Switched on Bach

Tammy and I participated in, what is for us, a rare auditory cultural activity.  I tried not to complain about all the ancillary costs involved, such as twenty dollars to park for 3 hours (in a distant lot, I might add).  Or the ten dollar online processing fee for two $29.00 tickets.  An eighteen percent service charge, by the way,  made even more egregious because I had to pay for the ink and paper to print the tickets.  This thought reminds me of how much I also hate fax machine solicitations.  Especially the ones where the artwork is in so called reverse print.  The page is entirely black and the copy is in white.Who do you think pays for all that wasted ink?  All just to find out that if you order a large pizza between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm on the first and third Wednesdays of every month you will receive a free liter of Diet Coke from the pizza joint just down the street.  If I want to know their specials I would just call up and say "is today free liter of Diet Coke day?"  I am not quite sure, given the overbearing regulatory climate in Washington, how print ads, where the customer pays the production costs, ever became legal.  But this, of course, has nothing to do with cabin living.  But it does have something to do with the current fad of blaming the government for all of our economic woes and believing that letting businesses run amok will solve all of our problems.  Am I the only bourgeoisie that is annoyed by unfettered capitalism?  Paging Adam Smith.

But back to the topic at hand.  The event we attended was a concert at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.  We don't go to many concerts, or plays for that matter, but once or twice a year I will hear something on the radio and I will say, to no one in particular, or most likely to the patient whose tooth I happen to be drilling at the time, "I have always wanted to see them in concert."  The last time I was thus inspired was during Bruce Springsteen's Farewell to the Spectrum tour in Philadelphia.  That was also a farewell to my youth tour since the last time I saw Springsteen in concert at the Spectrum was in 1980, during my Freshman year in dental school.  Bruce is still exuberantly rocking out in his chosen profession at the age of 62, but at the age of 51 I find myself fading fast in the war with dental caries.  The economy isn't helping much.  Given a choice between a $125.00 Springsteen ticket and a $125.00 check up and cleaning, I might also choose the former.  I am joshing of course... I would buy a new Mountain Hardwear softshell fleece with my $125.00.

Prior to the concert we decided to have a nice meal at a new Italian Bistro which just opened in the economically distressed downtown area of my hometown, Woodbury NJ.  We were happy to see it open as most of the other downtown businesses have more of an inner city vibe.  A take out fried chicken joint, a check cashing service, a "no contract needed" cell phone operation, and a bail bondsman.  I haven't, as of yet, needed any bail money and I try to avoid take out foods that ooze through the bucket before I can get them home.  So needless to say Woodbury can use a little upscale BYO place for a romantic evening that doesn't involve plastic forks and a bottle of Colt 45 in a brown bag.  The best thing about dining in downtown Woodbury is the fact that we could walk to the restaurant and I was able to apply the $9.00 I saved on parking in Center City Philadelphia to a nice appetizer. I chose a Gorgonzola, pear, and candied walnut salad since a side salad was not included with my entree.  In wishing for a chic restaurant to open in my city, I forgot that upscale is synonymous with a la carte.  Is it a crime to want an uptown experience for a downtown price?  Especially since there was some sort of police activity outside the restaurant during two-thirds of our meal.  The red and blue flashing lights added a sort of  "this may be my last meal for a while" ambiance.  But the meal was quite delicious and kudos to the owners for taking a chance on Woodbury.  I sincerely hope they make it.

As for the concert it was cultural in the sense that broccoli salad made with Miracle Whip is cultural.  The nutritious cruciferous green vegetable is certainly in there but you have to get through the extraneous fat and sugar laden dressing to unearth the goodness.  The music was Tchaikovsky, Beethoven,  and Mozart but the lasers, video screens, and staging mechanics was all Kiss.  And like the above mentioned salad, The Trans Siberian Orchestra might over do it a bit with the dressing.  While extremely entertaining during the show, you are somehow left wondering if you should have ingested all that in one sitting.  But the crowd was more potato salad than arugula salad so they know their audience.  And, as Tammy noted, if that is the only way you can get some people to listen to Beethoven then so be it.  To be fair, I don't go to Philadelphia Orchestra Concerts either.   I find it rather difficult to sit through an entire concert without being able to stomp around a bit and shout "whoo whoo" a lot.  Perhaps a few well placed lasers during some of the slower movements in Handel's Messiah might get me more interested in attending.  Or, like the guitar and violin solos at the TSO concert, a harpsichordist on a scissor lift in the middle of the audience might not be such a bad thing.  Let's face it, even a hardcore hollandaise epicurean needs a little Miracle Whip now and then.