Paige Travis: Entertainment is experience
As the Yard Dogs Road Show’s magician lifted the bundle of knotted
handkerchiefs he’d just pulled from his mouth to reveal an exotic
chicken, my mouth fell open in utter disbelief, and I felt compelled to
consider the meaning of the word “entertainment.”
As we’ve come to understand the word’s implications, entertainment is
frivolous and ultimately unnecessary, like unlike dessert. Dessert is
delightful, but it doesn’t nourish like a plate of rice ‘n’ beans. What
a hot fudge sundae is to a nutritious meal, entertainment is to, say,
education: secondary, not requisite. And however much I think I’d die
without dessert, it’s simply not that important diet-wise. (Important
to my mental health, yes, but we’ll not go there.)
But after witnessing the Yard Dogs Road Show, I’m rethinking my idea
about entertainment and its role in our lives.
The Yard Dogs Road Show, a dozen or so young entertainers hailing from
the West Coast, took to the stage with pure zeal. Dressed in crazy
costumes that evoked Tim Burton characters stuck in the Wild West, they
held the audience rapt with story songs and sideshow stunts like
fire-eating, sword-swallowing and the aforementioned appearing chicken
trickery. They capered and frolicked and walked right up to the border
of hambone and toed it with a devilish gleam in their eyes. Without a
smidgen of irony, they were funny. To boot, the burlesque dancers were
endearingly sexy. As this description hopefully reflects, they were
fantastically entertaining.
But as our cheers faded and the lights came up, I wasn’t filled with
empty calories and an aftertaste that might require a mint. I felt
full, satisfied, tingly, somewhat dazed—the cerebral equivalent of
having consumed a healthy meal selected from the wide end of the food
triangle. What I felt was the sensation of experience! What was
presumably mere entertainment (with its forgettability implied) had
satiated my desire for knowledge! I had seen things I’d never seen
before: A chicken appear out of thin air! A man stick a sword down his
throat! A woman tap dance and play the accordion! A trio of curvaceous
dancers strip down to panties and tassels and do high kicks with
enormous feather fans! Zowee!
A part of my inner-self, my inner life, had been fed, not just
tantalized or distracted. It was saying, “Wow!” on so many levels.
Which leads me to the conclusion that entertainment isn’t frivolous; it
can't be waved away in favor of something supposedly more nutritious.
Entertainment is part of the meal. Entertainment is experience.
Paige Travis, publicist for A.C. Entertainment, seeks out thrilling
experiences as long as they don't involve actual danger.