Arts and Entertainment KEEPING UP

Hearts of the West: The Amon Carter Museum of Western Art in Fort Worth has a special display of Ansel Adams’ photographs of the Southwest on display through May 22.

Warblers’ Return: May brings the Met, this year with four operas and a galaxy of superstars, May 12-14 in the Music Hall. Seep. 32 for details.

Tee Party: The Byron Nelson Golf Classic, benefiting the Salesmanship Club Youth Camps, takes place May 2 through 8 at Preston Trail Golf Club. See p. 55 for details.

Fiddlers’ Spree: The Farmer’s Market, 1010 S. Pearl, will be the scene of the second annual Flower Festival, May 14 and 15, featuring the music of The Original Bob Wills Playboys Saturday at 8 p.m. and the Dallas Symphony on Sunday at 3p.m. Street dancing, arts, crafts, fruits and vegetables. For ticket information call 744-1133.

Arts of the Fest: The 500 Inc.’s annual Artfest takes place May 28-29 at Fair Park. There’ll be a Celebrity Auction, special exhibits, and music by the North Texas Lab Band.

Music

Alex Moore and the Birth of Texas Blues

Whistlin’ Alex Moore was born in North Dallas in November of 1899. Today he is one of the few surviving members of a school of Texas barrelhouse pianists who were to exert considerable influence on both the blues and jazz idioms. They played blues slightly flavored with ragtime elements, with the left hand delivering strong bass lines in the style of Pete Johnson, a well-known musician who influenced Moore, and, variously, with what has come to be referred to as “walking bass” patterns. The later (and popular) boogie-woogie styles employed walking bass but the Texas pianists predated boogie-woogie by over a decade.

Unlike some Texas bluesmen (like Blind Lemon Jefferson and, later, Light-nin’ Hopkins), Moore did not record pro-lifically. But in May of 1929 he did six excellent sides for Columbia, a label that did a substantial amount of recording in Dallas in the late Twenties, and these records are highly prized by collectors. So are his two Decca 78’s, like the humorous “Blue Bloomer Blues” (Decca 7288, recorded February 18, 1937), a song whose lyrics are too sexually blatant to be referred to merely as “double-entendre.”

But Alex Moore is not a dated old man relevant only to the music of a bygone era. He has recorded two critically-acclaimed albums for Chris Strachwitz’s Berkeley-based Arhoolie label, and he recently did an extensive tour of Europe with other blues notables like Juke Boy Bonner (another Texan) and Carey Bell. But he can still tell you how Texas music was many years ago, and he can tell you about a Dallas that most have never seen.

He can remember Oak Cliff when it was a virtual swamp, dotted with honky tonks where the old piano men played to rough, heavily armed crowds. White’s Road House was one of the places where Alex himself played, and it was located “back in the woods in a little thicket where Love Field is now.” He played in all the old Dallas road houses, the juke joints, and the gambling dens, in what he calls “chock house days.”

“Chock,” remembers Alex, “isn’t noth-in’ but fruit and sugar and water and yeast. You put you some fruit on, and cook it, and put some water and sugar and yeast in it, and then let it set for three or four days so it’d ferment. Yeh, the city’d wanna arrest ’em and fine ’em for chock, but I imagine that if I could tell a judge about it, he’d go home and make him some!”

Alex has worked all his life, and he can recite whole lists of places that have employed him. He was a boy of about 17 when he helped build the Adolphus Hotel downtown on Commerce. He also worked in a grocery store owned by a white man named J.C. McCauley. This is significant because the McCauleys were “like mamma and pappa” to Alex, and because of the way he could control their bulldog Jack. He could whistle one way and cause the dog to sit up and beg, and by changing the inflection of the whistle he could cause the dog to become belligerent and attack other dogs. So Alex Moore became Whistlin’ Alex Moore, and he was later to use his whistling ability to individualize his recordings.

He remembers women like pianist Mary Wright, and singer Bobby Cadillac who went on to recording success somewhat greater than his own. Recording, in fact, is not a subject Alex takes pains to recall details about. His memory is phenomenal when it comes to names, addresses, or anything pertinent to Dallas, but recording is apparently not an aspect of music that was ever particularly important to him.

“I recorded for lotsa places around these little studios . . . sho’ … 1 made many records around, but it’s been so long ago I don’t remember. I played piano tor Blind Norris MacHenry, he sang and I played piano. ’Sun Down Blues’ by Blind Norris MacHenry. Norris was a heavy drinker, he could take a half pint of whiskey and turn it up and drink it right down! But yeh, we recorded together, they sent us up to Chicago together. Whistlin’ Billiken [Johnson] was on that [record], makin’ a train introduction.” (Alex imitates a train.) “Whistlin’ Billiken died around 1967. He wasn’t doin’ too much, and time done run out on a lot of them guys.”

Time has run out for a lot of the places where they played, too. There are still cities that support active blues scenes but Dallas is not one of them, so Alex gigs infrequently. He did play a tew years ago at Mother Blue’s. More recently he had some gigs at Strictly Tabu, the home territory of vibist Ed Hagan, but (except for an occasional engagement at some nondescript tavern) this has been about it. Things weren’t always this way for Whist-lin’ Alex.

