ARTS * 'The Michigan Daily Tuesday, November 26, 1991 Page 5 Bogosian talks (dirty)! The reticent, Garbo-like, shy actor comes out of his shell in the new film Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll dir. John McNaughton by Jen Bilik If there's anything Eric Bogosian can do, it's talk - talk a blue streak, talk a line, talk your ear off. Living with him would probably be an exercise in insanity; 105 minutes is probably the upper limit for entry into the Bogosian mind, but it's a dizzying, brilliant time. Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll is essentially a concert movie made from his one-man play: Bogosian on stage - no sets, few props, just Bogosian and his nine characters. Bogosian's characters, which possess him com- pletely, range from the high to the low, yet he makes it all but impossible to categorize their role in society and refuses to let the viewer completely identify with or reject any of them. They alternate between muddled confusion, uncanny prophecy, and repulsive morality. While the Cockney rock star, the Well-Endowed Redneck, the Italian Stud, the Music Executive and the Man in Search of the American Dream economically exploit the Homeless Disfunctional, the Shit-Fuck- Piss Schizophrenic, the Homeless Rainman and the Stoner Conspiracy Theorist, they too are victims of their own desires and society's constraints. Everybody is pathetic. Bogosian's ability to talk fast and frenzied without adopting traditional theatrical intonation makes him the post-modern Everyman - a grandiose statement, yes, but one that truly describes Bogosian's grandios- ity. If in his first movie,Talk Radio, Bogosian serves as devil's advocate and social critic, in Sex the society speaks back. The society is fragmented into the nine characters, and the nine characters are themselves splintered into self-parodies. Because it's impossible to unanimously empathize with the characters, and it's also impossible to condemn them and ignore Bogosian's complicated social statements, Sex is a difficult film to watch. Bogosian's humor is very sophisticated and multi-lay- ered, yet one always feels guilt when laughing. We are complicit with, repulsed by and identified with all the characters simultaneously. As viewers, we sit perched on the edge of Bogosian's crazy world, unsure of our positions in relation to the insanity. Each of the characters speaks directly to an audience, sometimes the actual audience. This is the case of the first character, a homeless man who's so aware of the social ills that made him homeless that he cannot see himself clearly (he describes himself as having come from a family of "disfunctional codependents.") Sometimes the audience is an imaginary other cha- racter, as with the Cockney rock star who's being in- terviewed about drugs (although his most creative ge- nius took place on drugs and his best times were on drugs, he tells the audience to "Just Turn Them In" af- ter abstaining) and ethnocentric rock charity. The Shit-Fuck-Piss Schizophrenic speaks to himself about the ubiquity of excrement, and the Music Executive talks only on the phone or through an inter- com (interestingly, his unseen secretary is named Diane, just like in Twin Peaks). The dizzying nature of Bogosian's characters comes from their self-absorption and from the often perverse delight they find in telling their stories. They touch the conflicts of contemporary society, especially class and psychological issues and the discrepancy between what the government tells us and what we really do. One interesting theme is hedonism: many of the characters are drug users, and they enjoy their drugs, though the drugs sometimes lead to negative situa- tions. How do we reconcile our human desires for en- tertainment and escape with the unnatural "Just Say No" mentality? Bogosian raises questions and presents conflict for our consideration, but denies us the com- fort of closure; ultimately, the film is disturbing, though rewarding, to watch. The film presentation is not that successful: it's best when director John McNaughton (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer) follows Bogosian himself. Bogosian is riveting enough to eliminate the need for self-con- scious camera movement. SEX, DRUGS, ROCK & ROLL is playing at the Ann Arbor 1&2. Jethro ain't} A. . . livig in the past by Kenny Bell A fter listening to Jethro Tull's latest album, Catfish Rising, I was a little confused. Was this the same folk-rock combo that wrote those classic songs "Thick As A Brick" and "Locomotive Breath?" What happened to those catchy drum beats with that mellow flute playing in the background? The answer was obvious. Jethro Tull was back on the music scene, with a new album and a completely different sound. Instead of nifty flute solos and cool electric guitar riffs, the band's music had changed into a rougher, more organic style. Bass guitarist Dave Pegg says he likes the new sound of Jethro Tull better. "This time, there's