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.