ARTS The Michigan Daily Tuesday, January 14, 1992 Page 5 '-%W - Party Out of Bounds: The B-52's, R.E.M., and the Kids who Rocked Athens, Georgia Rodger Lyle Brown Plume Paperback Capturing what makes a music scene tick is not an easy task. It's pretty obvious why New York, LA, London, etc. consistently produce well- known bands: the music industry is headquartered there and, many people who live in these cities are connected and care about new bands. But why do successful little pockets develop in out-of-the-way places like Seattle, Manchester, Austin, and Athens, Georgia? Party Out of Bounds is an attempt to capture the essence of that little college city, which is not unlike Ann Arbor, and describe how it produced such influential bands as Pylon, Love Tractor, the B-52's, and R.E.M. Insider/author Rodger Lyle Brown lived in Athens from the beginning of the development of the Athens music scene that he covered (that is, the late '70s and early '80s), and had access to all the musicians and hangers-on involved. He can easily relate the linear "how this scene developed" timeline, and fill in some details about the relationship of the scene to the University of Georgia. But the question of why it happened in Athens is left hanging at the end of the book, and he makes no attempt to answer this other than to conclude bewildered circumstance. So and so introduced so and so to so and so. These people lived in this dorm and knew this person who knew that person. And circumstance did have much to do with the formation of these four bands. But underlying societal aspects also played a role, and these points are only glossed over. For example, the most blatant once-over Brown commits concerns the link of the B-52's, the first band to break out, to the gay part of the arty subculture. This fact is fascinating, and could have been developed in detail in a non-offensive manner. Instead, Brown mentions drag queens and cross dressing in passing, and doesn't use the word "gay" for more than the first third of the book - the very part that focuses on the B-52's. In fact, he writes about how the British press "avoided noting its origin in gay culture." Who is Brown to criticize the British press, especially considering the stylistic problems that are compounded by his wide-eyed, gee-did-this-re- ally-happen-here veneer. His sentence structure and his language are overly simple. It's like reading a poorly written high school research paper; you know something good is in there, but reading it is half the battle. Brown tries to use a stylistic mix of newspaper, academic, and oral history writing which doesn't gel with his subject and lack of original thoughts and theories. It's also obvious that he's not very objective. Brown makes quite clear which band he prefers: R.E.M. He defends the band at every turn, leaving no criticism uncountered. He makes their rise to preeminence sound inevitable and easy. This too-positive flavor - almost goofy awe - permeates Party Out of Rounds. While Party Out of Bounds could have taken what Brown considers a short-lived music scene and really explored why this happened in Athens of all college towns, it didn't. Too bad. Annette Petruso Comeback Dick Francis G. P. Putnam's Sons As the lunch hour strikes, a man steals away from his desk and into the streets of the city. After a brisk walk, he ducks into a small shop, money changes hands, and he emerges with a brown-paper package. The man, visibly excited, dashes to a pay-phone and calls in sick to work. He hails a taxi and gives the cabbie his address and a little incentive to reach it quickly. When the cab stops the man jumps out of the cab and up to the front door, ignor- ing the hungry cats that greet him, and vanishes into his bedroom, not to be seen again until 4 am the following morning when he emerges from the bedroom, bleary-eyed and extremely disgusted, in dire need of a bathroom. Yes, gentle reader, this tawdry scene is being acted out time and time again across the English speaking world, and all for one simple reason: Dick Francis has written another book. I admit it. I, too, number among the vast community of Francis addicts. I have found myself missing meals, staying up till the wee hours of the It was rather like uncorking a bottle of champagne, only to find soda water. The fizz was still there, but it just wasn't the same. The formula that worked so well for Francis' 29 other novels fell flat on its face. night, and skipping classes to finish his novels. And while these symptoms may not be the healthiest in the world, the excitement and suspense one ex- periences during the reading just cannot be beaten. Yes, indeed, I am an ad- dict, and need help to quit. Which brings me to Mr Francis' newest book, Comeback. It's enough to put one off Francis for life. I found