•
DISC ussiens,
By Greg Hall
This Year's Model Elvis
Costello (Columbia Records)
Rebirth. I sat listening to
the hum in my headphones.
Awestruck. Dumbfounded.
Elvis Costello's new album had
finished playing ten minutes
ago, yet I could not rationalize
the sense of Revelation, the
refreshing bursts of enthusi
asm, the feeling I had found
something just minutes ago
that had been lost for years.
Ironic his name should be Elvis,
for I see him now as, alongside
Springsteen, The Great White
Hope of Rock n' Roll.
The songs, "This Year's
Girl", "No Action", "Living In
Paradise", "Little Trigger?,
"Radio; Radio", The urgent
melodies, the gripping rhythm,
the electric guitar, the harmo
nies, the toughness and the
intelligence. The production by
Nick Lowe is crisp and perfect
American Short
Funded by a grant from the
National Endowment for the
Humanities, the AMERICAN
SHORT STORIES series was
aired for the first time last year
over PBS affiliated television
stations across the country.
Now a unique paperback
edition called The American
Short Story has been issued by
Dell Publishing Company as an
outgrowth of the video films.
The new volume draws
together under one cover nine
short stories, written by
prominent American authors,
which were used as the basis of
the six-week television series.
American authors repre
sented in the book are: F. Scott
Fitzgerald, Sherwood
Anderson, Ernest Hemingway,
Richard Wright, Ambrose
Bierce, Henry James, Stephen
Crane, Flannery O'Connor, and
John Updike. Their stories are:
Bernice Bobs Her Hair, I'm a
Fool, Soldier's Home, Almos' a
Man, Parker Adderson,
Philosopher, The Jolly Corner,
The Blue Hotel, The Displaced
Person, and The Music School.
In addition to the authors'
texts, The American Short
Story contains three complete
teleplays. These are: Bernice
Bobs Her Hair by Joan Micklin
Silver; Soldier's Home by
Robert Geller; and The Music
School by John Korty.
Representative scenes from
each of the other six stories
include teleplay excerpts from:
I'm a Fool by Ron Cowen;
Alms' a Man by Leslie Lee;
ARTS and CULTURE
to enhance the vitality and
presence of the performance.
Elvis is out front, and his
three-piece band has been
stripped down to the essence of
Form--the guitar plus bass,
drums, and Farfisa organ.
Elvis Costello's minimalist
philosophy could spark an
architectural restoration of
musical form, much the slime as
removing as Art-Deco facade
from a Victorian building.
Costello borrows from sub
merged styles, taking what
appeals to his art and
discarding the rest. Yet, he is
not an imitator. What comes
out is very much original,
inventive, and multi-dimen
sional. In his music, Costello
pays homage to, and in some
places even worships his
obvious influences in much the
same sense that the Beatles
owed a debt to Elvis (Presley)
as a groundbreaker and
Parker Adderson, Philosopher
by Arthur Barron; The Blue
Hotel by H.M. Petrakis; The
Displaced Person by Horton
Foote; and The Jolly Corner by
Arthur Barron.
The American Short Story
contains: a foreword by Robert
Geller (Executive Producer of
the AMERICAN SHORT
STORIES series); an introduc
tion by Calvin Skaggs
(Chairman of the Literary
Advisory Committee which
participated in script develop
ment); and interpretive essays
and interviews with Jan Kadar,
Horton Foote, and Joan Micklin
Silver (writers and/or directors
of teleplays).
The format of The American
Short Story presents the
reader with a happy marriage
of original text and teleplay. It
is fascinating, for example, to
read John Updike's Music
School as he wrote it; then to
reread it with its parallel action
as presented on television. The
rereading is accomplished by
printing the teleplay actions on
the left of the page while
carrying the narrative on the
right. One benefit in using this
format is that such a careful
rereading brings a new
perspective to the meaning of
the original words.
The American Short Story
was developed in response to
requests from individual view
ers and schools and colleges
throughout the country. The
stories, which span the past
century, present dramatic
insights into the lifestyles and
originator of ideas.
All the great influences are
there in This Year's Model.
Early Beatles. Early Stones.
Early Small Faces. Early Who.
Traces of the Zombies,? and the
Mysterians, and The Sir
Douglas Quintet. A casual tip of
the hat to Springsteen and to
the New Wave. In the decade
where all but a handful of aging
rockers have become purveyors
of public taste and popular
entertainment, This Year's
Model stands as a statement of
what has beem misplaced.
Naked metaphors. Honest
anger. Disillusion. If This
Year's Model is not the best
rock n' roll album of the
seventies, then it surely is the
most important.
