I read an aticle on Drudge today about poverty-stricken New Orleans evacuees spending money on strippers and booze. More power to you I say. They interviewed a savvy stripper. `They were tipping me $5 a pop,'' said a Zachary's dancer named Angel. ``I told them I felt bad taking their money. But I still took it.'' What an Angel!
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So I'm organizing all my books into this software called Delicious Library, you scan your book title and it catalogues it into your computer so you know what you have. Also as you scan it tells what the book is worth now on Amazon.com, so I'm scanning along, all of a sudden I scan an old copy of The Frogs by Stephen Sondheim and it says 149.95 on Amazon. I'm like what? So I go to Amazon and sho enough. I must have paid 3 bucks 20 years ago for this script. Then I scan in another play called Public Enemy by Kenneth Branagh, bingo, 125.00 dollars it's worth. So I go to Amazon.com and there are 5 copies for sale and the lowest is 125 and the highest is 211.00. Thats crazy. 211 dollars. You know how many carne steak asadas at Del Taco I could buy with that? Damn. On a side note, my Sunset Blvd CD is worth 89 cents but I think that's high, don't you? The best though is a book I own entitled Michael Marons Instant Make-Over Magic. I bought this book in high school in 1986 and now it's only worth 0.01. I swear to God. 1 penny. That's how it's listed on Amazon. But i wouldn't sell it for 5 pennies! Knowing my luck I'd sell it and the next day I'd be needing a Michael Maron Instant Magic Make-Over and then what the fuck would I do?
Oh, and in case you're curious, I own 753 books, 245 cds and 176 movies. Delicious Libray kicks ass!
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I was riveted and repulsed by the looting in Toledo. I love Toledo. They have a great porno theatre in Toldeo, I forget the name but anyway back to the looting! My Lord! When is this country gonna have a brutally honest discussion about poverty and race. The news commmentators kept mentioning that the majority of the looters were black. But when a bunch of drunk white dudes overturn cars after a football game they don't say, "We can't help notice that the majority of the rioters are white." it's time to start discussing race as opposed to just saying, "racism is bad." It seems everyone is racist! Why? I don't believe the answers are simple. Cats don't like dogs for the most part. Fish and birds are not friends! I grew up thinking racism could only be doled out by white people. It wasn't until I got older that I realized everyone hates everyone, period. One of my best friends is Chinese and he hates Koreans! Hates them. I wouldn't even know the diference. Man, this shit is complicated and bumper sticker slogans like, "Racism is bad", don't solve anything.
April 14, 1998
NY Times Review: Peep Show
April 14, 1998, Tuesday
THE ARTS/CULTURAL DESK
THEATER REVIEW; So What's A Nice Guy Like You . . .
By LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
Like those XXX-designated movies that wrap their feverish quest for titillation in the cool veneer of sociology, ''Ronnie Larsen's Peep Show'' mingles raunch and research.
And thanks to its flawless cast and the smooth direction of Mr. Larsen, his 90-minute intermissionless excursion behind the scenes of peep parlors that beckon in places like midtown Manhattan adds up to a good time. The characters in the show at Actors' Playhouse are engaging; the humor is winning; the conflicts are genuine, and the music lively. Partial nudity, uninhibited language and sexual scenes, simulated and sanitized to a degree but leaving little to the imagination, seem unlikely to please the blue-nosed as ''Peep Show'' goes behind the brightly lighted signs to introduce its audience to the women who work behind the glass partitions of the 25-cent booths, the manager of the place and the dark-suited businessmen who patronize it.
In introducing the attractive, loving wives of two of the businessmen, ''Peep Show'' asks why men like Mike (Josh Aaron McCabe) and his colleague and pal, Bradley (Mark T. Leneker), repeatedly patronize the place. But the true focus of the evening is the women who work the peep show, and its expatriate Pakistani manager, Ameer (Steve Hunneshagen). The willing workers are Rhonda (Deborah Berman), a good-humored fleshy lesbian who attracts sadomasochists; Sherry (Pia Glenn), a black woman succumbing to her craving for heroin, and Jennifer (Joanna Keylock), a pretty young woman who got pregnant at 14 and is happy that her earnings enable her to support her 8-year-old son.
Along the way, the audience meets Deidre (Eliza Pryor Nagel), the Alice in Wonderland innocent who begins work at the peep show; Katherine (Laura Frenzer) and Susan (Cloud Michaels), the wives of Mike and Bradley, and three of the businessmen who are peep-show regulars. Under their suits, one is a cross-dresser; another, a tough guy who favors chains and pierced nipples, and the third a boyish fellow who prefers vinyl and boasts of his sexual conquests.
As writer and director, Mr. Larsen, whose previous work includes ''Making Porn,'' a 1996 comedy about the gay porn film industry, is ably abetted by the scenic design of Gerard MacMillan, the lighting of Brian Aldous and the costumes of Bosco DuChamp. All bring to their work a sensitivity to reality and an air of wit and style that matches the playwright's.
As its characters go about their work and play out their fantasies, ''Peep Show'' is without a dull moment until Ameer tidies up the place and closes it down for the night.
RONNIE LARSEN'S PEEP SHOW
Written and directed by Ronnie Larsen; assistant director, Toni Marie Davis; sets by Gerard MacMillan; lighting by Brian Aldous; costumes by Bosco DuChamp. Presented by Caryn Horwitz. At the Actors' Playhouse, 100 Seventh Avenue South, off Sheridan Square, Greenwich Village.
WITH: Deborah Berman (Rhonda), Laura Frenzer (Katherine), Pia Glenn (Sherry), Steve Hunneshagen (Ameer), Joanna Keylock (Jennifer), Mark T. Leneker (Bradley), Josh Aaron McCabe (Mike), Cloud Michaels (Susan) and Eliza Pryor Nagel (Deidre).
Published: 04 - 14 - 1998 , Late Edition - Final , Section E , Column 1 , Page 5
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