Three Dog Night!

 Three Dog Night was a virtual hit parade by itself back in the late 1960s and thru the mid 70's. 21 consecutive top 40 hits, millions of albums sold , millions of 45's, Jesus when you think about it you can't help but remember them all if you're of a certain age of course.

What remains of Three Dog Night came to the Holland Center last evening for a 90-minute set of hit after hit after hit. Led by 80-year-old Danny Hutton, the lone remaining original Dog , the band began with Family of Man and never let up. Helped along by fellow singer David Morgan and guitarist Paul Kingery, Hutton and his mates often sounded exactly like the old days and just as often did not. Since the death of Cory Wells in 2015 and the fact Chuck Negron refuses to participate, it is really difficult to copy the voices lost. We saw Chuck Negron on the Happy Together tour a few years back and his voice is very recognizable on the old hits. It was missed on many of the songs played.

This is not to say the band didn't kill it. They did. Since Three Dog Night was probably the most successful cover band of all time in the first place, this new version covered the old songs well and had the older crowd rockin in the aisles. Every song was an oh yeah moment. Black and White, Old Fashioned Love Song , Out in the Country, Mama Told Me, Liar, Eli's Coming and the show ender Joy to the World (which when we saw Negron sing it he introduced it with a I can't believe I'm still singing this fucking song 50 years later intro). Along the way there were stories from Hutton and Morgan about getting old, making records, making bad decisions on what singles to release and how much fun they were still having. It was a great time.

The band. Drummer Pat Bautz kept the beat going and sang lead on Mama Told Me Not To Come, arguably their strangest and perhaps best song. Lead guitarist Paul Kingery provided the third voice, often mimicking Negron's unique pipes. Bassist Tim Hutton, son of Danny, didn't do much but play and  keep the rhythm alive. But keyboard player Howard Laravea was the glue that kept this band as great as they were. He was working his ass off moving between the piano chords of some songs and the organ backing of others and at the end of the concert had the chance to shine on his own. 

The new song they played right before Joy to the World. You know the "let's go get more beer songs" other bands play. The "this is from our new album" songs. You know. Nobody wants to listen to them. But this one, "Prayers for the Children" was a song about the effects of war on innocents. Sung by the Huttons, Kingery and Morgan acapella, the song was beautiful and compelling. With only a slight organ note or two, the crowd was silent as it was sung and erupted at the end. And then came Joy to the World and the place went nuts. 

They still have it. They're older and slower but then so is the crowd. It was a great time.

Karma Is Here!

 He's fucked. He should have been fucked decades ago but all in all Donald Trump has been avoiding the hangman since the 1970s. 

Read that indictment. The guy is guilty of treason, and this is not me screeching that he's a traitor and suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. Its right there and if you refuse to take it seriously you are either in a cult or you're simple not a serious person.

Jack Smith is a prosecutor of some of the worst people on earth. And with this indictment he continues that history of ridding the world of wastes of air. Bravo sir.

The Republican sycophants are currently right there sticking up for this guy who sucks the air out of the world and destroys anything he puts his tiny little fingers on. And he will destroy the suck ups eventually as he throws them into the way to save his own ass. The fear of the thuggish cult members of MAGA and what violence they are capable of drives these people. The fear of being voted out by a diminishingly loud bunch of shrieking baboons in red hats also drives them. Please dont primary me. Please dont show up at my office in masks and threaten my staff. This is what drives them now.

But eventually this is gonna fade. Politicians are spineless, gutless and willing to throw their own children into the path of political defeat if they have to. There is no honor among these thieves. But sooner rather than later the burden of defending a scumbag like Trump is going to be too great.

The Nikki Haleys, the Vivek Whatevers, the Pences, the Stefaniks, the Maces, the ones who aren't truly crazy, will dump Trump like a hot potato. Only the truly insane ones, the Greenes , the Boeberts, the Hawleys, the Tubervilles, the Blackburns will stick with him right into federal prison. The Cruz's of the world, guys truly spinless who show a great fealty to this orange orangutan will simply stop taking about him. And the lazy friendly press will not call them out.

Yeah Ron DeSantis , a far more dangerous person than Trump, is going to become the darling of the nutjobs. His fascist views are right up their alley. He's their true cult leader, they just dont know it yet because DeSantis has the personality of every bully people hated in high school not to mention the snotty teenager cheerleader girlfriend looking down her nose at them. Let's just hope the MAGA dopes stick with a cult of personality like Trump and don't move over to DeSantis. Since DeSantis has no personality, it would be a tough move over for most of MAGA.

I have no doubt that Donald Fucking Trump is finished after 76 years of cheating, lying, being disloyal and trying to be another Roy Cohn. 76 years of karma is here, motherfucker, and its name is Jack Fucking Smith.

Hairspray!

