ANOTHER SHITTY POST

I create these titles to test if you all are really paying attention. So, the topic of this post is ... well, shit. Or poop. Well, dog poop. Well, not really dog poop but ... You get the drift. Read on, or not, at your own risk

I have dogs. Dogs poop. I try to be a responsible dog owner, so I pick up their poop. It's something I have to do but not something I really want to spend a great deal of time thinking about.

Picking up poop is expensive. You have to buy bags. You do. I used to use plastic grocery bags but A: They really aren't as strong as you thing and B: Now you have to pay for grocery bags too

So I buy a product specialized for the job at hand .. well hopefully it doesn't get on your hands but guess what .. shit happens. (How many time have you said that, and meant it literally)

So, poop bags. I buy them in rolls. I do not use the dispensers often shaped like fire hydrants or dog houses. I have pockets. I put the bags in my pocket .. no, before they are used, let's not get too gross here.

So the bags I've bought in the past have been brown, or dark blue or silver. Why they were coloured I have no clue. You use them to carry poop. What the hell colour do they need to be?

Apparently, they need to be a rainbow. The last package of rolls I picked up were a wide variety of colours. Yellow, green, blue, turquoise ... really? Pastels. We need pastel bags in which to carry our dog shit

Why? Are we supposed to be colour coordinating these things and if so .. with what?? I mean, I don't believe that dogs are entirely colour blind but they probably only see a muted range of colours and Hell, even if they could see every colour, do they care about the bag you carry their shit in ...

And if you are colour matching your outfits with a poop bag you may have entirely too much time on your hands. I would suggest a new hobby .. like .. paying more attention to the dog who's crap you are carrying. If that doesn't appeal to you, then I suggest you take up walking along the edges of really rickety bridges

Here's another point. These lighter colours, like the yellow, well they are no entirely opaque are they. In other words, you can sort of see through them. So that jaunty yellow, when filled with Hayley's product .. it doesn't seem quite so jaunty any more.

I've probably spent more time on this topic than is necessary .. or palatable. It's just something that had to be said. So I'm out of here. I have a paisley printed leather trimmed gold embossed poop bag to buy.

SEE THESE CHARLES BRONSON MOVIES OR HE WILL HIT YOU WITH A SOCK FULL OF QUARTERS

Yup, Charles Bronson

I've been a fan for years. Yes, he made a lot of god awful movies. Really really bad god awful movies. But he made a lot of terrific movies, many of which fell under the radar because they were "action" movies, often made in Europe. At one point, Bronson was the biggest box office draw in the world. Now I fear he is pretty much a parody of himself.

It's too bad, really, because those terrible movies aside, Bronson had a long career during which he made a lot of totally watchable movies, some quite famous, some more deserving of fame. He worked with well known directors and also helped make the careers of lesser known directors.

I've been thinking of Bronson lately mostly because of an upcoming Jason Statham movie titled The Mechanic. This is a remake of a Bronson movie from the early seventies. It is an interesting pick for a remake; the original Mechanic was a very serviceable movie but probably is not terribly well known at this time. It got me thinking of those great Charles Bronson movies and, what the hell, it's time for another list post

So here are some of my favorite Charles Bronson movies. They are, as usual, in no particular order.

I'm going to start with three of his most famous movies, big Hollywood ensemble action movies, that really helped to establish his career. Movies filled with other male actors, some already established, some about to break out but in all these movies I really do think Bronson stands out

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, directed by John Sturges, an American Western version of a Kurosawa film ... the movie that launched Bronson's careeer

Bronson plays the Mexican-Irish gunfighter who is watched over by a trio of young boys in the Mexican village. For all his toughness and that hammered metal visage of his, it is Bronson's ability to relate to these children that really draws our attention to him in this film. And he gets a great death scene. Shot, after saving a young boys life, the man who goes by an Irish names asks the boy what his names is and when they respond with his Mexican surname, Bronson barks "Damn right"

THE GREAT ESCAPE: Another big all male ensemble cast, again featuring Steve McQueen, this time in his break out role.

