First Post: Saturday, August 26, 2023

Penultimate show of the amphitheater season last night. On your left, Terri Nunn & Berlin; other side, Boy George & Culture Club.

Certainly these bands have had more than enough road experience to produce an entertaining show. You might not have taken them seriously the first time you heard them way back when, and you might still roll your eyes now, but here they were, forty years from their earliest days, still in the game, making their fans go wild, at the most iconic La-La Land outdoor venue, no less. Surely, if you had told them back in the early-’80s that fast-forward to the year 2023 they’d be playing in front of thousands of screaming people giving them love & applause on a summer night in the open air in Hollywood, they might have told you to snort another line of coke, shoot some more smack, get the F out of here, bite me, etc. Yet through all their interesting lives & associated hijinks, they appeared last night to be pretty grateful to be doing what they were doing at that moment.

As for the show itself, the acoustics for the Culture Club set were terrible — muddy, feedbacky, bleeding. As well, Boy George these days is looking like he’s in his Henry VIII stage of heavy pomp; the microphone he waved in his hand may as well have been a jumbo-sized turkey leg.

But, in a moment of saving grace, he started slagging on Morrissey and never let up! Poor misunderstood Morrissey! And that was more than enough to make up for any going-through-the-motions tendencies Boy George has developed in his senescence.

Again: Let’s all slag on that precious Morrissey! Morrissey is entirely slagable! Boy George was taking the mickey out of Morrissey, AND WE WERE ALL THERE FOR IT! Boy George was taking the piss out of Morrissey, AND IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE ENTERTAINING! BOY GEORGE GAVE HIM A PROPER DOSE OF THAT PICCADILLY PALARE; HE FED IT RIGHT BACK TO THAT PRECIOUS MORRISSEY! If that doesn’t convert you into a Boy George Fan, nothing will. GO GET HIM, BOY GEORGE! PROPER BOLLOCKS, MATE! MORRISSEY, clear off, bugger!

There were many other surprises befitting these past-their-primers maintaining their show-biz profiles. We already highlighted on the improbability of Berlin & Culture Club still being viable stage acts this late into their careers. BUT…did we ever envision, back in 1983 or so, that not only would Berlin & Culture Club split a bill together, but that TERRI NUNN & BOY GEORGE would share the stage for a duet of…‘BANG A GONG’? YES! That ‘Bang a Gong’, the old T. Rex classic. WHAT?! ON WHAT PLANET?! GET THE F OUT OF HERE! SHOOT SOME MORE SMACK!

Not to be outdone, LULU (yes, that LULU, the one from the motion picture with Sidney Poitier, the one who sang a James Bond theme song, THAT LULU) was presented on stage for a duet with Boy George of the David Bowie song ‘The Man Who Sold the World’, a song Lulu herself covered some fifty years ago. OH, THE DEBAUCHERY! 

Just for all these oddities & totally unforeseen surprises, this show was an all-timer. Nevermind the music or the musicianship. The camp was off the charts. SLAG OFF, MORRISSEY! Go yodel someplace else!

P.S. Bonus culinary review: the in-house popcorn was back to its best last night; it had been surprisingly ordinary at all of this season’s previous shows. When The Hollywood Bowl popcorn brings its A-game, very few other popcorns can come close. 

BestLine Racing Society Recap: 

Delaware, Del Mar, Golden Gate, Louisiana, Monmouth & Saratoga from before.

Starting at Del Mar, Calif., for Race 5 there; in it, #8 Pride of the Nile (.230 Win Prob / 3.35-1 Fair Odds / 4.22-1 Premium Odds) won it for Cleopatra & Ptolemy at $15.60; completing your winning $62.60 exacta was #1 Kitty Kitana (.202 / 3.95 / 4.94), with the premium price on that comboa (comboa!) being $50.13. Then in Race 7 there, three first-time starters were included in the 11-horse field, but if that inexperienced trio did not distract you, you found #11 Harry’s Onthefly (.287 / 2.48 / 3.18) as a low-priced overlay winner at $9.80.

Race 3 from Bossier City, La., had #4 Saenz (.239 / 3.18 / 4.02) and #10 Saint Kennedy (.104 / 8.62 / 12.46) combining on your winning $115.60 exacta whose premium price was $108.21. Then in the finale there, #8 Tensas Candy (.319 / 2.13 / 2.76) grabbed same at $7.60.

At Oceanport, N.J., #2 Aztec Legend (.296 / 2.38 / 3.05) won Race 4 for Moctezuma (Moctezuma!) at $11.20. 

The opener at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., had a first-timer running, but if that did not bother you, then #2 Catire Vizcaya (.329 / 2.04 / 2.65) was your playable low-priced overlay winner at $8.30. 

BestLine Racing Society Nightcap: 

Remington for your Saturday night now.

Strongshots

Race 3
#4 Laridae (.310 / 2.23 / 2.87)

Race 5
#9 Majestic Liaison (.357 / 1.80 / 2.36)

Longshots

Race 7
#7 Wiki Lio (.164 / 5.10 / 6.32)
#11 Magic Bubbles (.162 / 5.17 / 6.41)
#1 Almost Dialed Out (.129 / 6.75 / 9.85)