Santana: Caravanseri

by Scott Mason

Santana always appealed to me as
a band with tremendouspotential but
little taste. They had a heautilul
sound going fox-them: theapplication
ofAlro-Latln rhythms and instrue
merits to rock--o natural step,when
you think about iL Alter‘ all, Latin
rhythms had been prevalent in yaaz

since the Fifties with people like
Mongo Santamaria andTitoPuentes,
around whom an entire urban subr
culture of music revolved. To {use
these sounds with American Rock
and Roll was a simple yet inspired
step, and Santana must be given
credit for this innovation, one which
affected the entire rock scene.

Uniortunately, Santana’s execution
or this concept seemed heavy hand
ed, to say the least. In spite of an

impeccable rhythm section of
drums, congas, and timbales, the
music was extremely repetitive,
oiten bombastic. Carlos Santana had
a distinctive guitar style, based
mostly on sustain, and did occas—
ionally pull oil some last rims. vet
organist Greg Rolie was right out
of the Give-Me-AeLeslieeSpeaker-

and-I’ll» Make— Anything-Sound
Good school, and Dave Brown’sbass
playing was unimaginative. The
group’s vocals were consistently une
distinguished, and the entire sound
was olten Topedo oriented; there
were countless repetitions oi ImeIV
patterns underneath what sounded
like the same guitar solo, supported
by the same roaring percussion
you’d heard before. If it hits the
charts once, give it to them again

Gilman: Students Underpaid

To the Editors:

Last year I was employed as cos-
tume mistress by thetheatre depart-
ment. My duties included maintenr
ance oi the costume shop. designing
costumes ior most major theatri—
cal productions of the year, respon—
sibility for their execution and up-
keep, and supervision, instruction,
and evaluation of the students in the
intro to Scenic"Consti-u'ction "class
when they were assigned to work in
the costume shop. For this ij i
was paid a flat fee 013308.05. The
number of hours I worked weekly
varied considerably, from a low on
to a high ol 54. By Thanksgiving
1 had put in a total at 294.5 hours,
[or which i had been paid $100.35.
At the hourly wage normally paid to
students even for unskilled labor
this would cover roughly 63 hours,
less than a quarter of the time I
actually worked. Another illustrae
tion: for the month of October this
year I was paid $121.60 tor the cam»
pus yobs i now do. This is three
imes the amount 1 received in 0c—
tober of last year, for approximate—
ly one-half the number of hours I
put in.

The costume mistress was not the
unly student who suffered from this
-xpioitation. Three others workedin

Rainer: Goals

lo the Editors:
About this time of year it is very
asy to lose perspective on our edr
cation. Who can think about educaa
ion with a 20—page paper to grind
ut tomorrow? But now is the time
hat next year's curricula begin to
ake shape with the Search for new
acuity and the defining of their
ositions.
Due to our general complacency,
he pressure to hire blacks and wom-
n and to diversify the departments
n terms oi ideology is oil but
ext Spring there Will be two 1111*
ortant positions to be filled in Po-
itical Science and Economics, In
oth of these departments I believe
'e need someone who can present
revolutionary socialist perspec-
ive
As this movement is growing
hroughout the World and even in the
SA , we need to learn about it.
iberal economics isn't the onlyway
l examining an economy Radical
conomics brushes aside airy theor-
zings about mythological consumer
overeigns and examines the roots
f real problems in our society:
acism, sexism, war, and pollution
iecon courses did this their appeal
I the college at large would be

really increased
Rob aner

equivalent positions ior the depart-
ment, and at least one and probably
two ot them put in more hours than
I did lor the same llat lee.

I call your attention to this situa-
tion because it still exists, and still
constitutes a gross injustice. Itis not
clear to me where the blame lies»
with a theatre department sadly une
derbudgeted, which would gladly pay
its-employees more were the money
available, or with a college which is
struggling to make ends meet. But
one thing is quite obvious--that stue
dents dedicated enough to shoulder
a responsible and time-consuming
job with the theatre should not be
exploited in this manner.

Betsy Gilman

Smallwood.Why?

To the Editors:

I am sure that several people are
still angry over the lire alarms two
weeks ago. There is no earthly rea-
son that we students should be spende
ing $2000 each semester to be perr
iodically disturbed by a low ime
mature people. It is difficult to uni
derstand that these few havereached
the age at 17 orolder and are still
willing to subject others to their
whims. A iew people in nawson
could see some humor in the fact
that the events on Saturday the 18th
were carried out so effectively, but
most reasoned that in spite oi the
social and academic pressure onthis
campus, no one should be allowed
to release their tensions by dis-
turbing 4 to 7 dorms lull oi people
at 2:00 and 3.00 in the morning

Several have felt that the fire a»
larms are indicative of a general
lack of consideration for others,and
thereiore were willing to use very
strong measures in dealing with
those who organized the blackout and
the tire alarms; others werewilling
to hope that the Incidents are not
repeated. In any case, we are left
wondering why college students in-
telligent enough to be in Grinnell
spend their time in such pointless
and inconsiderate endeavors.

