April 18, 1996
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0 N C 0 R D I A,S SDAY ____ PORT VOL. 20 ' APRIL I8, I996 . · · -_ N° 22 - - Human-vibration research previously solved problems of j ackhammer operators Bone-rattling buses under study at CONCAVE CONCAVE has been involved in Subhash Rakheja, the centre (whose type of research. "The Commission hammer temporarily deadens feeling BY DAWN WISEMAN human-vibration research since name is an acronym of Concordia de la sante et de la securite du travail in the hands, operators could not The people on the bus go up and down, 1988. According to its director, Computer-Aided Vehicle Engineer (CSST) itself has funded eight or sense when circulation was being cut Up and down, up and down, Mechanical Engineering Professor ing) has always had funding for this nine projects for almost $1.5 mil off from their fingers. The people on the bus go up and down, lion," he said in an interview. Rakheja explained, "There were All through the town. Rakheja entered this area of no other efforts in this area at that research when he became interested time, and with each paper we pub "\ ]{ Jhether it's all through the in examining the arm-hand vibration lished, we received requests for fur V V town or just for a few stops, of jackhammer operators. After pro ther data, especially from workers' the people on the bus get off after a longed exposure to jackhammer compensation groups. The work we relatively short period of time. The vibrations, operators lose circulation did here was eventually adopted as drivers, however, go up and down all in their index and middle fingers. an international standard." through the town not once but sever Before Rakheja began his study, Surprisingly, the researchers at al times in one shift. And, if the town the phenomenon had always been CONCAVE have discovered that they are driving in is Qiebec, the looked at as an irreversible medical the bus drivers' problems are some roads they are driving on may not be problem. However, he said, "We what similar. They began by going in good repair. took an engineering approach, and into the field and measuring the Eight hours of bouncing around tried to discover what was causing vibrations to which the drivers were on bad roads in the same seat ca~ the damage." actually subjected. lead to muscle fatigue and back They found that the operators' They then returned to the labora strain. Through human-vibration hands slipped while the hammer was tory, and recreated the conditions in research, members of Concordia's on, so that the handle would rest a more controlled environment, CONCAVE Research Centre are against the bottom joints of the fin using a special machine which was trying to make the bus-driver's life a gers where they meet the palm of the built in-house and can mimic the little more oomfortable. hand. Because the vibration from the See Buses, p. 7 Jazz voice professor to perform songs from her latest CD to raise money for scholarships Lowy to hold open meetings Fresh Start for singer Jeri Brown On Tuesday, May 14, Rector provinces and try to have a career." scat sing or get a voice with the earlier work, in that she moves away Frederick Lowy will hold two BY PHIL MosCOVITCH open meetings to discuss And that pace shows little sign of colours of Sarah Vaughan," she said. from jazz standards to a more con major issues of concern to oncordians will have a chance slowing down. Brown is performing Instead, Brown tells them they have temporary sound with a soulful edge. the Concordia community. to enjoy the singing of their in Europe again this spring and will to "feel something inside" first. She also wrote most of the lyrics. One will be primarily for fac C very own jazz diva this spring, when be going to Japan to tour in the fall. "How do you create?" she asked. 'That is actually the type of music ulty and one for staff. Stu Music Professor Jeri Brown stars in a A native of St. Louis, Missouri, "That's essentially what I've been that I love the most, but I have never dents are welcome to attend Brown moved to Montreal to take teaching since I've been here. I put it on record. It's me. I am a either. The Rector will pre special benefit concert for scholar up a position at Concordia in 1989. haven't been teaching 'do-re-mi' as product of the '70s. Fusion, contem sent an overview of the situ ships for students in the Faculty of ation at Concordia, followed Fine Arts. She has developed a reputation as a much as I've been teaching Why?"' porary music, avant-garde, soul, funk - that's all me." by