WARNER SUMMER CONCERTS BRING MUSIC TO THE MASSES.Byline: Sylvia Alloway SUMMER'S almost over. That means the end of the summer concerts at the Warner Center. I like the Warner summer concerts because they're outdoors and laid back; and of course, free. They are also old-fashioned in the best sense. At one time, famous people or large organizations that made a great deal of money almost always found some way to help the community with part of it. ``Giving something back,'' was the term used. The notorious robber barons Robber Barons A disparaging term dating back to the 12th century which refers to: 1) Unscrupulous feudal lords who amassed personal fortunes by using illegal and immoral business practices, such as illegally charging tolls to merchant ships that passed of the Eastern steel and railroad industries salved their consciences (rubbed raw from lying, cheating and exploiting the poor) by building universities and libraries. California's own J. Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty (December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American industrialist and founder of the Getty Oil Company. Biography Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, into a family already in the petroleum business, he was one of the first people in the world with a built not one but two breathtaking museums at which the admission is free. My home city of Chicago has a long history of putting works by famous artists (sculpture by Picasso and Calder, a mosaic by Chagall) right out in the public square for everyone (not just art snobs) to see. Instead of assuming that Joe Construction Worker and Mary Secretary couldn't possibly understand great art, the city displays the work and lets people decide for themselves. The Warner Center concerts show the same spirit. Every summer, Time Warner, a huge conglomerate, briefly puts aside wheeling and dealing wheeling and dealing Noun shrewd and sometimes unscrupulous moves made in order to advance one's own interests wheeler-dealer n and brings a gift to the Valley: music for everyone, not just the ``in crowd.'' And everyone is there. On Aug. 22, I went to a performance by Steve Allen in an official capacity. Along with the radio drama group 30 Minutes to Curtain, I worked the KCSN public radio booth. In addition to watching Allen in both his serious (tribute to jazz great Bix Beiderbeck) and comic (``The Girl With Emphysema'') modes, I watched the people. Lots of them. Old people, young people, big, small. An older man stood at the booth and talked volubly for about half an hour. A little girl walked back and forth three or four times before she got up the courage to ask for a balloon. A boy and girl of high school or early college age were dressed in fancy party clothes. She in a long, full-skirted dress; he in creased trousers, shirt, tie, vest and hat. They danced to Allen's big-band music, a style popular decades before they came on the scene, as if born to it. A tiny flaxen-haired child practiced gymnastics gymnastics, exercises for the balanced development of the body (see also aerobics), or the competitive sport derived from these exercises. Although the ancient Greeks (who invented the building called a gymnasium to one of Allen's Latin-flavored pieces. Some folks brought their dogs. A handsome Irish setter Irish setter, breed of large sporting dog developed in Ireland in the 18th cent. It stands about 26 in. (66.0 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs between 50 and 70 lb (22.7–31.8 kg). puppy puppy the young of the canine species; usually used up to the age of 12 months. fading puppy syndrome see fading kitten/puppy syndrome. puppy pyoderma see impetigo. sniffed the air nervously. A fluffy fluff·y adj. fluff·i·er, fluff·i·est 1. a. Of, relating to, or resembling fluff. b. Covered with fluff. 2. Light and airy; soft: fluffy curls; a fluffy soufflé. little whatchamacallit leaped and yapped. A gangly gan·gly adj. gan·gli·er, gan·gli·est Gangling. [Alteration of gangling.] Adj. 1. mutt played Frisbee with two of his humans. (It's just as well we didn't bring our dog. He would have jumped up onto the stage and tried to lick lick 1. a stroke with the tongue, normally used in cleaning the coat or ingesting a substance from a flat surface. See also licking. 2. a mixture of salt plus other macro-elements, especially phosphorus, trace elements, vitamins and other feed additives, fed loosely in a box Allen to death.) There were picnickers and players, listeners and lollers, fans and fools. In short, different ages, sexes, economic echelons and even different species - all got to enjoy the music of Steve Allen without any social or financial strings attached. For a few hours, real people took art back from the snobs. The Valley should be proud. |
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