Beetlejuice!!

 I've never seen the movie Beetlejuice. I just know nobody who likes it. So when the Broadway musical Beetlejuice was on the bill in the season, I really didn't expect much. In fact, I debated not going. Man am I glad I went.

Beetlejuice isn't for kids though there were quite a few in attendance in a packed house at the sound challenged Orpheum Theater here in Omaha. It's a play about death. Beetlejuice says that right from the get-go. It's also a bit PG-13 even at times R with the language and the sexual innuendo. Beetlejuice asked a kid in the audience how old are you? When the kid said 10, the character looks shocked and says, "you are about to learn a lot of stuff".

The play is about Lydia. Lydia has lost her mother and is grieving while her dad continues on with a new house, a new girlfriend, a plot to make money on the house and a seeming indifference to his daughters' sadness. Enter Beetlejuice, a bitter and lonely demon looking for chaos in the human world. The Maitlands, Barbara and Adam, used to own the house, died in the house and want it back from Lydia's father. In cahoots with Lydia, who can see the invisible ghosts due to her gloominess and desire to die, Beetlejuice and the Maitlands haunt the house. And hilarity ensues. Lydia just wants to see her dead mom again and takes huge chances to do so before realizing she really doesn't want that. She wants her dad to acknowledge the death of her mom and his wife. Eventually we get closure. Beetlejuice is foiled and happiness is achieved.  

The musical has lots of catchy tunes, none of which I'd heard other than Day-O of course. Stand outs included Dead Mom, Home and really fun Creepy Old Guy.

The cast is flawless. Justin Collette has a blast being the creepy lecherous lead character, Beetlejuice, interacting with the audience, making side cracks about other plays (Fuck Brigadoon yeah I said it) and politics (I feel as powerless as a gay Republican!). He is an energetic force of nature. Then there's Isabell Esler as Lydia, She's 18 and has the powerful voice of a pro. She belts out Home with a power 18-year-old kids aren't supposed to have developed yet. Megham McGinnis as Barbara Maitland, a mousy timid dead woman and Will Burton as Adam, a mousy timid dead man are wonderful in their transition from scaredy cats to Beetlejuice hunting tigers. Jesse Sharpe as Lydia's dad, Charles, has a great voice and a great stage presence. The rest of the cast knocks it into the balcony also. Abe Goldfarb as a fraudulent guru, Otho, has a small role but damn you know he's up there cuz he's impossible to ignore.

Sometimes you attend an event expecting nothing and you end up with something. Something great in fact. Beetlejuice is one of those things. It's not going to win any Tonys, but its fun fun fun. I won't remember this in a month or maybe 2 days (JC Superstar comin up), but the 2 1/2 hours we spent in the theater was well worth it and enjoyable. 

It's the best show of the Omaha Broadway season so far. Yeah, go see it.

Taylor And Travis!!

 A year ago I was somebody who was pissed as Travis Kelce went all WWE after beating the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXXXXLLLLLXXXX or whatever. What a clown. And Taylor Swift? She was still a talentless goofball in my eyes.

Oh, what a difference a year makes. I went to see the Taylor Swift Eras Tour movie to see what the hype was all about and realized that this woman is a fucking national treasure. She works her ass off, has a lot of tunes you can't get out of your head and lyrics that are meaningful and true to life. Unlike my demo, which involves great music but insipid lyrics like "Lick It Up, its only Right Now" and "She told Me to Come, but I was already there."

Then came Travis Kelce, doing ads for the jab, with a twinkle in his eye, an attitude of fuck you if you don't like it and a famous feud with the " smartest guy in the room" a true living example of the Dunning Krueger Effect, Aaron Rodgers. 

Then came the merger of Swift and Kelce. Rumored to be a publicity stunt that became an obvious real relationship. The NFL and the TV networks couldn't stop showing Tay Tay in the suite cheering on her newfound love. It annoyed the shit out of the Alpha Male Girl Hating Club but secretly thrilled them as they had the opportunity to express their woman hatred with a legitimate subject.

We got to see such garbage as:

"To Those who might say the right needs its own Taylor Swift to look up to. I answer we already have that . Her name is Lauren Boebert.

The conspiracy theorists crawled out. The incels that dominate social media anytime a woman gets the spotlight. The NFL is rigged. The Chiefs will win and then Kelce and Taylor will publicly endorse Joe Biden. And then comes the former presidential candidate for the GQP and current Trump ass kisser, Vivek Ramaswamy, who never met a dumbass idea he didn't like. 

