The Architecture Student Film Society's weekly film series begins
today. The film chosen to open the series is Dziga Vertov's 1929
film, "A Man With A Movie Camera," followed next Wednesday by
the silent horror classic, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." Tonight's
film will begin at 8:30 in the Art & Architecture Auditorium. Free.

ibe £di&n ~aft


* Check out this week's far out Weekend Etc. as the Daily
takes on the final frontier - outer space.

0

Wednesday
February 18, 1998

8

8

Ben Folds Five grabs Cargo's crowd


I

By Gabe Fajuri
Daily Arts Writer
The trip to Pontiac on Monday was
one of incredible frustration and fury.
Rainy weather conditions made the
travel to Clutch Cargo's something of a
danger for Ben Folds Five fans. But for
those who ventured to the venue, the
rip was nothing compared to the ends
that followed as Ben Folds Five deliv-
ered the most incredible performance.
The doors of Clutch Cargo's were
slated to open Monday night at 7
p.m., but the crowd was not allowed
vto enter the venue until it was made to
}Iffer for an entire hour in the near-
freezing rain. The line for the sold-out
show wrapped around the block,
where impatient fans couldn't wait for

the doors to open
begin.
Ben Folds
Five
Clutch Cargo's
Feb. 16, 1998

and the show to
Finally inside,
Robbie Folks, an
aptly named folk
singer did his
damnedest to
warm up the
crowd. I'd never
heard of Folks
before Monday
night, and proba-
bly never will
hear of him
again. His set
was chock-full of
your typical
country/foIk

included numbers from both the band's
self-titled first release, and their most
recent recording, "Naked Baby
Photos." My favorite numbers includ-
ed an extended-jam version of "Song
for the Dumped" (envision the crowd
singing the chorus, "Give me my
money back, you bitch!" with Folds'
arms waving, conductor-like); "Kate,"
a tribute to Folds' new wife; and
bassist Robert Sledge's rousing solo
rendition of the Ted Nugent classic
rock anthem, "Free for All."
Of course, the band didn't fail
to include its radio hit, "Brick" in
the middle of the set, and pulled
off the song nicely. It brought the
crowd down from their high for a
moment, and also brought out
their lighters.
The band finished off the set strongly
and came back for a three-song encore
that started off with a slow number,
"Boxing" It also brought a broken piano
string to the attention of the band.
Apparently, Folds' constant wailing on
the keyboard, with not just his hands,
but feet and piano stool, had finally
taken their toll on the baby grand.
After removing the little rascal
from the piano, the evening was
brought to a fitting close as Darren
Jesse, the band's drummer
approached the mic and let everyone
know that he "was never cool in
school."
The band members rocked out on
"Underground," and then said their
parting words: "Remember to rock
like Tommy Lee!"
And indeed, they had.

I

Courtesy of October Films
Robert Duvall gets his directorial feet wet with his self-finanxed "Apostle."
Duvall's heaven
'Apostle' shines

Courtesy of Sony 550
The members of Ben Folds Five rocked "like Tommy Lee" at Clutch Cargo's
Monday.

hole in my head." Pay attention to
Lowery, Mr. Folks, he knows what
he's talking about.
Forty-five minutes passed, and the
boys from North Carolina finally took
the stage around 9:30 p.m. The crowd
had been ready for BFF for a while, and
it greeted the band with loud cheers as
the trio launched into its first number,
ending the audience's anticipation.
BFF pressed on with numbers like
"The Battle of who Could Care Less,"
"Missing the War," and other choice
selections from the band's recently

gold-certified record, "Whatever and
Ever Amen." The band members'
energy was high, and the crowd drank
in every last drop.
The first break in the action brought
Ben Folds up and over his baby grand
piano to formally address the crowd
for the first time. In addition to the
usual screams and cheers from the
crowd, Folds ended up with a bra in his
hand before kicking off "Steven's Last
Night in Town."
As the evening progressed, the show
just got better. The rest of the set

singer fair, and wasn't that impressive.
To quote David Lowery, lead singer of
Cracker, "What the world needs now
is another folk singer, like I need a

