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THE MICHIGAN DAILY
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1,2007
Finding
salvation
in music
ately I've been struggling
with a spirituality crisis I've
had all my life. Here I am, a
self-loathing WASP who was raised
in churches, but is embarrassed by
Christianity - and yet black gospel
sends chills
up my spine. I
can't recite the
Lord's Prayer
at Christmas
without a
twinge of guilt,
yet the Soul
Stirrers' "He'll
Welcome Me" LLOYD H.
stirs up feelings CARGO
of ecstasy. I'm
skeptical about Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John, but the gospels of
Sam, Stevie, Donny and Marvin
speak to my soul as only soul music
can. Maybe I've already lost you;
why should you care? Well, have
you ever thought about the role of
music in your life? Have you been
touched by a song or sought salva-
tion in an album?
I was reborn the first time I
listened to Sam Cooke. He comes
from a strong gospel background,
a soul pioneer by way of crossing
over to popular music by changing
the meaning but keeping the feel-
ing. That feeling is the same feeling
thatwe grasp at every day of our
lives: love.
In Arthur Maslow's 1943 paper
"A Theory of Human Motivation,"
he describes a hierarchy of needs,
represented by a pyramid. Basi-
cally, the idea is that once humans
meet "basic needs," they're driven
to examine "higher needs." At the
base of the pyramid are physiologi-
cal needs (breathing, food, water,
sex, sleep, excretion) and safety
needs (shelter, resources, property,
employment) that are the basic cri-
teria for simply staying alive. After
those needs are satisfied, the next
most important tier is love/belong-
ing. The idea is that before you can
even get to worrying about your
self-esteem or self-actualization,
you need love. Sexual intimacy,
friends and family all come before
morality, creativity, respect and
confidence. Soul searching is done
only after the depths of the heart
have been plumbed.
Music hits you at that primal
level. It's nut more imporrn than
survival, but when it's done right
music can provide that sense of
belonging we crave - it can take
away pain, it can inspire, motivate
and ease stress and tension. For a
long time music has been used as
a means to transcend worldly suf-
fering.
Religion has used music as the
most direct line of communication
to a higher force since its founda-
tion. At the basis of it is underlying
beat. These days it seems like the
groove is fading a bit - the music
industry is sanitized of emotion, let
alone grit. Even in a nation ruled
by conservatism, spirituality scares
people - and as a result the mes-
sage has gone from love to fear. The
focus is outward, as if examining
your problems on any deeper level
is frightening. It's tremendously
sad and indicative of our current
generation that blues is dead and its
spirit is masquerading in a bastard
form called emo.
Musicians will tell you nothing is
better than the feeling you're chan-
neling music from a higher place.
The beautiful thing is we're all
capable of it with a little hard work
and an open mind. It's not easy, but
fortunately we've been blessed with
a handful of prophets did us the
favor of recording their moments
of transcendence. You can't tell me
that there wasn't something greater
than man speaking through Sam
Cooke or Stevie Wonder's voice or
See CARGO, page 4B
.LIST
Feb. 1 to 4
The Daily Arts
guide to the
best upcom-
ing events it's
everywhere you
should be this
week and why.
BOY-NA,
hat do you remember from
childhood? Innocence and
personal discovery, wide-
eyed imagination and idealism - all
those things, of course, along with
video games, TV shows and comic
strips. You don't sit around with
your friends discussing the
magic of childhood. No, you talk
about the best Nintendo games,
where to get a piece of the Aggro
Crag, etc. That's the magic.
We grew up with this, the dreck and
the gold. It's what defines our genera-
tion. We don't have phonographs, Bob
Barker an"The Price is Rig " we
hav 5, Olmec and " ends of the
den Tem ple."
This week's B-side f ips through our
back pages, reminiscing over the shows,
games and songs that filled our child-
hood days with joy.
-Andrew Saraus Klein
'It's a magical world'
The enduring quality of Bill Watterson's 'Calvin and Hobbes'
ByANDREWSARGUSKLEIN
ManagingArts Editor
Scene: A mother yells from
off screen "Who made this
mess in here?!" Your average
blond-haired, white-bread kid
jumps in surprise. "It wasn't
me, Mom! It was ... uh ... it
was ... " Here you could fill in
a superfluous and boring joke.
