The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 13,1992- Page 9 'It's cool man' LA. Guns haunt the city in black by Kristen Knudsen After "The Ballad of Jayne" went Top 30, L.A. Guns finally started re- ceiving some recognition. It doesn't matter that this group is, in some ways, the father of Guns N' Roses - guitarist Tracii Guns founded L.A. Guns with Axl Rose - it took 'Everything's gotta be like black and tattooed, man. That's just the way this band is. -Kelly Nickels Bassist a Top 30 single to bring this band's originally melodic hard rock music to a mainstream audience. Bassist Kelly Nickels, working with co-guitarists Tracii Guns and Mick Cripps, vocalist Phil Lewis, and new drummer Bones, is happy with the success that "The Ballad of Jayne" achieved, and rejects charges that releasing a ballad is bad news for a heavy metal band. "A good song is a good song," he defends. "The Stones used to do kil- ler slow songs, ballads, whatever - there's so many - it just shows ver- satility. Nobody's just got one focus. When you're a songwriter you've gotta be able to create." He's still not sure, though, how "The Ballad of Jayne" was created. "(It) was kind of written about like watching the Playboy Channel, this thing on Jayne Mansfield. The way it (the song) was written, a lot of people could relate to it." Most of their songs are easy to relate to, because, as Nickels ex- plains, "Most of it's kind of like what happens to us, of friends we know, and things that happen." "Phil (Lewis) is like really weird," Nickels continues, which is why some of L.A. Guns' songs are not so easy to understand. "He's into, I don't know - weird things, like 'Magdelaine' (from 1989's Cocked and Loaded ) - those lyrics. They're really cool lyrics, but I don't know where he would get those. (Maybe) from reading differ- ent kinds of shit." These "different kinds of shit" include vampire novels, books with which the whole band has a strange fascination. This is apparent on their new album, Hollywood Vampires. "Yeah, that's us," Nickels ad- mits. "They work good, you know, it's a good look. It works good with the band. I mean, I don't know, Fire- house, if they were into vampires, it just wouldn't seem right. "That's us, man," Nickels re- peats. "When we started, we used to go out all the time and we'd always 4. A Ma. Bell Service Announcement Oh Lord my God, Creator of the Universe, once again you caused me to remain awake the whole night through. Toward dawn I think I man- aged to forget myself a little, but you couldn't really have called it sleep. More like floating from layer to layer of non-sleeping, from shade to shade of white, if there was any such distinction. On the wall beyond the foot of the bed, first light was spreading like a stain. I lay on my back and wvatched it grow, thinking for no good reason the story of the shaikh, how 'e, who had once firmly grasped the thread of life, fell from the way, en- trapped himself in every form of error and apostasy, and was lost. This brief bit of sleeplessness has been brought to you by Madison Smartt Bell, novelist and short story writer, from the beginning of his most recent novel, Dr. Sleep. Undoubtedly, few busy (exhausted, underfed) folks attending a university like this one would have such fantastic insomnia. Today (you lucky stiffs) Bell might read from that bit of his work at the Rackham Amphitheatre. Drop by at 4 p.m. and you just might get to hear what happens after the shaikh was lost. Or not. Regardless, Bell's short fiction has been in just about any magazine you can think of (with the curious exception of The New Yorker) and he has been caught reviewing books for the New York Times Book Review. Us work has been translated into German, Danish, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch, and (as his vita points out) British. But don't worry, we're pretty sure that the reading will be in English. had to leave the band. see the same people at night, at clubs and stuff, but during the day you never see anyone, and it's like what do these people do for money? How do these people live? Everyone's got their own secrets; during the day they're kind of normal, whatever happens, and at night ... it's cool man. "It fits really well with every- thing," Nickels concludes. "It felt good with the hours we were keep- ing." Hollywood Vampires to the core, the Guns' drummer is named Bones, and has black hair. "Everything's gotta stay in kind of the same context. We're not gonna get a blonde drummer," Nickels laughs. "I don't know why we're so weird like that. Every- thing's gotta be like black and tat-* tooed, man. That's just the way this band is." L.A. GUNS appear Saturday with The Electric Lovehogs at the Ritz in Roseville. Tickets are $12 at Ticket- master (p.e.s.c) or at the door. 