Page 8-The Michigan Daily- Tuesday, February 18,1992
Thulani Davis creates an
artistic memorial with 1959
by John Morgan
in her recently released novel,
1959, Thulani Davis attempted to
describe a period of recent American
history that she feels has been ne-
glected by other writers - the Civil
Rights movement of the '50s and
'60s.
Today at 4 p.m. in the Robert E.
Hayden Lounge, room 111 of West
Engineering, Davis will read from
1959. Based on Davis' own experi-
ences, the novel describes a time
when an old way of life - segrega-
tion - was destroyed. It is the story
of a 12-year-old girl in Virginia who
becomes one of the first Black stu-
dents to attend an all-white school.
Davis claimed that she was writ-
ing about a time when social change
sdemed more possible than it does
today. "We were very innocent
about the lengths that the govern-
ment would go to stop change," she
said in an interview with Bomb. "We
were trained by the church how to
go about basic organizing, how to
petition ... Young people now don't
know how to start because the pro-
ceSs stopped being a part of every-
day life."
Although 1959 is a very perso-
nalized account of the narrator's life,
Davis also tried to give it a larger
scope. "I could name maybe three
books that deal with the Civil Rights
era, but maybe only one that's been
written in fiction. I wanted to do a
book that had that sense of context,
not just a persoial story."
Besides her fiction, Davis' di-
RECORDS
Continued from page 5
inside out before the listener's ears.
Peter Buck (a frequent guest on
Hitchcock'salbums)qand Michael
Stipe of R.E.M. make appearances
on Perspex.. Unfortunately, Stipe's
whining voice only serves to destroy
"She Doesn't Exist," leading the lis-
tener to question Hitchcock's moti-
vation for including him.
Hitchcock has called Perspex
Island an album that's "not seeing
life through the science-fiction filter
that small boys like to use."
This is only partly true - Ro-
byn's still using a science-fiction
filter, but only over one eye.
-Debra Power
Bogeymen
There's No Such Thing As...
Delicious Vinyl
After listening to this record, an
old dB's tune comes to mind: "You
think too hard, you'll tear yourself in
two ..."
The debut album by the Bo-
geymen, which is made up of former
members of Masters of Reality,
shows that the band does have
talented writers and musicians. The
record itself fails miserably.
The problem is that there is no
continuity whatsoever. Without any
transition, the record bounces from
the acoustic GNR-like "Dancing On
Your Grave" to the Gothic-metal "In
the Cosmic Continuum" to the
extremely bluesy "Damn the Safety
Nets." It sounds like a mix tape
made by one of your friends - self-
consciously and unsuccessfully
eclectic.
Each song, however, is quite
well-written by the band's leader,
Tim Harrington (AKA General
Malarky). If the album consisted en-
tirely of material vaguely similar to
712
Rockville
Sarah
any one of the songs, it would be a
very good album. Unfortunately, the
disc is a difficult-to-listen-to mess.
Better luck next time.
-Andrew J Cahn
Shonen Knife
McLachlan
Solace
Arista
What if Yoko Ono, instead of
deviously breaking up the Beatles
like we all know she did, went off
and formed her own pop-punk po-
wer trio of Japanese women, a group
that would at once mock and em-
brace everything that the Fab Four
stood for? The result would
undoubtedly be Shonen Knife, the
cult band immortalized on the com-
Yamano proceeds to
screech the opening
song, "Shonen Knife,"
in beautifully
abominable broken
English, occasionally
lapsing into Japanese
during later songs, and
all the while sounding
even less melodic than
Ono on a bad day.
pilation cover album Every Band
Has A Shonen Knife Who Loves
Them.
The first sounds of 712 - a ring-
ing alarm clock, followed by a shrill
cry of "GOOD MORNING SHO-
NEN KNIFE FREAKS!" from lead
singer/lyricist Nancy Yamano - are
a tipoff as to what the rest of the
album is going to be like: loud,
obnoxious and, most of all, exceed-
ingly funny. Yamano proceeds to
screech the opening song, "Shonen
Knife," in beautifully abominable
broken English, occasionally lapsing
into Japanese during later songs, and
all the while sounding even less
melodic than Ono on a bad day.
