Marc Valdez Weblog

"Guys And Dolls" Premieres - Runaway Stage Productions



Final Bows. Foreground, Musical Director Sean Bianco, and the orchestra. Actors on stage, left to right: Scott Reese (Lt. Branigan), Michael McElroy (Harry the Horse), Frank Hardin (Arvide Abernathy), Scott Woodard (Nicely-Nicely Johnson), Bob Baxter (Nathan Detroit), Beth Nilsen (Sarah Brown), Dave Lack (Sky Masterson), Miss Adelaide (Lauren Miller), Carlo Stowers (Benny Southstreet), Kyle Hadley (Big Julie), Anne-Marie Trout (General Cartwright).

Went to see the Friday premiere of "Guys and Dolls". Lots of good performances, with just a few opening night jitters. Characteristic Runaway zeal and rapid pacing kept the show from dragging.

Beth Nilsen played Sarah Brown and Dave Lack played Sky Masterson in an ideal manner. It was easy to tell Beth was having a great time in 'If I Were A Bell.' Dave shined in 'Luck Be A Lady.'

Bob Baxter was funny as Nathan Detroit (really liked his unexpected exit in 'Sue Me.')

It was real intriguing watching Lauren Miller as Miss Adelaide. Lauren played the same role at DMTC in March, 2004, but there were many changes in approach here. Adelaide's now a redhead (formerly a blonde). The pacing of the songs, particularly 'Adelaide's Lament' is different than two years ago, and the enunciation of some words (e.g., 'endure') is more open-mouthed. Lauren's acting has improved - the acting seemed to be better than I remember from two years ago. She's a huge asset to the show. [Update: Steve Isaacson informs me that Lauren was a redhead two years ago as well. WHAT!!?? Is my memory is shoddy? Well, Steve has an elephantlike recall of detail, and he was Nathan Detroit besides, so I defer to his memory.]

I thought the dancing was too processional for my taste, starting first with 'Runyonland', and also in the beginning part of 'Havana.' Part of that emphasis might have been a structural feature - the runway loop downstage of the orchestra, last seen in 'Pirates of Penzance,' is back, but I recall Pam Kay Lourentzos was able to fight back against linearity.

In 'Havana', the rhythm bothered me. Latin rhythms are generally 123/123, but here they started as 12/12/123, which is more of a tango rhythm, not a salsa or samba rhythm. OK, I guess, for theatrical dancing, but for me it created an estrangement. The last half of 'Havana' got much better, particularly with the couple dancing and the fight sequence. Runaway pays a lot of attention to getting fight sequences right. I was surprised to discover after the show that Ron Cisneros was the choreographer. The dancing seemed un-Ron-like. I wonder if he was aiming more for a period, MGM-studio feel?

In some ways, the hardest dancing to do is the Hotbox scenes: 'A Bushel and a Peck' and 'Take Back Your Mink.' There are too many constraints on the scenes to really let loose - no Martha Graham here - so some variant of relying on cuteness and posing has to be done. I enjoyed seeing Kaitlin Flint up there, doing her cute best.

Scott Woodard was a fine Nicely-Nicely. His performance was much more natural in this show than it had been in "Sweeney Todd." My guess is that comedy is his forte, not drama. Carlo Stowers also put in a good Benny Southstreet. Kyle Hadley made a commanding - and funny - Big Jule.

Michael McElroy was a good Harry The Horse, but he seemed to be suffering a bit of costuming jiu-jitsu. His cream-colored coat is really nice close-up, but best for winter and everyone else is set for summer. He got into the spirit of 'The Crapshooter's Dance,' but probably got a bit too disheveled. In one of Michael's first blog posts, he mentioned the metrosexual quiz. I suggest at least 35% metrosexual for the sewer scene.

Frank Hardin got a song! Frank approached 'More I Cannot Wish You' in a very tender and earnest way, acting more than usual for this song, which worked for me.

I was surprised to see two people in the show: Charlotte Hartshorne, who did 'Guys and Dolls' at Woodland Opera House in 2001, and who is in my Sunday ballet class with Pam Kay Lourentzos, and also Tony Rodriguez, who I last saw on stage in DMTC's 'Tommy,' in 2001, and also singing at Max's Opera Cafe in Arden Fair Mall (until it closed last year). Glad to see them both again on stage!

