Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 45

CLASSIFIED ADS Section 2 -1 (Ehicaso (Tribune Friday, December 15, 1972 People Gift ideas amid the weirdities of Wells St. The Aragon's 'Master of Rock Administration IPII if JAN WINN attributes it to "good vibes," the more cynical could call it beginner's luck. Whatever the operating force at the Aragon in its current incarnation as a Winn-run rock palace, it keeps on operating has for six months, in fact. Now six months as the calendar goes probably sounds like a pitifully short history, but as the fortunes of rock palaces run around here, believe me, it's something of a record. Winn has been running the show at the onetime ballroom on Lawrence Avenue since June, which is as long as he has been running concerts, period.

After graduating from Stanford with a master's in business, Winn worked five years for Mattel Toys in California, then moved to Chicago three years ago to take a job as Midwest director of Ticketron. Last summer, he decided he would rather promote concerts than push tickets for them. "Before I went into this business, I heard a lot about the problems," Winn says. "I just haven't had very many, either with the performers or the audiences. We've had groups show up drunk occasionally, or argue about the order in which they go on, but nothing so bad I wouldn't have any of them back.

"The whole scene's changed since the last time the Aragon opened. Those were the days of acid trips the last time the place closed, it was due among other things to one tripping kid's delusion that he was Batman and his subsequent flight out a second-story window; the chemicals were willing but the flesh proved weak. That's not a problem now. If it was, it'd be tough to cope with. "If anyone shows up in a condition where they don't look like they can take care of themselves, we don't let them in.

We still have problems but out of say 4,000 people, we usually only have trouble with two or three. We them their $5 back and put them out." "We" is a security system composed of anywhere from 25 to 40 of Winn's own staff, the guys who wear the Aragon T-shirts, plus four or five brown-belt karate folk who run. around robed for action. So far, they haven't gotten much. "They're generally instructors," Winn says, "there more as a precaution in case someone really wants to get physical" Winn's chief production problem, a chronic one at the Aragon, remains the sound atrocious at some of the early concerts, much improved lately.

Obviously, as Winn points out, "the Aragon acoustics will never equal those of the Auditorium. In recent weeks, tho, we've been experimenting with mixing and monitoring systems; the one we've got now is about $40,000 worth." cousin has discovered the Women's Lib movement. She's ready for the Ladies Home Companion Calendar, featuring modestly posed portraits of guys in the buff. It's $4.50 at the Town House Apartment Store, 1561 N. Wells.

7. To add a little style to mom's dinner call, give her a colorful hand-painted slide whistle. A high-toned bargain for $1 at Caravan, 1606 N. Wells. 8.

Why must those teen-agers wear such scruffy clothes? They just have to, that's all. So if you want to prove you really understand, give a pair of used blue jeans. They're all properly sterilized and cost $2.48 for straight legs and $3.98 for bells at Second Hand Rose, Piper's Alley. 9. Everybody loves Dad's mustache, including Dad.

But that brush is a problem when he's sipping his morning coffee. That's why he'll appreciate a mustache mug $2.50 at That Hair Shoppe, Piper's Alley. 10. If Uncle Albert goes thru two packs of cigarets a day, he's apt to appreciate a change of puff to a brand like Hare Krishna Bidis at 85 cents a pack or the French Gaulois at 80 cents. For other smokers, there are nifty little brass pipes shaped as trumpets and french horns for $5.

All at the Peace Pipe, Piper's Alley. 11. Look, we all know Grandpa eats too much, but Christmas is Christmas give him some classy munchies. Two ideas: Carr's Table Water English Biscuits at $2.09 a tub or Alegmagna Italian Cake for $2.49 both from the well-stocked gourmet section of the new Treasure Island affectionately known as T. I.

to the natives, 1639 N. Wells. Les Bridges YES, Virginia, there is a place where you can buy delightfully offbeat Christmas gifts for less than five dollars. Take a leisurely Saturday afternoon walk up Wells Street in Old Town. You'll find junk joints, to be sure, but you are also apt to make some creative gift discoverieswithout seriously damaging your wallet.

