Where I patronize the arts
I
don't think that I am a very cultural or tony person, since I haven't
gone to a theater to see a show except for a few times, and even those
were somewhat lowbrow fare.
Last year, I went to see Don Rickles perform at the local Living Arts Center. I had purchased my tickets early and thus got to sit in the third row, while the whole theater was totally packed. As far I could tell, I was a rarity in the audience for being under 40 years of age. I had asked my wife if she would also like to come and see Rickles, but she said that the answer to that question is the same as my answer to her question whether I would like to accompany her and her mother to the handicraft fair.
The guy still is quite a showman, despite the fact that he is turning 80 this year. (Now there is one birthday roast that I would like to see.) Before the show, I had kind of expected Rickles to be a relic somewhat like Krusty the Clown in The Simpsons, so that he would make a few jokes about some fifties politicians and movie stars that nobody remembers any more, to which the audience would be so silent that you could hear crickets, and then he would go all "Screw this, I can't work with this audience." But happily enough, it wasn't like that at all.
When he walked in slowly he looked like his age, as if he belonged to some old folks home. I thought that he had seen his best days, but when he suddenly grabbed the microphone and started singing, it was almost as if he had suddenly become thirty years younger. The machine gun monologue went on for fifteen minutes and managed to somehow insult all people and races. One particular moment that I remember vividly was when he walked past a young black couple and asked rhetorically how the hell did these people get in. The audience wasn't offended about anything, but the more offensive the jokes, the more the happily the audience cheered. When Rickles asked one big-nosed man if he happened to be Jewish and he turned out to be an Italian named Tony, Rickles gave a long tirade about Italian-American men who are all named Tony or Carmine. Especially his various imitations were spot-on.
Another show that we both went to see, this time with my parents-in-law, was a dinner theatre presentation of The Rocky Horror Show. As far as I could tell, the show consisted of pretty young women strutting their stuff in sexy lingerie, but I guess that it was supposed to be some kind of liberation or ironic or transgressive or something. Hey, whatever. I guess that there was also some kind of plot in the show, but I didn't really bother that much following it, since my belly was so full of delicious buffet food that we had enjoyed before the show. After the show, the womenfolk were singing the tunes of the song and wondering how the actor who played Dr. Frank could have such great legs.
One time my wife went with her mom to see some one-woman monologue show. Judging from the fact that according to the program she had brought back, the show was produced by "Mother Earth Productions", I don't think that I missed much. If I want to see hippies complaining how men, reason and capitalism are evil, I can already do that for free in many other places, such as the blogosphere.
Last year, we purchased tickets for Wicked when that show comes here for a second round next fall. Didn't want to miss that show this year, since last year it was already sold out when we found about it. As far as shows go, Wicked is about as highbrow as I will get, I guess. We did get the CD and have listened to it a lot, though, so it's almost like we have already seen the show.
Somebody one said that the greatest commercialism is also the greatest art. This summer we intend to fly to Vegas for a few days (we have to that once in our lives before Kunstler's dire and apocalyptic predictions become reality), so I'm already looking where I could get some tacky pants and shirts. I really don't like the heat, but I hear that the whole place is air-conditioned, so it should be OK. But once again I have to ask why the place had to be built in some godforsaken desert far from everything, when countless other places more comfortable and hospitable to life would have been available. But absurdities like that is what you get when you let the government effectively subsidize some areas by granting them a monopoly to do something profitable.
Last year, I went to see Don Rickles perform at the local Living Arts Center. I had purchased my tickets early and thus got to sit in the third row, while the whole theater was totally packed. As far I could tell, I was a rarity in the audience for being under 40 years of age. I had asked my wife if she would also like to come and see Rickles, but she said that the answer to that question is the same as my answer to her question whether I would like to accompany her and her mother to the handicraft fair.
The guy still is quite a showman, despite the fact that he is turning 80 this year. (Now there is one birthday roast that I would like to see.) Before the show, I had kind of expected Rickles to be a relic somewhat like Krusty the Clown in The Simpsons, so that he would make a few jokes about some fifties politicians and movie stars that nobody remembers any more, to which the audience would be so silent that you could hear crickets, and then he would go all "Screw this, I can't work with this audience." But happily enough, it wasn't like that at all.
