by Jerome du Bois
I read in the New Times local venue guide that the downtown art crew and the Valley poetry crew are banding together at the Paper Heart once again this year to present their silly criticism of commercial culture, apparently unconcerned at their own hypocrisy: that they are steeped in commercial culture themselves, and couldn't put on their shows without it.
Bad X-Mas Pageant. The 20th annual variety show features a thrashing of the holiday season by "a bunch of bummed-out artists." It features "terribly bad skits," plus yearly faves like "A Star Trek Christmas," "Christ Climbed Down," "The Policeman Is Your Friend," and "Rudolph the Tourette Syndrome Reindeer." New this year is "I Hate Tele Tubies." Artists scheduled to participate include Jack Evans, Tracy Thomas, Annie Lopez, Ralph Cordova, Steve Gompf, The Klute, Leslie Barton, TRISH(justtrish), Jeff Falk, Scott Sanders, Peter Petrisko, HAIKU Road, Stef Brewer, and Bill Campana. For mature audiences only. Dec. 3, 8 p.m., $5
Twenty years they've been flogging this thing --who uses "bummed-out" anymore?-- and nobody, until now, has questioned or interrupted their monotologue. The commercialization of Christmas! It's old, old, old.
A more contemporary take might be The Muslim Follies, with a prize for best skit: a forehead-activated prayer rug buzzer. The Follies might include such gems as "The Invisible Burka," "Taqiyya For Granted," "Muslim Women Just Have Bad Hair, That's All," and "Ramadanadingdong."
I'm in a holiday mood.
Posted by Jerome at November 23, 2005 09:33 AM | TrackBack