The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, February 27, 2019 — 5A
We live in a society that
seems to be facing an issue that
previous generations probably
would have never imagined:
an overwhelming amount of
information. With the internet
becoming a central aspect in
everyone’s life, the way we
interact with one another has
become different as well. In
the School of Music, Theatre
&
Dance’s
production
of
Caryl Churchill’s “Love and
Information,”
director
Gillian
Eaton
asks
the
audience, “Can we
resist the constant
distraction?
Is
paying
attention
the most profound
expression
of
love?
How
much
information do we
need?” I think the
production reflects
favorably
upon
these questions.
One of the unique
aspects
of
“Love
and
Information”
was
the
lack
of
characters
—
or,
I guess one could
say the abundance of them.
Each of these short scenes
compares a different set of
unnamed characters. For the
most part, characters were
given very little exposition, and
there was very little time to
explore the characters, as per
the nature of the play. Each of
the dozens of characters was
distinctly different, and each
was portrayed incredibly well
by the talented cast.
The performance consisted
of dozens of different vignettes,
each about one to two minutes
long
with
varying
subject
matters.
Sometimes,
these
scenes were accompanied by
titles projected above the stage
which would give the audience
insight as to the subject of
the different tableaux. One of
the first scenes featured two
teenagers that seemed to be
smoking some sort of substance
and filling out their census. If
I had not known that the scene
was called “Census” I would
have just assumed two stoners
were talking about nothing
and giggling. But because the
context was provided by that
title, the scene became more
focused, and more lighthearted.
However,
sometimes
these
titles were vague or just non-
existent.
As the show went on, different
tones were introduced. There
were multiple vignettes that
centered around a character
lacking the ability to feel some
sort of emotion, from grief to
pain and everything in between.
More than once this was a child
of some sort not knowing what
it was like to feel a certain
way, but also included adults
watching television and failing
to feel any empathy. I thought
this
element
of
emotional
analysis
was
one
of
the
highlights of the performance.
Each actor had a tough job to
do in conveying the complex
emotions of a character that the
audience knew nothing about,
but I took a lot away from the
play’s commentary on human
emotions, and how although
some of them may seem to be
dreadful, they all help shape us
to be human.
I was not a huge fan of
the usage of cellphones and
popular music. Seeing two of
the actors recite the entirety
of “Man’s Not Hot” by Big Shaq
(which
I
admittedly
found
pretty impressive) ruined the
immersion for me. It felt out of
place. Most of these vignettes
conveyed
emotions
and
experiences that felt timeless
and relatable. I understand
that the production was meant
to analyze the current age of
information, but having modern
day songs and phones on stage
took away this feeling that
these scenes could be applicable
to human emotion on a broader
scale. The phones didn’t really
emerge as a plot device in many
of the scenes; they just seemed
like they were there, and they
were distracting. They felt like
a red sock in a load of
white shirts.
One of the aspects
of the show I enjoyed
the most was how
love
wasn’t
always
treated in a romantic
sense. Sometimes it
was a paternal love,
or a close friendship.
There was a scene
where one character
argued with another
about the legitimacy of
an online relationship
with some sort of
A.I.,
taking
heavy
influence from Spike
Jonze’s “Her.” This
to me was one of the
best
vignettes
that
explored the concept of emotion
while integrating technology.
“Love and Information” was
a really weird play — in a good
way. One of my favorite elements
about
theater
is
how
real
character development can feel
in a live setting. And despite the
premise of this play lacking any
sort of character development,
I enjoyed it. Even for the two
minutes that a reunited couple
returned to the stage, I almost
felt like I knew every step of
their relationship. Topics like
memory loss really hit home
with me with a family prone
to dementia, but before I had a
second for that sentimentality
to kick in, the next scene would
have me laughing out loud.
The Department of Theatre &
Drama’s production of “Love
and
Information”
wasn’t
perfect, but I didn’t want it to
be. It was human, and that’s all
an audience could have wanted.
‘Love and Information,’ for
our own age of information
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
Vern Smith’s “The Green
Ghetto” is an urban western
set in a fictional Detroit
neighborhood
where
the
protagonist,
Mitchell
Hosowich, freely grows and
sells dope (ganja, weed, you
name it) out of an abandoned
drug-slinging
paradise.
His
paradise is short-
lived, as the year
is 2002, marijuana
is legal nowhere,
and
consequently
the DEA has come
to town to take
Hosowich on the
cross-border
drug
chase of his life.
Vern Smith, a man
who grew up with
a close relationship
to
Detroit
from
across
the
river
in
Windsor,
Ontario,
will
be
visiting
Literati
this Thursday to
do a reading from
this
humorously
unadulterated
look
at
life
in
post-9/11, war-on-
drugs America and
Canada.
Smith’s
“Green
Ghetto”
was
released
to
the
public two weeks
ago, and has since started his
tour cross the the U.S. and
Canada to publicize the book.
