rusty 'Citizen' _IiruU Tomorrow in Daily Arts:
f Michigan Theater will show the Orson Welles classic "Citizen U Check out a preview of the latest comedic production from
Kane" this afternoon. The film is based on the life of multimillion- one of the University's comedy clubs Without A Net.
aire publisher William Randolph Hearst, and outlines the rise and
then the fall of his career. "Citizen Kane" is 119 minutes long,
and the screening begins at 4 p.m.
A RTS Thursday
April 16, 1 1A

Kings of music
heat up the State

Project sbines on
artistic talent

D y Gab. Faluri
Daily Arts Writer
0 The State Theatre was practical-
ly empty when Chicago's favorite
Blues/Swing band, The Mighty
Blue Kings. opened up the Kings
of the Road tour in Detroit last
Friday. There could not have been
more than 100 people on the main
floor to watch the opening act,
which took the stage at 7:30 p.m.
Face to Face touched down on
he State's stage at approximately
8:15, and opened its heart-pound-
ing set with last year's minor radio
hit, "I Won't Lie Down." With at
new face behind the drums, and an
enthusiastic
but energetic
crowd in front
Kings of of the stage,
the Road the So-Cal
putk band
State Theater pressed on,
April 10, 1998 playing a full
45 minutes
worth of its
road-tested
t u n e s.
Drawing from
the four
albums the
band has
released in the past eight years, the
set included the classic
"Disconnected," "Pastel," "Do you
Care?" and "Blind."
On tour to promote its latest
release, "Live" ( Vagrant Records),
Face to Face proved, as it has at
each and every past Detroit appear-
ance, that it is truly a "King of the
Road." Surprisingly, for an open-
ing act, that is, Face to Face
returned to the stage to quell the
cheers of the fans that had gathered
On the theatre during its set to per-
form a two-song encore. The band
finally ended its portion of the
show with "You've Done Nothing,"
the first song on its first ever
record, "Don't Turn Away"
The stage cleared, and people
began to filter into the State antici-
pating the arrival of the Reverend
Horton Heat. By the time the three-
piece psychobilly band found its
way to the stage around 9:30 p.m.,
the theatre was probably half full.
Apparently other Detroit area con-

certs that night (The Specials and
The Cherry Poppin' Daddies, for
example) had taken the crowd
away from the State that night.
The Rev (the man, not the band)
appeared promptly at 9:30, dressed
in a black tuxedo, with flaming red
accents and a red bow tie. With a
light show blazing and smoke
machines set on high, the band
began its performance. An upbeat
instrumental number started off the
set, and began what was to be an
hour-and-a-half-long stint punctu-
ated by guitar solo after guitar solo,
and constant mugging from the
Rev.
Approximately 25 minutes into
the set, the Rev stopped the show,
claiming that he was going to "have
a cocktail." The break in the action
allowed a backdrop change to take
place. When the band returned to
the stage, it was playing in front of
a massive cityscape scene.
Unfortunately, whoever hap-
pened to be running the sound sys-
tem at the State this past Friday
seemed not know what they were
doing. A muddy mix of noise, the
Rev's voice and intricate finger
picking were lost every once and a
while as the night wore on. Jimbo
Wallace's string bass was also
nearly drowned out by the noise.
Instead of crystal clear guitar tone,
sharp beats from the drum kit, and
a steady thump of the bass, the
crowd was fed a steady diet of
mixed booms and cracks from the
overworked PA system.
That did not stop the Rev from
putting on an entertaining show.
The band drew from its three
albums throughout the evening,
with the bulk of its music coming
from its latest release "Space
Heater." The band cranked out old
favorites like "It's Martini Time,"
"Nurture My Pig" and "J-I-M-B-
0," from the new record.
From his preaching about
Monica Lewinsky and President
Clinton, to his asking the crowd
"Can I get a hallelujah?," the small
crowd at the State seemed to enjoy
themselves. The Reverend Horton
Heat was preaching to the choir,
and the group loved every last
evangelic word.

By Christopher Tkaczyk
Fine / Performing Arts Editor
The art form of poetry is like a child.
It must be created, nurtured and raised.
It is a form of personal expression.
While poetry has been treated strictly as
a written concept, recent poets have
found new methods of release and pre-
sentation through the art of dramatic
reading. Different interpretations are
possible through the spoken word, con-
struing entire meaning of poems
through voice inflection and utterance.
LSA junior Greg Epstein has found
such a release
through the per-
formance of his
State Street own works. A lit-
tle more than
Poetry Project year ago, Epstein
Rackham founded the
Auditorium State Street
Tonight at 7:30 Poetry Project,
and it sent a
tremor through
the artistic com-
munity. That
tremor helped to
break loose the
shyness and
timid nature of writers who are other-
wise unknown to their readers. Poetry
readings have been done for years, but
poetry performances are a new inven-
tion.
Combing music with almost every

other style of performing art, Epstein,
along with Business junior Leslie
Soranno and LSA sophomore Sarah
Flint, has constructed one of the best lit-
erary events in the area. Competing
only with the Ann Arbor poetry slam (a
local annual event), State Street Poetry
Project dares to be different simply by
being itself --- a group of performing
writers who put themselves into their
work.
The first State Street Poetry Project
was a risky endeavor indeed. While
Epstein wasn't sure if the event would
be a success, he would soon realize the
demand for his dream. Now, a year and
a half and three Projects later, Epstein is
again collaborating with a talented
group of performers and writers. The
season finale of the State Street Poetry
Project promises to be above and
beyond anything the group has taken on
before.
"It's everything, absolutely not just
poetry. It's every art, every culture,
every generation," Epstein said.
When Epstein and his helpers set out
to organize this Project, he paid little
attention to diversity because he was
going for quality.
What he concocted was stunning. "I
didn't set out to find a diverse group of
writers. What I got was more diverse
than I thought possible. We have three
different generations of writers per-
forming ... everywhere from

ALLIS0N CANTE
Two students rehearse for the State Street Poetry Project which takes place
tonight at 7:30 p.m.