'U' Choir is valiant in battle against winter University Choir "Concert of American Music" Hill Auditorium March 10, 1992 The cold was temporarily rel- ieved Tuesday night. Thank the University Choir and its "Concert of American Music." Poetry, Playboy, politics and prose The program's core was a set of "Mid-Winter Songs," a delightful mix of ballads and up-tempos by Morton Lauridsen. Choir director Jerry Blackstone introduced the work, summing up the songs as "the thought of one railing against the terrors and terribleness of winter." What made the concert so ap- pealing was its personality. It was not a recital of standard American favorites but a blend of odes, love songs, laments, comedy and praise, highlighted by the embellishments of the chorus and soloists. Colorful pieces included Cop- land's "Las Agachadas (The Shake- down Song)" in which the chorus showed its versatility, making strum- ming noises to accompany selected soloists. Gershwin's "The Jolly Tar and the Milkmaid," featured tenor Eric Milligen's comic narrative, which amused the audience. Mil- ligen pulled off singing and acting concurrently, humorously posing as a grizzled sailor in his tuxedo. Ending with the triumphant "Da- niel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord," the University Choir presented a show-stopping, gospel-like rendition of the story of Daniel. Tenor Joshua Funk added to the exuberance of the song with his captivating strength, filling the room with his high notes: The Choir's program was unique and refreshing; the problems that arose were few, and were also the inevitable obstacles that occur in. large groups. For the most part, the. Choir had a very clear and well-bal- anced sound, strongly under-scored but not overshadowed by Scott VanOrnum's piano accompaniment. And for a brief 70 minutes,. win- ter was forgotten and Hill Audi- torium was transformed with the promise of spring. - Melissa Rose Bernardo_ by Darcy Lockman Words on the page, prayers, even shouts of rage, What do they count against tanks, missiles, guns? For each line that you write, each war you wage, Ten thousand hands write reams to drown your one. - David Mura, "Hope Without Hope" Does Japanese-American poet David Mura really feel, as the title of this excerpt suggests, that hope does n6t exist, even within the confines of hope itself? And is he really waging a war with his words? Mura says no. "I do not write po- etry to argue a social pattern. I write to widen people's awareness. You have to be realistic in attempting to change the world. There is a lot of injustice, but that doesn't mean you just sit there and despair. We all make choices, we choose how much we are aware of in the world. We can connect ourselves with problems such as the homeless, or Apartheid. Or we can ignore it." This 'choice to ignore' is not one that Mura has made in either his poetry or his prose. Much of his writing concerns Japanese-American history, a part of the past that has often been deliberately buried. "In my writing, I try to deal with ways in which we (modern day Japanese Americans) come to terms with our own community. Part of my work is written to explore what this history means to us. "How does the time that our parents spent in internment camps affect us today? How do young Japanese and Asian Americans come to terms with media stereotypes and racism? And how do these relate to intimate issues like sexuality?" As a minority who writes about cultural issues, Mura is often regard- ed not simply as an artist, but as a Japanese artist. He says this labeling, however, does not bother him. "There are so many good, young, Asian-American writers right now. I feel great to be grouped with them. I grew up in the Midwest, among a community with a very small Asian population. I spent years trying to assimilate, but I am no longer inter- ested in denying my heritage. It was a long struggle to gain this identity," he says. In maintaining the identity that he is now proud ofgMura struggles with recurring waves of Japan-bashing. "It makes things difficult for my family and myself. How would I feel if I were walking down the street with my daughter and we saw people bashing in a Japanese car? I would not feel safe." "I think there are a lot of impor- tant trade issues with Japan. But people's reactions to those issues are not just based on rational analysis of trade. There is an emotion behind it that is fueled by racism." Mura deals with this racism both by talking and writing about it. He says, "I hope by throwing things out there, they will change. The things I'm writing about have to do with the future of this country. "In the next century, America will no longer have a white majority. What we are facing is a decision whether we are going to learn to- gether, or end up like South Africa." Mura deals with more than just multicultural issues. Sexuality is also a major focus. He explores common experiences: the first time he saw a Playboy magazine, feelings about his daughter's future, and the taboos of interracial sex. DAVID MURA, author of Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei, will be reading from his works of poetry and nonfiction at 7 p.m. tonight in the Rackham Amphitheatre. Michigan Student Assembly campus wide student government Call for Candidates for the Campus Police Oversight Board I. DE3DlaG -1 i -1 I 99 SPIRAL/VELO BINDING Under 1" Width, Over 1" @ $1.99 Two Positions Open Elections Monday, March and Tuesday, March 31 30 - ''. mi Candidate Packets available in MSA office: 3909 Michigan Union or call 763-3241 for further information. Application Deadline is March 18, 1992 at 5:00 pm Dollar Bill; CopyingPIC 11 Church '.50 Phone: 665-9200 Fax: 930-2800 9.i - E'/ Lynn a t - n urnviuui son ees~e 0 Your Summer Job more than just employment... ,,, ! .... ,.W......_....r . , , .,,_.. Kuumba Bichinis Bia Congo I DAILY SHOWS BEFORE 6 PM O0 , ALL DAY TUESDAY present Niuisani A 1itS by o te dO pi doo C~ 8 mss p0PL 8 6C o r ho' r PAO, at Dancing I Same D a program connecting theC Afrikan-American cultu song, dance and Directed by Biz Matinu: [o The )rum Congolese and ', ores through o . L Musts l r/rrCr Py .a Sompa '. Working with'children in the outdoors. Ctaffunedrs ervisors administrative staf ndother leadership POSitions. i Saturday, March 14, 1992 - 8:08pm D -~ m~JM~ - JI NI Il..J~ I I1mIImi II -II I II t.