Back in 1988 John Waters, the self-proclaimed King of Schlock, made a movie about growing up in 1962 Baltimore called Hairspray and all anybody could talk about was the casting of Divine as the mother of a young chubby teenaged girl because Divine was a drag queen and shit. In 2002 the movie was made into a Broadway musical and won a bunch of Tonys.

Well the musical is in Omaha this week and yes, there's a drag queen (Nina West) playing the mother again and that's all I'm gonna say about that because it's irrelevant. 

Hairspray is a story about a young girl named Tracy Turnblad (Niki Metcalf), a teen who is overweight and has big hair and wants to audition for the local dance show, the Corny Collins Show. She is rejected because of her size and because the producer, an evil blonde woman, Velma Van Tussle (Addison Garner), is saving any accolades for her equally evil blonde daughter, Amber (Ryahn Evers); But Tracy keeps trying, meets the black kids in detention, becomes determined to integrate the show by making "Negro Day" every day, gets arrested, and eventually succeeds in integrating the show and getting the dreamy boy. Thats the story. But the music is the highlight and the singers are all more than capable of pulling it off.

From the beginning notes of Tracy in bed singing Good Morning Baltimore to Tracy and the cast ending the show with a crowd pleasing You Cant Stop the Beat this one will have you tapping your toes and clapping along and admiring the big voices.

There really isn't a dud song on this show. The sets are colorful, the clothes are timely, the humor is dead on and the talent is ready to take it on.

The relationship between Edna Turnblad and her adoring spouse, Wilbur (Ralph Prentice Daniel) is one of the perhaps overlooked things going on up on the Orpheum stage. The show stopping song and dance number after intermission featuring Edna and Wilbur, "You're Timeless to Me" was performed in front of a curtain as to not distract from its humor, love and absolute brilliance. It alone deserved a standing ovation for Andrew Levitt and Daniel.

But wait there's more. Motormouth Maybelle (Asabi Goodman), the local black record store owner, whose place serves as a hangout for the kids, has something to say when the idealistic youngsters plot to integrate the TV dance show. As an older black woman she's been there done that. kids. and it's harder than it looks. At that point Motormouth Maybelle belts out "I Know Where I've Been" and I wanted to throw my hands in the air and holler Amen! Goodman sings that song in a way that would have made Aretha proud. 

Then comes the closing number. The kids succeed, the villains are vanquished, and its Negro Day every day. "You Cant Stop The Beat" brings the show to a rousing close that the packed house was digging like a Maryland crab. The standing ovations were well deserved for everybody in the cast. I loved every second of it.

Now the bad. The sound system at the Orpheum sucks and I dont know why. The songs are easily heard but the words are often indecipherable, and it often gets to the point where it's just yeah love the beat but I have no clue what they are singing. Opening night bugs? Perhaps. Hope it gets dealt with. 

Finally, this state has just gone thru what other states also have gone thru. Homophobia, trans gender care bans, abortion bans, resegregation of schools, guns everywhere and we have a governor who thinks he's the state's Pastor and not the Governor. Though Hairspray has a drag queen star that has nothing to do with sexuality, some in this state would have voted to ban this type of play had time not run out. There were young kids in the audience and a drag queen performance ban would have kept them out or worse there would have been arrests. The kids I saw loved it. It would be a shame to proceed on this stupid course of drag queen bans.

1962 Baltimore, 2023 America. We are regressing and THAT is not funny in the least.

RFK!

55 years ago today it can be argued this country lost its optimism and became just another nation holding on for dear life.

Robert F Kennedy was murdered by a Palestinian-American kook (spare me your whackadoodle conspiracy bullshit) in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel on June 5, 1968 and the darkness of America took over again after a 9 year hiatus.

Nixon, Bush, Reagan, Bush 2, and finally Trump were the result. Carter tried but truth telling is something Americans reject. Clinton was the best Republican president of the last century and Obama, well, he overturned the rock that "real America" was living under and came slithering back out to gum up the system. I mean white people can only be pushed so far until their sense of losing the privilege kicks in and it becomes just another Klan rally under the guise of making America great again.

Bobby Kennedy may have been just as stifled as the rest of the ones who at least tried to bring us together but we shall never know. Now the wayward son, the one unfortunately with the Junior behind him, has come forward to not only plead to free his fathers murderer, but to spread anti vax bullshit and appeal to the same nutters who Trump appealed to. It's a strange legacy, a strange 180 to those of us who may have been young kids in 1968 but knew what a politician who gave us hope was like. The son, a complete opposite of his father, spreading despair and openly rooting for death from disease  and supporting Russian scumbags. It makes me angry.

I miss June 4th of 1968. Because as he won the California primary and the nomination that night it gave us hope that illegal and immoral American wars would stop, that darkness would become light, that a young 43 year old man would become the leader of the free word and that evil like Nixon and dumbness like Reagan would end. 

