Video ClonesnTelevision created a subgenre ofnmusic a few years ago that can be designatednas “artificial, nonexistent, technopop,”nwhich must be differentiated fi-omnthe succeeding, garden variety ofntechno-pop aired today by the human/nmachine combinations known as thenEurythmics, Flock of Seagulls, etc. Thenoriginal includes the music of ThenMonkees, that group of well-scrubbednfeces that was put together on the basisnof a casting call: musicians need notnapply. Mickey, Davy, Mike, and Peternsang and pretended to play, but litde didnthose swooning 13-year-olds who satntransfixed in front of their sets realizenthat groups of bona fide studio musiciansnwere really behind “The Last Train tonClarksville.” Things really becamenbizarre a few years later when Archiencomics were turned into a Saturdaynmorning cartoon show and Arch, Jughead,nand the gang became a rock group.nScratch an oldies-but-goodies packagenmade during the past several years andnyou’re bound to find the Archie’s big hit,n”Sugar, Sugar.” Who cut that record?nNevermind.nOne of the groups—a term that mustnbe used advisedly—that will undoubtedlynbecome one of the most talked-aboutn(and which, perhaps, will find truensuccess in America: a People cover) isnWas (Not Was). It consists of two men,nDon Fagenson and David Weiss, who,nshowing their great senses of humor,nsign themselves as Don Was and DavidnWas on their latest album, Bom to Laughnat Tornadoes (Geffen Records). Just asnDetroit has brought forth “The NewnChrysler Corporation,” which is nothingnmore than the old one with an up-to-datenadjective added, the Motor City isnresponsible for Was (Not Was), a namenwith the same amount of sense.nMusically, this is techno-pop at its bestn(worst?): a pastiche of musical stylesndriven by such electronic gizmos as thenOberheim OBXA, the Vocorder, and thennow-ever-ubiquitous Moog. The resultsnare a Motown-like ballad,”( Return to thenValley of) Out Come the Freaks,” a surftypenstyle on “Smile,” the rhythm-andbluesnshouting of “Bow Wow WownWow,” and more. The Was persons haventheir own Monkeesesque support innhome-grown musicians including Mitchn(“Sally Take a Ride”) Ryder and MarshallnCrenshaw. The most interesting cut,n”Zaz Turned Blue,” features the voice ofnthe Velvet Fog himself, Mel Torme (whonknew David Weiss as a former jazz criticnat the Los Angeles Herald Examiner).nTorme, one of the best white scat singers,nhas been vocalizing mellifluousnAIMnThe Ring and the BrushnNorman Bryson: Vision and Painting:nThe Logic of the Gaze; YalenUniversity Press; New Haven, CT.nWestern painting—^atleastthat^diichnwas produced before the advent, ornonslaught, of photography in the 19thncentury—shares a characteristic with antrinket that could once be found inncereal boxes and gumball machines: thenflicker ring. The surface of this ringnalways shows an image; precisely what itnis depends on the way that light impingesnon it. There are three possibilities:ntwo clear pictures and a blur. For thenmost part, the realist tradition has longnnnnonsense for years; there is no changenhere.nAccording to Weiss, the pair startednmaking music because they were unsuccessfulnsome 10 years ago, when theynwere teens, in picking up girls on the keynsuburban cruising strip. WoodwardnAvenue. That’s true romantic despair fornyou, circa the late 20th century. Chancesnare, the lonely boys went home onenFriday night, turned on the tube,nwatched it bleary-eyed all night long,nand found their calling the followingnmorning. Even American Bandstandnhas consequences. ( SM ) Dnheld sway in the West: Norman Brysonncommences his discussion with Pliny’snstory about Zeuxis, wherein Zeuxisnpaints grapes that are so lifelike that birdsntry to eat them. In effect, the Westernnpainter has had to act as a sort ofnsterilized or neutral conduit that perceivesnand two-dimensionally recreatesnthe objects of perception. Bryson notesnthat style, which many now consider tonbe one of the key traits that makes annartist more than a painter, was longnconsidered by the cognoscenti to be an”personal deviation.” Imagine what anman from the quattrocento would donwhen feced with a Braque or a De Kooning.nThe flicker-ring nature of realistnpainting is this: at one angle it is ancounterfeit of the actual object(s), at thenother it is a pigment-covered piece ofncloth. Bryson attempts to hold up thentradition at a third angle so that there is anblur, a more indistinct image. In doingnso,