Tuesday. September 22, 197Q
THE DAILY TAR HEEL
Fags Three
Frank Parrish Review
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The crowd thought it had given its
quota of sweat Saturday afternoon at the
game, but more was yet to come.
f As over 7,000 students sat in a sweat
uox called Carmichael, they began to
wonder if one man was good enough to
compensate for the agonizing heat.
However, Richie Havens, the man for
whom the sweating audience waited,
made all the perspiration worthwhile'
Whether rapping (hip argot for talking),
playing guiti-r inventively or just wailing
deeply, the evening and the audience
belonged to him.
Haven-, who grew up in
Bedford-Stuyvesant and is now 29,
captured the pain, confusion and small'
joys of these times. A formidable writer
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in his own right, he also interprets others
songs inimitably. Accompanied by a
bassist, another guitarist and a conga
drummer. Havens began with a song
about "eternal day He appropriately
inwrted lines from the Youngbloods
"Get Together."
Before the second number and
throughout his set, he talked quietly and
the audience loved it. "The earth is a
weird place to live," he said, and the
audience applauded loudly. He lectured
on the evils of smoking, suggesting the
habit crippled and limited its
practitioners. His wry, perceptive remarks
about Superman as brainwash were
greeted by guffaws.
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Richie Havens sets into it.
Havens said we saw Superman, hands
on hips, his cape flowing, and
wholeheartedly accepted a spiel
concerning truth. justice and the
American way." His comment: "I
thought Truth and Justice were the
American way."
He ultimately rapped (see above)
about the futility of rapping. "Now. I've
been rapping for 29 years since I got
here." But beyond the talk, interesting
enough, there was his music, a unique,
moving testament.
He launched into "Maggie's Farm," a
Dylan property, and passionately
delivered every satiric line. "I try my best
to be just like I am but everybody wants
me to be just like them," he sang. Backed
by his open-neck, D tuning guitar, ideal
for rhythmic drive, Havens compelled the
audience to hear his message and
simultaneously watch his fast fretting.
He next drew on his own writing. "I
Can't Make It Anymore," from his
"Mixed Bag" album, never sounded
better. The second guitarist supplied a
piercing, funky intro directly from Blind
Lemon Jefferson or seemingly so.
"Lately, I dont feel much like talking
Instead of going home I just go out
walking." Loneliness, part of the human
experience, came alive in Richie Havens'
agile fingers and vibrant voice.
"How many more will have to die?"
he implored in a strident anti-war song.
"You have planted a dream while I find
out what it means," he sang, noticing the
distance between idealism and reality.
After doing a gospel-sounding "happy
song" Havens focused his considerable
energies on the subject of freedom. His
neck bobbing back and forth as he
hunched over his guitar and danced
ecstatically, Havens was suddenly
transformed into a whirling dervish. As
they say at funerals, "He was gone but
not forgotten."
"Ten Wheel Drive" skidded and lost
control as the side attraction. They
wandered indecisively between funk and
jazz, never seemed to stay on either road.
Genya Ravin, a creditable female
vocalist, tried earnestly, energetically to
be another Joplin. She seiveled, torned,
lunged and at one point, lifted her arms
to exhort the audience to clap its hands.
Occasionally balancing perilously close to
the stage's edge, she cut the air with
soulful shrieks.
Her phrasing and range were good but
the mannerisms were borrowed. She
strained her larynx to a rasp. Yet Genya
Licked the focus, intensity, rhythmic
impulse or Southern Comfort that are so
uniquely Jams Joplin s. Her band, i.nten
upon channeling their energies behind an
emerging superstar, was thinly arranged.
Their blues jazz shuck featured some
attractive solos but they usually bped
into dissonance or repetition.
"Ten Wheel Drive" opened with bold,
brassy overtones. Genya Ravin bounced
on stage, singing. "We can make it." She
was nearly lost in the horns. Aram
Schefrin noodled doubtfully on a
nominally lead guitar. He had apparently
mastered the simpler chords. He
obviously didn't want to be Alvin Lee
since Miss Ravin was going to out-Janis
Joplin. He wasn't.
That number mercifully concluded,
Schefrin continued to play rhythm guitar.
With nothing to stop them, the three
trumpets, one trombone and one tenor
sax were played forcefully enough to lay
down a melodic line. "Morning Much
Better," their current single, seemed to
justify the horns. It is a song all about
love, making it and related subjects.
"Ten Wheel Drive" performed it ably.
The horns neatly underscored Genya
Ravin's vocal. In fact, the group meshed
here as Al Herman provided plenty of
bass pedal. Miss Ravin asked, "How many
times I told you baby that I'd do
anything you say?" She ended the song
with a scat line nothing short of
incredible: "Jaw-jaw-chicky-jaw."
Genya Ravin contributed a bluesy
harmonica to "Come Live With Me," a
lilting lament about self-discovery.
"You're Beautiful," an up-tempo
audience participation, punctuated by
organist Mike Zager's arpeggios, failed to
light anyone's fire. And that's mostly the
way "Ten Wheel Drive's" set went.
