01
Page 8-The Michigan Daily- Monday, February 17, 1992
Snow White wouldn't kiss one
The Dwarves w/The Holy Cows
Blind Pig
February 12, 1992
"Women get scared of you when you come out on
stage in lingerie and parade naked in front of hundreds
of people," said Blag Jesus, vocalist of the Dwarves.
While not an entirely accurate description of the
Dwarves' show last Wednesday at the Blind Pig, Jesus'
statement sums up a lot about the band. Coming on
stage in unzipped jeans and a T-shirt with a picture of
Christ on it, he and the band ripped through a set of
Soundgarden ought to be in pictures. Kim Thayil (far left) does the wide-eyed, stoned look as the others giggle.
Come play in Seattle's Sub-Pop
Soundgarden (with Skid RoW?)
one-minute ditties like "Backseat of My Car,"
"Fuck'Em All," and "Satan is My Friend." Throughout
the whole set, Jesus admonished the females in the
crowd to move to the front - probably to get a better
view of his ever itching genitalia.
"If you don't have a sense of humor, you're going to
get pissed off about the Dwarves," Jesus told me over
the phone. Criticized by many as a sexist pig or talent-
less exhibitionist, he quite eloquently defended the ba-
sics of the band and their musical goals on their recent
tour to support their new Sub Pop album Thank Heaven
For Little Girls.
"I'm not a sexist," Jesus said. "Everyone who works
with the Dwarves is a woman. I treat them as equals ...
if you talk to a lot .of girls that are cool they think of
men as meat, and that's how I think of women when I
wanna fuck."
He added, "When someone's open about it, that
freaks them out."
Opinions such as these have created a lot of contro-
versy about the group, which is known for being quite
straightforward and shocking on stage as well.
Coming onto the stage at the Blind Pig just before
one a.m. and playing for little more than 20 minutes to a
drunken crowd, the Dwarves occasionally held up a
guitar with "SUCK ME" written on the side, while band
member Crash Landon (Michael Landon's illegitimate
son, according to the group) leered at the audience
through a stocking on his head.
Jesus is happy with the current state of the band's
line-up. Guitarist He Who Cannot Be Named is so enti-
tled because he's "so fucking cool that no one deserves
to name him," he explained. While the Blind Pig show
was spared from violence, Jesus praised new bassist
Eric Generic for bashing heads at previous concerts to
prove he wasn't "just our token glam guy."
Even with these kinds of attitudes, the Dwarves
never came across as malicious. Instead, they appeared
to be very honest, doing what they wanted to do. "Punk
rock is supposed to be funny and having a good time
and going wild," Jesus said.
Although the set wasn't as wild or out of control as
legendary past performances (no real nudity or blood
spilled), the Dwarves played a tight set of punk-fueled,
good-time rock n' roll, distinguished by abrasive feed-
back and uninhibited styles of each band member.
In the middle of Wednesday's set, Jesus told the
crowd, "The Dwarves are the greatest band on Earth."
For 20 minutes on Wednesday, the Dwarves didn't
prove this claim at all, but managed to be a refreshing
and honest change from the mainstream, and a little
thought provoking as well.
-Kirk Miller
"
by Scott Sterling
In the mid-'80s, while atrocities
such as Quiet Riot and Kingdom
Come were being committed in the
name of heavy metal, (mostly in
LA), a few miles north, in the rainy
city of Seattle, a few kids were qui-
etly saving American metal ...
The rest is history. Sub-Pop
Records exploded out of Seattle,
showering the world with sonic,
abrasive, mind-blowing music. Or as
they themselves coined it, "Total
Fucking Godhead." Bands like
Nirvana and Tad proved that you can
bang your head and have something
in it. They traded the usual spandex
and leather ensembles for flannel
and backwards baseball caps. These
kids sported long, naturally flow-
ing tresses instead of reach for the
sky helmet hair.
Of all of these Sub-Pop bands,
it's Soundgarden that best exempli-
fies what is known as the "Seattle
Sound." From their 'inception,
Soundgarden's chaotic, trip-hammer
metal has attracted legions of fans.
After one full-length release on
Sub-Pop, Ultra-Mega O.K., they
.were quickly snapped up by A&M
Records.
With their second release on
A&M, Badmotorfinger, Soundgar-
den is taking a stab at the big time.
