MUSIC NEWS:

Banzai Institute Top Ten CD's

  1. Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin, "The Big Idea"
  2. Dave Brubeck, "Gone with the Wind"
  3. Steely Dan, "Gaucho"
  4. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, "Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong"
  5. Youssou N'Dour, "The Lion"
  6. Steve Winwood, "Winwood"
  7. Harry Connick, Jr., "20"
  8. Katie Webster, "The Swamp Boogie Queen"
  9. Count Basie & Duke Ellington, "For the First Time"
  10. Steely Dan, "The Royal Scam"

Recent Acquisitions:

Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin, "The Big Idea"
I first heard about this duo in a Keyboard magazine review of their debut 1986 release, "Up From The Dark." Their first album featured well-written originals and funky covers of tunes from Disney movies. "The Big Idea" is an excellent sequel, a recording worth waiting for. Since their label (Rykodisc) produces only CD's, Stewart and Gaskin frequently stretch out songs to seven or eight minutes, leaving ample room for Stewart's guitar-like synthesizer solos and lush arrangements. "The Big Idea" also features an offbeat rap version of Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Dylan purists won't like it; I thought it was great. On the whole it is a well-recorded, well-written production.

Literary Quotations of the Month:

"She had never known numbers to run so high. It seemed unnatural. To her left appeared a prolonged scatter of wide, pink buildings, surrounded by miles of fence topped with barbed wire and interrupted now and then by guard towers: soon an entrance whizzed by, two sixty-foot missiles on either side and the name YOYODYNE lettered conservatively on each nose cone." Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49.
"And when you have blown your nose, use not to open your handkerchief, to glare upon your snot, as if you had pearls and rubies fallen from your brain, for these be slovenly parts, enough to cause men, not so much not to love us, as if they did love us, to unlove us again..." Giovanni Della Casa, "The Perfect Gentleman."
" 'Ah Mother, how do you do?', he said, giving her a hearty shake of the hand. 'Where did you get that quiz of a hat, It makes you look like an old witch?' " Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Our Favorite Magazine:

"Solutions to all our problems (guaranteed)" is an article found in the July/August 1990 Utne Reader. Some of my favorite entries follow.

1. Make mistakes. As jazz saxophonist Coleman Hawkins said, "If you don't make mistakes, you aren't really trying."
8. Don't make the "sophisticated" error of thinking that a negative voice is automatically smarter than a positive voice.
18. Look into people's eyes when you talk to them.
19. Have candlelight in your life.
20. No matter how rushed your schedule is, spend at least five minutes in the morning quietly in bed with your loved one just being gentle together. Perhaps drinking tea.

Important Banzai Dates:

August

20 - Macintosh arrived
21 - MMW discovered Rye Bread
22 - HBD to Banzai Adjunct Professor Shirley Walker
23 - First day of classes
24 - Joining the Food Co-Op
25 - McKinley garage sale
27 - August bills arrived, the indicator that we should at least start thinking about the newsletter
29 - HBD to Illustrious Staff Psychologist Adam Wiz

September

1 - Annual History Department Picnic (volleyball, mosquitos)
3 - Labor Day
7 - UIUC bills due
10 - James Billington, The Librarian of Congress, "Electronic Erosion of Democracy" 8pm Follinger Auditorium
21 - The first paycheck of the 1990 NFL season (we can't wait!)
23 - The Fall 1990 Prairie Cycle Club Century Ride
28 - The first draft of Rick's Dissertation Proposal to Geoffrey Parker for destruction... er, I mean, "commentary."

Important dates in August:

1 - Dom DeLuise's B-Day, Yves Saint Laurent's B-Day
2 - Lesotho National Tree-Planting Day
3 - Columbus Sailing Anniversary
5 - Munchkins of Oz Convention, Escanaba, Michigan
6 - A-Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima
9 - Nixon Resignation Anniversary
11 - Jerry Falwell's B-Day
13 - International Lefthanders Day, Fidel Castro's B-Day
15 - Napoleon's B-Day, Lichtenstein National Day
16 - Elvis died on this date in 1977, Madonna was born on this date in 1958 [curious-ed.]
18 - Sweden's National Sour Herring Day
20 - Feast day of St. Bernard, Xerox 914 (the first photocopier) born 1960
23 - Rick Springfield's B-Day
25 - Sean Connery's B-Day
31 - Trinidad and Tobago Independence Day, Feast day of Saint Raymond Nonnatus, patron saint of the falsely accused