During a phone interview
with The Daily, Smith spoke
about
preparing
for
his
upcoming tour: “So far, so
good,” he stated, remarking
that he hadn’t yet left Chicago,
his current place of residence,
but was raring to hit bars
across the country to hear how
his book was being received.
Smith
had
previously
worked at four newspapers and
three magazines, as well as at
CJAM 99.1, Windsor, Ontario’s
local radio broadcast out of
the University of Windsor.
It was here that he became
“something of an accidental
musicologist.” Working both
as a reporter and broadcaster
had a strong influence on
Smith as a fiction writer.
“I’m not coming at (the
book)
as
an
activist,
but
more as an old, hard-nosed
reporter,” Smith said.
Having worked for years in
the newspaper business (until
2002), Smith had little patience
for the kind of hysteria-
provoking
government
policy and subsequent mass
media coverage that came
about in the years following
9/11. This kind of hysteria
only supplemented the real
everyday problems Smith and
others experienced.
One uninvited effect of
this was increased border
security between the U.S.
and Canada that would have
likely rendered Smith’s secret
trips over to Detroit to see the
Tigers play when he was 11
impossible. Once he started
making these trips, they hardly
stopped until Smith moved out
of Windsor for good.
“I found culture there, I had
relationships there … I can’t
tell you how many shows I saw
there,” said Smith on Detroit
in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
And now more than ever
hysteria reigns king.
This is why Smith chose
to set the book when he did.
9/11 marked the beginnings
of much of the illogical policy
making and press hype that
plague us today. Although the
book doesn’t delve into detail
on the war on terrorism, it’s
understood that this war goes
hand in hand with
the war on drugs
that
the
book
so
absurdly
depicts.
And, although it may
seem that in recent
years certain parties
have come around
to
acknowledging
this
war’s
failure
with the advent of
legal marijuana in
several U.S. states
and Canada, Smith
remains
insistent
that
both
federal
governments
are
irrational
as
ever
about it.
“Everyone’s
so
high on access at
home
they
don’t
notice
there
are
100 new ways to
get arrested for it,”
Smith
said,
citing
that a 19-year-old in
Canada could by law
see up to 14 years in
prison for passing a
joint to a 17-year-old.
He also noted that
just today on the front cover
of the Canadian newspaper
the National Post, a story
broke on cannabis being the
leading cause of road deaths
in Canada. This was according
to the CEO of Mothers Against
Drunk Driving Canada.
Marijuana
policy
is
far
from the only issue on the
table here. For Smith, it seems
more a metaphor for the larger
picture. Plus, it makes for a
hell of a story: drug-slinging
cowboy rides the high of failed
city policy only to high-tail it
out of, not just the city, but the
country for fear of losing his
life to federal agency cronies
for growing ganja. How does
it end? You’ll just have to be
there on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Vern Smith to visit Literati
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
“Yeah, ayy / And her pussy
tastes like Skittles / What?
Yeah, ayy / You can really taste
the rainbow.”
Who could have penned this
work? Shakespeare? Dickinson?
Dostoevsky?
Nope. Just a humble guy
named
Lil
Xan,
spitting
poetry
over
the
gentle
caress
of
a Bobby Johnson
instrumental.
I don’t think I’m
going too far out on
a limb to request
for him to at least
be considered for
a Nobel Prize in
Literature.
The
only
musician
to
have received this
high honor to date
is Bob Dylan, who,
as far as I can tell,
has written no lines
about pussy. Dylan
has been around for about half a
century and released 35 albums,
only like four to five of which
are actually any good. None
of them contain any Bobby
Johnson beats. I checked.
It is hard to think of two
artists more similar than Lil
Xan and Bob Dylan, but that is
not to say that they don’t have
their differences. For example,
Bob Dylan has yet to publicly
condemn Xanax. One point for
Lil Xan. Lil Xan was also once
hospitalized because he ate too
many Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,
which is more self-destructive
and interesting than anything
Bob Dylan has ever done in
his life (other than releasing
Knocked Out Loaded). Only one
of these artists has released any
terrible, preachy contemporary
Christian albums in a bizarre
mid-career pivot so far, every
conceivable metric is coming up
in favor of Lil Xan.
Bob Dylan seems to think
that good storytelling primarily
consists of having a lot of
different characters, whereas
Lil Xan’s literary theory is
centered around drugs and sex,
both of which are undeniably
more interesting than railroad
men or whatever. Dylan is
considered
“counterculture,”
but all of his fans freaked out
and called him “Judas” when
he used an electric guitar.
He doesn’t even have any
face tattoos (+1 for Lil Xan) —
rebellion for Dylan consisted
of wearing really ugly jackets
and sunglasses while smoking
weed and lying about having
a
heroin
addiction.
He
is
also
a
notoriously
terrible
live performer (to the point
where
some
of
his
songs
are
unrecognizable)
who
deliberately
antagonizes
his
fans. Lil Xan, on the other hand,
is so accommodating that he
allows his fans to beat him up
after his shows.
