Page 8-The Michigan Daily- Friday, April 19, 1991 Poet copes with fear of music Misha and modern dance? Sacrilege! '.< r by Greg Baise "I've got to move away from the Jim Carroll/dope/and all that bull- shit," proclaimed former street writer Jim Carroll. Former street writer? How could the man who wrote and lived The Basketball Diaries ever re- nounce his excessively spent youth? "There comes a time when you have to enter this wisdom mode," he ex- plained, contrasting this new mode to the Rimbaldian excesses of his Manhattan earlier years. "You don't have to lose your edge - you just work in a closer, more sober way," he added. Part of the way that Carroll plans to hone his serious artistry is to work on a novel or two, his first attempt at doing so. Carroll has produced several volumes of litera- ture over the years - the (some- times embellished) journals of his youth, some collections of poetry, even some rock 'n' roll albums - but never a novel. "I don't like being called a street writer. Sometimes that's where my lyrics come from, but I don't confuse my lyrics with my poetry. Poetry has always been an escape for me," he said. "Poetry readings can be a fucking bore. I like to design poetry readings with an edge," he continued, and Saturday night's performance will have the added edge of Carroll not only reading his poetry, but doing guest vocals on a few songs with Dark Carnival, a band which fea- tures the Asheton brothers, two former Stooges. One of the songs that the Carroll Carnival will probably perform is "People Who Died," a role call of Carroll's pre-teen buddies who just didn't make it. From the youthful excesses detailed in The Basketball Diaries, one might surmise that Carroll could have very well been one of those people who died, and Carroll concurs, with reservations. Instead of some kind of nihilistic glue-sniffing/ car-crash-and-burn/ sexual exhaustion orgy in the gutters of the Lower East Side, he thinks he probably would have died in some less dramatic way. He re- lated a story of a recent mugging:r"I got held up about three months ago, on this really rich street. I was to- tally straight, going to visit Lou Reed. I could have died right there, and seeing that gun was scarier than writing about overdosing." Although he'll be taking to the stage for some rock action, Carroll isn't about to return to the wild world of being a reckless rock 'n' roll youth. "I feel like doing a rock and roll album once every two months for a few days," he ex- plained, adding that he usually comes to his senses shortly after that. Carroll is releasing a record soon, but it's going to be a spoken word album, with perhaps only a little bit of musical accompani- ment. "I'm not compromising my poetry," he said. His records might be better known to the public than his writ- ing, but Carroll has always been first and foremost a writer. Just be- cause he's putting down his axe and wielding a more consistent pen doesn't mean that soon gray will in- filtrate the vibrant orange of Carroll's locks. Carroll's inspira- tion has led him to a more sober land of artistic illumination, and as the man himself says, "You don't fuck around with the muse." JIM CARROLL reads Saturday at Club Ileidelberg, twice: at 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. The early show features the Oscar-winning KIM HUNTER and the late show features Stooges Wax Museum reprobates DARK CARNIVAL. The first show costs $5 in advance and $7.50 at the door, and the second is $9.50 in advance and $12 at the door. by Justine Unatin Y ou don't need to hit Blockbuster's this weekend in or- der to catch a glimpse of Mikhail Baryshnikov - master of defying gravity. Baryshnikov and nine dancers comprise The White Oak Dance Project. This weekend, the group will perform the work of renowned choreographer Mark Morris. Morris's unique, off-the- wall brand of choreography should create quite the uplifting experi- ence. In each of the show's four pieces, an element of humor domi- nates the importance of theme. According to Project dancer Kate Johnson, Morris's style is "not ob- scure humor, but not comedy, he has an eye for the absurd." "Canonic Waltzes," stages it- self in a rather lofty position as a study in canons. However, accord- ing to Johnson, the piece "doesn't take itself seriously." "Pas de Poisson" suggests bizarre humor in a more blatant fashion. (No, your French isn't that rusty, the ti- tle really is "Step of the Fish.") This piece, says Johnson, "raises a lot of questions and answers none."~ So what about Misha? The king of pirouettes will contribute to the spontaneous edge of the perfor- mance in an "impromptu like" solo consisting of 10 vignettes. He'll trade in some of the graceful lyricism typically associated with ballet for geometric and (argh!) barefooted movement. "Each sec- tion has the feel of the music, the moment, a prompt," says Johnson. Don't worry, he also appears in several of the group pieces. We all know Baryshnikov can twirl and leap like no other, but what's he really like? When con- fronted with this million dollar question, Johnson calmly replied, "He's a dancer, we're dancers and we all work together. (The audi- ence) comes to see Baryshnikov dance and they are pleasantly pleased to see the rest." Johnson adds that their group differs greatly from the typically hierar- chical structure of ballet compa- nies. Each of the dancers is a star, who considers the others with mu- tual respect. Johnson says she is "fascinated} with Mark's (Morris) work" which has proven to be a great chal- lenge to everyone in the company. She considers the exploration of his concept of dance to be a very "rich" experience. His unique, avant-garde style of choreography, she adds, is "something that has to be seen." d'.1 9 '4 r Carroll I We're Still Nearby... I.1 I-.,, l.. Wi Avis Rent A Car has moved to a new location, to serve you even better than ever. If you need to rent a car for a day, a weekend, a week or more, stop in at our new Avis location. You'll find SuperValue Rates on a wide selection of dependable GM and other fine cars. And many time-saving services that make renting a car from us quick and easy. To reserve an Avis car, call toll free: MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV a THE WHITE OAK DAN( PROJECT will perform tomorr at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. the Fox Theater in Detroit. Tick are $50, $40 and $30 TicketMaster. For more inform tion call 567-6000. ALA. Local AV/ We're trying hard Avis Features GM cars. Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais. T 1991 Wizard Co.. 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