The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, February 20, 2008 - 5A An art Controversial. and. diverse art show comes to A2 By MICHELE YANKSON DailyArts Writer or those who become squeamish at the thought of Renoir's paintings of lush nudes, an art show about people who call themselves "sex workers" could be an uncomfortable experience. But for those who might rel-SeX WorkerS ish the idea of former and current members of the sex ArtShow industry displaying their Today at8 p.m. versions of art and innova- At the Michigan tion, tonight's "Sex Worker's League Ballroom Art Show" could be truly $7 at MUTO/$10 inspiring. at the door The student-run orga- nization Issues brings the When charisma deserves its own applause The show will be tonight at 8 p.m. in the Michigan League Ballroom. I art show to the Michigan League Ballroom tonight at 8 p.m. The group, supported by the Ginsberg Center of Community Service, attempts to push lesser-known social issues to the forefront of students' minds, and hopes the "Art Show" will shed light on the lives of individuals whose lives are often shrouded in secrecy. "Our group exists to raise issues on cam- pus that the administration doesn't really talk about," LSA senior and Issues member Kevin Johnson said. "The sex industry is one that most students don't think about every day, and that's why we wanted to bring it to campus." Whether or not students directly think about the sex industry and its possible links to art, the connection exists. This "Art Show" includes stage acts - a dominatrix, a porn star and an internet "sex model" to name a few - that many students may not have considered in an artistic sense. What might be more surpris- ing is that many of these sex workers also have occupations as writers, activists and theater actors. Their art in the show comes in the form of spoken word acts, multimedia presentations and performances that Johnson says have a certain "classic wit." The annual show has not escaped contro- versy, though. After a visit to Duke University earlier this month, the show became entan- gled in debates over freedom of expression on primetime television news programs like "The O'Reilly Factor." The show's organizers hope to dispel the notion that the performers are attempting to instill depravity on campus. "It's not a way of telling students that they should be sex workers," Johnson said. "It's showing University students and the commu- nity that this field isn't necessarily as taboo as people think it is." Still, the "Art Show" isn't trying to roman- ticize the profession, either. Instead, the show openly acknowledges certain injustices that arise in the sex-work field. The performers, Johnson claims, are "feminists," and their sup- port for marginalized groups is an integral part of the show. "Issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status are brought up in the process because they all are correlated to the sex industry," Johnson said. "The neglected labor issues in the sex industry are detrimental to human rights." As with most forms of art, the show seeks to create a space in which the creators can, in some way, connect with the audience. This' space will hopefully be engendered by a ques- tion and answer session following the show, somethingthat Johnson said he considers cru- cial to the show's success. "It's important for the campus to engage with the performers," Johnson said. "Hav- ing a dialogue about what they do humanizes them." e all know who we thought we'd pre- fer to have a couple of beers with back in 2000. And, I guess, in 2004. Now months away from the Democratic National Con- vention that will decide between Barack Obama and LaiG Hillary Clin- ABIGAILB. ton, questions COLODNER of palatability and personal- ity are once again raised in the same breath. Individuals who do their work in public view - whatever work it is - must con- front how their visibility affects the task at hand. Presentation - be it of a stump speech, a policy lecture or a sonata performance - changes how we receive information. Classical musicians can face backlash against their attempts to distinguish themselves from one another in qualities other than sound, although sound is purportedly the quality they're being judged on. Not every potential record buyer or Hill Auditorium occupant's ear is fine-tuned to the craft. But there are some messages performers send, usually visual, that are casual enough for all viewers to understand. But gilding the lily with extraneous gestures and convulsions adds to ascult of per- sonality whose role in judging creative material is dubious. The 27-year-old rising conduc- tor, Venezuelan Gustavo Dudamel, has been called a prodigy and the most exciting thingto happen to classical music since Leonard Bernstein. Dudamel has both the looks - animated, virulent coils of hair and a face that recalls Heath Ledger - and the moves, athletic and ecstatic. Basically, he covers the bases of what most of us imag- ine conductors are here for, and the public loves him for it. His ridiculous rise to promi- nence - Dudamel has been raking in unlikely honors since he was a teenager and earlier this year was named the