"I wonder who's going to win the Super Bowl. And I wonder if there's a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall.   

Look, I don't like the Chiefs at all. Mahomes is a crybaby, their fans are drunken racist hillbillies, and every time I've been there rooting on my team, you dont want to lose. Their fans are even meaner and fight inclined when they win. A certain event in which Chiefs fans attacked two women in the opposing team's jerseys comes to mind and we left the game early to get away from them. 

But come Super Bowl Sunday, I will be rooting for the Niners. But if the Chiefs pull it out, I won't be pissed like last year. I'll be happy as hell that the misogynists and MAGA lunkheads will be madder than hell and I'll be happy for those crazy kids, Travis and Taylor. 

Who knew that an obvious love story would piss off the entire miserable incel MAGA misogynist community?

Everyone.

Mess With Texas!!

 What the hell is wrong with Texas? They keep electing this guy as Governor for some reason and he just continues to defy the federal gubmint in some sort of weird way to impress Tex out in Lubbock. Abbott is perfectly fine with drowned women, men and children washing up on the shore of the Rio Grande. As long as they're brown that is. Despite being ordered to stand down and remove razor wire in the water Abbott has decided to go all Orval Faubus and Ross Barnett and George Wallace in, what year is this, 2024. The Confederacy is alive and well as Republican governors like Jim Pillen (Child Starver-Ne), Kristi Noem (Eye Batter-SD) Kim Reynolds (Screecher-Ia) Mark Gordon (Who?-Wy) and others from Deep South Confederate states like North Dakota, Idaho and Montana jump on the Confederate bandwagon. Hell, maybe next Pillen and Noem can stand in the schoolhouse door to keep the transgenders and gays out. 

As long as Abbott refuses to allow the Border Patrol to do their job and mobilized the Texas National Guard to keep the Border Patrol out, he's breaking the law. Oh, I know that there's a certain number of wingnuts who think the 10th Amendment gives states the right to defy federal law, but those people are not serious people. 

What should happen? Joe Biden needs to nationalize the Texas Guard as  Eisenhower did in 1957 and JFK did back in 1963 and make them stop breaking the law. There's no doubt that MAGA has infiltrated police forces, the Border Patrol and the various Guards and they may not take kindly to defying their orange hero but if they refuse arrest their asses, including Wheels Abbott, a truly loathsome individual.

Do it Joe. This is your time.

Nikki Haley!

 

She isn't quitting, Donnie. At least not yet. Nikki Haley is going to drive Donald F Trump crazy, at least for another week or so. She is a thorn in his flabby side. She is going to call him old, a has been, the past, and he is going to attack her because how dare you challenge the alpha male with the orange bronzer and the ill-fitting suits.

Look, Haley isn't going to win, or even get close. Independents and Democrats fueled her 43% of the vote. But as long as she refuses to quit, she is going to drive Trump nuts. A woman named Nimrata is the worst nightmare for Trump, who stated he "gets even" and threatened to weaponize the DOJ against her if he wins in November. He claimed there were "5 things" she didn't want to talk about and then in typical Trump fashion, he just dropped it. He has no idea what those 5 things are, but like Joe McCarthy, he just spews diarrhea out of his tiny mouth and the cultists cheer. 

I have no love for Nikki Haley. She's just as terrible as the rest of them. Ever since she went too far for MAGA when she took down the Confederate flag from the statehouse in response to a white supremacist murdering 9 black church goers in South Carolina, Nikki Haley has been shifting to knuckle dragging conservative. She said she would sign a national abortion ban, probably support government shutdowns, doesn't care for the LGBTQ folks, and is terrible on immigration. But at least she believes in democracy, I think. Haley is more of the traditional Republican, a believer in tax cuts for the wealthy, trickle down nonsense and a strong national defense as opposed to these MAGA America First nuts. 

Haley is going to stay in, despite the South Carolina rats like Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham supporting Trump. Every second she stays in will take its toll on The Election Denier. He hates opposition but what really hates is women standing up to his bullying ways. Trump gave his "victory speech" with a venom unlike any other "winner". He called former tabs keeper, press secretary and liar Kayleigh McEnaney a RINO which has become a term for anybody calling out Trump. He is supposedly upset with Arkansas hillbilly and Governor Sarah Sanders for dragging her feet on endorsing him. He hates women unless they are letting him grab their pussy.

As long as Nikki Haley denies reality and continues her doomed quest for the Republican nomination, I'm right there. Watching Trump take a win and turn it into a screed filled bitter rant makes me very happy.