Important date in September:

1- Saint Adjutor's Day, patron saint of yachtsmen, feast day of Saint Giles, patron saint of cripples, beggars, and blacksmiths

(I list these because I am afraid to tell you of the ones that really do interest me. They sound at least as silly - REL)

Rick's History Conference Roundup:

Excerpts from the upcoming Sixteenth Century Studies Conference in St. Louis of talks and sessions that I will NOT attend:

Also in the Utne Reader, July/August 1990:

The Global Village

If the world were a village of 1,000 people, its ethnic and religious compositions would be:

HISTORIAN'S HIATUS:

Welcome to another installment of the late night history lesson. Once upon a time, there was a grad student. This grad student felt the dark cloud, heavy with suffering and gnashing of teeth, of preliminary examinations looming on the horizon. His desk was full of strange books and his head full of strange ideas. Adding to this anxiety, Mr. Heat Miser decided to frustrate any attempts at comfortable sleep with scorching, humid air (if it that burning substance sucked in through your nose and mouth could be distinguished as air, though it might be mustard gas). The only bright spot on the horizon for this lonely, sweaty grad student was the impending visit of his tennis partner (read - significant other) (read - girlfriend). While reading a book on the fascinating theories of international relations during the mystical reign of Aethelred the Pathetic, his head drooped, only for a second, bumping the desk enough to dump a cup of cold water (scalding by this time thanks to Mr. Miser) onto his forehead, causing third degree burns over 200% of his body and the desktop. Not only did the emergency ambulance take him to the emergency room for emergency treatment, but the nice men quickly hustled him into the Emergency Psychiatric Unit for Hallucinating Grad Students with Impending Prelims. Thank goodness. And they all lived happily ever after. How am I doing? Swell, thanks. -- REL

Notes from the Director:

No matter how many semesters I spend on campus here, there's nothing like the experience of being invaded by 20,000 undergraduates from Elmhurst and Rockford. It's all part of the academic rhythm I suppose, but it still catches me by surprise. My department (Computer Science) has undergraduates in its brand new (i.\ e., unfinished) building for the first time. They seem to like it, despite its sometimes cavernous interior (we computer scientists have little labels on the backs of our necks -- ``Store in a cold, dark place.'') I am pleased to be a teaching assistant for my advisors 400-level graduate seminar. The fact that he has attracted 60 people to a course intended for six or eight must either be a testament to his popularity or to the lack of offerings from the rest of the department. What else is going on? I've been bicycling every morning since I visited Andrew (my bicycling guru) in Chicago several weeks ago. I was even inspired to do a little bicycle maintenance, which led to the discovery that I had been riding on a broken rear axle for some unknown amount of time. No wonder the bike didn't feel good. Also (I'm not making this up), the freewheel turned out to be missing about one third of its teeth. From such humble beginnings, there's nowhere to go but up!

THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE:

Well, this month has been chock full-o-fun. The first half of the month was devoted to furniture rearrangement (You know, it really looks like there's a lot more space in here this way) and visits from out-of-town friends including: all the way from Austria: Karin Simonitsch. Just back from Israel: Opher Donchin, Gwen Shelton, and Bruno. Taking their wedding reception show on the road: Michelle Jolly and Brian Andersen. Brief visits were received from Chicago denizens Andrew Stewart, freshly married Kathryn Mills Schooley and Bernal Schooley, Andrea Marino, and temporary Chicago resident, Hilary Feldman. Although we didn't really squeeze in enough discussion of the important issues in our lives, a fine time was had by all. Thanks to all the visitors who took time to visit the Institute. The Procrastination Prize for this issue of TOBIAS goes to Nat Finney, whose list of lists letter arrived this week. The Banzai Faculty is pleased to report that Mr. Finney is alive and well, studying Chemistry at CalTech. That was the social update. In more revolting news, the semester started 2 weeks ago, and I HAVE HOMEWORK. Gack. Library Science students are expected to read a lot of poo-poo in order to achieve a degree. I have read some poo-poo already and have a long way to go. The bright spot of my day is one hour of Hebrew with Adjunct Faculty Parent Rina Donchin each day. The bright spot of my night in 1 am, when I go to bed. Sleep is for weenies. Enjoy your fall, where ever you may be. Till we hear from you again, Tschuss, Ba-ba -- MMW
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Last updated Wednesday, 9 April 1997