Short Takes
May 29, 2010
The Beauty Part: Liam Hurley
Before Liam Hurley was Josh Ritter’s drummer, he was a puppeteer at the Central Park children’s theater. Now he’s taken "The Curse," a song from Josh’s new CD, and painstakingly made an animated video. Love Josh, loathe Josh, no matter — I don’t see how you can fail to be knocked out by the gorgeousness of this video.
May 27, 2010
Peter Wolf: Extreme Fun
Peter Wolf’s brief tour is ending, and weren’t we lucky to see him. He looks like a stoned hipster out of an R. Crumb comic — skinny, tall, all in black, dark shades, dangling hair, porkpie hat — but as a showman, there’s none sharper. He’s got bouncing leg disease that takes him all over the stage, his karate chops could take Elvis down, he’s the heir to James Brown in microphone manipulation — if he works on his spin moves, he could do some damage as an NFL running back. Soul, R&B, country: He did it all. My wife nailed it: “This is like watching Mick Jagger… from 10 feet away.” Okay, you missed him. Make do with Midnight Souvenirs and Sleepless.
May 24, 2010
Scenes from a Marriage: JK on Laura Bush
Having been married a few times, I was asked by a friend at the Brennan Center for Justice to review Laura Bush’s memoir. My piece is only a little political, so maybe those of you who remember Laura and/or George fondly can stand to read it without gagging. Anyway, it’s here.
May 16, 2010
The Best Book on Leadership — Ever?
Steve Hannah, CEO of The Onion, is not especially funny. But he is damn smart and a great judge of character, as this New York Times interview suggests. Ten years ago, he met one of my very few heroes, Lt. Gen. Harold Moore, co-author of one of my favorite books, We Were Soldiers Once … and Young. The book about leadership they were going to write didn’t happen, but they spent enough time together for Hannah to learn some valuable lessons. (There are many more — please read the whole, brief interview.) A sample:
He taught me that you never, ever do anything to deprive a human being of their dignity in work, in life. Always praise in public and criticize in private. You might be tempted, for example, when you’re letting someone go, to say something that would diminish the value of their work. Don’t ever do that.And he taught me that when you’re faced with something that’s really difficult and you think you’re at the end of your tether, there’s always one more thing you can do to influence the outcome of this situation. And then after that there’s one more thing. The number or possible options is only limited by your imagination. Hal often said, “Imagination is enormously important, enormously important.”This is Hal Moore, accepting an award — in 50 seconds.May 16, 2010
Christopher Hitchens: No Thanks
A publishing imprint I admire releases just one book a month — a sane strategy in a wobbly business. The June book: a memoir by Brit critic and man about town, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22. I suspect the reviews by American writers will be good to glowing — Hitchens is nothing if not witty. Alas, I have always had a visceral dislike for this guy and his smarter-than-you-are, snottier-than-you’ll-ever-dare-to-be style, so I won’t be reading or reviewing it. But I thought an English critic might have a useful take on the book, so here’s Lynn Barber. Punch line: “Hitch admits right at the end that Hitch-22 is ‘a highly selective narrative’. It is indeed — and it is the stuff he leaves out that worries me.”