Los Angeles Phil- harmonic's next music director - hinges on his talent, but is given momentum by his marketability. For an institutionthat needs to market itself to private donors, public funding and ticket buyers, public adoration of a masthead is hardly an afterthought. A recent "60 Minutes" episode that featured Dudamel quoted the L.A. Philharmonic's president, Deborah Borda: "Gustavo has an ability to communicate what is passionate and vital about music in a very 21st century way' He's newsworthy largely for that poten- tial to reach out to new audiences who are apt to judge unfamiliar performances, at least initially, by a familiar standard: charisma. Earlier this month, The New York Times published a bristling cultural critique denouncing classical pianists who develop their image through "histrion- ics." Bernard Holland wrote of the small crisis this approach creates, saying competitive per- formers "were taking part in a system that asks them to use Beethoven and Schumann as ways to sell themselves." Holland argues that a spec- tacular approach to performance may not only distance those new viewers it seeks to seduce, but compromise the material itself. "Music is asked to stand in line and wait its turn," he said. When performers mug, they predigest the material they're supposed to help their audience confront. Prioritizing content and pre- sentation may be the task of all competing for public atten- tion. Another New York Times article, discussed the differences between Clinton and Obama, so far as the phenomenon of "cult of personality" goes. Noism, Japan's first resident contemporary dance company, demonstrated the advantages of putting the material first in their Ann Arbor debut at the Power Center on Friday. "I try not to just have drama in myself before I go to the studio," said Jo Kanamori, the company's founder, artistic director and choreographer. "Then it is my personal drama and it's boring. I try not to decide drama myself." The payoff of that organic approach, one that probably makes any PR person a bit ner- vous, is hard-won but rich. The Power Center, encouragingly full, cheered and applauded between scenes until the music overwhelmed their applause and the next remarkable scene began. The company's name announces their method in an easy-to-miss pun: no "-ism," as in, their approach to dance does away with schools of thought on dance. The company risks being difficult to define, having no nametagto reassure a potential Classical music meets theatrics meets politics. audience member or host venue of what they can expect to watch. According to Kanamori, the piece presented on Friday "was just a question of studying how to stand." He insisted that he starts not with the impression he wants to give - Holland's "his- trionics" or politicians' much- criticized performances - but with the material itself. "Before you know what you want to say, you have to know what you have," Kanamori said. His task is no doubt simpler than that of the candidates for the Democratic nomination. After all, if he insists we are to judge his dances by what his dancers' movements feel like, most audience members have ample practice in reacting to people in space. Politicians, who stand for certain policies, find themselves marketingthem- selves to people less schooled in policies than they are in people. For Kanamori and his compa- ny this past weekend, everything lined up. For the members of the 2008 race for the White House, they have their ambiguous work cut out for them. Colodner has no idea who she'll vote for. Tell her who she should at abigabor@umich.edu Recluse produces chilling new LP By BRIAN HAAGSMAN DailyArts Writer It's unclear whether or not Jus- tin Vernon has seen "The Shining." But if he has, he seems to have missed out on the life lesson that, when faced with a problem, aban- doning civilization for snowy wil- derness is most likely not the answer. g g i AfterVernon's band DeYar- BOn Iver mond Edison split in late 2006, For Emma he left North Forever Ago Carolina to recu- Jagjaguar perate in a cabin in the frigid woods of northwest- ern Wisconsin, dividing his time between gathering firewood and crafting solo work. The record that came out of Vernon's time there is For Emma, Forever Ago, released under the moniker Bon Iver, a mis- spelling of the French phrase for "good winter." And if this haunt- ing, delicate acoustic collection is any indication, his time there made him anything but a dull boy. With Vernon's acoustic guitar and falsetto croons comprising most of the sound on the album, these songs come off as intimate and endearing - but also achieve the sonic texture bands with page- long lists of credits fail to create. Both "Lump Sum" and "Creature Fear" begin with a chorus of Ver- non's multi-tracked voice that sup- ports the light guitar strums that follow. The staggered entrances of three sets of voices give the effect of a chamber choir with enough reverb to heat any house. The quick, palm-muted strums set on top of the harmony emerge as more of a catalyst for the develop- ment of vocal melodies than boast- ing the pop sensibilities they carry individually. "Creature Fear," too, complements