Posted on 05/16/2004 2:32:30 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too
Michael Savage Uncensored
May 15, 2004 7:00pm PDT
Chronicle Pavillion
Concord, California
I attended the Savage Uncensored show at the Chronicle Pavillion in Concord, California last night, hosted by KNEW 910 radio. It was an improvement over his last show, Name 'Em and Shame 'Em, which was at the Marin Civic Center in 2000. Still, if Savage wishes to take his show on the road he will have to polish his act some more.
The audience was a mix of older couples, twenty-somethings, families, military/police/firefighters, and "Savage Singles." The show opened with a Metallica look-a-like band named "Creeping Death." They did a fifteen minute set before the show's Master of Ceremonies, morning personalities Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty, took the stage. Armstrong and Getty did some humorous bits before introducing a local Antioch Boy Scout troop Color Guard. The Color Guard marched down the aisles and onto the stage to a rousing round of applause. The Color Guard led the audience in reciting the Pledge Of Allegience (including a boisterous "UNDER GOD") and in singing the National Anthem.
Following the Boy Scouts, Armstrong and Getty reappeared, with Armstrong leading a hooded Getty by a dog collar. More humorous bits ensued, ending with Armstrong and Getty introducing featured speaker California State Senator Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks).
McClintock gave a saddeningly funny speech, drawing his material from the California budget woes. He lamented the current state of affairs in California by discussing the flight of people from California to the Arizona and Nevada desert:
"According to the census data, the most popular destination for California expatriates is the middle of the Arizona and Nevada deserts. Now I want you to think about that for a second. Imagine turning your state into a less desirable place to live and work and raise your family than the middle of the Nevada and Arizona deserts. There’s a reason why they tested nuclear weapons out in the southwestern desert of our nation. It’s the only place on the continent that can actually be IMPROVED with atomic bombs... If you cram too many Democrats in a statehouse for too long, you, too, can turn your state into a wasteland less desirable than the middle of the Nevada Nuclear Test Range".
On the state of the California budget:
"You want a really good look at this wreck? The Democrats are pushing a measure through the legislature to require the State Building Code to incorporate the principles of feng shui. IN THE STATE BUILDING CODE! For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the latest New Age fads, “Feng shui” is defined as “the ancient Chinese art or practice of positioning objects based on a belief in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi that have positive and negative effects.” You see, it’s no longer enough that buildings stand up during an earthquake – In California it’s important for our buildings to feel good about themselves."
During an intermission, Creeping Death played more Metallica tunes before Armstrong and Getty returned to introduce Michael Savage's son, Russ Weiner, who ran for the State Assembly as a Republican from Marin. Needless to say, he did not win and pursued a business selling an energy drink called Rock Star. Weiner introduced his father to the stage.
Savage rolled onto the stage in a vintage red Ford convertable ("when the chrome was thick and the women were straight"). Mocking San Francisco traffic, Savage stopped at a red light while a homeless man, pushing a shopping cart, sat down in front of the car and held up a "Will work for oil" sign. While waiting for the light to change, Savage read from several of the local Saturday newspapers (San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times), making extemporaneous remarks on the stories of the day in the fashion of Mort Sahl. This was Act I of what was announced to be a three-act routine. When Savage finished reading the newspapers, he gave the homeless man a bottle of 10W-40 and drove off.
Act II began as Savage, wearing a red bathrobe and sitting on his easy chair, was clicking through the channels on his television set in a mock living room that was rolled onto stage. He continued the theme from Act I of remarking extemporaneously on the TV shows as he clicked past them. This portion of the show occured at around 9:00pm PDT, and the TV was broadcasting a live feed from the local cable company. Savage clicked back and forth between CNN ("Larry Seltzer"), CNN Headline News ("Tokyo Rose"), CNBC, FNC ("Gave away troop positions"), and MSNBC ("They fired me over nothing."), before moving onto other channels like E! ("Why they think we're weak"), Disney ("Child porn"), History, QVC, Hallmark, etc. In a serendipitous moment, Savage had left the TV on the E! channel while moving into a monologue. While speaking, E! was running some kind of supermodel show with women walking down a runway. The crowd called for Savage to move aside and unblock the view to the TV. As he turned to see what was on, E! cut to a "Girls Gone Wild"-type clip of a young woman lifting her top to reveal a pixelated chest. "Ohhhhhh!" Savage exlaimed as he jumped back. Then E! did it again. "Ohhhhhh!"