“God, I used to play all over. I played at the Athletic Club for a Mr. Leavey, and at his Columbia Club, too. I played the Gay 90s on Maple Street, around ’57, ’58. I went to work at 5:00, played one hour on the ground floor and then a white girl – Miss Pat – she came in at 6:00 and taken over, and I went in the base-ment and played there where they was dancin’. I played there from Monday till Friday, then Buster Smith’s Hot Heat Wave Band came in and played Saturday nights. One of the best jobs I ever had was playin’ Pam’s Strip Tease Bar and Dance Lounge, used to be on Ross and Haskell. I played with a band there. I played a place called This Is It with Frank Dem-mons, back in the early Forties. I played for Miss Randolph on Fuqua, and I played with Frank Reed, he was a star . . . guy about 6’4″, could really play, too! I used to play for a guy ran a place called The Silver Slipper, he also ran the Hungry Eye over the State Theater around 1959. And later, I used to play some for Ben Kearne, he run a music store in Irving and he used to have me come in and play for his students. After I played for him five, six times he gave a big entertainment at the YMCA in Irving and I played for that.”

Paul Oliver is an English writer who has been the author of numerous books about the blues idiom; he regards the recordings of Alex Moore as “some of the most profound, moving and poetic blues that have ever been issued.” So he and Chris Strachwitz set out to record Moore in Dallas on July 30, 1960. The result was a record album (Alex Moore, Arhoolie F-1008) that illustrated the fact that neither the man’s lyrical talents nor his piano ability had diminished from the days when he recorded his 78’s. His voice was smokey and textured, and if his right hand sometimes flew with almost chaotic speed over the keyboard, his playing never for an instant ceased to be interesting and individualistic. His lyrics could be witty (like on “Pretty Woman with a Sack Dress On”), but Oliver remembers the implicit violence on older records, like the almost shocking “Ice Pick Blues” (Columbia 14518-D) of the 1929 sessions. The record was and is (it is still available) an artistic success, as is a second album (Arhoolie 1048) recorded in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1969, when Alex found himself playing to enthusiastic audiences in Munich, Copenhagen, and other places that appreciated his talents more than did people in his own nation.

Arhoolie records are occasionally available in record stores in Dallas, but the best way to get them is by writing the company: Arhoolie Records/Box 9195/ Berkeley, CA 94709.

It is possible to become quite melodramatic about bluesmen, but when everyone seems so concerned with roots, it seems imperative to me that Whistlin’ Alex Moore is not forgotten. Because… as far as Texas music goes… he was there in the beginning.

– Tim (Mit) Schuller



Concerts

Dallas Symphony Orcheastra. May 6 & 7 at 8 15 p.m., Verdi’s Requiem Mass, with soprano Johanna Meier, mezzo-soprano Birgit Finnilae, bass Ezio Flagello. and conducted by Louis Lane. State Fair Music Hall/692-0203.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. May 1. pianist Luiz De Moura Castro. Also on the program, a mixed chorus from TCU, UTA, and Schola Canto-rum of Texas in Carmina Burana. 8:15 p.m. in the Tarrant County Convention Center Theatre. $3, $4, $5, $6, $7. ((817)921-2676.

Metropolitan Optra, presented by the Dallas Grand Opera Association. May 12, 7:30 p.m., Marilyn Horne in Le Prophete; May 13, 7 p.m., Pilar Loren-gar in Lohengrin; May 14, 1:30 p.m., The Magic Flute with Benita Valente: May 14, 8 p.m., // Trova-tore with Renata Scotto. State Fair Music Hall. Tickets $5-$25. Write the Association, 13601 Preston Rd #212 West, or call 661- 9750.

Kool Jazz Festival. May 29 at 7:30 p.m in Texas Stadium. Scheduled are Natalie Cole, The Spinners, AI Green, Ronnie Dyson, and The Mighty Clouds of Joy. Tickets $7.50-$12.50. Call 630-8800 for ticket locations.

Dallas Civic Chorus, with members of the DallasSymphony Orchestra, perform Handel’s Israel inEgypt May 10 at 8:15 p.m. in SMU’s Caruth Auditorium. Tickets $3 at the door or from PrestonTicket Agency.

Art

Diana Souza’s Fantastical Photographs



“People can say whatever they want about my work so long as they don’t call it traditional or conventional.”

Having just finished looking through Diana Souza’s portfolio, which included a portrait of her cousin with a wastebasket over his head and a series of tinted prints of corny dogs and rocket rides, I wasn’t about to make that mistake.

“Whimsical, off-beat, funky, fantastical.” I ran through as many synonyms for “unconventional” as I could think of.

“Fantastical is a good word to use,” Diana remarked, “because many of my photographs are visual records of my fantasies. In a sense, I’m using my work to live them out.

She folded herself more comfortably into a rocking chair and went on.

“My obsessions as well, like the State Fair. The place is a deluge of images. The supreme genre art. A fellow once told me that looking at some of my photographs made him want to travel with a carnival. That’s one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever received.”

Looking at Diana’s work, one thinks immediately of people like Warhol and Lichtenstein, not because it is narrowly imitative of Pop Art but because it exhibits a similar concern with graphics and the aesthetics of ordinary, everyday objects. Since she comes to photography with a background in illustration and commercial art, such a blending of styles is easy to understand.

“It’s obvious that I’m fascinated by everything connected with advertising,” she said. “Many of my photographs could be posters or billboards. The corny dogs, for example, could almost be somewhere on Central Expressway.”

Suddenly our conversation had veered away from photography to Froot Loops and the food sculpture of Claes Oldenburg, coming to rest about 20 minutes later at motels, a subject in which she and her husband Paul have a serious artistic interest. A number of their photographs were included in the Allen Street Gallery’s recent Motel Art show which, according to Diana, had the purists shaking their heads.

“You could just see people thinking, ’This is photography!’ In our case they assumed that we had photographed an orgy in a motel. But that’s their fantasy, you see. All we did was get some friends together in a dark room, lock the camera open, and ask them to move around doing whatever they felt like while we flashed a strobe. We got some exciting photographs, full of ghost effects and dreamlike images.”

