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Tfcr Red and BUck
Tuesday. May 17, 1983
Willie’s LP blossoms with return to roots
A review of "Tougher thou Leather " by Willie Nelson, pro
duced by Willie Neleon and Bee Spears A Columbia Records
release.
By BOB KKYES
KrO and Mart Wall Wrttar
Although there's nothing spectacular about "Tougher than
Leather," Willie Nelson's first release this year, the album is
the finest record he's made since "The Red Headed
Stranger” in 1975, his trendsetting, award-winning album
about cowboys, love and life and death in the Old West
The new album marks a complete circle for Nelson's
career, one which takes country music's most renowned per
former from Texas' chicken-wire honky tonks to interna
tional superstardom, and even to Hollywood
Musically, "Tougher than Leather" finds Nelson back
among the honky tonks, far away from the bright lights and
over production rooms that have characterized and blemish
ed his career since 1980
While it's true that "Always On My Mind" was Nelson's
best, and perhaps most technically advanced recording land
he has sales to support the former claim), it's also true that
"A Whiter Shade of Pale” and "Bridge Over Troubled
Water" were far from it
Those songs, and many like them (Let It Be Me"), wet;e
well-done, but they'll always be insignificant when viewing
Nelson's musical history.
What stands out instead are albums like "Shotgun Willie,"
in 1973, "The Red Headed Stranger," "Willie and Family
Live” in '78, "Stardust" in '79 and — finally — "Tougher
Than Leather."
The most obvious criticism of the new record is the
similarity between it and Nelson's 1975 concept album With
Nelson producing both records, their sounds and techniques
are identical
In 1975 Nelson merely told a story, a good one, and offered
adages for would-be cowboys (“You can't hang a man /for
killing a woman / Who's trying to steal your horse i Eight
years later he's again telling another good story and offering
advice ("Never draw with your face in the sun") but he also
comments about society
"Tougher than Leather” can be divided into two distinct
parts, one, set in the 1800s, tells of a duel between two
cowboys and their love for a distraught woman
But before side one ends, (he scenario is changed and a
young cowboy in modern Texas dreams of the Old West,
claiming he could have ridden with the finest cowboys had he
lived in that time To prove this, he robs a store and shoots its
clerk. He escapes, but an innocent look-alike is charged for
the murder and electrocuted in the album's finale, "Nobody
Slides.”
Nelson rarely takes an issue up in song, prefering to keep
his music good-timing instead For that, and because Nelson
penned all but one song, the album excels
In the last few years Nelson's been justifiably criticized for
letting his writing fall by the way The very few songs he did
write were up to par, but they came irregularly.
“Tougher than Leather" will silence those critics Beginn
ing with the 35 second introduction, the listener who cares
about Nelson and what he's trying to accomplish with this
record is spellbound
The record can’t be listened to casually The connection
and interplay among the 13 songs is not always obvious and
the representation of a rose as life - the album's central
theme — is sometimes weak
Until a few years ago Nelson's music was never conscien
Dr. Detroit: afumy butflawed operation
Ackroyd’s new flick cute,
but his wit is missing
A review of "Dr. Detroit,"
starrinp Dan Ackroyd.
Directed by Michael
Pressman A Universal
Pictures release Now
playing at Beechwood
By SUSAN ALLRED
HmI ■na Hl.rh Null Writer
“That was cu-u-ute,”
spouted a girl sitting behind
me as soon as the credits
rolled
She was more succint than
1 and less numb after seeing
Dan Ackroyd's new vehicle,
"Dr Detroit "
It was cute Ackroyd is a
geekish professor, Clifford
Scridlow, employed at
Monroe College, where his
father is the chancellor
Cliff is hit on by Smooth
Walker sounds like a new
brand of Scotch — to save
Walker's nefarious girl
racket Smooth owes rival
operator "Mom" $80,000 Of
course, the money's already
been spent Mom plans to
take the cash out of Smooth's
oily skin
There you have the plot of
"Dr Detroit " All very cute
and dried The characters
are as easily digested as the
light plot Mom is a ragged
spillover from the Ma Kettle
mold Her henchmen are Yul
Brynner clones dressed in
bellhop’s clothes
Smooth's girls are four
picturesque representatives
of two-dimensional
womanhood There's the
Jewish brunette, the
beautiful black, the exotic
Oriental and the blonde
WASP Smooth's chauffeur
is a fast-talking, wise
cracking black who takes
guff from Smooth for the
bucks
This is precisely the mildly
disparate crowd you’d ex
pect to see inhabiting one of
this fall's new sitcoms The
individuals are more
identifiable hy their physical
differences than by per
sonality differences
On the whole, "Dr
Detroit" is just as funny and
invigorating as a night at
home with the tube There
are moments, though, that
seem to belong in some other
comedy
When Smooth entices Cliff
to go home to Smooth's
penthouse, he tempts Cliff
with video movies, "I've got
Satyajit Ray's trilogy, even
Pather Panchouli’ — 'Deep
Throat,’ 'ET,' you name it."
