EXTRA CRITICUM

LIfe Lesson from the Oompa Loompas

Good afternoon, peeps- happy Saturday to you all. Hope that whereever you are, you're doing something more interesting than waiting for PC Richards and Son to deliver your new flat screen TV. Yes, as a worker bee in corporate America, I'm participating in the recovery of the economy.

It's even a "smart TV", whatever the fuck that is. I made sure with the sales person that there was some sort of paper manual that comes with it, because as you know, you can't get that with phones any more, it's all supposed to be downloaded (and who has time for that, plus who can read that on your phone??).

The sales person shook my hand and said "welcome to the 21st century" which I was mildly offended by - I did buy my 'soon to be-out-the-door" tube TV in 2003 which is squarely in the 21st Century. OK so I was probably the last person in America to actually buy a tube TV but at the time, it was very affordable (and there was a reason for that).

Anyway, this past week was my last watching "commercial" television because I'm also giving up my cable service which jacked up its rate a few weeks ago to a point where I decided it felt like extortion. Maybe I'm cutting off my hand and falling into the abyss of Cloud City, but Darth Warner will not get any more of my money until they adjust their attitude - or I become desperate for sports, live news, repeats of the same episode of The Big Bang Theory, whichever comes first (I'm betting on "desperation" kicking in around mid July, but then I could surprise myself). And yup, I held off on making the switch until after the Revenge/MadMen/Letterman finales because that's how I roll. I figure if I'm living in the post Letterman era, I might as well jump into the Millennial era with both feet.

Guy Kettelhack plays tunes on YouTube

My friend, the prolific artist and wonderful musician Guy Kettelhack occasionally posts a video of himself playing or singing a tune he loves on YouTube. I love these little videos because, for one thing, they show Guy's pure wonderful love of music. Also, Guy is such a sensitive musician, I feel he has a way of playing a tune that almost implies the harmony underneath. It reminds me a bit of how Elizabeth Soychak sings. 

Anyway, enough verbiage. Let's just give a listen to this. This is the theme from Ric Burns' NYC Documentary. Haunting and lovely, I think. Enjoy!

Guest Post: Dennis Danziger

Another Opening, Another Empty Row

Recently I attended a Passover Seder where I read that the sages tell us life is a gift. In the Jewish faith, it is a sin to feel melancholic or dissatisfied with life. We are to embrace and appreciate every moment, to see this life as a miracle. I’ve been working on that, especially as I head towards tonight, opening night of my play, The Richard Nixon Sex Tapes.

Mostly the fact that the play is opening at all has me buzzing with appreciation. But here’s the thing:

According to the 2015 census, Los Angeles has a population of 3.82 million. Of those 3.82 million, precisely 21 have purchased tickets to opening night. At $20 a pop, that’s $420 in the bank, and that’s a minor miracle.