FOUR RELEASES YOU CAN'T MISS PAGE 3B
ON THE WAY
WHY '24' IS LOSING ITS EDGE PAGE 3B
Where
are our
icons?
o know far less than I should
about classic film, but there
are some names even I rec-
ognize: Cary Grant, Humphrey
Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, Robert
Redford.
These actors are icons, immor-
talized figures of film whose
legacies have
lived on long
after retire-
ment or even
their death. I
got to thinking:
Who are our
generation's
film icons? I
sat down and
started to make PAUL
a list. I came TASSI
up with Tom
Hanks, Denzel
Washington
and ... this was hard. Do actors
today not measure up to the greats
of old, or can I just not make this
list for another 30 years? I decided
to explore the issue.
The first thing I discovered is
that the term "action hero" sure as
hell doesn't mean what it once did.
The legendary heroes of old, like
John Wayne in "The Searchers" or
Clint Eastwood in "Dirty Harry,"
relied more on booming person-
alities than assault rifles and slow-
motion effects. The action heroes
of this generation - Jason Bourne
(Matt Damon), Ethan Hunt (Tom
Cruise) and even our version of
James Bond (Daniel Craig) - don't
care about cultivating an intimi-
dating character through con-
vincing dialogue and mannerism.
They lean on intense, overblown
action sequences instead. Try to
recite a memorable quote from any
of these actors in their respective
film series. You can't. You don't
remember who theywere, you only
remember what they did, which is
why they will never achieve the
god-like status Wayne and East-
wood enjoy.
Elsewhere, I found a genre
where our generation keeps pace
with its predecessors: comedy.
While our parents laughed at Peter
Sellers as the clueless Inspector
Jacques Clouseau, we laugh hard-
er at Will Ferrell as the clueless
anchorman Ron Burgundy; where
Jerry Lewis succeeded as a nutty
professor, we have Robin Williams
surpassing him as Mrs. Euphege-
nia Doubtfire. And "Dumb and
Dumber"? Eternal. Dane Cook
may fade, but our true comedic
staples will live on.
The sexual immortals of clas-
sic film, James Dean and Marilyn
Monroe, achieved their cult status
not onlytheir memorable film roles
but their extravagant lifestyles
that may have led to their early
deaths. Their closest equivalents
today would have to be Brad Pitt
and Angelina Jolie, who are retir-
ing from the title of sexiest man
alive and craziest woman respec-
tively, and choosing to focus on
humanitarianism instead. Neither
is a truly phenomenal actor, and
their icon status has been cement-
ed mainly by way of the tabloids. If
they really wanted their names to
live forever, they'd nosedive their
plane into the ocean on the way
home from whatever country they
adopt from next - but that would
be cheating.
There are a select few actors
who got their start during that
classic era but have crossed over
into modern times without miss-
ing a step. Jack Nicholson, since
"Chinatown" in 1974, is still star-
ring in Oscar-winning movies
("The Departed") and always with
See TASSI, page 48
LIST
shadow
son~
By KIMBERLY CHOU
Associate Arts Editor
7
Retelling
the epic
Ramayana
Watching Sigit Soegito and the University gamelan per-
formancegroup atrehearsal inthe SchoolofArtandDesign,
you're struck by the awesome sense that you're witnessing
something much greater than what a
mere practice space can contain. R
Cross-legged on the floor, each mem- mayna
ber of the Indonesian percussion ensem- Performance
ble plays a resonant brass instrument
as Soegito, a visiting Indonesian artist, SeneS
sings in Javanese and directs the group Sundayat
in multi-layered gongans, or song cycles.
Over Soegito's measured drumming, 2 pm.
zither players pluck their delicate celem- Free
pongs and heavy gongs crescendo and
decrescendo in washes of cyclical sound. At Hill Auditorium
In front of a lighted screen, dancers and
puppets act out the Ramayana, the leg- For more dates
endary Vedic text. and locations, go
It's overwhelming to think that these to michigandaily.
kinds of instruments and songs have com/thefilter
been played for hundreds of years to tell
variations of the same epic story.
Soegito and the University gamelan players have been
practicing all semester for Sunday's performance of the
Ramayana at Hill Auditorium. Along with Thai and Indian
productions, this is part of a performance series to show-
case pan-Asian interpretations of the hero Rama's quest to
rescue his wife Sita.
