Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
The Landis Theater re-opened Saturday evening. Closed for the duration of my life here in Cumberland County, $10 million of public funds found the old theater with a wonderful art deco marquee opened for business again. Broadway staple Bernadette Peters graced the stage.
Rightfully so, local media have reported on opening night. The Daily Journal has 162 photographs posted of the event. Scrolling through those photographs I see a lot of politically-connected folks including elected officials.
Just curious: did they pay for their tickets?
Last week, ground was broken on the restoration of the Levoy Theatre here in Millville. That project is full of public money too. I know Mayor Shannon is on record saying he wants to be at opening night with his tuxedo on. I have no issue with that, but I do hope he (and other elected officials) purchases his tickets.
Posted in New Jersey, Politics | No Comments »
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Ticketmaster introduced me to the concept of service charges. When tickets came to the Internet, many thought convenience charges would disappear since all was done electronically. Hardly. Things have become worse.
I do not attend concerts much these days. The outrageous prices are further jacked up with convenience charges. I am not sure whose convenience is being billed, but it’s certainly not mine.
The theatre? Forget about it. Same thing there. Circus? Wiggles? It’s just outrageous! Even Beetle’s school has fees like this for her tuition. If they want the money, increase the tuition; don’t nickle and dime me.
Many years ago in a former life of mine, I managed a restaurant and bar in Boston. It was a short stint in my career as it was between two tenures at another restaurant. Anyhow, this popular joint drew an interesting mix from Northeastern students, to Back Bay yuppies, tourists, youngsters just starting out, Emerson College students, the homeless, and Steven Wright.
Yup, the master of deadpan was somewhat of a regular at the 885 Boyleston bar. Wright’s humor is very much up my alley. I find his observations spot on.
Advance a few decades and I received a message today that Wright is playing the almost-opened newly-renovated Landis Theatre in Vineland. I check the web site and sure enough, tickets for the 5 June show are still available. I think five tickets had been sold when I first looked. nowhere are the prices listed, so one must go through the process of purchasing them to see the cost. $45! This is the poorest county in the state and tickets are $45? Sheesh . . . It’s not like Wright is at his peak. I suspect those younger than I do not even know who he is.
Anyhow, I go through the motions only to find there are service charges. For each ticket, there is a $6 processing fee. A what? Wouldn’t this apply to every ticket? If so, why not wrap it into the cost of the ticket? The cost of the vacuum cleaner to make the rug look nice isn’t added, why a processing fee?
But there’s more. Each ticket has a dollar charge for cultural growth. The theatre is located on the corner of Landis and East. Ask anyone and they’ll gladly share that there is plenty of culture in that area. Why are theatregoers subjected to this fee?
And then there is the preservation fee. Just what is being preserved is unknown. Presumably this is the theatre. But isn’t that what one normally considers overhead? Ticket prices are supposed to cover those costs.
The $45 ticket is really a $53. For Landis Avenue. The East Landis Hotel (home to drug addicts aplenty) is 100 feet away.
I am sure the theatre is going to be a smashing success. It will be so without this county resident paying to enter. I want to hear jokes, not be one for paying such an astronomical price to walk in.
Posted in Concerts, Entertainment, New Jersey | No Comments »
Saturday, December 12th, 2009
As the Christmas season descends upon us, the twelfth of the month slipped in. While my calendar reminded me yesterday that this was coming up, I plum forgot about it today. It was Beetle who announced the date when she opened her Advent calendar. That jarred my memory.
We had a busy day, but one that didn’t produce the number of photographs I usually take on the twelfth. I felt I shortchanged this outing. Oh well . . .
Beetle shares her “fancy dance” this morning in front of the Christmas tree.
Dressed for our outing, the children posed in front of the tree. Fritz wasn’t as interested in this as we were. 
We drove to Philadelphia. Our normal parking lot has changed. They instituted a self pay system and a gate. It is horrendous. In addition, our early show today invalidated our parking pass. Grrrr . . . we’ll never park in this lot again.
We went to the Walnut Street Theatre to see A Christmas Carol. Fritz and Beetle did not like the thunder and lightning when the ghosts appeared. 
We have such wimps for children. Bah humbug! Scrooge was the same actor as last year. We like him.
Our busy day did not really have time slotted for food. As Gert shopped for a birthday gift, the children and I waited in a lengthy line at Sonic. We like the roller skaters.
