Most people who watched the venerable CBS program 60 Minutes on Jan. 3 probably weren’t blind, and didn’t tune in right in the middle of a playing segment by jazz pianist Joey Alexander. But if those possibilities aligned, anyone listening would’ve heard a musician playing with the creativity, dexterity and improvisational skills of jazz keyboard legends from Art Tatum and … [Read more...]
‘My Old Lady’ darker, deeper than bland trailer indicates
On a recent trip to the movies, I couldn’t help but notice once again how the art of movie trailers has sunk into a sewer of desperate pandering — of milking every last comic line from a cinematic cow whose udders are running on empty. The first trailer that popped up on the screen was The Skeleton Twins, which is ultimately a sobering drama about severely damaged twin siblings … [Read more...]
Sundays: Sidelining the old narrators
By Myles Ludwig The Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath is a McLuhanesque moment: the medium has indeed finally become the message. This is in no way meant to trivialize the events and the horror and the victims and the PTSD that the citizens of Boston and perhaps all of America will need to find a way to recover from. This story had many of the characteristics of … [Read more...]
Sundays: It is my sad Google to report
By Myles Ludwig Sometimes I Google around to see if I can find out what’s doing with old friends I haven’t seen in many years. Facebook and LinkedIn have their place, especially for reconnecting with childhood classmates or former colleagues, but neither have the kind of depth to allow a peek over the ledge of our psyches to see very far into the meaning of the past. … [Read more...]
Chanticleer impressive in program of old, new love songs
By now, the 12-man vocal band known as Chanticleer has sung and recorded pieces in almost every imaginable genre, a long way from the Renaissance group its founder had in mind back in the late 1970s. But Chanticleer has managed in its career of nearly 35 years and multiple personnel changes to bring the same kind of polish and quality to everything they do, and that makes … [Read more...]
Anne Frank, literary genius
The Diary of Anne Frank is arguably one of the most widely read and influential books of the last century. Author Francine Prose has now penned a brilliant analysis, in which she asserts that the diary is a “work of literature” that has not been given its due. “How astonishing,” Prose writes, “that a teenager could have written so intelligently and so movingly about a … [Read more...]
‘Two Jews’ a deep, comic standout at Florida Stage
Wait, stop me if you’ve heard this one: There are these two old Jewish guys in Kabul, Afghanistan, see, and not only are they the last two surviving members of their much-persecuted religion, but they hate each other’s guts almost as much as they despise the Taliban. Their days are surely numbered, so they have to figure out a way to perpetuate Judaism in their land before … [Read more...]