Lost And Found
LOST pair of black glasses on Navy field
prior to State game. Notify Jim Elder,
302 Pritchard Ave., or leave at Union
desk.
FOUND-female german shepherd puppy
on Franklin Street. Please call and
identify. 967-1032. Randy Mims.
LOST one pair of women's brown
square-rimmed glasses and pair of
women's black round-rimmed
prescription sun-glasses. If found call
either 933-2556 or 933-7377. $5.00
reward-.
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Ten HTieel Drive shifts into high
Campus Calendar
Student Consumer Cards and the
1970-71 Student Consumer Directories
are now on sale for SI. 00 at the Carolina
Union information desk.
The International Student Center will
have a picnic on the lawn in front of Carr
Dorm on Friday, Sept. 25, from 4:30
until 7:30 p.m. All students are invited to
attend.
The Di-Phi Society will hold its first
meeting of 1970-71 on Tuesday, Sept.
22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Senate chamber,
third floor, New West.
-
Thou shalt not lie, this applies even to
student government. Find out what's
going on this Wednesday at 7:30 in
- Gerrard Hall. , - - . :
There will be a meeting of Gamma
Sigma Sigma in Cobb parlor at 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday night. Members who cannot
come should contact Steve Mayo at
933-7378.
A general planning meeting for Hillel
activities will be held Wednesday night at
7:30 p.m. at Hillel House.
The Council on International
Relations and United Nations affairs will
meet Thursday Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. upstairs
in the Y. All interested students are urged
to attend.
Young World Development will meet
Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. upstairs at the Y
to organize programs for the year."
THE UNC FILM SOCIETY
ANNOUNCES ITS FALL 1970
PROGRAM
REVISED SCHEDULE
STARTING THIS THURSDAY
f X
All shows will be in the Great Hall in the Student Union. Thursdays at eight. The ten-program
subscription fee is $5.00, tickets available at the Student Union Desk, or at the door. Single admissions
will be sold at the door only for the first seven shows at one dollar each. (We will move to Carroll Hall as
soon as it is available.)
Sept. 24-TH E CAMERAMAN (1928) Directed by and starring Buster Keaton. This film,
only recently available in 16mm, is the first Keaton made after his own studio was sold
from under him. The few people to have seen it rate it one of his best.
Oct. 1 THE MERRY WIDOW (1934) Directed by Ernest Lubitsch; with Jeanette
MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier. A dashing officer from a mythical kingdom entices back
from Paris a rich young widow whose lavish expenditures are needed in her own country to
keep it solvent. A tongue-in-cheek musical.
Oct. 15-TWO OR THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER (1966) Directed by Jean-Luc
Godard. A beautiful example of Godard's "bourgeois" period. "The most dazzlingly
inventive and audacious artist in movies today" (Pauline Kael). "Godard is the archangel of
modern cinema, and he just won't go away" (Andrew Sarris, Village Voice).
Oct. 22-THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1961) Directed by John Ford.
With James Stewart, John Wayne, and Lee Marvin. 'The B-Western costumes, the simplicity
of movement and composition of . . . (the) black and white photography, the thorough
going brutality of Lee Marvin's villain, all combine to make The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance look like the Western" (Du Pre Jones, Sight and Sound).
Oct. 29-STOLEN KISSES (1969) Directed by Francois Truffaut. Starring Jean-Pierre
Leaud. A continuation of Truffaut's autobiography, which started with The 400 Blows,
with Jean-Pierre Leaud again playing the Truffaut character. This is one of Truffaut's most
charming films, won him the Best Director Award from the National Society of Film
Critics.
Nov. 12-STORM OVER ASIA (1928) Directed by V. I. Pudovkin. Pudovkin, who also
directed Mother and The End of St. Petersburg, supervised this version, which has sound
and music added. This, his last silent film, is a superb demonstration of his technical
mastery and flair for broad, sweeping action. In 1952, Sight and Sound listed this as one of
the best films of all time.
Nov. 19 GATE OF HELL (1954) Directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. One of the ?at films
of Japanese cinema, Gate of Hell remains one of the most distinguished films ever produced
by Japanese filmmakers. The use of color is outstanding; it prompted Eastman House to
request prints of the film for their archives, and to demonstrate the range of effects possible
with Eastmancolor.
Dec. 10-TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932) Directed by Ernest Lubitsch. Made at the
height of the Depression, this sophisticated comedy lightly mocked the earnestness of this
period, causing some critics to find it "flimsy." Seen today, however, one must agree with
Lubitsch's own opinion that he did nothing finer.
Jan. 7-SPIES (1928) Directed by Fritz Lang. In this German silent, Lang, who went on to
make films in Hollywood, presents a picture of a master criminal, who is banker, spy, and
clown. This is a print of the abbreviated American-release version.
Jan 14-MOROCCO (1930) Directed by Josef von Sternberg. With Marlene Dietrich and
Gary Cooper. This had been scheduled for last spring's program, but was unavailable for
that date. We are trying once more. .