HIGH GEAR

July, 1975

Page 7

ENTERTAINMENT

Those Kinky Kinks

John Nosek

The world of musical entertainment reminds one of the cruel mistress who haughtily spurns her lover after a brief two week affair, only to begin anew a search for his replacement before he's even out the door. Fly by night, flash in the pan, one time hit man are all labels affixed to "stars" who peak boldly for a few months and then vanish into the faceless wasteland of mass America. Time takes his toll on countless such lost souls Fabian Forte, Petula Clark, Cliff Richards, once sought-after glamour stars of yesteryear, all probably now working as insurance people somewhere on the West Coast.

Yes, it is the rare individual who is able to make the transition successfully from one era to the next. Ray Davies of The Kinks is one of those perversely attractive peculiarities. Davies is by no means a superstar, nor for that matter even a bonafide star. Still, his continued persistence and remarkable resilience make him a hero in his own right. The Kinks have been together for nearly 12 years, and show 17 albums to their credit. Though the personnel have changed, (except for Ray and his brother, Dave) the thrust of the group remains pretty much the same. The unit continues to crank out polished, ever evolving musicianship. The Kinks have established milestone after milestone in contemporary pop music, but never were able to garnish the mass appeal of an Elton John or a Rolling Stones. Truly, the guitar riff of the 1964 single, "You Really Got Me" is a classic that has been modified and re-used by innumerable musicians in the past decade. Likewise, only Ray Davies was brave enough to come out of his closet years ago in 1967 when he wrote "Lavender Hill" and then followed it up in '69 with the immortal "Lola," a blatantly gay love song that had all of AM America singing along to its lyrics: Well I'm not the world's most masculine man /But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man /And so is Lola /La-la-la-la-Lola. When Davies performed this song in London, he did another first by having a transvestite strip along to the music. "he audience responded frenetically.

From Lola Davies went to the cause of the working class to the simple, folksy country life of England to the Demon Alcohol to the gay streets of Hollywood and onward to Preservation, Acts I and II, political commentarys that claimed no matter which side of a struggle one chose, he would not like it in the long run. Soap Opera is Davies' latest work and one of his best. Absurd as it may seem, (Davies is above all, an eccentric) the theme of the album is comprised of a starmaker who trades places with Norman, a middle class businessman to see how the "ordinary" people live. Replete with ballads, campy rock, and filler gags, Soap Opera is raw Davies.

If you've never seen the Kinks live, you owe yourself the trip. A theatrical extravaganza, the concert is more a broadway musical than a rock show. Continual changes of costume, reverse role-playing, and extraordinary light arrangements boggle the mind with their overall professionalism.

Davies may never have a large following. Perhaps it's due to his being a little too offbeat, (not so much like Alice Cooper as from a general philosophical base) or perhap's it's because he's considered "old" by younger people and the elders who are his peers have already settled down in the roles society expects them to play. Whatever the reasons, The Kinks keep plugging on and with a little good fortune, 12 years from now and 34 albums later, they may still be with us.

I've been put on, sat on, punched, and spat on.

They've called me a faggot, a spiv, and a fake.

They can knock me down and tread

on my face.

They can't stop the music playing on. -Davies 75

V.D.

Get

631-5330

it

out

of

HELP

make HIGH GEAR the kind of paper our community will want to read. Send us all your articles, poetry stories, artwork, and photos.

Call 631-5330 for details, or just mail to P.O. Box 6177, Cleveland, Ohio, 44101

Butch Is Beautiful (Too) is

Leon Stevens

It has become standard practice in some Gay philosophical circles to brand "butch" clothing and demeanor as oppressive because it appears in the pre-sixties male caste system. This "liberated" view indicts the "macho" look and espouses "camp" as the true reflection of the new and real universal male. This orientation is unfair and misleading.

The expression of male superiority in apparel and physique reached its overt and perhaps apocalyptic climax in the nineteenth and twentieth century. During this period, drab-colored sturdy garb was assigned to men, while bright delicate clothing was allotted to women. Men generally brandished tweeds, heavy cotton or linen, denim and leather, leaving women to parade in chiffon, gauze, gingham, satin, etc. Men cultivated rugged, muscular physiques, and women nurtured soft. petite figures. It might appear that these role manifestations are extremes deviating from an abstract unisexual center. Not so! The deliberate weakening of the female is peculiar only to Homo Sapiens. In most species the female is equal or superior in physical stature to the male. In some mammalian species, the initia: dependence of infants upon the female and the greater expendability of the male have permitted or induced hereditary male dominance. Yet even here it is hardly the rule. (For instance, the female grizzly bear brutally_evicts the male from the den after she gives birth.) In any case, male dominance is not intrinsic to our species as the existence of several human matriarchal societies proves. Furthermore, the biand tri-ceps of any Moscow woman bricklayer or olympic female shot-putter attest to the fact that women are just as capable of developing powerful musculatures as men. In recent history man has atrophied the feminine form and molded it into a rather unnatural fetish. Health and vigor are necessary for the survival of all species, but since human beings have acquired an extraordinary ability to modify and transform their environment, they have been able to afford the biological luxury of physically handicapping half of their species. Weakness, vulnerability, fluidity, and penetrability should not be considered innately feminine. What we know to be "effeminate" is not necessarily a virtue, anymore than chaining oneself means that he is freeing slaves. In past centuries it was customary in China to permanently bandage the feet of young girls causing them to become lame adults. Certainly we should not expect liberated Chinese men to do the same to demonstrate that they are not "macho." Feminine weakness should be replaced by strength just as male agression should be replaced by mutual accomodation. The Opposite of "passive" is not, after all, "aggressive" but "active." Strength makes a far more constructive fetish than weakness.

Finally, I enjoy denim, leather, non-competitive athletics and various "butch" hardware and activities. I feel I should not be condemned as a backward, domineering barbarian on the basis of my masculine, physical, and spiritual paraphernalia.

Your System.