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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2004)
Fancy-schmancy COCKTAILS & SUPER SEXY BARTENDERS! One block from UofO campus lounge opens @ 5pm 1769 Franklin Blvd. 541.342.4872 Abandon all willpower, YE WHO ENTER the Siam Society, The information you need is in the Oregon Daily Emerald. Look for the 2004 ASUO Elections Voter’s Guide included with the regular paper on Monday, April 12 or online at www.dailyemerald.com. CANDIDATES: Mandatory meeting tonight! Meetings held at 6pm and 8pm. Voter’s Guide photos will be taken. EMU Maple Room asuoelefc@gladstone.uoregon.edu • 346-0629 UO School of Music World Music Series presents “ of Armenia The Shoghaken Armenian Folk Ensemble Sunday, April 4 8 p.m., BEALL HALL UO School of Music $10 General Admission, $8 students & seniors, available only at the door. oi UNIVERSITY OF OREGON Cacophony, chaos can play viable role in modem music Recently, while flipping through a collection of writings by the late rock critic Lester Bangs, 1 came across an arti cle where Bangs presented a guide to recordings of chaotic, cacophonic mu sic that he affectionately referred to as "horrible noise." He argued that such music had an invigorating quality and served a distinct purpose in our society. In these days of heightened produc tion values and clean-cut arrange ments, the importance of cacophony has been mostly forgotten. You'll still hear it occasionally at some rock con certs, when bands will just wail on their instruments for half a minute. It's usually a gimmick to signal the end of the show, but it really isn't a compositional element. But as a number of 20th-century avant-garde composers proved, noise, chaos and cacophony can all work in a composition. The only limit on music is the frame that an artist puts around it Once they make a noise — or don't make a noise, as in the case of the John Cage composition that consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of silence — and call that noise music, it is up to the audience to decide whether they will accept it as music. I find that I will ac cept it as such in many cases. If I can find a groovy rhythm in a passing freight train, I can certainly enjoy some of the delirious noise that musicians have put on record. So, in memory of Mr. Bangs, I have decided to form the Society for the Preservation of Horrible Noise in Mu sic, or SPHNM. Suggested recordings and monetary donations are being ac cepted. On that note, here is a list of a few of my favorite bits of audio terror ism, minus the selections already Ryan Nyburg Budget rack compiled by Bangs. Feel free to write in with further suggestions, so that I can get another easy column out of this. Beat Happening, "This Many Boyfriends Club": The closing track on this Olympia, Wash, band's dassic "Jamboree" album. It's a live record ing consisting of lead singer Calvin Johnson crooning over the howl and squeal of a feedbacking guitar. A haunting little ditty punctuated by the audience screaming in either ecstasy or agony, depending on who you ask. The Mothers of Invention, "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Sexually Aroused Gas Mask": Another live track, this one off of "Weasels Ripped My Flesh," a compilation of material left over after Frank Zappa broke up the Mothers. The track is full of grind ing feedback, maniacal laughter, drunken opera and other bits of glo rious cacophony. It's kind of like mu sic concrete re-created live. The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet, "Free Jazz": This jazz experi ment is about as dose a recorded work has ever come to sustained an archy. For nearly 40 minutes, Cole man and every member of his band play essentially whatever they feel like, occasionally coming together for a moment or two, but mostly just devi ating as far apart from each other as possible. Trance music for the ages. Sonic Youth, "Scooter & Jinx": After moving to a major label, there was some speculation that Sonic Youth might try to soften their sound for mass consumption. But this track, off their major label debut "Goo," dis pelled any fears of selling out. For just over a minute, layers of overdubbed guitars grind away with glorious dis sonance, evoking images of a motor cycle gang ready to conquer the heart land of an unsuspecting America. Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, "Hair Pie: Bake 1": One of the noisier efforts off Beefheart's classic "Trout Mask Replica" album. An in strumental piece that starts off with the entire band playing horns simul taneously. About half way through, drums and some atonal guitars kick in. The whole thing ends with what sounds like a member of the band talking to some unsuspecting passers by. Pure dada music. John Cage, "Music of Changes," performed by Joseph Kobera: A good example of Cage's theory of "indeter minism," which removes choice from musical composition. The musical passages are selected by flipping I Ching coins. To most listeners, it sounds like a guy banging random notes on a piano at strange intervals. As with most of these selections, it's not for everyone. For those who fancy chaos, it's a masterpiece. Contact the senior Pulse reporter at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com. His opinions do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. Sexy Cabaret’production sizzles The Very Little Theatre's performance of 'Cabaret' is hot and heavy and worth the ticket for admission By Natasha Chilingerian Pulse Reporter The musical "Cabaret," whether on stage or on screen, is full of glamour, glitter and sex. In The Very Little The atre's production, these glitzy elements take command, but the real backbone of the show is a hard-hit ting history lesson. The musical drama, presented in the 75-year-old venue located at 2350 Hil yard St., tells a heartbreaking tale of de stroyed relationships in early Nazi Ger many. When a straight-laced American writer, Cliff Bradshaw (played by the lanky boyish Evan Howells), arrives in Berlin to work on a novel, he finds the lights and free living of the city quite a distraction. He is se duced by a nightclub singer, Sally Bowles (played by the sultry Liz Kadel), who promptly moves into the rented room where he resides. The two continue to "live in sin" among a cast of carefree characters, in cluding a blond female tenant with a sailor fetish and their elderly German landlord, Fraulein Schneider, who falls in love with a jolly Jewish grocer, Herr Shultz. They all go about their THEATER REVIEW business with an "anything goes" per spective until the rising power of the Nazi party turns their laid-back world upside down. The Emcee at the local night club, the Kit Kat Club (played by the charming, charismatic Tegue DeLeon) ties the show together with bright comical sketches that comment on issues with in the plot. In one scene, a woman and a man in drag depict the characters' un restrained lifestyles by singing behind a blanket. In another, the Emcee dances with a gorilla, metaphorically explain ing how the public views Schneider's inter-cultural relationship with Shultz. The interjected skits add a little extra thought-provoking and creative enter tainment to the already captivating production. The rapport between Schneider and Shultz brings a touching aspect to the musical. The actors show a genuine care for one another, and Shultz is pre cious and generous in his courting of Schneider, which centers around gifts of fruit and leads to an engagement. Turn to CABARET, page 12 Pregnant? Talk with a friend. 1.800.848. LOVE possiblypregnant.org
