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Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 Shelton-Mason County Journal — Page 13
Foreigner stops at Little Creek on farewell tour
By Kirk Boxleitner
Kbox/e/tnerCQmasoncounty com
After nearly half a century, the
rock band Foreigner is in the middle
of its “Historic Farewell Tour,” which
began in late 2022 and is set to con-
clude in 2024, but not before appear-
ing at Little Creek Casino on Sept. 23.
Keyboardist Michael Bluestein, a
band member since 2008, admitted to
bittersweet feelings about the band’s
last tour even as he appreciates the
chance to feed off the fans’ energy,
live and in-person, during the band’s
cross~country tour.
“It’s thrilling that the band’s cata-
log of songs continues to resonate with
so many audiences out there, after
all these decades,” Bluestein told the
Journal. “We just recently performed
for a crowd of about 13,000 in Detroit
and we were firing on all cylinders.”
Bluestein cited the desire to “go out
on top” as a big reason why Foreigner
is disbanding.
Like Bluestein, lead vocalist Kelly
Hansen is something of a nextugenera-
tion band member, havingjoined For-
eigner in 2005. Bluestein noted how
the 62—year—old Hansen wanted to end
on a figurative and literal high note,
while his singing skills were intact.
Bluestein said he always gets a
kick out of discovering a new crop of
venues with each concert tour even
as the band returns to many familiar
locales.
“I don’t recall ever playing in Shel-
ton before, but it’s fun to perform in
new places,” Bluestein said. “We’ve
been privileged enough to perform in
some great spots, including the Roy-
al Albert Hall in London, which has
hosted lots of classic rock greats, in-
cluding the Beatles.” ‘
Foreigner has played in Lucerne,
Switzerland, with the Alps in the
background, and at the Red Rocks
Amphitheatre, just outside of Denver,
as well as “unplugged” with an acous‘
tic set in New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Foreigner’s performance at Little
Creek will see them joined in singing
its hit, “I Want to Know What Love
Is,” by the Harstine Island Commu—
nity Choir, to whom the band is also
donating $500.
“We’ve been collaborating with 10-
cal choirs at our concerts for a while,”
Bluestein said. “We’ve been doing it in
partnership with the Grammy Foun-
dation to help raise music aware—
ness. When budgets are cut for public
schools, funds for music programs are
all too often one of the first things to
go.”
Bluestein said the goal is to encour—
age the development of music com-
munities in locales, especially among
younger and aspiring musicians.
“It makes me excited to see these
groups enjoying broader opportuni-
ties to get a taste of playing in front.
of large audiences,” Blustein said. “In
Detroit, the choir who sang with us'
was practicing their harmonizing on
Electric Light Orchestra’s ‘Mr. Blue
Sky.’ It was great. We just want to en-
courage that loveof music.”
Crime noir cult classic ’Mr. Inbetween’ on Hulu,
eet Ray Shoesmith.
He’s a fascinating
animal.
Australian actor, writer
and director Scott Ryan spent
the better part of 20 years
honing this character, and
the results impressed no less
than actress Helen Mirren
and her husband, director
Taylor Hackford.
Ryan’s first draft of Ray’s
character came in a low-bud-
get but critically acclaimed
2005 independent film called
“The Magician,” streaming on
Amazon, which established
Ray in Melbourne, before
Ryan transplanted the char-
acter to Sydney, for three
seasons of a half~hour TV
show called “Mr. Inbetween,”
whose 26 episodes originally
ran from 2018 to 2021, before
it began streaming on Hulu.
Ray is a divorced dad who
works a security gig at a strip
club, and cares for his broth-
er, who’s dying by degrees.
from a progressive motor
neuron disease, all while he
strives to maintain a mostly
civil relationship with his re-
married ex-wife, for the sake
IN THE
DARK REVIEWS
of the young daughter, with
whom they share custody. He
even patiently bails his less
sensible friends out of the
hot water they repeatedly get
themselves into.
Ray is also an enforcer
and a murderer for hire, who
employs crafty psychological
terrorism to persuade people
who owe debts to the wrong
folks to finally pay them, if
he’s not shooting them in the
head, after making them dig
their own shallow graves in
the Australian countryside.
Within a subgenre of crime
drama that plays up profes—
sional killers’ impulse-control
problems, and frequently
pathologizes mob members as
inheriting a gangster culture
with toxic traditions, Ray
Shoesmith is so old-school
straightforward in his por—
trayal that he circles back
around to become something
new.
Ray is not Tony Soprano,
who was driven by his un—
controllable temper and ap-
petites, and he’s not even Bill
Hader’s “Barry,” who sought
to repress and mitigate his
guilt over his fundamen—
tal moral qualms with his
vocation.
Because Ray is as good
as Barry at his job, but un-
like Barry, Ray feels little
remorse over inflicting sig-
nificant physical violence
and mental trauma on his
assigned targets. And unlike
Tony, Ray’s basic content—
ment with this work does not
stem from any desire to hurt
others, but from his mostly
unquestionng belief that
they had it coming.
Although an incident
of lashing out at two rude
youths on public lands Ray in
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a court»ordered anger man-
agement therapy group, Ray
is arguably the one member
of the group, including the
moderator, who has no an-
ger to manage. We that
his daily life includes enough
risks of retaliation, from pre—
viously unidentified others,
that proactive assaults ar-
guably constitute a rational
response to minor displays of
disrespect in Ray’s world.
Like fellow fictional Aus-
tralian “Crocodile” Dundee,
Ray is big on respect, but
what’s surprising is how ego-
free his definition of essential
respect is. We see him forgive
betrayals ranging from abu-
sive treatment to attempted
murder, when they’re direct—
ed toward him, but Ray will
not tolerate those closest to
him being victimized.
In contrast to the abusive
men in Ray’s therapy group,
who hit and yell at their girl—
friends, wives and children,
Ray’s willingness to resort to
ruthless violence derives from
his desire to protect his vul-
nerable loved ones, including
his daughter, his girlfriend
and his idiot best friend.
Tension stems from his
daughter and his girlfriend’s .
shocked reactions to the very
same questionable acts Ray
undertakes to try and defend
them.
And yet, even with certain
strangers, Ray exhibits some-
thing approaching a sense of
fair play, as when his boss ad-
mits that he accidentally told
Ray to kill the wrong man.
Ray anonymously donates to
the man’s widow to compen—
sate her for his mistake.
And not even God can help
anyone whom Ray catches
mistreating children.
This rough-hewn sem-
blance of a pinto-conscience
separates Ray from the char—
acter ofParker, in the pulp
novels Donald E. Westlake
wrote under his pen name
of “Richard Stark," because
Parker is a more sharklike
predator, always relentlessly
moving forward, whereas Ray
embodies the paradox of an
“everyday psychopath.” just
a punch—clock laborer whose
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