But as they say in the South. Bless her heart.

DeSantis!

The Never Back Down guy backed down yesterday and like Ted Cruz before him, Ron DeSantis dropped to his knees to kiss the boots of The Defendant. The guy who couldn't finish a sentence without the word "woke" fell asleep in the campaign. The tough guy Governor of Florida, the "Free State of Florida", the guy who banned books, took on the Mouse, sent vulnerable migrants to Martha's Vineyard,  got into bum fights with the press, arrested black voters, licked his lips constantly, smiled like early onset A.I., let Casey take over any speech he felt uncomfortable doing, and on a national basis was even less popular than Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, pussed out and quit. Like most bullies he got punched by an even bigger bully and crawled away, hat in hand, and expressed his admiration for the other bully. A Profile in Courage.

Ron DeSantis, if nothing else, proved that outside of Florida, the Villages, and Alabama South, he is just another asshole. He bacame even less likable as he went along. From beating Trump in some polls early on, he fell way behind as people got to know him. He's awkward. not nice, and a misanthrope. His attempts to talk with average Iowans were cringy. He basically hates people and unless he can stand-in front of gang of press, with sycophants standing behind him, and bait one into asking him a tough question so he can appeal to his fellow assholes by throwing a tantrum and denying reality, Ron DeSantis is a bad national candidate. Trump's an asshole too, a misanthrope who hates people, but he has a charisma I cannot explain. He gets crowds to not realize he's in utter contempt of them and makes people laugh for some reason. The old punch down comedy so many dickheads like. DeSantis isn't funny in the least, he hates people outwardly, and he has a disdain for his voters that he doesn't even attempt to hide. 

Thus, Iowa said hey fuck off. We prefer the evil we know. At least he's entertaining. You're just a stiff. New Hampshire was about to say fuck off as was South Carolina and the guy and his minions in Never Back Down who spent $150,000,000 fucked off. In his concession speech he quoted Winston Churchill with the famous words Churchill never said, "Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts." I don't know if he saw that quote on a towel at Cracker Barrel or if he figured MAGA would never google it much less google Churchill, but DeSantis, like his conqueror, just cannot tell the truth.

Remember back when people were saying DeSantis is just like Trump, but smarter.

Wrong!

Toddler Trump!

 The "trial" of convicted sexual assaulter and defamer, Donald F Trump, has been going on all week. The Defendant has chosen to appear in the courtroom to roll his eyes, thump the table, heckle the judge, and make an attempt to persuade a New York jury that he should not pay E Jean Carroll half his fucking worth. Or is he?

Trump continues to play helpless victim, claiming he's being pursued by Joe Biden and the Democrats in numerous jurisdictions, but what Fulton County Inmate P01135809 is really doing is pandering to his base of lunatics, mentally ill MAGAts, violent insurrectionists and white supremacists. He does not have to be in the courtroom despite what his eye candy alleged lawyer says. But there he is claiming how grief stricken he is over his mother in laws death though odds are 11,780 to one he could even remember her name. 

As this "trial" goes on, and Alina Habba Esquire continuously fucks up his defense by openly sparring with a Judge who has no fucks left to give, Trump is there for one reason. He wants to be barred from the courtroom so he can go outside and whine to the complicit media how he isn't allowed to defend himself, how he's the victim of a witch hunt, and how its election interference. Meanwhile his rube base will plant in their diseased minds the upcoming 2024 "rigged" election where Trump will lose by 11 million votes and plots accordingly to launch Jan 6, The Sequel. 

Yesterday when the 80-year-old Carroll took the stand, the Toddler in Chief went full tantrum. Any other defendant would be sitting in a jail cell overnight to think about his juvenile behavior. The convicted defamer sat at the table saying just loud enough for the jury to hear, "false statements" "con job", shaking his head, and hitting the table with his sore laden fist. Judge Kaplan, a patient man indeed, threatened to exclude Florida Fats from attending the trial to which Mobby Bossy Trump exclaimed "I would love it" while shaking his hands in the air like a middle school jazz dancer. Judge Kaplan said, "I know you would because you cant control yourself...."

Look, Judge Kaplan, throw this petulant kindergartener in the cooler, even if for only an hour.  That's what you'd do to 99% of any other Defendants who acted like Dennis the Menace in front of you.

Next thing you know, between posting even more defamations of E Jean Carroll on his failing Truth Social, Trump will claim it's just his deep grief and desire to attend his mother in laws funeral that has fueled his rage. 

Then he will run off to New Hampshire for more talking about "debanking" and "rifle bullets".

