Monday, March 03, 2008

family entertainment

So Zach out in Des Moines is hustling some good Iowans on our behalf. We're days away from signing a contract to take the Scrappy Jack East Village Traveling All-Stars out on the road. It's the U. S. touring wing of Clancy Productions, Inc. and though mostly mythical right now, is soon to be a very impressive force in the future Great Culture World War II, in which the Good Guys win.

I was going through the old roster of the SJEVTAS and noticed that we're a bit light on family acts. Not acts made up of families, a la the Aristocrats, but stuff that's appropriate for the little ones. So if you're a juggler or you know one, give us a call. Face-painters need not apply, they kind of creep me out, to be honest.

Saw Senator Clinton's "It's 3 AM and your children are asleep..." ad over the weekend.

Come on.

Here's the morning tip:

When it's 3 AM and the phone rings at the White House the President doesn't answer the phone. I know this from The West Wing, for Christ's sake. Some Navy guy on duty down in the basement answers it, he calls about eleven superiors, they call the brass above them and maybe it ends up on Leo's desk in the morning. And only then does Martin Sheen even hear about it.

Come on.

Don Hall's Off Loop Freedom Charter over on http://www.donhall.blogspot.com/ is exactly what I'm talking about with the LIT real estate proposal. Now if he'd just get his angry ass over to A Red Orchid and see my play. Which has extended. But enough about me.

If we're going to change anything and make the change last, we need to be getting money and property for the arts. Money and property. Money and property. Just as though we're living in a capitalistic society. Money and property. Say it with me.

Our Monday Morning Music Quiz is reaching back beyond New Wave and punk and all the way to the Golden Era of 60s English Rock and Roll, my children.

The extraordinary sound of Humble Pie, Peter Frampton's first band, was greatly added to by Steve Marriot, himself an original member of:

1. Cream
2. Spooky Tooth
3. Grateful Dead
4. Small Faces

As always, no Wikepediaing, copying off your neighbors or horseplay of any kind.

7 comments:

isaac butler said...

Hey John!

I've been looking for info on the LIT real estate proposal and have been unable to find. Do you have a link you can furnish me with?

John said...

Uhhh...

Nope. The best link would probably be some press about Robert Elms and his Galapagos deal. Robert has hooked up with enlightened realtors over in Williamsburgh. They do actually exist.

My plan, hatching as we speak, is a three-pronged campaign.

1. Identify and preserve the existing buildings that realtors can't knock down or use. These are mostly landmarked for some reason and are great for the arts. Old stables, schools, armories, etc.

2. Talk to the developers who are putting up these Hideous Incongruities and have them build 99 seat theaters and dance spaces and art galleries into the first floor or basements of the buildings. Gives future residents another reason to buy their incredibly overpriced apartment. Folks like the arts or at least like to look like they do.

3. Talk to the city governments and change the law a little bit so that it becomes legally mandatory for builders and developers to do #2.

LIT, as you know, is still a few weeks or so away from being a legal entity. I'm tapped to be the first Executive Director, so I'm just sort of shooting my mouth off right now.

Rosemoo said...

I like the idea of Spooky Tooth being a band, so I'm gonna go with Number 2. I would love an old battered t shirt with the words 'SPOOKY TOOTH' written under some sort of flying evil Casper Ghosty. Beautiful.

John said...

We definitely got to get into the T-shirt bidness.

Seriously.

Even if Rosie is our only customer, we'll make a mint.

Ann said...

Oh good lord...Small Faces is the answer. How the hell much do I owe you *now*? And how pathological is it, exactly, that even if being right costs me money, I STILL must be right?

I'm hoping I can just pay in t-shirts...I'm still working on the "Mad Grinning Gipper of DEATH" design.

Senator Clinton's ad made me wince when I watched it, because I loathe the politics of fear, and because it smacks of desperation. Sidebar: Not entirely sure you want people thinking about a phone ringing at 3 a.m. in a White House that would include Bill Clinton, because it's liable to just be some pissed-off ex-girlfriend.

Rosemoo said...

It can be surreal living without television. I can be surrounded by people in New York and have no earthly clue what they are talking about. Sometimes I feel as though I've seceded to some other, more ethereal, internet existence; with its own set of rules and social mores that do not connect to the reality I experience daily. Is there something wrong with me? Am I in a Kafka novel? What the hell is this commercial that everyone keeps talking about?! Someone enlighten the ignorant sole occupant of rosehoward.com and baptise her in the waters of the "NOW". John? Can I have the red pill?

John said...

And so you enter the rabbit-hole...

The ad is just some nonsense fear-mongering thing Senator Clinton's people cooked up. It's the benign version of the famous "Daisy" ad from the 60s. A phone is ringing and the voice over says,
"It's 3 AM and your children are asleep. Who do you want to answer the phone?" And then there's Hillary talking into a phone, all calm and Presidential. Meaning, we're going to get hit again and when we do you want a cool, old head not some kid who's going to over-react and/or wet his pants and start crying the first time the bullies test him.

It's an enormous wad of old horseshit, but it's the only thing Clinton's got left to stuff into the cannons and fire into the fray.

Worse thing about it, it could work for enough people to keep everything close tomorrow.