Oddly enough, The Drunk (Jason Parsons) made only one unexpected entrance (at the beginning of 'Marry The Man Today'), and not in the show's two customary places (I played The Drunk in both WOH's 2001 and DMTC's 2004 "Guys And Dolls", so I'm sensitive to where he should be). Jason has such good facial expressions! What a joy!

There were some slow entrances and dyslexic dialogue on opening night, but by and large, things went smoothly. Microphone technical lapses were few. I thought the lighting was a bit too dark for my taste.

After the show, I told Mike and Lauren 'looks like you were having fun up there!' Lauren reminded me that we had both participated in a conversation at DMTC concerning what certain stock phrases really mean, in particular, the trite boilerplate people are prone to use after a show. Oh yeah, I forgot! If I remember correctly, 'looks like you were having fun up there' translates roughly, and acidly, as 'well, at least someone was enjoying themselves.' I reminded Lauren that, despite my best efforts, my expression is about as genuine as $3 bill, or as down to earth as a Stepford Tupperware party. I can't help myself. I was sincere, but good luck ever convincing anyone of that!

Great show! Check it out!

"Guys And Dolls"

Sacramento Bee caption: Runaway Stage Productions presents "Guys and Dolls," featuring, from left, Beth Nilson, David Lack, Lauren Miller and Bob Baxter. It opens at 8 tonight and continues through May 28 at the 24th Street Theatre, 2791 24th St.
Daniel Battershell Photography

Premieres tonight at Runaway Stage Productions!
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Where There's Smoke...

I guess this sex/bribery scandal has legs after all, but fat chance learning about it from the mainstream media - it's a conspiracy of total silence there. Only among the liberal blogs is the subject getting any coverage at all:

CIA Director Porter Goss has resigned, President Bush said Friday.

Doesn't anyone want to know why he resigned, or who else might have to resign? No? Thought so! After all, we all listen to FOX and the rest of the mainstream media, and they are doing their best to distract public attention with the silly Patrick Kennedy story.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! The Great and Magnificent Oz has spoken!
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DMTC/YPT Summer Youth Theater Activity for 2006

From DMTC, for the kids of summer 2006:

The Davis Musical Theatre Company’s Young Performer Theater Division announces auditions for their summer musical PETER PAN. The auditions will be held Monday May 8, 2006 & Tuesday May 9, 2006 at 4:30pm with callbacks on Wednesday May 10, 2006 also at 4:30pm at the Hoblit Performing Arts Center, 607 Pena Drive, Davis. Please bring sheet music for a song that you have rehearsed (but not from Peter Pan). You only need to sing enough of your song to demonstrate how well you can carry a tune and follow our piano player’s accompaniment (no taped music or a cappella please). After singing, there will be reading from the show. Jan Isaacson will direct the show. The show will be double cast with a total of 40 cast members, which includes, if you are a principal character on one weekend, then you are in the ensemble the other weekend. There will be a cost of $125 for this summer activity.

Read Through: Monday, May 15, 2006; 4:30 – 6:00
Parent Meeting: Monday, May 15, 2006; 6:00 – 7:00
Rehearsal will be Monday – Thursday and they begin on July 10, 2006.
Rehearsal times will be: July 10, 2006 – August 10, 2006; 1:00 – 4:00
Tech Week: August 14 – 17, 2006; 4:00 – 8:00
Show dates are August 18 - August 27, 2006
Fridays 7:00 pm, Saturdays 2:15 & 7:00 pm, Sundays 2:15

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Mike Metzger is a God

And still enough bones to count as human too.
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Overzealous Recruitment

One effective way to join the dark side (at least according to the movies).

A twisted teenage vampiress attacked three girls who attend her Queens high school - savagely sinking her teeth into their necks in a series of bizarre bloodlettings, a shocking new lawsuit charges.

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White Fabric

Ever have one of those epiphanies, where just the sight, sound, or smell of something triggers a flood of memories?

I was reading this about Coachella 2006:

There always seems to be one ubiquitous T-shirt at every edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Sometimes it's merely a band shirt, like Siouxsie & the Banshees or, no joke, Rooney. In 2004, it was a black shirt with George Bush on it, along with the words, "Not My President." And this past weekend, some individuals paraded around the Empire Polo Fields just a few hours south of Las Vegas sporting "Madonna Killed Coachella" on their tees.

