The Beaver 17th June, 1991 Newspaper of the London School of Economics Student Union Issue 341 News in brief Security dogs "a complete success" New 8evers I employed considerable investigative skills with little prevail. An assistant manager, ii pure genius of cafeteria etiquette, enlightened me by explaining that this was not a "cafeteria" but a "restaurant" and that as such we have to pay for the water. Why then only the hot? My conclusion can only be that this is an example of gross inconsistency and complete lack of good wiU. William BIrnay. Seriously... Dear Beaver What a pity that one of the most heavily funded and interesting events organised by the LSESU was not given any coverage by the LSESU newspaper - the four East European student exchanges involved over 40 LSE students and almost 50 students from Bucharest, Prague, Warsaw and Moscow. One would have thought that the resulting interchange of insights, ideas and links would have provided interesting reading for all LSE students. Sadly, however, the two feature articles submitted by participants of the Bucharest exchange have, it seems, fallen victim to one of the ads covering two and a half pages of the last issue. The only remaining fea-tureitem was AlexNeuber's good but nevertheless slightly dated article on (Jermany's role in the Gulf. One wonders if this sense of priorities is shared by the rest of the LSE student body. Sincerely, Bettina Wassaner Tim Raynar Beaver Replies It was certainly regrettable that two good feature articles could not be printed in the last issue. However, this was an editorial decision based on consideration of the paper's future. The fact is that for many years there have been no issues of The Beaver in the summer term at all, operating as we do within a very tight budget. It was only due to the advertising contracts mentioned above that the issue was possible in the first place. PVrthermore, the money generated will increase our financial viability and insure that interesting articles will continue to have a newspaper to be printed in. Unfortunately, more and more advertising will be necessary unless the SU decides to increase our budget for the first time in years. We do however, extend our sincerest apologies to Bettina and Tim and hope that they will not be discouraged from making theirvaluablecontributions next college year. The Beaver, 17th June, 1991 ARTS 4 See you at Reading Up until the late 1980's the year. Summer rock festival seemed to Ofthe other perenniels, Dt n- be a declining institution in this nington Monsters of Rock country, reaching its nadir in (August 17th) provides its usual 1988 with Glastonbury cancelled array ofblandMiddleoftheRoad and a Reading billing that radio rock in the shape of Motley included acts as dire as Meat CrueandQuoensryche, support- Loaf, Starship and BonnieTyler! ing westcoastthrash merchants Thankfully, since then, Metallica and the exceptionally things have improved old and exceptionally reliable considerably. Indeed this AC/DC in the headline slot. The Summer will see, perhaps, more Cambridge Folk Festival outdoor one day music events (July 26th-28th) offers what will and weekend festivals than ever almost certainly be the only before, despite Glastonbury chance to see Suzanne Vega in Festival again being cancelled. country this year, as well as Reading Festival, held as Roddy Frame, Steve Earle and always over the August bank Clannad. The late Gene Clark holiday weekend (23rd-25th), of Byrds fame was also due to olTers one of the most impres- play and the Festival could well sive line-ups ever assembled for become somothingof a tribute to a British rock festival. Promoted hisgenius. Lastly and without a by London's Mean Fiddler and doubt leastly the annual Mil- compered by the redoubtable ton Keynes Bowl (July 6th) JohnPeel,the£40ticketpriceis exceeds even its own utterly justified by the first day alone, abysmal standards with ZZ Top, Veteran punk Iggy Pop head- Bryan Adams, Thunder and the lines with a mainly American Little Angels. supporting cast including New One off outdoor musical York's finest art noise brats, events are the real growth area Sonic Youth and the return of this year. The most interesting J.Mascis in a reformed Dino- of these is undoubtedly the two saurjr. The rest of the weekend dayCitiesInthePark(August promises amongst others, the 3rd-4th) being held in perfect pop of James, post-daisy Manchester and promoted, in age rap from De La Soul and the what may well be the shape of intense rock of The Godfathers, things to come, by Pepe Jeans. The total of twenty eight acts on Thefirst day's highlights include the main stage plus a smaller The Beautiful South and 'MeanFiddler'stageolferingeve- reformed teen angst punks. The rything from Edwyn Collins to Buzzcocks. As the second day is Captain Sensible via The Pooh aManchesterbasedFactoryRec- Sticks and Toasted Heretic ords day the conspicuous