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Straight Up | Jan Herman

Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

Archives for February 2004

THE FIDDLERS FROM VIENNA

February 16, 2004 by cmackie

It’s good to see The New York Times taking constructive note of the Vienna Philharmonic’s discrimination against women, which I harped on earlier this month. In a report on Sunday about Seiji Ozawa’s role in Vienna’s musical world, “He Got His Opera, Vienna Got Its Maestro,” Alan Riding noted: [Ozawa] hopes to exercise influence in […]

PURPLE PROSE ALERT FOR PRESIDENT’S DAY

February 15, 2004 by cmackie

George Butler, who is making a documentary about Sen. John Kerry, says Kerry’s thoughtful younger brother Cameron “will have a very central role in any Kerry administration.” Provided, of course, that Kerry wins the Democratic presidential nomination and the general election. In honor of President’s Day, it’s time to point out that Cameron Kerry’s role […]

COMPARATIVE NOTICES

February 13, 2004 by cmackie

Full exposure: There’s nothing to deflate the self-regard of theater critics like comparing their notices. Here’s what they said about the Aquila Theatre Company’s staging of “Agamemnon,” which opened last night in New York. Notice, please, that the issue is not who’s right or who’s wrong, so much as why are all of them somehow […]

STILL PLAYING 2,500 YEARS LATER

February 12, 2004 by cmackie

Postmodern stagings of ancient Greek plays have their work cut out for them. Consider the “Agamemnon” presented by New York’s Aquila Theatre Company, starring Olympia Dukakis. It opens tonight. In trenchcoats and snap-brim fedoras, the chorus of Argos elders looks like it stepped out of a Raymond Chandler novel. Seven variations on Philip Marlow mill about […]

THE HANDS HAVE IT

February 11, 2004 by cmackie

I said, “Enough already!” But apropos Tuesday’s column by David Brooks, which claim’s our Maximum Leader is inarticulate “like most of us,” the staff believes you really should see these out of fairness to 290 million Americans (not including Donnie Boy): “The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.” “If we don’t succeed, we run the risk […]

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

February 11, 2004 by cmackie

Who knew? The spirit of “American Idol” infected U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft back in 2002. Was it a retrovirus? Watch him perform his own song, “Let the Eagles Soar,” at a North Carolina seminary. It must be seen to be believed or, depending on your tolerance for the surreal, disbelieved. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

FROM ROBUST TO BUST

February 10, 2004 by cmackie

The news media’s pretense that the Maximum Leader actually said something of value Sunday in his interview on “Meet the Press” was one more confirmation that the United States is being turned into a Banana Republic. So said I as straight-faced news stories began pouring in with headlines like this from UPI: “Bush defends actions […]

THE BOILERPLATE

February 10, 2004 by cmackie

Continuing our theme about irresponsible news media, here’s Paul Krugman on recent reporting of the Maximum Leader’s budget proposal: “You don’t want the news section to read like a partisan attack, but in the very first few paragraphs, you should say something like this is a budget that raised eyebrows around Washington, or something like […]

REGURGITATING THE GRAMMYS

February 9, 2004 by cmackie

The mere thought of watching the Grammys Awards was puke-making. For a minute-by-minute wrap of Sunday night’s show, we left it to summa cum laude student of pop culture Ryan McGee, who traditionally records his impressions online in real time at Wading in the Velvet Sea: 8:02 pm: So lemmee get this straight: The producers figured the […]

A TRULY LOUSY INTERVIEW

February 8, 2004 by cmackie

This morning’s “Meet the Press” on NBC should have been called “Meet the President.” If only Tim Russert had said: “Yes, Mr. President, but you didn’t answer the question.” The first exchange set the tone for all the rest: Russert: On Friday, you announced a committee, commission to look into intelligence failures regarding the Iraq war […]

FRENCH IS FOR FRIDAY

February 6, 2004 by cmackie

My staff of thousands is taking the day off. For your amusement, we recommend the recent oeuvre of Belle de Jour, the diary of our favorite London call girl, which reads increasingly like a serialized Proustian novel. (Scroll to the bottom entry –jeudi, janvier 29 — and read up. Also, we don’t really think of […]

A TALE OF TWO MOVIES

February 5, 2004 by cmackie

Exhibit One: “The Passion of Christ,” Mel Gibson’s take on the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life, to be released nationwide later this month. It purports to be an accurate historical depiction, complete with bloody whippings, nine-inch nails, subtitled Aramaic dialogue and, let’s not forget, the actual soundtrack (dolorous music, portentous drums) that accompanied […]

BARE-BREASTED FAME

February 4, 2004 by cmackie

My favorite Australian-born TV critic once wrote: “What the junk journalist doesn’t realise — or does realise, and waxes more aggressive so as to shout down his vestigial conscience — is that he’s not really a party to the star’s fame, which is based on solid appreciation and would still be there even if the […]

FORWARDING AGENT

February 3, 2004 by cmackie

From the Maximum Leader’s bonkers budget to biochemical terrorism in Washington, the news is too depressing today. So here, for what they’re worth, are laughs from Lara. I don’t know who Lara is. She’s just a forwarding agent. But I do know she has a sense of humor, even though her women’s collection of photos […]

THE TARNISH BENEATH THE CHARM

February 2, 2004 by cmackie

Ah, Vienna. Such a wedding cake. How gemütlich. So warm and cozy. But when you look closer, you discover the tarnish beneath the charm. Consider Austria’s major cultural export, the world-famous Vienna Philharmonic, which performs later this month at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. Seven years ago, after being criticized and pressured […]

BOWLING

February 2, 2004 by cmackie

We saw Janet Jackson’s breast-cum-starry-nipple bared by Justin Timberlake, reportedly an accident, then we saw a streaker. We saw the Budweiser donkey, the get-an-erection ads and the geriatric tug-of-war over a potato chip. We heard lots of noisy rock and crotch-grabbing rap. Did we see “Child’s Pay,” the moveon.org ad? Nope. Did we hear Willie […]

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Jan Herman

When not listening to Bach or Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes, or dancing to salsa, I like to play jazz piano -- but only in the privacy of my own mind.
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Several books of poems have been published in recent years by Moloko Print, Statdlichter Presse, Phantom Outlaw Editions, and Cold Turkey … [Read More...]

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The agenda is just what it says: news of arts, media & culture delivered with attitude. Or as Rock Hudson once said in a movie: "Man is the only … [Read More...]

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