Short Takes
April 14, 2010
NYC Sublet: Oprah’s Decorator Was Here
Fully furnished 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, on West 58th Street, a block from Central Park. 12 months starting July 1. $4,200. For pictures and details, click here.
April 7, 2010
Kenny White Takes Comfort in the Static
When last we heard from Kenny White, he was tough on himself (“I’m getting tired of coming close/ Tired of the chances I don’t take”), determined to do better (“You got a brain, you got style/ So you might as well put it on the line once in a while”) and reveling in the absurdity of young women at bars with shirts so short you can see the tattoos in the small of their backs. Now he has a new CD, Comfort in the Static — and I’m happy to report he’s the same delightful mess. Tough on himself? “I’ve suffered fools, mostly kept them at bay/ ‘til the biggest one showed up in my mirror today.” Determined to do better: “Let it go, it’ll all work out/ faith is the handsome brother of doubt.” And digging the absurd: “You google your own name, you get Kenny Rogers or Kenny G.” Gotta love him.April 4, 2010
A Bruce Springsteen Contest: Which Two Books?
They met at the gym. He allegedly said she had “the best ass” there. And then, according to the New York Post, Bruce Springsteen had an “inappropriate” relationship with 45-year-old Ann Kelly, wife and mother of two — and a dead ringer for Bruce’s wife. Now the Kellys are getting divorced. Among the allegations from Kelly’s husband: “The wide-ranging chats Ann had with Springsteen got into politics. When the blue-collar hero and liberal icon learned that Ann was conservative, he gave her two books to read.” We probably won’t find out which books Bruce may have given Ann. (I’m thinking Woody Guthrie, by Joe Klein, and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.) But it’s fun to speculate. Send me the names of two books you would have given your gym squeeze if you were The Boss. The author of the entry that amuses me the most gets a copy of Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal, in which Julie Metz discovers her dead husband’s massive infidelity, or Laura Munson’s This Is Not The Story You Think It Is, about a strained season in her marriage.
March 30, 2010
The Allegri Miserere: The Time Is Now
Music for Holy Week, and a remarkable story of music held for the personal enjoyment of the Pope — until Mozart came along. At the very least, listen here.
March 22, 2010
College Daze: Joan Schenkar at Bennington
And those were the days. For a thesis adviser, Joan Schenkar — author of The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith — had the esteemed literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman. Her bonus: Hyman was married to the haunted short story ("The Lottery") writer and essayist Shirley Jackson. Schenkar knew them well and remembers it all. Now she looks back in wry amusement here.
