The Michigan Daily-Friday July 2 , 1986 Page 11 'The Butcher' slashes his way to fame in 1982 when he first began writing By Mark FreitaS songs at home, not really planning to make records or form a group. After writing about "three and a half B LOODY NONSENSE, The Jazz songs" he put together a tape to send Butcher's first American to some friends. "I just felt I needed a release,. is a compilation of songs name to hang all this stuff on, it really from his previous albums. It is a doesn't feel like me, so I just picked record chock full of well constructed up on this name we used to mess pop tunes, bubbling over with The around with when drunk; we called it Butcher's zany British sense of the Jazz Butcher." humor. It is the sound of truly talen- Starting out by mixing old soul with ted musicians having a lot of fun. the Velvet Underground, he now The Jazz Butcher's origins lie back borrows from everything from folk to Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in America Life Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton 355 pp. Harper and Row 7.95 The Christian right is calling for a return to "decency and traditional The authors of Hahits ol nh Ieu values. The Supreme Court has Tge thao "ah geer,. recently grapppled with some of the suggest that "each generation, no most difficult and controversial matter how much it learns from "privacy rights vs. pubhlic morals"' tradition or how much it is aware cases in years. It is fashionable to be that, unlike natural science, it cannot patriotic again-witness the Statue of forget its founders, must still create a Liberty celebrations, countless realities. Furthermore, they publications telling everyone "what's consider the first step to he crossing rh mercia Amformiand Amern "the recent and quite arbitrary boun- dary between the social sciences and the American wa " . the humanities." he t Ames ay." The humanities, we are told, have What does all of this mean? Accor- to do with the transmission and inter- ding to Rohert N. Bellah, Richard pretation of cultural traditions in the Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann relsophoohy rlion Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton, it is a literature, philosophy, religion, symptom of a great gap in American werate language, and the arts, lives - the lack of a common whereas the social sciences involve language to discuss what might have the scientific study of human action. heen called virtues, morals, or the The assumption is that the social Tocquevillian "mores" in an earlier sciences are not cultural traditions time, The depth and hreadth of the but rather occupy a privileged problem (which touches every spect position of pure observation. The poblem Ameich tces e ast assumption is also that discussions of of American .life), as well as human action in the humanities are divdua representative struggles it, are 'impressionistic' and 'anecdotal' and thoroughly and insightfully discussed do not really hbecome knowledge until in thi olhrtv okette tse' hy the methods of science, i othe olarativ oketild se from which alone comes valid HBeause of this inability to pinpoint knowledge. It is precisedly that boun- Becuseof hisinbilty o pnpontdary hetween the social sciences and issues that affect the quality and the humanities that social science as meaningfulness of life, there is a puhlic philosophy most wants to open sharp distinction between private and up public, corporate and familial, and, The hook itself is well-organized more inflammatory, state and in- and penetrating, and discusses dividual (where clashes hetween "the everything from "Finding Oneself" to pursuit of happiness" and the com- the "The National Society" with mon good are most likely to occur). equal vigor and support. More impor- Religion is an attempt to link virtue tantly, it calls to the abyss all with daily living, as is therapy. But Americans feel when they try to argue one quickly sees the flaw in these two issues of virtue. It is essential reading solutions-they use a completely dif- for anyone trying to understand ferent vocabulary to discuss the same themselves, their culture, and their issues, future. The answer is, of course, d' covering a e m p-,vocabulary.,! -Rebecca Chung Th'autharshlaeaotsdea 9no.bur -' rap (on his new Conspiracy EP). It elevator along with a (biodegradable) can be as subtle as the