0
ARTS
.The Michigan Daily
Monday, April 6, 1992
Page 5
va ^ x Q~e 9 R~e3I Ps, ,.>4 yx{ ar, 5
M SU poet discairis heump for sex,
..-,M I f f,,A F
by Nick Arvin
Diane Wakoski is a full professor
at MSU who has been publishing po-
etry for thirty years now. During
those years she has displayed a re-
markable ability to pull very differ-
ent ideas and concepts together in
original, believable ways.
For example, in the fine tradition
of Hash Bash one of Wakoski's earl-
iest poems is titled "George Wa-
shington Writes Home About Har-
vesting His Hemp."
"And so you make special plans
to be there / when the hemp is har-
vested: / your dreams take the form
of women / lying down, taking off
their clothes / on American flags, /
serving you in the name of your
country ..."
With age and wisdom, Wakoski's
poetry has left hemp, but not sex,
behind. After completing more than
three dozen volumes of poetry, she
has moved on to topics like quantum
physics, Las Vegas, Tom Cruise,
mythology and sex - key elements
woven into the poetry of Wakoski' s
latest book, Medea the Sorceress.
Wakoski will read today from
Medea the Sorceress - the first
book of a multi-volume work titled
The Archeology of Movies and
Books - and from the volume of
poetry she is currently working on,
Jason the Sailor.
"When people read my poetry I
want them to get very interested in
my mind and imagination ... to get
totally involved with the stories and
characters of my imagination," Wa-
koski said. "And hopefully when
they're done, they will understand
the world better."
In fact, it's easy to get "totally
involved" in Wakoski's poetry, be-
cause her form of verse is so per-
sonal.
"In my poetry I draw on history
and my life," Wakoski explained.
She's demonstrated this in "City of
Lights (Las Vegas)" from Medea the
Sorceress.
"Sitting at the blackjack table, I,
wear my denim jacket / and blue
jeans. Nobody, except one blackjack
I dealer / notices I have a light I
around my head, and he sees it I
through sharp lower class eyes:
'You're I a nun,' he says. I smile and
say, 'No, J the next thing to it."'
Wakoski' s poetry, like, this ex-
cerpt, very often addresses or speaks
from very personal events. In Medea
the Sorceress Wakoski also liberally
sprinkles letters which, similar to a
poet's comments between poems at
a reading, help explain the poems
and the events leading to them. This
device makes the poetry even more
accessible to the reader.
"My poetry is about how imagi-
nation transforms drabness into a
joy. The subject of beauty is very,
important to me," Wakoski said, hit-
ting on an important part of poetry
and her own poems. Wakoski ex-
plores the discovery of beauty in the
ordinary, finding new and refreshing
ground, as she does in "The Silver
Surfer on the Desert."
"Greasewood, blackbrush, sage,
and / tarbrush, the scrub of Sonoran
or Mojave galaxies / scrapes past
your Red Wing boots. Walking / this
land, or skimming past it / in a blue
silver car, you / never know who is
traveling with you."
Wakoski has said that a "poety
reading provides instant access to
the poet and the poetry."
DIANE WAKOSKI will read from
her poetry at 4 p.m. today in .the
Rackham Amphitheatre. Admission
is free.p
Diane Wakoski muses, "What's the deal? Why'd I ever let them take my
picture like this? Who cares as long as I've got this pile of $50 chips."
A picture p rf ct Pearl..ealat.
.ft. Andrew's Hall .
April 3,1"92:<:::::: :.;..:
Hey, hey, my, my. Roeck'n' roll will never dlie.:At least not as long as
bands like Pearl Jam keep plugging into their Marshalls.
On Friday night, St. Andrew's Hall was converted into a bona fide rock
'n' roll church, as those five earth brothers from: Seattle once again proved
that they are truly the sonic saviors.
Blazing through songs from their godlike debut album, Ten, Pearl Jam
mesmerized the sold-out crowd. <DrummerDave Abbruzzese and: bassist
Jeff Ament forged the heaviest groove trail this. side of the Grand Canyon.
Theblues-soaked guitarpyrotechnics of Stone Gossard and Mike McCready
were also in fine form, showcased in blazing renditions of "Evenflow" and
.Once."
And while Pearl Jam is a group, it was impossible to keep your eyes off
of the whirling: eye of the storm, singer Eddie Vedder. Mark .my words, this
guy will change the world. When Vedder opens his mouth, the lion's roar.
thaterupts can mrove mountains. The crowd helped, singing most of "Alive'.,
for him.~
Eniding with an incendiary version of Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free
World," the band left, leaving nothing but lots of smiles and sweat in their
wake. - Scott Sterling
Comedy Co. finally has.sex
Abbe Wool's roadkill1
ARape and punkerpkiy bikers
who hankerfor easy-ridn 'funf
Roadside Prophets
dir. Abbe Wool
l
by Mark Binelli
Abbe Wool co-wrote Sid & Nancy,
one of the great films of the '$0s.
Unfortunately, Roadside Prophets,
Wool's directorial debut, is a far cry
from her dense, surreal portrait of
punk rock's star-crossed lovers.
