7/89 ArtsFocus Misc.

(published 10/89, after ArtsFocus took a hiatus

prior to shutting down completely)

WHAT TIMES READERS THOUGHT

OF PLAN TO CANCEL JUMBLE :

‘HORDROSPESS’

Here at Misc., your only totally Batman-free column, we’ve seen the bids for Time Inc. and intend to beat them. Paying back those junk bonds would be easy: cancel the skin-cancer insurance on the Sports Illustrated swimsuit models, sell commercials with cuss words during HBO comedy specials. Then, the Misc./Time empire will be a force to be reckoned with. We’ll drop the last 80 or so of the Fortune 500 (who cares about Allegheny Industries, anyway?). We’ll merge Money’s investment advice with Time-Life Books’ psychics. We’ll make up cooler facts for Time than they make up now. And no Dynasty or thirtysomething star will be on the cover ofPeople ever again!

The Drug Bug: A poster for the new Harley Davidson cigarette shows a baby-boomer couple riding a cycle without helmets. However, they look like their heads contain sufficient air to cushion any accidental impact…. Fawn Hall admitted cocaine use, simply proving she was a loyal customer of her beloved Contras.

Dead Air: The deal to sell KZOK to KOMO fell through. The current owners (from the same Tampa Bay suburb as Scientology’s world HQ) demanded such a high price that they may have permanently pushed up the price of all local stations, meaning we may never get a non-yuppie station again.

Tale Behind the Tune: Phranc, who bills herself as an “average Jewish lesbian folk singer,” released a bouncy cover of Rogers and Hammerstein’s “I Enjoy Being A Girl.” Thirty years ago, Seattle actress Pat Suzuki sang it in the original Broadway cast of Flower Drum Song. It was the peak of her career; she didn’t get to be in the film version, and there were few other roles open to Asian-American musical-comedy performers. She had a nightclub act for many years, then was in a short-lived sitcom with Pat Morita in the ’70s. I don’t know what she thinks of Phranc.

For the Record: With media attention focused totally on the losing Lakers, some of you might not have learned who won the NBA championship. It was the Detroit Pistons.

Against the Record: Capitol, we sadly report, is dropping oldies 45s and will release some new “singles” on tape only, while MCA’s skipping vinyl versions of some new country and rock albums.

Stages of Life: The Empty Space is moving into the historic Showbox, its fourth home. It’s a relief to all who wanted that great space preserved from being chopped up into shops. I hope they configure it so it can still be used for concerts in the theater’s off-season.

(latter-day note: The Empty Space Theater balked at moving into the old Showbox ballroom after finding asbestos in the walls. It moved into one of the old Pioneer Square Theater spaces, then from there to a former Masonic lodge in Fremont.)

Junk Food of the Month: The much-hyped Ken Griffey Jr. candy bar is just a costly slab of chocolate, but it may be the first bar named after a ballplayer (Baby Ruth, as all good sports fans know, was really named after Grover Cleveland’s daughter)…. Archer Daniels Midland Co. (David Brinkley’s TV sponsor) has patented a new biodegradable plastic made from corn starch. Soon you may get your Big Mac in an edible (and probably more nutritious) box.

(latter-day note: I’d forgotten about the Reggie! bar.)

Repo Men Revisited: Six months into that kinder-gentler thing, the GOP’s apparently trying to prove it’s as sleazy as ever. They launched a literally flag-waving cry to cut free speech from the Constitution, daring anyone to be “un-American” enough to oppose it. They’ve advocated censoring and financially gutting the National Endowment for the Arts. Their “campaign reform” bill’s devised to stifle activist groups and small contributions while letting the ultra-rich spend even more in elections than now. HUD’s Jack Kemp uses his predecessors’ shameless graft to justify cutting low-income housing even further. Then, the Supreme Court OK’d seizing personal and business assets associated with alleged crimes. Your favorite book or record shop could be effectively put out of business for selling anything that a judge might label “obscene,” and would be unable to afford an appeal. Beware of any “new weapon in the war on drugs;” it could be fired on you.

Cathode Corner: Rainier Beer owner Alan Bond’s in big trouble back home. The Australian government proclaimed him “not fit” to keep that country’s biggest TV network. At issue: a large, mostly under-the-table settlement in a defamation suit brought against the network by a politician. He may have also directed unfavorable news coverage against a competitor to one of his companies.

Naked Gun II: Fans at a recent Tacoma Tigers game were startled by gunfire coming from a high-school roof next to Cheney Stadium. Players dove into the dugouts. KTAC announcer Bob Robertson pleaded for listeners to call 911. It turned out to be the Tacoma Police SWAT Team, with blank ammunition, training for security duty at the Goodwill Games.

Concrete Poetry: The literary quality of local graffiti has risen dramatically. Since April, a romantic monologue (or possibly dialogue) has been written with wide-tip markers on walls and electrical units within a five-block radius of Frederick’s. Some salient entries: “You love me. I know. I love you too, as if you were/are the world and the truth for me. That’s our tragedy”… “Yes, it’s your one and only babe; I have chosen you as my #1 wall lover”… “Join me for a coffee? We’ll talk about art and poetry, as we prepare to run away.”

Local Publication of the Month: An/Other, distributed as a supplement to Reflex, is an art/philosophy tabloid that believes feminism should challenge old stereotypes, not just exchange them for new ones. Its performance-artsy attitude just adds some fun to its issues of individualism in a society that pretends to be less conformist than it is…. The Christian Science Monitor’s been lavishing tasteful praise about the Seattle arts scene, in five installments to date. Rush to your local Reading Room to catch up.

‘Til next time, wish Royer lotsa bigwig-schmoozing at Harvard, grab some of the 1950 Canadian pennies being circulated in town (with George VI’s face), and read this by ex-Frisco radio personality Scoop Nisker: “If you don’t like the news, make some of your own.”