50501 Rallies!

 Did it make me feel better? Yep! Did I feel I accomplished anything? Probably not but everything starts somewhere and I will be in on the ground floor of a revolution that topples fascism. Or I'm heading for the gulag. Whatever. Living in this country, at this time, with the cruelty and the lies and the number of total assholes who crawled out of the swamp doesn't really make me feel safe any longer. Oh, not from the so-called rampant crime and all those "illegals" that are murdering white women thousands of times a day, but from suit and tie wearing Nazis working hard to Make America White Again. This administration is unlike anything I've ever seen, and I am old. I've been thru Nixon and Reagan and the  Bush boys and as bad as that seemed, this is beyond belief. A reality show host, embraced by losers who need to place to blame on their loser status by blaming anyone unlike them. Immigrants, women, gays, trans, liberals, minorities or the intelligentsia. Whatever I don't like, is keeping me down. It's sad.

Yesterday all over the nation, people of all stripes, all ages, all genders, all believing that fascism, Naziism, revenge, and lack of due process are wrong, came out to wave signs and be together to not feel so alone. Red states, blue states, cities, rural towns (special shoutout to Rushville, Nebraska, as ruby red of an area as there is in this nation had 43 brave souls line the street to express themselves) all stood together for a couple of hours or so and said no more. Will it work? Again, everything starts somewhere.

Look, I am not afraid to live in a state that has elected some of the stupidest people on Earth year after year because despite 30 some years of GOP rule, the majority of the state is unwilling to change. Vote R no matter what. They raise your property taxes to outrageous levels, raise income taxes rates on everyday people while granting virtually any business tax breaks, and ban abortion, fuck around with this idiot bathroom shit, ban transgender treatment, and vote to give everybody breathing a fucking gun but you still vote for them. Political fear is not a reaction, its cowardice.

I got in trouble in high school for advocating the end of a war in Vietnam. Take off that black armband they said. Stop rabble rousing they said. We will make your life miserable unless you fall into line and stop with this anti Nixon shit. Let me put it this way, they succeeded in making my high school experience a miserable slog of daily abuse. I hate the place to this day.

I've stepped up against Reagan, against the first Gulf War, the second Gulf War, Trumps first fiasco and now, at my advanced age, against this current band of authoritarian pricks. I am too old to stop now.

So, did yesterday make me feel better? Fuck yeah it did. And if you think that this does no good, well you're just an apathetic dope, probably either a fascist yourself, rich enough to withstand economic collapse or so cynical you are beyond help, sitting in the easy chair cutting down anything you feel too beaten down to understand. Chrissakes, the rally in Omaha featured a long rambling speech by some local self-proclaimed "communist "who bathes in the limelight of pissing into the tent by hammering "white liberals" as worse than the KKK. So far off the edge, he's just another fascist.

In conclusion, I am selfish enough to enjoy feeling better and thinking it's good for MY mental health. If you don't, well continue to do nothing. And when they finally come for you, broke and mentally exhausted, there will be nobody to stand up for you.

Special shoutout yesterday to the assholes gunning their Harleys and disrupting speeches, flipping us off, and riding around without helmets (Cmon organ donors!). You clowns give the bike riding community a bad name. It was so precious to watch the little boys having fun.

Foxtrot Delta Tango my friends. Forever.

100 Days?

 I thought I'd give him 100 days to fuck everything up and then comment. But he's much better at fucking shit up than even I thought. Ugh. 

Some Like It Hot!

 You've seen the movie, right? That 1959 Billy Wilder classic was bold for its time with the cross dressing and mature themes but basically, it's a farce, slapstick type of film.

The musical based on the movie opened in Omaha last night to a pretty packed house. It's a bit updated to go even further than the movie in its themes but forget all that, It's 2025 and gay, transgender and drag are in the mainstream despite what the MAGAts and its rather vocal minority are trying to do.

The story is as follows. Two song and dance men in 1933, Joe and Jerry, are hustling for gigs and stumble upon a mob murder. They need to go on the run to avoid being killed. They come up with the idea to join an all-girl jazz band by dressing as dames and touring the country until they reach San Diego where they will cross the border. Will Spats, the mob boss, find them before that? Will Joe continue to Gilligan every situation? Will Jerry ever get tired of being a woman?