Savage then moved into a sermon-style talk, weaving in the themes we hear from his radio show. He read a passage from the Bible to a silent audience. In the middle of comparing how the media portrays religion in America (no religion in the public square) vs. religion overseas (holy cities, sacred shrines, Islamic clerics), he jolted the crowd by playing, unannounced, the audio of the beheading of Nicholas Berg.
The second act began to run long and drag on a bit. Savage returned to the TV set and cycled through the channels again. Offstage, the crew was beckoning him to wrap up. Savage said that they were dropping Act III, which was to be a podium set. Throughout the show, he was saying how they "had a great close for the show." After finally wrapping up Act II, Savage announced that he had a costume change and that he'd be right back. After a five minute intermission, Savage returned in his convertable wearing a shiek's costume. The car rolled across the stage as Savage said "Goooooooooood-byyyyyyyyyyyye Infideeeeeeeeeels!" and rolled off the other side of the stage. That was the "great close." The audience was stunned at the abrupt ending, as the house lights went up. Nobody moved for a few minutes, although I was out of my seat and heading up the aisle. I had learned the Universal Law of Concert-Going in my youth: if the roadies start pulling cords from the amps or if the houselights go up, the show is OVER. Armstrong and Getty returned to the stage to thank the crowd and wish them good-night. The show ended at 10:30pm PDT.
Criticism
This is the second Savage show that I saw. The show in Marin in 2000 had a longer speaker list: Mike Levine - DEA agent, Chris Ruddy - Newsmax, Dr. Peter Breggin - anti-ritalin activist.
Also as in 2000, Savage asked the crowd to name their favorite bits for him to do (Dr. UnSavage, Scungilli, meatballs), but then he never did any of them.
My harshest criticism remains the same from 2000. Savage drank alcohol on stage during his performance. This totally wrecked his show in 2000, and probably undermined his show last night. In 2000, he was drinking straight vodka until his wife sneaked on-stage to remove the bottle and dilute his drink with water. Last night, Savage was drinking champagne and calling it "coffee." In 2000, Savage began insulting the audience (elderly well-to-do Marin conservatives) as they got up to leave in disgust ("What's the matter, gotta change your Depends?"), partly because of his drunken rudeness and partly because he was rambling and running long. Last night, people began leaving because he was again becoming long-winded and redundant. Savage started bickering with the stage crew as the night wore on. If Savage had stayed off the booze and kept to his timing, he might have ended the second set on a high-note and moved to his podium act for a big finish. Instead, he ran long and petered out in an anti-climax.
The crowd reaction as we walked to the parking lot was mostly, "He should stick to the radio booth." I think that, if he sticks to real coffee and tightens up his routine, he could be successful on the political circuit, but that's a big IF.
-PJ
McClintock sounded pretty good.
Maybe MY point is: Do NOT have a live Metallica type band!
-PJ
-PJ
How many people attended?
Thanks dude, enjoyed reading your review. I am a little disappointed by his reported acts, but thanks anyway.
-PJ
That's still a pretty good turnout. I know he gave a lot of free tickets out on his radio show - but it wasn't that many. A lot of them chose his book for free.
I think Savage's uneven performance can be chalked up to rustiness(no in-person performances for years), and the alcoholic imbibing which was probably prompted by an attempt to quell nervousness related to his aforementioned rustiness.
Savage has an all-important message and often displays great insight and passion in his radio commentaries, as well as humor. Radio's obviously his medium. But I would give him a pass.
I think it would have been fun. Savage is the only guy I listen to daily on the radio. I like him because he isnt like Rush and praise Bush every second and the republican party. Some "Republicans" dont like him that much because he isnt afraid to attack both sides.
GO SAVAGE
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I friend paid for my ticket....Speaking of alcohol...
Who paid for the other ticket?
-PJ
When I first started listening to him, I felt the same way, but it takes awhile to get use to him. I now listen to him often. I may not agree with everything he says, but he does bring out good points.
ditto's
-PJ
FWIW, he admitted on the air last night that he drank too much during Act II. (Yes, last night.)
I wonder if he realizes that he has to clean up his stage act if he's going to take it to college campuses -- if that's what is intended by hiring an assistant like he's been talking about the past few weeks.
-PJ
Now that you mention it, I think you could be on to something. Stay tuned for further exciting developments!
-PJ
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