In that way, it was
quite a lot different. We used basi-
cally the same techniques for
recording them. We're just a bit bet-
ter at it now," Fruitbat explains.
The album's opening tracks
sound like they could have been on
Damnations - electro with the pop
sensibilities of the Pet Shop Boys,
but with slightly more guitars.
These first songs flow into one of
the "breakthrough" cuts: "Any-

time, Anyplace, Anywhere." It's
not perfect, but a coming together
of the qualities that make Carter
fantastic - real guitar bits, a
dramatic sensibility, drum machine
set at the right pace and socially-
conscious lyrics biting the heads off
an issue.
30 Something only gets better,
peaking at the three cuts: "Blood-
sport for All," "Sealed with a
Glasgow Kiss," and "Say it With
Flowers." Keeping the electro
wizardry and samples to a minimum
and highlighting the harsh guitars,
it's just like a gift to us, really.
There's no pressure on us either, you
know, 'cause EMF have the pressure
being the headline band, and we can
have a good time."
Good time or not, record compa-
nies are dropping alternative bands
who don't sell, even British pop
stars, without batting an eyelash.
Carter, while a solid band, just
might not appeal to the staid pop
audiences of America. And all the
alterna-kids might rather blast their
eardrums out to Nirvana or swoon
over Jesus Jones.
"I think that Chrysalis are plan-
ning to make us into a hugely suc-
cessful independent alternative
band, if you see what I mean,"
Fruitbat says.
If they get dumped? "It won't
happen," Fruitbat claims. "It won't
happen. The next album's selling a
million." Hopefully, but artistic
merit a best seller does not make.
CARTER USM open for EMF on
Saturday at Hill Auditorium. Back
balcony tickets are $16.50 and floor
tickets are $18.50 (p.e.s.c.) at
TicketMaster.

BLANCS
Continued from page S
consciousness of a background to
their relationships - the love or
rivalry expected among brothers
was missing, and so were feelings
about the death of their father.
Emotionally barren speeches about
who was right and who was wrong
in exchange for dialogue of psy-
chological depth became boring by
the end of the three hour play,
undercutting its power.

explosions) the horror in the act,
but we couldn't empathize. The
failure of any character to connect
with any other in the play could
probably be explained by this -
nobody was really talking about
their pain or experiences in a way
anyone else could relate to.
Also, the actors' performances
were hampered by the continual po-
litical outrage demanded by the
script. Tshembe discussed his pain in
abstract political terms - "The
scars in the hills" of Africa from

Creative Writing to give a reading
in Ann Arbor.
Shaman Drum Bookshop spon-
sors readings by more obscure writ-
ers at the Third Coast Cafe, every
other Thursday evening. The series
was initiated in September, and last
Thursday marked its third occur-
rence.
Todd Calfin opened the evening's
program on a humorous note. He be-
gan with "Eggs for Breakfast": "...i
/ look out the cafe window / and
watch night pull its / shade over the
World and / starlight cracks a smile
/ upon my sad spir- / EUH! YUCK!
ENOUGH! / this flowery clich6
bullshit is turning my insides
around..."
Calfin also read one of the more
brief, yet most direct, works of the
evening, "A Poem Instead":
"watching tv / is like having / a
lobotomy."
A few interesting patterns de-
veloped between readers, bringing
about a form of continuity and over-
all purpose. Several poets wrote
about interesting people and events
that had affected them. These images
were frequently gleaned from trav-
elling.
Although it is difficult to char-
acterize Matthew Rohrer's writing,
as the works he read represented an
extremely diverse body of work, the
influence of travel was obvious.
Although he did not read it on
Thursday, his poem "Montana" may
say something about the subjects he
grapples with in his poems: "there
they sit, / those Crazy Mountains /
where one ancient day / an Indian
woman / went bonkers (they say) /
there they lay, those Crazy
Mountains / so jagged and serene /
waiting for nothing."
Related to this theme of per-
sonal experience, a definite bus mo-
tif emerged in several poems, usu-
ally in connection with a moving
event in the author's memory. Sasha
Mirsky furthered the trend in
"Steel Mill, Cleveland": "When I
see the steel mill for the first time /
from a Greyhound bus at 3 am, / it's
almost awe: / black pipes like fin-
gers, / iron through punctured earth
/ spilling smoke like dead air; / a
cathedral in darkness..."
Kevin Stein approached this sub-
ject in his short story "Somewhere
Near the Middle Ground," the only
work of prose that was presented.
The story was a very personalized
portrayal of an adolescent's shatter-
ing first encounters with the adult
world.
Paul Stebleton held the distinc-
tion of being one of only two pub-
lished writers present. A book of