ab- ensures that Reading will again sence of New Order can only be the British musical event of continue to fuel rumours of a the Summer and probably of the split, particularly asboth Bamie Sumner's Electronic ..;id Pe- ishdj's as well as the best in live ter Hook's: Revenge arc playing, dance music. The day also oilers another Although the Alternative chance t.o see The Happy Glastonbury Festival that Mondays if exams caused you to was to be held at Bristol does not miss their Elland Road gig of appear to be on after all, there June 1st that kicked off the are enough events taking place current festival season. The over the next three months for whole thiing is being held as a virtually any taste to be accom-memorial to legendary Manch- modated. ester procPw.i^£vs jjVwj*iSi*rri-who died earlier this year. mer and I'll see you at Reading. Midlands' finest. The Wonder Stuff headline a one day festival in the unlikely venue of Bescot Stadium, Walsall FC's ground fiaiy Lidington on June 22nd. Supports include the frenetic dance energy of the New FADS and the hotly tipped indie pop of Kingmaker. .Other events include UB40 and The Farm at Finsbury Park (June 22nd), the dreadful Level 42 (for some reason su pported by the excellent Gary Clail and the On U Sound crew) on August 4th and INXS, Deborah Harry and the Hothouse Flowers at Wembly Stadium (July 13th). And for allyou dancc kiddies there is the Midsummer Day's Dream at Milton Keynes Bowl (June 22nd) promising some of the top Brit- Mad fat and bald Potentially, the line-up forthe Crystal Palace Bowl-Pixies-Extravaganza promised acele-bration of the best in USAJK indie rock. Despite numerous obstacles, such as a surreal placing of a Ixjating pond between stage and audience, the 'event' came within a whisper (or scream) of the right royal shin-digthatwaseagerly anticipated. Whilst five bands were billed, as usual, only the two headline bands were capable of mustering enough energy to bridge the moat between band and punters. One was British, one from the USA. Ride, from Oxford art college students to TOTP and indie chart domination; The Pixies, from college drop-outs (naturally) to Reading headlin-ers and world domination. Guitars -loud, unleashed and multilayered- have been firmly placed to the fore in what is lovingly or laughably called alternative music. At thebowl the most prominent examples of the british and american varieties were on show. The ability of both bands to twist that all important 'pop-tune' through a barbed noise core has enticed indie kids to devour them en masse. For Ride the live performance has been central to this while The Pixies have revamped the energy after fears that theBossanova LP was lead-ingto a more mellowed, 'mature' and docile (never) future. Thus, the inclusion of guitar number 3 in the hands Bob "can we have a spotlight for-nevermind-fuckit" Santiago. The Pixies have never hi dden their influences. (No need when you could never be accused of being mere copyists). 'Husker Du andPeter.Paul andMar/as the now legendary advert for a bassist read (replied to only by Kim Deal) summarises their taste for guitar energy sci-fi bubblegum throwaway pop. Lackingonlyexplanation forthe perverted, deformed lyrics of the first three albums, the answer must lie in lead-screamer Black Francis, his tortured mind and his desire to turn tales ofbiblical incest into massly consumed popsongs. Covering the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Head on' at Crystal Palace was a obvious move for the Pixies with the final ingredi- ent of their musical mix being surf The e»r-punching, rib tingling, blo)d rushing, jolly jaunt rendition by the Pixies may go some waj to explain where the rei n ventijn of guitar music may differ acnss the atlantic. "Head 3n' Pixies style, burst into the lir and didn't let you rest u ntilits dying seconds. Had the P.A leen as loud as might have heel expected at such a concert C<3d alone knows what might ha'e happened as 'Makes you wanl'afeel, makes you want lo try I Mikes you want to blow the stars mt of the sky" left the lead Pixie's lips. The Piiies let loose-musically and lyricilly. Twenty five songs speed bytaking us on journeys with UFO's and to the seedier sideoflifc. Not every band could shake ths British distaste for voicing stxual matters by turning a honage to masturbation into a tlousands strong sing along of'J always turns out this way I Thi-'ain't no holiday /Here I am witi. my hand'. The more you heal the more natural it seems. ?he more natural it is the morepowerful it seems. Ride are also loud, guitar based and melodic, but they are smooth, precise and melancholic. Ride are art college kids designing music and beautiful with it. 