Slight change in plans. I'll be in London for another 2 weeks. The ISP screwed up the UK to SF network connection so rather than me going back to SF and then flying out here again next week to finish things up, I'll be in London for a bit longer and will try to make it over to Paris or Amsterdam if time permits.
I went to see another show in the West End Saturday night, Icons in London It was an entertaining show but this is the second Elvis impersonator I've seen in a week and that kind of creeps me out. The show itself was a VERY loose story about how the lead, Greg London, found his true calling, singing, even though he was just impersonating others. We watched as Elvis, Johnny Cash, David Bowie... spoke to him and he sang their songs. Then they shoe horned in Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin Powers, Kermit the Frog. Very Vegas and entertaining.
The weird part that I’m still trying to wrap my head around is that I’m watching someone from the US play to a UK audience (for the most part) and do characterizations of US Pop stars in a cheesy Vegas over produced style. Snippets of US pop music (top 40 pop hits) are being sung by someone who is imitating real pop stars in a slick manufactured show. It’s 3 levels of fake-ness. This is representing, in a way, the worst parts of the entertainment industry of the US; being packaged and exported for international consumption. It reminds me of the time I was in a hostel in Edinburgh and there was a large international group piled into the rec. room watching and cheering for WWF wrestling. What kind of crap are we unleashing on the world?
No comments:
Post a Comment