"We're all Jesus and we're all Hitler," John Lennon Any links between this, this and this? … [Read more...]
Wire Fraud
Are there any other journalists out there offended by the oppressive praise smothering the final season of The Wire, especially with this season's bizarrely fatuous depiction of a Baltimore Sun newsroom? In the opening episode we were insulted by a grammar lesson on the use of the term "evacuate," … [Read more...]
QUOTES FOR INDUSTRY!
War profiteers stole two elections and screwed Iraq's pooch, but at least string theory's on track to explain physical reality... … [Read more...]
BLURB WATCH
"In the film [Lust, Caution] moderately scrutable orientals play inscrutable orientals pretending to be inscrutable orientals..."--Michael Wood in the London Review of Books … [Read more...]
more Philip Roth on music…
[it's been THAT KIND of week...] from The Human Stain, by Philip Roth 312-13 [Adagio from Third Symphony to close Coleman Silk's funeral...] That was it. They pulled out all the stops. They played Mahler. Well, you can't listen to Mahler sometimes. When he picks you up to shake you, he doesn't stop. … [Read more...]
Philip Roth on Yefim Bronfman
from The Human Stain, by Philip Roth pp. 209-210 Then Bronfman appears. Bronfman the brontosaur! Mr. Fortissimo! Enter Bronfman to play Prokofiev at such a pace and with such bravado as to knock my morbidity clear out of the ring. He is conscpiuously massive through the upper torso, a force of … [Read more...]
Levon Helm
My review of Levon Helm's Dirt Farmer aired this week on NPR's Here and Now. … [Read more...]
PIANIST’S PIANISTS
Part 3 (part one, two) EP: Do I get paid for these gems? If so, I charge by the word!!! TR: You sound like a writer. EP: In my estimation Horowitz recorded better due to his being a more sound oriented pianist. Also his virtuosity was more electrifying than Serkin's. I heard Horowitz live only … [Read more...]
Movement You Need Is On Your Shoulder
--includes my "Hey Jude" essay from Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary. … [Read more...]
Betty Grable Too
Give Peace a Chance
PLOT SUMMARY OF THE WEEK
"To acquire the cleverly named Book of Secrets, Ben plots to kidnap the current president (Bruce Greenwood) and blah, blah, blah purple monkey dishwasher..." --MATT ZOLLER SEITZ on National Treasure: Book of Secrets, NYTimes, 12/21/07 … [Read more...]
Quote of the Month
"As a drummer, I'm a really proficient thirteen-year-old..." --Rufus Sewell, star of Tom Stoppard's ROCK'N'ROLL on Broadway, in the New Yorker. … [Read more...]
“Rudy Should Play More Chopin”
TR: It sounds like you studied with both Serkin and Horsz at the same time? Was that typical, or did you take master classes from one or how did that work? It seems curious to me that MH was such cool as a teacher, through his playing I naturally assumed that he was effusive and passionate, and very … [Read more...]
Greatest Minds of My Generation
For my money, the two heros of I'M NOT THERE are David Cross, in wickedly inspired casting as Allen Ginsberg, and Al Kooper, who oversaw the BLONDE ON BLONDE sessions to make the score a delight to hear on those large theatrical speakers. Otherwise, Haynes's movie is about as avant-garde as a game … [Read more...]