coffeehouse review

Page
Friday, January 28. 1972
NE'-V UNIVERSITY
8
gonna take a
coffeehouse review
miracle
by t. irvine
by rick carter
Laura Nyro's new album. "Gonna
Ti/ke
a Miracle"
(Columbia),is quite a change from her previous albums in the
fad thai none of the selections it contains are her own
compositions. However, the hick of original material is well
compensated for. The songs on thealbumare some of the great
hits from the late 50's-early 60s era.
Among the selections on the new album are such classics as
"Dancing in the Street" "You Really Got a Hold on Me".
"Spanish Harlem". "Jimmy Mack". "No Where to Hun", plus
the title track and five other selections The openingsong on the
album. "I Met Him on a Sunday", is done in a straight
Persuasions st.vie lor the first part of the song, featuringonly the
voices of Laura Nyro and her small, but excellent backupsinging group. Labelle.
Totally, the album may not be considered to be exceptional.
The mixdown on some of the cuts seems to be rather raw and incomplete,but therearesomenotable exceptions. "TheBells" is
a quiet, beautiful song, possibly one of the nicest mellow things
to come from Laura Nyro's vocal style since "Billy's Blues" on
her firsl album. "No Where to Run" is one of thebetter upbeat
selections on the album, although the continuous cut of
'Monkey Time" and "Dancingin theStreet" is well done, as is
"Jimmy Mack". The title track also deserves mention, as it is
an excellent conclusion to the album.
Reaction to this album will probably vary greatly. Some
Laura Nyro fanciers may be upset by the kick of original
material, while others will find the album to be a fresh, new.
look at an established figure in contemporary music circles.
Whatever position you take is your decision, but this album
certainly shouldn"t go unnoticed.
Mon' new books which will be released this
ATLANTICS:
month include,
THE
ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD, AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS. No folks, not fiction, but instead, the books are from the pen of
[gnatius Donnelly. ;incl they were published in
l««2 ;ind 1H83. if you want bookson Atlantis, these
arc the hooks. Another book which will be republished is. THE BOOK OF A THOUSAND PROVERBS, compiled by .John Warner Barber. The
book was first published in 1878. and is now being
republished by American Heritage Press. The
book is filled with such old favorites as . . "Better late than never:" "One man's meat is another man s poison": and "Waste not. want not."
Then, if you're most contemporarily minded,
you might look up UNDFRSTANDINGMOVIKS.
by Louis Giannetti. "There is more to film than
meets the eye. To watch a film is to open your
eyes. To see a film is to open your head."
Irvine authors out with new books include Dr.
Nyrbn Simon's ETHNIC WRITERS IN AMP:RICA. Thebook examines the literary productions
of four American ethnic communities.- Black.
.Jewish. Irish, and Armenian from the turn of the
century to the present.
For the penny pinching student two strongholds against inflation stillexist weekends on
tampus-Patogh and the Puente coffee house
in Mesa Court. The following is a guide for
those not rich enough to go to the campus
movie or those who like getting more for less.
Patogh's featured group last weekend was
James. Patrick. and James. The group was
scheduled to perform at eight o'clock, but at
eight only one member of the trio was onstage singing and he apparently was waiting
lor the other two to show up. A half hour later
the group finally started alter much banter
with friends in the audience or exchanged
whispered comments with one another. At
one point they invited ;i girl to sing one song
with them pnstage-and she did without
distinction. The few remarks directed at the
audience were less than clever-"Hi. this is
called tuning". There seemed to he a lack of
raport with the audience that bored some
people. As one girl put it. '■They're more
In
backround music than entertainers".
short. Patogh last weekend was a good place
to go with friends for conversation and very
The .James. Patrick, and .James sound has
been justifiably described as neo-Donovan.
The trio's soft, high voices and often quiet
arrangements seemed to reflect Donovan's
influence, and not always to good effect. The
group sang with unimpressively breathy
voices, a characteristic which made lyrics
occasionally inaudible. The trio sang most
often in unison with sometimes falsetto
harmony. Their songs involved a variety of
instruments: the group played six string and
twelve string guitar, the flute, a xylophone,
and a banjo. Usually one group member
played a repetitive accompaniment on a six
string guitar, another played competent
elaborations on the twelve string guitar,and
the third alternated between playing instrumental descants of a sort on the flute and
playing short musical phrases on the
xylophone. The total effect was unusual and
unique, but after several songs with similar
sounding arrangements and lyrics it seemed
redundant.
The most gkiring flaw in the group's performance was ii total kick of stage presence.
