By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer

I don't get out much anymore. Even when I do, apparently I don't eat enough.

That was the sad conclusion I came to the other day after finding out that Wallace Theaters chain was ending its showing of mostly foreign and independent films at Restaurant Row.

Wallace said it was closing the Arts House for the only reason that seems to count for anything in America these days: It wasn't making enough money.

I tried to do my part. Week after week, I dragged my wife to see all those movies that somehow can't find a home in even the smallest corner of those 16-plexes that seem to be proliferating from Kane'ohe to Kapolei.

We saw Argentine con men movies, gay French road movies, Japanese anime, Italian soap operas, mockumentaries, Bollywood musicals, Brazilian cinema verities, and, just last week, a movie about a dwarf who inherits an abandoned railroad station in rural New Jersey.

They weren't always good, but they almost always did what the theater is supposed to do, which is transporting you for a few hours to a world you've never experienced and, in the best cases, never even imagined. The theaters weren't always full, but they did have respectable numbers of people who seemed to appreciate a few hours of entertainment that didn't involve superheroes, bad scripts, Keanu Reeves or big explosions.

The problem, it turns out, is we didn't buy enough food. As everyone now knows, the theater management makes its real money on concessions, not selling tickets.

For my part, I always bought a big tub of popcorn, a hot dog and a Coke; I know it was extravagant, but, hey, I don't get out that often, so I felt like treating myself. The rest of my fellow aging cinema buffs, however, apparently came for the movie and went out for a cappuccino or fine food afterwards, forgoing the $6 tub of popcorn (wholesale cost: 12 cents) and $3.50 soda appetizer.

Now, as usual, the consumers are being blamed for the loss of another cultural treasure in Hawai'i. It's always been this way. Everybody who never went to the stadium was blamed for the demise of the Hawaii Islanders. Everybody who never heard a concert is responsible for the continuing erosion of the classical-music scene. Everybody who doesn't drink beer is responsible for the closing of the Columbia Inn.

Come on, people! Do your part. Get out a little more, even if you don't like what your doing. The future of Hawai'i's culture may be in your hands.

Which brings me to the Jimmy Buffet and Bonnie Raitt concerts that are scheduled for back-to-back weeknights later this month. In my younger days, either one of those events would have been cause for a weekend-long revelry and a sick day to follow.

Now, we're being asked to go out to party like a Parrot Head one night, crawl into work the next day, and go back for a rocking dose of the blues the next, without so much as even time for a shower in between.

Honestly, I don't know if I'm up to it. But I'm going to give it the old college try. After all, I don't want people blaming me for the demise of rock 'n' roll, too.

Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.