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A Red Scare in A-squared!
Our good friends at Cinema Guild will be presenting three of Russian
director Sergei Eisenstein's finest classic films. "The Battleship
Potemkin," considered one of the greatest films of all time, is playing
tomorrow at the Natural Science Auditorium at 7 p.m. Following at
8:15 and 10 p.m. will be the two parts of Eisenstein's "Ivan the
Terrible" epic, which features a score by Sergei Prokofiev. As always,
tickets for each show are just $4.
Sensational Simpson, legendary Bradb
By Dean Bakopoulos
Daily Books Editor
On Friday night, make way for one of
Granta magazine's top young American nov-
elists, Mona Simpson. Saturday afternoon,
something prolific this way comes when vet-
eran writer Ray Bradbury drops by Ann
Arbor.
Simpson will read at
Shaman Drum on Pj
Friday evening, as part
of a 13-city tour in pro- p
motion of her newest
novel, "A RegularS
Guy."
Simpson began her
rise to the literary limelight in 1987, when her
debut novel "Anywhere But Here" was
released - the critics raved and readers cooed.
Now, Simpson has become an established
writer, noted as one of the best novelists
working today. "A Regular Guy" proves she
deserves these laurels.
The regular guy that this new novel centers
around is Tom Owens, a sort of Bill-Gatesian
computer company wizard, living high and
on
Dru
large as the director of the Genesis company.
Owens' life gets a little complicated when
Jane enters the picture.
Jane is the illegitimate daughter that he had
with Mary, an old romantic interest. Mary rais-
es Owens' daughter in a world of mountain
hideaways and hippie communities. But one
day, she teaches the 10-
year-old Jane how to
EVIEW drive. Mary sends her
off in a pickup truck
3a Simpson with wooden blocks on
the pedals, so Jane can
Reading tonight at live with the unexpect-
m at 8 oclock. Free. ing and very rich
Owens. This sadly
humorous beginning sets up a novel in which a
torn and confusing family structure develops.
Simpson is at her best in "A Regular Guy."
Her prose rarely falters, her style is unique,
her subject matter both sad and amusing, her
insight razor-sharp. A wonderful Friday
evening awaits literary folk at Shaman Drum.
The following afternoon, Ray Bradbury,
who is promoting his first short story collec-
tion in a decade, "Quicker Than the Eye,"
will speak and sign books at Borders.
Despite the fact that Bradbury has published
many more than 30 books in his legendary
career, this will be his first-ever book tour.
Bradbury began the tour in his hometown
of Waukegan, Ill. There, he did a benefit
book signing for the Waukegan Library
System, an organiza-
tion he credits with
being the key to the P1
intensely vivid imagi-
nation and love of writ-
ing that sparked his
awesome career.
Bradbury is best
known for his novels
like "Fahrenheit 451," "The Illustrated Man"
and "Dandelion Wine" He has also written
for the TV show "The Twilight Zone," and he
has adapted 65 of his stories for television's
"Ray Bradbury Theater."
"Quicker Than the Eye" is his first new
book in eight years. It contains 21 never-
before-collected short stories. Like his vast
repertoire of novels, some of the stories are
solidly realistic (like the novel "Dandelion
Mona Simpson arrives in Ann Arbor this weekend. Also com-
ing is Ray Bradbury, the legendary author of sci-fi classics
like "The Martian Chronicles" and "Fahrenheit 451."
Original hip-hop rappers
The Roots release excellent
new album, come to Detroit
Comic Bog
The Roots
lIladelph Halflife
DGC
Remember the hip-hop classics like
Public Enemy's "It Takes A Nation of
Millions," Nas' "Illmatic" and Eric B.
and Rakim's "Paid In Full?" Well, you
can pretty much add another one to the
long list: "Illadelph Halflife," The
Roots' latest effort.
The Roots have been pining away in
the underground scene since 1987, so
they are definitely no newcomers to
hip-hop. They got their start emulating
all their favorite rap stars on the streets
of Philadelphia, but unlike a
lot of other rappers out
there right now, The1
Roots did not try to
make a career out of
sounding like every-
one else.
Now, it seems like
a lot of hip-hop artists
are trying to use live.
musicians, at least when
they tour. But the funny thing
is that The Roots basically started all of
that. There was supposedly some beef
this past summer when the Roots toured
with the overnight success story, The
Fugees, and The Fugees seemed to be
biting hard off the style that The Roots
had perfected years ago. The thing
about The Roots, though, is that all the
instruments on "Illadelph Halflife," like
their major-label debut "Do You Want
More?" were played by the Roots crew.
