Friday Roundup: "I Don't Date Timid Women..."

New Definition of the Week

From our friends over at Praxis Theatre:

cry.ba.by.ism

– noun

1. the belief that these are “tough times” and that the solution is smaller, blander shows.

2. Artistic Direction in accordance with this belief.

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Fox News



You hear that? I think that's the sound of unfettered Republican spin being ground down to a halt...
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The Creepiest Guy on the Planet


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In Defense of Art?

Over at the The Theater Loop, Chris Jones makes an impassioned argument for an exception to the smoking ban for theaters. Turns out someone complained about the guys in Jersey Boys smoking on stage and the City nipped that shit in the bud:

The Chicago production of "Jersey Boys" has gone smoke-free in the last few days. It is as if the Four Seasons never took so much as a drag.

But in New York and London, Frankie and the boys still puff away. That's because those more enlightened cities allow artistic exceptions to their bans on smoking in public. But as the anti-smoking law is written in Chicago, no such exception is possible. And the law makes no distinction between tobacco and herbal cigarettes.

I wrote about the absurdity of this when the smoking ban was first proposed. I am no fan of smoking but to legally require that shows pretend that no-one ever smoked in the history of the world is absurd, unreasonable, damaging to the city's cultural reputation and injurious to art.

For the record, I agree with Jones. It's a stupid, convenience-founded law in the first place. I do find it a bit disheartening that this might be the example to rally behind as a moment that is "injurious to art," however. It's fucking Jersey Boys - which is not high on the Art Scale.

One commenter has this to add:

The militant smokers sound like they are still fighting their adolescent battles against authority like an adult playing a boombox at full volume on the bus because he is angry at having been told to turn it off as a teenager.

To that, I say that those adolescent battles against meaningless authority are pretty much what makes Americans - well, Americans. Sort of like taking the example of those rich, white landowners to task for adolescently waging a Revolutionary War because they had to pay taxes.
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The Little Engine That Could...

Kucinich ain't letting it go and in the past weeks as I've reflected upon what it is to be an American, here is a shining example of someone who is worth shooting off a few firecrackers for:

Dear Colleague,

During the Fourth of July holiday a WWII veteran stood ram-rod straight in his crisp dress uniform and saluted our flag as it passed in a parade. His silent reverential stance was a powerful reminder of the love of country that is reflected in our veterans of all generations and all services.

It is also a powerful reminder of the responsibilities of the President of the Untied States in his capacity as Commander in Chief.

It is worse than heartbreaking that George W. Bush, as Commander in Chief, caused this country to go to war based on information which was false, and which he knew to be false. The consequences for our troops have been devastating. We have lost 4,116 of our beloved servicemen and women since the war began, with over 30,000 physically wounded and countless others emotionally wounded. The toll on the service persons and their families will be felt throughout their lives.

There can be no greater responsibility of a Commander in Chief than to command based on facts on the ground, and to command in fact and in truth. There can be no greater offense of a Commander in Chief than to misrepresent a cause of war and to send our brave men and women into harm's way based on those misrepresentations.

There has been a breach of faith between the Commander in Chief and the troops. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or with Al Qaeda's role in 9/11. Iraq had neither the intention nor the capability of attacking the United States. Iraq did not have weapons of Mass of Destruction. Yet George W. Bush took our troops to war under all of these false assumptions. Given the profound and irreversible consequences to our troops, if his decision was the result of a mistake, he must be impeached. Since his decision was based on lies, impeachment as a remedy falls short, but represents at least some effort on our part to demonstrate our concern about the sacrifices our troops have made.

This Thursday evening I will bring a privileged resolution to the House with a single Article of Impeachment of President Bush for taking our nation and our troops to war based on lies. We owe it to our troops who even at this hour stand as sentinels of America because they love this country and will give their lives for it. What are we willing to do to match their valor and the valor of their successors? Are we at least willing to defend the Constitution from the comfort and security of our Washington, DC offices?

Sincerely,
Dennis J. Kucinich

Member of Congress

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Best Fucking Theater Post of the Week

Mike Daisey calls the analogy of theater artist to gambler "just a really facile analogy, and I'm not going to parse it." Mike? Just read this. This is what I love most about the blog thing - my posts dovetails Adam into a super thoughtful and dead-on post and his post is inspiring my own (coming next week).

Sweet.