The Praise Singer, by Mary Renault
Well-known for her books on ancient Greece, Mary Renault once
again recreates the world of a man who lived in those exciting and
eventful years. This novel, Praise Singer, centers around
Simonides the poet. Bom on the island of Keos, Simonides has a
talent for music which goes unnoticed until he attracts the notice of
a visiting bard, Kleobis. Simonides leaves his home to begin his
apprenticeship with Kleobis and so begins his life in a society where
the arts are an important part of everyone’s life.
Simonides lived in sixth-century Greece in the age of the Tyr
ants. Artists of all kinds depended on the tyrants and other wealthy
men of the period for their livelihood. Artists were special people
and Simonides was one of the best. His life was more remarkable
than most of the bards of his time. In that age a great deal of
importance was attached to beauty, and Simonides was not a
beautiful man. In fact, he was considered ugly, so all his fame was
based on his great talent for music and poetry.
Mary Renault’s skill in making the past come alive is again dem
onstrated in this novel. Anyone with an interest in ancient Greece or
the world of the poet should enjoy this book.
—D/an Christilles Pfeil
Library Assistant
University Library
Early Man and the Ocean, by Thor Heyerdahl
Heyerdahl’s theories that reed ships and balsa rafts were used
for pre-Columbia voyages from the Old World to America and for
colonization of Polynesia from America are spelled out in detail in
his latest book.
It may not prove as popular as the semi-adventure stories of
“Kon-Tiki” and “The Ra Expeditions,” in which he told of his east-
to-west crossings of the Atlantic on the reed-built Kon-Tiki in 1947
and of the Pacific aboard the balsa raft Ra II in 1970, but “Early
Man and the Ocean” is the first time he has spelled out all his
theories in a single book. It consists mostly of updated speeches
and articles, some fairly technical.
What Heyerdahl’s voyages showed was that Old World explorers
— using the same sort of craft he did — could have reached Central
America thousands of years before Columbus, and that American
civilizations could have colonized much of Polynesia and even New
Zealand.
This turned pre-Columbian and Pacific archaeology upside
down. The prevailing wisdom until then was that such voyages
were impossible, and therefore pre-Columbian civilizations were of
necessity home grown or Asian influenced, and that all the islands
of the Pacific must have been peopled from Asia.
Heyerdahl’s theories about Polynesia are pretty well accepted
today. But there still is considerable resistance to his ideas that
pre-Columbian civilizations from Mexico to Peru were the result of
deliberate colonization from the Old World as long ago as 3000
B.C.
“Early Man and the Ocean” allows the layman to examine
Heyerdahl’s reasoning and "evidence,” but be warned that the
book tends to turn far-out theories into proven fact, and avoids
some problems altogether. —Glenne Currie (UP!)
—; ;—
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Bestsellers
9. Dress Gray — Lucian K. Trus- 4. American Caesar — William
Manchester
5. How To Prosper During the
Coming Bad Years — Howard J.
Fiction
1. Chesapeake — James A.
Michener
2. War and Remembrance —
Herman Wouk
3. Overload — Arthur Hailey
4. The Stories of John Cheever —
John Cheever
5. Evergreen — Belva Plain
6. Second Generation — Howard
Fast
7. Coup — John Updike
8. The Sixth Commandment —
Lawrence Sanders
cott IV
10. Fools Die — Mario Puzo
Nonfiction
1. Lauren Bacall: By Myself —
Lauren Bacall
2. Mommie Dearest — Christina
Crawford
3. The Complete Scarsdale Medi
cal Diet — Herman R. Tarnower
and Samm Sinclair Baker
Ruff
6. A Distant Mirror — Barbara
Tuchman
7. Linda Goodman’s Love Signs —
Linda Goodman
8. In Search of History — Theo
dore White
9. If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries,
What Am I Doing in the Pits —
Erma Bombeck
10. Nurse — Peggy Anderson
La
MUSIC
Cooper’s career turns ‘straight’
after a difficult bout with alcohol
By Jeff Wilson
United Press International
Whiskey almost drowned out
the colorful career of Alice
Cooper before the grand ghoul of
theater rock finally checked into
an asylum. Now it’s Schwepps on
the rocks and sobriety and a pain
ful look at the past.
