The Province du lieu suivant : Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 33

THE PROVINCE, Friday, June 30, 1972 J3 10 HMiMsllCiMMMiJ Jacques Brel is so alive CliTC says, no to two net plan United Press International OTTAWA The Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) Thursday turned down a request by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (C6C) to split its broadcast services into popular and classical networks. In the sam decision the CRTC ruled that CBC French and English stations should phase out commercials "except where they are indispensable to ensure the availability of programs of exceptional interest." The commission also refused to grant the CBC licenses for six FM stations and a French FM network on the grounds that some parts of the country still lack any CBC station, and these areas should be served first. The CBC applied to the CRTC last March to implement a new broadcast system called Radio 1 and Radio 2. Radio I was to be heard on the AM band and would include pop music, talks shows and regular newscasts. Radio 2 would be heard on the FM band and would include classical music, longer news casts and in-depth documentaries.

Jvl mm i mi; v(r Ill By JAMES BARBER Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris opened Thursday night at the Arts Club Theatre. It ought to run for a year. Even the critics, masters of public indifference, stood up and clapped. It is a beautiful, emotional, completely involving evening, a musical which is not just a few songs connected by the thin spiderweb of a plot, not a collection of dancers ornamenting that spiderweb, and not really a musical at all in the general sense. It is an experience for an audience and a group of four actors, all of whom should preferably have lived, loved, sat back after their tears and sighed a little, and then, much later, thought about it all and smiled.

Jacques Brel is a poet of a very special kiud. lie is both romantic and realist, he knows the colour of both sides of love, and he knows that death Is a function of life. His songs, in translation from the French, lose a lot of their acidity, because English, even at its flowering in the hands of Oscar Wilde, has never been as impassionedly bitter as French. JACQUES BR EL IS ALIVE AND HELL, ETC offering opinions (from left) Iiutlt Nicol, Leon Bibb and Anne Mortifee. amazin.

But the feeling is all there, the concern of Brel for his fellow man, the songs touching tomorrow morning's face in the mirror. That's me. I remember now Jacques Brel is the sort of musical you look forward to a year after you have seen it, that stays in your handkerchief long after you have dried it out. Jacques Brel Is Alive etc. is a collection of twenty six of his songs.

It is not a play, it is not a revue, it is a totally different concept of theatre in which four performers, on a simple, functional but terribly efficient set, empty themselves into the songs, so that they then brim over into the audience, the music, the words aud the people all flood the theatre, and there is the understanding that conies from pain, and the relief that comes from understanding. Brel is no intellectual. He is an artist who with his words and values explores human experience, emotions and values. What he says is so real (and I know that is, in present commercial context, almost meaningless but Brel will make 2 i V. lit really is A magician at nine years old, an avid student of psychology, parapsychology and hypnotism, Kreskin seems to have amalgamated the most effective facets of each with an unusual talent for what has to be called telepathy, and has showcased them with superb flair into a show that is entirely entertaining and mystifying.

He borrows heavy gold rings from men in the audience, links them together and then separates them. And that's only for starters Hyperactive and tightly jovial, he rushes about the audience, tossing bits of paper and envelopes into the croivd; people write things on them, and after a suitably random selection of messages, he has random audeince members memorize them and then he tells us what they are. Some of them. And wiih exactly the right numbers of errors to make him totally believable. A constant source of wit as well as wonder, he threads appealing anecdotes and unquestionable sincerity through I i r- 4 i 7 KKLtehlN the power of positive UiiiiKing.

Kreskin By JEANI BEAD The audience was an assortment of averages that almost filled the Queen Elizabeth Theatre a TV audience if there ever was one, eager to see The Amazing Kreskin duplicate his television Uicks before their eyes. He did. And yes, he really is amazing. He just walked briskly out on stage in a tan suit, no cape and puff of smoke, looking exceedingly bright like a new teacher with a new class, and surveyed us owlishly through spectacles. He din't look amazing at all, but he felt amazing; it was in the air already, and all we had to do was wait.

And Kreskin proceeded to bedazzle us with his art. He calls himself a mental-is which is about as vague as you can get, and there's really no way to evaluate him accurately. Even his public relations writers don't try, being as insistently evasive as only public relations writers can be about what Kreskin really is. Sunday, By IAN WtSTl RGKEN Lulled Press International REYKJAVIK Bobby Fischer's big dream conies true Sunday when he sits down at the checkered board to play world chess champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The American chess genius considers II.

24 game- world championship match a mere formality. He has said time and again that if he just gets a shot at the 35 year old champion, he is certain of defeating him. Ever since he learned to play chess in Brooklyn at the age of six, the lanky American grand master, now 29, has cherished one big dream to become the world champion in the oldest and most sophisticated of games. If he succeeds and there are many experts who believe he will he will become the second American world champion in the long history of chess aud the first non-Russian to rule as champion since Max Euwe of The Netherlands held the title briefly in the 1930s. He would also pocket five-eighths of the prize money, which totals $125,000.