'Working' begins Garrison's poetry career

Cara Spindler
the Daily
a' :Garrison's first book of poetry, "A Working Girl
n't Win and other poems," highlights the parts of
life that seem ordinary - the office, the bedroom,
the street.
As an editor at The New Yorker who lives in
.Manhattan with her husband and two children,
Garrison draws directly upon her life for inspira-
tion.
-But somehow, she manages to dig a little deeper
into lounging of idle firemen on the street or the
sex life of a widow and to place her poems as
kscraps of life realized in a moment.
 "God forgive me - It's the firemen, leaning in
tle firehouse garage." At the first stanza this seems
ke a typical hot day, woman in a short skirt sort of
street harassment.
But Garrison reveals something of herself in this
narrative. "One of them walked beside me to the
corner. Looked into my eyes. He said, 'Will I ever
see you again?"'
Garrison's response isn't quite standard. "Gusty,
1 thought. I'm afraid not, I thought ... What I said
was I'm sorry ... as though he'd come close, as
though this really were a near miss." The subtlety
of fantasy creeps in; the desire to scrub down to the
underlying glimmer that makes reality special is
apparent in her poems.
Garrison's poems, though specific in location
and voice, manage to reach beyond these moments
of the concrete reality of cab rides and a beach

house.
Often, a poem will start from a seemingly idle
thought and move into the transcendent. "Lately I
can't help wanting us to be like other people," she
writes of her marriage. At the end, her twists in
logic make many of her poems seem like half-sec-
ond flashes of insight: "I turn my face to the side

Deborah
Garrison
Shaman Drum
Tonight at 8

so as not to catch you out, you
always the last to know your
own passion."
It is Garrison's clarity of
vexse, almost like speech, that
beguiles the reader into think-
ing that her poems are simply
jump-started inspirations.
"I'm never going to sleep
with Martin Amis or anyone

of self-critique.
Garrison writes about how other people's stories
are related to her own, like the memory of a bitter,
married friend. She sees how human logic stacks
itself against others and questions this human emo-
tion, thankful of that bitter friend as a reminder of
what her marriage is not.
Garrison also questions herself, especially in
"Worked Late on a Tuesday Night." The after-
effects of a long day at the office are tangible in the
late hour, the scraps of deli-lunches, rain and "I
haven't had dinner; I'm not half of what I meant to
be."
It is the bits such as these that reach out to any-
one who has had a discouraging day.
She uses her own poetry to combat that frustra-
tion. The boss who comes in simply to use her as a
sounding board has a poem all his own.
The best frustration-rich poem is "Fight Song," a
series of blistering heroic couplets that start out as
a rant and become a commentary on the American
office culture.
Garrison's poems are visceral and appeal to an
open audience. By mixing office politics and
verse, she keeps everyday life open to interpreta-
tion. By locating herself specifically in her own
life -- her father that died suddenly, her young
marriage, the life of an office employee - she cre-
ates poems of pieces.
In a way that is heartening to a world of busy-
ness, Garrison brings out the importance of those
very moments that are often lost in the rush.

By Jennifer Petlinski
Daily Arts Witer
In the opening scene of Oscar
nominee Robert Duvall's "The
Apostle," Pentecostal preacher Euliss
"Sonny" Dewey (Duvall) and his
mother (June Carter Cash) drive by a
recent car accident and immediately
pull over on the side of the road.
Bible in hand, prayers in heart, Sonny
races over to the wrecked car and ter-
ribly injured passengers, pokes his
head through the window and saves a
soul or two. When shooed away by
police officers, Sonny hops back in
his own car, leans over to his mother
and proudly announces, "Mama, we
made news in heaven this morning."
From this first scene on, producer,
writer and director Duvall hits his
audience with a complex, double-
faceted man - one who truly
believes in helping others and staying
true to God while at the same time,
addressing his own needs, fears and
pleasures in the process.
"The Apostle,"a self-financed effort,
has long been Duvall's pet project -
and onscreen, it shows. The film, which
clocks in at more than two hours, takes
its time, telling Sonny's story the
Southern way: It's slow, drawn out, but
oh-so-wonderful to listen to.
The film tells the story of a
charismatic preacher plagued by
marital problems (with wife Jessie
- understatingly played by Farrah
Fawcett) and a murderous temper
that eventually forces Sonny to flee
from his life, church and home in
Texas. Wanting to adopt a new iden-
tity, Sonny baptizes himself as The
Apostle E.F. and with the help of
Reverend Blackwell (John Beasley),
he establishes "The One Way Road
To Heaven" church in Bayou Boutte,
a bayou town in Louisiana populated
with primarily black residents.
The film spends most of its time
weaving through the story of
Sonny's adventures in this new town
and the slow pace - instead of
being brutal - is a true pleasure.
Every detail, every scene more
clearly crystallizes our sense of a
man we find so difficult to under-
stand. Sonny - who has the ability
to unintentionally kill another man
and who treats his wife and his new
love interest (Miranda Richardson)
with borderline aggression - also
lovingly invites anyone in the town
to worship in his self-created house
of God, delivers food to families in
need and even drives "The One Way
Road To Heaven" red-and-yellow
bus to transport those townspeople
to church every Sunday. The church
community members love Sonny,

