A bit of culture

Just came back from watching Bettie Serveert in concert along with, oh, maybe forty other people. It’s sad to be at a show with that few people there. I mean, when the band gets on the stage and goes “What, are people in this town afraid of thunder” you really don’t feel any confidence in arguing about your town’s vibrant music scene. It was a good set and heck, there aren’t too many bands left from the 120 Minutes era so you have to see them while you can. I just wish that more people would share my enthusiasm.

(Oh, and a note to the Grand Emporium. For the love of God, follow the convention of the rest of this town and have the time on the ticket mean the time the first band starts. I am sick of showing up to the club and either having to wait in line outside or having to sit through a sound check or discover that I missed the opening act because you finally decided to follow your own schedule. You already ruined the décor of the club, please don’t make things any worse.)

Since I’ve been forced to listen to Les Miserables this week and I figure that it is my duty to enlighten people, or at least allow guys to sound somewhat cultured when they’re trying to impress women, here are some quick talking points. It is a great musical for one and a half acts, up to the death of Javert, which on stage can be viewed as either really cool or really silly. Once Javert dies you have reached the point where every interesting character is dead and the couple left standing (Marius and Cosette) are the most annoying characters in the history of the theater. Cosette spends the entire play whining, even though she was rescued from a tough life and has been living a life of privilege for a decade. Marius, on the other hand, is the most cold hearted character ever written.

Let me explain. There is this character Eponine who is madly in love with Marius but he really doesn’t pay attention to her. This gives her the chance to have the showstopping song about unrequited love. Things happen and Eponine gets shot, dying in Marius’ arms and giving them the chance for one final duet. So, how does this effect Marius? It doesn’t. In the very next song Marius, with Eponine’s blood literally on his hands, starts singing about how much he misses Cosette. I mean, they might as well be honest and have the scene be the second Eponine dies Marius go, “Well, that was awkward”, let her body drop to the floor, and say “Moving on.” At least have him wonder if he made the right choice or not. That bit has always bugged me about the play.

So use this imparted knowledge wisely. You never know when it might come in handy.

(Oh, and I did promise additional blog slogans. Here are the two best ones that I’ve come up with. A) KS: WTF? and B) Battling the Current: Bringing culture to Kansas… because world peace is just too easy. That second one was originally going to be “because solving Fermat’s Last Theorem is just too easy” but we don’t need to be too much of a math geek about things.)