'Vapour Trail'is woeful romance. "Nowhere' bursts and blinds then caresses silence, flirting with extinction then bursts again. The only problem is that it is all controlled and accurate. Ride cannot let loose, the Pixies make a living out of it. Even the seemingly endless thrash-out on the climactic 'Drive Blind' has no life of its own, living only as Ride designed it-no match for Black Francis' wild screams on their finale 'Tame'. Ride are art. The Pixies are Rock n' Roll. The perverse side of Rock n' Roll that was inevitably to be found in theUSA, not in the UK where the moody, arty, romantic image prevails-where it is next to impossible to be cool. In the US even the mad,fat and bald are cool. At least if they want to be. Steve Bradford Noise Annoys "I hope I die before I get old" (My Generation, The Who) There is a certain art to dying. Especially if you happen to be a rock star. A well-timed rock death can bestow legendary status where before only mild respect existed. Indeed the truly great rock death acts as a process of deification. Where before there was an important but flawed artist there now is a god. Or in the most successful (for the record company and media vultures anyway) cases, the indefinite becomes the definite and we are left with nothing short of God. Compare and contrast. LSE alumni Mick Jagger and celebrated starof(rock) stage and(posthumous) film, the late Jim Morrison. Both made their best records in the late 1960's, both were heavily influencedby the blues, both can be considered the foremost rock stage performers of their generation. But, The Doors are cited by a myriad of up and coming bands as a major inlluence: The Stones by next to nobody. Doors posters adorn the walls of numerous student bedrooms: Stones LPs remain hidden at the back of record boxes along with Abba and Wham to be played only at drunken parties. Why could this be ? It certainly cannot be explained by the quality of the records the two bands put out. The Doors eponymously titled debut LP ranks with the best ever recorded, but then so does the Stones' Beggars Banquet. If Light My Fire is one of the best si ngles ever released, then what of Satisfaction. More to the point, The Doors released some dire recordings. Witness the Soft Parade LP. Worse still- Jim Morrison's poetry. Yet his death turned him instantly into a visionary. Not only a poet, but a prophet. Oliver Stone's film implies that Jim not only wanted death because it would mean 'the endof pain' and hence be an escape, but actively sought it as part of some sort of spiritual crusade. Morrison the alcoholic junkie becomes Morrison the philosophic mystic. The deification of Jim Morrison that resulted from his death (from a drug-induced heart failure) in the bath of his Paris apartment is aptly symbolised and indeed aided by Oliver Stone's portrayal of the event. Jim the overweight, bearded, under-washed and out of control maniac of the previous two years is shown as slim and clean-shaven, with a smile on his recently deceased face positively oozing control and contentment. No one, of course has made a similar film about the Rolling Stones. Nor as far as this column knows is anyone planning to. The story simply went on too long. At first it looked promising. A host of great records, Mick and Keef arrested for marijuana possession, Mick being interviewed by the then editorofthe Times, Sir WilliamRees-Mogg, for the BBC about the youth of his day. Then there was the stabbing of a Stones fan by Hells Angels at Altamont, Brian Jones quitting the band and being found drowned a few days later. And, of course, the free festival in Hyde Park in 1969 in front of (apparently) half a million people. But much as Mrs Thatcher would have liked to have done, they went on and on. Mick the young rebel and spokesmen for a generation gave way to Mick the boring old fart. He missed his chance. The difference in the Stones reputation and Mick Jagger's if it had been his body found floating in the swimming pool rather than that of Brian Jones is scarcely imaginable. Instead it is Brian Jones who has been raised to the pantheon of minor rock gods with many devotees pinpointing the Stones decline as beginning with his departure. There is a scene in Oliver Stone's film just prior to the formation of The Doors with Jim Morrison walking along an LA beach with Ray Manzarek. The future keyboard player turns to the future god and says, "let's make the myths". Yet if it hadn't been for Morrison's exquisitely timed death the chances are he would have just continued to get fatter, hairier and more pretentious and ended up as old and irrelevant as Paul McCartney. Merely remembered for a couple of great records made in the dim and distant past. Jim Morrison's was perhaps the greatest of rock deaths. Perfectly timed and coated with an air of mystery. Even the Parisian setting was right. With all of this on his side the myths could not but help to take care of themselves. Gary Lidington 7 think we can afford the first incision, nurse' f( n nn Italia/^ 7.V t/n's beach leaded or unleadedr 'Well, that's the Complete Works of