As Polish tunnel digger Danny, Bronson brings his physicality into play but once again it his ability to connect with his character's quieter aspects that allow Bronson to stand out. The idea of a claustrophobic tunnel digger is pure hokum but Bronson is able to pull it off. As he explains in his letter perfect Polish accent (Bronson was of Slavic background) he needs to "dig, dig all the time, to get away" in order to best his fear

THE DIRTY DOZEN: More macho men, more macho dying against all odds, more male stars both big and small

Bronson's role is a bigger one here, permitting him to literally stand shoulder to shoulder with the film's best known star, Lee Marvin. The scene that sticks in my mind is Bronson standing alongside Jim Brown and Clint Walker to defend their rag tag unit .. dude, seriously, that is just an awesome wall of manhood

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST: Movie legend states that Bronson was the first actor to be offered the Man with No Name roles that eventually made Clint Eastwood a huge star. I don't know if that is true, but Sergio Leone cast him in this, arguably the best spaghetti western ever made

In the earlier Hollywood ensemble movies, Bronson showed what he could do with dialogue. Here, he has so little dialogue he may as well be mute. As the mysterious gunfighter known as Harmonica, Bronson lets his instruments speak for him, those instruments being his harmonica and his six gun. This is Bronson doing what he could do better than most other actors, saying little, expressing little, but letting his physicality speak for him. Leone got Bronson; he could use static energy as effectively as he could motion.

RED SUN: OK, this movie comes with a caveat .. a freaking big ass caveat. I'm not sure one could consider this a truly great movie. But it is surely one big odd twisted multi cultural, cross cultural East meets West ball of pure eyepopping weirdness

Red Sun is a comedy, even if not all the actors involved realized that. Bronson realized that and he was not afraid to pull out all stops, throw caution to the wind and just roll with the weirdness. The film co stars another one of my favorite all time time actors, Tishiro Mifune in one of his rare English language roles. The neat little bit of irony here, of course, is that Mifune was in the Seven Samurai, the basis for Bronson's movie The Magnificent Seven. Mifune plays his famous samurai persona and is as stoic and disiplined as the steel blade of his katanna. Bronson in this movie is the opposite of Harmonica from Once Upon A Time; he is physically active, verbose and one could almost say .. lively. This one may not appeal to all tastes but its something I just have to watch from time to time

THE MECHANIC: So this is the movie that has just recently been remade. I have no idea what the new movie will be like, but given the current state of action movies, I can't imagine it being as low key and as cold blooded at this one

Bronson plays a professional hitman. I'm not sure how much the new movie will hove to the plot of this one so I will spare too many details. Suffice it be said that Bronson comes to take a young man under his wing, mentoring him in the way of assasination. That young man was a relatively unknown actor at the time called Jan Michael Vincent. Bronson is excellent in this stripped down thriller, at once cold and efficient but capable of expressing a growing affection for his young protege.

BREAKHEART PASS: This truly is one of my favorite Charles Bronson movies. Another low key B budget movie that really is almost letter perfect in its delivery.

Breakheart Pass takes place in the Old West, there are cowboys and Indians and trains but its really not a Western, it's a mystery and a pretty nifty one at that. Instead of a locked room murder mystery, we are given a rolling train murder mystery. Highlights are a rare Bronson smile presented at just the perfect moment and a fist fight on top of the moving train featuring Bronson and former heavyweight boxing champ Archie More.

HARD TIMES: This may be my favorite Bronson movie. A bare knucked boxing movie that is elevated above all other entries in this genre by its Depression era backdrop, some fine co stars (James Coburn again and Strother Martin) and Bronson's nailed down taciturn performance

This is Bronson back in his stone faced tight lipped persona, using his amazing body control to tell the story. And I just don't mean the beautifully staged and choreographed fight scenes. The way Bronson walks, the way he holds his body, the way he turns his whole torso and not just his head to look at someone tells you so much about his character and gives clues to how he has come to achieve his toughness. An early movie by macho director Walter Hill, there is so much that seems right about this movie, from the details of its New Orleans settings, to James Coburn's voice, to Bronson's character's physical strength that has helped him survive in Hard Times but makes him incapable of ever being soft and gaining the benefits of an easy life

DEATH WISH: Hard Times may be my favorite Bronson movie but this may be his best, certainly one of his very best starring roles

Forget all the horrible cheaply made sequels, Death Wish is a very fine movie. It is a serious exploration of the vigilante, of violence, of how violence purports violence, and how thin the line may be between good guy and bad guy. Bronson plays Paul Kersey as an everyman, a man who finds himself in unfamiliar territory, that of the vigilante, through circumstances beyond his control. After his wife is slain, daughter raped, Kersey does not go out into the night seeking vengence, or so he tells himself. His first weapon is a sock full of quarters and after he commits his first act of violence he is literaly sickened by it. Yet her persists, he ups his weapons, and the killing becomes easier. Death Wish does a nice job of examining the roles of the justice system and the media when it comes to the vigilante and Bronson is absolutely compelling as Kersey.