For starters, here are a few ideas: 1. For that disheartened young McGovern backer, an Anarchists' Revolutionary Calendar is just what the psychiatrist ordered. It's $2 and one of many unusual calendars at Barbara's Book Store, 1434 N. Wells. 2.

Christmas is for cats, too. It will do your animal's ego a world of good to present him with a "Beware of Cat" sign, available for $1.35 at the Feline Inn, 1445 N. Wells. 3. If dad can have a mono-grammed tie, it's only fair that the preschooler should have his own personalized candy sucker.

Personalized pops with name or message of your choice go for $2.89 and up at the Kandy Bar-rell, 1437 N. Wells. 4. Even that grumpy spinster aunt would have difficulty resisting a cheerful Marimekko print-especially when it's splashed across a laminated serving tray. They go for $3.95 and $4.95 in the seconds department of the classi-est shop on the street, Crate and Barrel, 1510 N.

Wells. 5. You know what Grandma always says: "Clean body, clean mind." Well, return the favor. There's Original Finnish Sauna soap at $1.50 a bar at the Emporium, 1551 N. Wells.

6. Her Gloria Steinem glasses are indication enough that your Other early complaints about the Aragon concerned what amounted to too much of a good and sometimes not-so-good thing, the music itself. At one point, Winn booked four bands on the same bill. By the time the headliners came on, everybody was exhausted. "I added that fourth group as a favor to a band that needed a date," Winn recalls.

"But after it was over, people's comments made me realize the show was too long. Now we're stricter with how long groups can play and who we'll book." Putting on concerts can be lucrative. It also costs money. Winn spends an average of $10,000 for talent for each show, with the headliner taking from $5,000 on up and the opening act getting maybe $500. They do it for the exposure, not the money; it's called paying dues.

Since June, Winn has averaged an audience of 4,500 every night the music plays, but he hasn't always come out a winner. His biggest failure was a "new talent night," featuring local and relatively unknown groups at a reduced $3 admission. It was a success neither artistically nor financially, tho Winn learned one lesson: "The audience wants a name act. But at least I tried." Next week, Chicago gets a second rock palace with the reopening of the Kinetic Playground, a North Clark Street counterpart of the Aragon in terms of format, operation, and checkered past. This time around, New York promoter Howard Stein is doing the booking, using the Kinetic to showcase acts that are persona non grata in downtown halls as well as some softer rock groups.

Whether or not the rock audience is big enough to support two such places simultaneously as well as concerts at the Auditorium, Arie Crown, and Amphitheaterremains to be seen. "It's a big market," Winn says confidently, I TriboM photoArt Walter "Veteran" rock-promoter Winn. but it's a certainty competition for the rock dollar is getting tougher. For his part, Winn is beefing up his shows with between-acts entertainment, promising karate demonstrations, comedians, jugglers "anything kooky" as well as the usual Disney cartoons. "I love music, I have almost an awe of people who can make music," Winn says.

"But it's a business, you have to run things like a businessman. A lot of people start out naive. A kid gets involved in bringing in a college show, gets a taste of it and there's a certain amount of glamor involved, it's true. He gets out of school and wants to be a rock promoter. Ninety per cent of the time he'll lose money, because he's not prepared to be a professional." Tonight, Winn presents Richie Havens, southern blues band ZZ Top, and T.S.

Henry Webb, onetime Flock sax player turned singer. Tomorrow, British bluesman John Mayall, "down home" duo Delbert Glen, and veteran harp player Big Walter Horton hold forth. Lynn Van Matre Movie Review La Mancha Follow that star! AsrtllilaiiV illiipiillia (Cfif I i 'rt tii fciiiuMW imaair i- amr Yiv "T'ii 1YW1 lit rftriiwi aiV. TRIBUNE MINIREVIEW Chunk-style "MAN OF LA MANCHA" Produced mi directed by Arthur HHIcr, scrtenpUf by Dalt Wassarman bawd en bit Main play, music by Mitch Lent) mi Jo Darioit, photographed by Ciaseppt Rotunne, sets and cntumei by Lvciant Dami-ani; a United Artists release it the McCleri Court end Edem 2 Theaters. Reserved Mats.