Ever since promoters of the venerable event announced the addition of the former Material Girl to its 80-plus artist Coachella 2006 roster, some of the festival's diehard fans declared the premiere music festival in the United States had finally jumped the shark. Pre-concert quibbling continued online last week with the last-minute booking of Kanye West, one of last year's most commercially successful pop acts.

Just Saturday night, I watched portions of the new movie "Coachella", on DVD. I bought the movie (sight unseen, even though it recently-ran at the Crest Theater) since it seemed likely that it might be fun. And indeed, there are fun parts - the fellow who invented all kinds of quixotic, Burning-Man style robots comes first to mind. But a lot of the acts are - well, not that good. This collegiate critic seems to have nailed the problems, but opinions differ: Variety liked it, for example.

Watching the movie, I was worried, at first, when I saw Fischerspooner preparing to take the stage. The big white tent looked amateurish, the stage looked pedestrian, and the dancers with the feathered headdresses looked small and vulnerable. Not until the lights kicked in and the dancers started moving did I revel in the fun of this group I had heard of, but never seen.

And I was looking at the fabric of the tent - the fabric of the white tent - and then suddenly I was back in Tucson, in 1985, at a bizarre Science-Expo-Culture event slammed together by well-meaning, but clueless, promoters, and hosted in a series of white, fabric tents in the parking lot of Tucson's El Con Mall. Inside one of the tents, I watched a tall, handsome man, dressed in coat-and-tails, sing opera, accompanied by piano, all the while a mechanical wood chipper, operated by city employees, ground away at eucalyptus branches in the park directly across the street. Opera Man could barely be heard above the sporadic, keening mechanical roar. He kept his composure, but reading his face, I feared for the future of Tucson Parks & Recreation employees.

Cultural events in outdoor tents are always chancy. Opera is very vulnerable, rock concerts are better (e.g., Fischerspooner, and hopefully Madonna), and circuses are best (once again, hopefully Madonna)! She's coming soon to San Jose, isn't she?

Here is Fischerspooner's 'Emerge':

Hi
Huh-I
Hyper
Hyper-media-ocrity
You don't need to
Emerge from nothing
You don't need to
Tear away
You don't need to
Tear away
Feels good
Looks good
Sounds good
Looks good
Feels good too
Feels good too
(Uh-huh that's right)
Feels good too
(Uh-huh that's right)
You don't need to
Emerge from nothing
You don't need to
Tear away
You don't need to
Emerge from nothing
You don't need to
Tear away
(Uh huh that's right)
(Uh huh that's right)
You don't need to
Emerge from nothing
You don't need to
Tear away
You don't need to
Emerge from nothing
You don't need to
Tear away
You don't need to
Emerge from nothing
You don't need to
Tear away
You don't need to
Emerge from nothing
You don't need to
Tear away
[Modem noise]: Look alive!
You don't need to
Emerge from nothing
You don't need to
Tear away

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Boo!

Sen. Liddy Dole (R-NC) is worried, even panicked, by the Democrats:

In a fundraising appeal this week, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., asks for immediate financial help "to prevent the most left-wing Democrat Party in history from seizing control of the United States Senate" in the November elections.

... In the fundraising letter, Dole rails against liberal Democrats in the Senate and warns that if they prevail, "our worst fears" will be realized. She argues that empowered Democrats would "increase your taxes, call for endless investigations, congressional censure and maybe even impeachment of President Bush, put the war on terrorism on the back-burner" and "Take over the White House in 2008!"

I thought the Democrats were listless, spineless, convictionless flip-floppers left behind by the Glorious March of Market-Force History. Instead, we find Democrats are hairy, ugly, immoral bomb-throwing radicals. Whatever. But here is Liddy's real problem, and why she's so worried:

Senate Democrats have maintained a 2-to-1 advantage over Dole's campaign committee in money raised for the midterm contests. Senate Democrats have $32.1 million cash on hand and the National Republican Senatorial Committee has $16.5 million, according to the most recent filings.

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False Coriolis Legend

Jerry notes:

You may have heard the story about how British gunners kept missing their target at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in WWI because they got the sign wrong on the Coriolis force. Looks like this may be a myth. (I think that I first heard about this in a physics class.)

