FILMS: Monterey Pop
By BOB BUTLER Kansan Arts and Reviews Editor
Critics of cinema verite are quick to point out the form is not an art any more than news photography is an art. Cinema verite is merely the recording of an actual event on film. There are no judgments made, no interpretations given, no explanations presented. Therefore, say the critics, it is not art.
Maybe they are right. But what I experienced in D. A. Pennebaker and Richard Leacock's "Monterey Pop" thrilled me like good art, gave me the same goosebumps as good art. And it wasn't just the solid music put out by the dozens of fine musicians which gathered for the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, of which this is a chronicle, which turned me on. It was the qualities of the film itself: the editing, the use of lenses, the way the camera quietly pokes its way into the enraptured audience and studies a young girl's face until she realizes she's being filmed and blushes.
The whole film has an overwhelming feeling of (dare I say it?) love and peace and good will. Perhaps the filmmakers were not responsible for creating this good feeling, but in any case they captured it remarkably well. It's everywhere, from the quiet stillness of morning when sleepy-eyed couples crawl out of sleeping bags to Jimi Hendrix's joyous rape of his amplifier and the flaming sacrifice of his phallic guitar. It's beautiful.
Beautiful also is the photography. Sure, it's jerky and wobbly, but who cares? The photographers knew what they were looking for: faces. Bearded, dimpled, sleepy, happy, stoned. From the clenched-teeth grimace of Peter Townshend as he demolishes his guitar to the rapturous smiles of couples stretched out in the grass, it's all there.
The sound system the filmmakers employed allowed them to reproduce the concert in stereo, making for some very strange effects. Unfortunately, the balance among the instruments is off with the result that vocalists are often drowned by the drummer's beat or lead guitarists play second-fiddle to rhythm men.
As for the concert itself—well, what else can you expect from a line-up with Otis Redding, Hendrix, the Who, Canned Heat, Big Brother, the Airplane and Country Joe and the Fish but an exciting time? I wish that the filmmakers had chosen better numbers which would have been more representative of some of these groups, but in any case it's rather amusing to see just how much hair some people can grow in two years.
The performers themselves are great. Special standouts are Janis Joplin singing "Ball and Chain" and Ravi Shankar's 16-minute finale. When these numbers were over the crowd on the screen jumped to its feet and roared approval. The same happened in the movie theatre, so great was the involvement these performers generated.
Here's Country Joe MacDonald looking all of 18 years with flowers painted on his cheeks and a baseball cap on his head. Or how about the clean-cut Canned Heat, looking like a soul band from Lawrence Kansas but playing like Delta Spades? There's Ravi Shankar's magic fingers, moving so fast you lose track of them, and of course Janis Joplin, who has to be the world's sexiest ugly chick.
I don't suppose I've done anything here to resolve the debate over cinema verite as to whether it is just shoddy workmanship or the new documentary form. I do hope I've given an honest picture of what I found to be a most enjoyable and invigorating film. Some people are going to say that it's nothing more than the festival all over again. Well, I didn't make it first time around and I'm very grateful that someone had the thoughtfulness to bring it to me.
Civilization program, who allegedly struck a demonstrator during the April 23 disturbance.
Student Senate meeting
(Continued from page 1)
Applause and shouts of
The Executive Committee of the University Senate wishes publicly to commend the students of the University of Kansas for their concern with protecting the rights of freedom of speech and of assembly.
In particular, it wishes to commend two groups for behavior aimed at preserving the peace and at avoiding violence, two prerequisites to the exercise of those rights: we refer to the ROTC Cadets who last Tuesday, April 29, 1969 did not react to provocation during the review held in front of the Allen Field House, and we refer as well to those students, some in black armbands, who at the same review stood along the side lines in peaceful protest against ROTC and against other protesters who sought to provoke the Cadets.
We believe that such behavior as that of those two groups is essential to the preservation of the opportunity for the rational discussion of conflicting opinions and for the rational resolution of problems-a major purpose of a university.
The University Senate Executive Committee University of Kansas
Official Bulletin
TODAY
Foreign Students: The Office of Dean of Foreign Students still has applications for the 1969 Summer Crossroads program in Colorado next month.
The 44th Annual Institute of World Affairs in Twin Lakes, Conn., is now accepting applications for the 1969 summer program. Scholarships are available. Visit 226 Hall
Personnel Officers Seminar. All Day. Kansas Union.
End of Fiscal Year Workshop.
1:30 p.m. Dyche Auditorium.
Review for Western Civilization Exam. 7:15 p.m. Strong Hall Auditorium.
The Infinite Way. 7:30 p.m.
Meditation and Bible Study, Kansas
Union 101. Faculty and Students
invited.
One-Act Plays. 8:20 p.m.
Experimental Theatre.
TOMORROW
Foreign Students: If you did not receive the May International Campus Newsletter come by 226 Strong for a copy. Turn in the requested information pages.
Personnel Officers Seminar, All Day. Kansas Union.
KU Moslem Society. 12 noon.
Student Union.
Chancellor's Review of ROTC. 3:45 p.m. MROT field.
Pageant begins today finals are Saturday
Twenty women will compete in the preliminaries of the Miss Lawrence-KU Scholarship Pageant which will begin at 7:30 p.m. today in Murphy Hall.
The contestants, from which ten will be chosen to compete Friday night, will be judged in three categories-talent, formal attire and swimsuits. They will be judged in the same categories Friday night.
May 8
1969 KANSAN 5
Fri., Sat., Sun.
"PRIVILEGE"
Dyche
50c
SUA Pop Film
"A BRILLIANT MOVIE. I RECOMMEND IT FOR A DOZEN REASONS!" New Yorker Magazine
- New Yorker Magazine
Sigma III presents my sister, my love
From the makers of "DEAR JOHN"
a different kind of love story.
1. logo of presents MY SUNSHINE MY IOPE
starring Jill Kelley Bets Anderson and Per Ossia Cilento
LATE SHOW
Fri. - Sat. 11:15
approval sprang from the gallery, which included several of the charged students, and sympathizers. The resolution was tabled until the next Senate meeting.
Hillcrest
After the Senate meeting, Averill handed the request to Balfour, who said it will be given to the faculty committee which corresponds to the UDB.
* *
HULLCREST SHOPPING CENTER * 9TH AND IOWA
After the emergency Senate session had been adjourned, Awbrey commented on the meeting, saying he thought the Senate had realized that it was only a legislative body. Thus, he said the meeting which he had anticipated to last "indefinitely" was relatively trouble-free.
committee, said Ambrose Saricks, assistant dean of the Graduate School.
The new University Council will meet today at 3:30 p.m. to elect the Senate Executive
In subsequent days and weeks this committee (Senex) will proceed to organize the new University Senate under the provisions of the Senate Code, he said.
"The student members of the University Council today will elect three members who will serve on Senex," he said. "The executive committee of this part of the Student Senate will also be completed, since it consists of seven members, the president and vice president of the student body, as ex-officio members, the three student members of Senex, and two other members elected by the Student Senate."
These two additional members have already been elected, he said.