Joe, Jane & John

The Sweet Adelines come on to sing. One of their songs has the line, "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Nobody seems to pick up on the irony, but then nobody seems to be listening to them. People talk all through their short set. At the table next to the one I am sharing with all my new friends, a young man with big teeth and small eyes tells an old man that he's reading a book by Winston Churchill.

People pay more attention when Tex Hill and the Rhinestone Rangers perform, perhaps because they talk as much as they sing, and the talk is all about Arpaio. Tex himself is in the posse. The bassist in the band says his favorite thing about Arpaio's gulag is "girls in chains." Nobody seems surprised, and there's probably no reason they should be.

Tex invites Arpaio to come up onstage, which of course he does. Tex says he's written a song about him. Arpaio stands there, hands folded, smiling humbly as Tex serenades him. Sheriff Joe Arpaio/Sheriff Joe Arpaio/He's the toughest sheriff in the West/Sheriff Joe Arpaio/Sheriff Joe Arpaio/He wears the star of justice on his chest. . . . I'm not making this up. The song is meant to be serious, and that's how the crowd takes it. The song also contains the line, Liberals may squawk/And prisoners may balk . . . .

Jane Hull has taken off. It's announced that "now that the governor has left, Sheriff Joe has something else to say." I wonder if he'll announce his gubernatorial campaign, but he chickens out. Instead, he just tells some jokes--the ones he always tells. He really needs some new material. Then he thanks his loyal staff for its help and support.

Unfortunately, most of his loyal staff members don't get to hear it because they're not here. Although primary flunkies like Hendershott and Lisa Allen--his aging bimbo of a PR flack--are present, his rank-and-file employees aren't. Considering how many of Arpaio's staff members hate his guts--especially his deputies--this isn't strange. But it underlines that even Joe Arpaio's gratitude is fake.