Word: genericism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...backup dancers waving their arms rhythmically behind a solo singer) tends to weaken it. In addition to its ability to entertain, dance in musical theater should be a form of expression on par with acting and music. Carmichael frequently neglects this. In this piece, much of the dancing is generic, as if it were derived from a little-known early 1980's workout video called "Sweatin' to the Messiah...
...That was Iggy 30 years ago; Iggy now is "Behind the Music." So now Iggy's on stage and 50 and performing the same songs he was then. Sure, the band's lousy and thrusts every single great song they perform through a meat grinder which turns'em into generic hard rock, but still: "Raw Power," "Search and Destroy," "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "No Fun," "T.V. Eye," "Lust for Life," "The Passenger," "I Got a Right"--I'd watch him play these songs dead, they're so good...
...course, the bouncing Irish return to claim their stage. But the most egregious offense comes a few acts later. A group of African-American dancers saunter onto stage wearing black (get it! get it!) and start to boogie--and I mean exaggerated, highly offensive, stereotypical "boogie-ing"--to the generic beats of a sunglasses-wearing saxophone player. A second later, a group of beautiful blond Irish dancers all wearing white (aha!) enter stage left to start a little friendly competition with these upstarts. It's embarrassing. But the audience ate it up. Even more embarrassing...
...York City--scrambling to find an apartment, deposited (temporarily) by her employer in what is, truth be told, a pretty crappy office. Inoffensive museum posters hang on the wall; the painted metal and laminate desk is bare of much but a Poland Spring bottle and a phone; a generic screen saver plays across the monitor of a generic PC. In the middle of an interview, her phone rings. And rings. She rises apologetically and answers it herself. "It's what I'm used to doing," she says...
...Mount Rainier last August. With ice picks and crampons, ropes and harnesses, they began the final grueling ascent at 2 a.m., in white-out conditions, hail and high winds. They summited six hours later. Gore, who hasn't told that story publicly, has been closing his speeches with a generic bit about standing on the summit--"You can see a long way, but you can't see every day that will dawn." But he chose the wrong metaphor. He'd better hope the symbol of his campaign turns out to be that death-defying climb...