It took three months of ex
cruciating withdrawals in a White
Plains, N.Y., asylum before
Cooper dried out and was able to
redesign his life and his career.
Now he cruises Sunset
Boulevard in his $15,000 1957
Chevy sober as a judge. He’s got
a new album, a new stage show
and a grasp on his life.
"It’s the difference between
being back in the business and
being in neutral,” Alice says. “I’ve
redesigned Alice. We’re going to
see a new Alice.”
His new concept LP (“my first
straight album”) is based on his
90-day lockup and Alice says
“From The Inside” is his most
Preview
Some of the best names in jazz
will be at the University of Texas
Special Events Center March 23
for the Pablo Jazz Festival.
Heading the list is Ella
Fitzgerald, a talented vocalist
known for her wide vocal span
and her acute harmonic ear. She
performs all kinds of music well,
including swing, pop, bossa nova,
Broadway sound and soul.
Also appearing will be jazz
pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist
Joe Pass and Paul Smith.
Tickets went on sale Feb. 21 at
the SEC East Side terrace level
ticket windows. The prices are
$10.50, $8.50 and $7. For more
information call the ticket charge
line at 512-477-6060.
personal recording.
“But it’s not depressing,” Alice
says. “The LP is not down. It’s a
heavy subject, asylums and al
coholism. It could easily get de
pressing if you let it. I’m confes
sional in my lyrics — if something
happens to me I put it into my
music and tell the world. But I
don’t preach.”
Long-time drinking buddy Be-
rnie Taupin, Elton John’s former
lyricist, helped pen all 10 songs.
“Alice and I go everywhere to
gether — we’re buddies,” says
Taupin.
Cooper candidly tells of falling
in and out of bars on Sunset
Boulevard with his pal and “get
ting plastered every night.”
“I’m talking about drinking or
gies,” says Alice, recalling the
daily binges. “We were abso
lutely absurd. One night we were
at the Roxy (nightclub) and we
were so drunk we started pouring
drinks down each others boots.
When we left, I was knee-deep in
vodka and Bernie reeked of whis
key. We were obnoxious.”
But the peak in his 10-year
drinking career hit in 1977, which
Alice says “was an absolutely
awful year for me.”
“The alcohol really got to me. I
didn’t want to work. I didn’t want
to do anything. I was really
addicted. I was drinking, really,
two bottles of whiskey a day.
When I got to the point where I
wasn’t producing anything on any
level, I committed myself to get
rid of this ridiculous thing.”
So the drunken sojourns
through Hollywood are over?
‘‘Yep, now I’m hooked on
ginger ale,” he says. “I would
never start drinking again — ever.
I wouldn’t touch anything. I got rid
of something I hated and I’m
thankful. I feel 10 times better
now.”
Fans will get a look at the “new
Alice” next week when his latest
traveling rock music show,
“Madhouse Rock," hits the road.
It’s based on the daily asylum
routine. Promoters call it “a highly
surrealistic piece of rock theater
that emulates the fantasies and
actualities of being in a mental in
stitution.”
In other words — blowing your
mind in a nuthouse.
"We’ve taken the audience
through the whole ‘Welcome to
my Nightmare’ thing and now
we’re going to take them through
the asylum. We take the whole
audience and place them inside
as though they were in an
asylum. We have giant whiskey
bottles and giant doctors. Every
thing’s exaggerated — a real
Cooper-esque show.”
For Cooper, the asylum was a
sanctuary.
“Once you’re in there you look
at the place as a sort of
sanctuary. Most people say,
‘Wow, you’re locked up inside an
asylum.’ But that’s not the way it
is. Believe me, most of those
people would rather be in there
because it’s safe.
“This (the outside world) is the
asylum.”
Top 10
Albums
1. Rod Stewart — Blondes
Have More Fun
2. Bee Gees — Spirits Having
Flown
3. Village People — Cruisin’
4. Blues Brothers — Briefcase
Full of Blues
5. Billy Joel — 52nd Street
6. Dire Straits — Dire Straits
7. Olivia Newton-John — To
tally Hot
8. Dobbie Brothers — Minute
by Minute
9. Toto —- Toto
10. Gloria Gaynor — Love
Tracks