by Rick Mitz
True Confession; I laugh at “All
In The Family” and have gotten so
used to growing up with Lucy on
TV that I just can’t cut the cord.
I run the water while I brush my
teeth, I use Tide. And two-ply
toilet paper. Blue. With those
little fleurs de lis on them. Be
cause they match the motif of my
bathroom.
I enjoy blazing fires in my fire
place. The last movie I saw was
“Lady and the Tramp,” which ex
ploits women. My bottles are non-
returnable and I don’t separate my
garbage; which I burn in my blaz
ing fireplace.
I just can’t help it. I’m a failure
at relevance.
There are, however, some things
about which I am relevant. I don’t
have a snowmobi’e or a sable coat.
But that’s about it. I read the
wrong things (Nash, not Yevtus
henko). I eat the wrong things
(meat, not brown rice). I enjoy
the wrong theatre (Neil Simon, not
Albee).
So what can I do? I am a pro
duct of an educational system and
a bio-degradable environment that
makes me feel I have to take the
pleasure out of pleasure, the enjoy
ment out of enjoying. The product
ot a guilt-ridden culture where free-
love means I always have to say
I’m sorry.
But what’s so relevant about
relevancy anyway ?
A while ago, I visited the Uni
versity of Wisconsin campus at
Green Bay—a college totally de
voted to the study of ecology. There
one student told me, “It’s okay, but
you feel guilty doing anything that’s
not relevant.” I thought the re
mark was ridiculous. After a day
there, I found myself checking the
soap in the school lav soap dishes
to make sure they were using the
Right Kind.
So what is relevant? Bicycling?
Good for the environment Cuts
down on air pollution. But I don’t
like bicycling. It’s not good for my
psychological environment.
And what is meaningful ? It’s the
hey-day of the academic radical chic
where everything must have a Pro
found Meaning; where anything
more than a pair of jeans and a
stereo system borders on decadence;
where back-to-earth means back-to-
dearth.
Ecology, racism, women’s libera
tion, war and the rest of the list
are all important issues. Too often,
it seems that it’s not the issues that
are significant but only the rele
vance of the issues. We feel guilty
if we’re not doing what’s Right,
and we feel Wrong if we’re not
feeling the guilt.
There are things—little and big—
that can be enjoyed. For their own
sake. And for no other reason.
Too often the Relevance Regalia
focuses only on what’s not there
rather than what exists.
For some people, perhaps, the
patterns of smog formed from a
dingy smoke stack might be aesthe
tically pleasing. That doesn’t justify
the polluting smog, but it creates a
new and positive viewpoint where
even the ugliness of pollution can
have its own beauty.
Truthfully, I haven’t resolved my
own guilt feelings about being irre
levant. True Confession: In my
city. The Lucy Show is on at the
same time as the Evening News.
So I sit near the color television—
receiving radiation—and constantly
recycle the channels back and forth
from one show to the other. Last
night, Lucy talked about the casual
ties in Viet Nam while Walter
Cronkite put on a Charlie Chaplin
costume and danced at a PTA meet
ing. It all evens out.
Tachibana Dances
Sahomi Tachibana gave a lecture
and demonstration of Japanese
dance in Shirley Auditorium, 7:30
p.m., Feb. 7. Nervously groping for
words, Sahomi began her talk with
the history of the first Japanese
dance, the kagura, performed three
thousand years ago in honor of the
sun goddess. Today the kagura is
a religious entertainment at Shinto
shrines. From the kagura developed
the bugaku which has become the
official imperial household enter
tainment. A stylized pantomime, it
effectively shows tension in angular
movement and deep bends and has
a definitely masculine quality.
The nogaku dance was begun by
a Buddhist missionary who sought
to teach the people Buddhism
through the medium of dance. It
eventually developed into a per
formance for aristocratic audiences
only. The nogaku is characterized
by small, slow steps, and the exten
sive use of fan and mask to express
emotion.
Another style, the kabuki, began
as the entertainment of the common
people. Today only men are allowed
to perform the kabuki dance on
stage, while women may perform
only in concert. The kabuki is
characterized by a stylized mime
walk, stamping, and exaggerated
poses denoting a climax or the end
of a phrase. Famous kabuki families
each specialize in a certain style of
kabuki, training their children from
the age of three onward. The dance
is taught as a whole, not as sepa
rate techniques. Young girls are
taught the same dances as older
women but perform in a more sim
plified manner. A kabuki dancer
must also be an actor, for the danc
ing and acting are inseparable.
Chanting is the main musical ac
companiment.
The lecture was slow and labo
rious, the demonstrations intricate
and moving. On the whole the pro
gram was quite interesting and dif
ferent.
WELCOME
PARENTS
German Film Schedule
February 21 DER SCHIMMELREITER
March 2 FILM OHNE TITEL
March 16 DER BIBERPELZ
April 13 DER ZERBROCHENE KRUG
April 27 TONIO KROGER
May 11 DER HAUPTMANN VON KOPENICK
These films will be shown either at Salem or at Wake Forest.