Shakespeare, now let's think of an alternative to the poll tax/ With our special offer, you can laugh all the way to the newsagent's Take the completed voucher into your newsagent and get a fortnight's Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph absolutely free. ? TO THE NEWSAGENT Please accept this voucher in lieu of payment for 12 issues of The Daily Telegraph - Monday to Saturday - and two issues of The Sunday Telegraph. The voucher is worth £6.80, that is, ten issues of The Daily Telegraph at 40p each, two issues of The Daily Telegraph on a Saturday at 4Sp, and two issues of The Sunday Telegraph at 60p plus a handling fee of 5p per issue. Please return this voucher before Monday, July 29, 1991, to your Wholesaler who will deduct £6.80 from your news account. Multiples should return their vouchers also before Monday, July 29,1991, either to the Central Office in the usual way or to their Wholesaler as above. Please stamp or write your name and address in BLOCK CAPITALS in the panel below. Please contact your Wholesaler if you have any enquiries concerning this promotion. NB: This voucher is not transferable. Accepting it in lieu of payment for any other article constitutes fraud. Please fill in your name and address, and answer the question below, then take | this voucher to your local newsagent who will reserve your free copies of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. Please try to give this voucher to your newsagent at least 3 days before you want your consecutive free issues to start, to allow him to adjust his order with his supplier. Hirst Name:_ Surname: _ Address: _^_ Postcode: TO THE WHOLESALER Please accept this voucher from your newsagent and credit him with the total value of the voucher, that is, the total cover price of each issue claimed of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph - plus 5p handling charge for each paper - a total of £6.80. Only 14 newspapers can be claimed per voucher. Credit for this voucher will be arranged by your Daily Telegraph Area Manager when he next calls. D AY S FREE Which one daily newspaper do you most regularly buy? You must hand in the voucher by Monday, July 8, 1991; the last free newspaper will be issued on Sunday, July 21, 1991. If \()u have your newspapers delivered, your newsagent will be happy to deliver vour free copies to your home (he may charge his normal fee). If you would prefer to collect your paper, a copy will be reserved for you to pick up each day. _| 6 CAMPUS The Beaver, 17th June, 1991 Strangers From Paradise? What can L.S.E. students really do in their holidays? Scott Kelly reports. Holidays sneak up on L.S.E. students when they are least expected. One minute you are in the middle of an exam trying to holidays at all. Between revision and finding some where to live next year the idea of doing absolutely nothing for four Dartmoui. So the question arises of what to do - the options are numerous but each is littered with pitftlls and problems that fill four pages with information that in reality amounts to one paragraph and the next you're a free man. It's incredibly easy not to make any plans for the months can seem very inviting. However, after the first week of paralytic bliss an uneventful holiday ofTers all of the interest and excitement of a short stay in can turn your holiday into a nightmau even worse than term time. ManyL.S.E. students when asked about their summer plans answer that they intend to go 'interrailing'. This is an answer intended to be suflicient to stop any further enquiries but it must be noted that there is more than one type of interrailing. For some interrailing simply means taking the train to Pari s and checking into a five star hotel for a month. However, in a few sad cases interrailing isn't so much a holiday but a way of life. The hardened interrailer is very easy to spot, they are even amongst us in our own city. They can be seen on tube trains sportingtrack suits knocking over pensioners with their ruck sacks which are the size of a small mobile home. They can also be seen in camping shops wasting their money on the latest useless accessory. They can even be seen along Oxford Street late at night trying to put up a tent after failing to get into a youth hostel. There are many "DO'S" and "DONTS" that have to be considered before embarking on a month of endless railway lines. Firstly DONT plan the trip weeks in advance and DO just jump on the nearest train without knowing where it is going. If you do try and plan your trip weeks in advance you are likely to come across so many complications and extra expenditures likely to incur that you will probably come to the conclusion that the tripis more bother than it is worth. If you embark in blissful ignorance the joys of international bureaucracy will aU be in front of you. Secondly, DONT take any 'survival kits' or emergency provisions or indeed anything of a practical