Algren was the author of more than a dozen books. I’m betting that his two most famous novels — The Man With the Golden Arm and A Walk on the Wild Side, one a tragedy and the other a comedy — will last longer than any of the novels by Mailer, Vidal, Updike, Cheever, Kerouac, […]
Archives for March 2010
Getting It Rightwing
Robert Parry said it for me. The bottom line is this: When the American Right is offended, the “corrections” come fast and are sweeping, even in highly dubious situations. Sometimes heads roll. But when the American Left feels aggrieved, the “corrections” are slow and grudging, often very narrow in scope and still misleading. Nobody is […]
Symphony Space to Screen ‘BACH & friends’
“Symphony Space has given us a wonderful present for Sebastian’s 325th birthday,” says Mike Lawrence, whose terrific documentary, BACH & friends, will have its New York premiere at Symphony Space’s Peter Jay Sharp Theatre on May 16. The Sunday evening premiere, beginning at 7:30 p.m., will be followed by a screening of complete performances of […]
It’s Still a Circle Jerk, That’s Why
This appeared two weeks ago: (Click to read) This appeared a decade ago: (Click to read) Which pretty much says it all. Postscript: March 22 — Well, well … no it doesn’t. The Vienna Philharmonic has permanently appointed its first woman concertmaster. Will wonders never cease? emailFacebookTwitterReddit
Spoils of War: An Oscar for the Locker
When I saw The Hurt Locker back in August, I thought, “Finally a grunt’s-eye view of the war in Iraq. And not so gung-ho either.” Leave it to my staff of thousands to straighten me out. Bill Osborne wrote in an e-mail message, “I thought it was a subtle form of American war propaganda that […]
Still at Large
Click logo for mugshots and flowcharts: There is abundant evidence that war crimes were committed by the Bush Administration. … The question is very simple: Will any officials of the Bush Administration who are responsible for the “war on terror” be indicted and held accountable for those crimes? — War Criminals Watch If the Obama […]
Better Than a Review . . .
Bach’s Brilliant Friends
Bach on the organ? Of course. On the piano? Certainly. On the cello? Naturally. On the violin? Sure. But Bach on the banjo? The ukelele? The mandolin? How about the glass harp? Or the clarinet, the guitar, and the double bass. And let’s not forget a cappella. You hear them all — brilliantly filmed and […]