Hadestown!

 Hadestown is the musical I had looked forward to all season, the reputation of the Tony Award winning show preceded it. Nothing ever hit me like Hamilton had the first time I saw it. I had entered the theater naturally resistant to the hype, but it overwhelmed my cynical self and it was every bit as good as its rep. Would Hadestown live up to it's hype?

The cast walked out and had some fun with the crowd and it was strangely silent. Then the trumpet started to wail and Hermes, the narrator for the evening, launched into a jazzy gospel tune called The Road To Hell. Introducing the cast of characters as he sang, this tune screamed New Orleans and yep I was hooked.

The story moves along as Orpheus and Eurydice are a couple of poor crazy kids falling in love. Orpheus is songwriter who can tame anything with his voice but the song is not finished. Meanwhile down in Hadestown live Hades and Persephone the arbiters of Hades. The Road to Hell, actually the Train to Hell comes for Eurydice and off she goes. Orpheus sets out to retrieve his love from the clutches of Hades.

Hades and Persephone have their own relationship problems as Persephone spends half her time in the upper world and the other half in the underworld of Hadestown. Despite the want of a happy ending this is Hell for chrissakes and its aint happening. This musical is the exact opposite of Come From Away, a testament to people's inherent goodness . This one accepts that the world sucks and there ain nuthin you can do about it.

The cast is excellent. They are all pros. Big voices and great choreography. The set is like New Orleans at night during a Satan worshiping festival. Everything about this show is perfection.

Now the politics of it. Hadestown is a drab place, like a factory floor with workers there against their will or an Amazon warehouse. Orpheus starts a workers revolt put down by Hades immediately. Hades is THE MAN.

A song called Why We Build The Wall, though written in 2006 before that idiot started fucking up the country, is even more relevant now. Why Do We Build The Wall? To keep us free. To keep the enemy out. The enemy is poverty. They just want what we got. Build the Wall to keep us free. What foresight.

Hadestown is a gem of a show. As tragic as it is, you must see it at some point. Its dark, its jazzy, its actually a joy.

Will Smith!

 Dude, this is ok. Its all about you yes, but its called heckling.

This is NOT ok. Its called assault. And it's violence.

And this is either I'm now scared OR that guy is a bloody nutter.

The Thomases!!

 I grew up 4 blocks from this woman, the former Virginia Lamp, now Ginni Thomas. I went to college with her in Lincoln in the late 1970s. I was in classes with her. I knew of her parents, right wing 1970s whack jobs constantly writing letters to the local paper espousing their even for the 70s crazy views. My Dad would say hey check out the latest Lamp letter because he knew that I would scoff if not holler. Yep, Dad knew my buttons. In college classes, Ginni Lamp was the 1950s minded conservative in a class of 1970s idealistic libs. I remember the one particular instance where a heated exchange, started by me, resulted in her defending Tailgunner Joe McCarthy. Her and I went at for a bit, then the rest of the class jumped in. She was alone. Like now. The highly educated Professor, a very smart female PHD, called me to her desk after class and told me to start shit like that more often and that Ginni was just kooky enough to be dangerous some day. Thats my Ginni Lamp story.

When she married Clarence Thomas in the 80's, my parents, kind of Lamp--o-philes, were highly amused that this woman was marrying a black man. The scenarios they imagined turned out to be true as one of Ginni's aunts said OUT LOUD, all the conservative views he had "made up for the fact he was black". Yep, one of her best friends is now black.

Ginni Lamp's mind has aged like moldy cheese you forget about it in the back of the fridge. Its there, it doesnt bother you, and then one day you pull it out and about puke. Ginni has always been a nut, a whack job behind the scenes running various groups of fellow crazies trying to install her vision of America, a 1950s Joe McCarthy blacklist USA. 

Thomas' texts with vote fraud enthusiast Mark Meadows on January 6th are troubling at best. She openly advocated overthrowing a fair election. Her devotion to a cult leader, a criminal, a dumbfuck, is also troubling. And now, sinceadvicariing her texts are public, there seems to be a gigantic shrug on the part of the powers that be who actually have power. Clarence Thomas was the lone SCOTUS vote to keep that information private, but of course per Ginni, they dont talk politics. Shit, they dont have to, they are the same person like most couples married 40 years.

Look, Clarence Thomas violates the ethics rules every time he votes on an election issue. Yet he continues to do so. Theyre not going to do anything in the Congress about it, after all hundreds of Congress people voted the same way Ginni Thomas texted about. No consequences for them because JFC gas prices are really high. 

I'm beginning to think that back in the 70s when an entire poly sci class attacked the neanderthal views of a 20 something future right wing lawyer that was a aberration. I'm pretty sure most of those people either moved out of the backwards ass state or modified their views and now holler MAGA at anybody who looks like they don't have a gun stuck in their pants. Its extremely disheartening to see we have gone backwards in this state and country from 50 years ago. Or have we?

