Other Arts & Re(7i3¥73 No Sour Grapes This was my second time seeing The Grapes of Wrath, and! was very impressed. The first time I saw them wasat 86 Street. The band was fairly laid back, as was the audience. Various guest musicians played instruments like cello and lapsteel with the band. The Grapes of Wrath Commodore Ballroom October 30, 1992 reviewed by Byrun Stedmann This time however, The Grapes were anything but laid-back. They played with emotion and energy which gave the music immense power. The audience was very energeticas well; unfortunately there were some people who seemed to think that they were at G.W.A.R. or Pantera rather than The Grapes of Wrath. There was a real moron mentality in the Commodore that night: beer bottles were thrown, certain individuals started slam dancing and became physically abusive. One male member in particular was extraordinarily anti- social. He didn’t just slam dance, he was trying to hurt people. At shows like Soundgarden, or Ministry I would expect a more violent crowd, but The Grapes of Wrath? Come on guy, get a grip. He didn't just slam dance, he was trying to hurt people. Both the sound and the lighting crew were really off the ball for this show. The lighting was poor and quite ordinary. The most interesting effect was the lighting off of the backdrop, that made the stage look like the album cover for These Day’s. The sound man seemed to be grooving on the mix he had laid down for the band, but shouldn’t have. The mix was poor for most of the night; the keyboardist and Kevin Kane’s guitar solos were hardly audible. Despite these problems, theband was tight and they played with a greatamount professionalism. Some The He the Other Press Hey, All You Happy Slaves “ Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education, and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or evenmuch popular notice. The result is that we area culture on the verge of amusing itself to death.” -Neil Postman, 1985 1984 was George Orwell's dark prophecy of global totalitarianism. When the year 1984 actually rolled around we held our breath to see if Big Brother would be watching. A collective sigh of relief was breathed when our darkest fears did not come to pass. Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to Death Penguin Books Reviewed by Angus Adair In 1985, a professor of communications arts and sciences at NYU, Neil Postman, published a book called Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman’s book makes it clear that our relief may be premature. It isa powerful and disturbing critique of the age in which we now live. An age Postman has dubbed The Age of Show Business. Hesuggests that while we were holding our breath anxiously awaiting 1984, we missed what was really happening- Aldous Huxley’s prophecy of happy slaves in Brave New World, not Orwell's prophecy of Big Brother in 1984. Hemakesastrong case that there is no reason to ban books, deprive anyone of information, conceal the truth from us, or suggest weareacaptiveculture. The reasons for this are that no one wants to read, we have so much information that we are “reduced to passivity and egoism”, the truth is “drowned in a sea of irrelevance” and we are a “trivial culture” in love with the mindless trivia propagated by television. Postman makes the observation that in Orwell’s vision of the future we would be controlled by pain, that “what we hate will ruin us.” Postman asserts that what has happened, and is continuing at the speed of light at which our technologies function, isthat weare controlled by “inflicting pleasure” and that “what we love will ruin us.” Postman’s book has recently become the focus of attention for some media journalists. This is not because of how importantitis, (and itis = sifex presents FRE/Capitol Recording Artists —, = ie Lf ij with special guests FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27 THE COMMODORE . Doors:8:30pm Tickets available at all Ticketmaster outlets & charge by phone, 280-444. These Days, took a back seat to their older material which came across with a great sense of freshness. In fact, most of the material seemed to come from thealbums, Treehouse and Now and Again. At the start of their first encore they playeda great cover of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold,” and followed with an outstanding version of a very old Pink Floyd song, “See Emily Play” (whichcanbe found on the CD single for “I am Here”). The Mea 5 acts weren't too bad. Deadhead Cool (featuring Eugene Ripper) is a poor excuse for a reggae band, but their other “non- reggae” songs were O.K. I had never heard Circle C before this concert and I did enjoy thematthe beginning of their set and end of their set, but they lagged in the middle. This, I have been led to understand, could bedueto arecentchangein the band line-up. Next time any of these bands play, I would recommend going to E N/| ers animportant work on therole of Yes, I know, I am using an unoriginal title, but it is the title most apt for the topic of this series: the decay of society. We live ina time of great unrest; a general feeling of uneasiness is in the air. People have lost faith in their leaders and in institutions -a lack of trust pervades. by Byrun Stedmann Society has become apathetic. People have ceased to care about the problems, theatrocities,and theneeds of the world around them. People have become self-centred, looking out for number one. Violence in society is on the rise. Itis fed tous regularly by way of the media in our society) but because Roger Waters, formerly of the rock band Pink Floyd, used it as inspiration for