As you Like It

Although overproduction is a word that fails to feature in any of Shakespeare’s opus, it is a word that is often used when American Culture or society is criticised. I was thinking about this when I attended the July 4th Independence Day celebrations.

To start with the city seemed to be hosting TWO firework shows, one over Elliott Bay and another over lake Union. Considering that at least half the resident population had already bought fireworks of their own to let off in their back yards this may already seem like one more than necessary.

I attended the Lake Union event in Gas Works Park and since Krissie is working at a theatre run by an organisation that helps to put on this event we benefited from V.I.P tickets and a sit down meal at the water’s edge. Interestingly Loui, who two years ago thought this was brilliant, choose this time to hang out with the general public that throng the Hill alongside the old disused gas works. With rock, rap and hot dogs on offer in contrast to the Jazz and Teriyaki Chicken of the enclosure there really was no contest.

As the lights of the city began to dominate the dusk across on the other shore, a Blues version of the Star Spangled Banner, delivered from The Hill, announced the flypast of the Chinook helicopter, a huge American flag raging from a pole attached underneath signalling the start of the fireworks.

There were a lot. 20 minutes or more. Yeah, yeah of course they were amazing and synchronised with a medley of music from great American recording artists of the last 60 years, but there wasn’t a note of Rap in there and honestly a third of what they gave us would still have been stunning.

There was no speech from the mayor as there was two years ago, when he movingly spoke about the citizen ceremony that had taken place that morning at city hall, but maybe that was just part of the work that went into making the event different this time. However the choice of Frank Sinatra singing “Fly Me to The moon” was a masterstroke and made up for the absence of Hendrix’s version of the national anthem that had dominated the event in 2006.

The wonder of modern day technology allows you to relive the event on your computer by following this link. http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=260646 and you can also listen to the full musical accompaniement. It’s weird, on the night the choice of Magical Mystery Tour seemed odd but on the video it works really well, though compression into a laptop’s screen and speakers gives the event an unwarranted crassness that was entirely absent in the vastness of the lake before the city.

As the ash started to rain down on us and the stars began to be obscured by firework smog I remembered the November 5th bonfire nights I enjoyed as a kid when just a packet of sparklers and some sticky toffee was something we talked about for days.

In the supermarket the following day I noticed a similar overabundance with the salad condiments. There was firstly the choice of dressing or vinaigrette. Among the vinaigrettes I could chose, Roasted Red Pepper; Raspberry; Shitake Mushroom and Sesame; Gingerly (probably some ginger in there); Balsamic; Cracked Pepper (could be different than red); Olive and Lemon; Fig and Port; French Tomato; Italian Herb; Greek Feta; Russian Garlic (nothing from England I notice); Honey Pear; Blackberry, Pepper and Zinfandel.

Then from the dressings I had a choice of; Green Garlic (where does that come from?); Tuscany Italian; French; Cowgirl Ranch; Caesar; Mango Fat Free; Ginger Soy; Miso Sesame; Wasabi; Rich Poppy Seed; Huckleberry Ginger; Apricot Dijon; Key Lime Kiwi and Tangerine; and my favourite; Goddess.

And if I was still unsure there was always Champagne Honey Mustard Splash.

I could go a whole month without eating the same flavoured salad twice, and could probably go to a different supermarket and have a completely different month!

It seems that with fireworks on Independence Day and salad coverings at least, in America you can have things pretty much As You Like It.