It would be easy to dismiss this sort of thing as gimmicky except that it is clear that the Souzas are interested in more than special effects.

“It’s the whole dynamic that’s intriguing,” Paul explained. “Ordinarily a photographer is in control of a situation and has a pretty good idea of what he’s going to get. In these photographs, however, everyone involved was more or less clicking the shutter. It was like a photographic happening.”

“Another interesting thing,” Diana noted, “is watching the way people respond when they know that they’re being photographed.”

She spread their new Party Series on the floor to give me a clearer idea of what she meant.

“You can get unusual effects catching people unaware, of course, but when you allow them to pose themselves you often get something close to a self-portrait. They’re more inclined to reveal how they see themselves.”

I turned that remark over in my mind for a few minutes, wondering if it explained why I always change from Cary Grant to Andy Devine whenever someone yells, “Okay, smile.”

But it seemed impolite to burden other people with my neurotic reflections, especially at six o’clock on a Saturday night when there were so many interesting things to do. Like, well, grabbing an Ins-tamatic and a flashlight and going to a party.

– David Dillon

Openings



Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Two Centuries of Black American Art; Translations, salvages, and paste-ups by Jess. Both close May 15. Tue-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. Fair Park/421-4187.

Amon Carter Museum of Western Art. Photographs of the Southwest by Ansel Adams through May 22- May 27-June 26, photographic essay of Riverboats on the Mississippi. Tue-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-530. 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth/(817)738-1933.

Fort Worth Art Museum. Tarrant County Annual Exhibition Apr 24-June 5. Tue-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. 1309 Montgomery/(817)738-9215.

University of Dallas. May 3-22, exhibition of photography and drawings by architect O’Neil Ford. University Gallery. Maggar Center. May 1-15, Senior Art Show of various media throughout the campus. May 7, 11-4, art department exhibition and sale in Haggerty Art Center and Haggar University Center. 438-1123.

El Centre College. Cecelia Feld’s Pillow Projections: Options in the 5th Floor Gallery through May 6. Mon-Thu 8:30-9, Fri 8:30-4:30. Main at La-mar/746-2262.

Eastfield College. May 2-13 Eastfield student exhibition. Mon, Tue, Fri 9-5, Wed and Thu 9-7. 3737 Motley Dr. Mesquite/746-3132.

GALLERIES

Adelis M. May 2-21 oils by Rob Reese and watercolors by Rob Erdle. 9-5 weekdays, 10-4 Sat. 3317 McKinney/ 526-0800.

Afterimage. Early western photos by Laton Alton Huffman through May 14. Mon-Sat 10-5:30. Quadrangle, 2800 Routh/748-2521.

Allan Street Gallery. May 1-31 photo auction. May 15-27 Third Sunday Photography Show. 9-2:30 Tue-Fri. 2-6 Sat. 2817 Allen St/742-5207.

Arthello’s Gallery. Albert Shaw’s watercolor landscapes and photos of Haiti. By appointment weekdays; 1-6 p.m. Sat & Sun. 1922 S Beckley/941-2276.

Carlin Galleries. Emily Guthrie Smith paintings through May 15. Mon-Fri 10-5, Sun 2-5:30. Montgomery at W 7th/Fort Worth/(817)738-6921.

Chisholm Trail Gallery. Major works by Peter Dar-vas. Mon-Sat 10-5. Montgomery at W 7th, Fort Worth/(817)731 -2781.

Contemporary Gallery. Through May 20, abstracts by Paul Jenkins. Mon-Sat 10:30-5 and by appointment. 2425 Cedar Springs/747-0141.

Delahunty Gallery. May 6-June 1, prints by Jerry Scholder and paintings by Stephen Lorber. Tue-Sat 10-6 and by appointment. 2611 Cedar Springs/744-1346.

D.W. Co-op. May 1-26. drawings and paintings by Sam Gummelt. sculpture by Jim Love, mixed media constructions by David McManaway. Tue-Sat 11-6 3305 McKinney/526-3240.

Ebell Gallery. Watercolors by William Elliot. Weekdays 10-9. Sat 10-6, Sun 2-5. European Crossroads. 2829 W Northwest Hwy/351-3115.

Fairmount Gallery. May 10-18 works by the Graduate Studio Class of NTSU. May 20-June 16 Annie Crawford sculptures. Mon-Sat 10-5. 6040 Sherry Ln/369-5636.

Frontroom Gallery. Thesis show and slide presentation by Sara Blackwell on the history of mask-making closes May 7. Woven tapestries by Lois /sen-berg and ceramics by Michael Obranovich May 14-June 4. Mon-Sat 10-5. Craft Compound, 6617 Snider Plaza/369-8338.

Phillips Gallery. Paintings of Paris by Constantin Kluge. 10-5 Mon-Sat. 2517 Fairmount/748-7888.

Stewart Gallery. Original watercolors by Dick Phillips May 22-June 24. Tue-Sat 10-7 and by appointment, 12610 Coit/661-0213.

2719 Gallery. Opening May 1, graphics by Mickey Myers, Ed Bartram, Nancy Bandy, Steve Bourn, and Ted Naos. Tue-Sat 11-5, Sun 2-5. 2719 Routh/748-2094

Williamson Gallery. Murals and paintings by Olin Travis.Mon-Sat 11:30-6.3408 Milton/369-1270.

Movies

Sneak Previews from the USA Film Festival

In many ways this year’s USA Film Festival was the most satisfying one to date. There was a minimum of celebrity hype, an attractive mixture of glossy commercial films and noteworthy projects by independents, and, implausible as it sounds, a fair number of intelligent questions from the audience. Although the festival will probably continue to follow a middle-of-the-road course, now at least it seems to know how to keep its balance.