The Ginni Thomas's have always been there,  advocating right wing dictatorship where they ship us libs to Gitmo (yeah she actually said that). Its just one person lifted the rock they lived under and out they slithered.

Its time to call the snake wranglers.

The Hearings!

 Man this last couple of weeks have been such a shit show of evil its really hard to not root for nuclear war and start this whole planet over again. The backwards shift into a white dominated hell on earth is ll one particular political party wants and is bound and determined to get it in any way possible.

This week saw the  Senate hearings begin for Biden's nominee to keep the Supreme Court at a solid 6-3 fascist majority. Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson of the Harvard Jacksons with the qualifications of a lab made Justice was forced to sit in an electric chair of bigotry and hate and put up with lesser white men with an axe to grind. The temper tantrum of fading white men losing a grip on reality and common sense.

Led by Founding Father aged Chuck Grassley (R-Cocoon) who was forced to whip the horses on the out of control stage coach of white supremacy. The Republicans on the committee suddenly all became child porn enthusiasts with a zeal which makes me say fuck Hunter Biden's laptop, lets look at these Epstein lookin motherfuckers laptops.

Lindsey Graham he of the tiny lapdog Grahams pledged to not turn the hearings into a "circus" at which point he donned a top hat and hollered ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages. Rolling his eyes and spitting out venom like a rabid yorkie he went on a rant about his buddy, Beer Boy Sex Assaulter Brett Kavanaugh and how he was treated like shit in between Kavs crying and screaming about beer and the Clintons and acting like a lunatic. Lindsey then got up and stormed out, presumably to his office fainting couch.

Josh Hawley, he of the carpetbagger Hawleys then wrinkled up his eyes and began the grift preaching of his disdain of child porn and how Judge Jackson once sentenced a guy on a child porn charge to 5 years instead of taking him out back and personally chopping off his dick. Oh the humanity. This of course means that Jackson is a child porn lover and will sit on the court handing out probation to every child porn convict who comes in front of the Court which of course never ever happens.

Ted Cruz of the Cancun Cruzes thought now if you think my slick friend Hawley is a degenerate you aint seen nothing yet. Like a fat bearded Carrot Top Cruz brought out props to dazzle the dumb with. Charts and charts of poster board with names of kiddie porn convicts and how little time she gave them of course proving the genius of Ted Fucking Cruz. Cruz, belligerent as always, ranted and raved about imagine me as an Asian man (WTF) and proved why everybody hates him.

Tom Cotton he of the Scarecrow Cottons isnt really worth talking about. His pencil necked persona is enough to root for the Wicked Witch to set him on fire. Jackson did.

Then Marsha Blackburn of the Stupid Blackburns asked if Judge Jackson could define what a woman is. A not so clever way to look dumb AND clueless at the same time. Blackburn is the dumbest woman in the Senate after all and isnt fit to ask Judge Jackson to define what a glorified Avon sales lady is which is of course her.

The entire two days of harassing a black woman over an issue that is as irrelevant to the job as these mediocre white men  are to reality was all about one thing. White Supremacy and the last bastion of preserving it , The United States Supreme Court. Jackson is the interloper they fear. Brilliant and black and smarter than them. 

It was sickening at best and a lynch mob at worst. The GOP isnt even pretending any longer. They want to use the N word so bad and the base wants it also. Oh the base, the morons driving around in trucks pissing themselves, the Russia rooting pinheads, the cult members in service to a con artist and the wife of Clarence Thomas. They need reassurance from their party of choice, the new and not improved GOP.

Judge Jackson will be confirmed and will sit on the court keeping the 6-3 right wing majority as the attempts at repealing women's rights, minority rights, accused rights, and the general douchebaggery continue .

Not America's finest moment. But nothing is any longer.

Nebraska Governor's Race!

 Its been a crazy year so far in the bottomless pit of America's race to the lowest common denominator. Let me inform you of whats going on right here in fly over country. Its goddamned nuts.

We currently have a Governor so utterly without a soul he refuses to take federal money for expanding Medicaid, federal money for rent relief, federal money to stop the spread of Covid, and when he wants something he just has his Daddy give him money to buy it.  Governor Pete Ricketts (Trust Fund Kid-Ne) of the Chicago Cubs Ricketts, runs this state and whether it be ballot initiatives to restore the death penalty, financing the campaigns of puppet state senators, stopping medical marijuana initiatives in courts and slow rolling casino gambling which was passed two years ago and now a voter ID law he craves to keep the blacks and browns from voting he just opens the Ricketts family checkbook and does what all billionaires do, they buy what they want .

He's term limited out this year (yes this state actually elected this prick twice) he must move out. Now since this state has what is called a Third District to counter the blue First and Second District no Democrat will probably ever be elected to state wide office again . The Third District is 90% Republicans and dammit they vote that way no matter what kind of drooling nut has the R next to their name. The First District of Lincoln and the Second District of Omaha vote Democratic most of the time but not in big enough numbers to counter the Soviet like voting patterns out in the Third. So whoever wins this Republican primary will probably win the Governorship. And man oh man are these three front runners  bottom of the barrel human beings.