When he walked in slowly he looked like his age, as if he belonged to some old folks home. I thought that he had seen his best days, but when he suddenly grabbed the microphone and started singing, it was almost as if he had suddenly become thirty years younger. The machine gun monologue went on for fifteen minutes and managed to somehow insult all people and races. One particular moment that I remember vividly was when he walked past a young black couple and asked rhetorically how the hell did these people get in. The audience wasn't offended about anything, but the more offensive the jokes, the more the happily the audience cheered. When Rickles asked one big-nosed man if he happened to be Jewish and he turned out to be an Italian named Tony, Rickles gave a long tirade about Italian-American men who are all named Tony or Carmine. Especially his various imitations were spot-on.
Another show that we both went to see, this time with my parents-in-law, was a dinner theatre presentation of The Rocky Horror Show. As far as I could tell, the show consisted of pretty young women strutting their stuff in sexy lingerie, but I guess that it was supposed to be some kind of liberation or ironic or transgressive or something. Hey, whatever. I guess that there was also some kind of plot in the show, but I didn't really bother that much following it, since my belly was so full of delicious buffet food that we had enjoyed before the show. After the show, the womenfolk were singing the tunes of the song and wondering how the actor who played Dr. Frank could have such great legs.
One time my wife went with her mom to see some one-woman monologue show. Judging from the fact that according to the program she had brought back, the show was produced by "Mother Earth Productions", I don't think that I missed much. If I want to see hippies complaining how men, reason and capitalism are evil, I can already do that for free in many other places, such as the blogosphere.
Last year, we purchased tickets for Wicked when that show comes here for a second round next fall. Didn't want to miss that show this year, since last year it was already sold out when we found about it. As far as shows go, Wicked is about as highbrow as I will get, I guess. We did get the CD and have listened to it a lot, though, so it's almost like we have already seen the show.
Somebody one said that the greatest commercialism is also the greatest art. This summer we intend to fly to Vegas for a few days (we have to that once in our lives before Kunstler's dire and apocalyptic predictions become reality), so I'm already looking where I could get some tacky pants and shirts. I really don't like the heat, but I hear that the whole place is air-conditioned, so it should be OK. But once again I have to ask why the place had to be built in some godforsaken desert far from everything, when countless other places more comfortable and hospitable to life would have been available. But absurdities like that is what you get when you let the government effectively subsidize some areas by granting them a monopoly to do something profitable.
Are you talking about the "Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (1992)"? Or how exactly is government effectively subsidizing Las Vegas by granting them a monopoly on something?
Posted by Kalle | 11:11 AM
Las Vegas has historically enjoyed an effective monopoly on gambling.
Posted by Ilkka Kokkarinen | 11:58 AM
Yes, state of Nevada (includind Lake Tahoe, Reno etc.)legalized gambling in 1931 (though it had a flourishing illegal gambling industry prior to that). But California and other states could have followed, if they had wanted to (and still could). So you meant that government of Nevada is effectively subsidizing themselves? It would be pretty easy for other states to break that monopoly. And New Jersey did just that and legalized gambling in Atlantic City in 1976. And now there are all the indian reservations too.
Posted by Kalle | 12:36 PM
It would be pretty easy for other states to break that monopoly.
True. But it was my point exactly that they won't, which effectively equals granting the casinos in Nevada a legal monopoly to sell gambling to people coming from all over America. The other 49 states gave Vegas an effective monopoly of gambling with their legislative means.
If other U.S. states allowed casinos, that would be that about that for Las Vegas. There is no point travelling to some distant desert furnace to get something that you can already get in your own hometown. There's all the entertainment and glitz, yes, but it is financed by the gambling profits.
Posted by Ilkka Kokkarinen | 12:59 PM
So, have you already memorized all Texas hold'em propabilities for maximum winnings? ;)
Posted by Anonymous | 3:46 PM
So, have you already memorized all Texas hold'em propabilities for maximum winnings?
No, I don't intend to play. I intend to merely enjoy buffets, shows and the general atmosphere.
Posted by Ilkka Kokkarinen | 4:22 PM