…And now less than 20 years after the Massachusetts Supreme Court redefined Marriage by a 4-3 vote and Mitt Romney did all he could to let it ride to keep himself as a viable presidential candidate in the eyes of the deep state Democrats are doing this:
As reported by Fox News, the “Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act” was introduced by Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), and would change many existing laws by removing “husband” and “wife” from pre-existing text.
Less than 20 years and the left is openly trying to do what they pretended for years they had no intention of even thinking of.
Now granted the GOP is unlikely to let this pass but they will not control the house forever.
If you are surprised by any of this then you’re a fool.
…but it’s 2023 and leftists are all in bed together…
Instead of fighting the cartels who control their border and terrorize their own citizens, the government of Mexico is … planning Drag Queen Story Time at their consulate in Orlando. Priorities.
Three days ago, the Marathon Pundit family saw the revival of The Who’s Tommy at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
The original The Who’s Tommy was directed by Des McAnuff, who collaborated with Pete Townshend for the musical. Townshend, the Who’s lead guitarist wrote most of the songs for the Tommy rock opera. The original theatrical production was first performed in 1993, and that was directed, as is the Goodman Theatre production, by McAnuff.
While not the first rock opera, most rock scholars give that honor to Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow,Tommy was a commercial and critical success for the Who; they had struggled to gain attention in America, as did some of the other bands who emerged at the tail end of the British Invasion, such as Small Faces and the Move.
The plot of Tommy, the rock opera, is quite clunky. The atmosphere of Tommy is of the late 1960s, and it is a reaction to the guru culture of that strange time, which was filled with charlatans such as Timothy Leary, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and much more darkly, Charles Manson. A better guru was Meher Baba–Pete Townshend remains a follower of his teachings.
However, inexplicably, Townshend set the story of Tommy to begin shortly after the end of World War I.
Tommy Walker becomes deaf and blind at around age four after he witnesses his father, who his mother believed was killed in the Great War, shooting her lover to death. Tommy’s parents look for a cure for their son, those attempts include bringing him to a “gypsy,” the Acid Queen, who fails to cure Tommy with LSD. Two relatives abuse him, Uncle Ernie, sexually, and Cousin Kevin, who tortures him. Tommy, despite his deafness and blindness, becomes a pinball champion and a celebrity. Tommy’s mother notices that her son often stares intently at mirrors. She smashes a mirror during one such gaze, which cures Tommy. He then becomes a cult leader, but eventually his followers reject him. Finally, Tommy realizes that he isn’t special, but everyone else is, as he sings in “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”
Listening to you I get the music Gazing at you, I get the heat Following you I climb the mountains I get excitement at your feet.
But it was the songs, despite some dull filler such as “Underature,” that made the Tommy rock opera a smash. And the Goodman Theatre makes the most of the best-known numbers–along with some stupendous dancing–including “I’m Free” and of course “Pinball Wizard,” but also lesser-known tunes, such as “Amazing Journey” and “Sensation.” With a church backdrop, “Christmas” shines.
For those Who purists out there, beware, some of the lyrics of the songs have been altered to fit the adapted narrative of the musical.
There are many stand-out performances, foremost by Ali Louis Bourzgui as an adult Tommy, Alison Luff as Mrs. Walker, and Adam Jacobs as Captain Walker. The supporting cast is also superb, particularly Christina Sajous as the Acid Queen and Bobby Conte as Cousin Kevin. There are no casting mistakes here, unlike Ken Russell’s over-the-top Tommy film from 1975, which, like The Who’s Tommy, begins the story right after World War II. While Russell got it right with Who lead singer Roger Daltrey as Tommy, Tina Turner as the Acid Queen, Elton John as the Pinball Wizard, and Ann-Margaret as Mrs. Walker, there were some serious casting disasters in that move, including Eric Clapton (not an actor), Jack Nicholson (not a singer), and Oliver Reed, a drunk who played a drunk, but on the flipside, Reed couldn’t sing either.
Back to The Who’s Tommy at the Goodman: Not to be overlooked, the lighting, the costumes, the sparse but effective scenery, and the computer graphics are dazzling.
The play ends in an undefined, presumably fascist, future, with Cousin Kevin looking a bit like Joseph Goebbels. And with an attack, somewhat understated, on today’s celebrity and social media influencer culture.
Last week, Bourzgui explained to the New York Times his interpretation of his Tommy portrayal, “He gets filled up by his followers,” adding “He keeps feeding off that, getting more gluttonous with power, until he realizes they’re following him because they want to feed off his trauma.”