The following films are likely to turn up in Dallas in the next few months:

Harlan County, U.S.A.

A knockout. Considered exclusively as a social documentary, this account of a bloody 13-month strike by coal miners in Brookside, Kentucky can stand with the best work of the Thirties and Forties. What makes it exceptional is that it’s about the history and culture of a region, not just a single labor dispute. There’s no doubt whose side director Barbara Kop-ple is on, but she captures the spirit of this isolated area with such searing clarity that it doesn’t really matter. The women are especially memorable – angry, determined, courageous, as committed to justice as their husbands and sons and often more aggressive in its pursuit. No screenwriter could have created them, just as no ordinary photo-journalist could have made such a compassionate and moving film.

Pumping Iron

A documentary on body-building that is more about people than muscles. Specifically, Arnold Schwarzenegger, six-time Mr. Olympia and one of the most engagingly self-assured personalities you’ll ever meet; his determined but hopelessly innocent challenger, Louis Ferrigno; and a small army of trainers and groupies who might have stepped off the pages of some subculture novel. The film has a narrative tightness that one seldom finds in documentaries, along with moments of high comedy and genuine tenderness. Don’t be put off by the subject matter. You’ll come away convinced that body-building is no more exotic than, let’s say, bowling.

Between the Lines

Joan Micklin Silver (Hester Street) is back with a funny, affectionate film about a group of former activists and protesters faced with the task of getting on with their lives in a world that no longer excites or interests them. Some try to sustain their fading idealism by continuing to work for an underground newspaper, The Back Bay Mainline, others try to cash in on their experiences by writing books, but for each there is the problem of finding a sense of direction now that all the familiar signposts have been taken down. This isn’t a preachy film, one that attempts to convince us how significant the Sixties were, but for anyone who lived through them it will produce the ache of recognition.

Audrey Rose

A slick but gripping film about reincarnation that succeeds because, unlike so many occult films, it manages to be restrained and thoughtful rather than merely hysterical. We aren’t asked to believe in reincarnation but only to observe how fairly typical parents try to cope with its apparent existence. Director Robert Wise insists that it’s really a film about skepticism and failed communication, and he’s probably correct. Certainly the bewilderment of Audrey Rose’s parents is as much the subject as her bizarre behavior. The performances are excellent, particularly those of Susan Swift and Anthony Hopkins, who can look sinister just eating an ice-cream cone. Even people like myself who despise the genre will probably find this film engrossing.

Fraternity Row

The only unqualified bomb of the entire festival. I kept waiting for some indication that all the pompous rhetoric about brotherhood and high-mindedness was a put-on, but, alas, not a trace of ironic detachment in the entire two hours. Not only an astonishingly naive film but a painfully heavy-handed one as well, with all the good guys staring dreamily out of windows and the bad guys sneering and snapping towels. It’s being touted as another American Graffiti. If you believe that, you’ll believe anything.

Black Sunday

An absolutely shameless action thriller that stretches every cliché to the breaking point. This time a group of Palestinian terrorists, led by Marthe Keller and Bruce Dern, who’s returned to freaked-out roles after flirting with respectability in The Great Gatsby and Smile, try to annihilate Roger Staubach and 80,000 other people at the Super Bowl in Miami. You needn’t bother about the political issues. Frankenheimer’s films are all surface and no substance, yet he’s so forthright and unapologetic about his technical virtuosity that he manages to win you over anyway, at least for an hour or two. There’s plenty of violence but none of the lingering slow-motion variety. And the special effects are marvelous. I mean, when’s the last time you saw a climactic chase involving a helicopter, the Goodyear blimp, and a sky hook?

Islands in the Stream

Part interior monologue, part old-fashioned adventure film, and unsuccessful at both. As Thomas Hudson, Hemingway’s driven, embittered alter-ego, George C. Scott has a few fine moments, particularly with his sons, but there’s a played-out quality about everything else, as though director Franklin J. Schaffner couldn’t quite shake the influence of To Have and Have Not. David Hemmings reworks Walter Brennan’s wino role, and the wonderful Susan Tyrrell just sort of hangs around the bar waiting for something to happen. The major problem isn’t the currently unfashionable Hemingway macho ethic, but the fact that it’s never clear why everyone is so drawn to Thomas Hudson. Whatever the nature of his magnetism, it isn’t sufficient to hold this film together.



– David Dillon

Coming Attractions



University of Texas/Dallas. Tue, Wed, and Fri 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. in Founders North Auditorium, Floyd & Lookout, Richardson. $1. 690-2945. May films are: Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt; Haym To-pol in Sallah; Robert Altman’s Nashville (7:30 only); Alphaville, by Godard; Claude Chabrol’s Leda; The Parallax View with Warren Beatty; Godard’s One Plus One; Paul Robeson in The Emperor Jones; Alain Resnais’ Stavinsky.

University of Dallas. Lynch Auditorium 7:30 p.m. May 1. Taming of the Shrew and The Four Musketeers. May 7 and 8, The Last Picture Show. 438-1123.

Haymarket Theatre. Double features nightly Sun-Wed. May schedule includes: For Whom the Bell Tolls/The Plainsman; Animal Crackers/Night After Night; Play Misty For Me/Games; The Sugarland Express/The Big Clock; Anne of a Thousand Days/Devil and the Deep; Written on the Wind/ City Streets. 2.50. Olla Podrida, 12215 Coit/387-3610.

Southwestern Medical School. 8 p.m. in Gooch Auditorium. May 7, The Third Man with Orson Welles. May 14, Godard’s Breathless. $1.5323Harry Hines/688-2168.

Edison Theatre, 2420 N Fitzhugh. Revivals of recent films and of classics with some first-runs. Features change every other night. For daily schedule call 823-9610.

