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Faculty steps lively
By JODY FRANK
Celebrating with the faculty group, Ann Arbor Dance Works, in their 9th
annual fall season are guest artists Karen Brown and Keith Saunders from the
Dance Theater of Harlem. They will be performing excerpts from "Mirage,"
subtitled "The Games People Play," and "Ginastera." These two works were
choreographed by Billy Wilson, a former soloist in the National Ballet of Holland.
He now choreographs for some of the leading dance groups (Alvin Ailey, Dance
Theater of Harlem), Broadway, television and films.
Brown has been the principal dancer with Arthur Mitchell's Dance Theater of
Harlem for 20 years. Among many other appearances she danced with Aretha
Franklin's 1993 Tour. Saunders was a member of France's Ballet du Nord and
BalletMet Dance Academy of Columbus, Ohio, and has been dancing with Dance
Theater of Harlem for 15 years.
Jessica Fogel's "Dance For Eighteen," which appeared last year in "Dance to
the World Beat," will be presented in its new form. Fogel said, "I've been delighted
to have this chance to make revisions. I'm much more satisfied with the third
section."
The three sections were inspired by a variety of Judaic sources. In "The
Unforgotten," "the movement imagery is drawn from Chagall paintings, photo-
graphic records of pre-WWII Eastern European Jews and Eastern European folk
dances." In the second section, "Not So Long Ago," four couples dance a
glamorized foxtrot and jitterbug to Benny Goodman's "And the Angels Sing"
while in the background other dancers in nude unitards form an image of a
concentration camp line and disappear one by one.
"The music and images in the third section ["Kaddish"] are differentnow. You
see images of prayer and mourning. The dancers perform the custom of rending
an item of clothing and wearing it in grief. I brought forward an image of a woman
dancing with an egg. Hard-boiled eggs are a symbol of the recycling and
reaffirmation of life. Instead of ending with the dancers expressing death, it ends
with aregathering ofhope and renewal," said Fogel. "I feel like I've had the chance
to move forward."
Gay Delanghe will be presenting Lucas Hoving's tribute to composer Erik
Satie - "Satiana."Fogel said, "It's very exciting. It has a kind of absurdic text of
strange and witty statements." Both the music and the text are from before WWI
and represent the earliest manifestations of Dadaist poetry.
Linda Spriggs' dance "Under the Bodhai Tree" is based on poetic, literary and
philosophical images evoked by Spriggs' study and practice of the Nichiren
Daishonin's Buddhism. "It is a visualization of the experience I've had through
Buddhism," said Spriggs.
At one point in the dance the main character encounters three people represent-
ing three aspects of one Buddha. "They try to express to this person how profound
their life is. It's about all the different things I've learned presented in such a way
so that each person can experience it. It's very deep," Spriggs said. "And the music
is very hot."
ANN ARBOR DANCE WORKS will perform this Saturday at 8:00 p.in an ~
Sunday at 4:00 p.m. at the Power Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are
$10 for the general audience and $6 for students and seniors. Call 763-5460
for more info.


Comic Relief
Tama Janowitz, Jay McInerney.
Bret Easton Ellis - if you thought all
those young, brash East Coast novel-
ists died away, guess again. Comic
novelist Mark Leyner is making
waves, and he's coming to Ann Arbor.
Sample some of his humor at a read-
ing at Border's, 7:30 p.m. Monday.
Japanese Baroque in
Ann Arbor
Here's your chance to see the guy
who made the first soloBaroque lute
album in the world in action. Toyohiko
Satoh will be performing an all Bach
lute concert on Saturday, September
18 at 8 pm in the Kerrytown Concert
House. Satoh will be joined by
Shigetoshi Yamada, a Baroque vio-
linist who has played and taught vio-
lin all over the world. Student tickets
are only $5 and are available at 769-
2999.
Saving the Ozone
Abenefitconcert for Ozone House
will be held at the Ark Tuesday night
at 8 p.m. For those unfamiliar with
Ozone House, it is a support service
for runaway youth and family coun-
seling. Unfortunately, over the past
several years, funding for this valu-
able service has been dwindling. Fa-
mousmime and comedian OJ.Ander-
son opens the show. People may re-
member him from his regular routine
with Ringling Brothers-Barnum &
Bailey Circus. Also included in the
festivities will be singers David
Goldfinger, Catie Curtis and David
Menefee who bring their regular in-
sight on family and community into
all their songs.

Jessica Fogel dances in the Ann Arbor Dance Company's latest performance.