Iowa Caucus Supports Rapist!

 Last night a very "diverse" crowd of Iowans gathered together in school buildings they hate, socialist fire stations, and commie social halls to stick a vote into a hat or a popcorn box and then have it counted by partisan precinct "captains". This crowd of election deniers held their own little "secure" election and anointed a convicted rapist, a traitor and a guy facing 91 felonies and real-life jail time. Donald F Trump picked up 51% of the white vote. Ron DeFascist finished second with 22% and Nimrata Haley. who spend millions annoying the shit out of Nebraskans with her tedious television ads, stumbled home in the show position with 19%.  The resident fast talking kook, Vivek Ramaswamy, only managed to fool 7% of Iowa Republicans and he be gone now. Kowtowing his miniscule support to the Traitorous Rapist, Ramaswamy now can continue to lick Trump's boots and get love from dummies who think a monorail is feasible. 

Iowa is irrelevant yet is treated like some sort of soothsayer when for months, candidates who wouldn't be caught dead in that midwestern hellhole show up to eat corndogs, lick up butter and step in cow shit while wearing flannel. But the media plays right along cuz they need to fill 24 hours of crap every single day. Look, in a past life I was right in the middle of this process, a media member, and talked to a lot of candidates and a lot of rubes for months prior to the caucus. I didn't get it then and I don't get it now. I stood in a classroom, observed both parties' bicker at each other, and stared open mouthed as people moved to corners of the room and stood there. It's a ridiculous way to nominate a candidate for President. Not to mention Iowa gets it wrong a lot. Ask President Pat Robertson, President Rick Santorum, President Ted Cruz and President Mike Huckabee. You notice a pattern here? Yep, Iowa Republicans are white religious nationalists more so than the rest of the country. Again, it is nonsense.

The fact Trump was rejected by 49% of these "Christian" nationalists is a bigger deal than him "winning" 51%. A full 33% of Republican voters say if the Defendant is convicted of a felony, and he WILL be convicted, they arent voting for him. Thats significant at least for now. Yes, if Trump is nominated, a lot of that 33% will end up voting for him, but a lot will not. Thats still significant.

Iowa has 788,000 registered Republicans. The Perp got 56,000 votes. That's 7% of the GOP vote. So again WHY does anybody care about this state and its 94% white population? It is skewed. And it is truly an economic fraud that this caucus is. Millions are pumped into the state's economy every 4 years, and this is why Iowa will protect this at all costs. It's too bad anybody cares anbout this.

The winner of the Iowa caucuses is one man.

Joe Biden.  

Mamma Mia!

 Way back in the 70's when I was just a kid with long hair and a taste for drug induced rock music like Pink Floyd, The Doors, The Airplane/Starship, Uriah Heep, Status Quo and Deep Purple, there was a group of corporate musicians more of a business than a band lurking on AM radio and getting lots of press from Casey Kasem. That was ABBA, the Swedish conglomerate of two men and two women who cranked out tune after tune of non-nutritious candy bar rock. Hit after hit after hit and this guy right here couldn't help but love it. Ear worms that even 50 years later I cannot get rid of in my memory bank. Yeah, it's against everything I stand for, but I couldn't help it. And I still cannot help it. The shit I took over the years from fellow rockers after I admitted that Knowing Me and Knowing You was a fucking great song is still a memory also. LOL.I still love ABBA.

With that in mind, here we go on Mamma Mia. 

There are two kinds of jukebox musicals. There are musicals like Get on Your Feet, the Motown Story, Million Dollar Band, Tina, The Temptations, or even Beatlemania. These are musicals with familiar tunes, a story behind the band/singers, and some substance. Then there are jukebox musicals like Rock of Ages and Mamma Mia. These are an excuse to play familiar hit songs with absolutely no story anyone could possibly care about and have nothing to do with the bands they profess to love.

Mamma Mia. Its a "story" about Donna, a woman living on an island with her daughter who is about to be married. Ya see 20 years ago Donna got down with 3 different dudes in a short period of time, became pregnant with Sophie, and to this day has no idea who the father is. Cool. Sophie wants to know who her Dad is and invites all 3 to the wedding and the hilarity ensues. Thats about it. And oh yeah, they play a lot of ABBA music which saves it.