his work is soon to be released. His
poems dealt largely with the man-
ner in which our lives are affected
(and sometimes destroyed) by the
machinery of our modern society, as
in "Pulp Mill": "a / man / came to
work / drunk / disappeared... he had
fallen into the / beater / in a storm
of noise / no one heard his scream... a
boot and an eyeball / caught in the
beaters teeth / like a poppy seed."
This concept was also evident in
"Shopping Mall: A Case Study":
"...huge convenience structures, /
piped-in music pumped / through
small speakers in the ceiling / sub-
liminally sooths, / people pause at
convenient rest stops / on long
shopping quests..."
The evening was concluded by
Tracy Mishkin, whose work has
been published in a book entitled
Minding My Business. Her poetry
reflected anger at the apathetic atti-
tudes of people in general. "I was
fiddling with my helmet when a
man came up / and asked the driver
for a ride," she wrote in "Minding
My Business." "She hesitated, / I
shook my head behind his back. / He
wheedled pretty-please; she, unsure,
looked at me: / I said, She doesn't
want to give you a ride. / Please
leave her alone. / She drove away,
but he spun on me, saying / Just you
mind your business! / This world
would suck if everybody did that, I
shouted, / moving away, thinking
Paraguay, Russia, Cambodia."
The reading was definitely a suc-
cess. Despite the problems faced by
each author in completely redefin-
ing a tone set for the audience by the
previous reader, each managed to
successfully present his or her own
unique style in a manner that per-
mitted an easy flow. The room was
well-filled despite the cold and re-
mained so throughout the entire
reading, which lasted slightly over
an hour.
What does all of this mean about
the future of our civilization, about
that epic visionary world-view,
about the common man and fascism
and some pseudo-intellectual
Woody Allen-esque order of exis-
tence?
As Todd Calfin wrote in "Eggs
for Breakfast": "i must sigh / not
try / no longer search for the / eter-
nal poem / and just say it plainly: /
'I had eggs for breakfast."'
The next reading at the Third
Coast Cafe will take place on
Thursday, November 21 at 7 p.m.
Admission is free. Anyone who
wishes to read can leave submissions
in a box at the Cafe.
-John Morgan


RECORDS
Continued from page 5
could have been taken directly off
EMF's Schubert Dip, complete
with stop-times and a dance groove
driven by rhythmic piano riffs;
"Flesh and Blood," a slower tune
that is almost a throwback to their
earlier recordings; and up-beat tunes
like "Groove On" and "Shake It
Down," which both have funky
beats and enjoyable melodies.

The record's title track,
"Queer," combines surrealistically
synthesized music with an
interesting lyric sheet, comprised of
extracts from Edith Sitwell's 1924
poem "Waltz."
It will be difficult for the
Thompson Twins to shake their pop-
style image, but band members
Alannah Currie and Tom Bailey
have indeed removed the '80s pop
feel from their music and moved
into the '90s. -Tom Nixon

production of Les Blancs.

When Tshembe turned against
the woman who taught him and
against his own brother, we cer-
tainly saw (and heard, in rumbling

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European mining which he claimed
the American Morris (Mark
Wilson) had never known. But has
anyone really known scars in their
hills?
All in all, Les Blancs did offer a
discussion of the clash behind all
racial conflict and gave us a good
picture of what it looked like, if not
what it really felt like.
-Austin Ratner
Fiction/Poetry Reading
The Third Coast Cafe
November 7, 1991

It's not necessary to
lished author or to have

be a pub-
a Ph.D. in

expires 11/21/11



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I




PERSPECTIVES ON PEACE:
A JOURNALISTIC VIEW
Issues and Questions Concerning the Arab-Israeli crisis

.RYRDUNIER.I.
Mee:t ith A:: Repre.entat.ve
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Al : ue i Mjrs: easWlcm

Richard Straus
Editor of the Middle East Policy Survey
published in: The New York Times
The Washington Post
The Los Angeles Times

Hisham Melhem
Washington based correspondent for
As-Safir(Leadiflg Lebanese daily)
Middle East correspondent for CN
Consultant on:
C Mcne-ilver News Hour'
ighline"
-Good Morning Ameaica"

Professor Raymond Tanter

Professor of Political Science
Arab-Israeli expert
Mediator



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Aud.


Where: Rackham Graduate

Tickets:
Free for studenis

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