As I stated earlier, Bronson grinded out a lot of B movie thrillers, many of which are forgettable but I should honorable mention to a couple:

Mr Majestyk is notable mostly for the fact that is the only action movie I can think of where the hero is a watermellon farmer. Trust me, you will appreciated a melon more the next time you have one

Love And Bullets is a fairly efficient thriller that offers such delights as a car chase on a car train and Charlie going all McGyver and showing us the deadly side of a full length floor lamp and a sack of tenpenny nails

St. Ives was another movie more mystery than thriller and Bronson played a pacifist who was still capable of kicking ass when needed but I'm sure he felt bad about it later. It's actually a pretty decent little movie with a nice plot.

Bronson made a few TV movies in his later years, including A Family of Cops that was based on the novel Donato and Daughter. It spawned at least one sequel and is watchable if not compelling. Bronson got to play something almost age appropriate here, with adult children

There is a kind of American male actor that often inspires the "can he act" debate. Actors like John Wayne and Charles Bronson, who we come to associate so strongly with a character we convince ourselves they aren't really acting at all. I won't indulge that debate, I find it rather specious, all I know is when Bronson was at his best he was absolutely compelling, he was believable, you saw very little artifice. By all accounts the real Charles Bronson was terse and solitary. He didn't say much.

On screen, although he could handle dialogue as well as anyone, Bronson didn't need to say much. He was always worth watching. You just never knew when that sock of quarters was going to pop out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERRA

Yikes

Two years? How can Terra be two years old. Well, she is

Here's the video/slidshow to prove it

TerraBday2Web from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.

TRUE GRIT: A TALE OF TWO ROOSTERS

The title of this post is both logical and misleading. I know, logic is not a word often associated with this blog, but read on

I suppose it was inevitable that I would go to see the new version of True Grit. A: It's a western. B: It stars Jeff Bridges, one of my favorite actors of all time C: It's a remake of the 1969 movie starring John Wayne .. who is John Wayne and needs no further explanation D: It's directed by the Cohen Brothers, who go beyond being among my favorite film makers and enter a fairly rare stratosphere of creativity that includes people like Martin Scocese, Philip K Dick, Robert Johnson etc.

I like the original True Grit. But it is not my favorite western. Nor is it my favorite John Wayne movie (even if he won the Oscar) and nor is it my favorite John Wayne western

I think Wayne's westerns like The Searchers, Red River or Rio Bravo are all round better movies than his True Grit. Red River and Rio Bravo feature far better ensemble acting, but it's hard to compared Glen Campbell and Kim Darby (of True Grit) with Dean Martin and Angie Dickonson (of Rio Bravo) or even Walter Brennan and Montgomery Clift of Red River. The Searchers is a much better written and much better actualized movie than True Grit. And it may feature Wayne's best performance but, damnit, he was pretty awesome in Grit as well
Both versions of the movie are of course based on the novel by Charles Portis. Both are fairly fairly faithful to the book, diverging towards the end of the story. Beyond that, the difference in the movies is in the emphasis. At the time he made this movie Wayne was towards the end of his career but still one of the most popular movie stars in the world. There was little question that the story would revolve around him. Kim Darby as Mattie achieved a level of stardom at the time but came no where close to Wayne and Glen Campbell as Texas Ranger LaBeouf, was a music star .. and never made much of an actor. So it was going to be the Duke's ride the whole way
It was indeed a great performance for Wayne. It was the first time in one of his movies were permitted to see John Wayne as he was: An old man with a ton of personality. Rooster Cogburn, the "one eyed fat man" allowed Wayne to, for the first time, settle his patented likeable machismo with this age and physical limitations. It also allowed him to flex two of his greatest assets as an actor: His impeccable comic timing, and his penchant for sentimentality.

Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn is another matter. Bridges comes from a generation of stars with the emphasis on acting and as such, through his career, he's been a bit of a chameleon. From an alien with halting speech patterns in Starman, to the burnt out country singer of Crazy Heart, to the ultimate dudeness of the Big Lebowski, Bridges has always been one to change his body and his behaviour to suit a role
The Big Lebowski was certainly the movie that landed him this role in True Grit, as both are Cohen Brothers films. Bridges is terrific in this movie, altering his body and his speech pattern to become Rooster. His Rooster is not quite the loveable rogue that Wayne's was, there is more of an edge to him, more of the grim fatalisim that such a character would certainly have. But the sense of humour is still there, but not quite as overt.
But as I stated, the title of this post is a bit misleading. It really isn't a tale of two Roosters, but more a tale of two Matties. Or, in reality one Mattie. Mattie being the 14 year girl of the story who hires Marshal Rooster (and perforce, Texas Ranger LaBeouf) to hunt down the scoundrel who killed her pa.
The Charles Portis novel is Mattie's story. It is narrated by her, told in her voice, all the actions and other characters are filtered through the eyes of this young girl. And a remarkable girl she is. Tough, smart (she can read write and do her sums) with a steel resolve. In the original versio of the movie, she was played by Kim Darby
Darby was 25 at the time and played Mattie as such. And as such, she almost came across as immature. In the Western era, a 25 year old woman would have a husband, children, responabilities. Darby comes across as spoiled and petulant and overly naive. This is not the case in the Cohen Brothers Grit. Mattie is played by Hailee Steinfeld
Haille was actually 14 at the time she made this movie but that is not the only factor that makes her a far superior Mattie. This young woman can act. She is Mattie, and her resolve, her determination, even her stubborness, does not come across as silly and naive but rather breath taking. She is a firecracker, and it is easy to believe why this little girl is capable of bending these tough, independent men to her will.

The Cohens knew what they had with this girl and with this cast in general. Although much of Portis' dialouge is brought over from the novel intact, they also understand the power of the visual image. If there is a scene that perfectly establishes Mattie's character, and her relationship with Rooster, it is one where the Marshal and the Texas Ranger try to "ditch" the girl to go on the manhunt on their own. Mattie, being Mattie, will have none of that. As the two men cross a river by ferry and leave her on the other side, Mattie gets aboard her recently acquired mustang pony and simply swims the river .. It is a remarkable scene. There is no dialogue. Just shots of this girl doing this thing the two men did not attempt and shots of Bridges watching her .. It says so much, without using any words

Likewise a scene where characters, at night, are rushing across the prarie in desperate need .. there is almost no dialouge but the lighting and editing and camerawork are so compelling, no words are needed.

So, in the end: I like both True Grits. I love both Roosters. But for me now there is only one Mattie. So perhaps the title of this post was not so misleading. There are two Roosters. And as for Miss Mattie Ross, there is only one

TRON LEGACY: FORMED TO FUNCTION

Form over function. Style over content. Looking good vs thinking good .. gooder .. well .. whatever.

Does one trump the other, are they mutually exclusive, these are questions that have been kicking around for a long time. Almost as long as: Which came first, the chicken or the egg OR If a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound OR If Donald Trump is one of the richest men in the world why the fuck doesn't he get a better weave?

But let us shy away from any heady philosophical question (you do know which blog you are read correct?) and remain in a context that I understand. No, not beer, movies.

This is certainly an old topic of discussion when it comes to movie. There have always been those movies that looked great, from stunning full colour vistas to eye dazzling CGI effects but once you strip away the eye candy, all you had left was a crunchy frog .. that was a Monty Python reference, just to see if you were paying attention

A few years ago, Jennifer Lopez starred in a movie called The Cell, which concerned a woman who was able to get inside people's dreams, to help them with psychological issues

The concept was enticing, and the imagery was breathtaking .. even aside from Ms Lopez. There was an attempt at establishing an emotional connection, the plot involved Lopez "rescuing" someone from a serial killer. But in the long run, I felt more attention was paid to the visuals than the story, or even to the concept itself

Last year we saw Inception, another movie about people who are able to enter someone's dreams and alter their reality.

Certainly, the visuals, the look of the movie was breath taking. Like The Cell, this story also had an emotional connection but it's concept was about as fully realized as anything I've ever seen in a movie. This elevates the movie. You don't need the effects, the look, for this film to be compelling, the story (along with the fine ensemble acting) did that.

So, story over look, form over function? For me, usually, but not always. Film is, after all, a visual medium, and there are some film makers how can use the visual to tell their story.