I will concede that Lil Xan
does not have the edge on Bob
Dylan in every category they
are tied in both their singing
ability and their primitive and
strophic song structures. Bob
Dylan’s voice was, at its best,
nasally and challenging. At its
worst,
especially
towards
the
end
of his career, it is
redolent of the howl
of a dog whose tail
has been stepped on.
Lil Xan is not much
better, but at least
he has put out less
music.
Lil Xan has never
been one for sacred
cows, and Bob Dylan
is just the latest of
the old guard to
fall at the hands of
a new challenger. I
cannot help but be
reminded of the Percy Bysshe
Shelley poem “Ozymandias”:
“My name is Ozymandias,
King of Kings;
Look
on
my
Works,
ye
Mighty, and despair!
Nothing
beside
remains.
Round the decay
Of
that
colossal
Wreck,
boundless and bare
The lone and level sands
stretch far away.”
Legends
always
fade.
Although it might be difficult
to imagine now, one day Lil
Xan will fall from grace. Much
like how he has rendered Bob
Dylan irrelevant, Lil Xan’s great
works will too be swept away by
the sands of time.
Bob Dylan vs. Lil Xan: A
generational showdown
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
BEN VASSAR
Daily Arts Writer
Fiction at Literati:
Vern Smith
Literati Bookstore
Feb. 28, 2019 @ 7 p.m.
Free
I talk about improv comedy
constantly, so much so that people
will actively tell me to stop talking
about it. But I can’t help it, I’m
obsessed. For those of you who don’t
know, I do improv. I apply improv
concepts to everyday situations. Yes, I
“Yes, and” my way through life. Once
my brother told me I sounded like I
was talking about psychedelics when
I was talking solely about improv, and
thus spawned the birth of this listicle.
Because honestly, it changed my
life. So whether you love tripping on
magic mushrooms or have the hots
for Jason Mantzoukas, enjoy these
descriptions.
It’s OK alone, but much better in a
group setting.
Some people even use it as therapy.
Your mom doesn’t get it.
It’s really popular in Chicago.
Your friend Tyler tried it once and
won’t shut up about it.
It really taught me to trust myself.
It changed my life.
It’s a gateway drug.
It makes you really confident.
It
makes
you
exceedingly
annoying to be around.
I heard it feels like flying.
You had to be there.
It’s hard to explain if you weren’t
there, you know?
Apparently it turns your life
around.
There are so many books written
about it.
It’s like an altered state of
consciousness.
It’s illegal in some countries.
Frankly,
it
was
a
religious
experience for me.
It
does
something
to
your
serotonin levels.
There are podcasts dedicated to it.
It was really big in the 1970s.
It
diminishes
anxiety
and
depression.
I couldn’t stop laughing the entire
time.
It
helps
you
unlock the unused depths of the
human mind.
The experience itself is hard to
explain.
Watching someone else do isn’t
the same as doing it yourself.
The come-down is rough.
Robin Williams said, “sometimes
it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but
when it does, it’s like open-field
running.”
Some would say it’s a sub-culture.
All my favorite celebrities have
done it.
Most comedians start out by doing
it.
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are big
fans of it.
I heard 80 percent of those who
have done it said it was one of the top
five most meaningful experiences of
their lives.
And 50 percent said it was the
most meaningful experience, like,
ever.
The
risks
are
incredibly
exaggerated.
Nixon was not a fan.
It’s safer than alcohol.
Steve Jobs once said it was, “one of
the most important things (I did) in
my life.”
My dad said he tried it once in
college.
About 1.31 million 18 to 25-year-
olds admitted to trying it in 2017.
A lot of people have turned to it for
comfort after the 2016 election.
People like that it takes you away
from your phone for a while.
It’s easier to obtain now more than
ever thanks to the Internet.
Women are getting more involved
in it.
It helps you reconnect with people
and the world.
If politicians did it, we would all be
better off.
It’s a form of escapism.
It makes the world a bit more
magical and beautiful.
There are three clubs for it at The
University of Michigan.
You want to try it, but don’t know
where to start.
You heard it’s only for people who
listen to Phish.
It might make you feel a little
dizzy.
It’s best to fast before your first
time.
You should watch someone else
do it before you do it yourself so you
know what to expect.
You’ve seen posters for it around
campus but don’t fully get it.
It’s mostly a college kid thing, like
a Capella.
People don’t really enjoy it; they
just say they do to make their friends
who actually do it feel better.
Is it improv comedy, or is
it simply the psychedelics?
DAILY HUMOR COLUMN
BECKY
PORTMAN
RYAN COX
Daily Arts Writer
JONAH MENDELSON
Daily Arts Writer
It is hard to think of two artists
more similar than Lil Xan and
Bob Dylan, but that is not to
say that they don’t have their
differences
Each of the dozens of characters
was distinctly different, and
each was portrayed incredibly
well by the talented cast