Stars n Moons 6/27/07

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

By PJH Staff

(M)ASS Ensemble
I took my kids to Bill Close’s Earth Harp and MASS Ensemble concert this weekend at Snow King. I had been anticipating this for a long time. But while the Earth Harp instrument, with its yards of cable strapped to the hillside, was awe-inspiring and cool to look at, and the musicianship of the band was right on, the showy Vegas-style showmanship was a disappointment.

Close brought along two scantily clad girls to front the band. They gyrated, strutted and stroked their stuff throughout the night. The interaction between Close and his “girls” reminded me too much of David Copperfield, and the mix of New Age music and go-go moves was actually humorous. The lead singer, while talented, was annoyingly affected, and the other girl made some suggestive moves with those big cables that raised some eyebrows. What next? A lap dance?

Close should have concentrated on the music and beautiful surroundings, not the beautiful girls. This act is perhaps better suited for a Vegas strip club.
— Mary Grossman

Satisfaction at last
Living in a place where dropping $1,000 on a purse or $5 million on a second (or third) home is a daily occurrence, I take comfort in the fact that our East Coast counterparts have drawn the line on profligacy.

A Washington, D.C., judge ruled Monday that no pair of pants is worth $54 million, rejecting a lawsuit against a neighborhood dry cleaner that allegedly lost a man’s suit pants and tried to replace them with a pair that were not his.

You’ve heard the story: Roy L. Pearson, an administrative law judge, initially sued the owners of Custom Cleaners for $67 million, based on a city consumer protection law that fines $1,500 per violation per day and collects damages for inconvenience, as well as mental anguish and attorney’s fees (which in this case Pearson would have pocketed for representing himself). Pearson argued that the “Satisfaction Guaranteed” sign in the cleaner’s window implied a contract that was not kept.

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff was not having it. “A reasonable consumer would not interpret ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ to mean that a merchant is required to satisfy a customer’s unreasonable demands,” the judge wrote. Bartnoff ordered Pearson to pay $1,000 in court costs to the defendants; the recovery of the tens of thousands of dollars they spent in attorney fees will be considered later.
Thank you Judge Bartnoff, for not allowing this doofus to take advantage of the very legal system he swore to respect and abide by.
— Lucille Rice
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Stars n Moons 6/27/07 | Planet JH News Article: Stars & Moons

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