ARTS Thursday, April 4, 1991 Page 5 Stop your crying - Mould returns by Annette Petruso and Kristin Palm C hrist rose way before Easter, in New York City, alone, with an acoustic guitar in hand and a lot on his mind. He appears at the Blind Pig, of all places, tonight. Yup, Bob Mould has extended his tour to in- clude solo acoustic dates, and he's blessing us again with his spiritual presence. Why such strong religious im- agery, you might wonder, for a mere rock musician? Mould's ability to convey his emotional states, ex- pressed so eloquently in his two solo albums, Workbook and Black Sheets of Rain, seem to heal him and listeners, because they can find wis- dom, too, if they choose to. Or they can just find some damn good tunes. Not to mention Mould's devastat- ing guitar talents, which comple- ment, if not overwhelm, his pensive lyrics. Speaking of guitars, what will happen to the standard harsh guitar of Mould's live shows when he switches from electric to acoustic? Since Mould is being elusive this leg of the tour and would not give interviews, we wonder. Will it re- ally be Unplugged at the Pig? A one- man jam playing different versions of his songs (maybe even HUsker stuff for the older folks, hint, hint) and neato covers? Self-indulgent so- los and obscure ramblings? What- ever he decides to play, intrigue should ensue. We also wonder if Mould is lonely playing all these dates or if having all the attention focused on him is unnerving. Well, he did write Workbook alone in a Minnesota farm house, and look how good that turned out. And people have been the real McCoy.. couldn't even play 'Stairway to Heaven,' as far as we know paying homage to him for what seems like ages. We also wonder about the origins of his last name, the British spelling of mold. Like the stuff that grows on leftovers in the frig after a month. Early word from someone who caught his show in Jersey said the standard, "That was the best show I. ever saw." Why believe her? With . Mould, you know it's true. But what about the thrash/bash factor? Mould's previous Ann Arbor appearances have basically been drunken slamfests with a soundtrack eminently superior to what is generally found in these parts. Can he keep up the energy and keep us transfixed with a fine-tuned.- acoustic axe? We don't see why not. After all, the real McCoy still has people celebrating him once every week, and on special holidays, too. And he couldn't even play "Stairway to Heaven," as far as we know. One epiphanic Thursday night with Mould doesn't seem out of the question. BOB MOULD consecrates the Blind Pig tonight with VIC CHEST- NUTT opening. Doors open at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, available at TicketMaster (p.e.s.c.) Believe us, it will be worth every cent. Sonja (Lena Stolze) and her future husband, Martin (Robert Giggenbach), make out beneath a symbolic tree shrine (which, we are told, was formerly a gallows) in Michael Verhoeven's The Nasty Girl. It's Herr Eichmann if ISAC University Students Against Cance PRESENTS O SO or 'j r . you're nasty The Nasty Girl dir. Michael Verhoeven J1 by Mark Binelli here were you from '39 to '45? Where are you now?" reads the graffiti being wiped from a German #all during the opening credits of 'he Nasty Girl, Michael Verhoeven's Brechtian black com- edy about post-World War II guilt set in the fictional Bavarian Everytown of Pfilzing. Loosely based on the experiences of historian Anja Elisabeth Rosmus, the film follows Sonja (Lena Stolze), a German girl innocently researching an essay topic, "My Hometown wring the Third Reich." She meets with strong resistance from the locals she questions, even- tually discovering that the white- washed town history she has been taught, with tales, of a great resis- tance movement and few actual Nazis, is a cover-up. As she grows older, Sonja continues to dig, find- ing out more facts that she shouldn't be finding out and eventu- *lly becoming highly resented by most members of the community. She finds comfort in her delight- fully supportive, woad-chopping grandmother (Elisabeth Bertram), kbut ends up being stonewalled by city officials and physically threat- ened by masked neo-Nazi thugs. If this lone-woman-versus-The- Establishment plot sounds suspi- ciously like a Meryl Streep film, well, it easily could have been, if Verhoeven hadn't transcended the basic story with some fantastic sto- rytelling, coming up with an uncon- ventional, at times surreal, final product. When Sonja sues the city for the right to access information, for instance, we don't get a long, drawn-out courtroom melodrama; instead, we see a live woman dressed up like the statue of Justice in the back of the court, snoring loudly. She wakes up, Sonja wins and the next scene is of Sonja standing in the street, inexplicably yodeling. The entire movie is narrated by Sonja, who isoften filmed staring directly at the camera and speaking into a microphone; other characters are also thrust through the fourth wall with similar interview tech- niques. The numerous flashbacks to Sonja's youth, meanwhile, are filmed in black and white, while flashbacks within flashbacks are ANNAR65R1&2 5TH AVE. AT LIBERTY 761.9700 DAILY SHOWS BEFORE 6 PM & ALL DAY TUESDAY .'EXCEPTIONS) S'PUDENTWITH I.0. 