Event Tickets

–Some Things You Just Don't Wanna Miss–

Beacon Theatre

Self Righteousness - It's Comfort and Security - "Can't Forgive You When I Am Totally Forgiven"

 

After the Crash in 1929. It Was The 30's.

Lefty was 14 when his Dad dropped dead of a heart attack on the living room floor. It was just before Thanksgiving, but that season, that year, would be bleak. Lefty's four siblings were all younger, all the way down to the 3 year-old looking up in complete wonder at the crying, the moaning, the cops, the ambulance and all those relatives. Lefty's Mom was an alcoholic, but more than that, she was a severe manic depressive. When her grand generous wealthy husband hit the carpet that day, she went into a spiral of suicide attempts and despair that made her a patient immediately of a local asylum in Boston.

Lefty was the oldest, but a real athlete and street urchin. He pitched from the left side, and he was known in town as an incredibly effective left-handed pitcher. It was said that he could play semi-pro within a couple years. Lefty was heart broken at his father's death as was all of the family. He was a successful real estate developer in Malden, MA in the 20's and he liquidated his real estate holdings, after the crash, one by one, allowing his renters to remain, until the banks literally took over. The young beautiful mother, the manic depressive tried to kill herself by gassing herself in the kitchen oven at Midnight. It was Lefty who found her. He crumpled up in exhausting despair. When the authorities got there, they turned to Lefty, the 14 year old to institutionalize her. It was really just a formality, but the family took it as an act of betrayal. Lefty was ostracized by the older aunts and uncles, and of course, as time would go on, so too, the siblings would hate him. Lefty went to the streets and raised himself through less "dignified' relatives, and his own pluck and resourcefulness.

Lefty Goes To Beacon Street, Becomes an Actor, Marries A Strikingly Beautiful Actress

The amazing part of Lefty's life is that his abandonment led to doing chores at one of the most famous theatres in America, sneaking around and sleeping there - unbeknownst to others. Long story short. Lefty got a walk on at Beacon Street, then a part with lines, then... Lefty ended up being a national celebrity on soap operas in the 50's. This is not about Lefty's rise, no. This is about no matter how base and low or famous and celebrated, Lefty could never get any mercy from his religious siblings. Admittedly families can hate each other without the help of religion, but this family was particularly outstanding.

The Sibllings Get God

In the 40's and 50's, while Lefty his beautiful wife and his four kids were living off the media and the coasts, and doing the "gypsy theatre" thing. Lefty's beautiful wife was a "devout Episcopalian" and then left this substantial and traditional religion for a more "Jewish/Christian" religion. The Siblings were all in one traditional, conservative religious setting, all lived close to one another and developed a cloistered self satisfaction with their sanctified lives. One thing though, they would not talk to Lefty. He was "persona non grata".

Sure they still hated him for institutionalizing their Mother. And then they were filled with a super virus called Sibling Envy. In the late 30's he was sleeping at Beacon Hill in the attic, in the early 50's he was on this new thing called TV. They would stand in front of those big boxes and watch their brother with utter shock. Was he religious? He sang in a choir as a kid; and his Dad dragged him to the big church events: Christmas and Easter. But no. He as not religious. His beautiful wife was "religious enough for all of us". "I'll get to Heaven on her coat tails", he would say. Then he made the mistake of writing plays about his home life and the region he grew up in -- New England. He was honored as an award winning playwright.  None of the siblings would show.  The Virus put slimy boils on the siblings' skin.

"It's Not Envy, It's Our Sanctification"

Lefty made occasional forays into the original land to see if there was any possibility for reconciliation. He was told, after he apologized as much as he could, that he was not acceptable. That he was "beyond the pale". "We can't forgive you. It's not for us to forgive you anyway. God has forgiven us, and thus we are a part of his family. We are redeemed, and thus we can not forgive you." Over the decades, life would pass, as it does, letting sanctimony and resentment sit together on Thanksgiving days that never happened, because religion was too strong an act to follow for these poor "national thespians".

The Beautiful Wife Quotes A Little

Once the beautiful wife threw some pertinent quotes their way. When they were stuck on a strident long distance telephone call. It was quite a display of Biblical understanding. However, her profundity fell on "forgiven ears". Two of the female siblings just huffed and said: "Who are you to quote the scriptures, at us. We are forgiven, you are not."

Holding Hostage Our Spiritual Impulses

When religion was just shamanism, and people would come over the hill and have seasonal feasts, they would be entertained by the individuality displayed by each Shaman. They were respected and feared. But dogma had not yet been invented, and doctrine had not been installed, except around plantings and harvestings, and hoping to heal, marrying and burying. But because our spiritual urgings and impulses are always with us, religion was going to have a future. Because there are so many unknowns, and so many unanswered questions, there is a permanent place for religious and spiritual thought. Religion means "to bind back", a rather ironic turn of thought. It definitely has a binding effect. Yes, we wake up with our spiritual hearts thumping every darned day, and thus this will always be a human condition. It does beg us though to be thoughtful about the way we express our religion.

Made Perfect By The Flesh?

And it has a way of affecting the political, the emotional and the governance of man. One of the last statements made by the beautiful wife was theatrical, because she was was a professional actress; and the moment seemed to call for it.

"Oh Foolish Galations! Who has bewitched you! Having begun in the Spirit, are you made perfect by the Flesh?"

 

The "Galations" took complete offense naturally. This tendency, that she noted, is what religious people can tend to fall into. It is as if they are declaring: "I have this Spirit thing down, now, my human relations and my life in the flesh is covered."

When a warm feeling of Security through Salvation puts you into a wonderful slumber at night, and you can comfortably hate your brother Lefty; and then you rise with that warm feeling covering your animosity and your self righteousness. It behooves us to ask how does a system that makes me feel closer to God, subsequently make me feel farther from my brother"? Christofer French is the Founder of Astrologygetalong.com. He was ordained in the early 70's, and has taken the name of "Syncretist" to find the "the ties that NATURALLY bind" us together.

 

 

 

About the Author

Do the lower balcony or the upper balcony have a good view in the Beacon Theater , NYC?

NJ&TA concert there but ive never been there.. are those places (lower and upper balcony) good ?? do they have a good view?!?? PLEASE ANSWER ASAP
so is the lodge and orchestra the best seats in the house?

Lower is better. But it depends on the show. I saw the Allman Bros there a few years ago and the lower was the place to be.
Actually, there is not a bad seat in the house. An excellent venue for a show.

Elton John - Tiny Dancer (LIVE) - Beacon Theatre, New York City