Lakewood Theatre, 1825 Abrams. Recent films in double feature screenings. Tickets $1 at all times. Call tor current leatures, 821-5706.

Books

Recent Fiction: Cheever and Some Under-achievers

At this early date, it looks as if John Cheever is going to be the novelist of 1977 and his new book Falconer (Knopf, $7.95) the novel. Both The New York Times Book Review and The New York Review of Books devoted lead articles to Falconer, and Cheever’s lined and very American face stared at us truculently from a recent Newsweek cover.

What happened? For years Cheever enjoyed quiet steady success as the chronicler of the upper middle-class WASP. In such books as Bullet Park and The Wapshot Chronicle and in his many New Yorker short stories, Cheever’s characters are financially stable though emotionally insolvent. They live in suburbia or the East Fifties. Sometimes they drink too much or show bad impulses, but they are civilized, intelligent people in a scene viewed through a picture window. Their crises occur in conversations oiled by dry martinis or Scotch, neat; on polished floors and well-kept lawns they walk through lives somehow unsuitable for tragedy, if often uneasy and empty.

In Falconer the character stays the same, but the setting changes. Bars appear on the picture window, a trap door opens in the smooth floor, and Ezekiel Farragut, a 48-year-old university professor, plunges into the world of Falconer, a maximum security prison for murderers, armed robbers, and criminal addicts.

The book operates on two levels. On one level it is the minute and knowledgeable account of what happens to the behavior of men in prison – the bullying, the capricious sadism, the unexpected kindness, the matter-of-fact acceptance of homosexuality and drug addiction. Farra-gut takes his place in this account by rights. Sensitive and cultivated as he is, he is no wrongfully accused innocent, but a heroin addict, a man who murdered his own brother, who attempts suicide in a withdrawal agony, who takes a homosexual lover. On this level certain scenes jerk us to attention, such as the sickening slaughter by vicious guards of the four thousand prison cats which the lonely inmates who have come to love them attempt to protect.

On another level the book is allegorical or symbolic, setting up reverberations beyond the sordid naturalistic descriptions of prison life. Thus Farragut’s crime of fratricide, accomplished under the influence of heroin without conscious intention, becomes a kind of original sin from which the hero must be redeemed through love and purification. The catalyst for this process is the prison, Falconer. As Farragut’s addiction to heroin is a metaphor for the demands of self which kill off brotherhood – presumably Cheever used heroin rather than alcohol, his own problem, because heroin addiction is stronger – so the dynamics of prison life become a metaphor for the demands of community. What happens to the addict within the imposed community is the burden of the book.

Ironically, Falconer, in spite of its cruelty and corruption, becomes a place of rehabilitation for Farragut. Through the existential understanding he gains of others, like him reduced to anonymity and singularity, he grows in compassion. Through a homosexual love affair he is returned to the communion of human affection – in a bit of heavy-handed underscoring, his lover even escapes from prison disguised as an acolyte of the church. Farragut’s own escape, in the burial sack of a dead convict whose place he usurps, works as well as the same device did in The Count of Monte Cristo. But the connotations of metaphysical regeneration that Cheever intends with this symbolic death and rebirth would have startled Dumas. Cheever is saying something important about the rival drives for fratricide and fraternity in human psychology in this profoundly exciting book. Its joints creak at times with the weight of Cheever’s attempts , but you will read it slowly to make it last and dismiss it from your mind with difficulty.



Joan Didion has raved about the intensity of Cheever’s “caring” in Falconer, and Didion cares too in her current novel, A Book of Common Prayer (Simon & Schuster, $8.95). If only Didion’s heroines had a little more of the intelligence displayed in their author’s essays, a little less of the penchant for melodrama in her novels. Didion’s women all walk around like Chicken Little expecting the sky to fall on their heads. Invariably it does, in the form of cold husbands and cruel lovers and unsatisfactory children. That this heroine, Charlotte Douglas, plays out her role as victim against the backdrop of social revolution in Central America doesn’t make any difference. She is, for all her ability to perform an emergency tracheotomy, still just an older version of Maria Wyeth in Play It As It Lays, and even dumber. Enough already.



Come Back, Lolly Ray, by Beverly Lowry (Doubleday, $7.95), is the story of a twirler from the trailer park who dreams of college, social status, and a better life, but is diverted like all poor girls in novels since the 18th century by a wicked seducer. I can’t figure out who it’s meant for. Junior high girls might like it if it weren’t for all the pseudo-Faulknerian psycho-dramas of Eunola, Mississippi, where it’s set. For most adults, no.



If you like disaster thrillers such as Airport or The Towering Inferno, or novels about violence and regression like Golding’s Lord of the Flies, you might get off on High-Rise (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, $6.95) by J.G. Ballard. High-Rise fuses the two genres. It shows human beings regressing into violence and primi-tivism against the background of a rapidly deteriorating forty-story luxury apartment complex. It’s all here – sexual degeneracy, psychic breakdown, murder, cannibalism, as well as macabre technological difficulties of various kinds. The author’s other works are The Drowned World, The Atrocity Exhibit, Love and Napalm, and Crash, if that gives you a better idea of what to expect. Ho-hum.



How would the knowledge that you were going blind affect you and others around you? asks Jonathan Penner in his excellent first novel, Going Blind (Simon & Schuster, $7.95). Penner gives no easy answers. Instead he recognizes with chilling thoroughness the inherent opportunism in human minds and the loneliness which it produces. Paul Held, an assistant professor in a large NYC university, is literally going blind throughout the novel. He fears the effect that knowledge of his blindness will have on his upcoming tenure decision, calculating that a university will not extend security to a blind man. He fears that the woman he plans to marry will not want the burden of a blind husband. He fears being mugged, robbed, beaten. The difficult compromise Penner works out, as Held wavers between cynicism and trust, makes an absorbing novel of ambition, deception, and courage.

