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EYE ON IRAN
Close Encounter With A Guard
At American Embassy in Tehran
Story and Photos by Tim Boxer
R.
Mhd. Shariff Malekzadeh, deputy for tourism at the Iran
Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization,
invited me to cover the First International Tour Operators
Convention in Tehran in November 2008. When I had free time,
I urged my driver and guide to take me to see the American
Embassy.
Seized by militants in the 1979
Islamic revolution, the American Embassy is now headquarters
of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
My driver parked half a block away
from the entrance. He and the guide took a walk in the
opposite direction. I walked back to take my pictures.
A woman in full black burqa
emerged from the gate and crossed the street. I snapped a
shot. A man in plain clothes at the open gate waved a
finger. I was across the street, far from his grasp, so I
ignored him.
I took a few steps and raised my
camera. I shot pictures of the anti-American slogans and
anti-Israel threats splashed on the walls like colorful
graffiti.
Without warning a man in plain
dark suit grabbed my arm and pointed vigorously at my
camera. I was startled as he barked in what I assumed was
Farsi. I didn’t understand a word. He kept pointing to the
camera, he kept barking, and I kept struggling to disengage
from his heavy hand on my arm.
"What do you want?" I shouted. "I
don’t understand what you want."
I knew damn well what he wanted
but I certainly was not going to surrender my camera. I kept
repeating, like a high-pitched mantra, "What do you want?"
I’m in the country as a guest of
the government so I kept telling myself to keep cool. But I
would not allow this man, who is trying to intimidate me, to
drag me across the street into that black hole.
Then, just as suddenly as he
appeared, he let go. I walked a few paces with measured
steps. I refused to show fear. I glanced back, curious to
see him, but he was gone. Just like a ghost.
I felt relief that he didn’t force
me across the street and through the gate. I also felt
disappointed on losing a rare opportunity to explore the
IRGC stronghold from the inside.
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EYE AND THE CAMERA
Death Valley Comes Alive
Teeming With Tourists
Story by Tim Boxer
Photos by
David Boxer
RIVING
from Los Angeles across the state, David and I arrive at the
western entrance to the otherworldly panorama of
Death
Valley National Park.
According to the National park Service, this is not a true
valley but a basin caused by movement on earthquake fault
lines. Remember, this is California.
The name alone can strike fear in
any unaware sojourner. Don’t go in July when the temperature
averages 116 degrees F. We were there in December when it’s
comfortable.
We are prepared to roam the
country’s hottest, driest landscape in a car stocked with
bottled water, hiking boots, lots of sunscreen, hats and
shirts that repel harmful rays, and all-weather jackets for
the cool nights. And cameras; well, that goes without
saying.
The land is desolate but there are
lots to amaze you: bare mountains, inhospitable salt flats,
craggy canyons, stunning gorges, colorful gulches.
On our two-day sightseeing tour of
this inferno, first thing we encounter is a small oasis
named Stovepipe Wells Village
(phone 760-786-2387). Nearby we gazed at the ripples and
patterns of the mesmerizing sand dunes.
We checked into the
Furnace
Creek Ranch (phone
800-236-7916), and from there we visited the various sites.
The most intriguing spot is
Scotty’s
Castle, a
Mediterranean-style structure from the 1920s which was the
exotic vacation home for a Chicago millionaire. We took a
Park Service tour and learned the story behind this place.
Ubehebe Crater
is a popular stop. It came into existence by a massive
volcanic steam explosion. I stood at the rim and watched
David make his way down a trail to the floor of the crater,
800 feet deep.
At
Zabriskie
Point we are
rewarded with the park’s most spectacular views. Everybody
comes here. A short walk uphill brought us to the top
viewing area where we captured an amazing sunset.
Best time to see Golden Canyon is
late afternoon when the sun paints the sandy stone a golden
hue. Other sites not to miss are the mile-high
Dante’s
View, and
a nine-mile drive
through
Artists
Palette, a truly
colorful sight.
