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Reply to "Opening "The Box" - Formerly "When the party bombs""

It's true, Seven, that factors surrounding war, a dubiously inflated perception of economy, and an even more hideous political machine working overtime to pummel fear into our daily consciousness all contribute to the lengths people will go to in order to find distraction. With "pleated pants" soldiers shelling out $700 for a table at The Box, I imagine they feel they are paying for entitlement to act out on others in a way they're unable to act out on each other at the office every day.

On the other hand, performers whose livelihoods depend upon finding good paying gigs are likely to flock to a place like The Box where the management is known to compensate them well. Places like Unisex Salon and Rapture, too, are limited with what they can pay performers in this environment. Interestingly, this evening's selection of acts culled together for TellTale Art at Rapture each turned out phenomenal pieces for the humble crowd of 40 - 50 people. It felt quite subversive in that the very ideas cited above (war, homeland security, etc.) were the fuel that fed these amazing acts. It was a pretty punk rock show in its ideals. The challenge is getting to balance that out in this day and in this city: getting the people in the door you want to financially support the work you're doing, when most of them can't even afford to live within walking distance anymore.

I believe P. T. Barnum faced the same challenges early on in his career.
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