This musical has some great songs. It is also without a doubt the wildest musical I have ever seen. There are so many things going on at once onstage it's sometimes hard to keep track of. But this crazy old-fashioned type of musical (despite the updated views on many themes) is just such a throwback to what entertained people for centuries. You cannot not like actors who can sing and dance and create such a frenzy onstage that it exhausts you too. The last 10 minutes of this nuttiness is absolutely brilliant. There is a chase scene involving a kind of musical doors atmosphere in which the actors are going in and out of doors, singing, dancing and making the crowd laugh while at the same time being amazed at the energy. Yeah, as I said, it exhausted me too. It was wild to see this slapstick/tap dancing/singing craziness going on all at once. The rehearsal involved must be flawless and it paid off onstage.

Now the performers. Matt Loehr is Joe, a combination sax player and con artist. Loehr is fantastic. Once he becomes "Josephine" in women's clothing he also becomes Dana Carvey as church lady. I challenge anyone to not be waiting for him to exclaim "well isn't that special".

Tavis Kordell is Jerry the bass player. He's kind of a follower who lets Joe get them in trouble time after time. But once he becomes Daphne, the tall drink of water, he becomes the leader. Realizing who he really is, this character is truly the interesting one as he becomes himself. Kordell is just a force onstage with his dancing and singing. He will be one to watch for. Also think of Mrs. Howard on Abbott Elementary.

Leandra Ellis-Gaston is Sugar, the singer in the band, She is bound and determined to become a star. Joe falls in love (as Josephine) with her and has to keep up the charade of being Josephine and Kip, the German "screenwriter" who will take her to the top. Gaston is good but for some reason she didn't connect with me as a character. But this woman can sing!

Now for Tarra Connor Jones as Sweet Sue, the leader of the band. Sweet Sue is a bad ass. Sue cannot believe what is happening to her band. Jones can act with her face. Keeping an eye on her for her priceless facial reactions is comedy gold. Plus, she gets lots of sassy lines and had the crowd in the palm of her hand.

Some Like It Hot is wild. It's maybe the best show of the 2024-2025 season. Boredom will not be a problem as there really are no speed bumps. 

Obviously. I recommend this musical highly. It's not heavy at all. It's comedy at its core and it succeeds.

Bravo!  

Hadestown!

 The first time we saw Hadestown from up in the rafters, I was blown away by the story, the music, and the performances. It was so New Orleans, it was so Greek tragedy, and it was so damned good.

Hadestown came back last night and this time we were on the floor which makes it even better to actually see the performers faces and the knowing glances between characters. 

Hadestown is about well, Hades. Sell your soul to the devil and suffer the consequences. Hades is played by the deep bass voice of Nickolaus Colon, who really doesn't enter the play until the end of Act 1 but once he does its game on. His wife, Persephone, played by an understudy Miriam Naverette, spends 6 months in the overworld and 6 months in the underworld. Eurydice, a homeless poverty-stricken woman who is duped into entering hell. Played by a wonderful Megan Colton, Eurydice has a hero up above in Orpheus, a songwriter in love with her attempting to finish a song that will free her from Hades clutches. Orpheus, played by a great singer, Bryan Munar, walks to the underground and thru the wall to free Eurydice. Will he succeed? Well, it's a tragedy so you guess. He succeeds yes, but he also fails.

The narrator of this play is Hermes, played by Jaylon Crump, and he is the glue. From the opening where he plays with the crowd, the other performers and the musicians onstage, Crump is a joy to watch. He belts out the Road To Hell and gets this thing rolling and it just keeps rolling towards its inevitable tragic end. Crump is a force onstage. And he's a helluva singer, actor and dancer.

I loved this version. Hadestown is in my Top 5 musicals of all time. The song that ends Act 1 is a dirge called Why We Build The Wall, and is so relevant to today's atmosphere its uncanny for a musical written in 2006. It's as if the writers anticipated the arrival of MAGA.

If you get a chance, see Hadestown. It's one helluva ride.,

Oscar Time!