– Jo Brans



Bestsellers

The following information on what’s hot in Dallas bookshops is compiled with the aid of The Bookseller, Willow Creek Shopping Center, 9811 N central Expwy, Brentano’s, 451 NorthPark Center, Cokes-bury, 1910 Main; Taylor’s Books, Preston Center East; and the Dallas Public Library.



Roots, Alex Haley (Doubleday, $12.50). Blockbuster nonfiction novel about the history of an American black family. (Reviewed in January issue.)

Blood and Money, Thomas Thompson (Doubleday. $10.95). Superbly told story of the John Hill murder case, which still has the Houston gossip lines buzzing.

Passages, Gail Sheeny (Dutton, $10.95). Non-fiction study of the crisis periods adults typically pass through.

Your Erroneous Zones, Wayne W. Dyer (Funk & Wagnalls, $6.95). A New York psychologist’s report on “unhealthy behavior patterns “

The Users, Joyce Haber (Delacorte, $8.95). Hollywood gossip fictionalized; this year’s Dolores.

The Hite Report, Shere Hite (Macmillan. $12.50). Yet another book that purports to survey what women think and feel about sex.

The Chancellor Manuscript, Robert Ludium (Dial Press, $10) A thriller involving the murder of J. Edgar Hoover But you thought…?

October Light, John Gardner (Random House, $10) The latest novel by the author ot Grendel.

Falconer, John Cheever (Random House. $7.95). The new novel by the author of The Wapshot Chronicle. (Reviewed in this issue )

Oliver’s Story, Erich Segal (Harper & Row, $7 95). Oliver without Jenny (sob!)-

Voyage, Sterling Hayden (Putnam’s, $12 95). Sea-thriller by an actor-turned-novelist.

The Crash of ’79, Paul E. Erdman (Simon & Schuster, $8.95). Intrigue and the energy crisis fictionalized.

Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years, James Phelan (Random House. $7.95). An inside look at the billionaire’s “final days.”

Bubbles, Beverly Sills (Bobbs Merrill. $12.50). Autobiography of an effervescent diva.

Records How to Start a Rock Record Collection

It’s difficult to say where to begin a rock record collection because it’s difficult to say, with any precision, where rock (or rock ’n’ roll) began. Certainly it is a product of the rhythm and blues tradition and has its deepest roots in the music of such giants as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles, The Coasters, The Drifters, and a host of others. But since the point of all this is to be simple and basic, let’s be simple and basic. There are four progenitors who matter the most.

The first and most obvious is Chuck Berry – if there is a granddaddy of rock ’n’ roll, it’s Chuck. The best collection of his many classics (including the two rock anthems “Johnny B. Goode” and “Roll Over Beethoven”) is Chuck Berry’s Golden Decade (Chess). Of equal importance, and an even more creative talent, was Buddy Holly. His tragically short career produced an astonishing number of memorable rock melodies, best chronicled on The Buddy Holly Story (Coral). Like him or not, you can’t ignore Elvis, who brought rock ’n’ roll out of the closet and into the public eye. His “Jailhouse Rock” alone puts him on the rock map; that and his other early biggies are found on Elvis’ Golden Records Vol. 1 (RCA). And finally, the Everly Brothers, whose unique vocal harmonies added a new dimension to the sound and inspired the music of the Beatles and others thereafter. The obvious selection is The Very Best of the Everly Brothers (Warner Brothers).

Then came the British. A basic collection would not be complete without one representative work from each of the four supergroups. With the Beatles, the sentimental choice is Rubber Soul and the academic choice is Sgt. Pepper – but the really pivotal album (and more consistently listenable than the other two) is Revolver(Capitol). Personally, I couldn’t consider even a skeletal record collection complete without half a dozen Stones records, but for a grand sampling, go with Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (London). Singling out one album by The Kinks, love of my rock life, is painful – you should have them all. But if there must be one, let it be Muswell Hillbillies (RCA) – like all their other work, it’s fun. The landmark album by The Who is, of course, Tommy; and unquestionably their most sophisticated effort is Who’s Next; but the best examples of their early influential style are collected on Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy (Decca).

It would be remiss not to mention in this context The Yardbirds, springboard band for Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. From this group and all that they spawned, consider including these gems: The Yardbirds’ Rave Up (Epic), perhaps the beginning of “heavy” rock; Led Zeppelin’s first (and still, I think, best) Led Zeppelin (Atlantic); Cream’s Wheels of Fire (Atco); and Eric Clapton’s (Derek and the Dominoes) Layla (Poly-dor), a classic on most everybody’s list.

In trying to round out the list of British essentials (this is impossible), I would point to Traffic (Traffic, United Artists), Fleetwood Mac in their earlier – and better – version (Kiln House, Reprise), Rod Stewart and the Faces (Every Picture Tells a Story, Mercury), Humble Pie (Smokin’, AM), and David Bowie (the recently released Changes One Bowie, RCA, is a great great collection).

Back to America. For the sake of a starting point, let’s start with Dylan. Since I suppose he must be included, it will have to be Blonde on Blonde (Columbia) – he hasn’t come close since. Better reflections of Dylan come through The Byrds – Fifth Dimension (Columbia), is a personal favorite-and The Band (The Band, Capitol, everybody’s favorite).

