Newsday from New York, New York • 189

ft lh I'Kl't W'aM I s-i- rr.) V-'? t. i 1 i i i IT i'ik i i ML jL 4 Gsmm Styx takes it seriously By Wayne HtMni Styx: rear James Young, John Panozzo; front. Chuck Panozzo, Tommy Shaw, Dennis DeYoung preview NASSAUSUFFOLK AEOLIAN CHAMBER PLAYERS. Beethoven, Bartok, Brahms, 56.50, PM tomorrow. Junior High School.

Johnson Avenue, Sayville, 224-5420. VAMORE 01 MUSCA." Beethoven, Jeanne Singer, Faure, S4, 7 PM Sunday, Drawing Room, Fine Arts Museum, Northern Boulevard, Roslyn Harbor, 484-9333. CELEBRATUN OF SPRING." Includes Brahms "Liebes-lieder Watzes." selections from "Porgy and Bess," Long Island Vocal Ensemble, S5, S3 students, over 65, 2:30 PM Sunday. Coe Hall, Planting Fields, Oyster Bay, 427-3109. CHINESE MUSC ENSEMBLE OF NEW YORK.

Free, 2:30 PM Sunday, Shelter Rock Library. 165 Searingtown Albertson, 248-7363. CONCERT ORCHESTRA OF LONG BLANDl Saint-Saens, Faure, Vivaldi, Sarasate, Morton Gould, with soloists Seymour Benstock and children Joseph, John, Patricia, free, 6 PM Sunday, Monroe Hall, Hofstra University (South Campus). Hempstead. 767-0826, 549-1568.

CONTEMPORARY MUSC FESTIVAL! 8 PM today. S2. SI students, Recital Hall, Fine Arts Center, State University, Stony Brook, 246-3580. DONA LB CROFT, VDUNBT. Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, Prokofiev, Wiemawski.

free, 8 PM tomorrow, Lowenstein Library, 111 W. Park Long Beach, 432-7201 BART FELLER, CLASSICAL FLUTIST JAZZ PIANIST. Includes Bach, Hindemith, with Eddie Drangel, vocalist; Jenny Romaine, dancer, 53. 50. S2 students, free members.

8:45 PM tomorrow, North Shore Community Arts Center, 3 St. Pauls Place, Great Neck. 466-3636. GRADUATE ORCHESTRA. Beethovens Symphony No.

4, S2, SI students, over 65. 6 PM Sunday, Fine Arts Center, State University, Stony Brook, 246-3580. HUNTWGTON LOERKRANZ. With guest chorus The Biaue Jungs, S3. 50, S2 students, over 65, 8 PM tomorrow, Tosz Junior High School, Nassau Road, Huntington.

KM KASHKASHIAN, VKRJN-BT. Bach, Franck, Bruch, Artken, 89, 7 PM Sunday, Salon, Old Westbury Gardens, 671-6263. UEDER CONCERT. Marian Hoover, soprano: Florence Hechtel, mezzo: Mini Heger, piinist, perform Dvo-rate, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Mozart. 8 PM today.

Shorn-ham-Wading River Library. Route 25A, 929-4488 LONG BLAND-BAROQUE W-SEMBLE. "Invitation to the Dance," with dancers, flute, gambas, recorders, psaltery, harpsichord, S5. S3 students. 8 PM tomorrow, Nassau County Center for the Fine Afs, Roslyn Harbor, 484-1581.

LONG BLAND CHAMBER ENSEMBLE. Young People's Chamber Music Concert" features Joplin, Mozart, Bernstein, free (tickets re-ouired). 1 PM tomorrow; all-Mozart, S3, S2 over 65, 8:30 PM tomorrow. Library. 225 S.

Oyster Bay Syosset, 921-7161. ALVIN MCCALL CELLIST. Free, 1 PM Sunday. Recital Hall, Fine Arts Center. State Univers ty, Stony Brook.

246-3580. Continued next pege Styx wants to save America. That is a mighty ambition for any group and an unusual one considering the apolitical nature of most exceptionally popular rock bands. And Styx is popular: Its latest album, "Paradise Theatre, has' been alternating at the top of the charts with that of another Illinois band, REO Speedwagons "Hi Infidelity, for the last three months, and has sold more than 3 million copies. Tomorrow nights Nassau Coliseum show sold out hours after tickets were an-, nounced; there will be another show Sunday night for which seats were still available at press time.

The topical nature of the Styx message hunt always been lucidly expressed and this veteran band (which recorded its first album in 1970), has never been well-regarded by the press. As a result, the band long avoided interviews and its manager even dissuaded its record company (A M) from routinely sending review copies of its albums. It was partly out of a feeling of being misunderstood that the band decided to open up a little bit a few days ago. "Id like to attribute it to bad breath, keyboard player-singer-song-writer Dennis DeYoung said facetiously about the bands lack of critical esteem. "I think its communication; a mind-set can develop for any reason, and one developed about us.