Queen Majeeda
Conscious
Heartbeat
Tony Toni Tone
Sons of Soul
Polygram Records
A music critic once accused me of
makingafaulty comparison of two Black
rock bands for no reason other than
"they're both Black." In lieu of this
criticism, I'm watching for oversimpli-
fication in my reviews based on mela-
nin. In this review's context, two re-
gionally different genres, R&B and
reggae, bear the brunt of a shared musi-
cal malady. Music writerNelson George
refers to the group with the disease as
the "post-soul" generation. Itentails the
siphoning of cultural relevance and au-
thenticity from musical genres in Ja-
maica and the States by record com-
pany execs, radio station consultants,
progmmdirectorsandproducerstoname
a few. The results have been deleterious
to Black listeners and artists, as a people
whose well-being has traditionally been
linked to their music's vitality.
Likened as a "dub poet" similar to
reggaeprophetsMutabarukaandLinton
Kwesi Johnson, Queen Majeeda seems
to be dying of George's "post-soul"
disorder. Her album Conscious is rife
with heavy statements about apartheid,
colonialism and racism that look really
strong on paper. Majeeda is political
. and hopes that her messages will tran-
scend the medium ofbad music to affect

us (where's the dub?). Sadly, Majeeda's
grooves are boring and her horns sound
like they're made of aluminum foil.
LKJ's "Sonny's Lettah" and "Reality
Poem" are proof that the strong band
raises the roof. Toparaphrase ChuckD.,
the riddim is the rebel. Free our asses
and our minds will follow. Pass.
Tony Toni Tone, on the other hand,
is willing and able to resurrect the groove
as self-dubbed sons of soul. Promising
funksters from the fringes of Black ra-
dio for years, this trio combines the
sounds of live drums, guitars, bass,
samples and programming with their
heads in the right place-on the good
foot. I've always liked to hear great
bands sample from rap, but the Tonyies
have literally absorbed all of their influ-
ences into a consummate, butt-shakin'
funk. Their skin-tight vocal hooks pull
me into a perfect revisionist nineties
groove. Sure, I'm biased. Some Jamai-
cans might be offended by a track en-
titled "Dancehall" on Sons OfSoul. But
ifthere'sonething Ibelieve Blackpeople
everywhere can relate to, it's rhythm.
There Igobeing over-simplistic again...
- Forrest Green III
Urge Overkill
Saturation
Geffen
The three men of Urge Overkill have
successfully made the transition from
hardcore artpunks to "the kings of dash-
ing and debonair." Fine clothes, vintage

cars and rock n' roll make up the lifestyle
they describe as "champagne on a beer
budget." Their music now matches their
stylish wardrobe and approach to life: it
recalls the golden age of radio rock,
hearkening back to the Stones, T. Rex
and various blue-eyed soul one hit won-
ders of the late '60's and early '70's. Yet
this heavy retro influence is melded
with the driving rhythms of punk rock,
and the result is a timeless album that is
one of the best of the year.
Every song is a winner; the album is
set up like a jukebox, opening with the
A-sides and following up with the B-
sides. The rockers, like "Sister Havana,"
"Woman 2Woman," "Crackbabies"and
"The S talker" are fun, hard and uncom-
promising, while the softer songs such
as "Positive Bleeding," "Back On Me,"
"Bottle of Fur" and "Dropout" are still
tough, yetbeautiful,recalling such greats
as "Beast of Burden" by the Rolling
Stones. Other tracks glorify the band's
favorite shows, "All My Children (in
the song "Erica Kane") and "Beverly
Hills, 90210 ("Heaven 90210"). From
start to finish, the album doesn't let up
with its parade of hits.
The slightly cheesy retro air to the
album may annoy some people at first
listen, yet it actually enhances most of
the songs, especially the funky, quasi-

disco beat on "Dropout."
"Saturation" is much more clever
than what passes for hard rock today; it
is a true "alternative" to both mindless
cock rock and to sadder-than-thou
gloom/ethereal pop. This album is great
party music, whether it's a party of one
or many who've got the U.R.G.E.
- Heather Phares
P J Harvey
Rid of Me
Island
"Rid of Me," the second recording
in virtually a year by the iconoclastic
female rocker Polly Harvey and her
supporting musicians, is tough, uncom-
promising, sexy, scary and impressive,
like the performer herself. As "Rolling
Stone" so aptly put it, "P J Harvey isn't
like anyone else."
And this album isn't very much like
her first, "Dry." It's tougher, the vocals
are deeper and the songs are more con-
sistent.The title track is the most im-
pressive workHarveyhasdone; itsquiet,
eerie verses and loud, menacing cho-
ruses and overall scariness thoroughly
unnerve and impress the listener.
"Missed" isalmostgentle, sadand deals
with child abuse; "Legs" is hard, an-
See RECORDS, Page 8

PJ Harvey is setting a new trend in female rockers. No more glam 'foxcore' here.

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University Musical Society
Choral Union
Thomas Sheets, conductor
CHORUS AUDITIONS
Join the 200-voice Choral Union in performance with
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Neeme Jarvi, conductor
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony / Handel's Messiah
Tchaikowsky's Snow Maiden / Great Opera Choruses
The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Sheets, conductor
Handel's Messiah

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