Most of the music is simple and
riffy, full of cheap, fun hooks that
pay homage to influences like Black
Flag, the Ramones (check out the
brilliant "Lazybone," with lyrics
such as "I don't wanna work a bor-
ing job /I wanna play all day / I
don't wanna flatter silly people / I
wanna kick them out"), '60s psyche-
delia (see "Fruit Loop Dreams," an
ode to Toucan Sam) and, of course1
the Beatles, who get what they
deserve on two covers, "Rain" and
the Lennon/Ono classic "The Luck
of the Irish" (in which Yamano and
a great John impersonator trade off
verses, mercilessly singing lines
such as "Let's walk over rainbows
like leprechauns / The world would
be one big Blarney Stone").
But don't worry, this is no;
Weird Al Utsumoniya. Although
Yamano is quite aware of the absur-
dity of being a Rock 'N' Roll Star,
the band's overwhelming irony is0
built around a core of rapturous sin-
cerity, and the result is real music
that just happens to be hilarious.
Sarah McLachlan, on the other
hand, wasn't trying to be funny on
Solace, but at times, laughter was
exactly the result of the ethereal
crooning of "alternative" music's
latest doe-eyed waif.
Perhaps the record company was
hoping for a less-outspoken versionif0
of Sintad O'Connor, but instead,
they got songs like the downbeat
"The Path of Thorns (Terms)" -
basically, Kate Bush singing "We've
Only Just Begun" - or the upbeat
"Into the Fire" - basically, Sarah,
McLachlan singing "Mandinka:"'
Enya's cooler and a much more ef-
fective sedative. -: .
-Mdark Bnelh. 4
Thulani Davis's portrait emanates much that her writing does: confidence,
determination, and sensitive intelligence with which to relate a history.
verse writing career has included
theater, journalism, and poetry. She
wrote the libretto for the opera X:
The Life and Times of Malcom X,
and a documentary she wrote and
narrated about the Howard Beach
incident has won distinction from
the American Film Institute.
I
Do huge
lugs like this kick sand in your face ?
Write for Fine Arts!
Need an ego boost?
Write for Theater!
Want to be somebody?
Write for Books!
Call 763-0379 and ask for Mike or Elizabeth.
1
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Eat your heart out Yoko. The ultra-hip, beautiful screechers,
who what where when
-Amok
Units Available on North Campus
& University Terrace
Move-in During March-April-May-June, 1992
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*** Featuring ***
New Community Center
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Drag out the yogurt, it's culture
time again. The question is; Is
Brahms and Shostakovitch (Illoc-
Taxo8M4, for you Russian literates,
MiHe HPBWTCS2 OH!) what you're
dying to hear? Like, for instance, the
Quartet in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1
(Brahms, of course) or Quartet No.
15 (Shostakovich)? The Borodin
String Quartet, from the Soviet
Disunion, er, ah, the Commonwealth
of Industrious, er, ah, that huge place
east of Poland (You know, the one
with Moscow), will perform just
those bits at 8 p.m. tonight. Rack-
ham Auditorium is the place, and
you can pick up tickets ($18 to $29)
from the University Musical Society
Box Office, 764-2538.
On the other hand, if you don't
want to pay for your Brahms, Paul
Rardin, a doctoral student in choral
conducting, will direct the School of
Music's Chamber Choir absolutely
free of charge in Hill Auditorium at
8 p.m. On the program is Johannes
Brahms' Zigeunerlieder and Stra.w
vinsky's Mass for choir and doubt'
wind quartet.
Of course, now that we've cov-
ered Russian and German, the day
just wouldn't be right with out a nod
to our friends the Swedes. So here 4,
is. Long before he starrred in every'
body's favorite Bergman film, Wdd
Strawberries, Victor Sjostrom 'did
rected some classic silent films. The
Wind, playing tonight at 5:15 and
tomorrow at 7 p.m., stars Lillian
Gish as a Thelma/Louise type who
shoots the dumava who rapes her.
It's part of the Swedish Film Series
Beyond Bergman.
6TH AVE. ATLIBERTY 761P700
$3 00DAILYSHOWS BEFORE 6PM
- ALL DAY TUESDAY
STUDENT WITH I.D. 83.0
GOODRICH OUAUTY THEATERS
Prince of Tides (R)
Naked Lunch (_)
Slacker (R) ,
Present this coupon when-
purchasing a larg
Epopcorn and receive one
FREE LARGE DRINK
~I~) Expires 2/21/92
Apply Now at the
Housing Information Office
1011 Student Activities Building
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
or Call Us for More Information at 763-3164
LIVE IN JAPAN
International Education
Services invites applications
for a one-year assignment in
Japan teaching English to
Japanese business people from
major corporations and
government offices. Minimum
academic requirement is a
Bachelors degree; some
$
Avvlicatian Available April 14
AW AL