Vuepoint

DROP IT LIKE IT'S STUPID

You have to hand it to the City of Lethbridge and brave, morally
upright civic politicians like Mayor Bob Tarleck. According to
Tarleck, city hall was flooded with angry phone calls after a January
performance at the city's arena by California-based gangsta rapper
Snoop Dogg at which the D-O-double-G and a good portion of the crowd
were--gasp!--smokin' the reefer.

"The entertainers were smoking marijuana on stage and encouraging the
audience to do the same," Tarleck reported with disgust as he proudly
announced new rules that will force concert promoters in the small
southern city to consult police before booking an act, researching
the artists' past behaviour and consulting venues in other cities
that have booked them in the past. Performers deemed troublesome will
have to post a "behaviour bond" of several thousand dollars before
hitting the stage, money they will only get back if their performance
stays within the bounds of decency.

"When communities take a stand on this, those entertainers will
realize that their livelihoods are at stake and make the appropriate
adjustments," Tarleck boasted. "As long as communities just accept
that, it will go on."

Of course, there is no clear definition of what parameters will be
used to judge whether a particular performer is "troublesome" enough
to necessitate the posting of a bond, nor is there any word on what
particular on stage behaviours will cause a bond to be forfeited.
Moreover, there isn't any word as to whether this law will extend to
other forms of entertainment like, say, live theatre. If a character
in a play commits a crime, will the "behaviour bond" apply?

The theatre example might seem like a confusion of the issue, but
it's not, really. When Calvin Broadus steps on stage, he is playing a
character called Snoop Dogg--this is why they call it a "show." In
fact, even Tarleck and the Lethbridge city council admit that it is
impossible to tell if Snoop had actually smoked marijuana onstage.
All that anyone can agree on is that he smoked something that looked
like a joint while mentioning marijuana.

But good for Tarleck and company--it's nice to know that the next
time a theatre troupe in Lethbridge mounts a production of A
Streetcar Named Desire we can look forward to seeing sex assault
charges laid against the actor who plays Stanley Kowalski.