Page 8/The Battalion/Wednesday, August 1, 1984
Rapid
for band
United Press International
NEW YORK — No one is more
surprised by the dizzying critical suc
cess of R.E.M., a young Georgia-
based band whose two albums have
won across-the-board raves, than
lead guitarist Peter Buck.
Buck says the band was formed
“on a whim” and he uses words like
“amateur” to refer to his own guitar
playing. But he says making music
with R.E.M. “is pretty loose — we’re
happy doing it.”
R.E.M., the acronym for rapid eye
movement, made a critical splash
with its 1983 debut album, “Mur
mur.” Its second album, “Reckon-
ing,” generated equal enthusiasm.
By mid-June, the album was 37th
and climbing on Billboard’s list of
the 50 bestselling rock albums in the
country.
“Reckoning” is a sunny, satisfying
album, dominated by uplifting melo
dies and ballads with a pleasant
country inflection.
But R.E.M. is a thinking man’s
band. Its lyrics — vaguely impres
sionistic, not literal statements —
leave what some may feel is too
much room for interpretation.
Lead singer Michael Stipe has a
soft, emotionally detached, voice. He
also writes the lyrics, although all
four members of the band have a
hand in writing the music.
They are most successful with “So.
Central Rain,” which is the album’s
first single, and “(Don’t Go Back to)
Rockville,” perhaps the most conta
gious tune R.E.M. has constructed.
The band, touring across the
country this summer, does not have
mainstream popularity yet, but it has
developed a sizable following among
college listeners.
Commercial success is important,
“but it’s not important enough for us
to go out and sell our souls and com
pletely change our music to do it,”
Buck, 27, said recently in a tele
phone interview from Los Angeles.
Their music has been likened to
the Byrds (“I don’t think it’s the most
valid comparison in the world”) and
their lifestyle to an episode of the
Monkees TV series.
R.E.M. was formed by four
friends in Athens, Ga. “We thought
we’d get 100 bucks and all the beer
we can drink, and maybe we’d put
out an independent single some
time,” Buck said. “It just kind of
blossomed overnight.”
“I’d never really played (but) I’ve
always been a music fan,” he said.
“I’m an amateur. I guess I’m a musi
cian. I’m really not a great guitar
player. There are a lot of people
who are better.”
He said he hopes the band stays
together for “10, 11, 12 years — if
we want to keep doing it.”
The number of books published
to capitalize on the hunger for infor
mation about personal computers is
reaching epidemic proportions.
What follows is a selection of recent
computer books that stand out — for
better or worse:
Getting the Most From Your Micro,
by Ernest E. Mau
(Hayden Books, 128 pp., $14.95)
This is an exceflent reference
guide for the care and feeding of
your personal computer. It deals
clearly with the internal workings of
computers without getting overly
technical. I liked the approach of
taking nothing for granted. Too
many “beginner” computer books
assume a level of understanding far
beyond today’s typical computer
owner.
The IBM PC User’s Reference
Manual, by Gilbert Held
(Hayden Books, 384 pp., $24.95)
If you can understand the “IBM
PC User’s Reference Manual,” you
don’t need it. If, as I suspect, you are
lost after page three, you also don’t
need it. I’m no stranger to Tech-
Talk, but this book is a bit much for
even a fairly knowledgeable micro
computer user. I would be upset if I
hadjust plunked down several thou
sand dollars for an IBM PC and
turned to this book for help through
that initial stage of panic in setting
up and using a personal computer.
Understanding dBase II, by Alan
Simpson
(Sybex Books, 220 pp., $22.95)
Aston-Tate’s dBase II is one of
the most popular and useful data
base programs currently on the mar
ket. For small business use, it is
nearly unbeatable. The major draw
back to dBase II is that it is necessary
to learn a complicated set of pro
gram commands. It takes patience,
dedication and a certain mindset to
master dBase II. Therefore, there is
a booming business in how-to-use-
dBase II books. Most of them, un
fortunately, are as hard to under
stand as dBase II. But “Understand
ing dBase xll” is different. Simpson’s
step-by-step tutorial method is easy
to follow and the layout of the book
helps enormously.”