People didn't know what we were talking about. Listen, we just got two, glowing five-star reviews from some English papers about Taradise Theatre and they didn't understand it. When somebody writes something positive that's that for off DeYoungs voice trailed off and his face revealed some dismay. The English writers had taken literally the "Paradise Theatre symbol and thought that the album was about the Paradise, a Chicago ahowplace torn down in 1958. What did Styx see as the theme of the album? "One of hope and renewal in the spirit of the American people to understand the problems that confront the world and this country and find solutions themselves to those problems, DeYoung said.

"Don't depend on heroes to do what you must do for yourself. If you hate your job and you have a dream, then pursue it. Just don't sit around and complain about it. But if the dream doesn't work out, DeYoung thinks people ought to make peace with their jobs, with the realization that "it takes all the cogs of the wheel to make the thing happen, DeYoung said. "Right now, theres a lack of self-importance in America.

Despite the explanation of DeYoung, its easy to see how Styx could be misunderstood. The use of "Paradise Theatre as a metaphor is vague and a little shallow and few of the songs really work to enhance the concept And despite the overall message, the tone of the album often descends to simplistic rabble-rousing. "Rockin the Paradise contains some lyrics worthy of a politicians adventures in locution: "Lets stick together and futurize our attitu-deaI ain't lookin to fight but I know with determination we can challenge the schemerawho cheat all the rules. The songs do deal with people out of sync with themselves and their environment. "Too Much Time on My Hands is the complaint of an unemployed young man who has "given up hope for the afternoon soapaand a cold bottle of brew.

"Snowblind is a now-fnmilisr warning about the seductive yet destructive powers of cocaine. "Lonely People is basically a content- Kennedy. (I find the name amusing for the extremity of its perverseness, but I wouldn't associate with anyone else who thought it was funny unless Pd known them for a very long time.) This San Francisco band, which appears tonight and tomorrow night at Irving Plaza and Sunday afternoon at Bonds, both in Manhattan, has a strong, often unsettling sociopolitical message beneath its near-dissonant punk ravings. Its not at all surprising that Biafra ran for mayor of San Francisco; he outpolled all but three of 20 candidates. The material ranges from comical to deranged.

"California Uber Alles mocks the cultural cliches of California life with a method different, but results not at all dissimilar, from writer Cyra McFaddens humorous look at Marin County manners, "The Serial. "Zen Fascists will control you, Biafra sings. "You will jog for the master race mellow out or you will pay. But Biafras message sometimes isn't all that different from that of the self-help mindbenders he deplores. Isn't a title such as "Lets Lynch the Landlord just an aggressive way of saying you've got to take control of your own man? And isnt another title, "Stealing Peoples Mail, based on the rationalization that one ought to do ones 'own thing? Biafras antidote to bourgeois jaded-ness is suggested in "Holiday in Cambodia, but one cant help but be bothered by the obvious glee he takes in depicting human suffering in both that song and in tunes such as "Fun-land at the Beach, a miniature horror movie that is grotesquely explicit about the results of a sabotaged roller coaster.

It is possible to appreciate Biafras desire to express himself without any heed paid to social limits or human taboos: That allows him to sing a song such as "I Kill Children. But the problem with someone whose identity is so tied up with being outrageous is that just when he thinks hes made the ulti-' mate felonious assault on propriety, the real-life terror that is called Atlanta exposes him as a petty thief porary rewrite of the Beatles "Eleanor Rigby, the latter being a considerably more compelling ode to alienation "Nothing Ever Goes as with the inveitablility of failure, which Styx even applies to itself: "I strut around the stage like a little king tonight but when the show is over Ive got the big star blues. Even the title of the bands hit single, "The Best of Times, is a little sarcastic. Throughout the song, the opposite is asserted. Its the only song on the album in which love triumphs over hard times.

"I didn't realize how pessimistic the album was until it was out three or four months, DeYoung said. The humorlessness that runs through "Paradise Theatse" is not its only flaw. Styx music is superficially appealing, with high harmonies (DeYoung had joked that perhaps critics are prejudiced against tenor voices) and glossy arrangements. But the band is often too derivative for its own good: One can hardly listen to "The Best of Times without thinking of two superior songs, Elton Johns "Rocket Man and Billy Joels "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant. The melodies are certainly palpable, but infrequently memorable.

And the ambitions of the text are often just beyond the bands ability to articulate clearly. One cant, however, dispute the fact that Styx attitudes, whatever they might be, are honestly derived. DeYoung, married 11 years and the father of two children, still lives near Chicago, where the bud was formed in 1968. So do the other members of the band: guitarists James Young and Tommy Shaw, and the twin brother rhythm section of John and Chuck Panozzo on drums and bass. "Td seen New York and Americas glamour places, DeYoung said.

"I can deal with both places. I prefer the family and friends rd had all my life. My roots give me a sense of purpose, knowing who I was. I wasn't a displaced American. Jello Biafra has ideas for America, too.

There are many reasons to dislike Jello band, not the least of which is its disturbing name: the Dead -C -1 ti Nf A I m0.