Go and See The Last Cargo Cult

TheGuy and I, for the first time since TLG was born, attended some live theatre this past weekend. Yes, we arranged and paid for a babysitter – the whole nine yards. (Well, we went to the Sunday afternoon show, so not *quite* the whole 9 yards.) My old college chum Mike Daisey was performing his new show, The Last Cargo Cult, at Woolly Mammoth Theatre in downtown D.C. (And, when I say chum, I mean, it was a small college and we were both native Mainers and knew each other on the electronic notes boards, but you know.. still..enough time passes, you remember each other’s names.. it counts! A chum!)

The show was amazing. Really excellent. Totally worth seeing. In fact, I have made an offer on Twitter, and I will repeat it here: The first person to buy a ticket, see the show, and show me proof, I will reimburse. So basically: FREE LIVE THEATRE! The show is selling out and they have to conclude the run by February 7th, so don’t delay! Here’s the Washington Post review – a snippet:

Finally, the banking system has met its match. In “The Last Cargo Cult,” the inimitable Mike Daisey harnesses pervasive contempt for the way many banks have handled the financial crisis and uses it to fuel a divine rant about how we have allowed money to ruin everything.

The monologue at Woolly Mammoth Theatre may constitute the finest hour — actually, make that two hours — ever devised by Daisey, a tale-spinner of amusingly footnoted outrage. His brand of bombast is perfectly calibrated for examinations of the colossal follies of our time. In this instance, he gets the meaty topic between his teeth and, like some carnivorous poet, gnaws it down to eloquent bone.

And here’s the New York Times:

The way Mr. Daisey makes his arguments, more than the arguments themselves, is what makes him one of the elite performers in the American theater. Sometimes he lays them out straightforwardly, but more often he expresses ideas indirectly through story and, increasingly, through a self-conscious use of language. He repeats words (pay attention to “island” and “detached”), making them signposts to guide audiences toward his conclusion. He illustrates the relationship between money and trust this way: “I don’t buy that. That’s what we say in our culture when we don’t believe something.”

Here’s the thing: in my job, one of the things I do is canvas for experts (for a variety of purposes). And I’ve been doing this job for almost, *cough* 10 years *cough*. And over time I have learned that expertise does not happen on a smooth linear scale. That is, people in the first tier, at the top of their game, are not merely somewhat better than those in the second, they are usually at least an order of magnitude better. They are bigger and broader thinkers–more insightful, sharper, and all-around deeper. It is–usually–a stark and notable distinction. Mike Daisey is at the top of his game. Some have called him one of the finest solo performers of his generation. This is the first of his shows that I’ve seen. And I was convinced within just a few moments that he’s a top-tier performer.

So go and see the show if you possibly can. TheGuy and I have been talking about it off and on for the last week – I would see it again if I could. And we’ve incorporated a few catch-phrases from the show into our conversations–it has definitely got its hooks into us. It’s both deeply thought-provoking (although if you’re at all aware and self-reflective, not exactly surprising), very funny, and occasionally moving. Mike makes connections and observations that immediately resonate, but that you probably never would have come up with on your own.

Just go. He’s now on our ‘go every time he comes to town’ list – and for us, deciding that something is babysitter-worthy is a big deal. We watched even the new Star Trek separately rather than pay a sitter. So, declaring something babysitter-worthy is really our highest recommendation!