Short Takes
November 30, 2010
For sale: 2 French 1920s leather club chairs
They’re smallish. The cushions need restuffing; the leather could use some patching. But they have a certain charm and elegance. And they must go — their replacements are arriving today. No reasonable offer refused? Hey, we’ll take an unreasonable offer! Write me at HeadButlerNYC@AOL.com.
November 25, 2010
Jacques Sandulescu: February 21, 1928 – November 19, 2010
“I was arrested in Brasov on my way to school,” his book begins, and right there, right at the start, you know that nothing good follows. Jacques Sandulescu was 16, and tall, and very strong, but there were many with an equal will to live who died in the hell of the Ukrainian coal mines. You can read about his all-but-impossible triumph in his remarkable book, Donbas: A True Story of an Escape Across Russia, but what you can’t get from the book is the sweetness of the man he would become. I met Jacques when I was young and lost, and much in need of a role model, and he helped me locate the best parts of myself — no small gift. His wife, Annie Gottlieb, writes of his death: “Friends were here, we kept Jacques with us overnight. This morning before the mortuary men took him, I put my hand on his chest, and there was still warmth over his heart.” That last bit — I’m totally unsurprised.
November 23, 2010
Paul Simon: One New Song, One Click Away
Paul Simon slapped up a Christmas song — not cloying holiday cheer, but definitely something to cheer about — on www.paulsimon.com.
November 17, 2010
Politics: ‘Maybe he’ll listen to you’
For those who have the stomach for these things, I have an Open Letter to Michelle Obama on Huffington Post.
November 15, 2010
What were you doing when you were 18?
This is what Stevie Winwood was up to. A rare video. Do crank the volume.