 Oscar time! The annual event where costume designers and animated short winners carry on for so long that you wish you could fast forward in real time. But alas, we must put up with bad skits, bad songs, bad jokes and perhaps a Trump tweet. I cannot not watch, it's in my DNA. Ever since I first saw an Oscar telecast as a child, it got me. This year's will also get me. Now onward to my Top Ten Movies of 2024

10) One of Them Days

Kiki Palmer and SZA go thru a day of dodging landlords, going to Church's Chicken and trying to raise the rent money SZA's boy toy blew. It's funny, it's sad and it's a pretty good time.

9) My Old Ass

Aubrey Plaza comes from the future to warn her younger self of the mistakes she shouldn't make. Maisy Stella shines as the 18 year old Elliott, high on an acid trip, and visited by her "old ass" self (Plaza). Meanwhile, 39 year old Elliott warns 18 year old Elliott to stay away from Chad, a perfectly nice kid. Why? He will break her heart. Why he breaks her heart in the future comes to light at the end. You might cry.

8) A Real Pain

Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, Jewish cousins, take a road trip to visit their late grandmother's past in Poland. Eisenberg is the married nerd and Culkin is the sarcastic bullshit artist with deep seeded problems. Their journey ends at a Nazi death camp their granny survived. It's pretty powerful stuff. 

7) Sept 5

The story of the ABC coverage of the 1972 Munich massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Black September. We see the sports division take over from news, the infighting, the horrible mistakes in the name of being first and the morality of all of it. It's a great journalism movie in the spirit of All The Presidents Men.

6) Conclave

If you're a victim or veteran of 12 years of Catholic school indoctrination this tale of choosing a new pope is in your wheelhouse. Ralph Fiennes as the de facto head of the conclave of cardinals who will pick the new Pope and John Lithgow as his protagonist shine. Stanley Tucci as the liberal American cardinal attempting to stop the conservatives from taking the church backwards is also great. The ending will surprise and I'm not sure about it even now.

5) Horizon An American Saga- Chapter One

This Kevin Costner western epic may have bombed at the box office but I found it fascinating, It may be a Costner ego trip but its well worth the time. Impressive cast, great story and not a boring moment.

4) Seed of the Sacred Fig

This tale of an Iranian family attempting to deal with freedom from the mullahs. The parents are steadfast in not rocking the boat. The daughters do nothing but rock the boat. This results in a missing gun, panic by the father and an inevitable showdown of past and future. You have to read but its worth the effort

3) Wicked

The play itself is a slog, but this movie is 2 1/2 hours of great storytelling and music. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo turn the Wizard of Oz on its head. The wizard (Jeff Goldblum) is a fascist, the Wicked Witch of the West is a freedom fighter, and the Good Witch is a coward. I cant wait for Part 2.

2) The Brutalist

3 hours and 30 minutes and an intermission. Who does that anymore? Director Brady Corbet does, thats who. The story of a visionary architect who survived the Holocaust, moved to America and found himself. Not a dull moment. Working for Guy Pearce, a bigoted ass, can be a test of will but Adrian Brody survives that too. The ending where you find out his Architectual philosophy is kind of jarring but makes sense.

1) I'm Still Here

This Brazilian film takes place in 1970 when a military coup has taken over. People disappear, are brutalized and one family especially feels it. Their father is taken away by police and never heard from again. The family proceeds thru the years, sticks together and attempts to find out what happened to him. Fernanda Torres keeps this thing alive at all times. She is a marvel. Let's hope Oscar notices.

There were other movies that were great

Number 24- Norwegian film about the takeover of Norway by Nazis

Lee-- Kate Winslet as war photographer Lee Miller, a woman who pays no attention to the sexist rules during WW2

A Complete Unknown-Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan. He's great but the movie itself is no Lewyn Davis

Thelma-- don't fuck with Ruth Squibb. You rip off Ruth and she's coming after you on her scooter.

A Quiet Place Day One-- I didn't really care for the 2 Quiet Place films but this one, a sort of prequel, works as a love story more so than a thriller.

Blitz- Saoirse Ronan stars as a British woman avoiding the German blitz in 1940 with her child.

Origin--Ana Duverney's latest tackles the class system and institutional racism. Well worth the watch

Will and Harper-- the documentary with Will Farrell and Harper Steele, a former SNL writer who became a woman at the age of 60. They road trip across the country and encounter all sorts of sadness and joy. But what it all comes down to is once people meet an actual transgender, it's like meeting anybody. Unfortunately, the people who need to see this will not.

