ARTS
The Michigan D aily Tuesday, March 31, 1992 Page 5


Pretentious Bono ain't a TV star

littered the stage, but they weren't
always on, nor were they flashing
many "subliminal" messages of life.
More often than not, live shots of the
band were flashed, which gave those
in the back a fairly clear view of
what was happening on stage.
In fact, ZOO TV wasn't the coo-
lest part of the band's stage. To ser-
vice a ZOO TV boom camera, a
dolly track was laid from the left
side of the stage to a mini-stage that
was no bigger than the Blind Pig's.
This isthmus ended smack dab in
the middle of the audience. Bono,
and occasionally other band mem-
bers, wandered down the cat walk to
pose and preen nearer to the masses.
The two songs the band as a
whole performed there, "Angel of
Harlem" and a cover of Lou Reed's
"Satellite of Love," were among the
best in the set because it felt kind of
like MTV Unplugged - small, inter-
active, and intimate. More than any
other show I've seen at the Palace
this year, U2 managed to make the
venue seem smaller than it was.
But at the beginning, it didn't
seem like the concert would be that
gripping. The Pixies' lackluster ope-
ning set reeked of studied boredom.
Black Francis wore sunglasses the
whole time - even Bono took his
off for most of U2's set.

Are" and the KLF song with Tammy
Wynette "Justified and Ancient" (U2
wants to be hip); James Brown's
"Sex Machine" and Sly Stone's
"Dance to the Music" (U2 wants
street credibility); and Led Zeppelin,
the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones
(U2 wants to be identified with the
great rock bands of all time).
Why did U2 bother with these
gimmicks and more - including the
pizza from Speedy Pizza distributed
to the crowd for free after Bono jok-
ingly called them from the stage, and
the belly dancer during "Mysterious
Ways" slinking to and fro? Were
they trying to put on a good theatri-
cal performance? They didn't need
it.
What made the concert fantastic,
as U2 shows have always been, was
the band's musical interactions whed
performing their always anthemic,
charismatic songs. U2 could've done
it for less than $25 a ticket and left:
the TV sets at home.
Even the construction of the set
could be considered a stratagem.
They performed most of Achtung
Baby, including the hits, at the be
ginning, thereby breaking the boring
tradition of saving the newest hit,
singles for last.
This organization of the songs al-,
lowed the set to build an unexpected
unusual rhythm. U2 ended on a bal-
lad, "Love is Blindness," crooned
like a lullaby, while opening with an
assault, "Zoo Station," which inclu-
ded a visual one to show off the toys
they brought with them.
U2 seems to feel that they have to
be different from every other band in
the world - from the casual sling-
ing of champagne to Bono mugging
in full force - when all anyone asks
is that they play their hearts out. So
they did, despite themselves and all
the precautions that they took.
Rebellion may have been packaged,
but U2 remain a solid rock band.
-Annette Petruso.

Duma (Alois Moyo) and PK (Stephen Dorff) take a run together through
Johannesburg, despite the social oppression of Apartheid.
Power is in the hands
e i
Ofthe wrong direcor

KRISTOFFER GILLETTE/Daily
U2's vocalist Bono shows off his fancy (is that vinyl or leather?) duds to the
salivating crowd at the Palace of Auburn Hills Friday night. Eat that
microphone baby!


The Power of One
dir. John G. Avildsen

I

- I

I

by Michelle Phillip
The Power of One is screenwriter
Robert Mark Kamen's cheesy adap-
tation of Bryce Courtenay's novel of
the same name. Apparently Kamen
has a hard-on for placing young
white men in situations with op-
pressed or disadvantaged Blacks.
These young men then are given
a Black mentor who teaches them to
box and effortlessly guides them into
young adulthood. This was the case

have a brain is not a sin. To have a
brain and not use it is a sin." Deep.
A 12-year-old PK (Simon Fen-
ton) learns to box from Geel Piet
(Morgan Freeman), a Zulu who has
spent 40 of his 55 years in prison for
various crimes. From Father Figure
#2, PK learns boxing and the Zulu
language. And he learns that, in gen-
eral, Blacks are OK.
It is here that PK learns the harsh
treatment accorded to Blacks, as Piet
is beaten by a Afrikaaner guard. PK
tells us that he feels helpless because
there is nothing he can do about it.
An older PK (Stephen Dorff)
leads us through the rest of the film.