University professors to high school
students, with graduate and undergrad-
uate students in between," he said.
Representing the elder generation
will be Keith Taylor and Ruth Behar, a
University professor who is known for
her involvement with the Michigan
Quarterly Review, as well as her interest
in Cuban-American culture. "She rarely
reads her poetry, so this is something
special" Epstein stated.
Also on the bill is Michigan football
player Dhani Jones, whose interest in
performing was sparked when he attend-
ed a recent State Street Poetry Project
performance. Earlier this year, Jones was
featured in a student play at the
Residential College.
Brenda Cardenas and Deanne
Lundin, Project alums, are expected to
return to present a collaborative work
which Epstein describes as an
"extremely ambitious piece altogether."
Using video projectors and television
screens, the pair are presenting a "polit-
ical poetry hut."
Making up the youngest generation of
performers will be high school students
from the Detroit area. These young poets
are part of an association called
Citywide Poets Inc., and are supervised
by Detroit poets Aurora Harris and Terry
Blackhawk. The group travels through-
out Michigan and presents interpretive
readings of original works.
"We're presenting what I call 'perfor-
mative writing.' Every word counts.
When read aloud, it takes on an impor-
tant meaning, but it's different in power,"
Epstein said.
"We're not just doing poetry. We're

combing it with theater, multimedia,
music, film and art" he stated.
A 10 minute scene from "Time at
Close Examination," a teleplay by
Michael Zilberman, will be acted out by
Gabe Greene and Leslie Soranno.
Zilberman's work is well-known on cam-
pus, as he has won Hopwood awards
and recently, student-directed produc-
tions of his plays, have been presented.
Local ' jazz band Poignant
Plecostomus is also scheduled to per-
form.
In conjunction with the Asian
American Film Festival, the State Street
Poetry Project will showcase a short film
by a student filmmaker.
"State Street Poetry Project shows are
about showing that serious arts can com-
pete with MTV Our show is fast-paced.
We can't let it drag. It's the best of the
best of the best all the way through -
excellent the entire time" Epstein said.
"I can't believe how many back-
grounds we cover with this show. I also
can't think of an art that's not being rep-
resented within these two hours. If it
can't inspire one or two people, I don't
know what can," he said.
There's a multitude of tastes to tempt
the tastebuds at this Project, but Epstein
has promised to keep it all under two
hours.
"Finals week is coming up, and we
don't want to keep everyone from their
studies."
Tickets for State Street Poetry Project
can be purchased at the Michigan
Union Ticket Oflicefor $2, or at the
door one hour before opening. For
more information call 763-1107.

ALLiSON CANT
A performer of the State Street Poetry Project displays her artistic talents.


Allison's work exemplifies true exhilaration

rin Diane Schwartz
y Arts Writer
With the success of "Bastard Out Of
Carolina" in 1992, Dorothy Allison
(knew that she wanted to continue writing
about Southern families.
Allison also wanted to test her writing
skills in her newest novel,
'Cavedweller," by encompassing a more
generational story about families while
r aining concentrated on the
her/daughter relationship.
"Cavedweller" centers around Delia
3yrd, who fled from her violent husband,
aid, in the process, abandoned her two
laughters.
Ten years later, Delia, who had been
iving in California as a singer, returned
o-Georgia with her daughter Cissy in
Drder to "get her girls back" Delia's
taughters resisted their mother's love
md the story unfolds as Cissy and Delia
-

both fought their way into the town of
Cayro, Ga.
"I was thinking that I wanted to write
a novel about sisters who hated each
other, but eventu-
ally liked each
other," Allison
said. "I discovered
Dorothy that Delia (who
Allison was desperate at
the beginning of
Borders the novel) was not
Tonight at 7 going to die as
soon as I had her
down. Soon she
was doing a fast
geographic move.
She needed to get
her girls back.
Then the girls
become more of the focus of the story,
but nothing really happens without

Delia."
Allison said that the story is full of
symbolism. While caving, a sport in
which one must battle narrow spaces and
face complete darkness, "Cissy goes
through a kind of rebirth. In the cave,
Cissy feels safe and she becomes grown
up and redefines herself. The cave is def-
initely a metaphor for a lot of things,"
Allison said.
Through her novel, Allison said she
hoped to communicate "how redemption
works and how the characters forgive
each other"
Allison said she wanted to emphasize
the interactions between women. "It's
very important to see that Delia would
have redemption" Allison said. "I want-
ed to write something about women's
relationships.
Delia has close women friends who
make things possible for her to survive in

Cayro, a town that very much blames
Delia for leaving her daughters."
Allison prefers writing novels to short
stories and essays. "I like a large land-
scape to create characters and follow
them out," she said.
The author admitted that she has a ten-
dency to put a bit of herself in her char-
acters. "Delia's oldest girl, Amanda, is
totally obsessive. Inm exactly like that,"
Allison said.
Her fascination with writing keeps her
motivated. "It's the drunken glory of it"
she said.
"There are moments in which the
sheer exhilaration of writing, the charac-
ters actually start writing and the charac-
ters start speaking. It doesn't happen all
of the time. It is only momentary. Sex is
like that. You work and work and the
orgasm is small (in comparison to the
work)."

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