Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Peaceful Protests / Phosphorescent at Jackpot / The Motherfucker With the Hat on Broadway

A group of Larryville liberals are planning a 6:00 pm protest on the southeast corner of the Lied Center lot in advance of Kris Kobach's lecture tonight, so make sure to prepare your witty signs ("Show us your ID, Kobach!") and join the activists.

We're guessing that "tunahelper" (from the LJ-World talkback on the protest article) will NOT be among the peaceful protesters, though he may be first in line for the lecture:

"we need a 50 foot high 10,000 volt electric fence with border with Mexico. And a mile wide strip of landmines in case any attempt to sneak thru."

We'll buy a PBR for whoever sends us the best photos from tonight's circus (which we won't attend, since we'll be out drinking PBR somewhere hip, such as the Phosphorescent show at the Jackpot).

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We're guessing a lot of scenesters aren't pleased that Phosphorescent has drifted away from the "forlorn wilderness folk" (Pitchfork) of their early records and into a full album of Willie Nelson covers followed by an accessible album of "beer-soaked, sun-baked country-rock," (Pitchfork) but we're the rare scenesters who prefer music to be halfway-listenable, so we're quite pleased with the transition.

Allow us a personal remembrance here, since we had a fascinating Phosphorescent moment at the Jackpot a few years back. At one point the band, covering a John Mellencamp tune (possibly "The Authority Song," though PBR makes things fuzzy) tossed the mic into the audience, encouraging us all to pass it around and continue the lyrics. What should have been a cathartic, communal rock and roll moment, however, went astray as the crowd was either (a) too hip to acknowledge they knew the lyrics except for a few half-baked and sneeringly ironic attempts or (b) actually unfamiliar with the lyrics. So the moment became instead a perfect illustration of the scenester aesthetic: the perfect refusal to have fun at a fucking rock and roll show.

Chip: "Speak for yourself. I totally rocked 'The Authority Song.'"

Tonight's opener is The Hips, for those of you who can't make it through a week without at least one set by Drakkar Sauna or a Drakkar-related side-project.

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Surely the best thing on Broadway: Spider Man Turn Off the Dark (so dangerous, literally!). Surely the second best: Parker and Stone's Book of Mormon (so delightfully blasphemous!). Surely the third best: The Motherfucker in the Hat , the new play by Stephen Adly Guirgis (which also marks the Broadway debut of Chris Rock) with a title which can only be printed as The _________ With the Hat in most major publications.

Ben Brantley's theater review begins with a consideration of the title, which he proclaims "vexing for those of us who would like to extol the virtues of “The ___________ With the Hat,” at least in public. (The title also seems to have created problems for the people trying to publicize the play.)"

Shouldn't 'art' and free speech win out over journalistic prudishness and propriety in this case? (and how will this be dealt with on TV at the Tony's, which the play is likely to take by storm?). At least you can go to the play's official website and hear Broadway legend Elaine Stritch relishing the title! Please click here and enjoy!

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