The worst movie of the year?

No doubt its M Night Shyamalan Trap. This waste of time is so horrible I would urge avoidance at all costs.

And avoid Babygirl as well, This Nicole Kidman embarrassment is ridiculous and just plain boring.

Lets go Conan!

Kimberly Akimbo!

 The Tony Award winning musical came to Omaha this week amid a snowy cold weather system that may have kept the crowd down. I expected nothing as much of what I read about this quirky musical was not good. What we got was really something.

Kimberly is a soon to turn 16-year-old with progeria and in a new school with no friends. Progeria ages people at 4-5 times the normal rate thus Kim is a 60 something looking woman trying to fit in. Kim is dealing with the disease, with terrible parents, a con artist aunt, and knowing she will die soon. It's a lot for a kid to deal with. She meets Seth, a kind kid who plays the tuba and works at the local skating rink. They become friends and also befriend a group of 4 show choir nerds, none of whom even know each other very well. Well, until Aunt Debra, a foul mouthed grifter who never misses the opportunity to make an ill-gotten dollar, sums them up to each other that made me laugh out loud.

Kim deals with school, a science experiment about her disease that she really didn't want to do, and her parents who are having another baby they want to "be perfect" unlike Kim, who they believe ruined their lives and are not shy about telling her. Aunt Debra gets her and the other teens into a check fraud scheme to make them money for show choir uniforms, and a road trip for Kim to see things she will probably never get to see.

The show has all the emotions. Laughter, sadness, pity, and disgust. Theres not a weak moment in it. The cast is wonderful. Carolee Carmello plays Kim and considering she's been nominated for 3 Tonys we are lucky to have her in the lead. Original Broadway cast member, Justin Cooley, returns as Kim's buddy Seth and he is perfect. Jim Hogan and Laura Woyasz as Kim's just awful parents also shine. It's not easy playing mean to a kid who will soon die. But Aunt Debra, played by Emily Koch, gets all the good lines and the most laughs. She swears like a sailor, never met a person she doesn't see as a potential mark and is really a piece of .....work. The teens who play the show choir nerds are also great at playing to type. 

All in all, this musical is just the weird type of show that will make you forget the world for a couple of hours. It's got catchy songs, and the lyrics are understandable with the great sound system they brought with them. It has a Dear Evan Hansen vibe but better.

I can't imagine the Broadway version is any better than this tour. Go, you'll be glad you did..

Collective Soul!

 

Need a palate cleanser from seeing a South African invader standing in the Oval Office with a child on his shoulders filibustering on his grift while the Felon sits at his desk with a goofy grin on his orange mug? Great me too.

Collective Soul was at the Steelhouse in Omaha last night for a show of hits and more hits. Collective Soul had more hits in the 90's than any other rock band and seeing them for the 5th time didn't disappoint. Ed Roland, lead singer, is in his 60's and still has it. His voice is great, his onstage banter is great, his crazy outfit was great, the band is still great, and the crowd of middle aged and boomer fans was great.

Starting with a couple of newer songs that still rocked, Collective Soul, led by Roland in a sort of mink coat, got the crowd right into it. Heavy, one of those hits from the 90's, really got them going. When the opening chords of Shine began, oh it was on now. The crowd sang along the chorus at the urging of Roland who wisely backed off and let the fans do the honor of doing the Yeah and the whoa, heaven let your light shine down. It was a great group effort.

The latter part of the show featured all the hits, December, The World I Know, Gel, She Said, Precious Declaration and of course Run which of course had a sing along from the masses.

Collective Soul is one of those bands that get better with age. The music is wonderful, and the wisdom of a 62 year old man, Ed Roland, shows during his stage stories. This show was postponed from last summer and Roland freely admitted it was because he had a nosebleed that wouldn't stop and needed 2 different ENT doctors to get it stopped. "At my age everything is 50/50 on making it or not". 

There was a tribute to Aerosmith, who gave them their big break by adding them to a tour in the 90's. A tribute to AC/DC with Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Ed's first "import album".

This band tours constantly. I mean I've seen them 5 times now, but not for 20 years or so. Wanna forget the world for 90 minutes? Go see Collective Soul, it will make you feel young again.