On the West Coast, you start, of course, with the Beach Boys. There are an assortment of “greatest hits” packages: if you want the surf stuff, Endless Summer (Capitol) has all the golden goodies; if you pre-fer their later sound, Good Vibrations, Best of the Beach Boys (Reprise) is your record; Surf’s Up is, I think, their most interesting work of all. The Steve Stills-Neil Young axis was never better than on Buffalo Springfield Again (Atco), shockingly good in its time. And joke all you want about Neil Young, but his After the Gold Rush (Reprise) is a brilliant collection of songs. And, for his sheer audacity, you can’t leave out Jim Morrison and the Doors – 13 (Elektra) has all their best.

From San Francisco, the key characters are the Grateful Dead (American Beauty, Warner Brothers, was their finest hour) and the Jefferson Airplane (despite its political pap, Volunteers is still their best record). The two outstanding artists of this period are Janis Joplin (at her raw and reckless best on Cheap Thrills, Columbia, with Big Brother and the Holding Company) and Jimi Hendrix (Smash Hits, Reprise, is just that, but Axis Bold as Love, Reprise, is perhaps his most imaginative effort).

And a few more representative American rockers at random: Boz Scaggs, Moments (Columbia); Little Feat, Sailin’ Shoes (Warner Brothers); Harry Nilsson, Son of Schmilsson (RCA); Allman Brothers, Allman Brothers at Fillmore East (Capricorn); Frank Zappa, Hot Rats (Reprise); The J. Geils Band, The J. Geils Band (Atlantic); Lou Reed, Rock and Roll Animal (RCA); and the Youngbloods, Earth Music (RCA).

– David Bauer

Ten Essential Rock Recordings

A list of the ten just can’t he absolute. It’s ever-changing. So, with that wishywashy prelude, these are the ten on this night (in no particular order):



Beggar’s Banquet, The Rolling Stones(London). The beginning of their peak period. Having one Stones album would belike eating one peanut.

2. Lola Versus Powerman and the Money-goround, The Kinks (Reprise). Or anyother Kinks album – I really can’t decide. This is not fair.

3. The Beatles, The Beatles (Apple). AliasThe White Album. There’s so much here,it can keep you entertained for hours.

4. Music From Big Pink, The Band (Capitol). A few of these songs still give mechills.

5. Kiln House, Fleetwood Mac (Reprise).This band has been through some amazing changes. They’re popular now. Theywere better then.

6. Who’s Next? The Who (Decca). Alwayspowerful, here they’re beautiful.

7. Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell (Asylum). No matter what your mood, Jonigets under your skin (deeply) with everysong on this incredible record.

8. Hunky Dory, David Bowie (RCA). Rock’s lovable egomaniac at his musicalbest.

-9. Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen (Columbia). Yes, he’s been hyped to death and no, he’s not a savior. But this is a damn good record and so are his others. 10. Sailin’ Shoes, Little Feat (Warner Brothers). I recently bought my second copy of this record. My first was simply worn out.

– David Bauer

Theater

From Dance Hall to Drama Center

Your grandmother probably learned to Charleston at the old Manhattan Ballroom on Main and Exposition, but starting May 1 she and anyone else who’s interested will have a chance to see live theater on its well-scuffed stage. A group calling itself Manhattan Clearing House, and composed mainly of former SMU drama students, is currently renovating that derelict structure in preparation for an opening production of Brecht’s Saint Joan of the Stockyards. From there they plan to branch out into ritual drama, multi-media programs, dance, a documentary on the colorful and somewhat seedy history of their building, and whatever else emerges from their day-to-day explorations. The emphasis will be on process and improvisation, with the feelings and concerns of the individual members serving as the basis for most of the performance pieces.

“We got involved in this because we needed to work,” explained Charles Ney. a Theater SMU graduate and one of the founders. “We’ve all been trained in such things as yoga, body theater, tai chi, and reflexology, but have found very few outlets for these skills in Dallas. So we’re creating our own environment in which we can pursue personal solutions to traditional artistic problems.”

Not that the group is hostile to either classical theater or supper club entertainments. They hope only to fill the gap between the two with a kind of theater that is both more experimental and more closely tied to the needs and interests of the local community. Once established, they plan to offer workshop and training classes in a variety of theater-related arts and to produce new works by Dallas playwrights as often as possible.

Everyone involved agrees that the project is a big financial and artistic gamble, although most believe that Dallas is finally prepared to support serious experimental theater. They’ve had one triumph already. The fellow who came to repair the building’s plumbing was so intrigued by what was going on that he’s planning to have his wedding reception there next month. Not what is usually meant by community involvement, perhaps, but an appropriately off-beat beginning.

– David Dillon



Openings

Dallas Theater Canter. Santa Fe Sunshine through May21 Equus opensMay31,continuingthrough July 2 Tue-Fn at 8 p m , Sat at 5 and 8: 30 p.m. Tickets$5 25-$6 75 3636 Turtle Creek/526-8857.

Theatre Onstage. Harvey, May 12-June 4. $3.75 adults, $2 75 students. Call 651-9766 for reservations.

Theatre Three. Little Mary Sunshine through May 22. Wed-Sat 8:30 p.m., Sun at 2:30 and 7 p.m. $5 weekdays, $6 weekends, $4 Sun matinee. 2800 Routh in the Quadrangle/748-5191.

Dallas Repertory Theatre. The Sunshine Boys, Apr 14-May 15. Fri and Sat at 8:15 p.m., Sun 3 p.m. $4.50. NorthPark Hall/369-8966.

New Arts Theatre. The Wild Duck opens May 6. Thu-Sat at 8 p.m. Sun at 2:15 p.m. $4 50 adults, $1.50students. Olla Podrida, 12215Coit/691 -3215.

El Centro College. The Madwoman of Chaillot, with Mercedes McCambridge. Apr 27-30 at 8 p.m. in the Performance Hall. $2. Main at Lamar/746-2262.