nature DO however, go with simply a pair of swimming trunks and a change of underwear. People who prepare for the worst always have the worst things happeningto them.If one wonders through life with a constantly negative attitude then it is hardly surprising that things tend to go wrong. It is (also always advisable not to itravel alone. However,DO travel with someone you hate and DONT travel with your best friend. Alter putting up with someone's company for an entire month you're bound to end up hating them anyway so it's much better to save time and travel with your worst enemy than to alienate one of your few remaining friends. The sad truth is that inter-raling involves waiting around for hours for trains you have to stand up in while worrying about where you are going to spend the night. As for youth hostels themselves the whole mentality is beyond me. The idea is that people under 26 actually enjoy sleeping in cramped conditions above floors covered in dust while people you have paid to endure this experience get the chance to order you about. For some strange reason people over the age of 26 apparently prefer to stay in hotels with room service and soft comfortable beds, why this change in attitudes should happen so suddenly remains a mystery. But because we are you ng we're supposed to take this opportunity to see the world because, as Fve so often been told, we will probably never have this opportunity again.We are afterall, all destined to spend our lives chained to a desk. I have found that the pressure on students to travel during their holidays can be enormous but if the idea doesn't appeal to you it might be a good idea to get someone who is travelling to mail postcards, themselves in the position of the lowest of the low in the firms hierarchy gaining useful experience in nothing more than tea making. Summer work shouldn't be undertaken by anyone who doesn't need the money. Once out of college we can all look forward to years of endless work anyway it seems slightly pointless to jump the gun and work when it isn't necessary. The real problem with the summer holiday is that it is really too long. It Is difficult for a student with even the most exiting life not to go through such a long period of time without coming face to face with boredom more than once. If a student travels it islikelytobeexpensive, if he or she works then life at the L.SJE. will, sooner or later, begin to be remembered as heaven on earth. All of this brings me back to you have written at suitable locations, while you hide under the bed for a month. Another option much favoured by students in a more difficult financial situation is to work in the holidays. There are many areas of summer work open to the hard up student: from apple picking to clerical work but the one thing to remember about all possible occupations is that they are all awful. Amongst employers students are even more identified with slave labour than YTS trainees. Many firms offer work with the promise of useful training and experience and then put hopeful applicants through a whole series of interviews when they should be revising for exams. Successful candidates then find the initial problem, if one does nothing than life will begin to resemble life in Dartmour prison, but compared to the other options this isn't really that bad. In fact it might not be such a bad idea to go the whole hog and commit a crime just big enough to enable you to spend a few months at Her Majesty's pleasure. After all the foods free, the works more interesting than your likely to find on the outside and in general the accommodation is of about the same standard of the average youth hostel. The Beaver. 17th June, 1991 CAMPUS 7 diary Due to the lack of anything happening I am present^ with the opportunity to conclude the latest story from a typical L.S.E. student You 'may remember that when we left, Bertie disaster had just hit Richard Little's show The Importance Of Being Bingo'. Members of the audience had cleverly spotted the similarity between Bingo's songs and those currently on release. The Girl Bingo had hoped to impress had instead been highly embarrassed by the whole spectacle. On telling Jeeves what had happened Bertie found him at a loss for a solution to Bingo's predicament. Now read on...... I must confess that I have never seen a man as deep in thought as Jeeves was over the next few days. Though I am not one who moves in the kind of circles where one often encounters the pensive look, the Drones not being a home to such activity, Jeeves's behavior still amazed me. I found myself addressing him as if talking only to the air around me and on several occasions I found him staring into space standing as still as Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square. It was only five days later, when I had long given up hope of him finding a solution, that a brain wave finally hit his little grey cells. I sat in front of the fire engrossed in Rosie M. Banks's latest novel 'She was only the Duke of Westminster's daughter' when Jeeves shimmered in. "Sir', he announced,'I think I have found a way helping Mr Little' 'At last Jeeves!' I cried,'just when I thought there was no hope of any light at the end of the tunnel you finally come up with the jolly old goods.' 