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Checklist

Parts of the daily routine:

• Where's A.? The landscaping has been nuked, numerous projects started, but incomplete; now it's time to reassemble!
• J. the plumber will fix the solenoid valves. Yay!
• Should I remove the dead possum from the yard? I remember when a mouse died in the furnace at the house on 40th Street, and since it was July, all we had to do was shut the vents and wait till October. Anyway, the possum's been there a week already, smell greatly diminished by now; see no immediate need, but OK. Done.
• Watch the DMV workers on their daily 10 a.m. constitutional walk during their coffee break, as they walk past the house. Today, as I watered the landscaping, I overheard one woman tell her friend, just as they passed by, that there are many things she doesn't tell her husband. "Like what?" I wanted to ask, but kept my mouth shut.
• Ah! Found the DMTC checkbook register! It fell on the floor - never thought to look there for it. Too much trouble to pick it up, though. If we'd let checks 'bounce', I wouldn't have to bend over so far....
• Fence is progressively toppling over in the back yard. Where is Michael Campbell when you need him? (he did the repair on that fence in the front yard in 2004)
• What are those workers digging for, under the pavement, down the alley? Oh! Looks like sewer trouble!
• Eat lunch at 'Subway': 21st & J Street. Been eating lunch there nearly every work day since 1997. Reminisce about the good old days - Monica Lewinsky and all.
• Do some work.
• Best part of day; hopping around with beautiful women over at Pepper's, T & Th. Worst part of day; hopping around with beautiful women over at Pepper's, T & Th.
• Drive to Davis.
• Learn lyrics to "Oklahoma!" I remember climbing the highest point in Oklahoma once, with W. & J. Fresh air; good time, high on Black Mesa in the Panhandle, right next to the NM border! Met the two teenage rancher women, since we were crossing their land. One was wearing a turban (she had just come out from the shower), and she had a mouth full of chewing tobacco. Yum!
• Flinging garbage out of DMTC's New Theater. For such pretty people, we generate the foulest stuff, sometimes.
• Bring some DMTC historic memorabilia, and other detritus, home for safekeeping.
• Shred more and more of K.'s paper. Cloudy keeps me company; it's good master-rabbit bonding time.
• Throw crap away.
• Don't forget the nightly walk for Sparky; good master-canine bonding time.

Rumsfeld's Rules

I've been racking my brain trying to remember where I saw Rumsfeld's Rules on bureaucratic warfare before. I believe I have his book on the subject, written in the 70's, somewhere. In any event, here is a nice summary for today's people in the Pentagon who want to derail, injure, and otherwise neuter Old Man Rumsfeld.
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"A Chorus Line", And Mara Davi

Via Ray Fisher, meet the Broadway-revival cast of "A Chorus Line", and our very-own Mara Davi (Maggie)!
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Big Earthquake Near Tonga

But the magnitude 8.0 quake has, so far, apparently produced only a small tsunami.
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Gettin' On

Sparky is beginning to suffer from cataracts, and also from a bit of deafness. Several nights ago, I took Sparky out for his customary nightly walk, and I made a small detour to look in a garbage can. Sparky lost track of where I was, and walked past me on his way back to the house. I approached from behind and called him, but he couldn't tell where I was. He thought I was in front of him, and with ears perked at attention, he began running back to the house to meet me, with me lamely trying to catch up to him.

Poor baby. According to the age chart for dogs, he's about 68 in human terms.
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Iraq, Fort Irwin Style

Just over the blimp-topped mountain from I-15, the LA/Las Vegas highway, sits Fort Irwin, where Hollywood and the military have put together a great simulation of the problems involved in tamping down the guerilla insurgency in Iraq:

Out here, 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles, units of the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y., are among the latest war-bound troops who have gone through three weeks of training that introduce them to the harsh episodes that characterize the American experience in Iraq.

In a 1,000-square-mile region on the edge of Death Valley, Arab-Americans, many of them from the Iraqi expatriate community in San Diego, populate a group of mock villages resembling their counterparts in Iraq. American soldiers at forward operating bases nearby face insurgent uprisings, suicide bombings and even staged beheadings in underground tunnels. Recently, the soldiers here, like their counterparts in Iraq, have been confronted with Sunni-Shiite riots. At one village, a secret guerrilla revolt is in the works.