Instead in the wee hours of June 5, 1968, just after the victory speech, as hope was led thru the kitchen to a waiting car, a psychopathic killer changed the world for the worse. Sirhan murdered hope. And despair took the stage. And it hasn't given it up yet. 

Because "real America" won't let it.

A State Gone Wild!!

 

I supposed I should explain the Nebraska Legislature and what went down in the last 4 days. The 6 week abortion ban went down the tubes a while back never to rear its ugly head again. Well while technically true on Tuesday of this week Senator Ben Hansen, a medical "expert" because he cracks backs for a living, introduced an "amendment" to LB574, an anti-trans bill thats been fucking up this entire session because its being filibustered. We hit Day 81 of the 90 day session and up comes LB574, a bill that prohibits trans gender care for minors, puberty blockers, hormone therapy and that boogie man of all boogie men, trans gender surgeries, you know what the homophobes and transphobes like to call "cuttin off your genitals" , a practice not even done in Nebraska yet such an emergency it must be banned to "protect the children". 

Hansens amendment to an anti trans bill was to add to it a 12 week abortion ban (actually more like 9-10 weeks because of the definition of gestational age). This again was on Tuesday. The Democrats went crazy. You cannot add an amendment totally unrelated to the original bill and expect it to just be allowed to stand. Well this Nebraska's one house legislature and since there are 32 Republicans they can do whatever they want with the help of just one lone Democrat to stifle debate and move on to passing an unconstitutional law. Enter Senator Mike "Rat Bastard" McDonnell . A Democrat from central Omaha, a former fire chief and a DUI enthusiast but most of all one of those creatures I call professional Catholics. His religion is what motivates him, well that and he's running for Mayor of Omaha and he thinks being a homophobic anti woman hack is the path to victory. Catholicism, ah ya cant beat it if youre stuck in the middle ages. McDonnell provided  the 33rd vote to turn that house of wealthy old people, ranchers with nothing to do in the winter, bankers looking out for #1, and retired housewives who get bored and are really bitter over their aging bodies. 

So LB574 came up for final reading yesterday and the attempt to turn Nebraska into just another Mississippi of the North was full speed ahead. Some of us dont take the taking away of rights of women and trans gender kids lightly. We will not go away lightly.

The vote was set for somewhere around 4. The protesters were there at noon. The chanting began immediately just outside the legislative chambers. The glass doors were locked. The State Patrol was locked and loaded. The bigots in the chamber were ready to express their love for children and their even more love for the "pre-born" (the term pre born was IN THE BILL which is not a medical term and is now in Nebraska law making us look like the fools we are). The right wing groups were in a special protected class as they were allowed to look down on the protesters from the rotunda balcony which was allegedly off limits to anyone. A nice catholic woman stuck out her tongue at the gathered protesters as thats what 60 year old women do, right? A GOP operative named Matt Innis wanders around the rotunda snapping pics of people like he's some kind of crazed anti 1st amendment paparazzi. A man packing a gun on his hip stood around probably fantasizing about shootin some queers . 

The chanting continued. You could hear it on the live feed of the Legislature. Senators needed to speak loudly to be heard. When the bills sponsor, a suburbanite white woman appointee totally owned by outside interests, Senator Kathleen Kauth , stood to express her "love" for children and how kids brains dont fully develop till age 25 (but they can be forced to give birth at age 12) and all this transgender stuff is just a phase kids go thru, the people in the gallery (in the chamber) erupted. Yelling and throwing things at her as she carried on about how these people were "outside the state agitators" the gallery was cleared as it had been earlier in the week when the abortion amendment was added. Kauth lives in a white woman bubble of fellow well off GOP haters and cannot believe there are those of us in this state who find her and her bill abhorrent. 

The gallery people came down to be with the rest of us outside the chamber and thats when the State Patrol sprung into action. When a protestor was grabbed and shoved into a corner and held down by numerous officers well that's an instigation for some. One protester ran up and punched an officer which is not a good thing nor very smart. This caused a sudden wave of State Patrolman to pounce. What went on in that scrum was not visible to my eye but the sudden violence was infuriating. Stop the violence chants began. I surged forward because quite frankly I hate bullies and I wasn't thinking straight before reaching the scrum and then thinking better of getting into a fight with cops at my age. Stop the Violence was the best we could do.

Chanting, singing, laying down on the floor, disrupting the polite society continued until the vote. It was 33-15 just enough to pass with the help of Rat Bastard McDonnell. One vote to save our lives!! 

The session adjourned and the cowards snuck out the back with the protection of the State Patrol and the GOP thugs standing there looking all tough. The heroes of the session, State Senators Machaela Cavanaugh and State Senator Megyn Hunt (who has an trans son) who had been called "groomers" for 81 days emerged to loud cheers, hugs and the sadness that they had failed to influence one decent person to just stop. 

