Wednesday, December 1, 1982
PagslO
Daily Nebraskan
'Bech is Back's Second chapter in author- s Me
Af its m
JOHN UPDIKE
BECH IS BACK
'
Bech is Back
John Updike
Knopf
Those who have been reading current American fiction
during the last five years or so probably have noticed that
an increasing number of authors who have been described
as good are producing novels about writers.
Some of those novels are Saul Bellow "Humboldt's
Gift." John Irving's "The World According to. Garp,"
Bernard Malamud's "Dubin's Lives," Phillip Roth's "The
tj ILIIII III. Ml. . Ill
Book Review
Ghost Writer" and "Zucherman Unbound" and finally
John Updike's novels titled "Bech: A Book" and
"Bech is Back."
Does the reading public want to know something about
writers that they can't get through some other source?
Updike somewhat humorously addresses this question in
"Bech is Back."
The novel continues the saga of Henry Bech, who first
appeared in "Beck:. A Book." "Bech is Back" follows
Bech through the years of unproductive writing he goes
through after having written three rather famous novels.
This unproductivity has some positive aspects. Bech wins
the coveted Melville Medal, which is awarded to the
author who has maintained the most meaningful silence
during the past five years. The award is named after
Herman Melville, who retired from active writing after
"Moby Dick" and his better books were published.
Bech tries to carry on the best way a famous,
unproductive novelist can. He gives lectures around the
world. He doesn't mind giving the lectures, as he repeats
the same lecture, changing the title to fit the audience.
But he has the problem of carrying around the reputa
tions of all the other noted American writers inside him.
He has one encounter in Venezuela when he is asked
what has'happened to the noble tradition of social criti
cism demonstrated by Dreiser, Steinbeck, Jack London
and Sinclair Lewis
Bech can't tell them that it has drifted in a more sexual
direction because, in his own case, he was "weary, weary
to death of dragging their large obliging, misshapen repu
tations around the globe, rag dummies in which the
stuffing had long ago slipped and dribbled out the seams."
Bech's new novel is called "Think Big," and he just
fian't figure a way to finish it. So to escape the impotence
he faces at his writing table, he marries his mistress,
hoping to gain security and drive. His marriage to Bea
helps him overcome his writer's block, but it doesn't
bring him the happinesshe is looking for. He can't get
over his sexual urges for other women and commits adult
ery with his wife's sister. This unfortunately brings a
divorce down on his head.
Through his new novel, though, Bech now finds
himself a People magazine star of the 1980s, and he isn't
sure he wants to be. We last see. Bech at a big party
thrown by a TV game-show producer who is trying to get
publicity for his new show, women's mud-wrestling. This
isn't the. world Bech remembers belonging to when his
first novel was published, but he adapts well arid hustles
one of the wrestlers home with him.
Updike has created a funny character with Henry Bech
and has done well to continue Bech'-s story. This novel
makes one wonder if the lives of most writers have such
strange, but humorous, moments and if they are they like
the writers depicted in Bellow's or Roth's stories.
David Wiese
Reincarnated New
Birth offers good, solid effort
4
There's an old saying that goes, "Quit while you're
ahead," and that's exactly what the group New Birth tried
to do shortly after their version of "Wildflower" (the Sky
larks also hit big with the 1971 song) and "Dream Mer
chant" did rather well on both soul and pop charts. The
band disintegrated piece by piece until, finally, who ever
was left called it quits three years ago.
Now New Birth has resurfaced on RCA with an aptly
( 7 Album Review
I'm Back
New Birth
RCA
titled eight-song LP called "I'm Back," which, surprising
ly, is a very good, solid album.
I say surprisingly because the temptatiop to join the
endless list of exclusively funk-dance bands has not been
resisted, and the ideas the press release praises the group
for are sadly common.
But New Birth, with nine of its original 12 members
reunited, come off just a bit smarter than their self-same,
bland contemporaries. This has a lot to do with the pre
sence of such trailblazers as Sly Stone, Johnny Graham
and Fred Wesley, as well as members of the late Bootsy's
Rubberband, Richard Griffith, Calvin Bennett and
Frankie "Crash" Waddy, as back-up musicians.