The cast is great. See the above picture to see when Mamma Mia knocks it out of the park. Mom Donna and her two friends. Tanya and Rosie are a freaking hoot to watch. And damn can they act AND sing. It's no wonder all 3 have been in TV, movies and Broadway. Christine Sherrill as Donna is captivating and as she belts out The Winner Takes It All this candy cane offering becomes 5 star Michelin. Jaylyn Steele as the thrice married Tanya singing Does Your Mother Know (very underrated ABBA song) gets a chance to shine as a singer and a dancer, Finally, Carly Sackolove as Rosie, the definite comedian of the bunch, gets to take her chops to the sky with Take A Chance On Me attempting a seduction of world traveler Bill.

The men are also right up there. Victor Wallace as Sam, one of the possible fathers, blasting Knowing Me and Knowing You to Donna is also masterful. There's a lot of talent up there with not much to work with as far as story goes,

Sophie. played by Alisa Melendez, is the weak link. Her voice is not strong enough to be heard over the live band. It was a chore to interpret what she was singing (tho yeah ABBA songs are easily remembered).

I didn't hate it. It just has nothing to offer other than great music. I've never seen the movies, and probably never will, despite the presence of Meryl Streep and Christine Baranski. Sorry, but I like a story that teaches me something about the music. Mamma Mia doesn't. Great music, lousy story just distracts us.

Go see an ABBA tribute band. I've seen two of them. No story just music. Fun Fun Fun. 

Iowa TV Ads!

 Being in the 73rd largest media market in America and on the border of Iowa. for some reason still the first say the nation has in determining the nominee of the Republican Party, we have been inundated with political ads since last summer. Usually airing during national and local network news and Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, these ads get tiresome quickly. Not only filled with bullshit, but outright lying on behalf of various candidates, these ads are aimed at old people, yeah that's about it (who else watches network and local news?).  They began in the summer of 2023 and were exclusively made by PACS (thanks Supreme Court), generally for Ron DeSantis, the lip licker from Florida with the I want to be a real boy grin. The way these ads went, DeSantis is the future because he turned Florida into a fascist paradise, hates woke (whatever that is), and "won" every battle he ever waged. He was turned into a war hero (serving as a military lawyer and torture advocate) with a picture of Ron the Con holding a weapon. DeSantis' PAC spent a lot of money last summer and fall to not take the lead. 

When the Koch Brothers took on the Nikki Haley campaign as the so called "moderate" polite candidate, the ads became the same old bullshit, fascism with a smile and a bony finger point. Haley was that nice lady who had a stern voice when she was challenged. Kind of that school principal who tells you how disappointed she is in you. Haley surged into double figures. barely.

Now that the main event is within striking distance, enter the Sasquatch candidate, Donald Trump, Without a positive bone in his flabby body, Trump immediately went on the attack in his ads. Ron DeSantis copies me, DeSantis would be a nobody without me. DeSantis is lame. Aways ending with a slo mo shot of the lumbering Bigfoot with his thumbs up, Trump's ads became monotonous. 

He then shifted to attack Joe Biden in more ads. Lots of brown people in crowds. all assumed to be terrorists. then shit blowing up as they're not only terrorists they are Hamas and look to explode a bunch of stuff. Ya know, vote for Joe and your pickle ball court will go up in flames. BOOM!

Nikki Haley attacks DeSantis and Biden in her ads. Biden is too old. Nikki is the new generation.  Again, same old fascist shit with a younger face, but her finger pointing looks better than a thumbs up? And she doesn't rumble like a 1916 tank on the Western Front. Haley also cites a poll showing her beating Biden by 14 points (best part is the Fox News moron exclaiming 14 points that's not even close...gee really Einstein?) She wants cognitive tests, age limits. term limits and whatever the Kochs want I guess. Not one of which has even a zero percent chance of being law. But Haley and her alleged genteel manner is supposed to appeal to who exactly? I am not sure.

The one common denominator here among Haley and DeSantis is their utter cowardice in passing on attacking the Iron Giant. They refuse to attack Trump. They attack each other. I'm not sure why this race for 2nd place is so appealing to them. By not attacking the staggering elephant these two are showing two things. A lack of seriousness and utter fealty to a dictatorial wannabe. And of course, the unwillingness to subject themselves, their families, their staffers, their friends to the death threats and violent rhetoric of the MAGA morons. I get it, but c'mon now, you aren't slaying the lumbering diaper shitter without putting up with return fire, as stupid as it may be.

But it's almost over. In a little more than a week, white Iowa "Christians" will gather at schools and churches and anoint their orange God. Then it will be over, and the ads will move on to New Hampshire and Iowa can go back to being the provincial insecure Midwesterners they always are.

Then it's also back to TV ads for boner pills, stair lifts and life alerts. Normal.