demure plucking with soft "ooohs" that quickly fade in to the lead vocal melodies. For all the isolation that facili- tated this debut, the many voices of Vernon allow for a more commu- nal feel. And when layering tracks of folky guitars and airy vocal har- monies still leaves gaps, he knows what to add. Various noises of the house drift into the disc, from the buzzing metal of "Flume" to the clink of a chain-link fence clos- ing on "Creature Fear" to the very creak of Vernon's voice. When simple noise won't suffice, Vernon tries his hand at other instrumen- tation. While the majority of the percussion is limited to tapping feet on the floor and hands on the guitar, Vernon adds drums in a few North Carolina to Wisconsin jams areas with mixed results. On "The Wolves (Act I and II)," guitars and voices build to the climax in which Vernon beats haphazardly on as many drums and cymbals as pos- sible with no regard for rhythm. When the music cuts out, it sounds as if the entire set has been thrown down a flight of stairs. Some might complain that he stole the style from Animal of "The Muppet Show," but the arrhythmic muddle of crashes and thuds works well as an end to the growingcommotion. Thankfully, Vernon also knows when to refocus the spotlight on just the guitar and himself "Skin- ny Love" relies on harsh, imperfect swipes at the guitar and unadul- terated bitterness to create what becomes a surprisingly catchy song. Whereas the lyrics elsewhere stand out for their play with lan- guage and sonic elements, the list of demands and disappointments is quite clear in the chorus of "Skinny Love" ("And Iitold you to be patient / And I told you tobe fine / And I told you to be balanced /And I told you to be kind / ... / I'll be holding all the tickets / And you'll be own- ing allthe fines"). It escalates as the beat is accented by assorted claps and stomps until Vernon's voice breaks between warm falsetto and mild shrieking. Vernon has since returned from his reclusion and 12-hour record- ing sessions, but fortunately, For Emma, Forever Ago came back with him. Dressed in many layers or otherwise, Bon Iver's debut is - by definition and by sound - good winter music. I TV remake looks to get its own series By DAVE REAP DailyArts Writer Last week, "Knight Rider" fans had a message for NBC: "You better not fuck this up." "Knight Rider," a popular television show from the 1980s fea- turing David Hasselhoff, has been the subject of numerous crappy spi- Knight Rider noffs and sequels and the failures have effectively NBC tarnished the franchise's reputation. Supposedly influenced by the recent success of "Transformers," NBC decided to resurrect "Knight Rider" in the form of a two-hour movie that aired on Sunday night. Instead of dealing Knight Rider's legacy a final deathblow, the net- work finally created a product that does the original justice. More importantly, it could restore the franchise's golden age by becoming a recurring television show. For "Knight Rider" to succeed, it had to effectively synthesize old characters and plotlines with new ones - and it did just that. The original show focused on Michael Knight, played by Hasslehoff, who fought crime with the help of his super-advanced Pontiac Trans Am. The car - Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT) - possessed artificial intelligence and could talk to Knight. It could also travel at 300 miles per hour and heal itself. It's never the same without Hasselhoff. To make a connection to the '80s series, the new "Knight Rider" protagonist is Mike Traceur (Justin Bruening, "All My Children"), the son of Michael Knight. Hasselhoff's appearance in the special, in his old role as Knight, was effective and it allowed the quintessential torch-pass- ing scene between father and son to take place. While the special continued the formula of Knight and his talking car battling vil- lains, it modernized key elements, such as Traceur (Justin Bruening) portray- ing a veteran of the war in Iraq. To most, though, this will seem unimportant: It's the revamping of KITT that gets all the attention. KITT's new image was precisely what many "Knight Rider" fans were wor- ried about: It looked like NBC had planned an elongated Ford commercial. The new and improved KITT (Knight Industries "You're no Hasslehoff." Three Thousand) takes the form of a 2008 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. Surprisingly, a primary draw, while also making sure however, product placement was minimal. the car isn't overly commercialized. The Even commercial breaks weren't that bad special succeeded in maintaining this bal- - only eight of the eleven contained Ford ance. ads (hey, it could've been all of them). A Essentially, NBC created the two-hour crucial factor in both past and present of "Knight Rider" special as a backdoor pilot "Knight Rider" is to ensure that KITT is - a term used to describe a project that can be picked up for a television series if well-received. Sunday's screening proved that "Knight Rider" has what it takes: a workable formula, colorful characters and a damn cool carto not only win back fans of the classic series, but also get new fans of its own.