by Mark Smiley | Feb 19, 2021 | Editorials
In the year 2000 I sat down to clarify my thoughts about the strange circumstances that seemed to be gathering momentum in our American culture. In light of our situation today, I think you will agree; if we would have cared to look, we would have seen this coming and acted sooner!
What will we do today to stop the accelerated loss of our personal liberty? If we do nothing; what will our “Liberty” look like in a few short years or for that matter months?
Today is Sunday January 24, 2021. Almost One year into a worldwide Pandemic and lockdown.
The world as I saw it in the year 2000 no longer exists — without the lessons learned from great past civilizations, will our Grandchildren have the ability to create a future?
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past!”
— George Orwell
March 2000
Personal Liberty is under an assault from a counter culture bent on absolute control of our government and the American way of life. Have I lost my mind — probably, but not on this issue. This statement sounds like I am outside staring at the sky awaiting the arrival of black helicopters. If I had made this comment 20 years ago, around the table, over a few beers you would still be able to hear the laughter. In the same setting today, the reaction would be quite different — disbelief, fear, and discomfort would replace the laughter. Not because the audience disagreed with the statement, but because someone said “such a thing” in public. The insidious, unrelenting Thought Police tasked with destroying “intolerance” with an iron fist have stifled us. We now find ourselves on the outside barely able to look in.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be the master — that’s all.”
— Lewis Carroll,
Through the Looking Glass
A general malaise infects our culture. The common person knows that a “misplaced” opinion or humorous comment about a “protected” group can destroy their lives. Equality of opportunity has given way to equality of outcome, personal rights to group rights. Personal rights bring personal wealth, personal success, and competition, and those who don’t make the grade are left behind. The counter culture believes in false equality predicated on the lowest common denominator.
To the counter culture, “social justice” has come to mean “protection” for certain groups from attacks by the “enemy” (principally white heterosexual males). It seems that everything we say, or do, can somehow exemplify our intolerance or downright hatred for a “protected” group. The great elixir of mankind, humor, should be avoided altogether. In fact, humor seems to be non-existent in the lexicon of the Thought Police. The ironical self-deprecating humor that was the hallmark of our nation’s immigrants is now considered to be hate speech on the part of the “enemy.” Even if you are the brunt of your own joke, the counter culture believes there exists an underlying “intolerance” that lurks dormant and insidiously hidden in your psyche that must be purged by the counter culture. Ultimately, it is not just our freedom of speech that is under attack, it is the freedom of thought.
“The price paid for intellectual pacification is the sacrifice of the entire moral courage of the human mind.”
— John Stuart Mill
To avoid falling into this “trap” we have developed a habit of self-censorship that has become so unconscious we fail to recognize the mind-numbing subliminal effort involved in maintaining the correct speech necessary to escape the wrath of the Thought Police. At some point it is easier to avoid thinking, and subsequently, disengage.
We are becoming a lobotomized society in which everyone believes that it’s every man for himself. A considerable number of Americans fail to recognize the counter culture’s agenda, and believe that the counter culture is interested in “inclusion” and constructive dialogue. They have become the unwitting foot soldiers that practice appeasement as a way to reconciliation. History shows us that the appeasers (after their usefulness expires) are the last to be executed.
Control The Debate
Frame the debate! Dehumanize your enemy! Call your adversary a sexist, racist or bigot, and you will no longer need to answer his arguments. He is now faced with defending his character. In the courts, there is a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. However, in the court of public opinion if you are charged with sexism the burden of proof falls squarely on the shoulders of the accused. This is precisely how ideologues entrench themselves in a system; they exploit and ruin those on whose backs they rode to power. They begin by working in the establishment, and through insinuation and infiltration rather than through confrontation, they erode the system from within, all the while claiming that the root of the problem stems from the old guard, and its ideals. Thus, we find ourselves in a situation where the counter culture not only controls the answers but the questions asked. It is attempting to control how we understand the daily events of our lives.
Control History
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past!”
— George Orwell
“To destroy a people, you must first sever their roots.”
— Alexander Solzhenitsyn
When attempting to destroy your enemy, destroy the record of their past, and fill the void with a new history. Dishonor or disgrace his heroes, and you can demoralize his people. Besmirch, and degrade your adversary to the point that any and all outrageous comments will go unchallenged. Sit back and watch the crows devour what is left of the past and your future!
Yours in Hope, Etienne
by Mark Smiley | Feb 19, 2021 | Main Articles
Glimmer Of Hope As My Fair Lady Is Set For August Opening; Renovated Clocktower Cabaret, Cleo Parker Dance Already Open
by Glen Richardson
Red Rocks Recovery: Opening of the 4,000-person Red Rocks Amphitheatre when the weather warms up would be a sure sign Denver’s urban heart is pumping again. AEG Presents has yet to signal it is booking summer concerts.
From restaurants to retail the Cherry Creek Valley is slowly reopening for business. But Denver’s urban heart — live concerts, theatre, comedy and the creative arts — remain mostly shut down creating an economic calamity that has drained the cultural lifeblood of the city.
Up until now the city’s pace-setting institutions — the Denver Center for Performing Arts (DCPA), Red Rocks Amphitheatre and the Colorado Convention Center — have been dark since the pandemic hit. So have a half dozen other theaters plus key dance, music and performance spaces. Reopening has proved far more daunting than anyone could have imagined.