No samples here.
The Roots have brought to hip-hop
an element that Prince brought to mod-
ern R&B music: An alternative to the
basic computerized drum beats and
samples so prevalent in popular rap and
soul today. "Illadelph Halflife" thrives
on the fact that the Roots are keepin' it
real, and keepin' it live.
Although the Roots are definitely in
their best element performing live,
"Illadelph Halflife" does a pretty good
job of capturing their live intensity.
There are no throwaway tracks on the
album, seeing as The Roots had more
than 100 tracks to choose from when it
came time to put together the record.
You know the tracks on the album are
the freshest The Roots have to offer.
Black Thought flows smoother than
silk, Brother ?uestion's drum beats are
phat, and the other members of The
Roots crew hold their own lyrically as
well.
A short intro jumps right into
"Respond / React," which is destined to
be a hip-hop classic in its own right.
The drums and bass lines on
this album are crisp as
hell, and keep your head
noddin' all the way
through the extreme-
ly long 78-minute
Maas disc.
The current single
"Concerto Of The
Desperado," with its
chorus, "Concerto of the
desperado / R-double O-T-S
check the flow / If you know like I
know, then you know the motto / That's
all the false shit gots ta go," tells you the
Roots are sick of all the fake, trendy
artists that pop up all the time. That
track flows right into "Clones," this
summer's street anthem.
As if the Roots weren't strong
enough lyrically by themselves, a cou-
ple of guests even pop up on "Illadelph
Halflife." Common Sense busts on
"UNiverse At War," and Q-Tip of A
Tribe Called Quest comes in to rip
through "Ital (The Universal Side)."
These guests and others only make
"Illadelph Halflife" even stronger.
If you're looking for some more of
that southern-fried, booty bass crap
music that tries to call itself "hip-hop;'
and you hate real hip-hop, you wouldn't
like "Illadelph Halflife." But if you
The Roots, the Roots, the Roots are on fire!
appreciate inventive, smooth flows,
beats to give ya whiplash and talented
artists, you'll see why "Illadelph
Halflife" should be added to the list of
classic hip-hop joints.
Check out the Roots when they
play an all-ages show tonight at St.
Andrew's lall in Detroit, with special
guest Jeru Damaja. Doors open at 6
p.m. Call (810) 645-6666 jbr more
information.
- Colin Bartos
innocent-sounding take on noise-pop
that it's worth seeking out their debut
record "Trail of the Lonesome Pine."
The songs on "Trail of the Lonesome
Pine" seem to be in constant motion.
They bounce, like "Pollen U.S.A." and
"No Song"; they slink along close to the
ground, like "Gleason Rocket," and
they amble, like "Sunday Man" and
"Orange Red, Bright Blue." Erika
Hoffman's deceptively naive-sounding
vocals ride atop a dense sonic mix that
includes beeping and gurgling Moogs
and farfisas, static-drenched guitars and
crisp drums. "No Song," "Pollen
U.S.A.," "Pointsettia," "Tractor Driver"
and "Canary" especially benefit from
this fuzzy, buzzy sound, which lends
itself to being bouncy or abrasive.
Spikier songs like "Old Number 7" and
"Gleason Rocket" are indebted to Sonic
Youth's more pop moments, and "12X"
is the catchiest song Lush never wrote.
A consistently enjoyable album, "Trail
of the Lonesome Pine" will hopefully
garner Godzuki the respect it deserves,
locally and otherwise.
-- Heather Phares
See RECORDS, Page 9
perform at
By Gabriel Greene
For the Daily
Lock up the kids; Eric Bogosian is
coming back to Ann Arbor. Armed with
his sixth and latest one-man rant,
"Wake Up and Smell the Coffee,"
Bogosian will storm into the Michigan
Theater on Saturday, leveling all pop
culture in his path.
Bogosian, who recently starred oppo-
site Steven Seagal in the film "Under
Siege 2: Dark Territory," returns to the
stage - where he has gained much
praise and almost as much notoriety. As
in all of his prior solo shows, Bogosian
will perform sev-
eral different
monologues to PRE
trace his state of E .
mind in America
in 1996. Perform
"It's kind of Michig
hard to explain Ticket
what I do because
I don't have any records out or HBO
specials or anything," Bogosian said in
a recent interview with The Michigan
Daily. "My shows are something that
get described differently depending on
who you talk to about it."
