Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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'Newest E plays wit! By Lehman Stiles Gamecock Staff Writer Every three or four years, a "new" Dylan comes along, a singer/songwriter who compares favorably with the standard of genius in American music. The last one was Bruce Springsteen, who started out sounding like r\..i ? ~ i?t 1 uyidii?aiigiiuy?uui SlOWiy drifted away. This year's Dylan is Steve Forbert. Forbert may be even closer to Dylan than Springsteen; his music tries to breathe meaning into songs in a folk-country idiom, much like the early Mr. Zimmerman. On his Jackrabbit Slitn album Forhprt stakes out his territory with conviction and promise. Forbert can rock out as easily as he can sing gentle country ballads, though, and that is the source of his effectiveness. From slow country swing to saxophone-punctuated blues, his wide-ranging scope makes his lyrics all the more vu|. * "IV-ll.fe. And for all his musical talent, it is what Forbert says in his songs that sets him apart. His is a voice of plaintive, gentle subtlety; his lyrics are a constant search for the Right Thing to Say. More often than not the search is successful. Forbert's first album, Alive on Arrival, explored a country boy's impressions of the big city. On Jackrabbit Slim the explorations become more personal and intimate. Relationships are not so c ? * 1 J- -- oatK in oepieinoer we aiscusse< sculptural exhibits to hit the area ir show, National Sculpture '79, was 01 tour when it arrived in Columbia, months later, National Sculpture McKissick Museums, its first st< numerous Southern cities. Comparison is, of course, inevit; arrive in such close proximity, and response at last Thursday's openir was one of improvement. [Numerous tactors influence the competitive show, things like the t mitted, the amount of work, and mc individual juroring the exhibit. Lasl New York critic Robert Pincus-W from all of his rhetoric disclaimin offs" of established artists or sty central factor that undermined the" Fortunately, that is not the cas juror Rosalind Krauss should be co cnl nn i r\r* r\C ??t/\ .^utuuii m TSTrnvrrrpTy ongmni wu Thursday night, Krauss, who is a i currently art historian at Hunter C :T,\ ' s ' I. p l ^ "I' ^f , J*'\&, i j . I^ j*' . .? | HRBaHn ^Hp| ^ HBm te' >ylan' Stev i conviction much dissected as they are caressed. The meanness and smallness of the world is not so important here as the unintentioned cruelty of human to human. The single "Romeo's Tune" is the album's first song, expressing an unabashed innocence and a thrill of first love that is depressingly ironic in the context of the title. The song serves to set up the rest of the album; here we see the infatuation of Romeo's love, the rest of the album slowly reveals its tragic consequences. 11 mi_ * - - me sweet L.ove inal You Give" is the album's most successful rock and roll number and introduces Forbert's lyrical intensity: "Seems everybody's shooting six-guns, and I'm sick of trying to please them all; I've heard tell that it can't be done, and I won't deny it." It is the memory of his lover that saves the singer from his nightmare here, and this is about the last dose of optimism we'll get from the album. "I'm In Love With You," a slow country ballad, never gets off the ground, despite the central metaphor: "I'm a worn-out sail on a sidewalk sea." Forbert quickly turns around and slaps love in the face, though, with "Say Goodbye to Little Jo," a song telling someone that his girl doesn't love him anymore. Side one closes with "Wait," a MlliilHfinlBttinBflk i one of the first this influenced her .. mi. - i u : ci I i suiue nine, mai tsrieny, sne set i the last leg of its notion of the mor Now, only a few tures such as Stor '80 has opened at heads of state. 1 )p on a tour of landscape contini blending of these, able when shows that sculpture is n< judging from the Such sensibiliti ig, the concensus viewing National credibility to Krau i success of any For myself, am ype of work sub- point, I see the v >st decisively, the groups (although I year's juror was way or another of hitten, and aside continuum). First g "flashy knock- the traditional app les, this was the Robert Clements 79 exhibit. "Perpendiculus." e this year, and significance, simp mmended for her and would have be rks. In a lecture Secondly, then critic, author and utilization of large lollege, explained floor pieces, as a :ulpture, and how taking up space n H|ggHBnM| something Carl A this second grouj a token ropiex on Lenora Bermann been twice the sia The third group floor, and is eith* UU1 gVUII O VY \/l I\ , I and moulding lint