Joanne Pow!ers As Antidote to Comfort

The Overture Center bashing continues. This time it's Mike Basford at his Isthmus home:

As long as I'm breathing, I will resist efforts to stop Joanne [Pow!ers] from providing the vital service of unleashing aural reality upon the comfortable Overture Center patrons as they exit onto State Street.

Personally I wouldn't say that Pow!ers unleashes aural reality when she's out on State Street with her sax. When I hear her in that context, she plays lovely melodies intended to get some coin off passers-by and saves the Archie Shepp channeling for when she is in a coffeehouse or club. Either way, I enjoy her music.

But it underscores the fact that the marketing folks at the OC have a long way to go in changing the public's perception of the place. Here's a bit of free advice for them: try an ad campaign similar to Microsoft's I'm a PC. Here's one of their commercials:



I'd volunteer to be in a "I Go to the Overture Center" commercial but I don't think a fat, pale geek wearing a Cthulhu-themed t-shirt would help the cause. But it can't be too hard to find others. When I've been there, I've seen the young and the old; I've seen pale faces and those with darker skin; I've seen those with epicanthic folds and those without; I've seen the wealthy Madison elite as well as those who can't afford a show at the OC on a regular basis. In short, all kinds of people.

The Overture Center is a rather egalitarian place. Sure, you can see the Madison members of Club Croesius at the OC but there's plenty of free activities as well as those directed at children. And tickets are to be had that go for much less than, say, a Badger game. I hope Mike Basford never finds himself at Symphony Hall in Chicago. Once he sees all those Gold Coasters donning their mink stoles, he'd do his Bruce Banner imitation and turn into the Incredible Hulking Marxist Revolutionary.