Rated PO. THE CAST Ouiiote Ouilana Cervantes Peter OTeele Dulonea Aldoflia Sephia Leren Sancbe Pania Jamet Can Innkeeper Governor Harry Andrews Carresco The Dum John Castle ball muleteers with their dubbed-in New York accents. They rape Miss Loren gently now, boys, this rape is rated PG and suffer a badly choreographed and poorly edited bruising at the hands of Don Quixote and his manservant, Sancho Panza James Coco, A subplot involving the attempt by the old man's relatives to stop his dreaming is also badly acted. The musical numbers succeed in correlation of the acting. When O'Toole is around with his woeful, then glistening, countenance, he lights up the screen and the soundtrack.

His death had much of the preview audience sobbing, and their tears were honestly won. In his absence, however, "Man of La Mancha" always looks and sounds hollow. Gene Siskel ON THE STAGE, "Man of La Mancha" was one continuous motion: after being haled into prison on a heresy charge by the Spanish Inquisition, poet-dramatist Cervantes staves off an attack by fellow prisoners by fashioning a little play about a loony old man who thinks he's an impossible-dreaming knight. The play is improvised with props in the jail, and the action flows smoothly from reality to fantasy and-back, with prisoners assuming principal and minor roles. In the new film version, fantasy and reality are served up chunk-style; the only connecting thread being Peter O'Toole's splendid triple performance as Cervantes, the old man, and Don Quixote de la Mancha.

Whereas the play took us to the plains of Spain and a wayfarer's inn by thing you know her face is made up as a glamorous waitress in the inn where Don Quixote will imagine her to be his pedestalled Dulcinea. The prisoners now are bawdy muleteers residing in the inn, and these guys just can't act. So the first quarter of the movie plays as a badly directed, badly acted mishmash of pap and pomp. And then Peter O'Toole as the righter of unrightable wrongs is alone in the inn's courtyard with Sophia Loren. It is an electric moment as the story of a man who believes people and objects -to be better than they are begins to take hold.

The tender song "Dulcinea" is sung by somebody dubbing O'Toole's voice, and we feel the potential of their story. Not for long. The film soon returns to those goof- way of the prison floor, the film gives us real Italian plains and a studio representation of an inn in front of a painted background. The transitions hurt. Director Arthur Hiller focuses on Sophia Loren as a dirty whore in prison, and the next Peter O'Toole of the woeful countenance, in "Man of La Mancha." To catch a tree, Paul Bunyan style A sweet-tooth feast from otticr lands Panettone, croquembouche, mazariner, and visions of sugar-plum fairies dancing in your head that's if you visit some of Chicago's ethnic bakeries, the places that really take their Christmas baking seriously.

Chicago is full of great bakeries, and now's the time to treat your family and guests to holiday goodies. We've gathered here a sampling of Christmas creations and some of the bakeries where you'll find them. by CAROLYN McGUIRE Along with the Christmas cookies, eggnog, and gift-buying, there's that little matter of decorating the tree. Buying it is the first step unless you're going to pull the artificial one out of the closet. If you want an adventure and have a little extra time this weekend, head for one of the many tree farms in the Chicago area and chop down your own for less than the price for a cut one.

Here are a few places (incidentally, bring your own hatchet and saw): Marmion Abbey, Butterfield Road, Aurora; Charles M. Burlingham farm, 0. chopped pistaschios. Some Italian bakeries where you're likely to find these are Toscana Bakery, 2130 N. Sheffield Benin! Bakery, 6974 W.

Grand, Elmwood Park; Claudie Pastry 7308 W. North Elmwood Park; and Sicilian Bakery, 3620 W. Chicago and 7022 W. Grand Elmwood Park. In the Continental mood basically French are these spots: French Pastry Shop, 948 N.

