The art show ended in Maui with a roast of George W. Bush. Go-go dancers marched onto the stage waving an American Flag, while a catchy tune from Green Day blared out lyrics likely few would have guesses against the punchy pop rock backdrop:
Hear the drum pounding out of time
Another protester has crossed the line (Hey!)
To find, the money's on the other side
Can I get another Amen? (Amen!)
There's a flag wrapped around a score of men (Hey!)
A gag, a plastic bag on a monument
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday
The roast was at times crass and vulgar, often hilarious, and mostly uncomfortable. But shouldn't it be uncomfortable? The task of taking the current President to task is inevitably a strange and surreal experience because of how unbelievable it is that as a democracy we have allowed Bush to lead us to this place.
As I was telling a friend to come to the show-- "Osama will be there, Saddam will be there, Hillary... it will be very funny..."-- my friend remarked, "It had better be funny, he's got so much material to work with."
Some people walked out after the first five minutes to find solace in the artwork in the gallery rooms. And that perhaps shows why the Maui War and Peace Show closed with something that was below the belt, that called our President stupid, that made every immature jab at George W. possible, that cussed and slurred... the contrast of the Roast of Bush with the artwork in the Gallery served to show us where we could have gone with the rest of the show but didn't.
The War and Peace show was a memorial to the fallen and a powerful prayer for peace. It was honorable, it brought people to tears, it inspired. I can't tell you how many visitors, after walking through the gallery, sat down to express deep gratitude.
I found myself laughing hard when no one else was laughing and noticing others laugh when something wasn't funny. As I'm logging the videotape to my computer, I can't even hear the audio, but watching Saddam, Osama and Hillary dancing behind the spokesperson for Bush has me cracking up.
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