I
visits
:k McLarty, an associate professor at
ortland Art Museum, will be giving a
presentation during Mayo Roy's Philo-
i 204 class, Wednesday, Jan. 26 in
151 in Barlow Hall.
:Larty teaches painting, drawing and
iced wood cutting and engraving at
:Larty is a nationally recognized artist
lad his work shown in the Smithsonian
ute's invitational show in 1972.
! wa also an award winner during
letltior held last year by the Oregon
Wash ngton art commissions.
cLart is currently illustrating a book
«try and will have one of his paintings
iirthe new wing being built in the
al building in Salem.
le presentation is open to anybody
would like to come.
held over
mtcry, Tennessee Williams' newest dra-
is held over for six additional per-
lances at The New Theatre in its new
tion, 0858 SW Palatine Hill Rd., just
h of the Lewis and Clark College cam-
Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday,
ay jind Saturday, Jan. 20-29.
t is a sensitive and fascinating portrayal
i troubled brother and sister by Rollie
ff and Victoria Parker.
ane Hadley Wulff directs this play with-
play about two actors on tour.
/ictoria Parker has recently appeared in
the regional College Theatre Festival a;
"Blanche" in "Streetcar Named Desire".
She is well k~own for her work in comedies
for Savoir Faire, The New Theatre and
others.
Singer staged
Mary Travers, folksinger extraordinaire,
has been scheduled for a concert on stage
at the Portland Civic Auditorium on Fri­
day, Feb. 4 at 8 p.m.
Mary Travers has the distinction of ha­
ving had two separate but equally success­
ful musical careers, first as one-third of
Peter, Paul and Mary, and then as an out­
standing solo artist. She has sung not only
before heads of state and Presidents of the
United States, but with and for millions of
people - such as those who marched from
Selma to Montgomery in pursuit of Martin
Luther King's dream in 1963, and with one
of the greatest masses of people ever assem­
bled in the nation's history in 1970 in
Washington. Mary, along with Peter and
Paul, became a folk institution.
In 1970 the group retired, and an indivi­
dual emerged. Peter, Paul and Mary was a
tough act to follow, but three fine Warner
Brothers albums (a fourth is on its way) and
a host of concerts later, Mary has pulled
it off. The lean lady once tucked between
two guitar players now stalks the stage on
her own.
Tickets for the Mary Travers concert on
Feb. 4, priced at $6.50, $5.50 and $4.50
are on sale now at Celebrity Attractions,
1010 S.W. Morrison, Portland, Ore. 97205.
In review
Steely Dan: on a road to ecstasy
By James Rogers
Cougar Print Editor
■This week's unrecognizable album
classic is "Countdown to Ecstasy" by
Steely Dan.
■If ever the definitive rock and roll
album existed, "Countdown to Ec­
stasy" would be the album.
This album was released in 1973
and followed Dan's highly successful
first album, "Can't Buy a Thrill."
While the first album produced two
successful singles ("Reelin' in the
Years" and "Do It Again"), "Count­
down to Ecstasy" was only mildly
successful, although one semi-hit came
from the album.
^The semi-hit song in question is
"My Old School." The song contains
what should go down in history as
the best guitar solo ever to appear on
a lock and roll album.
As a band, Steely Dan has always
sounded super tight. The team effort
is what distinguishes this band from
the legions of rock and roll bands that
have to rely on one performer to
keep their performance level up.
On 'Ecstasy' the band discards the
traditional hit-'em-hard-and-fast song
format which is probably one of the
main reasons this album didn't sell as
well as it should have. For the most
part, listeners aren't willing to hear
songs that last longer than three min­
utes and extended pieces have seldom
done well on AM radio.
■The quality of the songs on this
album is far above the stuff that is
.January 20,1977
usually doled out to the public and
Dan's songwriters Walter Becker and
Donald Fagen may well be the Lennon/
McCartney of the seventies.
While they have yet to turn out a
less than perfect song, the songs on
"Ecstasy" are works of extra inspir­
ation. From "Bodhisattva," the first
cut on the album, to "King of the
World," the last cut, the mood is
constantly changing from slick rock
to ballads to punk rock and back to
slick rock.
Both Denny Dias and Jeff "$kunk"
Baxter prove themselves to be first
class rock guitarists on this album,
but it is the work of Baxter in parti­
cular that stands out.
Baxter's style is practically flaw­
less and on this album there are no
stock guitar licks to suffer through,
just well thought out improvisations.
Baxter has since gone on to join The
Doobi. Brothers. Unfortunately, in­
stead of his influence upgrading that
band's sound, he has become just
another lead guitar player.
This review may seem a little bit
hyped but if you buy this album I
guarantee that if you have any sense
of that which is musically sound, you
will like it.
If you hear this album and think
it's a piece of trash, you probably
listen to Ted Nugent, Peter Frampton
and K.C. and the $unshine Band and
are beyond help. If you are in this
category, forget what you have just
read and go to the front of the vege­
table section in the nearest super­
market.
Evening News skit, is pictured during last
Friday's Open Mike performance by the
improvisational theatre group "Schizoid
Plus". The group will perform bi-weekly in
the CC Mall during winter term.
:
Hepburn stars
Katharine Hepburn, making a rare stage
appearance, stars in playwright Enid Bag-
nold's Broadway comedy, "A Matter of
Gravity," which begins a seven performance
run at the Auditorium on Wednesday, Jan.
26.
,
"A Matter of Gravity", produced by
Robert Whitehead and Roger L. Stevens, is
a contemporary comedy about a sophisti­
cated, vibrant woman with a fine sense of
heritage and a deep fascination with life,
love and morality. The play revolves around
her life and the lives of her grandson, a
quartette of his unorthodox friends, and an
eccentric servant.
Hepburn, whose brilliant career began
on Broadway, has earned rave notices for
her role in the production. Clive Barnes of
The New York Times sums up her per­
formance with this tribute: "Katharine Hep­
burn with her radiant beauty, her grace and
meticulous theatrical sensibility, is perfectly
remarkable."
One of the truly great actresses of our
time, Hepburn has won international ac-
claim for her work in theatre, film and
television. Her last Broadway touring attrac­
tion was "Coco."
Evening performances are scheduled for
8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Mat­
inees are set for 2:30 p.m. on Thursday,
Saturday and Sunday. Tickets for the per­
formances are available now by mail order
only at the Ticket Place at Lipman's down­
town.
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