First theres a pig farmer named Jim Pillen. His claim to fame is 44 years ago he fell on a fumble in a Nebraska Oklahoma game and wont let anybody forget it. Hey I was at that game with my Dad and I saw it happen and quite frankly Pillen just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Shit I can fall down too and nobody wants me as a leader. Pillen is running ads in which he proclaims his Christianity, his deep faith in God and how much he hates brown people, black people and gays and transgenders. In fact he refers to something called the "radical transgender agenda" whatever the fuck that is. He's just a horrible person and he's probably going to win because he refuses to debate and he has the dime store Lex Luthor, aka Pete Fucking Ricketts, endorsement. 

Then next comes one Charles W Herbster. This dude has lots and lots of money, lives in Kansas City and thinks he can bamboozle Nebraskans by wearing a cowboy hat and sucking the Former Guys ass. Herbster was at the Willard Hotel on 1/5/21 helping plan and finance what happened the next day. He is now denying it after initially saying yay for me.  Herbster tends to not pay his property taxes, well over 600 times in the last 25 years, and he really really hates the blacks and the browns. His ads are aimed directly at the racists who live here. Critical Race Theory seems to be Herbies go to talking point. He has attacked Pillen for simply being a Regent who actually voted to fund the University thus hes FOR CRT. He hates the browns and stands at the border with his Go Big Red Hat acting like the last line of defense against the de-whiting of his "beloved Nebraska" . Last time I looked we bordered Kansas. Herbster likes to put jackboot Sheriffs on his ads decrying "illegal drugs" coming into the state. Ya know like legal marijuana from Colorado. He also boasts not only of his loyalty to the Florida retiree but of the endorsement of fucking idiot and dead eyed Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem with whom he has a billboard featuring her and him standing there looking like the country club couple everyone hates with the catchphrase "Great Minds Think Alike".....God help us one and all.

Finally there's a dude named Brett Lindstrom.  Like Pillen,  Lindstrom played for the Huskers, rather sat the bench, never recovered a fumble and was completely forgettable. Lindstrom is a state Senator and generally gums up the system with his utter mediocrity. I watch the Nebraska Lege a lot and I had no idea this dullard was in it. Lindstrom started off trying to be the reasonable candidate but that doesn't fly with todays whacko GOP, So he started to go all 2nd amendmenty, all pro-lifey, and threw in a bonus issue supporting the Big Lie.  Lindstrom seems to be treading water because he went back to his reasonable persona by sticking his cute kids in the ads and making a lame attempt at Don Bacon like "humor". But deep down Lindstrom may be the worst of all 3. He seems sane, is younger than the others and trumpets his "new leadership" skills even though he espouses the same racist sexist homophobic bullshit. He's basically the Nebraska version of Josh Hawley. Ugh!

So we have a jackoff who fell on a fumble, and insurrectionist from Missouri and a vanilla guy with a pretty family and dark evil ideas.

We are fucked! 

Mean Girls!

 Do they have to make a stage musical of every movie that took in a hundred bucks? Apparently so.

Mean Girls, the musical based on Tina Fey's 2004 movie, came to town this week at the cramped Orpheum. Opening night was about 80% full, mostly us olds on one hand and then nobody in the middle and then teen aged girls in packs making up half the crowd. And man were they entertained.

If you've seen the movie you know the plot. A young l6 year old girl named Cady is brought back to America after growing up in Kenya with her biologist parents and placed in the local high school after being home schooled in Africa. She is befriended by a misfit girl named Janis and her "too gay tor function" compadre Damian. She meets the local "plastics", three girls too mean to function and is asked to go undercover to learn secrets about the Mean Girls. In the process she becomes the mean girl, betrays her original friends , loses a boyfriend and eventually finds herself again.

Some of the tunes were catchy. Some of the singers were good. Some of the actors were good. And the opposite was also true. I found this musical to be either really good, depending on who was on stage, or dull as hell when others were onstage. But then I am not really the demo for this when you think about it. I am an old white guy who likes stuff about adults. The rest of the crowd were young ladies out on the town determined to enjoy themselves and bully for them (did that bully thing prove I'm old?). There was knee slapping and howling going on behind us at jokes I found maybe smile inducing but not really all that funny. But again I am old and find Mrs Maisel hilarious because I get the 60's references and remember it fondly. Modern high school references don't hit home as they should as I realize now that high school sucks.

But yes the highlight was a great tap dancing sequence to the song Stop opening act 2. I guess that made it worth the trip. 

Mean Girls is ok. I didn't hate it but didn't love it. When the Broadway series was announced last year I felt this would be the weak link. Yep.