Look this bill will be thrown out by any court worth a shit (which is a big if that any exist). The bill has a clause that isnt even germane to the bill itself (that idiotic abortion ban). In the past the Nebraska Supreme Court has thrown out various other petitions about marijuana and gambling because they contained too many different subjects. Will they do it with this bill? We can hope. I'm not holding my breath. 

Democracy is dying all over the world. Its ugly to watch authoritarian schmoes get their way because of gerrymandering and the people voting for Republicans just because they want to "own the libs". It's the strategy of a loser. The strategy of a middle school brain that never developed at age 25. Ya know like Kathleen Kauth.

Fuck this state. Its backwardness has always been frustrating but in a sense charming. The reasonableness in the inability to think forward has always been something one can deal with if youve lived here all your life. But since 2016 and the unleashing of vermin that had normally kept a low profile, this state has changed. Its mean, its profane and its just another Trump loving band of cultists just like the rest of  rural America. Election deniers, conspiracy theorists and undeveloped brains have infiltrated our statehouse. 

Vote them ALL OUT!

Nebraska Legislature!

What a "shame" that the 6 week abortion ban failed to get the 33 votes needed to get it to the next round....The bill is dead for this year because the 6 week freaks would not compromise to a 12 week ban. There are plenty of shitty bills still in play however. Specifically, the hateful anti trans bill LB574, the anti drag queen bill, the bathroom bill, the women's sports bill and the school choice bill not to mention forcing gas stations to have 50% ethanol pumps (because theres lots of corn farmers in the lege conflict of interest?)

But for now I will take this win.

Jagged Little Pill!!

 Look first off there was nobody like Alanis Morissette. She was Taylor Swift before there was a Taylor Swift. But Alanis was an adult and not afraid to lay it all out. Jagged Little Pill was her masterpiece, in fact it was a masterpiece for anyone. Now the fanboy stuff is over and lets get to the musical Jagged Little Pill now playing in Lincoln at the Lied Center.

In the current political atmosphere this is the kind of musical that Ron Desantis and perhaps 33 members of the Nebraska Legislature would try and ban. It covers all the hot button "woke" issues. There's pill addiction, there's rape, there's LGBTQ, there's gender confusion, there's trans gender, there's race, there's male indifference, there's rage and jealousy and there is stale marriages. This "wokeism" that the right hates slugs you right between the eyes from the start and its just great.

The story is about a family on the ropes. The wife is addicted to opiates, the daughter is adopted and black and confused, the son is trying to live up to the parents' high hopes, the husband is a workaholic who's never home, and the daughters friend is a non binary teen with teen issues. There are other characters, the teen rape victim, the daughter's "boyfriend", the rich kid rapist and a dance team that just freakin kills it. I haven't seen this much energy and quite frankly youthful limberness is ages. The dancers are flippin contortionists.

Mom, Mary Jane Healy, played by Broadway veteran Heidi Klingenstaff , is trying to hold everything together by herself and failing miserably. The son, Nick, played by newcomer Dillon Klena, has been accepted to Harvard and is just trying to hold it together for one more semester. The adopted daughter, Frankie ,and played by newcomer Lauren Chanel  is questioning her own identity as a black teen in a white world and her own sexuality, The husband, Steve,  played by Broadway vet Chris Hoch, is working 60 hours a week making money while ignoring the reality of his collapsing family. 

Life goes on, MJ becomes a back alley opiate customer, Nick witnesses a rape and fails to come forward, Frankie destroys her friend Jo by sleeping with a boy (the scene of Phoenix played by Rishi Golani running away thru the audience with his pants around his ankles is hilarious) and Steve comes to understand his wife is fucked up and it's a lot his fault.

All the issues are right here. The rape, the addiction, the racial problem, the gender issue, the trans gender issue, the wealthy getting away with anything, the teen idealism and rage. The rage of Alanis Morissette.

Don't get the idea that this is a bummer of a musical. Its really not. Issues get resolved . There's a lot of humor and current slaps at the anti woke crowd and Fox News (which drew a LOUD cheer). It really is not for everyone but it WAS for us.

Heidi Klingenstaff who plays MJ, is not only a fantastic singer with great range, she's a damn good actress pulling off this role. The rest of the cast, mostly newcomers, is also phenomenal. But lets get to the character Jo, played by newcomer Jade McLeod. She plays Frankies best bud and potential girlfriend until it becomes apparent Frankie isn't exclusively gay. She gets the You Oughta Know moment, She belts that song out with such rage and energy it's impossible not to think that this singer/actress isn't going places . My God it was a powerful moment and made admission worth it.  

Go see this if you get a chance. Not only great Alanis songs, but great acting and a great modern day story. I expected good, I got great.