relaxed jazz fish. Said the Butcher, "For six mon- feel of "Partytime," or as bizzare as ths I was ashamed of it. I thought it "Catherine Wheeler's Birthday was a nasty, vitriolic little piece and Present." Catherine, incidentally, is hick it." a real person. The song was created Going from the folksy "Devil is my while "in a state of advanced Friend" to the rock and roll menace inebriation." Having returned from of the "Death Dentist," Bloody Non- his day-job and having a good amount sense is filled with good, solid songs in of special brew, he began reading a a variety of styles throughout. While letter from a friend describing a not really punk, the Butcher's' at- present purchased for a girlfriend. titude - his demand to be free to do After reading the letter he proceeded whatever he wants - is the quin- to rudely "kick the shit" out of its con- tessence of punk. Because of the tents to a rhythm track he had band's diversity and their un- playing in the background. The willingness to be pigeonholed, they result: a gift that is really BIG ("like are able to get away with pretty much that Alice Cooper Group"), and that whatever they want. And the band is made "entirely from the skins of manages to do this without ever dead Jim Morrisons." To make things losing sight' of their audience. The worse, poor Catherine is stuck on an result is refreshingly entertaining. Currently, the Jazz Butcher Group istouring the U.S. for the first time on what they call their "Going back to Our Fake Roots Tour." The Butcher adds, "we played, 'I'm Waiting For the (My) Man" in New York, 'President Reagan's Present' in Washington, and 'Roadrunner' in Boston. So, when we get over your way we're gonna try to do some Iggy Pop numbers. I suppose if it was Detroit we could play a Motown Medley - that would 'be horrible. We're not good enough musicians." The Jazz Butcher's Ann Arbor per- formance will be this coming Mon- day, July 28th, at the Blind Pig. Ad- mission is $6.00. This show promises to be one of the summer's best. Ex- cellent music and a whole lot of fun - highly recommended. 'Paradise': Clubbed to death By Kurt Serbus NOT ONE laugh. Not one, single, good laugh is provided by Club Paradise, a wret- ched, lumbering, summer formula comedy from Harold Ramis. Oh sure, there's a few chuckles here and there, most of them cour- tesy of Rick Moranis and Eugene Levy, the only two who fare well out of this truckload of SCTV/Saturday Night Live alumni who were hauled in for this flick. The rest of the cast is impressive but useless: Twiggy looks great, Adolph Ceaser looks ridiculous, Jimmy Cliff looks stoned, Peter O'Toole looks embarrassed, and Robin Williams looks like he wishes Mork and Mindy had never heen cancelled. The plot (hah!) is the same under- dog-vs-bad guys story that seems to be the backbone of most commercial comedies these days. Retired fireman Williams tries to keep his West Indies roach motel from going under in the face of evil Prime Minister Ceaser and his horde of developers. Can the lovable misfits band together and strike a 'blow against the empire? If you don't know the answer, you definitely don't go to the movies much. But knocking the plot of a movie like this is not only, poor sportsman- ship, it's beside the point. Plot was never a primary ingredient for a good comedy. Neither is cast, or characters, or theme. What is im- portant is a sense of humor, and this is the area where Club Paradise is really hurting. The script is riddled with set-ups that go nowhere, and unbelievably lame sight gags. I'm sure seeing Lou Costello wrestle with a big snake was hilarious back in the '40s, but seeing Andrea Martin do it in 1986 is just kind of sad and pathetic. Most of the blame for this in- credible waste of money, talent, and time has to be laid at the feet of writer-director Ramis. Earlier projects of his, like Animal House and Caddyshack, were just as lowbrow in their appraoch, but suc- ceeded brilliantly because of perfect pacing and delivery. Club Paradise delivers nothing except what the ad lines promise: "A vacation you'll never forget-no matter how hard you try." Amen. 6- 1 _ - --AL Fee IINC1EXRNcFNscpA.MDREOXH E5L REVIEWINTRUOUCTION 7 V TUL4 J%%1 Compliments of ~r~i~eM APlAN EDUCATIONAL CENTER LTD. 203 E. Hoover . .42-3149 %"a 9L J n® !ls ro r o ! ! ! niRgl ig R i" ! Ste ! .. .........._ ... ._...... _.. ... . ..._. ° . _.