The money was put up by the Icelandic government and the city of Reykjavik to win the right to stage the match in this Fischer fulfils his hig dream It's Fly-the-Flag Week you remember it as a simple, honest word), he is so real that he demands a cast who are totally involved with the simple, pure, unavoidable truths of existence which he is showing. I have seen this show five times before, in Europe and the United Slates. I am not going to compare this production with any oilier, they have all been different, except that at the end there is always the same wet-eyed surprise that any collection of words and music could so totally reach you. Loon Bibb, lean and black and fierce with a great, big. round voice he can shut down to a velvet whisper.

Ruth Nichols, warm and happy and a tremendous, instant actress who comes on like a high beam. Pat Rose, a cracked smile mouthing his words and Ann Mor-tifee who sings incredible warm songs in a fragile, alone voice. It is a beautiful evening. Just go, that's all; a purely emotional reaction, and let the intel-lectualizing come later. It will, because you never forget it.

Angela Davis is a rose, is a rose MOSCOW AP) A new Soviet rose, golden with a delicate scent, has been named for Angela Davis, Tass re- ported. Vera Klimbenko, who developed the flower at the Nikitsk-y Botanical Garden in the Crimea, said she picked the name because "1 want the people to remember the courage of Agela Davis always." more money It was learned that the Icelandic federation wanted to avoid a rupture and was seeking a compromise. Officials were said to feel the federation could not affurd any additional expenses. However, the sources said thai while the federation might have trouble breaking even if the title scries went on as scheduled, it would not stand to lose if it was cancelled. A Fischer adviser said in New York Wednesday that Fischer will be hi Reykjavik in lime for the start of the world chess competition on Sunday, Prof.

Churchill said Shepherd's acceptance by York University as one of 15 graduate students amounts to international recognition of Carleton's music department. Shcpheid has been playing the flula since he wa 14, but said his interest is in composition and musicology tho theory and history of music ralhir than on the concert stage as I flautiat. He composed a suing quartet and piano sonata In the last year. Ills abiding interest is in the music of Frederick Delius, the English Impressionist composer hkencd in much of Ids music to Claude Debussy. v't the evening, a charming if unpredictable host.

The audience is a constant flurry of participation. He finds his paycheque hidden behind the frame of an Exit sign; be names every card in the hands of two audience members; he asks three people to call a number out, and puts them together to make 5T3; on the back of a metal medallion he has brought with him is inscribed that very number. It went on like that for an hour and a half, and then he invited anyone from the audience on stage to participate in some experiments with suggestion. You couldn't say they were hypnotized, because they certainly weren't asleep; they talked during their experiences and remembered everything. But then you couldn't say they weren't.

Their hands wouldn't come apart and their eyes wouldn't open: I had to leave when oue young man was trying desperately to remember his name, and another was wondering why he couldn't count to ten. I found it almost impossible to tear myself away. I wonder if of sellout crowds of 5.000 in the Laug-ardals-lioellin indoor sports arena. Tlie crowd is another potential cause of trouble with the temperamental American challenger, who has been known to leave games because tlie noise of tlie crowd irritated him. Fischer and Spassky, at a chess board made of white and green Icelandic stones and seated in specially constructed chairs, will be placed on the stage in the ball.

The organizers, aware of Fischer's hot temper, first suggested that a glass wall be erected between the players and the crowd. But Fischer rejected the proposal. Other things which have come under fire from Fischer are the lighting and the ventilation in the hall and the choice of German grand master Lothar Schmid as umpire. However, Icelandic chess officials are satisfied that Fischer will accept the arrangements. They were not even worried when Fischer abruptly decided to change his arrival date.

"We are satisfied he will be here in time," they said. The games will be played Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays with adjuurned games being finished on Mondays. Wednesdays and Fridays. The match is scheduled for 24 games, but as is customary in world championship play, the reuiHiuing games will be cancelled when one of tlie two has reached 12.5 points or mure. The players get one point for a win and half a point for a draw.

To retain his title, Spassky needs only 12 points a draw. To the title, Fischer will have to score 12.5 points or more. Under the FIDE rules, Fischer and Sparsky must make 40 moves in two and a half hours. If the game is still undecided then, it will be adjourned aud finished later with I 'ili required to make 10 moves an hour A player running out of times forfeits this ijamc. While FisciVr has predicted an easy vktoiy.

Spassky has refused to speculate about the match. Spassky, who won the title in from fellow countryman Tigran I'ctrosian, is the favorite of Danish (irand Master Bent I.arsen. Larson, who was defeated by Fischer in the cl-minalinn for the Reykjavik match aud served as Fischer's adviser at oue time, feels Spassky'S experience from two previous world championship games aud bis better nerves will be decisive. have been approached to play major roles. None has signed a contract.

The movie script is based on Alberta LI. liov. Grant MacEwan's book John Ware's Cow Country. Outdoor scenes are to be shot at High River, 25 miles south of Calgary, and if successful, the movie will be ready for international distribution by mid 1073, Forsytne said. is.