Between the new and old influences, many of "I'm
Back's" tracks end up following modern molds, but small
touches, such as the horns on "Never Say Goodbye," re
mind you of the soul music in the early '70s, something
New Birth members apparently still hold fondly.
"Kute Girls," the album's first single, is actually one of
the LP's least likable cuts, mainly because its electronic
voice dubbing and rap are total concessions to commercial
black music, and anybody from Midnight Star to Lakeside
to the Bar Kays could have come up with it. The brighter
moments come on "Time Is," perhaps the best mix of the
old soul with today's standards whenever Londee Wiggins,
the group's lone female, sings. Wiggins' voice is
reminiscent of Denice Williams', and it's particularly
interesting to hear that type of alto over these arrange
ments. Hopefully, "Kute Girls" should do well enough to
bring deserved public attention to the latest reincarnation
of New Birth. New Birth has always been a quiet, but
consistent, trendsetter (New Birth was running around in
spaceships and bizzare outfits well before George Clinton
and Parliament made it infamous), and "I'm Back" is
indication enough that maybe they have a few more ideas
to introduce.
' Ward Triplett
Tegs' for sure is like totally tubular, ya know ?
By David Wood
For sure, it's just part of the drag of being in high
school, you know - like gag me up to my ears. We're
not invited - can .you just believe it? Can you wildly
imagine - Muffy Tepperman, Miss Prep and Circumstance
herself, got Devo to play at her new-wave bat mitzvah?
Can you experience that - Devo, D-E-V-O? At her bat
mitzvah - like knock me out with a M&M, I mean really.
Spudboys in the skin, max out, totally - my mind is
boggling even as I prattle.
Blah, blah, blah - we've all been there, high school,
and we weren't invited to the big to-do either. We were
M Television
JgJ Review
incredible thing about high school - we all went through
it. We can look back and laugh at ourselves together,
remembering those as the most moronic years of our
lives.
For idiotic comedy, high school is dynamite. "Square
Pegs" (CBS, Monday, 7 pjn.) is essentially "Happy Days
1982," complete with Valspeakers, new wavers, preppies,
snobs, nerds and wimps. It's also the best new sitcom of
the season.
Not only do its writers and producer have some exper
ience from National Lampoon and "Saturday Night
Live," but Devo finally did perform at Muffy's bat mitz
vah. Hot music, street satire, wit, no pretense about its
pretense - "Square Pegs" has it all and is easily the best
half-hour encapsulation of cultural graffiti on TV today.
Surely no other show has more fun with a bigger sampling
of slang, and it's getting better.
If not awesome, "Square Pegs" is at the very least
tubular - for sure, for sure, like I'm telling you from
my mouth.
The reason "Square Pegs" rock V rolls better than
any other prime-time show is, at the bottom line, tech
nical - "Square Pegs" is recorded on film instead of
videotape. Producer' Anne Beatts, a former writer for
the original "Saturday Night Live," wanted to have
records playing during certain scenes, but a regulation
of the 'American Federation of Musicians requires that if
a show is filmed, as "Square Pep" is, rather than video
taped, as "WKRP in Cincinnati" is, then all musicians
responsible for the record played must be paid as though
it were a recording session.
"So if we used a Stevie Wonder cut that had 60musj
cians," Beatts told Rolling Stone magazine, "we'd have
to pay all 60."
Now if you're going to pay a group as if it were per
. forming live, you might as well have the group performing
live. That's what Beatts figured, and now '"record com
panies have been beating the doors down."
Devo's appearance Monday wasn't the first time a
class act had graced a "Square Pegs" episode. The Wait
resses played In the season premiere, and it's them who
do the series title song. In. the future - well, A Flock
of Seagulls, the Motels, Joe Jackson and X have all ex
pressed interest. Like pass me out the door, I'm swooning.
Devo was a smash at the bat mizvah, as well as in the
Nebraska Union lounge, where I caught the show. One
verbal viewer loudly expressed jealousy.
But Beatts made a good point when she said, "you
. can't have every show end in a dance." So in the works
for the high school is Its own radio station. -
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