The film's advertising campaign
has been carefully designed to draw
an anti-Establishment crowd, honing
in on the leads - ex-X punker John
Doe and Beastie Boy Adam
Horovitz - and the nutty gurus they
meet on their easy ride through the
American Southwest - i.e., Ti-
mothy Leary, Arlo Guthrie and John
Cusack.
Unfortunately, the collective tal-
ent of these icons and the potential
fun of seeing them all together in the
same film is wasted on Wool's terrn-
ble script.
Doe plays Joe Mosely, a dissatis-
fied factory worker who decides to
embark on a quest for "El Dorado"
after his new friend Dave (David
Anthony Marshall) is electrocuted
while playing a video game. Car-
CO PEEsJ
rying Dave's ashes in a motorcycle
gas tank (in lieu of Easy Rider' s
cocaine), Joe sets out on his Harley
to find a casino that his co-worker
mentioned before his untimely de-
mise.
Along the way, Joe meets up
with tagalong biker Sam (Horovitz),
a hyperactive, neurotic kid who says
"cool" a lot and is obsessed with the
Motel 9 chain.
Both Doe and Horovitz somehow
make their roles as "motorcycle
buddies" (aaaaaah!) fairly entertain-
ing to watch, and a few clever mo-
ments occasionally pop up in the
film - including a hilarious parody
of the obligatory pot-smoking scene
and a brief bit with Cusack as an
eyepatch-wearing "dash-and-dine"
desperado ("Free food for the
poor! ") who robs a Hard Rock CaW&
style retro-raunt.
But, much more often than not,
the satire falls flat, either going too
far - with cartoonish, unoriginal
raving pro-lifers and redneck
sheriffs - or not far enough -
particularly with the many
existential conversations, vapid
Sam (Adam Horovitz) is so precocious, it's difficultto be annoyed when he
says things like, "Can I have a cigarette ... I never buy my own." Cool, Sam.
The Big Showdown, dir: Bill Loe
Mendelssohn Theatre
April 1, 1992
For ten years Comedy. Company
has put on a bi-annual Big Show.
*Traditionally, sketches have been
done in front of a black curtain. This
year, Comedy Company decided to
do things differently, with a color-
fully painted set and a musical guest,
Frida's Boss, for variety.
The Big Showdown featured nine
student comedians in its two acts of
Pefomac review*
original sketch comedy, covering an
0array of subjects such as well-known
TV shows, college life and conver-
sations between body parts.
One of the most enjoyable ske-
tches was a parody of the game
show Studs. There was a lot of pok-
ing fun at the romantic rendezvous,
as with the, real show. However, this
version was different. Most of the
answers were sung, with lyrics such
as "I am horny, you are male, baby,
are we in luck," with obvious
rhymes finishing the song. The end-
ing of the sketch was surprising; the
wvinner turned out to be the host.
Another hilarious sketch was
again musical, a parody of "Dock of
Xhe Bay," which was set in a bath-
room with lyrics like "sitting on this
pot half a day." Not confined to just
lyrical humor, The Big Showdown
also provided commentary on col-
lege life, including fraternity parties.
Showing males and females get-
ting ready for an . Alpha Sigma
Sigma party, the cast played out the
overall objective for each sex. The
women learned how to get in the
door, and the reasons for the party
(free beer, and finding a husband),
while the men practiced getting
women ("Let's get a beer from the
Brother Keg," was one correct an-
swer).
Comedy Company's cast is not
above making fools of themselves to
get a laugh (they personified body
parts in "Internal Affairs"). The cast
is highly talented - all had to
dance, sing and create a comic atmo-
sphere. Frida's Boss also did a great
job accompanying the cast. with
music. All the changes made to the
traditional format of shows past
helped to make this Big Show
funny.
- Nicole Baker
enough to make you hope that Wool
wasn't trying to be serious, but not
funny enough to let you know for
sure.
The combination of a road theme
and a bunch of billboarded cameos
("Hey, look! Isn't that Arlo Guthrie
working at the diner?. How funny!"~)
made Roadside Prophets feel more
like The Muppet Movie than, say,
My Own Private Idaho - only John
Denver and Steve Martin are re-
placed by David Carradine smoking
from a hookah, and Kermit the Frog
had much better dialogue.
R~OADSIDE PROPHETS is playing
" at the Ann Arbor1 & 2.
30
REG. COPIES
20# White, 8.5x11
CA
-n
(0
m
Golden Key:
Honor Society
ATN e The induction is at 9:00 PM,
(NOT at 7:30 as stated in the letter),
in the Michigan Union Ballroom
Wednesday, April 8.
RESUMES
Selected papers only
I
wlcoupon
Londn W$655*
Madrid $715*
Munich $655*
Zurich $71 5*
*Fares ae roun~dtrip from Detroit Faes strt,
April 1 thru June 15. Taxes not incuded, and
restrictions apply
Council'Ir~am
1440 S. University Avenue STE 208
AnnAjtor, MI 48104
313-998=0200
Dollar Bill
Copying
811 Church
Phone: 665-9200 Fax: 930-2800
r--- - -
STUDENTS.
~WEnter the Air Force
immediately after gradua-
tion - without waiting for the
results of your State Boards. You
can earn great benefits as an Air
Force nurse officer. And if selected
during your senior year, you may
qualify for a five-month internship
at a major Air Force medical facili-
ty. To apply, you'll need an overall
- U inu.u w mu ~