Probably one of my favorite examples of this is Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott

Blade Runner is one of those movies that had an immediate impact on and that has lasted for many years. There is a story here, sort of in a way if you really want there to be. I will not delve into the rumour that this movie was based on the Phillip K Dick novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I in fact do not want to delve into the situation of all the movies that have been based, if that is the term, on the works of one of my favorite authors of all time. That will be a rant for another post (and it will be ugly, if I ever publish it, you may want to look away.
I prefer to consider Blade Runner as an entity all unto itself. And yes, it is an entity with a story. Beyond all the gobbly gook in the film (and my goodness there is a lot of gobbly gook) it is an examination of what makes a human, human. Or it is supposed to be. The script only lightly dwells on this topic and much of the action seems entirely unconnected with the basic premise.

But then there is the look of the movie. From the sets, to the camera work, to the costumes, the film had a very distinct look. It put you in a time and place, which is cool, because it is a time and place that never existed. That movie was very much about the look. The grimy, multi cultural, used up, low tech, environment trashed look of the thing said more about this world. While the plot unfolds it is the constant rain, the bombardment of commercial messages, the babel of many languages, the "worn out" high tech that informs us about this world as much as any dialogue.

Then you have Avatar. Another world, one entirely dependent upon effects.

The planet of Pandora is, of course, artificial. In more ways than one. Movies have always created pretend worlds but this was one of the first where not only every aspect of the planet existed in a computer, so did some of its most important characters.

I love this movie and I love its story. It is filled with emotion, with a sense of wonder, with a sense of outrage and in the character of Jake Sully, it is a story of redemption, one of my favorite themes. But it is also gorgeous to look at. But it is not just eye candy. James Cameron needed all the detail so that we were sucked into his world, that we totally bought Pandora and, more importantly, that we soon forgot that the Na'vi are computer generated fantasies and not flesh and blood creatures and allows us to fully experience the emotional core of the story

Which brings me to the movie that inspired all this ponderous pondering: Tron Legacy.

Tron, I think, is very much like Blade Runner in that the stunning visuals are integral to the telling of the story. Much of Tron takes place inside a computer, a place as artifical as the planet Pandora but a place that we have to "buy", that we must believe in, in order to care about the characters and the story. Both of which, by the way, are worth taking note.

We saw Tron in 3D and it was as good as Avatar, an immersive experience that totally makes sense to the setting. Some of the movie takes place in the real world and those scenes are in 2D. Inside the Grid, the computer, the scenes are in 3D. The film has a definite colour pallette, with lots of blacks and muted colours with sudden and dramatic splashes of bright yellow and neon blue. It all makes sense to the story, its all there for a purpose.

The look of this movie is important, the colours are like a kind of code that begin to make sense as the story unfolds. The colours and the animation are like a kind of dialogue, as much as the costumes and lighting designs of Blade Runner.

As I side, movies are a visual medium. M Night Shyamalan used the colour of red in The Sixth Sense to indicate when we were in the presence of a ghost. Kansas is black and white, Oz is in colour. In the original Stairway to Heaven, earth was in technicolour, Heaven was black and white. What we see can tell us a story as well

So form over function? You still need a story and characters and chicks with swords .. ok, maybe that last part is just for me. But you see my point. But in some cases, the form serves a function.

And there is never a function that cannot be served by a chick with a sword ...

Ahem.

THE MOON IS MY MISTRESS

The title paraphrases Robert Heinlein, just to get that out of the way
Our moon of course. The night of December 21, the winter solstice, a rare event by all understanding. Even more rare was a sky so clear that even with the high background of Toronto city lights, Collette and I were able to camp out in back yard and watch the whole thing unfold. And of course record it
The recording was made easier by a couple of early Christmas presents. The photo's in this post were taken by Collette, with her Nikon D-80, using her new telephoto lens with a maximum range of 400 mm.
She was able to get some nice images of the shadow passing over the moon and another thing that makes this eclipse special, was that as the shadow progressed, it made old Luna seem more Mars like. That is, red
It was a pretty cool effect I must admit. It really did remind me of Mars, but the with the imprint of the Moon's familiar craters. The whole thing took about 2 hours and were lucky that the sky remained clear for the whole thing. It was quite cloudy less than 2 hours before the eclipse began

At one point Collette, Jeff and I were all out there but Collette was the real trooper, she hung in for the whole event, sitting in one of the lawn chairs, in the snow, in her pajamas and a parka. That's my northern girl
It was an interesting event, an interesting night and a great opportunity to try out some new tunes. Here is a short video with images from Collette's Nikon, my venerable XL1 dv camcorder and my new Sony HDR-SR350 HD cam

Lunar Eclipse from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.