installation shots galleries, and be prising. One can only in will be like, but if we experienced th National Sculpti 'e Forbert i, promise touching poem about winter and how for the poor and lonely it never goes away. Without any stunning lines, the lyrics present an impressionistic picture of the world seen through the eyes of those who have learned to live without warmth, physical or emotional. Side two opens with the album's best song, "Make It All So Real," about a singer whose ability to do just that?to "make it hurt" with his songs?is made easy by the fact that, while he is singing, he is watching his lover leave with another man. The audience thinks the singer is "on top of the world" because he is singing so well, while all the time it is the singer's pain that gives them pleasure. "Baby" is a rather slow-moving piece sung to a little child, imploring it to remain as innocent as it can, to "let it shine." 'Complications" is a reggae-influenced number deploring the trials of Modern Life, of trying to be a simple man in an increasingly complex world. Little humorous vignettes suggest that the task is impossible. Forbert explores the complex world of marriage in "Sadly Sorta Like a Soap Opera," about a neglected, beaten wife who lives in wait of the justification for her suffering. A soap-opera organ introduces the number, supplying a subtle, sad touch and ensuring Nationa selection of works. js sculpture arising out of man's lument, from early fertility struclehenge, to great statues honoring 'he influence of architecture and le the progression, and it is the towards a kind of happy medium, dw striving to forge. les are instantly evident when Sculpture '80, and obviously give iss' vision of sculpture's direction, i from less of a theoretical stand/ork fragmenting into three basic all three are expressive in some : Krauss' architecture/landscape , there is what could now be termed >roach, exemplified in work such as i* totems and Mark Paulson's These works for me lack ly in terms of visual inventiveness, en more at home in the '79 show, e are the works that attempt jr spacial areas via the floor. These rule, lack aggressiveness, simply ather than altering or intensifying, ndre is a master of. The worst of p is Pamela Gaible's "U" (your the floor piece), and the best is 's "Interlocking." Had the latter :e, I'm convinced the effect would unning. is work that has lifted itself off the er suspended or shelved upon the is by far the most inventive, and i unifying direction for sculptors in ir?H urnrlrc H\/ I on QiHn "TnnnoawoH , present beautifully crafted arments that exaggerate perspective ly and illusionistically. ks, Joe Falsetti's "Manipulative" ' "Cannot", play off the wall and of the supporting elements of each, t utilizes all of these components (and entirely in terms of illusion), Installations" of Gary Surgeon. USC graduate student in art, won hese simplistic yet effective exspace. It should be noted that the most conducive gallery for being that the walls are carpeted ?s*the floors and ceilings. I've seen of Surgeon's work in clean white lieve me, the effect is truly surlagine what National Sculpture '81 we only see half the improvement is year, good things await us. ire will continue through Feb. 8. STEVE FORBERl?B W79- <* jgm that you listen to the song. The album closes out with "January 23-30, 1978," a song about a trip home from the city. The BOVS gftt toffothpr nnH rai^t* hell, they find out "who got married and who split up," and the singer returns to the city, more aware then ever of the essential unity of life. The last line in "January 23" sums up this whole album well: "It's often said that life is strange, but compared to what?" Steve Forbert has the eye of a poet and mv; > wiv.c: ui a siui y tcntri , uui ilb ytH his stories are vignettes, windows on a beautiful, expressive world iI Sculpti Lee Sldo'a Lonora Bermann's 'lnt< Gary Surgeon's 'Tape Ir J^JACKRABBiTSUM" that Forbert is still exploring. He has yet to develop a unified vision of this world; each song approaches it differently. Forbert knows his world; he just needs something to compare it with. Jackrabbit Slim is Steve Forbert's way of asking the world to hold still, although he knows all the time that it never will.Heis swept up, as is the listener, in this paradox: he wants to caress and examine everything in a world made for quick glances and sparse understanding. The album makes one feel the terror and the joy ot a world unwilling to accomodate us. ire y80 (_ , John Pam?? - GAMECOCK ) Buflor S 1^.:. ^.. ^ i( jfe. , , '?/??jf.y^^j'2-iT'iii;! *>>iTUf'*- ^F^B; -';y.->::^-blocking' (above) istallations' (left)