Exact time and place will be posted. For information contact either
Dr. Timothy Sellner, Wake Forest, or Mr. Adam Stiener, Salem.
aihr
aletnitE
JANUARY
PROGRAMS
Volume Llll
Salem College, Winston-Salem, N. C., Friday, February 11, 1972
Number 17
Band To Highlight Parentis Day
LEE CASTLE
It has long been established that
when someone had to get up and
lead a Dorsey band (who was not
named Dorsey) that someone would
be Lee Castle. For Lee, one of the
best trumpet-players in the-country,
has been more than just a member
of the Dorsey band for many years;
he has been considered the “third
son” of the Dorsey family.
Lee started playing when he was
very young, accepting every oppor
tunity to play that he could get,
spending a great deal of time play
ing at the local Italian street fes
tivals, but still not quite sure that
it was to be his career. It took the
sound of one of America s greatest
trumpet players, Louis Armstrong,
to settle Lee's mind and that was
it—he decided that the truuipet WnS
his instrument and the name of
“Mr. Trumpet' and “Prince of the
Trumpet” (a name given to him by
Jackie Gleason) are now. well re
lated to Lee s capabilities and
achievements.
It wasn't long after Lee decided
to play the trumpet protessionaliy
that he startea with the joy Dyams
Band, and irom there went on to
piay with the better-known bands
ot the day, such as Artie Shaw,
G enn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey.
Dorsey immediately noticed the po
tential talent that Cast.e possessed
and insisted that he leave Pennsyl
vania to study with Mr. Dorsey,
Senior. Lee spent a great deai of
the next few years studying under
the Dorsey name and became so
popular with the family that they
adopted him as their ' thira son.
Finally, the call came from the
Dorsey boys once again to join
forces. Tommy and Lee both dis
banded their organizations and
joined Jimmy to create the new
group to be known as the “FAB
ULOUS DORSEY ORCHESTRA.”
Lee became musical conductor and
featured trumpeter for the group.
THOSE FABULOUS DORSEYS
Even though many talented per
formers achieve stardom in show
business, the entertainers who can
excite and delight fans over a twm-
decade period are very few and far
between. Tommy and Jimmy Dor
sey were two such performers. To
gether, or with their own individual
orchestras, they delighted audiences
from coast to coast with their great
music. Reunited a few years ago,
an entirely new generation who had
known of “The Fabulous Dorseys”
only by reputation saw and felt for
themselves in the same great band
that delighted their older brothers
and sisters, and in some cases, par
ents, years before. And now, carry
ing on in the same tradition, is the
Great Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra.
The first Dorsey brothers orch
estra was formed in 1922, a small
group called the Dorsey’s Novelty
Band which played local dates in
and around their home town in
Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. Then,
for near y ten years they performed
as top instrumental soloists for the
leading orchestras of the period. In
1934 they organized their own or
chestra and began to make musical
history. Bob Crosby was their vo
calist, Ray McKinley played the
drums, and the late Glenn Miller
played second trombone in this
great musical aggregation, which in
two years established musical tra
dition for an entire generation. Fi-
na.ly. Tommy and Jimmy decided
to go their individual ways, and two
fine ochestras emerged. Together
and apart the Dorsey brothers so.d
a combined total of 110 million re
cords.
Both Tommy and Jimmy made
great individual contributions to
popular music. Tommy was the
first bandleader in America to use
the trombone as a lead solo inst.u-
ment, and he gave his warm instru
ment a new place in music. Jimmy,
on the other hand, is credited with
beginning one of the great saxa-
phone styles of the early Jazz Era
and the man who, above ad ot^er
bandleaders did the most to launch
the juke box industry.
Before they were out of their
teens, the Dorsey's were playing
with the “Scranton Sirens," a fa
mous “hot” band of the day. Then,
first Jimmy and later Tommy, be
gan to break in with the top name
orchestras of the day, a history of
instrumental performances which
climaxed with their appearances
with Paul Whiteman. The King of
Jazz. By 1934, when Tommy and
Jimmy decided to form their own
group, both were accomplished sty
lists and masters of their instu-
ments. During the following two
years, they won nationwide acclaim.
The Dorsey Brothers split up in
the early part of 1936, each with
the idea of building an orchestra
around his own conception of
music. Tommy’s orchestra was the
first large dance band to play thea
tres as the featured attraction, and
during the late 1930’s, he estab
lished box office records which
stand to this day in many houses.
Tommy was responsib e for the
first success of many top vocalists,
including Frank Sinatra, Dick
Haymes, Jo Stafford and Connie
Haines. Jimmy, on the other hand,
emphasized a sweeter style which
brought such tunes as ‘Amapola”
and “Besame Mucho” into the class
of standards, and was responsib'e
for such stars as Helen O Connell
and Bob Eberly.
For nearly seventeen years, the
Dorsey Brothers carried on a
friendly feud which ended at thg
Hollywood Paladium where Jimmy
was playing an engagement. Tommy
and his Orchestra were the next
attraction, and, more or less as a
preview of coming attractions,
Tommy played with Jimmy’s band.
They drew such a tremendous hand
from the audience that they decided
to pool their resources again.
Playing before their greatest au
dience on the CBS-TV hit pro
gram “Stage Show”, the Fabulous
Dorseys won the favor of an entire
new generation of music lovers.
Lee Castle and his Fabulous
Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra have re
cently had successfcl engagements
at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City,
New Jersey and New York’s famous
Riv^boat Room.