The group paused between each song for five
to ten minutes of tuning and either bantered
Puente's coffee house in Mesa Court vviis
more entertaining. Fifty or more peoplepacked into the tiny upstairs kitchen of the dorm.
combined with scanty supplies of Tree popcorn, hot chocolate, and coffee, created an
atmosphere unlike anything else in Mesa
Court. A twohour cartoon feature called "The
Point" was shown and met with general and
vocal approval by the audience. In the film.
Oblio. a boy without a pointed head in a
kingdom which has decreed that all things,
even people, must have a point, is banished to
the Pointless Forest because of his
unintentional violation of the law. In his
wanderings through the forest he meets a
strange cast of characters, among them the
Rock Man who cracks. "You know us Rock
People: we're always stone", and a tree who
calls himself a leaf manufacturer and wants
to make Oblio a budding capitalist. Oblio
finally returns in triumph from his banishment to proclaim "You don't have to have a
point to have a point" and promptly grows a
pointed head. Of course everyone knew the
conclusion of the film before the first reel was
ended, but it did not seem to matter. It was
that kind of place.
.
FINE ARTS
HIGHLIGHTS
The Joy Club is going to celebrate its first ASSEMBLY OF
MUSICIANS. It will be holding an informal meeting to
facilitate finding people (or
musicians) with common interests. The first meeting will
be held this Saturday at noon
at the third floor commons
lounge.Bring an instrument of
your choice with ideas and
songs to do.
*
#
***
The Damned will be shown
Friday at the Science Lecture
Hall, at 7 and 9:30 p.m..
Potemkin will be shown at the
Lecture Hall on Saturday at
7: 30 p.m. Admission to both is
$1.00 for students. Saturday,
at 178 Humanities Hall, the
German club will show
Kabinett des Dr. Caligari'.
(The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari).
It will start at 7:30 p.m.. witha
50c admission.
*
pK :|: :|: :|!
'Virtue Rewarded' will be
continuing Friday and
Saturday at the Village
good background music.
and delay.
the russians are
coming
by marc weber
The ASUCI Film Committeeis presenting a series of the finest
movies produced by Soviet Russia: Polemkin, Alexander
Nevsky, The Cranes Are Flying, and Ballad of a Soldier. The
only other Russian film equal in quality to these is the lengthy.
$1,000,000 Mbsfilm epic. War and Peace. Potemkin and Nevsky
are also classics on an international level and are still shown in
theatres.
.
Potemkin, Sat. Jan. 29. is an early film of the genius Sergei
Eisenstein. who pioneeredmany cinematic techniques that are
now commonplace or even cliched. The story concerns the
Russian Revolution, along with the crew of the warship
Potemkin who rebelled against the Tsar. The film includes a
sequence of some Cossacks clearing the St. Petersburg steps
which has become one of the most famous scenes in motion
picture history.
Eisenstein also directed Alexander Nevsky, to be shown Feb.
Theatre. It isdirectedbyClay- 5, which was made in 1938. The superb score was composed by
ton Garrison and it begins at Sergei Prokofiev: the star is the noted actor Nicholas Cher8: 30 p.m. * * * *
chassov, who played Ivan the Terrible in another Eisenstein in■t.
comparable. The story of Nevsky is that of a national hero who
Albee's Who's Afraid of saves Russia from the Teutinic Knights in 1241. This flick was
Virginia Woolf will begin its used as anti-Nazi propaganda by the Soviet government after
lour week run in San Diego on the German invasion in 1941.
February 1. It will be showing
at the Off Broadway Theatre.
The next movie. The Cranes Are Flying,willbe shown onFeb.
The White House Murder Case 19.
Cranes won two important awards at the Cannes Film
and Mother Karth are con- Festival of 1957. It is the tragicstory of two younglovers whose
tinuing at South Coast lives are irrevocably shattered by the advent of World War II.
Reperatory.* * * *
The director. Mikhail Kalatozov. employs a lyrical, im♥
pressionistic style which earned the film much well-deserved
Andres Segovia will be at the acclaim.
Music Center in Los Angeles
on the 29 and
The final offering in this outstanding series is Ballad of A
* *31.
* * :|:
Soldier, scheduled for Mar. 4. This too is a moving drama of
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is people caught up in the turmoil of war. The hero is an innocent
appearing at The Golden Bear young soldier who undergoes a number of simple misand will be there until the adventures while on leave to visit hismother in World War II.
thirtieth. Seals and Crofts. Filmed in 1960. Ballad has a poeticquality which hasendeared it
Spencer Davis, and Paul to the many American audiences whohave already viewed it.
Harris will be at the Santa
Monica Civic Auditorium toFor the casual viewer of the serious film buff, these four films
night
offer a wide range of visual experiencesthat a person would be
unfortunate to miss
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