Le Petit's two grand hits

It is not unusual for a playhouse to have a production treading its boards. It is expected. What is unusual is when a playhouse has two or more venues to allow simultaneous mountings of different shows. If, in the course of mounting these two shows, one of them is a hit, that is also expected. Everyone can be proud that, apart from the artistic triumph, the public was affected by it and provided an economic return to the theatre. But when both of these simultaneous productions find artistic merit in the theatre community and runaway success at the box office, it is highly unusual and a moment to be savored by the playhouse. That is exactly what is happening for the next several weeks as Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre mounts two highly anticipated and wildly successful productions of "Rent" and "Assassins." Both are ensemble shows, but the comparison stops there. "Rent," the voice of the millennial generation by the late James Larson, is an in-your-face loud, raucous roaming commentary on relationships, AIDS, poverty and the need for community. Stephen Sondheim's "Assassins" is a little-known, highly controversial work about those that successfully slew or attempted to slay standing presidents of the U.S. "Rent" engages our sensibilities about love, disease and capitalism, while "Assassins" makes us cringe at the demented figures who tried to justify the ultimate removal of office by a member of the electorate. The community in "Rent" is engaging and, despite their lot in life, proud of who they are. The ragtag group of misfits in "Assassins," from John Wilkes Booth to James Guiteau to Leon Czogolsz to Lee Harvey Oswald is pitiful. Yet, we are drawn to them despite the horror of their actions. It is not unlike watching a train wreck. We are repulsed, but cannot turn away. Sondheim's music is at his very best here and the cast does well to bring texture to the different layers the composer brought into the score. "Seasons of Love," which opens, continues and closes the second act of "Rent" has become an anthem for Gen-Xers and others. "Assassins" has its most compelling song in "Another National Anthem," where all the major characters are on stage complaining about why they did what they did and their misguided justifications for their actions. The young cast of "Rent" is terrific with very few "big name" local stars, while "Assassins" boasts New Orleans's own Ricky Graham, Gary Rucker, Jimmy Murphy, and Vatican Lokey in key roles of Guiteau, Oswald, Booth and the Proprietor, respectively. Suffice it to say that the two are both very different, yet both excellent in their own right. Artistic Director Sonny Borey is to be congratulated for dual successes on twin stages and a testament to the powerful recovery being felt in the New Orleans theatre community. Break a leg, fellas. Uh, Mr. Booth, especially in your case!

Vote for humor

This country has always had its share of laughter at the expense of its politicians. Office holders and incumbents have made great targets for comedians and sharp-tongued critics since before we broke free from the yoke of colonialism. It was important for Revolutionary era writers like Benjamin Franklin to capture the public's attention by deflating self-important figures and corrupt officials with a humorous jab rather than risk arrest and possible incarceration by leveling charges in print. In "Poor Richard's Almanac," he wrote many humorous passages such as "A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats." Well over a hundred years later it was just as important that Will Rogers, whose daily column was read by millions of adoring fans, was also able to poke fun at Washington politicos in a way that made Americans proud. "I don't belong to any organized political party," he would explain. "I'm a Democrat!" Growing up, I recall the antics of Bob Hope and Johnny Carson as they would take politicians to task in a variety of ways with Hope starting in the golden days of radio and Carson brilliantly slicing up political figures in his daily monologue on The Tonight Show. TV's "Saturday Night Live" with Chevy Chase, the late Phil Hartman, and others made the nation laugh at presidents, senators and mayors in a way that both humbled and endeared them. More recently, the country has enjoyed a comedic break from the heated political battles for the presidency with comedienne Tina Fey's brilliant depiction of Republican vice-presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin. Fey has taken the opportunity to carry the portrayal from "Saturday Night Live" to her own award-winning "30 Rock." All of this, of course, leads us to consider the comic performances at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner held last night in New York where candidates Obama and McCain took a break from their campaigns and playfully roasted each other to the delight of the crowd (including former First Lady Hillary Clinton) and for the benefit of Catholic charities. It was nice to see both senators using less rhetoric and posturing and taking time out for levity. How wonderful it would be if the race for the White House could be decided by the candidate who leveled the best one-liners or who had the best comic timing. Instead of trusted advisors and spinners, the campaign could be decided by the best comedy writers and humorists. Oh, well, I can dream, can't I?

Did I miss something?