an open question period. The concert, called Fresh Start tough, demanding teacher. Asked if The Fresh Start CD grew out of a she sees herself that way, Brown series of four performances with The Montreal Mirror called the after Brown's latest compact disc, said. "Absolutely." Students some Cyrus Chestnut, Wali Muhammad CD "outstanding," and said that it will also feature Music faculty mem times "want to know a mysterious and Dave Young last spring. The "boldly ventures into contemporary ' bers Joe Sullivan (trombone), Roddy magical formula for being able to album is a departure from Brown's R&B and funk without diluting its IN THIS ISSUE Ellias (guitar), Wali Muhammad I integrity or ever losing its charm." . (drums) and Remi Bolduc (saxo Denise Beamish, co-ordinator of phone). Brown, who was nominated the benefit concert, said, "Jeri is for a Juno Award this year, will per someone in the Faculty who is a very form a mix of jazz standards, recent Concordia's small J exciting kind of performer. She and tunes, and a sampling of songs from community reviews 1 the other musicians are really great her new CD. of Loyola hist to listen to." Beamish, Facilities It's been a busy year for Brown. Page5 Director for the Theatre Depart She toured Europe last fall, recorded ment, said the Faculty of Fine Arts is her new CD - and, in addition to hoping to raise about $10,000 for the her duties as Concordia's Director of Fine Arts Development Fund; the Jazz Vocal Studies, she was artist-in money is earmarked for student residence at St. Francis Xavier Uni scholarships. versity in Nova Scotia. The Fresh Start benefi,t concert is on "It was hectic. I try not to sing May 30 at 7 p.m. at the Concordia much when I'm doing crazy things Concert Hall. Tickets are $15, $25 and like that," Brown said. "I seem to $100. The $25 tickets include a cocktail NEXT ISSU know how to relax my voice. I eat and party as well as the show, while the APRIL 2 5 · sleep whenever I can. I do not recom $100 tickets also include dinner. For mend that a performer teach in two ticket reservations or more iriformation, different universities in two different call Denise Beamish, at 848-4660. As a teenager, director Jean-Frederic Messier was galvanized by avant-garde Quebec play Don't Blaine the Bedouins premieres tonight Dubois's performance in what was watching from a cliff, and a monster Bedouins as a class exercise, there has BY PHILIP FINE then a one-man show by the play - all of them set in an Australian always been an attraction to what he y the time his cast of Don't wright. (In this production, 12 actors desert. The stage is filled with sand could not understand in this dis BBlame the Bedouins empties the play more than that many charac and marked with elevated train jointed play. sand from their shoes after the first ters.) But settling for a simpler way tracks. "If I got it right away, I'd be show tonight, Jean-Frederic Messier to describe what the play did, According to Messier, the play bored," Messier said. He calls Dubois one of Qyebec's strongest will probably have moved on to his Messier said, "It really rocked." began in the playwright's head with a writers, and jokingly added that the next show. The play brings together seeming person screaming; Dubois then went Concordia's Department of The real reason he is directing the show ly disparate images - two nuclear- · on to find out what that scream atre is fortunate to have had the ser again was to meet the writer. powered trains riding a collision meant. For Messier, who last year vices of this director, playwright, Besides, he said, "I'm starting to get course, an opera singer tied to train directed the first-year acting students composer, musician, who is one of it." The story's foremost issue for · tracks, a German mountain-climber at the National Theatre School in the busiest people in Montreal's the · him is how one is perceived and how atre community. one keeps up those appearances. But it's Messier who feels like the Messier is best known for his own lucky one. The artistic director and plays, including Death, Delirium and founder of Momentum Theatre Desire and H elter Skelter. His Le credits this play with setting him on 'making of' Macbeth opened just last the road to a career in the theatre. weekend, and he was the screen When he saw the first staging of writer for Karma, a coming film. Ne blamez jamais !es Bedouins, along Tonight, playwright Dubois and with shows by Carbone 14 and translator Martin Kevan will be in Robert Lepage (with whom he later attendance at the D.B.