Overcoming Computer Fear, by
Jeff Berner
(Sybex Books, 100 pp., $3.95)
This is a little book for the hard
core technophobe — that person
who wants to move into the brave
new world of computers but has se
rious doubts about their ability to
cope with the arcane rituals involved
in personal computing. Berner is
clearly a cheerleader for computers
and as such evokes a somewhat evan
gelical fervor at times. His enthu
siasm does not, however, cause him
to fall into the trap of forgetting who
his audience is: those reluctant to
whole-heartedly embrace the tech
nology. And I give Berner a grateful
pat on the back for waiting until
chapter three before giving us the
obligatory “Computer Literacy
Course.” He titles it “A very short
course.” He is a man of his word. For
that alone, I recommend this book.
Confessions of an Infomaniac, by
Elizabeth M. Ferrarini
(Sybex Books, 215 pp., $12.95,
>.95 pb)
This book had everything going
for it. It was published by the com
pany widely considered one of the
best at publishing computer books.
The subject matter, telecomputing,
is one of the hottest trends in com
puterdom. And it had sex.
Where did it all go wrong?
The gigantic flaw in this book is
that it is fiction. It comes right out in
an opening disclaimer and says it is
fiction.
It does not need to be fiction. Dat
ing and romance really does take
place by computer.
I’ve seen some of the steamy mes
sages that are posted on the hun
dreds of electronic bulletin boards
around the country. If someone
wanted to do a book about consent
ing adults having electronic tete a
tetes, it’s really out there! There is
no reason to make this a work of fic-
...
.. V
lo
tion.
tingly enoi
finished the book, I noted a message
on one of the computer bulletin
boards announcing the wedding of
two people who used to commu
nicate via computer.
Now there’s a computerized love
story!
GoirY straight
Photo by ERIC EVAN III
Allen Estill, a grounds maintinance em- 51. Each space in the lot which is located
ployee for Texas A&M and a sophomore across from Zachary Engineering Building
general studies major from College Station, will be one foot wider when the striping is
restripes parking spaces in Parking Annex completed.
Quick glimpse of China for travelers in a hurry
United Press International
“Ten years seems optimum,” he
said. “Then what? I can’t see quit
ting. So maybe we’ll go on forever.”
HONG KONG — For the traveler
on a tight time schedule, or just seek
ing a respite from the shopping
temptations of Hong Kong, a short
trip to the neighboring city of Can
ton offers a glimpse of China.
It is a quick and carefully con
trolled glance organized by the gov
ernment’s China International
Travel Service, but certainly inter
esting for the first-time China trav
eler.
The basic tour offers three days
and two nights, all meals included.
for about $175 a person. The price
includes double-occupancy hotel
room, transportation and sightsee
ing in Canton and vicinity by bus
with an English-speaking guide.
CITS offers other, longer ver
sions, at greater cost, all centered
around Canton, the capital of
Guangdong province.
And for the really rushed, there’s
even a one-day tour featuring a
quick drive through Macao and a
brief stop just across the Chinese
border from the Portuguese enclave.
Canton, which the Chinese “spell”
Guangzhou, is 75 miles northwest
up the Pearl River from Hong Kong.
The home of 3 million people, it has
been a major trading center with the
West since the 17th century.
The tourist enters China via a
three-hour hoverferry trip up the
Pearl River that offers a panorama
of the diversity of Chinese river traf
fic, from sculled sampans and sailing
junks to modern container ships.
After cursory entry formalities,
the group is whisked by bus to lunch
in the foreign trade center, site of
the semi-annual Canton Trade Fair,
and then taken on a tour of Canton
city.
The number of sights seen by
each group seems to depend on the
state of Canton’s traffic jams. The
standard sights include the Zhenhai
Tower, a five-story structure built in
1380 and now serving as the Canton
city museum, the Five-Rams statue
— the symbol of the city — in Yuexia
Park, and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial
hall, a huge theater commemorating
the founding father of the Chinese
republic.
The second day includes visits to
the nearby city of Foshan for stop®
a 1,000-year-old Taoist temple,aif]
and a pottery factory, as well as?,
visit to a rural “People’s Communes
The groups are shuttled frols
slop to stop by comfortable Japljl
nese-built coaches as the gui:|:
point out sights, give improiM
Chinese lessons, answer questioni-
mostly frankly — and, on occaski!
give brief lectures on the cum®
Communist Party line.
The Canton tours are availaUj
through most travel agents.
COWED
StSlix
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