the title and content of his latest album. It would appear , Postman has become an example of his own point concerning the sea of relevant irrelevance. This review can, by no means fully explain the details of Postman’s thesis. In fact it would be tragically ironic to soundbite a book about TV’s presenation of the trivial and superficial as deep and meaningful. However, the most important point in Postman’s book is that technology is ideology, and ignorance and apathy of this will prove very dangerous indeed. Postman is not simply on an anti-tech tirade. His book is a thoughtful and careful analysis of how culture changes, when the way it communicates with itself changes. He shows how epistemologys differ from oral based cultures to simple print based cultures to'print based cultures with printing presses to the telegraph, to radio, to where we sit today- in front of our TV sets, The Decline of Western Civilization television and film industries. We hearaboutten year old boysinvolved in the gang rapes of six year old girls. People are assaulted and killed for wearing the wrong kind of clothing, having the ‘wrong’ colour of skin, and believing in a different zelie’ on. The next article will be on apathy, hopelessness and the end of history. factioned and fractured then it ever has been in history. Conflicts among November 13th, 1992 ou iS | te | iy a, | ah De) RLBAW Lh hhh ek ee -_-=e@° I ri ela baa tee tee ta ne + + > She mteew mewn ss ee eee a a ee rte +o} eres, I ees S 3S a a hee | S BABA -_—- ee wee MENNR BEB evear eet Sie tel ey sR SABESr VS BBrxx»a Br«B sare eek ae awe ve ee ee ee Sem VBesessas SBrrweeeemarsear es Sa people haveincreased. Wefightabout racial and gender equality (or inequality), sexual orientation, politics, religion, the environment, violence in the media, gun control, abortion, euthanasia, immigration, human rights, studentrights, animal rights, concert locations, bus fare, etc. Divided we stand, ateach other’s throats we fall. Over thecourseof the year! will be writing more observations about our post-modern society. I’ll be looking at the opinions and the theories of many prominent thinkers and figures incivilization today. The next article will be on apathy, hopelessness and the end of history. Foolish to Ignore Immaculate Fools How this album escaped the attention of mainstream “rock radio” is a mystery to me. Frankly, I’m amazed. Roger Waters just gotaway with yet another comeback, political gibberish spews forth from another in the endless queue of left over sizzled mindsof the sixties...but fresh talentthelikes ofImmaculate Fools is ignored?! The Toy Shop Immaculate Fools Sony Music reviewed by: Mark S. Foster Gimmeabreak, man! Immaculate Fools second offering, The Toy Shop, has it all. These guys may not be former Floyders, but they’re every bit as polemical as Waters. Or Cockburn. Maybe even more to the point. The kicker is they don’t sound sameasiteverwas, sameasiteverwas... Don’t be too surprised if names like Barry Wickens, Brian Betts, Paul Skidmore, Paul Weatherilland Kevin Weatherill soon find their places in the annals of politically expressive rock ‘n roll. The political diatribes (and the description fits!) areinterspaced with Celtic folk tunes that measure up to the level of expertise we North American listeners have come to froma genre most of us know precious little about. These cuts are the beginning and the end of any major similarities Immaculate Fools have with anything in this week’s...month’s...year’s mainstream. If you’re listening to “rock radio,” or you fancy yourself to be on the forefront of new music, you're really missing something if you choose to ignore Immaculate Fools. Take a chance on something the mainstream ignored. Surprise yourself. One more thing, Immaculate Fools are playing the fabulous Commodore November 24th. Alongside none other than Rolling Stone(and superstarin his ownright) Ronnie Wood. Trust me on this one. Hey Phill, How Does it Feel to be Fabulous? Never heard of him? Jimi Hendrix considered him one the best guitarists of the late sixties. When asked howitfelttobe the best guitarist in the world, Edward Van Halen replied, “Ask Phil Keaggy.” Keaggy has been around for just about 25 years. Phil Keaggy November 7th, 1992 Glad Tidings reviewed by Byrun Stedmann He played with a band called Glass Harp; in 1968 they opened for bands like Chicago and Yes. Then, around 1972, he disappeared from the-music scene.-He had become a Christian, which in the music world usually means relegation toobscurity. Sinceabout 1977 he has churned out fourteen albums. His latest album, Beyond Nature, is an instrumental album which expands onhisalready impressive technique. Keaggy showcased this technique in a concert in East Vancouver at Glad Tidings (a name too seasonal to be a church), with just himself and his acoustic guitar. He was humourous and humble. He played for two hours and forty five minutes, with much of the material coming from hislatestalbum and the album before it, Find Me In These Fields. He. expanded upon set material, quite often taking the music to places it had never been before. He gotcloseand nal tothe audience as he explained what his songs were aboutand talked about various times of his life. He covered three Beatles songs, “Help”, ” In My Life”, and “ Penny Lane” (during “Penny Lane” he pulled off a great Paul McCartney impersonation), showing their influence on his music. I hope he comes back soon as he has a new album coming out called, Crimson Blue. If you appreciate fine musicianship, go see Keaggy- even if you aren’t a Christian, because he gives an exceptional performance.