Statewide mass Covid-19 vaccinations efforts plus restrictions lowered to Level Yellow in 33 counties, including Denver, have reignited hope and anticipation that venues and productions will begin reopening this summer. The opening light switch, in fact, has already been flipped at several spots and entertainment insider chatter suggests that opening could be imminent at additional venues by summer-fall.
Glimmer Of Hope
Against All Odds: The Denver Center for Performing Arts is tentatively planning to present Broadway’s touring version of My Fair Lady in the Buell Theatre Aug. 11-22. All of DCPA’s venues have been closed since the pandemic hit.
With summer solstice just 112 days subsequently to March 1, there are signs that the cloud of Covid-19 is starting to lift and the city’s cultural scene will reignite.
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts has announced that Saturday Night Alive will return June 12. The 40-year-old fundraiser has been reconceived in order to follow public gathering restrictions. “Currently, we hope to welcome both a virtual audience as well as on-site guests,” explains DCPA President-CEO Janice Sinden. “We envision an evening that can accommodate a smaller, in-person gathering and leverage the HD broadcast capabilities of the Seawell Ballroom.”
Furthermore, DCPA is tentatively planning to present Broadway’s touring version of My Fair Lady in the Buell Theatre Aug. 11-22. From the Lincoln Center Theater, the New York Times says revival of the musical “reminds you how indispensable great theatre can be.”
Small Venue Test
Convention Comeback: Meetings, tradeshows at the Colorado Convention Center aren’t likely in large number until the second half of the year. Booked through 2023, the city seeks to hang onto the business.
On its 15th anniversary The Clocktower Cabaret under the historic D&F Clocktower on the 16th Street Mall launched live shows beginning Valentine’s Day. Additional shows are expected this month in the nonprofit company’s 240-seat theater following months of renovation.
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance has also reopened her 240-seat theater in the former church site at 119 Park Ave. West. Official opening followed frenzied work to renovate the 24,000-sq.-ft. complex. Up to 20 area performing arts companies that have survived the pandemic are lined up to rent the space. Included are spin-off dance companies Moraporvida Dance, Nu-World Contemporary Dance Theatre and Feel The Movement.
Larimer Lounge is testing the waters with a Denver-via-Ecuador pop artist Neoma concert on July 10 followed by rock combo Matt Rouch & The Noise Upstairs the next day. Then on July 24 indie folk duo Shovelin Stone is scheduled to perform. The Larimer Lounge’s sister club, Globe Hall, is serving a barbecue dinner and a show and if all goes well, that venue will begin hosting shows of its own. While the Larimer Lounge experiments with dinner service, restaurants are reversing the test by trying out concerts to build business during the pandemic. Lost City Café in River North, for instance, plans to kick off a summer-long benefit series on its patio.
Ratings, Tech & Cash
Dancing Into Renovated Digs: Cleo Parker Robinson Dance has also reopened its 240-seat theater on Park Ave. West. Up to 20 area performing art companies that have survived the pandemic are lined up to use the space.
Official ratings, technology and money are also key factors playing into the comeback of concerts and events. If, for example, the state moved the pandemic dial to Blue, DCPA would be able to entertain 175 guests in the newly-renovated Wolf Theatre. Moreover, fundraisers and weddings could host up to 175 guests in the Seawell Ballroom.
The pandemic has triggered technology while also altering event formats. After going digital last year, City Park Jazz is bringing back the free live concert, but with a mix of both virtual and live programming.
With a $2 million anonymous gift, the Colorado Symphony is now able to pay its employees through this summer. Moreover, Conductor Christopher Dragon’s contract was renewed through the 2022-24 season. Likely, it will also mean Boettcher Concert Hall will have additional live concerts plus the return of Symphony concerts to Red Rocks.
Sway Of Promoters
Recapturing Denver’s pre-pandemic momentum will require the booking of touring entertainers, shows and events by Denver’s two major event promoters AEG Presents and Live Nation. Founded by Philip Anschutz, AEG is the exclusive ticket seller for all Denver venues including Red Rocks. Summer shows here remain iffy despite the warmup including those booked by AEG at the Bluebird, Ogden and Gothic Theatres.
The odds aren’t much better at the Marquis Theatre or Summit and Fillmore Auditoriums that Live Nation books. Variety, however, did report Live Nation was “confident live music would return this summer.”
Financially it normally doesn’t make sense for national touring musicals or shows to visit Denver if they can’t also perform elsewhere around the country. Bottom Line: Shows and entertainers coming to Denver earlier than this fall (2021) will likely be one-offs, series from a single artist at a single venue, or regional tours playing unconventional venues.
Bedeviled Path Back
Fundraiser First: The showcase of live theatre has announced that the 40-year-old fundraiser Saturday Night Alive is returning June 12. Event will feature both on-site guests and a virtual audience.
The trajectory of infections, vaccinations and “overall behavior” will determine the number and size of this year’s summer-fall openings. The fear, of course, is that it only takes one super-spreader event to ruin it for everyone. Just as Denver seemed like it was finally in a place where people could plant a flag on the ground and claim a fresh start, trouble erupted.
After reopening three weeks earlier, the 40,000-sq.-ft. Grizzly Rose — known for hosting country music and featuring a 2,500-sq.-ft. dance floor — was caught by TV and social media cameras packed with hundreds of people inside the dance hall without masks when only 50 people were permissible.
Owner Scott Durland quickly closed the venue just north of Denver off I-25 voluntarily. Just two days later, however, Tri-County Health ordered the site shut down until further notice. The club had been cited for the same violations last fall.