We attended a birthday party at The Little Gym. Fritz likes the apparatus in this joint.
Fritz used to be a customer of The Little Gym. Back then he was uninterested in following directions and would just run everywhere. Today he demonstrated some maturity. He also showed us some skill as he negotiated the balance beam with ease.
Fritz is obsessed with this water fountain. I think because he can step up to it, he feels it is designed just for him. When he first learned how to step up and push the handle was the beginning of the a lengthy infatuation, which continued today.
The Little Gym has an interesting motto that is plastered about the facility . . .
The family was in the mood for milkshakes, so it was caramel shakes for all!
I’ve always liked these little ornaments. The Christmas lights heat these up so the little metal fan twirls about.
We like the handblown ornaments the best. We have a tree just for them. Merry Christmas!
Posted in Entertainment, Family, New Jersey | 2 Comments »
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Another guy obsessed with statistics . . . Dana Perino earned my respect recently. She stated that she left tv news when she decided she could not stick a microphone in the face of a mother whose daughter was murdered. Bravo! . . . Here’s a guy who spells out why he’s a conservative. I am not certain I agree with every point, but I applaud him putting it forth . . . Amanda is back blogging. She found Tumblr. eCache readers have known about Tumblr for a long time . . . A very interesting discussion about children’s online rights and whether or not they can reclaim data when they reach adulthood . . . It is truly a sad day: Will is shuttering BBT. No more executive games . . . 60% of this district’s population skipped school on Good Friday . . . Lent is over and I ordered my first soda in 40 days. I switched it immediately for Gert’s lemonade. I did not enjoy the soda at all, seriously . . . I am certain my former prep school teachers thought differently, but two playwrights they introduced me to have recently declared their conservatism. First was David Mamet (American Buffalo and Sexual Perversity in Chicago among many others) and now Tom Stoppard (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead). Go figure . . .
Posted in Baseball, Politics, Sports | No Comments »
Friday, March 24th, 2006
I am very much a man of routine. This morning, however, I changed things up.
A colleague of mine offered me two tickets to see Trying at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia free of charge. And she had a reduced parking pass to boot.
What generosity!
I called Gert and we made arrangements for Beetle to go to her grandparents for the evening. We hustled to get ready and stop by Grammy and Poppy’s house. Then we were off.
Gert is every bit as much a creature of routine as I am. As we drove to Philly, we both realized that we were tired. It has been a long week and we were going to a show that began at 8:00 PM. This was going to be an exhausting evening. And it was.
We arrived a bit early and walked around the theatre. The Walnut is America’s oldest theatre. The lobby is replete with theatre artifacts. Eventually we took our seats and read the Play Bill. Eight o’clock came and went. Nothing like being punctual. We noted that the audience was older. We also noted that the dress was far more casual than one would expect at the theatre. Shorts, jeans, sneakers, etc. Very few donned coats, let alone ties. Times have changed.
At about 8:10, the lights went down and the show started.
Trying is a two actor play told in two acts, three scenes each. Running time was about two hours twenty minutes, including an intermission.
The story is set in 1967. Judge Biddle is now 81. Biddle was Attorney General under FDR. He also served as chief judge of the Nuremberg Trials. He is now cantankerous and has apparently blown through several secretaries as they quit due to his penchant for being insulting.
The other character is Sarah (with an H), the newly hired secretary. Biddle did not hire her; his wife did. She is a 25 year old married woman who does not take much of Biddle’s grief.
The playwright, Johanna McClelland Glass, was Biddle’s secretary. Because of that, it is easily seen that this story is slanted. The major obstacle to Trying is how Biddle was portrayed. A man who served as the US AG and chief judge at Nuremberg is not easily accepted by the audience as a baffoon. True, he is at the end of his life, and a bit senile. Even so, this is a stately man and Glass missed the mark, I suspect. I could not get over this and thus Trying ultimately failed.
Both actors played their roles well. The set design (a loft over a garage) was very well crafted. The little wrinkle at the end I pegged early. Gert was impressed. For the most part, the play was satisfactory. Yet, there were a couple really slow spots. I think both Gert and I nodded at one point. It’s been a long week . . .
We were very happy to see Beetle again. She remained awake the whole ride from her grandparents’ to our home. But being the trooper she is, fell immediately to sleep once she hit her bed.
Spontanaity is tiring.
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