The key word, in the 21st century context, is “followers.”
On the downside, a couple of songs, both penned by Who bassist John Entwistle and performed in succession, fall flat, “Cousin Kevin” and “Fiddle About.” In the latter, Uncle Ernie [John Ambrosino], sings about, well, I said what it is earlier. Both tunes are perfect times for a bathroom break, assuming you will be let back in before the end of first act. Mrs. Marathon Pundit dozed off during these tunes.
Townshend, since the release of the Tommy LP, said he was molested as a child. He was not charged after logging in a few times to a for-pay website that was advertising child pornography, stating at the time his motive to visit the site was “purely to see what was there” and that he was researching sexual abuse. In 2003, Townshend was placed on a sexual offenders registry for five years and he received a caution from the London Police. Townshend strongly denies every possessing child pornography. Citing those two sadistic Entwistle songs, Townshend said that he is too traumatized to ever perform Tommy again.
None of the other reviews of The Who’s Tommy I’ve read mentioned Townshend’s legal issues, but on the other hand, I paid for our tickets to this show.
Although not seen, the nine-piece band, led by Rick Fox, has some big shoes to fill by performing these songs–particularly those of Who drummer Keith Moon–is spectacular. I saw The Who in concert twice, in 1979 and 1980, with Kenney Jones on drums, Moon passed away in 1978. Entwistle died in 2002. Both of concerts were fantastic–and loud. My ears were ringing for days afterwards both times.
Yes, it was a Sunday matinee performance, but it was a geriatric audience, reminiscent of the crowd on the Lawrence Welk Show, in attendance for the Goodman of The Who’s Tommy that day. Earplugs were available for the “loud” music at the Goodman–which wasn’t that loud. Oh, have times ever changed.
The Who’s Tommy has been extended twice at the Goodman, some upcoming shows are sold out, the final Chicago performance is scheduled to be on August 6. The production is believed to be a dry-run for a return to Broadway, and presumably, a whole bunch of well-deserved Tony Award nominations.
The Outsized reaction of the professional left to the performance of the movie the “Sound of Freedom” last week and Disney’s decision to sit on it for a week seems rather odd, particularly when you note how consistent and united this reaction is.
Why you would think the left and their allies had a big hand in that pie. And if they didn’t before they might now.
Of course that’s nonsense, just because the elite left knew about Jeffrey Epstein and tolerated him for decades and knew about Harvey Weinstein and tolerated him for decades and knew about Matt Lauer and tolerated him for decades and woke Disney sat on this film for half a decade doesn’t mean that they have a hand in child sex slavery. Besides if that was the case people would have been afraid to work on the film and it’s star Jim Caviezel would have folks running away from him in Hollywood over it:
I want this to be so huge that they’re forced to look at this. I lost my agents over this. Yep, 17 years, 15 years. I lost my lawyer over this, and now I understand why all these actors didn’t want to do the movie because of this. Listen, you do Schindler’s List fifty years later, you’re a hero. Try doing Schindler’s List when the real Nazis are right there. Understand how that becomes more dangerous? I don’t understand why people are willing to let children be hurt, but in this time, Hollywood says, ‘No, no, let’s kick that down fifty years from now and then [see where we’re at]. That’s crap.
Jim Caviezel in an interview with Angel Studio’s head Neil Harmon
Hollywood in Toto notes a slight difference in the penalty for making this movie for Caviezel and other Hollywood starts in ….interesting situations:
Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a crew member on a movie set and his career never missed a beat. Production on the film in question, “Rust,” resumed earlier this year.
Ezra Miller’s rap sheet is a mile long, but the nonbinary actor anchors one of the summer’s biggest adventures, “The Flash.” And, had the movie performed well at the box office, Miller would have played the speedster in the sequel.
Jim Caviezel agreed to star in a fact-based story about child sex trafficking, exposing an ongoing crime many people don’t know about.
Perhaps the day will come when the Hollywood left will be suddenly decide that like Lauer, Weinstein and Epstein those involved in this kind of thing (the child trafficking not the movie) are to be shunned while stars and elites proclaim their public shock that it was ever going on, but until that critical mass is reached Caviezel will remain Hollywood’s August Landmesser standing separate from the crowd.
Caviezel’s quote instantly reminded me of the Three Stooges who were my favorite as a kid. It’s worth noting that their hilarious short “You Nazty Spy” came out in 1940 when the Reich was poised to swallow up most of Europe and it would have been very easy for Nazi agents to target three comics staring in shorts for revenge by Nazi agents.
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