In order to persuade Mom
that his new partner, Dr
Detroit, is a serious threat to
competitors. Smooth shows
up for a meeting with Mom
with a black and blue face
Instead of paying to be
beaten up. Smooth taunts his
chauffeur with racial slurs
until the poor soul beats
Smooth to a pulp When the
beating is over, Smooth
throws his arms around his
assailant and thanks him
heartily, while the guy looks
dumbfounded
Mostly though, the humor
of "Dr Detroit" is like
"Three's Company" with
four girls instead of two
Cliff saves the girls from
Mom and together they save
Monroe College from
bankruptcy
Dan Ackroyd is funnier
than his material He has
developed rubber facial
muscles that can leer
hysterically, then change
rapid fire into a sickly,
sheepish grin His delivery
makes pointed jokes out of
slapdash slapstick
Cliff's a comparative-lit
teacher who practices
power-walking between
classes He minches through
the park blissfully unaware
of couples making out on the
grass and a group of children
who mimick his silly stride
When Smooth's limo pulls
up next to him at an in
tersection. Cliff checks and
re-checks one of his three
watches, ignoring the taunts
One of the girls lasciviously
compliments Cliff's legs and
he finally reacts with his
ever-present sheepish grin
"Huh-huh Thanks," he
says and waves as the car
screeches away
Like the girl said,
Ackroyd’s cute But he's
better doing his more
acerbic material, like his
wicked imitations of Jimmy
Carter or Tom Snyder
I'll take my Ackroyd sharp
rather than cute any day
Indian college accredited
MISSION, S.D (AP) — In the late 1800s,
Chief Sinte Gleska of the Rosebud Sioux
called on his people to combine their
traditional education with the learning of the
white man to survive in a changing world
Today, Sinte Gleska's descendants are
following his advice at a college that bears
his name After a 12 year struggle, the school
recently became the first Indian college in
the nation to win accreditation for an in
dependent four year degree program
‘Before the college, the
reservation was a place
of defeat. ’
—Albert White Hat
"Back in the mid-70s, people looked on us
as a passing tribal fad," said Lionel Bor
deaux. president of Sinte Gleska College
since 1973 and also a member of the Rosebud
Sioux Tribal Council "We showed that In
dians could support an institution of higher
education.
“Before the college, the reservation was a
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Reg. Ili.N A up
tiously directed at any particular audience His lifestyle and
associations more than his music earned him his outlaw tag
But when his music was placed in the hands of other pro
ducers (Chips Moman in particular! it began taking a form
Diehard country fans, especially those who savor Texas-
licked footstomp, were slightly less than enraged when
Nelson succeeded on a large scale; not because they thought
they knew someone really special and didn't want to let
others in on the secret, but because they saw Nelson as a
changed musician
That sort of criticism holds no water on "Tougher than
Leather," Nelson's new record succeeds where "Always on
My Mind" failed Nelson's new record is pure country and
now his critics may rejoice Willie’s coming home
place of defeat,” said Albert White Hat,
chairman of the college's all-Indian board of
directors "You went outside the reservation
to succeed If you didn't make it, you came
back to live out your days and die Now this is
a positive homeland "
Education can help end the poverty and
high unemployment that now plague the
Sioux reservation in south-central South
Dakota, White Hat said
Rosebud tribal officials estimate unem
ployment is as high as 80 percent The 1980
U S census found that the 7,328 residents of
Todd County — home of the reservation —
had an average income of $3,159, the eighth
poorest in the nation
Most of the college is located in this town of
about 750, while the administration is
headquartered in nearby Rosebud There are
325 Indians and 74 non Indian students
enrolled this semester - 239 full-time and 160
part time
The Mission campus consists of two
buildings, two trailers and a former church
All students must take three courses
dealing with the language, philosophy,
history and culture of the Lakota Sioux tribes
of the Dakotas
Wall. Kr.d a V I
Jason takes a dive
llrrr stands Jason. Strangled by his insatiable love for the
reckless country soul of country music, the skinny little
varmint whipped the Nashville Scorchers into a twangin’
frenzy Friday night at the to Watt Club and executed the
club’s first-ever stage dive by a performer with a leopard-
spotted cowboy hat.
Hashing out such faves as “Harvest Moon” and “Broken
Whiskes (•lass." with passionate fervor, the name of the
hand's new album, the Scorchers soon welcomed Kdgar
Hodges, guitarist Warner’s father, on stage. Kdgar, who
plated with Johnny (’ash and l.efty Frizzel in years gone by,
picked out some wicked licks and growled Merle Haggard's
"Workln’ Man" plus a few other country classics as a
beaming Mrs. Hodges joined the reunion party. "Are these
cool parents, or what?.” Warner screamed, and the Scor
chers tore off Into "These Women" and "Country Hoads"
while Jason explored the rafters and hack corners of the new
Watt Club
Mercy, a truly uplifting experience.
WANTED
Traditional Athens organization seeking perma
nent facilities in area surrounding University of
Georgia campus. Property owners with
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contact information to:
PROPERTY
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STUDENT AFFAIRS
—
i IT’S SPRING 1
Applications now available for the
INTERNATION AL CAMPUS FRIEND PROGRAM
For Fall Quarter, 1983
| Why party only on the weekend? !
; We have special rates available i
j^Mooday-Thursbay,
What is a friend? An American student serves
as a Campus Friend to an incoming interna
tional student. As a Campus Friend, you can
provide information, assistance, and compa
nionship to help ease the adjustment of a stu
dent far from home The program also offers
you the opportunity to learn about another
country and to get to know an international
student as an individual. There is no time re
quirement so the program is what you make
it.
1 Si A RYOOD ®eb« Thornton
f 548-1041
For more information, call or stop by the Of
fice of International Services and Programs,
214 Clark Howell Hall. 542-1557. An orientation
program will be held on May 17 at 7:00 p.m. in
214 Clark Howell Hall.
Thij irY/ormatton has been submitted by the
Office of the Vice President of Student Affoirt