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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 28, 2000)
_PoP.Mus Q Rock Poets Society Patti Smith’s father is pictured on the cover of her new CD Cung Ho. Time has not been kind to the rock poet. In a musical world where audience consciousness is formed by the quick-cut mentality of MTV, is the rock poet a hopeless anachronism? Two new releases, Cung Ho by Patti Smith (Arista), and Ecstasy by Lou Reed (Reprise), provide a mixed answer to that question. First, the good news. Cung Ho is a stunning return to form by the original punk poetess, after years of substandard work. After the deaths of her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith of MC5 fame, her friend and ex-lover, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and her brother Todd, Smith’s 1996 Gone Again and 1998 Peace and Noise were mortality-obsessed, as the singer blurred the lines between private and public selves. But while Gung Ho’s cover fea tures a photo of her recently deceased father, the album is more a celebration than a wake. Gung Ho finds Smith taking on the role of social commentator, like her late mentor Allen Ginsberg. On the rockin’ single "Glitter In Their Eyes," she scathingly critiques a society that has so easily fallen back into the "greed is good" ethos of the ’80s. And in "Strange Messengers," Smith throws away the lyric sheet to go off on an extended improvisation, tak ing on the persona of a deceased black slave excoriating today’s nihilistic street youth. Gung Ho shows Patti Smith in peak form. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Lou Reed’s ironically named Ecstasy. Reed has become so enveloped in himself, what with sani tized PBS documentaries, published collections of lyrics (the new Pass Thru Fire) and the like, that he is unable to do anything except regurgitate past versions of himself. Ecstasy is proof that, if you're gonna be a poet, it’s best to have *#3® something to say. Only on the epic, free-form poem "Like A Possum" do --- we get any glimpse of the man who penned classics like "Heroin" and "Sister Ray." • For links to Patti Smith and Lou Reed fan clubs, label affiliations, chat groups, music reviews and more, log on to www.steamtunnels.net Reed: Time to revitalize? Cheap Digital Cameras Three new models for under $100 By Nick Montfort Agfa ePhoto Smile The new hobby of digital photography used to be expensive, but that’s changed. A digital camera can be acquired for one picture of Ben Franklin, bringing them to budget-conscious artists. Even the best of these ultra-low-cost cameras takes noticeably pixilated photos. (Not "grainy" photos; grain is a property of film.) If super-sharp reality capture is your aim, cheap digital photography may disappoint. But if you're experimenting with digital art, or just want casual snapshots, the under-$100 digi tal cameras are for you. There are three cameras available for under $100. The ixla Photo Easy hooks to USB or serial lines, stores 30 photos, but lacks an LCD display to view the pictures you’ve taken. A Mac version of the camera is in the works. The Mustek VDC-3500, with only a serial port, stores 8 photos. At lower resolution, 26 images can be stored. Finally, the Agfa ePhoto Smile can hold 16 photos and has a serial inter face, but has been reported to burn through batteries. At an even lower price, Polaroid offers the PhotoMax Fun Digital 320 Creative Kit for about $60. Sans an LCD display, the camera has 320x240 resolution and 2MB of memory to keep about 15 images. Occasionally, great media systems are tucked away in the toy aisles, as when Fisher Price offered the incredible Pixelvision PXL 2000 video camera a few years ago. Now kiddies are being sold the flashless JamCam, which retails for about $80, but requires long exposures to acquire its 640x480 images. Only steady hands (or a tripod) and bright outdoor lighting can bring decent results. Besides the Jam Cam, there's Matell Media's camera (vari ously branded Barbie, World Wrestling _ Federation, and Nick Click) which can be had for about $60. Polaroid plans to roll out a just-under-$100 I-Zone Pocket Combination Camera later this year. This one will sell in other retail outlets as well as toy stores. • If you're looking to experiment, or just want casual snapshots to serve as memorabilia, the under~$100 digital cameras are for you For the complete look at cheap digital cameras, and more of Nick Montfort's articles on technology tools and trends, log on to www.steamtunnels.net ley % Soyouwanna... Avoid a ticket? Here’s the inside scoop. Nothing can ruin your day like getting a traffic ticket. But if you take our advice, you'll see it’s pretty easy to talk your way out of one. Avoiding a traffic ticket involves two things: not getting caught in the first place, and know ing what to do if you do. The trick is not to draw attention to your self. Dirty cars, bizarre bumper stickers, loud music and red cars all attract attention; make your car look as bland as possible. It also helps to know the ticket quota system in your neigh borhood. It’s true: traffic cops have a quota each month. The beginning of the month and the end of the month tend to be the heaviest ticket-doling times. And find out from friends where they have gotten hit with tickets, and be careful around those streets. And if you’re traveling, there’s an online source that you must check out, www.speedtrap.com, a state-by-state guide to speed traps, updated daily. If you do get pulled over, two things help: Crying and begging. DON’T say that you or your passenger is sick (too much acting). A surprisingly effective story is “Officer, I really need to use a restroom. Could you please follow me to the near est rest stop?” Officers will occasionally under stand. If the officer asks you any questions (“Do you know how fast you were going?”), always play dumb. A cop would rather give a ticket to a smart person who knowingly broke a rule than to a moron who made a mistake. NEVER be a wise guy. Asking for the cop’s badge number, trying to bribe him, asking to see the radar gun, trying to act like a big shot—anything that puts the cop on the defensive—is bad news. If you do get a ticket, fight it in court. Not that we encourage you to speed, of course... • /Tor complete details on avoiding a traffic's, ticket, log on to www.steamtunnels.net. For how-to articles on all sorts of cool \stuff, visit www.soyouwanna.com.