The
Apostle
Starts today at the
Michigan Theater

and to audiences, it is clear that he
deserves their affection.
Surely, Duvall wants his audiences
to sense that dichotomy in Sonpy's
character, and it's because the film
illustrates it so well that each moment
becomes intriguing. How are we sp
posed to feel about this man - a man
who has so much energy that we've
seen him be both a physical danger and
a mental savior to other human beings?
We certainly can't mark him as good or
bad because, as the heartfelt, convinc-
ing Duvall wants us to know, Sonny is
a little bit, or a lot, of both.
In one scene, Duvall hosts a church
event for the younger parish members
and a neighborhood troublemake
(played by Billy Bob Thornton-
returningbthe favor to Duvall who
played Karl Childers' unstable father
in the critically acclaimed "Sling
Blade") arrives
VE' kat the scene
{- with his

friends and a
bulldozer.
Thornton'
character, wh
is never even
given a name in
the film, wants
to destroy the
church, simply
because it
mostly wel-
comes black

famous ... I scotched my
chance to be one of the seduc-
tresses of the century," she
writes. Yet the underscored
rumination of this poem ques-
tions, at some level, the
expectations of a person to having exciting, sensa-
tional sexual exploits.
Why would one want to be a cultural myth, why
would Garrison write about the desire to "take the
Pentagon in a storm in a halter dress and rhinestone
extras?"
It is the subtle probing and use of her own expe-
riences and logic as a templates that allow Garrison
to see into the heart of things -- even to the point

members. In one astounding moment,
Duvall's Sonny dissuades the man fronr
acting out his hatred and embraces him
in front of God's community. The emo-
tionally-charged moment of this evil
man's conversion is not without its
humor. Watch for Elmo (Rick Dial), the
town's radio DJ, who is quick to recog-
nize his first-ever on-the-air conversion.
In addition to Duvall and his rich
supporting characters, the film offers us
yet another gem: the performances of
the churchgoers, most of whom are not
professional actors experiencing theiO
first moments on the big screen. The
church scenes are electric, and the char-
acters truly endearing. With charisma
and effort, Duvall's Sonny leads them,
and audiences revel in his parish mem-
bers' responses, comfort and the ease
with which they pray and believe.
The last moments of "The Apostle"
are the most heartbreaking and real, as
Duvall gives what he probably knows
will be his last sermon to his "The On'
Way Road To Heaven" community.
Duvall delivers such a complexly lay-
ered man from beginning to end, mak-
ing his risky project worth every
minute of its drawn out, rich tale.
Surely, an Oscar is calling, and - if
all goes well - he shall receive.

M A G A Z I N E
'SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING

Join the 'Tribe'!
"Dharma" & Grog, perhaps? No, it's TV
vixen Jenna Elfman in her first leading film
role, starring in Touchstone Pictures'
"Krippendorf's Tribe" opposite Oscar-win-
ner Richard Dreyfuss. If you want to com-
memorate this momentous Elfman occa-
sion, stop by the Daily Arts office in the
Student Publications Building at 420
Maynard St. today after 1 p.m. and pick
up a free poster.

RICHARD DREYFUSS

dENM ELFMAN

4-4

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...

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The last undiscovered
tribe is about
to expose themselves.

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HOUSE " TEi2Hflo "BOOTY
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THIS AND EVERY WEDNESDAY -18 AND OVER

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WITH THE STILL
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19

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