The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 45

until iij3b dMlMlMjXMMii Pages D5-D8 foot ouAtrry 6isNr The Citizen, Ottawa, Monday, April 8, 1985, Page D5 nlliant momp son still no superstar By Frank Spotnitz United Press International Mr- fit-- kf i 4( i iL i household word. He goes so far as to say maybe his records simply cannot appeal to that large an audience. "I don't think the records that I make sound particularly like the radio and I don't see really that they would appeal to a lot of people. I'm probably not supposed to say this kind of thing, but I've got to spit it out," he said. "I think they potentially appeal to more people than they do and I'd certainly like them to, so I could stop losing money when I tour," Thompson said, laughing.

Across a Crowded Room, his first album for a major label is in fact doing relatively well, although so far it's still no chart-burner. It ranked 111th on the Billboard chart of the Top 200 albums for the week ending March 23. It's not that Thompson has been working at becoming a superstar. "If I wanted to be a superstar, I think I would have done a better job of it," he said. "Fifteen years to be a superstar? I would have done it in three, I think." "There certainly aren't any tracks on my record that are about Linda," he said.

"That stuff, if I did it at all and I don't think I did I definitely did it three albums ago. I haven't done it since." Thompson looks at each song as a different role, much as his American colleague Randy Newman does. "I think you wouldn't imagine Randy Newman could hold the sentiments that he sings about first-person," Thompson said, chuckling. "It's not possible." He said the songs, like the new album's You Don't Say, which has Thompson taking delight in spite of himself upon learning an ex-lover still cares for him, are not autobiographical. His ideas are simply "things I hear about and things I see." That might be in a newspaper, or even in a telephone directory (which he claims helped him write the song The Egypt Room several years back).

Thompson, who turned 36 recently, is not bothered by the fact that his name is not a career in 1971 and began collaborating with his wife, Linda, in 1974 with the Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight album. He made records with and without her for nearly a decade, ending with 1982's Shoot Out the Lights, which also marked the dissolution of their marriage. Now each makes solo folk-rock records and, although they are divorced legally, the same critics who sing the Thompsons' praises insist on remarrying them in combined reviews of their new albums, Richard's Across A Crowded Room and Linda's One Clear Moment. "I think it was inevitable, given that both records were going to be released fairly close tp each other," Thompson said in an interview. The reviews commonly point to the songs, many of which deal with relationships and the aftermath of a breakup, as bearing directly on the breakup of the Thompsons' marriage.

Richard Thompson says it's not so. NEW YORK Who is Richard Thompson and why is he getting all these great reviews from rock critics? His neighbors in London don't know who he is. They don't even recognize Thompson when he walks down the street, even though he's been making records for 15 years. His parents don't know why he gets such great reviews. They are supportive of their son, but still wish he would make nice instrumental records instead of putting his voice all over everything.

Richard Thompson, as rock critics on both sides of the Atlantic have been insisting for some time now, is a brilliant, literate singer-songwriter who seamlessly binds rock 'n' roll and traditional music into one, unique package. Thompson, in town Thursday to perform at Barrymore's, was a founding member of Fairport Convention, the electric folk band, who embarked on a solo UPI photo Richard Thompson: binds rock 'n' roll and traditional music Hail to Chief clean fun for Soap fans Ottawa Music Festival starts April 1 0 By Joan Hanauer United Press International TV preview Hail to the Chief 13R at 9.30 Tuesday NEW YORK If you liked Soap, you'll love the first episode of Hail to the Chief. The premiere confronts the first woman president of the United States with a lunatic I Tho crts IP! Jacob Siskind As "V'i Citizen staff army officer who has taken over a missile launch command and threatens to bomb Moscow unless his demands are met. The president, played by Patty Duke, relays the demands to the premier of the Soviet Union they include demilitarization of the U.S.S.R., freedom for I I 6rL. t- I 1 4 i The president also has a mother with frizzy blond hair who staggers into breakfast in sequins, craves a Bloody Mary, and says, "Who'd have thought at my age I'd have to worry about herpes." Anything this wild and irreverent has to come from Susan Harris, the woman who gave us Soap and Benson.

Harris, who created the series and wrote the script for the first episode, has collected a raunchy bunch of lunatics, held together by the starchy common sense of the first woman president, who came to the Oval Office via the vice presidency. The show moves along at machine gun pace, the jokes are satirical and often risque, and for those who don't mind making fun of people in high places it also is very funny. The first episode ends as Soap did, with a soap opera cliff-hanger and a series of questions can the first woman president avert nuclear war, in the event of holocaust, will there still be income tax, and who is Helmut Luger's date from Dynasty. head. Patty Duke "Will he settle for Castro's head?" the Russian asks.