The Pixies played like they didn't
care who heard them - their set
didn't matter. Only cool bassist Kim
Deal showed any enthusiasm, and
like U2 bassist Adam Clayton,
smoked inside the Palace when smo-
king isn't allowed - "Somebody's
got to play a big rock and roll star."
Though the concept of having a

real live DJ (fairly preprogrammed,
but a DJ nonetheless) providing the
music between sets seemed engag-
ing, Dubliner B.D. Fellin displayed
the same Elvis (read America) wor-
ship that U2 obsesses over, and he
was annoying to boot.
How much does he get paid to
play every clichd in the book? -
Nirvana's new single "Come as You

The Power of One hopes that the we will be
stupid enough to fall for its contrived, trite
moments. Will Maria defy her father once she
learns the unfairness her father supports? Of
course she will.

U2
Achtung Baby
Island
At one point or another in one's
life, you act on quiet desperation.
Even those self-fulfilled Slackers
experience inner mourning and inner
longings, though they would never
admit it.
Listening to U2's latest album,
Achtung Baby, the listener discovers
that quiet desperation can bitterly
pervade the lives of the members of
one of the most important rock
bands in the world, and yet they
have "matured" enough to be self-
effacing at the same time.
Fervent U2 fans might find the
sounds and words of Achtung Baby
disappointing and unexpected. U2
has turned from their collective
dissatisfaction with the world (the
first four albums), spirited America

worship (The Joshua Tree and Rattle
and Hum), and occasional less-than-
personal impressions of emotion
("With or Without You," "Desire")
to the all-encompassing subject of
rejection and loss of love.
This darkness settles on the al-
bum as a whole, but the band self-
consciously undercuts itself in the
photos on the record jackets (check
out the band in drag next to the
lyrics for "Mysterious Ways") and in
odd lyrics and guitar parts. They
couldn't stay Angry Young Men
forever.
Achtung Baby flows cut into cut
through a wave of self-pity to des-
perate confidence to grasping for
strength from within. As the Edge
mixes predictable chunky guitar riffs
with more experimental sounds, Bo-
no's vocals range from the over-
zealous to the fucked-with and the

spooky.
"Zoo Station," the first cut sets
the stage for this dichotomy. Be-
ginning with the vocals and guitar
styles expected on a U2 album, the
vocals become distorted as the ver-
bal images kick in. "Zoo Station"'"s
meaning is more ambiguous than the
rest of the album's, but reflects the
churning emotions and noises that
make up the soul of Achtung Baby
- a pseudo-overture, perhaps.
The logical question is, then,
does this album work? Does Ach-
tung Baby live up to its potential and
the band's potential?.
With qualifications, yes. The dis-
tortions and the images demand as
much attention as any other U2 re-
lease. The song "Love is a Blind-
ness," for example, captures in every
facet of its production and writing
the flutter that comes after a sigh.

U2 has moved beyond their im-
age and what they could have done
- into, for example, territory previ-
ously explored by the Stone Roses
on U2's magnificent first single
"The Fly." Few bands consciously
use an influence by a band much
younger and less popular than they.
The only tracks that fail are a
couple of the very mellow, ballad-
like ones - especially "Tryin' to
Throw your Arms around the
World" and "So Cruel." "So Cruel"
drags on, perhaps putting proper em-
phasis on the words, but the strings
put it over the top. On the whole,
this sentimental-for-desperation song
is the supreme example of self-in-
dulgence and, therefore, the funniest,
most sarcastic song of the lot. Even
the songs that suck on Achtung Baby
have some redeeming quality.
- Annette Petruso

for Kamen's last film, Gladiator,
and with The Power of One, he tries
to expand on the weak premise.
The story opens in South Africa
in 1930. We watch and we hear
seven-year-old PK (Guy Witcher) go
through his early childhood. PK's fa-
ther died before he was born. When
his mother became ill, he was sent to
an Afrikaaner boarding school.
This poses a problem for PK,
who is of British descent. The Dutch
and the Germans fought the English
to gain control of South Africa for
250 years, and the bastards at school
feel it necessary to take out their
pent up Afrikaaner anger out on him.
After his mother's death, PK is
sent to live with his grandfather, a
man who doesn't have much use for
children. He befriends Father Figure
#1, Doc (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Doc
gives PK his life lessons and imparts
such valuable plenitudes as, "To'
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He turns 18 in 1948, when Apartheid
becomes law. PK now spends his
life in a English prep school, where
he learns to choose between right
and wrong from Father Figure #3,
Headmaster St. John (Sir John Giel-
gud).
PK decides that Apartheid isn't
fair and openly defies the laws by
boxing in an interracial match and
See POWER, Page 8


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