Excitable Boy Warren Zevon
(Asylum Records)
Warren Zevon, although a
native Californian, has man
aged to transcend the
California Sound prevalent in
the stylized music of The
Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and
Jackson Browne. The regional
influence is definitely there, but
is thoroughly diffused by his
sometimes manic peisonality
and the rumors of a personal
legacy being formulated. The
definition of Zevon's music,
presented fully-baked on his
second album Excitable Boy,
makes him a unique presence
Stories
social issues of the American
people. It is this collection
examination of American cul
ture which led the National
Endowment for the Humanities
to provide funds for the first
television series on the subject.
The National Endowment
considers the AMERICAN
SHORT STORIES grant to be a
good example on the expanding
influence of humanities on this
country. The Humanities award
of just over two million dollars
which was made to "Learning
in Focus" in New York,
provided a television series
which reached millions of
Americans during its first
showing and millions more
during its rebroadcast. That
successful series in turn led to
the production of a useful and
enjoyable book and to plans for
combining the television reruns
with both credit and non-credit
courses at some of the nation's
colleges.
The National Endowment
for the Humanities has provid
ed a second grant of $350,000 to
"Learning in Focus," for
pre-production work on another
short story series, as well as a
matching grant of $1,000,000
for production. The eight
stories for this second series
are in the process of being
selected.
The American Short Story
is the first dramatic series seen
on U.S. public television to
have been purchased by BBC H
for presentation in the United
Kingdom.
and important contributor to a
rather sterile scene.
Zevon is a skillful songwrit
er with a penchant for bizarre
humor ("Werewolves of
London", "Excitable Boy"). His
themes also deal with intro
spective romance ("Accidently
Like a Martyr", "Tenderness on
the Block"), political atrophy
("Lawyers, Guns, & Money",
"Roland the Headless
Thompson Gunner"), and char
acters caught in a lapse of
history ("Veracruz"). Along
with his interest in songwrit
ing, he also professes to be a
serious pianist and classical
composer, with a first sympho
ny in the works. Quite a
combination, but it works
perfectly.
Excitable Bay displays
Zevon's technical expertise and
powerful vocal phrasing, all
while rocking out with the best
of the American Bunch. The
quality and command of this
album should firmly place
Warren Zevon as one of Rock's
most promising contenders,
and Excitable Boy as one of the
more refreshing albums in
1978.
Easter Patti Smith Group
(Arista Records)
Easter swallows the spirit
and the flesh of Rock n' Roll. It
is Patti Smith's statement of
rebirth and regeneration, with
Dance Recital
Middletown -- Won-Kyung
Cho, Korean classical dancer,
actor, scholar and dance critic
will present a solo recital in the
auditorium at Penn State--
Capitol Campus on Tuesday,
April 11, at noon.
Cho graduated with an M.A.
degree from Yonsei University,
where he then became assistant
professor and visiting lecturer
on Korean literature and dance.
He conducted his own dance
studio in Seoul and also served
as dance critic for four of
Korea's leading newspapers.
Coining to the United States
amplified electric energy and
spontaneous fits of poetry as a)
vehicle to achieve pre-planned
ends. It is also the first Patti
Smith album that works
towards a concrete statement
of the artist's ideas and
intentions.
I have always had trouble
getting past Smith's outward
"punk" manifestations—just
when I thought she night be
serious, her credibility as an
articulate human being con
vinced me opposite. Easter
proves her posing and postur
ing as a front, a persona, a
fantasy situation of the most
violent nature.
To be able to spit and snarl
poetry in front of a wall of
sound, white noise, and before a
captive audience-there exists a
strange S & M relationship
between audience and Star. If
Elvis Costello captures the
Essence of Form, then Smith
captures the raw Spirit of Rock
n' Roll. Her fantasy is kindled
by recalling her muses
Rimbaud and Jim Morrison
Like Morrison, she too is
obsessed with the image, the
role, and the vision of the Rock
Star as Prometheus with an
electric guitar. Easter is not for
everyone, nor will it get much
radio airplay. Yet it is a vital
and necessary statement, a
stark portrait of an artist's
insight:
in 1960, Cho studied at Juilliard
School of Music and the Martha
Graham School of
Contemporary Dance. He was
awarded the Doctor of Fine
Arts Degree from Monmouth
College in 1963. Cho has
performed and given lectures
at colleges, universities, muse
ums, and television stations
across five continents. He has
published two books: "Dances
of Korea" in 1962 and "Dance in
Korean Culture" in. 1437.
The public is cordially
invited to attend what promises
to be a fascinating perform
ance.