University of Virginia Library

Rapier — One To Beat

By Mark MacNamara

As any stagehand will tell you, a
good act is hard to follow. March's
Rapier was a good act, and April
tries to follow.

Featuring notes from South
America, entitled "Dear Chris," and
a whimsical satire on the Peace
Corps (by a writer for Ramparts),
April's Rapier tries its best to
follow last month's near-brilliance.

Picking up the magazine one is
almost fooled by the imaginative
cover into thinking another March
is at hand. Almost fooled, until you
start reading the first story called
"Dear Chris."

Then you quickly glance back to
the cover to make sure you have
not picked up an issue of "Perverted
Detective" by mistake. No,
that was not the mistake and you
keep reading on about Chris's
brother, Clare and the adventures
of the Peace Corps in Cipriano.

The High Point

The high point of the story is a
big black bold-type excerpt which
reads like a line out of George
Karlan's new movie, "Sex-Bed,
Teen-Bikini, Suburban-Beach-Ball-Bash."
The excerpt reads, "But I
did give in. It was easy, there, in the
night."

This is not to say that there is
nothing worth reading in the new
Rapier: as always, the Spectator has
some slick anecdotes including a
fascinating story about a Computer
date who was raped and murdered
by her match "after sharing a
corned-beef sandwich at a 3rd
Avenue delicatessen."

Then there is a piece of whimsy
by a Reverse Peace Corps Volunteer
on assignment in the United States
entitled, "They Country Tis of
Thee." It is an attempt to recount
what it is like for a South American
to fight poverty in the Kentucky
Coal country. Some of what Mr. de
la Montana has to say is interesting
especially his description of the
training that volunteers going to
New York receive. It seems they
were parachuted like guerrillas into
the Puerto Rican jungles for one
week with nothing but a piano
wire.

The one thing that is most
noticeably lacking in the new
Rapier is the crisp and imaginative
writing of John McVeigh whose
work in the previous issue was
really original. But this time his
fable, The Hesitant Monkey, is an
exhausting experience in which the
less-than-imaginative ending leaves
you gazing at an ad on the next
page asking you to renew your
subscription to Rapier.

Review The Reviews

The two most noteworthy
pieces in the magazine are reviews.
For the music technician there is a
very well-written and interesting
review by Don Smith, entitled,
"Not That Same Old Jazz," which
gives an elaborate look at some of
the new talent who are bringing
Jazz back to life, including a hippie

looking quartet led by Down Beat's
"Jazzman of the year," Gary
Burton.

There is a review of three
Burton records: Duster, Lofty Fake
Anagram, and Gary Burton Quartet
in Concert. Mr. Smith looks at one
piece in particular entitled "General
Mojo Cuts Up."

Following the section on Music
is a book review by Mr. Ledbetter
whose reviews are always well done.
The book is called Cane and it was
written by Jean Toomer, black
author and poet, whose work has
been called "a classic of American
Negro Letters."

The only thing which mars Mr.
Ledbetter's concise and interesting
review is a poem at the end. The
poem is not badly written, but the
effect is shattered in the last line of
the poem which reads, "Buy a book
of soul, Buy Cane and read it."

There Just Isn't

The issue in general is mediocre
which would not matter if there
were one really excellent piece, but
there just isn't. Most of the art and
graphics are good, but certainly not
exceptional, and it seems it could
be an awful lot better. There must
be something more original to
include than, for example, a picture
of a pair of shoes that looks more
like an ad for the Salvation Army;
or the picture on the preceding
page which looks like an amoeba
under a microscope.

What happened to the film
reviews that were so well done?
And the series on Fascinating
Crimes? The one thing which is so
lacking and so essential is wit, as a
matter of fact, humour in general.
The originality and imagination of
the March issue is proof that a lot
more can be expected and should
be had from the markers of Rapier.