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March 28, 2007
TT: Still in the barrel
I continue to joust with increasingly urgent deadlines, and for now I feel the need to spend such free time as I have (and there isn't much of it) consuming art instead of writing about it. I will, however, pause to tell you about my recent reading and listening:• C.S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed, which I reread after a very long interval in preparation for reviewing the new stage version of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, which I saw on Monday night. (Celebrity watch: Ethan Hawke was there.)
• Maurice Duruflé’s exquisite Requiem, to which I hadn’t listened for several years. I’d forgotten (but how?) that it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of music I know. If you need consolation—whatever the reason—you’ll find it here.
• Labyrinth and Watercolor, a lovely pair of jazz CDs by Kerry Politzer, my latest enthusiasm.
• Blues Stay Away From Me 1931-1951, an imported two-CD anthology of country duets by the Delmore Brothers.
• Carolyn Brown’s important new memoir, Chance and Circumstance: Twenty Years with Cage and Cunningham. I’ll be writing about it at some point, so for now I’ll simply say that if you have any interest in the emergence of avant-garde art in New York after World War II, you need to read this book. Among countless other good things, it’s wonderfully well written.
• An advance copy of Bill Charlap’s new CD, which reminds me to remind you that he’s playing at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room this Friday and Saturday. (Go here for details.) I’ll be at the second set on Friday—look for me.
Now, back to work.
P.S. If you've written to me in the last few days and haven't heard back, try to be patient and forgiving!
Posted March 28, 2007 12:00 PM