With actors and stuntmen on loan from Hollywood, American generals have recast the training ground at Fort Irwin so effectively as a simulation of conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 20 months that some soldiers have left with battle fatigue and others have had their orders for deployment to the war zones canceled. In at least one case, a soldier's career was ended for unnecessarily "killing" civilians.

"We would rather you got killed here than in Iraq," said Maj. John Clearwater, a veteran of the Special Forces who works at the training center.

The troops who come here are at the heart of a vast shift in American war-fighting strategy, a multibillion-dollar effort to remodel the Army on the fly. Here, the Army is relearning how to fight, shifting from its historic emphasis on big army-to-army battles to the more subtle tactics of defeating a guerrilla insurgency.

The changes in the Army's emphasis are among the most far-reaching since World War II, all being carried out at top speed, while the Iraqi insurgency continues undiminished and political support for the war ebbs at home.

American commanders say publicly that they still believe they can win the war, especially now with a more coherent strategy to combat the insurgency and train their soldiers to fight it.

The lack of such planning — indeed, the refusal in the first months after the invasion to acknowledge the presence of the insurgency — is at the heart of the criticism leveled recently at Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld by six former generals.

Beneath the public veneer, some American officers say they believe that public support for the war will probably run out before the changes will begin to make a major difference. The more probable chain of events, they say, is a steady drawdown of American forces from Iraq, long before the insurgency is defeated.

For the first time in more than 20 years, military planners are revising the Army's counterinsurgency manual, adding emphasis on nation-building and peacekeeping — subjects once belittled by the Bush administration.

At the Army's Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., officers are being required for the first time to complete a course in counterinsurgency. In Iraq, American officers entering the country are now required to spend their first week at the sprawling military base at Taji, on the northwestern edge of Baghdad, attending a crash course in counterinsurgency.

Junior officers are being encouraged to take greater initiative to adjust to local circumstances. An old military tradition of chronicling the lessons learned on the front and passing them on to other units has found a vital new outlet in password-protected Internet sites where platoon commanders and more senior officers can exchange combat experiences.

The aim is to see that any new techniques adopted by the insurgents, especially in mounting the roadside bombing attacks that accounted for more than half of all American casualties in Iraq, are made known to all units as quickly as possible, often within 24 hours.

One third of the American troops now stationed in Iraq have been through the course here, and entire brigades — each with 4,000 soldiers, sometimes more — are processed through here every month. But it is still unclear how much effect the new training is having in the field.

Indeed, even as the new training strategy moves forward, American units are substantially withdrawing from Iraq's streets. With the country sliding closer to civil war, Iraqi military units, many of them of uncertain quality, are now taking the leading combat role in nearly half of Iraq's territory.

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The Illuminati Did It

K. pulled me aside and showed me his big new book that purports to show the Illuminati caused 9/11. Looking at the book, I realized that its true value lay in assembling and articulating all the doubts and illogical leaps of faith involved in believing everything we've been told about 9/11. There is so much we don't know, even five years later. You don't have to flail in the darkness at the Illuminati to want answers. I might give the book a peek.

Talking about portents, June 6, 2006 approaches:

But Kerry Noble, a Texas businessman whose life has changed dramatically since the days he was second in command of a paramilitary religious group known as the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord, said June 6 carries much significance to fringe groups that may be looking to make a statement.

"Numbers are important in the movement," Noble said. "So anything you could interpret as being symbolic would be even more important. So a symbolic date like June 6 of this year, being 666, would have the equivalence of a 9/11 date or an April 19 date."

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More On Steve Colbert

Finally took a look at the videos (Part 1 and Part 2) of Colbert's presentation at the National White House Correspondent's Dinner. Just awesome! Battered Bush, but even more so, just hammered the lickspittle White House press corps! Satire is a hard thing. The quiet in the big hall showed just how well Colbert did and just how pissed off everyone was.

More reaction and commentary from The Moderate Voice. and Steve Gilliard. Plus, courtesy of a *friend*, here is a transcript.