Other characters include the president's philandering astronaut husband, her gay but tough secret service aide, and national security adviser Helmut Luger, who has a slight foreign accent and a date with a star of Dynasty. Her advisers also include a general who sees nothing wrong with destroying the third world and a black UN ambassador who breaks into gospel cadence without warning. includes Easter Monday Christina Petrowska Springtime seems to do much more than stir the crocus bulbs to activity. Musical communities across the country gather their strengths for a new assault on the sensibilities of the public. The Ottawa Music Festival, which this season is celebrating its 40th year of activity, is girding its loins for its annual spring outing for all the talented young people in this area.

This year the festival takes place April 10 to 24, at Christ Church Cathedral, St. Timothy's Presbyterian Church and Ridgemont High School. Nearly 2,000 individuals and ensembles have entered in categories ranging from solo accordion to school chorus, from school band to solo voice, from recorder ensembles to handbell choirs. In addition, over $12, COO in scholarships is available to performers in all categories. As has always been the case, a number of distinguished Canadian judges have been empanelled for the festival.

These include Lynn Channing, who was a member of the Glynde-bourne Festival Opera for four years before returning to Canada to join the faculty at the University of Regina, and Leonard Isaacs, formerly director of the music school at the University of Manitoba. Other judges include oboeist Dale Hunter, guitarist Philip Dent-Can-delaria, conductor Iwan Edwards and medieval music specialist Judith R. Cohen. Senior and advanced students who participate in the competition are fligible to represent the Ottawa Music Festival in the nrovincial finals and, if successful, to represent Ontario in the National Finals. Contestants must be recommended by the local adjudicators in order to advance to the provincial finals, which will be held in Thunder Bay, May 30 through June 1.

The national finals will take place in Moncton, N. August 23 to 29. The public is invited to attend all Ottawa sessions, which are being held mornings, afternoons and evenings at the three venues, and individual admissions are only $1.50. known as the Den-Art Gallery, presented by pianist and contemporary music specialist Christina Petrowska. The emphasis has been to offer music that is in some way linked to the art works being exhibited in the gallery, but the next concert-show in the series, April 15, is being billed as a concert of "nice new music, repeats and requests and absolutely no premieres." The program will include piano music of this century from Canada, the United States, South America, Japan and the Ukraine and in addition to the recital there will be an exhibition of music graphics and drawings by Petrowska who has already had exhibits in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles.

Petrowska became involved in performances at the gallery when her mother had an exhibit of icons there and she was asked to provide some musical interludes at the opening. There was such a warm response to the idea of matching the visual with the audio that she was invited to repeat the experience in a series of programs that would relate to the works on display on the walls. "The response has been so gratifying and this has become such an important part of the local community that I have been encouraged to continue with the series. We have been drawing up to about 150 people on some occasions and that means all of the chairs and space in the gallery is occupied," Petrowska explained. The final program in this year's series will take place May 13, when Petrowska will be joined by pianist Elaine Keillor for a recital of duets for four hands at one piano.

There will be a world premiere then, Patrick Cardy's Outremer, commissioned by the two pianists with the assistance of the Canada Council, and also a performance of Eric Satie's En Habit de Cheval. The main work on that program will be the four-hand version of Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps, arranged by the composer himself, and a collection of piano rags by Scott Joplin will provide the evening with a bit of leavening. holiday A season ticket, which is good for all sessions but not including the Highlights Concert, Sunday, May 5, at 7.30 p.m. at LaSalle High School, is $10. The program, in brief, is as follows: Choirs April 10-12, Ridgemont High (RH).

Piano Elementary: April 15, St. Timothy's Presbyterian Church (STP); Junior: April 10-13, STP; Intermediate: April 15-19, Christ Church Cathedral (CCC); Senior: April 10-16, CCC. Brass and Bands April 13-16, RH; Woodwinds April 13, 15, 16, RH. Original Composition April 14, CCC; Organ April 15, CCC. Strings April 16-19, STP; Vocal April 15-23, CCC.

Chamber music April 16, 18, 19, STP; Flute April 17, RH. GuitarAccordion April 22, STP; Recorder April 23-4, STP. There has been a mini-festival of sorts all winter at the McPherson Gallery on Bank Street, formerly 6th Annual OTTAWA SPRING ji Ljjil Jjj4JL nil a BWWMM IjTT CNn I I ff It Companion to the OTI AWA FALL HOME SHOW 85 sorviny dll the HullOttawd area Everything you need to know about new trends, colours and decor; do-it-yourself renovation; how to make your Home more beautiful. Enhance your lifestyle by visiting the hundreds of exhibits and displays selected to give you new ideas on what to do and how to Special features include: Cashway Building Centres' HOW-TO display; over 15 special demonstrations. Latest kitchens.

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