ROCK OF AGES: NO ROCK STARS WERE HURT MAKING THIS PRODUCTION

The other night Collette and I took a journey. That was kind of accompanied by Journey. To a city in time, a city that was built by rock and roll, filled with people who want to rock, who want to know what love is, people who ain't gonna take it anymore and where strangers wander up and down the boulevard ...

We went to see the musical Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages is a musical review. The music existed first and the story was built around it. The music in question is from the 80's, provided by bands like Journey, White Snake, Twisted Sister even the Allan Parson Project (be honest, when was the last time you thought about the Allan Parsons Project, if at all)

Musical reviews are tenuous things. Often they are essentially concerts, usually performed by people not near as talented as the original artists. Story, if any, tends to be sketchy

It is essential that you like the music. The play Jersey Boys ran to packed houses here but there was no chance I was ever going to see it. Jersey Boys is based on the music of The Four Seasons and I would rather have my beard trimmed by Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre to sit through a show of Four Seasons songs

The musical We Will Rock You was based on the music of Queen. While I can't confess to be a true Queen fan, I enjoy the music .. and the play was so good Collette and I saw it twice. And would see it again

I was a bit nervous for Rock of Ages. I like a lot of that music but I didn't want to see a disguised concert. And it was not. It was actually one of the funniest shows I have seen in a long long time

The story is what it is, fairly standard for this sort of thing, boy and girl, meeting and leaving, getting lost, finding their way back to each other yadda yadda. Where the book of this play stand out is the presentation of the whole thing.

One of my favorite theatrical techniques is Pirandello, essentially a kind of slight of hand where you are told "Hey, we are about to fool you, you know we are going to fool you, but you're going to let you" During the show we were never left in doubt that we were watching a show.

At one point, the lovelorn male lead is feeling lost and confused. "I don't know what is going on" he moans. So he is handed the script of the play and asks what it is. "It's Rock of Ages" he is told, "the play you're in?"

The male lead, a wannabe rocker, is played by Yves Pedneualt, from We Will Rock You, a performer with a genuine rock and roll scream and a charming Quebecouis accent. In the the play he explains that he is from south Detroit (to set up the Journey song, Don't Stop Believing) but adds "by way of Montreal, to explain my noticeable French Canadian accent"

The person who informs Yves of his actual place in the universe is Lonny, sound man at the rock and roll bar where much of the action takes place and, essentially, the play's Greek chorus
Lonny is played by Aaron Walpole and for all the reasons to see this show, he may be the biggest one, in more than one sense. Mr Walpole is a rather large fellow but with an energy and physical grace that reminds you of John Belushi at his best. His energy is manic and you can't take your eyes off him. He played the audience like the live band played their instruments and his wit was a sharp in live impromtu asides as it was reading the script. On top of everything else, the man can sing.

There were other strong comedic performances. Cody Scott Lancaster played Franz, the disenfranchised son of a German real estate magnate who wants to tear down the Sunset Strip and kill rock and roll. Franz really wants to make candy and expresses himself with hilariously effeminate hip tosses and wrist flips. When he falls in love with a woman someone declares "I thought you were gay!" Franz replies "I'm not gay. I'm German"

As I noted earlier, most of the voices were strong. With the acception of Yves, who is a genuine rocker, these are stage performers. Their voices are beautiful but can you fairly compare them to David Coverdale or Mick Jones or Steve Perry. It's really a specious discussion. This was not a concert, it was a play and the performers were more than capable to that task.

Angela Teek, who played strip club owner Mother, particularly stood out. She has a sultry, snarly R&B voice that could belt Motown, blues and this lovely 80's puffery

I enjoyed the performances, I admired the way the songs were integrated into a story but really, it was the script that carried the day for me. There were times I was laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes.

I've heard people saying "I love this show, it really reminds me of the 80's" Well, perhaps the quality of the illicit drugs I did in the 80's weren't that good, I think this was an entertainment, not a time capsule. As Collette noted "I didn't think there was that much pole dancing in the 80's"