Deanne Smallwood, President
Rawson Hall

Rawson: Answer

To the Editors‘

Of course it could be real, but far
be it irom us to dampen the elus-
ive bursts oi spirits during the ot-
herwise exceedingly hapless early
morning hours, wtiy jump to con-

‘7
“”5”“ Sue Cohen

Linda Rubin
Lona Yadoti ‘

and again

Caravanserai, their iourth album,
breaks tree of this pattern, how-
ever, and promises better things
to come The album is asselnbled
essentially as one continuous sound,
though individual songs are readily
distinguishable. Their entire con»
cept has become ireer and morelve
rical though, and is perhaps closerin
spirit to their Latin roots. Carlos
himself has been through some chan-
ges in the past year, including play-
ing and talking with John Mclaughlin,
and he seems dedicated toproducing
spiritual music alongthe same lines.
Though the same rhythmic fire that
pervaded their earlier albums con~
tinues on Caravanserai, the pres-
sure to constantly rock out is gone,
to be replaced by room ior explora-
tion. Side Two makes this more evir
dent than Side l, leaturing a conga-
timbalesebongos improvisation, lole
lowed by a Jobim tune, "Stone-
flower ” The vocals here are nicely
understated, and the playing has an
almost romantic flavor. “La Fuente
del thmo” and "Every Step ol the
Way" are marked by fierce perCUSr
sion ensemble work and some ofthe
best soloing Santana has produced.
“Every Step” makes good use oior»
chestral accompaniment,

personnel changes have account-
ed for much in the new sound, The
band has been plagued with member-
ship conllicts in the past year, and
Caravanserai contains work by both
new and old members.Jazzman Toni
Coster, who hasbacked GaborSzabo,
replaces Roiie on keyboards, and
complements Carlos as a soloist.
James Mingo Lewis and Chepito
Areas are brilliant on percussion,
and drummer Mike Shrieve outdoes
himself with Billy Cobham derived
work. Rolie, who is featured on Car-
avanserai though no longer with the
band, contributes some tasteful
Larry Young organ, and veteran per-
cussionist Armando Peraza adds uni
paralleled bongo improvisation on
”La Fuente" and percussion on
"Stoneflower," Santana himself is
the featured solmst on most times,
and acquits himsell well, playing
with a kind oi iiery grace.

If Caravanserai is an indication of
what Santana will be doing in the
future, I look forward to the next
album, where personnel hassles are
eliminated and the ensemble sound
perfected.

,_y

Students planning to take an ins
dependent next semester are
urged to attend a meeting at4:00
Monday sponsored by ISFIRG
The meeting, tentatively slated
ior ARH it, will explore ways
that various Plus-2 options and
Independents can also be useful
for ISPIRG.

(“i

it! 2 Storm and Intuit

 

December I, 1972

who M can mount
Vanya (Doug Cloud) entreats Yeliena (Laura Korack), both oi them seeking
alter something missing train their usual existence. Uncle Vanya will be
performed again both tonight and Saturday night at a pm.

3» War/m...

Vanya: Chekhov’s Challenge

by Chubs and Bubs

Uncle vanya, the mayor production
at Grinnell this semester, is one ol
the most ambitious undertakings by
the Theatre Department in a long
time, The play, by Anton Checkov,
is a commentary on late-Nineteenth
Century provincial Russian liie it
deals with the crisis olwasted po-
tential, portrayed at various stages
by five central characters, They
are alllaced withemptiness.through
lack oi accomplishments, and mean
inglessness, through lack oi love
of their lives.

Astrov, the doctor (played by Earl
Crecelius), is weary and strained by
the pressures and demands put on
him in his responsibility as the only
doctor in a large district After
years oi proiessional detachment, he
has become cautious and impersonal
in his private relationships with
people, airaid oi love and deepemo-
tional committment Vanya (played
by Doug Cloud). on the other hand,
wants and needs to love someone. He
has run the Voinitsky estate for 25
years, ilrst loi- his sister, and then
for his niece when she inherited it,
During this period, his own intellec-
tual aspirations have been stifled in
lavor ol his dayetoeday preoccupa-
tion with keeping the estate free
from debt. Now, past his prime,
he reels the pain oi unrealized poe
tential and seeks someone to give
him the love and sense of accom-
plishment which he lacks,

Sonia (Sue Monasch), Vanya’s
niece, lives [or only two things; her
love for the doctor and her deVOr
tion to helping Vanya keep the estate
going, Although young, with her
life before her, she really has little
else to look forward to Serebi'la»
kov (Joseph “Mr. Peachum" Feld-
man), is a retired proiessor, writer,
and lecturer who rests upon the lane
rels of What he feels is a substanr
tial and meaningful reputation. How-
ever, he has lived mainly on the

hard work of his relatives and in
their eyes is simply wasting every-
one‘s time and energy Yeliena
(Laura Koracn). is the professor’s
young and beautilul wile, who leels
her youth and beauty slipping away
with the years as she spends liie
attending only to the professor's ec-
centricities. Her charm and beauty
make her very attractive to Vanya,
who sees her as someone through
whom he can regain a measure at
self-respect.