Hooray for Steve Colbert!
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Just Not Worth The Trouble

Much lower prices for electronics has had a side effect in Scotland: much lower burglary rates:

Housebreakings, as the crime is called in Scotland, recorded by the police have halved in the last ten years - from 71,995 in 1995-6 to 34,959 in 2004-5.

... A television that costs £300 now would have cost £870 in real terms in 1995 and £1,122 in 1985.

The biggest price drops have been witnessed in film-playing machines. In the 1980s, a Betamax cost the equivalent of £967 in today's money, while in the Nineties a VHS cost £406. Now DVD players are available in supermarkets for as little as £29.99. Esure says there has been a 32 per cent decrease in the frequency of burglary claims in Scotland over three years.

... Dr Malcolm Cook, forensic psychologist at Abertay University, said the economics of crime had turned against housebreaking.

"When something is stolen and sold on, the seller can never recover the full value of the property," he said. "Most people prefer to steal from shops. Despite their relatively sophisticated electronic surveillance, the ability to outwit the surveillance is common knowledge amongst those who commit that type of crime.

"It is more efficient to go up to someone in the street and threaten them for their mobile phone. It is quicker, and your chances of success are higher. The falling value of electrical goods means housebreaking no longer makes sense. Even the simplest of criminal minds will carry out a risk-benefit analysis. Breaking into houses is not trivial and there is no guarantee you will get quality goods. It's a bit like gambling. If you break into a house, the forensic footprint you leave makes it extremely likely that you will get caught.

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Slow Publishing Day

Blogger is completely bogged down.

Quack -ack -ack -ack

My sister likes to send trivia by E-Mail. Today, she informs me that duck quacks produce no echo, and no one knows why. Several metal pillars in DMTC's New Theater produce a really interesting echo. I sense an experiment coming on......

Exasperating Bicyclists

I love riding bicycles, but hate stopping at stop signs, or feeling constrained by one-way signs. Other riders feel the same way. It can cause problems.

Last night, I approached I Street, heading north on 21st Street. I prepared to make the left turn there, and I had the green light. Nevertheless, two bicyclists appeared out of the darkness, heading east, the wrong way on I Street, and they went right through the light. I had to come to a screeching halt to avoid hitting them. Interestingly, after everyone stopped, they asked me if I was all right. Very solicitous roadkill! Very polite! Quite exasperating!

The Pleasure of Cows

As pets.
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"Hot Feet" Opens In New York

The new Earth, Wind and Fire musical, starring Vivian Nixon. Looks like fun!
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Speaking 'Truthiness' To Power

This Correspondents Dinner thing must have been a hoot:

A blistering comedy “tribute” to President Bush by Comedy Central’s faux talk show host Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondent Dinner Saturday night left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close.

... Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “If anything, they are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.”

Colbert told Bush he could end the problem of protests by retired generals by refusing to let them retire. He compared Bush to Rocky Balboa in the “Rocky” movies, always getting punched in the face—“and Apollo Creed is everything else in the world.”

Turning to the war, he declared, "I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."

He noted former Ambassador Joseph Wilson in the crowd, just three tables away from Karl Rove, and that he had brought " Valerie Plame." Then, worried that he had named her, he corrected himself, as Bush aides might do, "Uh, I mean... he brought Joseph Wilson's wife." He might have "dodged the bullet," he said, as prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wasn't there.

... Also lampooning the press, Colbert complained that he was “surrounded by the liberal media who are destroying this country, except for Fox News. Fox believes in presenting both sides of the story — the president’s side and the vice president’s side." In another slap at the news channel, he said: "I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the No Fact Zone. Fox News, I own the copyright on that term."

He also reflected on the alleged good old days for the president, when the media was still swallowing the WMD story.

Addressing the reporters, he said, "Let's review the rules. Here's how it works. The president makes decisions, he’s the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know--fiction."

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Happy Birthday, Ron Cisneros!

The most-knowledgable and most-beloved authority on musical theater in the entire Sacramento area celebrated his birthday with the DMTC family on Sunday night.

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to R-O-N
Happy birthday to you!

Ron Cisneros.

Annual Scottish Games In Woodland

Left: Tossing cabers to and fro.


Nice, warm Sunday afternoon in Woodland.


Skillful Celtic band Rathkeltair plays. An excellent band. I was going to buy their CD, but their credit card machine jammed and I had no cash.



A release of doves.



Final procession.
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