it rather easy to quit cold-turkey as I recovered from my binge with Comeback. It was rather like uncorking a bottle of champagne, only to find soda water. The fizz was still there, but it just wasn't the same. The formula that worked so well for Francis' 29 other novels fell flat on its face. But I can't figure out why. The formula is so simple. The hero, someone invariably connected with horse racing, is reluctantly dragged into a mys- tery. The hero then manages, despite his constant proclamations that he is just an ordinary guy, to overcome his mediocrity and solve, avenge, or re- See BOOKS, Page 8 It might look like an innocent brew-drinking shot, but notice the insidious product placement on the beer labels and light fixture (top right). Rush blurs (plot) line o dty" Rush dir. Lili Fini Zanuck by Austin Ratner R ush is a film which might be compared with The Deer Hunter in that it gives us a slice of life from a certain milieu - high on com- pelling, emotional performances, and low on plot coherence. Only this time the setting is not a lower- class Cleveland area, but one in Texas. Rush's characters contend not with the psychological impact of Vietnam, but instead with the strung-out lifestyle of an under- cover narcotics agent. Jason Patric (The Lost Boys) plays Jimmy, a character who might be compared with many of Robert DeNiro's portrayals: a serious, con- fident loner, who pits his ego against those of the slimy characters that populate his world and his workplace. You'd have to dress DeNiro up as Dennis Miller, how- ever, and give him a nasal Mid- western accent, to achieve Patric's full effect. Like Patric, Jennifer Jason Leigh (Miami Blues, Last Exit to Brooklyn) gives a sensitive rendi- tion of her character, Kristen, the young recruit whom Jimmy picks as his new partner. Together they test their strength posing as junkies, buying drugs with police money; they often have to do the drugs themselves to convince the dealers that they aren't cops. As they shuffle from seedy bar to drug den, the temptation to use some of the drugs they've bought in their spare time becomes greater. The distinction between the facade Rush assembles a compelling picture of the drug war and of the seductive power of narcotics. and reality blurs, and the characters begin to disintegrate with the phys- ical effects of their narcotic dabbling. As Kristen says to her boss, played by Sam Elliot, "It's a fine line." The progress of the movie itself mimics the dissipated lives of its characters. The scenes follow one another abruptly, jumping from one poorly lit location and ambiguous situation to another. Though this does convey the ex- perience of the characters, whose lives are slipping from their own control, and though the scattering of scenes in smalltown Texas cre- ates a visual impression of the chaos and darkness of this Southern un- derworld, the incoherence also makes for some problems within the film's tone. The bad guy kingpin lurks in the background in typical thriller style, and the constant reference to him See RUSH, Page 8 Paul McCartney musical bounds, and for perhaps tak- ing seriously one-time comparisons Paul McCartney 's Liverpool between Mozart and the Beatles? Oratorio As such, I'm going to try to re- EMI frain from singling out the weak and the aged, from launching my pens at the overstuffed and balding. I'm going to heed my second-grade teacher's advice and not say anything if I can't say something nice. OK, here goes. Well, for starters, the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra plays won- derfully. The vocal soloists are im- See RECORDS, Page 8 Paul McCartney sure does have guts. At nearly 50 years of age, the former Beatle, former Wing, former Michael Jackson collaborator, now Michael Jackson servitor has gone out on a limb to compose a complete oratorio. Written with a bit of help from classicist Carl Davis, this sort of mini-opera deals with the trials and tribulations facing a lad grow- ing up in postwar Liverpool. And since McCartney has taken such a bold step, making himself such a clear target for carrion-hun- gry reviewers, I'm more than a lit- tle hesitant to jump on the McCart- ney-bashing bandwagon. After all, it's far too easy to criticize the sub- standard - especially when one's standards have fallen so low. What challenge would there be in taking him to task for foolishly overstepping his obviously narrow e r 1 t f e atre 1991 Impact Dance Theatre presents a FREE WORKSHOP For more Information, call UAC @ 763 1107 McCartney U Ii WHERE IS YOUR WORLD GOING? The Office of International Programs 4 Study Abroad Information Meetings Summer in Oxford Wednesday, January 15, 4:00 pm 1214 Mason Hall Will thee be a nuclear war? An eonomic collapse? Will Why be uncertain any longer? Plan now to find the I I