"Fischer is a genius, an aggressive player who fights as long as there is a pawn left on the board," Larsen said. But if I have to pick a favorite, I would pick Spassky because of bis routine and better nerve control." Spassky has paid tribute to Fischer, whom he described as "a remarkable chess player. Without him the world of chess would be very dull." While Fischer gues on attack to win every game and is thrown olf balance by a draw, Spassky has proved in previous matches that he can come back from a series of drawn games to score decisive wins. They have met five times before, with Spassky winning three games and drawing two. But the Russian, who leads a comfortable life ou his earnings as a professional chess player, agrees that Fischer has got more fire.

Spassky told Western correspondents be would rather be at home in Moscow with his family and friends "sharing some wine and playing chess for fun" than competing for the world title in Hcykjavik. "I would like to teach Bobby that there are other things than chess hi life." Bobby, issues Associated Press REYKJAVIK, Iceland Bobby Fischer has made a last minute demand for more money to play in the world chess championship against Soviet Boris Spassky, informed sources said Thursday. They reported that the 29-year-old American challenger sent an ultimatum to the Iceland Chess Federation "two or three days ago" saying be would not show up unless he got 30 per cent of the gate receipts as well as the unprecedented sums i heady guaranteed. Under the agreement Fischer and I rt-t ti BOBBY HiSnil to sctllu down before a I'licckcrcd board of green ami while Icelandic stones. JFK Centre ran work Shaw founder claims uiilikelif.it of settings on an island in tlie stormtossed North Atlantic.

To Fischer, chess comes first. But money follows closely behind and the question of money almost ruined the championship. Eight cities offered to stage the match. The International Chess Federation (FIDE), now run by Euwe, asked the two players to select their candidate cities. Spassky picked Reykjavik, Fischer picked Belgrade, Yugoslavia, which offered $43,000 more than Iceland.

FIDE then decided to compromise, playing 12 games in Belgrade and 12 in Reykjavik. Fischer objected and said he and Spassky should also get the money from the TV rights. In the end, Belgrade organizers got tired aud made a request for a guarantee of $30,000 to ensure that Fischer would turn up. Finally FIDE presented an ultimatum to Fischer: accept Reykjavik or lose the right to a world championship match. At that stage, with his big dream threatened, Fischer agreed to the conditions offered by the Icelandic Chess Federation.

The Icelanders, although there are only 200.000 of them, are chess-mad and the organizers say they are assured creative process We've gone thrugli the same problems." Dohcrty was in town doing some advance work for the Shaw Festival's production of Misalliance which has opened a two-week run at the Kennedy Centre's Eisenhower Theatre. Doherty, a retired Ontario lawyer, founded the Shaw Festival in l.2 and it remains the only professional company devoted to presenting the works of the famed Irish playwright aud his contemporaries. Its productions for the last 11 years have becu staged in Niagara's 125 year-old courthouse, but it now has under construction a new $3 million, 820-seat theatre. movie, said Hie company will require $300,000. He said (ircg Morris of the television series Mission: Impossible, and Woody Strode, former Calgary Slanipeder all-star football player, have been approached to play the role oi Ware.

Lome (irecne of Bonanza fame and Wally Cox, a movie aud television star, also demand for Spassky signed with the federation, the players will share a purse of $125,000, with the winner getting five eighths of it. In addition it was agreed that they would each get 30 per cent of receipts from sales of television aud film rights for the match. Fischer cancelled scheduled flights to Reykjavik Tuesday and Wednesday. This had led to speculation that he was waging a war of nerves with titleholder Spassky. The 24 game match is due to start Sunday in a 2.500 seal sports palace where seats are sold for $5 a game.

Associated Presi WASHINGTON A visiting theatre lmprcssarto from Ontario seemed more optimistic about the prospects for the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts than many of ils United Stales critics. "People shouldn't get discouraged over tlie troubles at the opening," said Brian Dohcrty, who founded the widely acclaimed Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the Lake 11 years ngo and has been active in its affairs ever since. "It took us two or three years to become established. You don't just open up and expect to be accepted overnight.

In few years you will start your own 'Our prodigy' off lo study in England Alberla cowboy to he film subject This spring he became Carleton's first bachelor oi music, and is the music faculty's first accepted doctoral candidate. Aged 25, on the campus he is known as "our prodigy." This year, he has been teaching undergraduates as well as studying and preparing his thesis. Raised in Portsmouth, Eugbnd, Shepherd came to Canada and to Carleton In when the music department opened. In coming to Canada, be followed another British musical academic named John Churchill, bead of the music department and founder of the Academy of St. -Martin in the Fields, the professional chamber orchestra altacheJ lo tho church of that name in Trafalgar Square, London.

Canadian Press OTTAWA For five years, John Shepherd has been studying tlie theory and history of music and now he has won a chance to delve into the works of an almost obscure English composer for another three years at York University in England. At the end. Shepherd hopes to be Dr. Shepherd and to return to Canada to teach music in a Canadian university. He already has a BA degree, majoring In French, from Carlelon University and last summer he became an associate of the Royal College of Music in I-ondun, which in effect is a teaching certificate, Canadian PiCsi I.miBRIDGE An Alberla film company is attempting to raise funds to produce a movie about John Ware, i pioneer Southern Alberta black cowboy.

Duayne Forsythe of Raymond, president of Chief Mountain Studios and producer of the proposed.