Well, the stock market continues to amaze me with its incredible version of the "Limbo Rock" (How low can you go?) With the exception of Monday's unprecedented 900+ point jump, the market has lost big time every day of the month it's been open. The word "panic" hasn't been bandied about much, but yesterday BusinessMirror's John Magnun used it to describe the state of financial affairs he finds exists on Wall Street. Interestingly, he suggests investing in Canada, China and the Phillippines stock markets over our own. As a matter of fact, he went so far as to suggest that turbulent Iraq offered better opportunities for investors if only they traded more than a paltry million dollars a day. Makes one think that the real slide has only just begun. So with all of our portfolios from three-quarters to half of their worth just a few weeks ago, the question begs to be asked: how long will it take for us to recoup our losses? According to experts, five years and more is the normal reply. The upside may be that interest on mortgage payments will continue to be low for some time to come with the caveat that fewer mortgages will be approved because of the tighter finances of most banking institutions. Interest payments on investments will also stay low for the foreseeable future making bonds seem somewhat more attractive in the short run. All of this seems to have started on Ben Bernanke's watch as Federal Reserve Chairman. Bernanke lowered the key rate to 1.5% last week in an effort to stave off the global crisis. So, the question must be asked, from an outsider like me, would this have happened on Alan Greenspans's watch?

Blog Action Day

Today is Blog Action Day and a very large community of 11,000 bloggers worldwide has been asked to mobilize against the common enemy of poverty. I am not sure in these uncertain financial times that blogging about poverty will bring about changes in anything but attitude. Yet, attitude is important if positive changes are ever to come about. Poverty is a regretable and unfortunate situation endured in various degrees by 55% of the world's population. It is not widespread in the United States, many of you would say. However, keep in mind that a surprising number of Americans are only two paychecks away from hitting the poverty line themselves. That's a shocking consideration. Poverty is a major disease, a natural disaster or an accident away for too many of us eeking out a living the best we can. What is important is to keep in mind that poverty is not a choice, but a condition that can be remedied over time with the proper application of determination, spirit and good luck. How can you fight poverty? Well, we can all start with small steps. Contribute to local food banks and donate to local agencies that battle poverty as much as you can comfortably. Give to the United Way and ask if your workplace provides matching funds for any donations you may give. Check out your local church, temple, synagogue or mosque and inquire if any congregation members need a job. A lot of able workers find themselves down temporarily due to circumstances beyond their control. Many of them are just looking for a hand up, not a handout. In terms of fighting poverty worldwide, there are many forward thinking organizations that do a lot of good work. There are several United Nations organizations that spring to mind such as the United Nations Development Programme that pumps millions of development dollars into local economies. Find a program that sets well with your own philosophical outlook and give generously. Poverty may be inescapable for some, but it need not be permanent. It's up to us to make a difference. Change your attitude first. Then make a game plan and initiate action.

It's a hard drive gonna fail

Ever wonder what makes a hard drive suddenly give up the ghost? In almost every situation that the "heart" of a computer goes south, I am amazed. It is not unlike people who have atherosclerotic heart disease. One minute they appear healthy and robust and the next minute they have keeled over suffering from a myocardial infarction. As any schoolchild can tell you (and you can never find one when you need one), a hard disk drive (or HDD) is a collection of spinning disks that revolve at very fast speeds, typically from 5400 to 7200 rpm (revolutions per minute), for most consumer models to extremely fast enterprise models that cruise at 10,000 rpm or more. Because of the stability of hard drives and for processors to be able to read and transfer data to them, the most modern computers demand larger hard drives and faster speeds to be able to access the data more readily. The faster the disk drives spin, the more heat is generated and the greater the demand for cooling inside. Except for a small hole designed to vent the pressure that rises inside, hard drives are sealed. Most people have never seen the insides of these marvelous devices, but they are exquisite in the simplicity of their design. But therein lies the rub. The simplicity of their design belies the complexity of technology that make hard drive disks perform so well. There is a motor that physically spins the disks and a very light head that reads them as they spin. Oftentimes the motor will fail due to an electrical short or the arm that holds the head may fail to find its "landing spot" and may score the platters, which are very similar in appearance to CD ROMs or DVDs. Hard disk drives have evolved through the years from SCSI (small computer serial interface) types to PATA types (IDE and EIDE drives) to the more recent ATA and SATA (Serial ATA) types. Yet, they are all remarkably similar. When they fail, they fail abruptly, many times with no advance warning. It boggles the mind what it is. If RAM (memory) is too low for an operating system, it may result in excessive paging to the hard drive. This extra overhead and the physical constraints of having to keep paging files on the drive have often contributed to hard drive failures that I have seen. One unfortunate fellow replaced his hard drive three times before I insisted he upgrade the memory in his Windows 2000 computer to 1GB RAM. He hasn't had any problem with his hard drive since. An occasional defragmentation of a hard drive is a good practice, but with the larger drives that abound today, less defragmentation seems to be the rule. Windows XP and Vista operating systems analyze drives prior to defragmentation and more times than not don't recommend drives to undergo defragmentation. Deleting unnecessary and temporary files is also a good rule to follow to get hard drives to work at optimum speed. One of the best things to do to maintain a hard drive, though, is to get a good surge protector. More times than not a small surge through an AC line will jump the power supply and the motherboard and kill the hard drive. Don't ask me why. Suffice it for me to say it just happens. The main rule to remember, though, is backup the data regularly. Like the humans that invented them, hard disk drives are all destined to die one day. It's not if it will fail, it's when. Remembering to upgrade RAM, using a good surge protector or UPS (uninterruptible power supply), and performing occasional deletion of files and defragmentations are all good starts. Keeping your fingers crossed is also highly recommended.