13.50 filmed in an over-exposed yellow and the present day is shot in bright commercial color. The scenes themselves are short and jumpy, with odd angles and lenses used in numerous shots, and certain scenes taking place in front of backgrounds obviously projected onto a screen. Other scenes feature Sonja's family sitting and talking in their living room, which has no walls and floats through the streets of Pfilzing as people stand and stare. A disturbing fascist undercur- rent is also set up, as relatively straightforward narrative scenes are interspersed with shorter, unrelated scenes of Blond Boys in Beer Halls and blackshirts practicing by the river bank. This unique style of filmmaking makes The Nasty Girl worth seeing, but it also, albeit intentionally, re- sults in Brecht's Verfremdung- saffekt, or alienation affect, a deliberate distancing of the See NASTY, Page 8 Morrissey Kill Uncle Sire/Reprise You know, the problem with solo Morrissey is not that his lyrics are any less bitingly witty or that his voice has become any less fragile, but that there are no songs, save one outstanding example, that have this musical umph, a harsh quality, a complex sound, a drive that makes the tempo move you as much as the words themselves. From "William, It Was Really Nothing" to "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and "The Queen is Dead" to "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before," Morrissey, obviously in conjunction with guitar-meister Johnny Marr, grabbed you delicately by the throat and made you thrash your silly unhappiness away.rThe only solo song that came close, and, I would submit, matched at least "Stop Me," was the prime "November Spawned a Monster." Perhaps it is his weak choices of post-Marr collaborators, but if the Bard of Manchester can do it once, he certainly can do it again. Morrissey certainly tries. "Our Frank," the first cut on his second real solo album, Kill Uncle, vainly attempts to not be a mire-stuck, dreary, ballad-like lamentation. The peppy beginning and uppity key- board accents throughout the song make it better than most songs on the album, but it sounds like it could be on a Lite-music for lite old people radio station. "Sing Your Life" and "Mute Witness" sound like they could be also in heavy ro- tation next to Anita Baker or Barbara Streisand, or even worse, a commercial for something yuppy. "King Leer" is a Lite cha-cha for the grandparents. Even the songs that are slightly See RECORDS, Page 8 M Rubber Duck HOT TUB "RAFFLE" Ticket Sales will be held in the Fishbowl now 'til Friday, April 5, 1991 Portion of the proceeds to the American Cancer Society at PELLEAS IAND LISANDE r r / C \\ 1 An adaptation of Maeterlinck's classic love tragedy Trueblood Theatre Apr. 4 - 6, 11 - 13 at 8 PM; Apr.7,14 at2PM Tickets: $9 general admission Students $5 with ID at , "10(H the League Ticket Office. fO13 ta U I t I a The Nasty Girl z'. .. p PG "-13 Cyrano De Bergerac PRESENT THIS COUPON WITH PURCHASED TICKET THRU 4/15/91 MICHIGAN'S FINEST. STUDENT SHIPPING & STORAGE We've got: " the oldest & most reliable student \1II s~ I IC 6 . ' LET'S DANCE! Try out for Michigan's Danceteam- THE WOLVERETTES!!!! shipping service " the best rates! CALL NOW! Crane Pomerantz 998-1584 Adam Futterman 995-4182 We ship to the New York Metropolitan area Mass Meeting A-M April 7, 9-lOpm CCRB - Rm. 3275 N-Z April 8, 8-9pm Coliseum If conflict, attend the other meeting J , ii .. . The University Activities Center Presents: * f U of M's Co-Ed A Cappella Singing Ensemble's Spring Concert Featuring music including Doo-Wop, Jazz, Classical Take-Offs, Current Hits and more. Friday, April 5 v .CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE CULTURAL KIND A CONFERENCE ON CULTURE CONTACT FRIDAY, APRIL 5: RAC[HAM ASSEMBLY HALL, 4TH FLOOR I. THE POLITICS OF DESIRE 9:00-10:50 It. TRAVELLERS 11:00-12:30 III. COSMOLOGIES IN CONFLICT 1:30-3:15 IV. INVENTED AND BORROWED TRADITIONS 3:30-5:00 KEYNOTE ADDRESS: THE POLITICS OF CULTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA" RACK[AM AMPHITHEATER 6:10 SATURDAY, APRIL 6: THE ALUMNI CENTER . . CULTURAL IDENTITIES 9:00-10:30 LI _ II. EXILES AND ADOPTIONS 10:40-12:30 11