Here Comes Flash

More glimpses of what was performed as "Preservation, Acts One and Two" by the Kinks. These excerpts are from a 1975 Kinks concert at the Beacon Theatre in NYC, 1975. I just love the costumes and the old British music hall vibe. Is that Ray disguised as a Scared Housewife? Dave lays down some mean lead guitar in this number and looks totally hot in that spiv outfit. The chorus of Scared Housewives are

At the beginning of the clip, you can see a snow cloud of paper plates alighting on stage. An old tradition that continues to this day --fans requesting favorite Kinks songs by writing them on paper plates and tossing them on stage. (I remember two determined fans in Cleveland with a home-made banner they hung over the balcony requesting Waterloo Sunset and the utmost joy that emanated from that portion of the balcony when the request was granted at the encore.)

Flash is the attraction and allure of complete self-gratification and that tawdry glow that comes with being flush with other people's money. Flash is a Wall Street executive who made a lot of money on other people's misery and feels no regrets. He's a ponzi schemer and a hedge fund millionaire. As the song says:

There's no way that you can win,
You must obey his every whim
Or else he's going to do you in.
Here Comes Flash.

The rest of the sing along words can be found here.

Slum Kids

Here in the slums of lower south Akron, we're dealing with too much snow, a broken water heater, not to mention there's a crack up in the ceiling and the bathroom sink is leaking...

"Why do rich kids get all the breaks, while the poor slum kids have to work, sweat, struggle and slave?"

Here's another from the Beacon Theatre, in NYC 1975. A Preservation track. Everybody sing along now.

Money Talks

I really don't have time for intensive blogging this week. Got real world stuff on the plate all week. Fortunately, some incredible previously unreleased Kinks concert footage just popped up on YouTube: live performances of songs from Preservation, the Kinks show of my dreams. I never got to see Preservation. But Preservation made me a Kinks fan for life. And I still hope one day to direct a production of it.

Two guys from Chicago emailed me over the summer. They were thinking of mounting a production of Preservation prior to the election. Nothing came of it, evidently. Wrong election for that show. Dog help us all should Obama turn out to be Flash or Mr Black.

Yet this rock musical remains timely. The cynicism of Preservation applies to governments near and far, at every level. So difficult to know if the person we vote for will turn out to be one of the good pols or one of the bad 'uns. Some people we don't even get to vote for, but their actions will have profound effects upon our collective and individual futures.

Take the newly confirmed secretary of the treasury, for example. Tim Geithner. He's supposed to be the one who will save the economy and the glorious capitalistic society in which we have shopped until we dropped, polluting the entire planet along the way. Do we really want to save the mode of living that brought us to this predicament? Do we return to flipping houses and betting on futures. Junk bonds, hedge funds.

I'm no economist, but I do know that "Money Talks." From the Beacon Theatre in NYC, 1975. Sing along words here. Thanks to KKfromNJ for posting this on YouTube:

Should the Highland Movie Theatre Be Preserved?

The Highland Theatre is the last of two remaining neighborhood movie houses in Akron. The owner has taken out a permit to wreck the back of the building, the part that houses the movie screen, according to an article in today's ABJ.

Many comments from the online readers today, run the spectrum from full capitalist glee in bulldozing down the past to lamenting communitarians who would seek tax dollars to save it for the community.

The only problem is, the community hasn't made good use of this theatre for decades. Various managers have taken it on only to fail due to classic reasons:

1. No parking except on the streets of the neighborhood.
2. The facility cannot compete with the suburban sprawl multiplexes. 12 screens going all day long vs. one screen -- it's a losing proposition.
3. Operating costs go through the roof -- the place consumes enormous amounts of energy to heat or air condition.
4. No matter the content, the community does not support it to make it operable.

It's sad to think of Highland Square without the Highland Theatre. I saw my first movie there as a child -- Bambi. Later on, the Highland became a very pleasurable way to spend a Saturday afternoon. All for a buck, you'd get a bunch of cartoons, some old time serials and then at least two features. I saw The Blob there and all those scary movies with the kids who had big eyes.

For awhile toward the end of the 20th century, rock and roll made an attempt to find a home at the theatre. Some remodeling with a night club theme was attempted to draw in a younger, hipper crowd, but it never seemed to work.

I always wanted it to run the movies that never showed up in Akron, the ones we have to drive up to the Cedar Lee in Cleveland to see. Back in the 60s, we used to be able to go the Art Theatre in the Falls to see underground stuff. But somehow, the customers for that venue vanished as well.

Highland Square is supposed to be "hip" but in reality there aren't enough of those folks to make it a viable operation. Can it really be called a landmark worthy of preservation? Certainly the Akron Civic Theatre is unique and worthy of every penny spent on its preservation. The Highland Theatre, however, is not an architectural gem. It doesn't serve anybody's needs anymore. The building does not meet current and future standards in terms of environmentally appropriate energy use. The cost of renovating it versus building a community center that provided programming that actually meets the needs of Highland Square residents has to be considered.

I have one idea, free to anyone who wants to try one more programming attempt to save the theatre. Since parking is a problem, residents within walking distance are the ones who need to be using the theatre. Walking to the theatre suggests an interest in maintaining physical fitness. I suggest that the place is loaded with fitness equipment, machines and free weights. On screen, one can show endless movies for people to watch as they row, cycle and walk their treadmills. Call it the Highland Theatre of Fitness, sell monthly passes and you are on your way to providing a real service while making the place finiancially solvent at last!

(Photo above is Copyright 2001 Brian Reichow, brian@casabrian.com and can be found at: http://www.casabrian.com.