Instead of embarking on yet an-
other headlining club tour, Sound-
garden surprised just about everyone
when it was announced that they
were going to be supporting Guns
N' Roses on the Use Your Illusion
tour. Soundgarden fans everywhere
held their breath for some sort of
logical explanation for this step.
"We're testing the waters," ex-
plains Soundgarden's new bassist,
Ben "Hunter" Shepard, in a dark-
ened hotel room with only the NHL
All-Star game silently providing
the only light.
"I think it's kind of adventurous
of us. We could have done the same
old (club) tour, which everyone's
already seen us on. It's kind of cool
to go to the metal side and clean
house for awhile. Crucify some new
people."
So if Soundgarden isn't already
on the "metal side," just where do
they stand?
"We're an alternative to the al-
ternative. We sort of stand on our
own. We'll just wait and see where
the goliath wants to sit down,"
Shepard replies.
So far, the experiment seems to
be working. Soundgarden's latest
single, "Outshined," is on heavy ro-
tation at MTV, and Guns N' Roses
fans have been receptive to the open-
ing sets.
"Actually, they've (GNR fans)
have been pretty good to us. They
don't throw things, so it's cool," he
laughs.
When asked about the new legacy
of the "Seattle Sound," Shepard is
quick to dismiss the hype.
"There's not so much one
'Seattle sound.' I'll quote (singer)
Chris Cornell, that if you put our
record next to Nirvana, Pearl Jam,
and the rest of them, they all sound
totally different."
Shepard does, however, have a
deep appreciation of Seattle's musi-
cal history.
"Seattle's where real, mean rock
guitars first sprouted out, pre-dat-
ing the Stooges even, with the band
called the Sonics. They were the
first wild, fucked up guitar band.
But you'll never be able to top
Detroit. Detroit bands like the MC5
and the Stooges have eternally
damned me to hardcore."
While they'll be going out on a
three-week club tour later in the
spring, Soundgarden can currently
be seen opening for Skid Row.
"Yeah, it's kinda fun to tell peo-
ple that we're opening up for them
and see what they do. Skid Row is
trying to break out of their mold,
and we're just out to have a good
time."
Catch the implausible SOUND-
GARDEN-opening-for-SKID -ROW
tour at the Fox Theater Thursday
night. Tickets are $19.50 (p.e.s.c.)
at TicketMaster. Call 763-TKTS.
WORK IN BRITAIN
Spread your horizons. Live and
work in Britain legally for up to
6 months on the BUNAC
program. Meet advisors from
London, England to learn how
on Monday, February 17 at 3:30
pm in the Pendleton Room, or
contact either Bill Nolting or
Jeannine Lorenger at
#313-747-2299.
Invisible Elephant is made visible.
The Invisible Elephant
The Performance Network
February 14, 1992
Sometimes truths are presented to
us in theater in such a way that we
laugh at ourselves. Other times, we
are horrified by the brutal honesty of
a production. Both elements ap-
peared in this weekend's Perfor-
mance Network production, The
Invisible Elephant. No matter how
each sketch affected the audience,
they were all poignantly real.
The members of the cast wrote
and for the most part starred in their
own sketches. One scene, "Able-
bodied Angst," received the biggest
Theater review
reaction and the most laughs, though
in laughing, the audience was recog-
nizing a problem within themselves.
Three people without disabilities
were on stage. Two of them were ar-
guing over how the third should treat
the handicapped person that they
saw coming toward them.
One said he should kneel to be on
the man's level, while the other
thought that would be condescend-
ing; one said he should say some-
thing, while the other said that it's
better not to say anything at all than
to say something wrong, and so on.
It continued at a frenzied pace
until the man in the wheelchair fi-
nally approached them and said
"Hello." The indecisive man was so
nervous that he could barely realize
that the man was "human like me."
The skit satirized how we often
tense up and don't know how to act
around a disabled person. Very ef-
fectively portrayed through humor,
the message hit home while enter-
taining instead of preaching.
"The Bureaucrats" was a dismal
but realistic portrait. A person with
cerebral palsy in a wheelchair went
from place to place, but received no
help from anyone. One woman told
her that she couldn't recommend her
for college; another woman told her
that she couldn't find her a position
because she didn't have a college
education or experience. Another
just asked, "Wouldn't you be hap-
pier at home with your family?"