True enough: Last October The
Boston Globe called "Wake Up" "a
glorious cacophony of voices that mim-
ics the confusing complexity of life in
the Information Age." After walking
out of an Austin, Texas, performance of
the show earlier this year, hapless the-
atergoers Ed and Linda Smith called it
"pure unadulterated filth."
"It's odd because some people come
... and it's so hard-core compared to
what they're used to seeing" Bogosian
said, going on to mock what he calls the
"Gold American Express Card" audi-
ence: '"Ethel, what are we doing next
month? Is that the night the Wendy
Wasserstein play is on? No? Then we
can go' ... and then they go into shock
when they see what I do.
"(My shows) are not about things out
there, it's more about things inside me
... I'm much more aware that I'm just
Friday
November 8, 1996
ury hit 'U'
'), while others embody Bradbury's
mark magical fantasy worlds (as in
Martian Chronicles"). The characters
are music composers, aging couples,
ised families who find themselves in
nd sad and poignant situations. All of
s done in Bradbury's wonderful trade-
mark style - one that
cannot be categorized.
I E W Is this science fictio*
fantasy, surrealism,
'adbury realism? One simply
cannot pin Bradbury's
tomorrow at voice down.
t 4 p.m. Free. In the afterword to
this collection titled
e Haste to Live," Bradbury ruminates a
1 the writer's trade: "I don't write these
:s, they write me... I am merely a prac-
er of optimal behavior, which mean
e yourself, listen to your Muses, g
work done, and enjoy the sense that you
t live forever."
y Bradbury is still getting his work
, and sometimes it seems that he may in
ive forever.
rosian to
Michigan
one more molecule in the middle of bil-
lions of molecules. ... Life on Earth
seems more and more like a virus all
the time, consuming the whole planet.
(This) show is more, like, about the end
of civilization."
For all the potential audience meO
bers shying away after reading this last
paragraph, know that you are playing
into Bogosian's hands. "I have a real
problem with being loved by audi-
ences;' he snarled. "It's a lot easier get-
ting an audience to love you than to
respect you . . I'm not interested in
that. Anybody who's here to see sme
cute rodine,
they're in the
VIEW wrong placep
"Wake t~p
c Bogosian which follows his
ning tomorrow at the successful play
an Theater at 8 p.m. "subUrbia" (the
s are $15 & $19.50. movie version
just finished
filming with Richard Linklater direct-
ing), promises to be more of what fans
have come to expect from Bogosian:
monologue after caustic, relentless, bit-
terly funny monologue, showing bruta
ly honest characters trying to make
sense of themselves.
Jo Bonney, Bogosian's wife and
longtime collaborator, is directing the
show. "Jo is really good at looking at
the different colors and textures of the
show," Bogosian said. "I was really
influenced by the punk rock scene, and
that tends to be one note really loud and
that's what I like. And it's really fun to
perform. It lets me loose, to be nuts on
stage. Jo makes sure the show conti*
ues in the direction that the two of us
can get the most out of."
Bogosian has been visible elsewhere
in entertainment recently, co-creating
the ABC cop drama "High Incident'
executive-produced by Steven
Spielberg. ("When Steven Spielberg
calls, you take the call," explained
Bogosian.)
But the best reason to see Bogosi
in a rare local appearance is just than'
it's rare. Only one of his solo shows,
"Sex Drugs Rock & Roll," is out on
video. This is your best chance to expe-
rience a singularly intense show, live.
"People go to so few live perfor-
mances. They don't really understand
that there's this amazing thing that goes
on live, nothing to do with canned stuff'
like TV and film, which is really a one-
way street. You go to a theater and it
goes both ways. ... It can be incredible
when it happens. It happens a lot with
my shows. I really get into it.
Sometimes it completely falls on its
face. ... It's very vulnerable. When it
clicks, it's amazing."
Prepare to be amazed.
V=Varslty
C=Club
NiD o.ntramvre
10.
1
.
I
r
Godzuki
Trail of the
March
Lonesome Pine
Possibly one of the more neglected
local bands, Godzuki is also one of the
very best. Its Moog-driven pop, twee
vocals and catchy choruses recall like-
minded groups such as Stereolab, the
Rentals and pals His Name Is Alive -
Warren Defever lent his producing
skills to some of the songs on this
record. But Godzuki has such a fresh,
READ SPORTSMONDAY
The University of Michigan I
Urban + Regional Planning Progra~m rlw
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