To see pictorial art by David
Boxer visit
www.flickr.com/photos/davidnc82.
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LAS VEGAS
Cirque du Soleil Soars With
The Beatles At The Mirage
Story and Photos by Ivor Davis
HE
Beatles would have
loved Beatles Love at the Mirage Hotel—a mesmerizing
show melding the incredible talents of Cirque du Soleil with
the Beatles magical songs.
John Lennon, however, would
have hated the hucksterism the show has generated. The
amazing array of overpriced Beatles/Cirque Du Soleil
T-shirts and the mugs and all the rest of the stuff that is
being snapped up nightly at the hotel’s "souvenir" shop. I’m
pretty sure he would not have been too thrilled at the
Beatles "setting up shop" in 2lst century Sin City. I know
this because I knew him. A little history.
On August 20, l964, I flew with
the Beatles on their chartered jet for their first visit to
Las Vegas. We were on an early leg of their first North
American tour covering some 30 cities in 35 days. I was
working for a London newspaper and ghosting a column for
George Harrison.
We all stayed at the Sahara but
the Beatles saw absolutely nothing of Vegas—except the view
from the window.
They were trapped in their suite
for two days. It was too risky to venture into the casino or
the street and be confronted by hundreds of screaming girls
caught up in the first wave of Beatlemania.
So the hotel’s PR people sent a
couple of slot machines to their suite where the Beatles
were dutifully photographed plying their luck.
This was the Vegas that Frank
Sinatra and the Rat Pack ruled and the mob, funded by
Teamsters Union pension fund money, ran the town.
The Beatles managed to get into
hot water during their Las Vegas sojourn even though they
were virtual prisoners in their rooms. Someone brought a
couple of under-age girls to their suite. The local
Sheriff’s vice squad showed up but the story was eventually
hushed up.
A black limo with a police escort
whisked the Beatles to the Vegas Convention Center.
Liberace and Pat Boone dropped by to meet the new
phenoms. The boys performed for 23 minutes. Then we were
back to the airport for the next stop—Seattle.
In January 2010 I’m at the Mirage
Hotel. It’s hard to realize that those four mop tops from
Liverpool could have inspired such an eye-catching fantasy
melding Beatles master recordings with Cirque du Soleil
visual magic in a theater built specially for this show.
The creator of the show, Cirque du
Soleil’s Guy La Liberte—a pal of George Harrison—has
spared no cost to stage the "in the round" razzle dazzle
show that made its debut in 2006 and spectacularly marries
some of the Beatles greatest hits, taken straight from the
original master tracks stored in Apple’s London
headquarters, with flamboyant dancers and acrobats.
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It’s a feast for the eye and ear.
Along the way you’ll get Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,
Strawberry Fields, Eleanor Rigby, All the Lonely People,
Yellow Submarine—while a 90-minute extravaganza of
costumes, high wire performers, visual sight gags and clever
special effects combines to provide genuine enchantment on a
scale not often seen here.
Apple, the company that
religiously runs the Beatles organization, and in doing so
meticulously siphons off the billions of dollars in
royalties tied to their musical legacy, has never allowed
anyone to tap into what has turned into a license to print
money.
It’s not surprising that the
Beatle widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison,
along with Paul McCartney and the Ringo Starr
family, have endorsed the show and the lucrative Beatle
franchise.
McCartney said of their Cirque du
Soleil partnership: "We’re slightly crazy people who like to
get involved with slightly crazy people."
John Lennon, who frequently
acted as the break to the breakneck race to wring every
penny out of the Beatles legacy, is no more. And when we
were in Vegas on that original trip, he went around
muttering, "Gambling is evil."
But I think even he would have
admired the theatrical part of this mega show which manages
to tap into the originality and the childlike wonder of the
best of the Beatles music.
Tickets of course don’t come
cheap: $100-200, with no discounts for kids or seniors. Yet
in today’s over-priced theatrical marketplace that’s not so
outrageous. The bottom line: For a Beatles fan "Love" is
worth every penny.
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