Three weeks

With only 21 days until the elections, the frustration levels seem to be reaching near capacity for most voters to deal with the two presidential candidates and their respective campaigns. Whether Democrat or Republican, a lot of voters have been shaking their heads and wondering aloud if there weren't some better choices for the nation and the Free World. Ironically, in a race where both candidates bellow they are instruments of change, most voters I talk with grudgingly wish they could change the candidates. If we were to believe the polls, Barack Obama is as far ahead as 11 percentage points. That's an incredible swing when one considers that McCain and Obama were in a virtual dead-heat a month ago. But that was before the stock market started to slide and before the world went into economic crisis. If the economic crisis deepens, Obama could certainly maintain a double digit lead over McCain. It really is fish or cut bait time for both of these presidential possibilities, a fact not lost on the news media already clammoring for more dirt on Sarah Palin. Even neutral Tom Brockaw on the Today Show this morning commented on the runaway status of Obama and how unstoppable he seems to be. John McCain's "they forgot to let you decide" speech might be seen as a nice sound bite on the evening news, but it does smack of desperation. "My friends, we've got them where we want them," he was heard to say earlier today. Hmmm...I didn't realize that McCain wanted to lose that badly. Frankly, I wish he would take off the gloves and be specific in what his platform means for the future of America. I know it's wishful thinking, but, perhaps, at this last upcoming debate, we'll hear less of the same and more of what informed voters need to cast a considered ballot.

Another lost Shepherd

On Friday the local electorate was shocked, shocked I tell you, that another politician admitted to wrongdoing and would soon be sentenced to spend time away from his constituency in the slammer. State Senator Derrick Shepherd, a West Bank official had been indicted over a year ago, charged with money laundering. Despite his protestations of innocence, Shepherd managed to get himself in even more hot water when he allegedly entered his girlfriend's home in the middle of the night and took her cellphone without her permission (see "A Shepherd who lost his way"). Although she recanted days later, police found Shepherd at his residence early the next morning enjoying a lap dance from some professional...er, uh...dancers when they came to get his side of the story. Unfortunately they did find at least a grain of truth to the story as well as the young lady's cellphone. Shepherd was incarcerated until he could be arraigned, but his bail from the other federal charges complicated his life. He had to live in a halfway house for a day or so until a judge placed him under house arrest and forced him to wear an ankle device that let authorities know where he was at any time. That debacle cost Shepherd his Senate assignments while he continued to prepare his case against the federal charges. Shepherd was a Judge Advocate General in the Army Reserves. His guilty plea on Friday was made in exchange with U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office dropping five other charges. Had it gone to trial he may well have spent the rest of his life behind bars. Shepherd resigned his seat, lost his ability to practice law and ended his military career on a low note. It is another sad lesson that the electorate has to endure from a politician whose meteoric rise was almost as spectacular as his recent crash and burn. The future seemed full of bright opportunities for Shepherd just two years ago. His sentencing from the federal judge will come in January, but the other mess with his girlfriend has yet to be settled. It is possible that he could have more time tacked on for state charges, although I hope the authorities will cut him a break. He has done more to himself than any punishment that could be dished out by a judge or jury. Meanwhile, one of Shepherd's closest allies is U.S. Representative William Jefferson, who is waging his own battle against federal charges in an upcoming trial in Virginia. Whether Shepherd will be asked to testify against his friend and benefactor is speculation right now, but it is a good bet that Shepherd will be asked to turn state's evidence in order to lighten his sentence. Jefferson, in a runoff with former TV newscaster Helena Moreno, doesn't seem worried, but with family members indicted or already pleading guilty, this latest episode with Shepherd can't be seen as anything good. It will be interesting to see what shakes out with his race. Due to the large black electorate, many experts expect him to win the runoff, despite the aggressive run that Moreno has made, beating seasoned politicians like Troy Carter, James Carter and Cedric Richmond. If Jefferson wins, he still might end up having to give up his seat were he to be convicted in Virginia. It means that the soap opera we call Louisiana politics goes on.