Rush St. Their feuche de Noel (it's like a yule log) comes in several sizes, as does the croquembouche, a tall pyramid of filled cream puffs that's dotted with cherries and dribbled with caramel. Fancy Christmas butter cookies and old fashioned gingerbread houses here, too. Much of same at Lo Cordon Bleu, 3243 N. Broadway.

From Scandinavia: mazariner (an olmond tartl and Hansel and Gretel gingerbread houses and cookies at Signe Carlson Bakeries, 1701 W. Foster. Most of these you'll also find at Carl Christensen Bakery, 4040 W. North Mom's Bakery, 5200 N. Clark Nelson's Bakery, 5222 N.

Clark and Peterson-Webner Bakery, 5936 W. Division. 2b34l hnley Lombard; Ronald (J. Gengel tarmon Fairfield Avenue, Lake Villa; Hayden Christmas Tree Farm. Antioch: Holidav Hill Farm.

Barrinaton: Hoosier Hf Boys' Town, U.S. Hwy. 30 west of U.S. Hwy. 41, (' yH Schererville, Ide Mink Ranch, 1500 83d I Downers Grove: M.

G. Van Buskirk. 79th Strent and Barkdoll Road, Naperville; D. O. Van Ness, Mundelein; Lorenz Tammen, Hwy.

2, Kankakee. (And if you insist on buying your tree off a sales lot, get a bargain at the Beverly Unitarian Church, 10244 S. Longwood. With each get a free seedling.) Decking the halls with holiday fare Xy Slamming the champs There seem to be a lot of former table-tennis greats shuffling around these days, ballyhooing their slams and backhands. These champs all have titles, too, like Top Eliminator, Cuyahoga Falls High School, Class of '59, or Best of the Betas, Midwest Region, '66.

Title or not, if you're a hotshot or think you're one find out how you measure up to the real champs this weekend. The United States World Table Tennis tryouts are in Wheeling High School, III. Hwy. 83 and Hintz Road, Wheeling. Twenty-four semifinalists will compete for nine positions on the U.S.

team and a trip next April to Yugoslavia and the world championships. Tomorrow at 2 and Sunday at 10, 2, and 6:30. $2 for the first four sessions; $3 for the final round; or $8 for all 5. Bring along your sweatband, sneakers, end paddle there's a rumor that some of tha champs will take on some of you "former greats." Christmas music and special holiday entertainment for both small fry and grownups this weekend. At' 2 tomorrow, the Meliken Puppets present their version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" at the Beverly Art Center, 2153 W.

I llth $1.25. On Sunday at 1:30, Bob Gibson presents a one-man show with characters such as Captain Hook and Humpty Dumpty leading the way, at the Goodman studio Theater, 200 S. Columbus $1.75. The Chicago Children's Choir sings songs of the season at 8 tomorrow and 3:30 Sunday Hansel and Gretel gingerbread houses are at Lutx" Continental Pastries and Candies, 2458 W. Montrose, along with their famous baumkuchen, which looks like a tree trunk and is decorated with Christmas pixies.

Lutz' springerle are cookies with pressed patterns of birds or trees and flavored with anise end spicy cinnamon stars. At Dinkel's Bakery, 3329 N. Lincoln sample the famous fruit cakes or festive Black Forest cake. The stollen there is a rich buttery one with cashews, almonds, and citron. Some of the other German bakeries with much of the same: House of European Pastries, 3114 N.

Lincoln Kletnert's Konditoret. 4701 N. Lincoln and Schmelsslng Bakery, 2679 N. Lincoln Av. Probably the most well-known Christmas treat in many Italian bakeries is panettone, a tall sweet bread with citron scattered thruout.

Struffel are tiny cream puffs clustered and coated with honey. Buccellati is crammed with figs, nuts, cherries, and citron, and sometimes shaped like donuts. Year-round, most Italian bakers make cannoli filled with creamed ricotta, powdered sugar, citron, end chocolates, the ends clipped into at the First Unitarian Church, 57th Street at Woodlawn Avenue; $1 and $2. The Old Town Renaissance Consort presents Christmas music of the Renaissance at 4 on aunday at Church ot Our baviour, 530 W. Fullerton Free..