Chocolate Rave

For all the ways that one can get lost in Las Vegas, it’s almost impossible to imagine how the local kids can find their way. But many do, and, in spite of being surrounded by so much excess, they find a way to focus their efforts. Perhaps the sounds and the lights are a kind of inspiration, serving to remind of something larger out there. It happens often enough, and in the case of people like Brandon Flowers , it doesn’t hurt to be remarkably talented.

The lead singer of the Killers starts up his solo tour , and the press has been very positive, as they usually have been with him. Despite his earlier stance of being a little bit provocative, he manages to earn the respect of the media. Again, this is based on nothing less than talent, and an ability to back up the claims to greatness with the real stuff of life.

It can be a strange and wonderful childhood, to grow up surrounded by Las Vegas hotels and all the luring attractions that go with it. But if there is one thing that does seem to characterize artists from the town, it’s irony, and it seems to build in a solid sense of how mercurial it all is. It’s in the music, and it’s on the strip, and soon enough, it will be coming from his new tour.

Walking in Philadelphia can be a lot like walking in every other city, except with a little more of a grainier edge, and there’s always something new where you least suspected it.  This is one of the most interesting cities in the country, with a thriving cultural community that has been very committed to supporting new works by new artists for a few generations now.  It has as much history in the neighborhoods as the larger sister cities, but it’s in the top six in the U.S. for population.  There is also a tremendous broader sense of history here as well, and many of the citizens recognize that it goes back much further than its existence as one of the original colonies.  There are fantastic historical sites where you can visit some of the monuments to the beginnings of contemporary government here, as well as traces of the stories of the native populations.

It’s an extremely diverse place, and there are many perspectives and points of view.  It’s always a spectacular pleasure to decide to make the trip by plane or train, book a cheap hotel in Philadelphia, and look around to see what’s happening in the city today.  There’s always something different, and something new.  When I’m lucky enough to find him, I look for traces of Brad Rothbart, to find out what’s happening in town performance-wise.  If he’s on the bill, usually as a dramaturg, then it’s going to be worth seeing.

Brad is one of the original rice cookers for an organization called RAT.  RAT can stand for Regional Alternative Theater, among many other things, and the fact that it’s no longer around is fitting because it was never really there.  It was always an ethereal structure based on Adorno and Goldman, among many other thinkers, and even when it had meetings and people were there, it was always temporary and autonomous.  Although it may not exist, Rothbart does, and he brings a shamanic intelligence to the work, sort of like the sorcerer’s apprentice, but with a lot more deftness.

Checking into one of the hotels Hartford Connecticut has to offer is only the beginning of a trip down historical lane. Except this lane is actually and avenue. Asylum Avenue has some great historical homes of historical people. There is the Mark Twain House. Mark Twain was, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was a great American writer during the late 1800s and early 1900s. He published more than 30 books as well as hundreds of short stories. He’s writing was a special voice that captured the true essence of living in early America. The home was built by Edward Tuckerman Potter and he used some influences of traditional, late 1800s, English and French Architecture. It is a wonderful display of colored brick, towers and deep porches. The museum is a great reflection of Mark Twain and his life stories giving in multi-media format.

Along Asylum Hill there is also the home of another famed writer, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center is also in a wonderful old home that gives wind to the life of Stowe who lived between 1811-1896. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was her most famous books but she wrote many more books. Toms Cabin was a real eye opener around the topic of black slavery in America. Her home is a wonderfully charming Victorian Gothic Revival home. It is surrounded with beautiful gardens. The property also includes Katharine Seymour Day House which is a marvelous mansion adjacent to the Stowe home and the Stowe Visitor Center which is filled with exhibits and a store. This home really is a must see if you are in the area. If you have a passionate spot for the human rights of this country and the world you will get quite inspired from a visit to the home of such a passionate woman and her legacy.