University of Texas/Arlington. Gypsy, Apr 22, 23,29. and 30 at 8 p m . Apr 24 and May 1 at 2 p.m.;Apr 27 and 28 at 1 30 p.m. $2 50. Call 273-2163for reservations.



CHILDREN’S THEATRE



Magic Turtle Series. Sleeping Beauty. Saturdaysthrough May 14 at 10:30 p.m. Tickets $1.75. Dallas Theater Center/526-8857.

Dance Performances

Dallas Metropolitan Ballet. Spring Gala May 1. featuring Fernando Bujones and Marianna Tcherkas-sky in the Pas de Deux from Don Quixote and from La Bayadere. 2:30 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium, SMU. Tickets $4-$15 at Preston Tickets, Dallas Symphony Box Office, Titche’s NorthPark. and Sears Valley View. 361-0278.

Fort Worth Art Museum. Simultaneous Solo perior-mances: Deborah Hay/ Sieve Paxton. May 11 and 12 at 8:15 p.m. in the Museum Solarium. $3. $2 50 students. 1309 Montgomery /(817) 738-9215.



Sports

Games and Matches

Baseball/Texas Rangers. Arlington Stadium. 7:35 p. m. except Sundays at 2:05 p.m. Tickets: reserved $5. $5.50. and $6; general $2 adults, $1 50 children. 265-3331.

May 6.7,8 vs. Kansas City Royals

May 9,10.11 vs. Chicago White Sox

May 17,18 vs. Detroit Tigers

May 20,21,22 vs. Toronto Blue Jays

May 30 vs. Seattle Mariners (double header starting at 5:35 p.m.)

Charity Horse Show. $2500 Jumper Classic, presented by the Park Cities Lions Club. May 14 at 8 p.m. Fair Park Coliseum. $3. Contact Mrs. James West at 368-8883.

Golf/Byron Nelson Golf Classic. May 2-8, Preston Trail Golf Club. $5 practice round, $10 first and second rounds, $12.50 third and fourth rounds. A season badge (all days) is $35. 742-3896.

Golf/Colonial National Inyitational, May 9-15, at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. Tickets $5 Mon 4 Tue, $10 Wed-Fri, $15 Sat & Sun. Badge pass, good all days, is $30. (817)926-4671.

Quarter Horse Racing/Ross Downs, Hwy 121, lour miles southwest of Grapevine. From 9 to 19 races every Sunday year round, beginning at 1 p.m. Adults $2, children $1. 481-1070.

Rodeo/Mesquite Championship Rodeo. Every Fri & Sat Apr through Sept at 8 p.m. Oft LBJ at Military Pkwy exit. Box seats $4, grandstands $3 adults, $1.50 children. For tickets and information, call 285-8777.

Soccer/Dallas tornado. Ownby Stadium, SMU. 8 p. m. Tickets $3-$7. 750-0900.

May 7 vs. Los Angeles Aztecs

May 21 vs. Connecticut Bicentennials

May 28 vs. Las Vegas Quicksilvers

Tennis/WCT Finals, May 10-15. Moody Coliseum. Single tickets $4-$14. For information call 651-8444.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing /Louisiana Downs.Bossier City. LA, on I-20 (about three hours drivefrom Dallas). Nine or ten races daily, Wed throughSun, Jan 14-June 5. Post time 1:15. Grandstand$1; Clubhouse $2.50; plus $1 entrance (parking)fee. For further information or reservations call tollfree 1-800-551-8623.

Etc Enlightenment<BR>Historic Preservation League’s Historical Homes Tour, including the Swiss Avenue Historical District. 12-6 p.m. May 14-15. Tickets $4 advance, $6 at the door, $2 students. 827-5800.

Craft Compound. Midspring Festival, with music, maypole dancing, costumes, magic, mime, and bird carvings by Glenna Grinner. Apr 29-30, 10-6 and May 1,1-6 p.m. 6617 Snider Plaza/369-8338.

Mayfest ’77, Fort Worth. May 5-6, 3-9 p.m. and May 7-8, 12-9 p.m. Music, arts & crafts, and dancing. Forest Park, $1. Information: 3505 W Lancaster, Fort Worth 76107/(817)738-9181.

Dallas Public Library. Performances of the arts every Tue through May 24, at 12:20 p.m. Included are the North Dallas Mariachi Band, pianist Gary Towlen, readings by Louise Blanchard of the Shakespeare Festival, and a demonstration of fiber arts by Judy Beckham of the Craft Guild. 1954 Commerce/748-9071. May 25, 7:30 p.m., debate on Equal Rights Amendment, with Marge Schuc-hat, past president of NOW and Hanyne Setzer, state chairperson of Women Activated to Rescind. Fretz Park Branch, 6990 Belt Line/233-8262.

Temple Emanu-EI Significant Book Series. Rabbi Levi Olan discusses James Joyce’s Ulysses May 4 at 10:30 p.m. Series tickets $5. 8500 Hill-crest/368-3613.

European Crossroads. St. Seraphin’s Annual Festival and Sale. European foods; Ukranian wax art designs on eggs; demonstrations of Russian cross-stitching sewing; Ukranian dancers. 10-5 May 7. 2829 W Northwest Hwy/358-5574.

Sell-A-Rama ’77, tor sales and motivational development Featured speakers include RonaldReagan, Ira Hayes. Mary Kay Ash. and HeartsillWilson May 9 at Dallas Convention Center. $10.747-9675

Good Deeds

American Association of University Women’s saleof used books and National Geographic magazines. May 5-7 at Plymouth Park Shopping Centerin Irving Call 252-5684 for pickup of donations orinformation.