The C.P. victim was trapped by
society, who kept passing the buck
but refusing to actually help. It was a
powerful and disturbing look at the
vicious circle that disabled people
have to deal with in our system.
Probably the most effective
sketch, however, was presented in
three parts. "Shoestring Geometry"
depicted the anguish and sexual
frustration of a man named Jim with
cerebral palsy.
He had female friends, but as the
scene shows, when he began to ex-
press feelings stronger than friend-
ship, they became angry with him.
Many often forget that disabled peo-
ple still have the same sexual feel-
ings and desires that all of us do; it's
human nature.
The third part of the scene found
Jim with a girlfriend, Donna. Here,
Jim expressed his frustration about*
his handicap, while Donna's de-
picted self-consciousness about be-
ing "a fat chick." The sketch was es-
pecially interesting because it
showed an able-bodied person's
fears and apprehensions about enter-
ing into marriage with a handicapped
person. Moving and endearing, the
scene's strength was its candor.
There was, in Elephant, a good
representation of what life is like for
people with disabilities. An able-
bodied audience hasn't been able to
see things from their point of view.
Personally, my mother was diag-
nosed with Polio when she was thir-
teen, and she was told she would
never walk again. She does walk to-
day - very slowly, but she walks.
Between what she has overcome and
what is shown through the scenes of
The Invisible Elephant, we should all
learn something: we have got to stop
listening so much when people tell
us what we can't do.
-Jenny McKee
mented by overhead lighting from
actual saloon fixtures. And Kitty's
room was appropriately decorated
with shadowy pinks and blues.
1992 is quite different than 1939,
yet the brilliant optimism of
Saroyan's The Time of Your Life is
appropriate any time. It never hurts
to be allowed to feel along with a
man who is trying his best to be hu-
man, and to see how others affect
that process. That is exactly what
Saroyan gives us. Need ten more
years pass until we experience the
time of our lives again? Hopefully
not.
-Maureen Janson
TIME
Continued from page 5
Kelly, but it's hard to imagine that
anyone could have done it better
than Madaras.
As the Drunkard, Keith Fenton
provided the most comic relief. With
extreme grimaces after downing
several shots of booze, he began
raising his glass to such things as
"children and small animals, like
dogs that don't bite!"
Willett dashingly evoked the
right amount of mystery and intelli-
gence to build a complex, likable
Joe. He was at his best with his-tim-
ing, especially in a scene where he
tried to guess the name of a woman
who had M.L. embroidered on her
purse. Joanna Hershon shared the
memorable scene as the sad yet ele-
gant Mary with the handbag. In their
short dialogue, Joe and Mary be-
lieved that they had been previous
lovers, but it hadn't worked out.
Both acted with conviction.
The authentic looking set (de-
signed by Toni Auletti) displayed an
actual bar with great detail, right
down to the old silver cash register.
The warm saloon atmosphere clev-
erly opened up for one scene to be-
come Kitty's barren hotel room.
Reid Downey contributed to the am-
biance with perfect lighting; a gen-
eral wash in Nick's was supple-
Being a Marine Corps Officer can open the door to opportu- each paying more than $1,300
nities you may have thought were beyond your reach. It U Juniors train in one ten-week summer session and earn
helped Marine Officer Charles Bolden become a NASA astro- more than $2,200
naut. And if you're willing to make the commitment, it could Free civilian flying lessons
help you also. You can get started while you're in college A starting salary of more than $22,000
with our undergraduate officer com- Immediately upon graduation you
missioning program. You could take could become a Marine
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$100 a month while in school w eC Y W Z Maybe you're the kind of
Freshmen and Sophomores train man we're looking for.
during two six-week summer sessions toT7wlTrmwL Thefhoudkari
Attention: Undergraduate
Engineering Students
1992 Landes Prize
$1,000.00
Undergraduate students currently registered in the Engineering College are
eligible to compete for the George M. Landes Prize ($1,000.00). This is an
award presented annually to an undergraduate student who demonstrates
excellence of both technical work and the presentation of that work in written
or graphic form. The prize is presented in memory of George M. Landes, a
1977 graduate of the Mechanical Engineering Department and a Ford Motor
Company engineer who was killed in an automobile accident in 1981.
To enter, a student must submit a single piece of technical work. This
presentation - written, graphic, or some combination of communication
media - can .be a technical article, a design report, a piece of technical
-,w--