Kids are cute, right? They say
the darndest things to get out
of trouble.
"It was a horrible little
Venusian who materialized in
the kitchen! He took out some
diabolical high-frequency
device, pointed it at various
objects and..."
Where did that come from?
What the hell is a Venusian?
Thank God for Wikipedia - a
Venusian is an inhabitant of
Venus. The mother didn't buy
it, and so our clever protagonist
is sent off to his room where
he laments, "Mothers are the
necessity of invention."
Doesn't sound like an epi-
sode of "Leave it to Beaver" or
"Pete and Pete," does it? Our
protagonist is Calvin from Bill
Watterson's iconic comic strip
"Calvin and Hobbes," and this
scene is but one of countless
others that demonstrate the
ingenuity, sarcasm and wit that
makes "Calvin and Hobbes" so
important to our generation.
He's our Huckleberry Finn
and Tom Sawyer, our Dennis
the Menace. And he has an
unbelievable vocabulary.
Watterson's "Calvin and
Hobbes" took the American
comic strip and transformed
it into a vehicle for humor and
intelligence. We know the
very medium of a comic strip
is meant for kids - think "The
Family Circus" and "Zits."
Strips such as "Non Sequitur,"
"Doonesbury," "Get Fuzzy"
and "Pearls Before Swine" are kids' flick. This "mature"
other examples of hyper-liter- humor is meant specifically
ate comic humor (sometimes for the adults. It flies right over
with an absurd edge), but no the unassumingheads of unas-
strip has been able to bridge suming children.
the generational gap as well as When did we stop giv-
"Calvin and Hobbes." ing our youngest generations
Look at it this way: Movies credit for being intelligent?
like "Shrek" and "The Incred- "Calvin and Hobbes" is based
ibles" are solid examples of on the unfailing assumption
films that, while intended to that children have a limitless
pull in the youngest of movie imagination. Monsters under
crowds, nonetheless incorpo- the bed, alternate personali-
rate "mature" humor obviously ties, transmogrifier machines
meant for Mom and Dad, who - the list stretches on. Cal-
would otherwise be trying vin's world is based solely in
their patience sitting through See CALVIN, e 4B
yet another inane animated , pag
ON STAGE
The University Dance Company
will bring together choreography by
Martha Graham, guest artist Leyya
Tawil and School of Music, Theatre
and Dance faculty this weekend with
"Rituals & Reveries." The eveningwill
include Graham's 1931 work "Primi-
tive Mysteries" and more. It will take
place at the Power Center, tonight at
7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8
p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Buy tickets
at www.music.umich.edu.
AT THE PG
All the way from Glasgow, Scot-
land, indie-pop outfit Camera Obscu-
ra will make a stop in Ann Arbor
tonight. The band, which formed in
1996, first released their music in the
United States on the Merge label in
2004. This marks their second tour
in the States. Look for an interview in
Friday's paper. You can hear them at
The Blind Pig with opener The Essex
Green. Doors at 9:30 p.m. $12 cover
for those 18 and up.
N CONCERT
Spice up your night and start the
weekend off right. The Big 3 Palla-
dium Orchestra will bring its horns
and Latin rhythms to Hill Audito-
rium tonight. Conducted by Jose
Madera, the group includes the sons
of Latin Greats Tito Puente and Tito
Rodriguez, who performed at New
York's Palladium Ballroom in the
1950s and early '60s. Tickets are $10
to $60 and are available at the Mich-
igan League Ticket Office.
AT THE MIC
Need a Friday-night date idea?
Try "Citizen Improv" at Improv
Inferno. During this show, an audi-
ence member volunteers three
impromptu - monologues that
range from personal anecdotes to
thoughts on the news. The inferno
comics then improvise a series of
scenes based on the monologues.
The show happens every Friday at
Live atPJ's, 102 South First St. Tick-
ets are $10.
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