Newspapers / Black Ink (Black Student … / Jan. 29, 1980, edition 1 / Page 4
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ARTS Renaissance lady She triple-majored in undergrad, plays the piano, dances creatively, sings, composes, acts and makes ex cellent grades. Her name is Deborah Woodward and, sur prise, she's right here under our noses. Photo by Allen Johnson. ALLEN JOHNSON ArUEklltor Let’s say you want to come up with a composite of the ideal artist. Your make-believe Renaissance Person is articulate, attractive, acts, dances, plays the piano and organ, sings and com poses. This person is also talented enough to have triple-majored in undergrad and to have l)egun taking college courses in the seventh grade. Too far-fetched you say? Nope. She’s right here at UNC. Deborah Woodward, a doctoral student in English, brims with ex uberance and the uncommon ability to back it up. The Birmingham, Ala. native, for example, sung at the 1978 Black Ink awards banquet, composed and performed a good deal of the music in the campus pro duction, “Down Home,” performed in the North Carolina Grassroots production of “Othello” last spring, played and sang in the wedding of fellow graduate student Greg Pennington and served as organist in St. Paul A.M.E. Zion church in Chapel Hill. “I have multiple endeavors,” says Woodward, who speaks in charmingly urgent little spurts. “I’d like to use my theatrical and concert piano experience.” Concerning the stigma of graduate students as closed-in academics. Wood ward says it doesn’t have to be so. “Many grads don’t find time to participate in ac tivities. For me they (the activities) pro vide the opportunity to apply things that I’ve spent years learning.” Woodward credits much of her love for the arts to her undergraduate alma mater, Samford University, in Birmingham, Ala. “The university was close to my home,” she says, “and I had very good relation ships with the professors. The kind of ac tivities offered there were more varied as far as theater, the arts and entertain ment.” Woodward’s daily agenda is planned almost to the minute. Somehow she packs it all in there somewhere and still manages to come up a winner in just about everything. Academics, all the while, have not suffered. Listen closely, shut-in graduate students; Woodward graduated with highest honors and has received two academic achievement awards at UNC. “If you really want to do something, you can,” she says. “You can make the time.” Woodward exhibited her incredible drive last spring when she rushed im mediately after her Forest Theatre per formance as Amelia in “Othello” to the piano bench in Memorial Hall for a repeat performance of “Great Jones Street.” ‘Star Trek’—Pretty good, but it could be better ALLEN JOHNSON Arti Editor When sci-fi magazines report each new, stirring development in the production (“Nimoy winks at a reporter”) of a movie month after month and full-page ads herald the coming of the darned thing before they’ve even finished filming, you’re likely to have a letdown when the finished product finally hits the screen. That’s how "Star Trek: The Motion Pic ture” strikes me. Now, don’t get me wrong; the movie’s basically okay, but something’s missing. One problem is the film’s obvious preoc cupation with special effects. Director Robert Wise seems so impressed with how neat and realistic everything looks that he spends minute after precious minute show ing us the starship Enterprise from above, below, sideways, inside, moving, sitting still, then he later does the same thing with the alien menace, plodding along at a snail’s pace as we marvel and finally yawn at its magnificent surrealism. True, the special effects are good, but not good enough to gloss over a number of apparent flaws: — the premise of the story is a bit unbelievable: the Enterprise is the only starship within range of Earth to divert the mysterious alien attacker. It sure seems pretty dumb of Star Fleet Command to protect Earth with one ship. Where, pray tell, is everybody else? Too busy going where no man has gone t>efore? — the alien is a bit unoriginal. It com bines elements of the “Star Trek” TV episode "Doomsday Machine,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Gose Encounters of the Third Kind” and a number of other previous science-fiction productions. — the characterizations are shallow and unconvincing. The one love affair, t)etween Commander Decker (Stephen Collins) and It sure seems pretty dumb of Star Fleet Command to protect Earth with one ship. Where, pray tell, is everybody else? Too busy going where no man has gone before ? Helmsman Iliya (Persis Khambatta) is pretentious and cliche’-ridden. The old standbys are as one-dimensional as ever. Scotty continues to warn Kirk that the engines can’t take the load and Uhura, Checkov and Sulu spend most of their time looking at each other in amazement. Among the film’s redeeming virtues are such masterful touches as conversations among Klingons and Vulcans in their native tongues (using sub-titles for translations), the surprise twist at the en ding and William Shatner’s performance as Kirk. Shatner, the 23rd century’s ver sion of the Macho Man, succeeds at pro viding moments of light humor and the surge of spirit and optimism which primes the viewer for the sequel. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” is worth your time and money — but don’t expect too much. Jamaican ^roots-reggae’’ well worth the listen A people without The knowledge of their past history Origin and culture Is like the tree Without roots. — Marcus Garvey This quote may be found among the liner notes of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ latest IJ*. "Survival.” It epitomizes the nature of reggae as a cultural celebration. Reggae differs from most forms of popular music in America because the bass guitar and drum are stressed, as is the case with most African music. The off beat thump characteristic of reggae ties it to traditional African music and with the songs sung in the native British West In dian language Reggae was first played m the back alleys of Jamaican towns and served as a major source of entertainment for the Rastafarians (members of the West Indian religious cult who worshipped Jah). In the late 50’s and eariy 60’s traditional West In dian combo groups included Toots and the Maytals, the mighty Diamonds and the bands of Jimmy Giff and Peter Tosh. The 70’s found groups such as Third World, Inner Circle and Bob Marley’s the Wallers growing in popularity in Europe and the United States. The success of Marley and the Wailers may be attributed to the appeal their lyrics make to the youth in the West Indies and abroad. Many of the lyrics describe the hard ships of oppressed people and often call for the poor to unite. The themes usually center around the struggles of the Rastafarians who constantly try to unders tand their culture and history. Marley’s unique style combines the rhythmic, upbeat. West Indian tempos with thought- provoking lyrics to form a flavorful blend The Wailers have made major gains on charts in this country and in England while remaining relatively simple in their style. Their distinct brand of "kinky reggae” (as it is called by Jamaicans) is performed by usually nothing more than a bass guitar, a lead or acoustic guitar, keyboards, drums and other percussion instnmients and vocalists. Especially strong cuts on the “Survival” LP include “One Drop,” “Africa Unite,” “So Much Trouble in the World” and "Top Ranking.” While reggae might sound a bit peculiar to an uninitiated listener, it can become in fectious after repeated listenings and of fers a welcome relief from many of the papier mache’ melodies which choke the American airwaves. Some local Black radio stations have given considerable airplay to Marley tunes, including some tracks from “Survival.” They know a good thing when they hear it. /V1USIC By KEN MASK
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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Jan. 29, 1980, edition 1
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