'Indeed sir.' 'So come on Jeeves spill the beans, I think you've kept me in suspense long enough eh what.' 'Well siritoccurredto me that Mr Little problem was one of credibility.' 'You mean that theyounglady believes that he stole those songs?' 'Quite so sir, and it would appear that the only way of filling, what might be described as a credibility gap would be to make it look like Mr Little had indeed written the songs in question.' 'Yes I get the picture, we need to bridge this gap so that Bingo, so to speak, can run over the bridge and meet young miss Simmons with open arms in the middle.' I was rather proud of the mental picture I had just conjured up. 'One could put it like that sir.' 'So Jeeves how do you propose that we fill this gap?' 'Well sir, I felt th at if you were to suggest to Miss Simmons that Mr Little was well known for his talents as a song writer then she might begin to think that Mr Little was underrated is his capacity as a composer.' 'By jove Jeeves I think you've got it. By the time I'm finished with her Bingo's name will be up there with the greats.' My enthusiasm for Jeeves's scheme only began to thin when I found myself facing the very girl in question in one of the L.S.E's nany popular eating venues. She smile weakly at me as I sat Cjown at her side. The trouble was that I didn't know how to even start going about convincingherofthe great depth of Bingo's talent. For what seemedlike ages I sat nervously eating while the food turned to ashes in my mouth. Then just as she looked like was about to go I finally spoke. 'I say wasn't it a shame about poor old Bingo's show' She turned around to face me with a particularly old fashioned expression. 'What do you mean 'it was a shame'?" 'Well what I mean is if only they knew' "If only they knew' what?' 'Ah' 'Ah?' 'exactly* 'Bertie have you finally gone completely mad?' 'Oh I see then you obviously don't know the real truth' 'No I suppose I don't know if the real truth isn't that Richard went out of his way to make me look like an idiot' I turned my head first left and then right giving the definite impression that I believed walls to have ears. T saw Bingo having lunch with old Lionel Bart the other day" 'Lionel Bart!' 'Shh' I lowered my head towards her, 'we don't want people to know.' 'People to know what Bertie?' 'I also saw him with old Andrew Midland Weber and with old Stepthen Sontagor what ever his name is.' 'Bertie would you please get to the point.' You seethethingisthatBingo has been the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice.' 'I find that very difficult to believe.' 'What I am trying to say is that Bingo actually wrote all of those songs only under a pen name to protect his anonymity.' 'So why did he display his name so proudly as the writer on the program then?' 'Ah you see this is why the whole bally thing is so sad. Bingo intended to come out in to the open an admit his song writing genius but, alas, it his plans fell in to ruins' I could she that my words had moved her and I could detect a tear forming in her eye. I decided to go in for the kill. 'I don't suppose that now anyone will ever know the truth about bingo's talent and his songs will always be associated with another.' 'Poor Richard.' "Yes I know it really gets me here,' I pointed in the general direction of my heart. Before I could say another word she was gone searching for her spumed hero. I could satisfy myself with a job well done and returned home to tell Jeeves the news. 'So Jeeves it appears you were right.' 'Thank you sir, I felt that the young lady simply needed a push in the right direction' 'And by jove how true that was. I suppose that's the thing about girls that Til never understand. One moment they wouldn't go near you even if you just happened to be the last man on earth and the next they look up at you as if your every action was filled with greatness.' 'Indeed sir, as the hero remarks in the opera Rigoletto.'Women is caprious like a feather in the wind." Jeeves left me to ponder the wisdom of Verdi's words. "A aNIQGE OPPORTONITY AT NO COST!" Graduating In Japanese? We are a well-established management consultancy with a long tradition of assigned, recruitment projects for our Japanese clientele. If the prospect of working for a Japanese company appeals to you, please send your CV to: Ben Tanaka at Medlock Associates Limited, Imperial House, 21-25 Morth Street, Bromley, BR 1 ISD. T elephone 081 -460 7163. Fax 081-464 1034. Ml COMPLEAT RECRGITMENT 8 ADVICE The Beaver. 17th June. 1991 Loo(^ii£ for ajoBi ? FORGET IT.