a lot more variety in the songs," says Pegg. "I think the main reason it sounds different is because Ian (Anderson) wrote most of the ma- terial on the mandolin family of in- struments. This album's got a very acoustic flavor to a lot of the mate- rial." It's no wonder the band follows in whatever direction Anderson leads it. The singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer of the new album, Anderson has been with the band for its entire 23- year career. And there's no doubt that he's the driving force behind Jethro Tull. "If Ian wasn't in the band, there wouldn't be a Jethro Tull," says Pegg. "The way he plays the flute is the main reason why we The members of Jethro Tull (clockwise from bottem left, Martin Allcock, Doane Perry, Dave Pegg, Ian Anderson and Martin Barre) look really old, yet they are still going strong. Yay. have such a unique sound. It's proba- bly the only flute ever played in a rock band." , Pegg also pointed out that the new album also contains some rock- orientated songs. "It's really a mix- ture of all we do. There are more flavors in this album than a lot of the others," he says. Surprisingly enough, Jethro Tull's new album even contains songs that have a country-blues feel to it. "Roll Yer Own" and "Sparrow on the School- yard Wall" sound completely dif- ferent than anything Tull has ever done before, and the songs mainly evolved out of Anderson playing the flute and mandolin. When asked about the current tour, Pegg says that the band has still included a lot of the old Jethro Tull songs. "We'd never imagine doing an evening without playing the songs 'Aqualung' and 'Locomo- tive Breath,' for example," says Pegg. "We like to do different old songs from the last time we were out. There's a lot we can pick and choose from." As for the future of Jethro Tull, Pegg says that the band still plans on experimenting with new, unique sounds. "We've always done ex- actly what we've wanted to do," says Pegg. "We're not trying to make three-and-a-half minute sin- gles or all come up with the same haircuts and make videos for MTV. It's never been fashionable and it never will be, and I think that's one of the reasons we've lasted for twenty-three years." JETHRO TULL performs tonight at 8 p.m. at the Fox Theater. Tickets are still available at TicketMaster for $25, plus the evil service charge. Public Enemy Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black DefJam/Columbia While the expansive theme of Fear of a Black Planet remained un- derdeveloped at best, its successor comes with a programmatic attack name and follows up to the hilt. Chuck D. is ready for confrontation of the evils running rampant in the Black community, and his beats ap- propriately reflect this new atti- tude. The Imperial Grand Ministers of Funk Stuart Robertz, Cerwin Depper, Gary G-Wiz and "The JBL," alongside Commander of the Flight Deck Hank Shocklee, kick funky beats as inexplicable as a stealth bomber pattern and searing grooves almost too jarring for the human heart. Apocalypse 91 thematically re- volves around Chuck's observation of economic slavery and militaristic domination in the '90s, "Can't Truss It." Thusly, the album's songs promote Black unification for the survival of a group that has al- ways been dealt with as a monolith anyway. Rapped over an unsettling collage of high-pitched squeals and whistles over dense beats, "Can't Truss It" is a statement of superfi- cial, deceptive improvements for equality made by the Civil Rights movement. The Hard Rhymer's flow is violently mobile, "But then I got a story that's harder than the hardcore/ Cost of the holocaust/ I'm talkin bout the one still goin on," while his analysis is relentless, "And that aint it, think I'll ever quit/ Still I pray to get my hands round the neck of the man with the whip." Yet, if Dr. King's struggle proved itself disappointing in the long run, the Enemy is not hesitant to give up the dues in the wrathful "By The Time I Get To Arizona." Chuck's mission statement is to punish the legislators of Arizona, including redneck Governor Evan Mecham, for trying to destroy King's national holiday. The deci- sion to respect a man who preached non-violence, with violence, is only added to by a disorienting barrage of loud, massive funk hits while Chuck muses, "I'm on the one mission/ To get a politician to honor! Or he's a goner." Chuck remains impeccable in his politics, as well as his sense in and of history. For example, "Rebirth" ends with a clever statement of warning, See RECORDS, Page 7 U U Tired of spending a fortune on coupon books I that miss r who what where when) their mark? Close only counts with hand grenades. So, this term invest your money in 14 IPOl aan n1ig's Coupon Book: coupons that work and are Is your soul yearning for a spot S of folk rock? If so, check out Billy Bragg as he takes the stage tonight guitar-oriented music. Don't Try This At Home, Bragg's latest album, is easily some of his finest work. 1 l a