The Stage Whisperer

Time to get a little Eddie Money, via this feature story from Macomb County, Michigan. Did you know he was once a cop? Yeah, I know, you probably did. Anyway, interesting stuff.

Also, we hate to recommend blogs with poor writing, but this blog with the cool name of celebritycafe.com has a little scoop on the Money Man, too.

And, speaking of scoops, as with the rest of the world, access to Money is running out. Translation: get your tickets to Eddie Money’s concert at the Armstrong Theatre mp3 de vision devolution in Torrance on May 9 now before he, too, is sold out.

Geraldine Ferraro remeron

/Photo by Dan Burn-Forti for Newsweek

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In this week’s Newsweek, Geraldine Ferraro reveals the ordeal of her diagnosis and treatment for the relatively unknown disease multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood.

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She talks about how that ordeal brought her face to face with the inadequacies of America’s health-care system, as many people have told her that they can’t afford the drugs to treat their illnesses.

Geraldine Ferraro will be appearing in the South Bay on Sunday, March 9, at the Armstrong Theatre, to talk about this and other issues as part of the American Perspectives Presented by Toyota series.

It’s a bit surprising that folks haven’t tried to ban “The Rainbow Fish,” as its story of sharing is interpreted by some as espousing Communism. (Maybe they have, since people who are afraid of Communism tend to be related to people who are afraid of books.)

The story, by Marcus Pfister, tells about a fish who doesn’t have friends but has beautiful scales. He gives away his scales and gets lots of friends. Well, it worked for Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart, so why shouldn’t it work for children’s author Marcus Pfister?

In either case, you can make up your own mind, as a musical version of “The Rainbow Fish” is playing this Saturday afternoon, March 22, at the Armstrong Theatre, 1pm, Torrance, CA. Tickets are ten dollars in advance and twelve at the door. The one-hour musical is ideal for children 5 to 8.

Also, here are some Rainbow Fish activities

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to get in the mood.

Dennis Prager’s column in the conservative site “Town Hall” calls Obama naive for believing it’s possible to reduce nuclear weapons.

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Remember, Prager is coming to the South Bay to debate Susan Estrich on gay marriage and other topics — Armstrong Theatre, Sunday, April 26, 7pm. All part of Toyota’s American Perspectives series.

We’re not in high school anymore, Toto, so we don’t talk about who won a debate. (Mind you, we’re not thoroughly opposed to the corruption of artistic and/or intellectual ideals with good ol’ fashioned American competition; we do love the Oscars, after all.) We just won’t go into that side of last night’s tete a tete at the Armstrong Theatre between Dennis Prager and Susan Estrich.

The subject was gay marriage, and it was probably the most civilized public discussion on the matter in a long time — and not just because most of the discussions are on AM radio or Fox “news.”

If Estrich wasn’t so smart she might have ended up as a Carol Channing impersonator, with that throaty, Eastern, seemingly cigarette-riddled yet thoroughly charming scratch, which, when called on to make a particular point, slows enough to take a dive into the bass realms. It reminds one of Stockard Channing summing up things in the film “Six Degrees of Separation,” or maybe Marlo Thomas doing the same thing in the stage version.

Meanwhile, if you were sitting in the wrong place, the reflection off of Dennis Prager’s shiny white locks, even from his dizzying six-foot-plus height, might have warranted a seat change, especially in the intimate confines of the Armstrong.

Since the point bears repeating, we shall: such was the civilized character of the debaters that mutual respect became paramount for the audience, so much so that at least all of the folks sitting near us clapped for each speaker and only at the end of their respective blocks. And both of them made such compelling arguments, the open-minded person had no choice but to feel a bit ambivalent.

Now, however, with the shelter of semi-anonymity, we must be a little trivial and a tad qualitative:

Since both speakers have such fascinating facility with the English language, one is lulled into an operatic state, where one just listens to the aria and never mind the libretto — all the moreso after a number of repetitions.

Though Michael Rouse, an executive with the sponsoring Toyota Corp. was an excellent moderator indeed, it seemed a little piggish for Prager to go over his time limit, especially as they were only on one subject. Prager, though, was eager to bring several other pillars of Western Civilization into the debate, and seemed to stretch even beyond his limit when conjecturing on the lesbian tendencies of co-eds.

If Dennis was too disparate, Susan might have been moreso. She stuck to the narrow confines of the topic (not taking her fair share of the time, too) and didn’t really counter Prager on some of his contradictory statements. (First, he was afraid that lesbianism was a growing fad on campus, a way of staking one’s claim at being radical; then, he feared that it was a way out for girls who weren’t successful with boys.)

The debate picked up after Prager complained about left-wing reactionaries — witch hunts, boycotts, threats and epithets — to those who are just stating their opinions about gay marriage. He cited Perez Hilton’s Miss USA diatribe as an example of the left’s equating anti-gay marriage with racism. Estrich countered, but what stuck was her experience as the head of Michael Dukakis’s campaign, and her allusions to conservative reactionaries.

Really, though, the only reaction to or argument against reactionaries must be civilized, respectful, even friendly debate. In the end, that “how” has to be as important as “what” is stated — and stays with us as an argument in itself.