Important but secondary roles are
played by Mary Margaret Brown as
the Nanny, Randi Ravitts as Vanya’s
mother, Keith Fort as Telyeghin,
an unprepossessmg landowner also
living with the lamily, and Paul
Slemers as a workman and a watch-
man.

The main attraction of the play is
the set and lighting (except for a
slight confusion in the choice of de-
cor). with special credit giventoJim
Reeder and the tech crew, who con-
structed an effective stage setting.

With only one dress rehearsal to go
by. it is difficult to give a lair
and qualilied assessment oi the play
as a whole. it is apparent, how—
ever, that the task taken on by di-
rector Sandy Moffett and his cast
may have been a bit too overwhelm—
ing. Checkov plays are difficult and
challenging, both in presentation and
in interpretation fair to Checkov's
intentions. This production strikes
us too immediately as a somewhat
dull tragedy, with the element ot
humor in Chekhov’s original missing
in the Grinnell perlormance.

As with most plays, there aresome
individual performances in Vanya
which are Stronger than others. It
is difficult and unnecessary to evar
luute a comparison here - the ulti»
mate decision ought to be made by
the observer in the context of areal
production atmosphere. We recom.
mend it as bold effort and worthy
of one's attention.

The Saga 0f Sugar-Sparkled Plutonium”

by Keith Kozloff

It appears that nuclear power re-
actors are not quite as sale and as
tree from pollution and waste as
their vendors claim them to be, In
a potentially dangerous incident, it
was discovered that hundreds oi
iuel rods were cracked in a New
York state reactor. Cracked iuel
rods could result in higher levels
ol radioactivity in the coolant sySv
tem and in higher operating tem
peratures Experts in the nuclear
lield believe that the damaged rods
could be interpreted as a warning
that unexpectedly severe condions
may occur in the new generation or
high-capacity power plants.

The worst conceivable accident
would be what's called a loss-or-
coolant-accident (LOCA). If a LOCA
is not to lead to a CiVIlian disas»
ter ol unparalleled proportions, an
Emergency Care Cooling System
(ECCS) must function. At present,
however, there is virtually no rea—
son to believe that a LOCA will
be managed without disaster, Scale
inodei tests at the ECCS railed coiiie
pletely to provide emergency coolant
water, According to nuciedrpromot-
ers, ii a scale model test lails,
we can always hope that the ECCS
might work in an actual accident,

The Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) has licensed new reactors
while the mayor solely system re-
quired to prevent civilian disaster
is under severe scrutiny in the
AEC’s own national hearings,

The AEC plans to store the radio—
active wastes produced bv the
“nukes" in New Mexico salt nlilles,
leading one local legislator to proud-
ly proclaim that New Mexico is be
coming “llle wistedisposul capital
oi the United States," it this plan
is not len'siblc, l\EC Chili-man Sch—
lesinger has proposed a novel idea:
Send the waste to the suuuhere it
will be hai-iulcssly burned up Sounds
foolproof" A group oi scientists has
calculated that, lurinms by the "Hub
ber oi rockets that would have to
be sent up, a lailure would occur
on the average oi every 29 veni-s,
What goes up.

Children's cereal manufacturers
are still trying to out do each other
in choosing appealing names io
in choosing appealing names ior
their “nutritious” products. The
lollowing partial list of third gen—
eration breakfast cereals are all
found on the shelves of Grinnell
grocery stores: Count Chocula, Co-
coa Krispies, Cocoa Pebbles, Cocoa
Puffs, Cocoa Hoots. Vanilly Crunch.
Frosty 0’s, Lucky Charms, Pink
Panther Flakes, Crispy Critters,
Frankenberry, Peanut Butter (7).
Kaboom. Sir Grapefellow, Baron Von
Redbei'ry, Fruity Pebbles, Crunch
Berries, Super Orange Crisp,
Quake's Orange Quangaroos, Quisp.
Cap'h Crunch, King Vitamin (z), and
Great Honey Crunchers. All. to be a
kid again

«t.‘..x.‘a...

Did your mother make you clean
your plate when you were little?
Probablv not. iudging trom the tre~
mentions amount oi wasted load that
is thrown out everydaybysagu Gar»
page. mostly lrnm lood lelt on plates.
accumulates at the rate oi one ton
every two to three days. The hub-
its of our throw-away socielv begin
at a tender age.

 