The performance will combine dancers, puppetry and
the gamelan in the style of wayangsandosa, which is a con-
temporary take on shadow puppet-and-gamelan-based sto-
rytelling of epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
During Reformasi (the political movement followingthe
overthrow of Indonesian dictator Soeharto in 1998), Soe-
gito was one of the original galung, or master puppeteers,
who popularized wayang sandosa, said Amy Kimura, a
gamelan graduate student instructor. While several pup-
peteers manipulate puppets in wayang sandosa, and there
is the addition of dancers and actors, the more traditional
form of wayangkulit is much different. In wayangkolit, one
galong must manipulate all of the puppets as he directs the
gamelan and tells the story in Javanese. Such displays can
go on for upward of eight hours.
But artists like Soegito realized " 'We need to have a
national art form that we can all understand,' " Kimura
said.
As a result, the modified sandosa form was born: an inter-
See RAMAYANA, page 4B
Exploring faith and music
By DEREK BARBER
DailyArts Writer
What does faith - or more
specifically, the Christian faith
- have to do with art? The Fes-
tival of Faith and Music held at
Calvin College in Grand Rapids
this past weekend explored this
question. The two-day event
featured folk icons Sufjan Ste-
vens, Neko Case and Emmylou
Harris as well as numerous lec-
tures, clinics and interviews.
As a festival attendant, I was
immediately curious as to why
this diverse array of artists and
speakers - several of whom
would hardly consider them-
selves "Christian" - would
participate in an event aimed at
discussing the way grace, love
and compassion are expressed
in the world of popular music.
To my relief, the "alter calls"
were left out of this one.
Nevertheless, the experience
got me thinking. Quite often,
fans of rock music are imme-
diately suspicious if they get
wind that an artist or musician
ascribes to the Christian faith.
To be fair, this impulse is rela-'
tively justified. I mean, who can
reallyforgivebands like Stryper
or Creed that have defined pop-
ular Christian rock?
Perhaps the real problem lies
within the way these groups
have presented themselves in
the past. In stark contrast to
the humble faith advocated,
these musicians performed
bombastic stadium rock shows
appealing to whatever trends
were popular at the time. In
most cases, the music sounds as
forced as the lyrical content - a
"hallelujah" here, a "love your
neighbor" there - in short,
spoon feeding "Jesus" to the
Christian rock masses.
In recent years, however,
faith-inspired musicians who
are quite uncomfortable with
the term "Christian artist" have
emerged: artists like Daniel
Smith of the Danielson Famile,
John Ringhofer of Half-handed
Cloud and even Sufjan Stevens.
For these. select few, the tag
does not appropriately define
See FAITH, page 3B
He's Christian, he writes music, but don't call his
stuff Christian rock.
April 5 to 8
The Daily Arts
guide to the best
upcoming events
0 - it's everywhere
you should be this
week and why.
Local Michigan folk and country
singer/songwriter Daisy May will grace
The Ark's stage this Friday. Joined by
beau and fellow musician Seth Ber-
nard, May exudes a causal charm with
her inviting concert settings. Tickets
are $15, and doors open at 7:30 p.m.
The opening act will be Laura Bates
and Brandon Foote. Her recent release
Mother Moon earned four stars from
us, so we fully endorse what will cer-
tainly be an awesome show.
N STAGE
As part of the Zell Visiting Writers
Series, David Leavitt willread at Rack-
hamAmphitheatre onFriday at 5p.m.
Leavitt has won the PEN/Faulkner
Prize and the National Book Critics'
Circle Award. A graduate from Yale
University, Leavitt has a new novel,
"The Indian Clerk," coming out in the
fall. His work has appeared in The
New Yorker, The New York Times,
and Esquire among many other news-
papers and magazines.
ON STAGE
This Saturday night, several local
bands will put on a charity concert
to support Ann Arbor Reaching Out
(AARO). Listed musicians include
Novada, Antony and the Family
Band; Jesse Shepherd-Bates and the
Bee Lines; and The Laughing Man.
After the shows wrap up around 10
p.m., a DJ will spin until 2. Admis-
sion is free, but AARO suggests a $5
donation. Bands will start at 6 p.m. at
Goodnight Gracie's.
AT THlE MIC
This Thursday, Friday and-Satur-
day, comedian/musician D.C. Malone
willexpoundhishilariouslifelessons
at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase.
His show is based on his experiences
as he hitchhiked 40,000 miles in the
late '70s. There will be two shows a
night: 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Tickets
Thursday are $7 in advance or $9 at
the door, while Fridayand Saturday's
shows go for $10 in advance or $12 ad
the door.