Okay, forgive us for sending you to church on Saturday and the theatre on Sunday. That’s just how this weekend plays out.

So, why should you go see/hear Dennis Prager debate Susan Estrich on Sunday, April 26, at 7pm at the Armstrong Theatre in Torrance, California?

Lots of reasons, of course, but the ones offhand are:

> They’re debating gay marriage, and that issue isn’t going away anytime soon.

> They look and sound different when they aren’t on the radio or tv.

> Find out if they are just as smart without cue cards, etc.

> The Armstrong Theatre is more comfy than your car and almost as comfy as your living room.

> The Armstrong Theatre is far more comfy than just about any theatre around.

> You can Tivo “60 Minutes” and this is like “60 Minutes” live.

> This is the last of the heralded “Toyota Presents American Perspectives” speaker series for awhile, and the last “speech” in the speaker series.

> Other speaker series are much more expensive

> Dennis Prager and Susan Estrich are probably smarter than you are; in any case, you’re bound to learn something even if you have a very closed mind

> There will be a q & a

> There will be refreshments and possibly a chance to meet the great debaters

> The Torrance Cultural Arts Center Foundation presents this and many other startlingly good programs all the time in the South Bay, and you can pick up a catalog and see all the events you missed this year and get on the mailing list for next year or buy a ticket to Eddie Money, the last program of the year.

> There is free parking.

> The theatre is just two minutes from Del Amo mall, which is chock full of great places to eat, so you can make an evening of it.

> The Armstrong is a very intimate theatre, so you’ll practically feel like Dennis and Susan are arguing over the dinner table.

> You owe it to yourself.

… PALOS VERDES BOULEVARD, that is.

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 25, at 7:30pm, the Riviera Singers will host “Broadway Extravaganza,” a free evening of Broadway songs from “Oliver,” “South Pacific,” and many, many more musicals. Riviera United Methodist Church, 375 Palos Verdes Boulevard, in Redondo Beach.

You’ve got to admire Dennis Prager. (He is probably unique in the world of conservative AM radio hosts in earning such admiration.) Even though he goes a bit beyond even his moral expertise in his recent column, his points about the word “earning” being unique to English are fascinating.

Prager contends that the concept behind that word is part of what “contributes to the ascendancy of the English-speaking world,” that we believe in working hard for what we receive. His belief that we are in danger of losing that perspective, aka work ethic, is certainly valid even though his examples range from trite to absurd.

Since conservative intellectuals aren’t exactly known for their athletic prowess, it’s a bit amusing to hear them complain as they so often do that young athletes today are given trophies just for showing up — that they don’t “earn” them. (You’d think they would empathize, since they probably never got a trophy when they were young.) Never mind that if that inclusiveness actually did have an effect, it would only be to lessen the meaning of the trophy, which would in time put more emphasis on one’s appreciation of one’s own ability, not the striving for the acknowledgement of others. Only those who have a philosophical affiliation for conspicuous consumption (which, after all, is the showing off of earned trophies throughout life) could find harm in that particular cultural shift.

Prager goes on to question the unearned quality of God’s grace, which could only mean that the religious scholar needs to bone up on his New Testament, but we’ll leave that for another day.

And speaking of another day, that day is this Sunday, April 26, 8pm, as Prager squares off against liberal intellectual Susan Estrich, at Torrance’s Armstrong Theatre, on the question of gay marriage. So, read their columns and come armed with questions for the q&a part. It’ll be some fun!

In her column, Susan Estrich gives credit to the four women whom Phil Spector pulled a gun on for putting him away. Her thought-provoking look at this little slice of justice discusses how Spector got away with such things for so long before it escalated to murder, comparing their reticence to bring charges a long time ago to cases where women refuse to bring rape charges.

Remember, Estrich will be debating Dennis Prager this Sunday, April 26, on “Redefining Marriage,” in Torrance’s Armstrong Theatre. Maybe the question will come up of why Phil Spector is allowed to marry but … .

Most of us have long ago stopped trying to figure out why advertising people do what they do. Ever since cable and internet first conspired to turn any reasonable demographic target into shreds, there hasn’t really been a demand in the big leagues for people who actually know how to position a product. Well, okay, there’s a demand, certainly, but little current use for anyone who does more than pretend to know what he is doing.

That little diatribe was supposed to be an introduction to why nobody in the travel biz has ever thought to use Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise” in either a spot for an exotic and sexy island getaway especially for honeymooners, or just a Southwest Airlines flight to Vegas, and they change it to “Pair of Dice” … or not.

With the minor-key yearning refrain, “We’ve waited so long, we’ve waited so long,” it’s practically written for a commercial. And since it’s rock, you get the sexual entendres at no extra charge. Why, someone could even figure out that it’s the same paradise as Meat Loaf’s opus, “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights,” and go running to the phones and/or internet hoping to score for the price of a window seat (or two). Speaking of Meat Loaf, here’s to using his aforementioned song for a camper commercial…

Anyway, all that is to remind you that the commercial-free Eddie Money is a-coming to the South Bay on Saturday, May 9 at 8pm – the Armstrong Theatre, in Torrance. Two tickets will only cost you $100 for the intimate 500-seat theatre (as close to paradise as a music venue gets).